Part 16: Understanding one’s purpose

Northern Dark Ice Soul awakened his elder sister Desolate Ancient Moon, and the two again asked for advice from Cognition Gu on how to save their father. Cognition Gu said: “Humans, Cheng Bai Mountain has disappeared, who knows when it will form again. I am also not clear on other ways to bring your father back to life. But no need to be dejected; you can try asking Wisdom Gu. I am its mother; wisdom is the crystallization of cognition.” The student surpasses the master; the things Cognition Gu did not know, Wisdom Gu might not necessarily be unknowing of. Under Cognition Gu's directions, Northern Dark Ice Soul and Desolate Ancient Moon found Wisdom Gu. Wisdom Gu had somewhat of a connection with Ren Zu; back then Ren Zu had used Rules Gu and Regulations Gu to capture it. But it was able to escape in the end. At first, Wisdom Gu was not willing to help Northern Dark Ice Soul and Desolate Ancient Moon. But seeing that they were introduced by its mother Cognition Gu, it reluctantly said: “Oh humans, I can show you the right path. But I need remuneration; one of you needs to hand over your middle age to me.” “I will give my middle age to you.” Desolate Ancient Moon immediately replied with no hesitation.

She was awakened by her little brother Northern Dark Ice Soul and had been bestowed with the meaning of her life, which was to bring her father, Ren Zu, back to life. Thus, she replied immediately without the intention of passing it to others. Northern Dark Ice Soul was not able to argue with his sister and could only let her offer her middle age. This meant, once Desolate Ancient Moon's youth had passed, she would directly skip middle age to reach old age. But to save her father, she did not have many misgivings. Wisdom Gu obtained Desolate Ancient Moon's middle age and gave her directions: “In the center of the Golden Desert in the west, there is a still Blue Sea with no ripples, as flat as a mirror. That is the source of all living beings; all life in the world originates from there. And in the depths of the Blue Sea lie many Life Gu shining upon all living beings. You need to infiltrate the sea, catch a Human Shaped Life Gu, and bring it to shore. This Human Shaped Life Gu can bestow your father a new life. But remember, you cannot spend over fifteen minutes in the sea; otherwise, you will be assimilated by the sea.” Wisdom Gu added another sentence in the end: “It is extremely difficult to find Human Shaped Life Gu. Only a person who has truly comprehended the truth of life can do it. If you are not able to do it, don't blame my solution for not being easy to use.” Desolate Ancient Moon wanted to ask something, but Wisdom Gu quickly flew away and did not give the siblings any chance to make inquiries. Desolate Ancient Moon and Northern Dark Ice Soul traveled an arduous journey through the Golden Desert and arrived at the center of the desert where they saw the Blue Sea. The Blue Sea was so beautiful that nothing more beautiful than it could be imagined. Just like Wisdom Gu said, even strong winds could not cause the slightest of a ripple on the Blue Sea. With the soft golden sand surrounding it, it looked like a deep blue gemstone embedded on this golden cloth. The siblings infiltrated into the depths of the sea, and sure enough, found large numbers of Life Gu packed together in the sea depths. These Life Gu were like blue gems. But they were of different sizes and shapes. Some looked like a colt; some like a tiger or leopard; some like an eagle or dove, while some like a snake or flood dragon. The siblings were dazzled from the sight. They saw all kinds of Life Gu from

flowers, birds, fishes, insects, beasts, Snowmen, Hairy Men, and all other shapes, except the Human Shaped Life Gu. Helplessly, the siblings could only get out of the sea and back to the shore. The moment they had left the Blue Sea, a Deer Shaped Life Gu, Northern Dark Ice Soul had been holding, let out a soft light before jumping on the sand and turning into a fawn. This was the birth of a life. The siblings looked at this sight in wonder, with their eyes wide open. Only when the fawn had hopped far away, the elder sister Desolate Ancient Moon suddenly comprehended: “No wonder Wisdom Gu flew away immediately after speaking and did not let us question it. I have understood the truth of life.” “The truth of life, what exactly is it?” Northern Dark Ice Soul quickly asked. Desolate Ancient Moon pointed at this Blue Sea in front of them and asked in return: “Tell me, if we were to really find a Life Gu, a human shaped blue gem, and we bring it back, what will it transform into?” Northern Dark Ice Soul thought for a moment and replied: “It should be like that fawn and turn into a real active life form, right?” He suddenly looked distracted. Desolate Ancient Moon looked at him with a smile: “It seems you have also understood. We are these life forms. We were formed from Life Gu! We, ourselves, are human-shaped blue gems.” Northern Dark Ice Soul completely understood; where did humans come from? Wisdom Gu had already made it clear before: This Blue Sea is the source of all living beings; all lives in the world originate from here. Humans, naturally also originated from here. Their father Ren Zu was once a blue gem in the depths of this sea. By some opportunity and coincidence, it was able to come out from the sea and form a zestful life form that roamed the world, surviving with difficulty and reaching this stage. But humans were the spirit of all living beings, so how many human shaped gems could there be in such a large sea? It was definitely extremely few, and it was very possible Ren Zu was the only one. Searching for a small blue gem in such a vast sea, how big of a project was this? This was innumerable times more difficult than Desolate Ancient Moon looking for the only Success Gu in Cheng Bai Mountain. “I know a method which can get us a Human Shaped Life Gu quickly.” Desolate Ancient Moon suddenly said.

“What method?” Northern Dark Ice Soul had a bad feeling. Desolate Ancient Moon smiled: “That is... I will go into the bottom of the sea and assimilate with this Blue Sea, returning back to a Life Gu.” Although Desolate Ancient Moon had transformed into a monster, she was intrinsically a human. The essence of her life had not changed. Since she was a human, once she was assimilated, she would form a human-shaped blue gem like Life Gu. This speculation was not wrong. No wonder Wisdom Gu said: But remember, you cannot spend over fifteen minutes in the sea, otherwise you will be assimilated by the sea. Wisdom Gu's words did not have any superfluous words. Wisdom Gu had also said: If you are not able to do it, don't blame my solution for not being easy to use. One could analyze from this sentence — it was extremely likely there were no human-shaped blue gems in the Blue Sea. If the siblings were not willing to sacrifice themselves, they would not be able to obtain Human Shaped Life Gu. As such, don't blame me, the Wisdom Gu if you are not able to do it. “No, you can't sacrifice yourself like this, elder sister.” Northern Dark Ice Soul immediately dissuaded. Although he wanted to bring his father back to life, he did not want to sacrifice his own sister. “I need to do it; the meaning of my life is to bring father back to life.” Desolate Ancient Moon replied tranquilly. Northern Dark Ice Soul suddenly could not say anything. It was him who gave this meaning to Desolate Ancient Moon's life, and Desolate Ancient Moon was living for this. In other words, if her father could not be brought back to life, there would be no meaning in her life. Then what would be the use in continuing to live? As long as she sacrificed herself, she could bring her father back to life; this was the greatest meaning of Desolate Ancient Moon's life. “Humans originally were gems of the world. It is only that whether the gems are bright or not requires us to polish them. Every effort we make, every choice we take, are all polishing each of our gems. And humans can only obtain life by sacrificing life.” Desolate Ancient Moon leisurely spoke before sinking into the Blue Sea. Northern Dark Ice Soul tried his best to stop her, but he was not able to. Des48

olate Ancient Moon had become a monster with incomparable strength, and he was not her match. After fifteen minutes of time, Desolate Ancient Moon was assimilated by the Blue Sea and turned into a human-shaped blue gem. But this blue gem was not of a healthy human shape but a badly damaged, less than half a proper human shape. This was because Desolate Ancient Moon had given her 'middle age’ to Wisdom Gu. Humans, in the process of understanding what life was, would often have already used up half of their lives. Northern Dark Ice Soul held this blue gem with tears in his eyes and left the Golden Desert. He did not have any of the happiness of success, but instead sank down into extreme remorse. From a certain perspective, it was him who had killed his elder sister.