Webs of Fate

Ren Zu brings his son Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance and his daughter Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence to the feathermen’s residence and finds it empty. A black and white spider approaches and names itself fate Gu. It says its own arrival is what frightened the feathermen off. Asked how something so small could scare them, it answers that the feathermen only think they escaped into freedom, when fate arranged it, and that Ren Zu and his children are no different. ^{ch. 1619}

They find spider silk already binding their bodies and everything around them, gathered into what fate Gu calls the all-encompassing web, which controls everyone and everything in the world. It says struggle is useless, since fate cannot be altered. Accused by Ren Zu of causing every hardship in his life, fate Gu agrees, adding that his son Verdant Great Sun is already dead beyond saving and that wealth Gu cannot save his daughter Boundless Forest Samsara. ^{ch. 1619}

Fate Gu binds Ren Zu’s wealth Gu with silk and drags it over. His children protest, Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance demanding its release and Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence weeping that it cost their father his hands, but fate Gu is unmoved. It says life, death, wealth and poverty are all decreed by fate, and that Ren Zu is fated to be poor, tormented into insanity, and dead in the end. It flings both children far from Ren Zu’s sight, telling him loneliness and separation are the fate of everyone, even parent and child. ^{ch. 1619}

Pressed to suffocation, Ren Zu cries and asks why his fate is so pitiful. A voice inside him, self Gu, tells him to trust his own strength rather than blame fate. Self Gu has bitten strength Gu, and its light tears some silk before more comes to bind him, while a second attempt drawing on love fails. Fate Gu answers that love is fate too, since it arranged both Verdant Great Sun’s love for Desolate Ancient Moon and the rockman’s love for her, and arranged both to end in death. ^{ch. 1619}

Losing the strength to cry, Ren Zu understands why the feathermen sought freedom. He declares that his freedom is different from theirs and will be absolute. Fate Gu warns that absolute freedom is itself insanity, and that lacking wisdom, his own sense of cleverness is the very sign he is going mad. Ren Zu refuses to believe in fate at all, and when fate Gu answers that it will exist regardless, he insists it will end once he stops believing. He scratches his hair and skin, weeping, and rolls on the ground, sinking into the very insanity fate Gu foretold. ^{ch. 1619}