Chapter 827 — Hard to Tell Flowers from Mist
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
"I survived, and I lived a long while aboard this ship — and in the end I still died?"
Shen Mu was beside himself, gripped by an overpowering sense of fate.
He had not believed the words of the little man in the lantern at first, but ever since he set foot on this ship, a whole chain of uncanny, unfathomable events had left him no room for disbelief.
Did this not mean that no matter how he strove, he could never escape the fate of dying at last aboard this ship?
That no matter how he struggled, he could not leap free of this ship; that no matter how he deduced and reasoned, he could not, until the day he died, unravel Ling Heavenly Venerable's divine power?
Lord Dragon-Raiser's heart of the Dao collapsed. He slumped to the ground, tears brimming in his dragon eyes, and mumbled, "How do we leave this cursed place? Heaven and earth may change, but the unchanging constant does not; the unchanging constant is thirty-six — what does that mean?" He could not help but be terrified, and fell into a vast panic: "Are these not the words of that raving old dragon? Why am I repeating his words? Can it be that I truly am him?"
Shen Mu glanced sidelong at him, frowned, and forced his face into a smile. "Then how many times have we boarded this ship? Why do we have no memory of the earlier boardings?"
Li Zheng said abruptly, "Then why is it that you hold the memories of the Great Reincarnation?"
The little man in the lantern said, "I am not very clear on that myself."
Shen Mu's heart stirred. "That wailing old dragon seems to hold memories of the Great Reincarnation as well — only he has gone mad. What is his story? Who is he, really?"
The little man in the lantern said, "He is Long Bo. Like me, he did not turn to Void when the Mist erupted."
Hearing this, Lord Dragon-Raiser could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. "So it was not me after all..."
Li Zheng suddenly struck upon the crux. "Aboard this ship, besides you and Long Bo, who else has not been turned to Void?"
The little man in the lantern was slightly taken aback, and gave no answer.
Li Zheng narrowed his eyes and glanced at Shen Mu.
Shen Mu narrowed his eyes as well. The sword pellet in the Taotie Pouch quietly rose, and from the pellet the Carefree Sword flew out, its hilt pointed toward Li Zheng.
Vital essence flew from Li Zheng's fingertips and coiled about the Carefree Sword's hilt. He laughed and said, "Heaven and earth may change, but the unchanging constant does not; the unchanging constant is thirty-six. The unchanging constant is that which does not alter with the resetting of time and space. This ship undergoes one Great Reincarnation every thirty-six resets of time and space. This unchanging constant may not be a number at all, but the people aboard. That is to say, thirty-six people will not be reset, and will not turn to Void."
Shen Mu said, "By this reasoning, each time the ghost ship crosses over, one person survives. The first reset was the time of the Mist's eruption, and Long Bo survived it. Long Bo is the first observer; he could not bear it, and so he raves, and every time he meets another person he says the unchanging constant is thirty-six. The unchanging constant is not a number; the unchanging constant is the thirty-six people who are not altered by the reset. Since Long Bo survived the first reset, how did you survive?"
Li Zheng held the sword in his hand and said in a low, quiet voice, "The ghost ship docks in thirty-six different eras. Each era has its own boarders, and each time only one survives. Lin Xiao, at which boarding did you come aboard this ship?"