Dual Cultivation God Returns-Chapter 990: Between a rock and a hard place...
"Dear Imperial Father,
Perhaps I lost the qualifications to address you this way on the day I was exiled, or, more likely before that, on that dark, fateful day.
But I am going to do it regardless, in light of this being the last time I will be able to address you.
In a thousand years after my exile, I have been a traveler with no home. And in that time, I have spent much time contemplating what I did. The crimes I committed, the mistakes I have made. It is true that I was young, it is true that I relied on the counsel of others, including my Mother, the former Empress, but I know better now than to blame it all on them. I was a complicit, and willing participant. I had many chances to put a stop to it, to object and sound alarms, but I did not. I am as guilty as they were. No, I am the most guilty of them all. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
Despite that, they have all paid for their crimes, while I have not.
At first, I thought that the fact they all were punished, and I was not, meant that I was absolved of my crime with their punishment. I even brazenly believed it was unfair to exile me since the price for the offense was paid, and thus I have welcomed the visits of messengers from the Elders, and welcomed their efforts to try and reinstate me.
I even felt resentful each time those efforts were met with failure.
In fact, I descended further and further into depravity, leading the life of a scoundrel who thought the world owed him something. And thus felt justified in taking from others, justified to wrong others since I was unfairly wronged.
Time and age did nothing to change that trajectory, I only continued to get worse. I have heard and even seen with my own eyes, much later, that some Mortals could find redemption in their single lifetime. I often pondered what it meant that I spent multiple of those Mortal lifetimes only further becoming a scourge on this world. And maybe would have continued further down on that path, in fact I most certainly would have, as I have stooped so low I joined a Sect of the Darkness Gate of Evil Path.
It was a chance encounter with a Daoist of a Righteous Path Sect that finally..."
—
"W-what?", Changsun Yong stood up, looking at the text floating in the air with disbelief. Soon, a look of deep betrayal and repulsion appeared in his eyes as he stared at the open box, no longer bothering to read the rest of the letter, "D-darkness Gate...? The worst of the worst... those scum who are considered vile and savage even by the other branches of the Evil Path?"
"Hmm, it is a bit different from what I expected in substance, but it does confirm the identity of the late Sect Master of the Drifting Reeds Sect and clarify things around the Sect nonetheless", Wu Long who read much faster than the two, and thus finished reading the letter entirely some time ago replied, "Further down it makes it clear that there is no truth to allegations about the Corrupt Path, your Master and Sect’s name can indeed be cleared with this box"
Wei Yuanjie was still absorbed in reading as a bit further down the text was the part of the letter much more closely related to him and the Imperial Court rather than Changsun Yong.
"But he... this is...", the latter didn’t find any comfort in Wu Long’s reply, "He is..."
"...what he confessed to being in his personal letter to you, yes. Not a saint without reproach but just a man. A man with a very dark and violent, sinful past", Wu Long nodded without sugarcoating the contents of the letter.
"Everything was a lie...", a look of disgust intensified on Changsun Yong’s face as he felt his world crumbling, "How could he... lie like that? How could he make a fool of all of us? How..."
Wu Long didn’t comment, allowing the young man to process the shocking truth. He knew it would take time for him to truly come to terms with what he learned about his Master today.
He didn’t feel compelled to defend the Sect Master of the Drifting Reeds Sect, as he did not know the man, and thus could not judge his character. What he knew of him were only two letters - enough to give him some personal thoughts and impressions, but hardly sufficient to lecture others, especially those much more familiar with the man, on the subject.
However, he did offer a word of advice to Changsun Yong, "Read the letter to the end. It may be hard to do emotionally right now, but this may be the last time you have the opportunity. I cannot give you any guarantees that the Emperor will give you a chance to read it. Perhaps it was never meant to be read by you, there is a passage near the end that pleads the Emperor to give you some answers, but they don’t include much of what you have already read, only a broader answer to questions you may have had while reading the first letter addressed to you"
"I don’t need to read it"
"Read", Wu Long shook his head, "There will be enough time to condemn your Master after, but only knowing the entirety of what he wrote you will have the full picture, and a full picture is better than a part. Only then you can contemplate the entirety of the contents at any time of your choosing and be sure of what even your own thoughts are at any time, rather than to later find yourself caged by the limits of what you decided to learn, foregoing the entirety"
"I already know what my thoughts are"
"The Grand Dao is endless. Thoughts and opinions are only your understanding of the Dao, not the Dao itself. They, like your understanding, evolve and change as you walk the path of the Dao. What may be unthinkable to you now may become what you believe in later as the Great Dao reveals more of its secrets to you. Just like what you think now may be different from what you thought before reading this letter", Wu Long made a wry, slightly bitter smile.
Changsun Yong looked at Wu Long, and suddenly no longer felt he looked younger than himself, rather, feeling as if the latter’s eyes contained unfathomable depth.
Meanwhile, Wu long continued, "You will only benefit from having more information and knowledge when your thoughts evolve, and your mind opens to more mysteries of the Great Dao as you have more food for thought to examine from that new perspective. There may come a moment in the future, if you are lucky or diligent enough, when the Great Dao reveals a great secret to you, and your way of thinking changes entirely. In such moments, it is possible to reexamine everything you ever knew from a new, higher vantage point and thus gain a better understanding of your own path. If you stop reading now, you will have less to examine. It may be a small piece, but they add up over time. You truly lack the ability to examine not what you never had the opportunity to know, but what you did not bother obtaining despite having the chance"
Changsun Yong shook, and after taking a moment to think, turned his gaze back to the text of the letter.
Meanwhile, Wei Yuanjie finally finished reading, turning to Wu Long with round eyes, "T-This is..."
"Certainly changes things", Wu Long nodded to him, speaking while carefully observing the prince, much more concerned with how he took it than with Changsun Yong’s reaction, "I did know something must’ve happened with the First and Second Princes when I heard it was taboo to speak of them, and had my own guesses, but I was, evidently, off the mark on that"
"No kidding... shouldn’t we get this to Imperial Father as soon as possible?", the 9th prince first sat up straight, but then froze, turning to look at the box with the jade slip with a changing expression, "Wait... no..."
"Hmm, I understand your sentiment-...", Wu Long nodded. But before he could continue, Wei Yuanjie’s demeanor completed the change.
"...can’t we... bury it?", Wei Yuanjie suddenly turned to Wu Long with a different look. A look much more consistent with his young age than his usual mature one. His tone was full of hesitation, and he was visibly racked with nervousness, guilty conscience and sudden fear.
His words didn’t reach Changsun Yong’s ears who was still absorbed in reading the letter. None of their words did, Wu Long manipulated sounds from the moment the prince finished reading, anticipating this reaction.
"I am your friend, you don’t have to give me that look, Yuanjie, even if you ask me something like that - I won’t fault you for being a human with feelings, and for being a son", Wu Long spoke in a more sincere and serious tone, "But as your friend, I also have to warn you of making emotional decisions on short notice. We have time, so let’s not rush things and carefully consider everything before deciding what to do"
The young prince was still shaken, but listened to Wu Long attentively.
"But there is one thing that I have to remind you of. I have promised him that I won’t tamper with the contents of the box, and you were the guarantor of that promise"
"But you didn’t promise him you will help deliver it", Wei Yuanjie replied, and immediately regretted it, lowering his gaze with shame, "No... I... that’s..."
"I told you, I won’t fault you for being human", Wu Long spoke with a calm subtle smile, "But I also don’t think you should go down that path. It is a slippery slope you may regret stepping on. I admire the fact you realized that right away"
Wei Yuanjie nodded while looking down, and then suddenly perked up to look toward Changsun Yong with belated realization.
"He can’t hear us. Or rather, he’s hearing us having a different conversation. Right now he has his own demons to battle, and is not in the right state of mind to understand the nuance of this conversation, of the conversation we need to have. He may misinterpret it as immediate intent to act on your part rather than impulsive thought that you still have the time to ponder on and reconsider", Wu Long shook his head, "We will talk more when we’re alone"
As Wei Yuanjie nodded, Changsun Yong finally also finished reading, looking dispirited, but not significantly worse than before reading the later parts since the contents were for the most part, either better or neutral for him unlike the beginning of the letter.
Wu Long wrapped up their meeting saying that they will talk again once Changsun Yong had some time to think, closed the box restoring its sealed state, and gave it back.
And as Changsun Yong left, Wu Long remained with Wei Yuanjie.
