Red Lotus" Death
Still inside the memory, Feng Jiu Ge watches Red Lotus stand young but hunched like a dying old man, weeping silently while Liu Shu Xian calls him with her dying breath. Red Lotus asks himself why he became such a scary person. He once knelt grieving over her corpse, yet now he turns away from her last moment. He soon finds the answer: countless rebirths, deaths and disappointments left him numb, so he turned to precise calculation and rational analysis. He concludes that he no longer loves her, because a man who loved her would not turn away, and he feels extreme shock and fear at what he has become. He still wants to destroy fate Gu, though his reason is different now, and he hates Fate and also himself. ch. 1964
He dares not use rebirth to save his parents, since he would grow numb to their deaths too, and he refuses to accept fate and become the venerable everyone expected. He researches The Legends of Ren Zu, comprehends love Gu, and uses it to save Liu Shu Xian in the tribulation. The fixed result changes at a price: he succeeds in the tribulation but does not become a venerable. Excited, he tells her of his countless rebirths and says this minor change is the proper direction, and one day he will succeed completely. Liu Shu Xian slaps him. ch. 1964
She weeps and accuses him of heretical thoughts, of defying fate, of wasting the Heavenly Court Gu Immortals sacrificed in the tribulation and of abandoning the chance to become a venerable for her. His love for her is a small love beside the greater love for humanity, she says, and she would rather sacrifice herself. She begs him to return everything to the path fate decreed. Red Lotus, calm and eerie, stabs his hand into her heart, saying maybe killing her will return everything to its original path. She smiles that she was not wrong about him, asks him to become a venerable, and dies. This time she is truly dead, and he feels no regret. He gains the insight that the cause lies in Heavenly Court and fate Gu, and his determination to destroy fate Gu is firmer than ever. ch. 1964
The scene changes to Heavenly Court after the battle, where Duke Long, covered in blood and injuries, faces Red Lotus on the damaged top floor of Heaven Overseeing Tower. Duke Long sighs that one mistake leads to countless mistakes, then steps aside and tells him to destroy fate Gu if he wants. Red Lotus cannot destroy it however much force he uses. Duke Long says Limitless Demon Venerable and Reckless Savage Demon Venerable also failed, and that only a complete otherworldly demon could destroy fate Gu, yet otherworldly demons are not complete when they enter this world. He urges Red Lotus to come back and promises that Heavenly Court will give him a chance to redeem himself. ch. 1964
Red Lotus asks why Duke Long never placed fate Gu before him from the start. Duke Long admits with a bitter smile that he feared a new method, since he is unsure whether a way to destroy fate Gu exists. Red Lotus asks what a person with cognition should do if unhappy with the life fate arranged. Duke Long answers that Ren Zu tried to escape fate Gu and pursue freedom Gu, lost himself and sank into madness, so a person must accept fate and shoulder its responsibilities. Red Lotus thanks him for the teaching with a loud laugh, then tightens his fingers until the fate Gu in his hand shakes and cracks. Duke Long attacks with everything, Red Lotus does not dodge, and the blow is fatal. Duke Long realizes Red Lotus angered him on purpose. ch. 1964
Dying, Red Lotus says he has always admired Duke Long, that he himself wanted to rebel though Fate favored him, and asks what the countless people with worse lives think of Fate. People are not rocks or ripples, he says, and cognitive madness is the scariest and most powerful thing. He hands fate Gu to Duke Long, saying this is all he can do, that love Gu is able to damage Fate, and that he regrets not being an otherworldly demon. He says he did all he could to make arrangements and left hope for the future. His life holds nothing more, he says, so he may as well die. He believes fate Gu will one day be destroyed, even if not by him, and wants to believe he will not be alone, that a group of people will attempt it. Duke Long cannot stop it, nor can Heavenly Court, he says, because no one can stop people from thinking with free will. ch. 1964
