Chapter 553: There Is No Such Thing as Free Lunch In This World
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
In the bedroom, a woman was sitting cross-legged on a couch. Half of her face was human, while the other half was skeleton.
Moonless Harmonious Sky was ranked seventh in the seven layers of Temple of Heaven. It had great power and prestige in the Heavenly Earth and was also the actual ruler of tens of millions of people from Palace of Heaven…
From that, what Wang Lu expected to see was a heroic overlord. However, what he saw before him was in sharp contrast to that image. In the legends about Moonless, it was mentioned that in the war against the chaotic world, she received an incurable wound. Wang Lu had thought that it were just some eye-catching scars, a medal of honor that showed off her martial prowess. However, unexpectedly, this Moonless was really thorough, the so-called sacrificing half of her body actually meant the literal thing.
The right half of Moonless body was human, while the left half was pure bones. Her body was hidden by the dress, but her head was exposed. Moonless' right eye was tightly closed, but a red light was shining through the left eye socket of the skull, which made it look exceptionally scary… This alone was completely beyond expectation.
For Wang Lu, all unexpected situations were bad news. The opposite party was a Daoist Master of Deity Stage who was a veteran of hundreds of battles, and in theory could see through his illusion technique at a glance. Even if she was essentially a creation of the immortal dreamland and thus not as good as someone at true Deity Stage, Deity Stage was still Deity Stage.
Before coming here, Wang Lu had combined some rare materials left in his mustard seed bag with the high priced props from Sky City to greatly enhance his illusion. However, it was still hard to say whether it could fool the eyes of a Daoist Master of Deity Stage. Without Li Yan's letter, Wang Lu wouldn't have come here. However, everything was based on a lot of sophisticated planning. If an unexpected situation popped… It would end up as a test for his ability to act according to circumstances.
Wang Lu, of course, had this ability. Therefore, he calmly entered the room and smiled.
And what greeted him was Moonless' hearty laughter.
"Are you two the little kids that Li Yan introduced? Hahaha, come on in and take a seat."
Such a kind gesture was even more unexpected. Wang Lu even thought that there might be a propaganda commissioner inside this temple of Palace of Heaven.The dialogue in the bedroom would then be recorded and published the day after with the title: Lady Harmonious Heaven cordially met with grassroots people, revealing how approachable is her personality.
However, it was clear that there was no other extra person inside Moonless' bedroom. Even the black-dressed maids, which, according to the hierarchy of first comes black then yellow 1 , were the highest-ranked maids, could only stay outside. It clearly indicated that this was a very private meeting.
"No need to be reticent." After waiting for Wang Lu and Liu Li to sit down on their respective futons, Moonless said, "I once were friends with Li Yan after coming through a life and death situation together. Although I haven't seen her in decades, I always remember her friendship. She said in the letter that you two are her new friends. Li Yan never makes friend easily, so since you two could get her recognition, it is equivalent to gaining my recognition as well. I'll be treating you as my friends, so please don't be reticent and take away those gifts. I don't need them."
With that, Moonless slightly restrained her smile.
"Li Yan said in her letter that you two have questions about cultivation that you want to ask me? Yes, true, in recent years, fewer and fewer people have devoted themselves to cultivation, and instead are becoming more and more obsessed with fame and fortune."
Hearing this, Wang Lu just wanted to laugh. A standard bureaucrat politician like you have the nerve to criticize others?
Moonless seemed to see what Wang Lu was thinking and slowly said, "When dealing with worldly affairs, I only use my dead left half of the body."
Wang Lu froze for a moment, then immediately smiled. "Very well, I will skip those conventional greetings and directly go to the topic. First of all, I want to ask… Do you, the way you are right now, want to comprehend the immortal path through life and death?"
Upon hearing this, Moonless opened her right eye.
"No wonder Li Yan spoke highly of you in her letter. Those mediocre people just thought that I was merely showing off my scars, but they never understood that with my current status, for whom else do I need to show off? You are right, I am indeed trying to reach immortality through life and death." With that, Moonless suddenly laughed. "Besides that, what else can you see?"
"Life and death, yin and yang, black and white… All the contradictions and unity concepts should be reflected in you. There are quite a lot of things inherited on your left and right halves of the body. So it could be said that you are trying to use this method… to make up for your natural defects?
Hearing this, Moonless burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, you said it right. No wonder a talented person like you could wander around destitute outside the Temple of Heaven system. That old-fashioned theology could not satisfy you."
Inwardly, Wang Lu said, No wonder you and Li Yan were friends in a life and death situation, but haven't seen each other for decades. Compared to the lazy but devout Li Yan, you should be tied and executed on a stake for heresy. But, looking from another perspective, if it wasn't so, you wouldn't have the qualifications to control such a big city like Palace of Heaven.
In an organization in power, idealists do not have the qualifications to be in high ranking positions.
After being encouraged by Moonless, Wang Lu frankly said, "We are not perfect creatures. The way I see it, every living being in this world is divided into female and male, yin and yang. Only we do not have this sex division. When I asked Li Yan, she only said that this is the will of Heaven, but I don't think so. So I want to ask Lady Moonless, what are your thoughts on this?"
"The will of Heaven? Unexpectedly, after we've not met for decades, Li Yan seems to have learned to deceive herself." Moonless suddenly sneered. "Where did Human Immortal come from? If other people don't know then that's fine, but how could she not know it? More like she doesn't want to admit it."
With that, Moonless closed her right eye and said in a sinking voice, "You guessed it right, humans should have the division of sex, and we are the yin part of that. Thus, in theory, the corresponding yang part of us should also exist."
Wang Lu nodded. "Sure enough… but, why does the Temple of Heaven have to deliberately hide this information? Is this not good for the development of Heavenly Earth? We are obviously imperfect, but it is taught that we are perfect. Obviously, we are the yin part in the yin and yang, yet we are taught that we are complete with both yin and yang. This cognitive bias is a great obstacle to cultivation."
"Do you want to know?" Moonless rhetorically asked with interest. "Are you sure you want to know the answer? Since you have guessed correctly about the division of yin and yang, you will not be affected by the cognitive bias, so why bother to explore the secret behind it?"
"Curiosity is the driving force behind progress."
"Well said. In that case, I'll let you see it." With that, Moonless stood up and clapped her hands.
Wang Lu saw a slender and soft palm come in contact with a white skeleton hand twice, and the bedroom door was pushed open by a black-dressed maid.
"I want to take the guests to see my collection room, and I want you to lead the way."
——
Moonless' collection room was built in the underground part of Moon Capital. The group walked slowly through the deep corridor, led by the black-dressed maid. Along the way, there were countless traps of various kinds. The black-dressed maid used more than thirty kinds of props as keys to avoid those traps one by one, until the three of them reached the collection room.
Normally, no matter how valuable the treasure was, it would not be so strictly guarded. On top of that, the really important things were usually carried by the cultivators themselves. Thus, when Wang Lu saw the front door of the collection room, he felt that it would not be a good thing to see what was behind it.
Sure enough, after opening the door to the collection room, the maid who led the way rushed back, as if she harbored deep fear for the things inside.
In a leisurely way, Moonless entered the room. Behind the door was a spacious and deep hall. Once Moonless entered, it suddenly turned bright, thus allowing them to see the collection inside.
The moment Wang Lu saw everything, he could not help but close his eyes.
This was really… unexpected.
"How do you feel?"
The voice of Moonless came from the front.
"These are the trophies I collected during the great war forty-five years ago. Any one of them was an expert from the chaotic world of lower realm… This is the military medal that is really worth showing off. The scar on my body is only a shame, what is there to show off?"
Wang Lu nodded in silence. In the light that shone in the hall, he could clearly see several dozens of crystal grooves in the walls, and inside each of them lay a corpse of a creature from the chaotic world.
Each of them looked fierce, but had their own characteristics. Some had protruding fangs, some had an eye at the center of their forehead… But their basic outline was very clear—they were all human. Their bodies were muscular and had broad bones, all of which were basic characteristics of… males.
"I guess this is the answer that you wanted. Why does the Temple of Heaven have to hide the division of sex in humans? Because we can't tell the world that their other half is a creature from the chaotic world."
"So that's how it is… It is indeed a secret that can't be made public."
While carefully observing the corpse collection, Wang Lu asked, "Generally speaking, living beings need both their yin and yang parts to reproduce. We have the Heaven to bestow us with new lives, but what about the chaotic world? How can they reproduce? From the corpses of these chaotic creatures, I see that, apart from their basic outline, they often have the characteristics of other animals, such as horns, hooves, horsetails, and so on. Could it be…"
Moonless snorted coldly. "When the need for reproduction becomes overwhelming, people naturally look for all possible vessels that could become mothers. Humph, dirty lower realm offal."
Wang Lu looked at the corpses for a while and then asked, "Strange, these chaotic creatures are all male? Can't they give birth to females?"
"That's unclear. For thousands of years, we have never really stepped into the lower realm. Every time we retreat once we eliminate all the invaders. The filthy land of the lower realm is deadly to us."
Wang Lu nodded to show his understanding.
At the same time, he realized that this immortal dreamland might hide a tremendous and difficult to solve sub-plot: To help the chaotic creatures from the lower realm overthrow the Heavenly Earth to bring the yin and yang back to normal state!
However, it was not convenient to say this kind of idea aloud, so he could only think about it by himself.
And while he was thinking about it, he suddenly heard Moonless' voice.
"Li Yan spoke highly of you two in the letter, and what I saw today did not disappoint me."
Wang Lu cupped his hands. "It's an undeserved praise."
"I really like both of you. Therefore, you will now stay in Moon Capital."
"What?"
"I haven't expanded my Moon Capital harem for more than ten years, but today, I will make an exception for the two of you."
"Wait a minute…"