I Might Be a Big Shot — Chapter 4
Changkong Zhuoyu’s methods were obviously unreliable, but many of the ideas Li Xinglun came up with were also ineffective. In fact, the ability of the creatures in the gorge to leave was innate, impossible to steal. There was one method though: possession. If one took over the body of a creature in the gorge, one could freely enter and exit the Soul-Breaking Gorge.
But first, possession required at least a Golden Core strength — without it, even attempting possession was pointless. Second, possession required spiritual energy, and since they couldn’t use it, they couldn’t even switch bodies.
Most importantly, even if one managed to possess a creature, those creatures couldn’t cultivate. Raised under the oppressive divine power, they simply couldn’t absorb ordinary spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
In short, a dead end. {Being unable to cultivate implies the animal will never manage to gain a human form, hence it is pointless for a sane human to possess it.}
Only now did Li Xinglun understand why no one had ever survived the Soul-Breaking Gorge in all these years. He feared every method he thought of had already been tried by every cultivator who fell here before — but the Soul-Breaking Gorge was simply a dead end, utterly impossible to escape.
All the hatred and fighting spirit dissolved into nothing, leaving only rage with nowhere to vent. Li Xinglun watched Changkong Zhuoyu happily eating wild fruit, eyes curved with sweetness, and suddenly thought perhaps being a little foolish wasn’t so bad — one wouldn’t have to know so much, and thus wouldn’t feel so hopeless.
Perhaps Changkong Zhuoyu’s foolish personality was forged at the bottom of this gorge. After trying every method with no result, unable to accept reality, one would finally forget everything and hypnotize oneself into believing they were amazing — only then could one live happily here.
Would he too become like that one day?
Li Xinglun shook his head. He would not. He would not forget this blood feud. At worst he’d die here and, upon entering the underworld and reincarnating, do everything he could to remember the hatred of his previous life. Perhaps decades later he could return to the cultivation world and find his enemies.
Come to think of it, ending his own life was the only way out of the gorge. {Even though it was repeatedly implied this is an impossible act.}
Of course, Li Xinglun only thought about it. He wasn’t that weak. Even if death was inevitable, as long as it hadn’t arrived, he would never give up on life.
“Disciple,” Changkong Zhuoyu finished the wild fruit, carefully washed his hands, and sat casually beside Li Xinglun. Gone was the silly look he had while eating — now he was inscrutable again, calm in expression and composed in manner. “Are there fruits as tasty as these outside the gorge?”
“Fruits? That’s nothing,” Li Xinglun thought of the delicacies he’d eaten at home before reaching the stage of fasting, and smiled bitterly. “Outside there’s everything. You’ve only eaten these ordinary wild fruits here — you have no idea what real delicacies taste like. I don’t know if your cultivation method allows you to eat meat, but if it does, I can hunt some game and roast it. Even without seasoning, it’s better than just eating fruit.”
“Wait.” Changkong Zhuoyu stopped him. “The wild fruits are fine, but try not to harm the creatures here.”
“Why?” Li Xinglun looked puzzled.
“Look down — can you see ants?” Changkong Zhuoyu asked.
“Uh...” Li Xinglun shook his head. “I’ve been here a long time and never seen any.”
“Look up — can you see flying insects?”
“Also no.” Li Xinglun’s face changed slightly, and a terrifying thought rose in his mind.
“Look at the trees here — how long-lived are they?”
“...Though the trees here aren’t very thick, I once cut one down, and its rings were so dense there must have been at least ten thousand.”
“How many animals are there in the gorge — more than a hundred?”
“...No...” Li Xinglun shook his head. There were quite a few creatures wandering around him, but they all looked familiar, as if they were always the same few.
Changkong Zhuoyu quietly closed his eyes, his face showing compassion. In that moment his silliness disappeared, and he seemed as detached from the world and distant as he had the first time Li Xinglun saw his true appearance.
“Perhaps one day you and I will also become creatures of this gorge, forgetting our pasts and cycling through life after life here,” Changkong Zhuoyu said.
His words destroyed Li Xinglun's remaining faint hope.
That’s right — the Soul-Breaking Gorge had long been cut off from the world by the divine power barrier, becoming a small world of its own. The cultivators trapped here couldn’t reincarnate, instead becoming creatures of the gorge. No new souls entered here — the plants endured since the time of the war of the gods, their lifespans greatly extended by the divine power, and the animals were those originally in the gorge. But since this place was no longer part of the Path of Reincarnation, no new souls arrived and no new creatures were born. Only mortals or cultivators who fell here and died would, after their souls were cleansed by the divine power, become creatures of this place. These creatures, born of spiritual energy, after having their memories washed away, became hungry for spiritual energy and, driven by instinct, would consume the corpses of cultivators who fell here. Life after life, they cycled endlessly in such a way.
They had no hope of escaping the Soul-Breaking Gorge — not even in death.
Li Xinglun thought he’d already been desperate enough, but this was true despair. Had he known, he would’ve rather been killed outright by those black-clothed men. After reincarnating, he might have remembered the past and sought revenge.
“Hahahahaha...” Li Xinglun laughed up at the sky, his laughter full of despair and sorrow. His eyes glistened, but no tears fell.
Changkong Zhuoyu watched him, silently gnawing another wild fruit.
He didn’t even know how he discovered all this — he just understood when he saw those creatures running about. That day, the gyrfalcon that flew out of the gorge returned after some time. Once it stayed outside too long, it would realize it was born of the divine power and couldn’t survive outside the barrier. Occasionally leaving the gorge was like getting some air, but it always had to come back.
He wondered whether the creatures here still remembered their pasts. Probably not. Even if a soul clung to its obsession and endured the divine cleansing, faced with endless lifetimes of being trapped here, forgetting was probably for the best.
“Don’t be sad, disciple,” Changkong Zhuoyu stood, no longer silly at all, his face full of composure and determination. “There is still a way out of here.”
Li Xinglun’s laughter abruptly stopped. He looked at Changkong Zhuoyu and asked hopelessly: “What way? Wearing clothes made of wild grass to leave?”
That was one of Changkong Zhuoyu’s earlier ideas, and Li Xinglun had mocked him for it at length — because in the end only the wild grass would fly out, and Changkong Zhuoyu would fall back down naked.
Changkong Zhuoyu ignored his ridicule and calmly said: “Cultivate divine power.”
“What?” Li Xinglun asked incredulously.
“The divine power barrier seals the gorge, and here we cannot use spiritual power. If that’s the case, we have no choice but to use divine power. Only the might of the divine power can break the divine power barrier. The logic is simple,” Changkong Zhuoyu said lightly.
At first Li Xinglun listened seriously, but then completely gave up, leaning against the cliff wall with a lifeless expression. “Not to mention whether our mortal bodies can withstand divine power, who even has a method to cultivate it? Besides, we already have true essence in our bodies, which conflicts with divine power. Even if there were a method, we’d have to first abolish our cultivation and empty our dantian of spiritual energy. The divine power barrier only exists at the bottom of the Soul-Breaking Gorge — if we switched from cultivating immortality to cultivating divine power, once we left the gorge we’d lose our path completely, with no chance of advancing our cultivation ever again… Forget it. Why am I even saying all this — we can’t even abolish our cultivation right now.”
“Disciple,” Changkong Zhuoyu said, “the first thing I’ll teach you today is this: never say something is impossible or unachievable before trying. Besides, just because you can’t do it doesn’t mean I can’t. Try carving something into the cliff with your dagger and see if you can leave a mark.”
Li Xinglun suddenly thought of how Changkong Zhuoyu had effortlessly carved characters into the cliff that day, and how he himself couldn’t even create footholds with his dagger.
He immediately pulled out his dagger and tried to carve his name into the cliff, but the dagger bounced off, leaving no trace.
Li Xinglun tried several more times without success. Staring at the dagger, he asked: “How did you carve into the cliff that day?”
Changkong Zhuoyu took the dagger from him and casually etched the words: “Changkong Zhuoyu was here.”
Li Xinglun: “...”
“This way, anyone who comes here will see my great name. A figure like me is destined to be famous throughout the world. Even those who fall into the gorge should look up to my name every day.” Changkong Zhuoyu proudly raised his head, returning the dagger with a smug look.
Li Xinglun: “...”
He didn’t know if Changkong Zhuoyu had been a great figure in the past — he only knew that if someone this ostentatious ever left the gorge, he’d definitely become famous in the cultivation world. Whether it would be a glorious fame or infamous notoriety, who could say.
“So you really have a way to cultivate divine power? You’ve remembered?” Li Xinglun asked.
“Uh...” Changkong Zhuoyu silently turned his gaze away and stroked the name he’d carved on the cliff.
Li Xinglun: “...I’d better think about what kind of creature I’ll become — better pick one that can fly so I can occasionally leave the gorge for some air in my next life.”
Changkong Zhuoyu immediately grabbed his sleeve and said: “I’ll try — your master will try right away.”
What kind of master clings to someone’s sleeve with such a pitiful look!
~ Chapter End ~
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