What lies on the other shore of the Red Lake?

No one knows the answer to this question... except for Meng Xizhou.

For her, the mist of the Red Lake does not exist, so theoretically, if she walks far enough, she can see the other shore of the Red Lake.

In truth, there is nothing on the other shore of the Red Lake.

Only a simple wooden cabin.

No one would ever think that the legendary Light God’s Seat would reside in such an extremely primitive structure.

Meng Xizhou stopped in her tracks.

She could no longer move forward; this was the closest place to God.

In the waters of the Red Lake, countless ancient text array patterns are submerged.

She had a premonition that a step further... and the array patterns in the lake would explode.

What would be the consequence of touching the restriction laid by the Divine Throne himself?

She doesn’t know, nor does she want to find out.

"Lord Divine."

Meng Xizhou took a light breath, her voice was not loud because she knew that in the entire Divine Domain, the Divine Throne could hear all sounds.

"I have arrived."

After speaking, she waited quietly.

The starlit night was like an oil painting, the scattered radiance falling on the lake surface, a gentle breeze blew through, and the radiance spread out in ripples—

The door of the cabin opened.

A figure slowly pushed open the door, an old man in a white robe, with his white hair neatly tied up, his complexion was very pale, and his eye sockets sunken.

He lifted his head to look at the outside world.

Then he lowered his gaze to look at Meng Xizhou across the distant lake.

...

...

Today’s Light City is very much like the Changye of the past.

Countless eyes are focused on this.

Meng Xizhou seeks the light, and the people also seek the light... Everyone is concerned about how the "illness" of the Light God’s Seat truly is.

Before the west crossing, many speculated that this so-called "severe illness" might be fake.

Yet if it is fake, there are two ways it could be fake.

The more the Light God’s Seat does not appear, the more people tend to imagine the worst.

It’s not just the large delegations from various continents who crossed the west with such thoughts; even within the Light Temple, the Holy Judges can’t help but feel uneasy.

Even as a Goddess, Meng Xizhou was eager to know the answer.

And now, she already knows.

"Your body seems very frail..."

Meng Xizhou looked at the old man, confirming his identity in just a moment.

The moment he appeared.

Countless glows of the Red Lake surged towards the body of the Light God’s Seat, a majesty that could only belong to a "God," surpassing any mortal realm, even someone as naturally light-attuned as her could not compare in affinity.

The heavens that night had been quite dim.

But when the old man opened the cabin and stood by the lake, the other shore of the Red Lake brightened, as if the sun had risen.

Compared to him, Meng Xizhou lost all color.

But... the starlit night at this moment did not change; after the Light God’s Seat opened the wooden door, no new sun appeared, and the divine miracle did not continue.

From this, it is clear that the old man before her is far less powerful than at his peak.

"No one can defy time... I’m no exception."

The old man chuckled, now surrounded by countless blazing lights, his features gradually vanished, leaving only vast expanses of white light spots. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Meng Xizhou no longer looked at the sun of the other shore of the Red Lake.

Since the Divine Throne has already appeared.

Continuing to stare would be considered a form of disrespect.

Meng Xizhou slightly lowered her head and softly said, "There are many things I don’t understand."

The old man said, "You don’t understand why I watched you being taken into the Secret Dungeon, you don’t understand why I ignored Gao Mo’s theft of the blood of the [Undead], and you don’t understand why I always stay here, unwilling to meet the world outside..."

Gao Mo is the name of the Great Elder.

Other than the Light God’s Seat and Yuan Yang, not many know the Great Elder’s name because he has lived too long, so long that even the later Holy Judges have forgotten his name.

Everyone simply addresses him by his title.

"Yes."

Meng Xizhou said, "Indeed, I don’t understand what you’re saying."

The old man said, "Come over."

Meng Xizhou slightly raised her head, her eyes somewhat bewildered.

The old man standing on the Light Shore gently waved at her, smiling, "Once you walk over here, you’ll understand everything."

Meng Xizhou hesitated for a moment, then slowly took a step forward.

The last dozen steps to the other shore of the Red Lake had countless taboo ancient texts floating beneath the lake... but at this moment, these texts did not react.

Meng Xizhou thus smoothly reached the other shore.

She stood beside the old man, her expression still bewildered, feeling the long-lost grandeur and warmth by the light’s side.

But the answers to these questions remained unknown to her.

"Look."

The old man, hands behind his back, nudged his chin forward and asked, "Do you see the answer now?"

"..."

One old and one young, just standing in the radiance on the other shore of the Red Lake.

For a long time, Meng Xizhou tried hard to see, her eyesight was excellent, and the fog of the Red Lake didn’t exist for her.

But after gazing for a long time, she couldn’t see anything.

"I can’t see it, nor do I understand." So she could only honestly respond.

"You are now standing on the other shore of the Red Lake, standing beside the light... You have reached the ’end point’."

The old man slowly turned his head, looked at the Goddess, and seriously asked, "Since you have reached the ’end point,’ is the path you have walked still important?"

Meng Xizhou remained silent.

"Gao Mo stole the blood of the [Undead], trying to counter disaster and misfortune... yet in the end, he died from the backlash."

The old man continued, "Everything he tried to do ended in failure."

With these two answers, Meng Xizhou understood everything.

She softly said, "So you are not uninformed, you know everything, you are just watching."

"Yes. I am just watching."

The old man’s tone was as calm as ever, "For more than ten years, what I have done... is just watch. Why should I meet the people of the world? Just like the Red Lake you are now gazing at, every inch of this lake water will be rippled by the wind, without needing my assistance. In the same vein, every living being in this world has their own ’end point’ to reach. What I do is watch them reach their respective ’end points,’ trying my best not to intervene."

"If you intervene, many fewer people will die."

Meng Xizhou said, "Gao Mo has done many wrong things these years."

"With every few ripples disappearing from this lake surface... as many more ripple."

The old man lightly said, "If you really want to calculate ’gain and loss,’ then you need to consider what is seen and what is unseen. If I intervene with Gao Mo, it will cause many things to disappear, some people survive, but on a future day, many more will die."

"Then you can intervene a second time." Meng Xizhou said.

"And then there will be countless times, possibly with the outcome worsening each time."

Meng Xizhou had no rebuttal.

"I know what you intend to say today."

The old man spoke again, "First, I am still alive... though my condition isn’t good, I know everything happening outside. Jia Wei is dead, Gao Mo is dead, the temple’s dispatched team to Ice Sea has disappeared. Over these years, I have been observing everything on the other shore of the Red Lake, but I merely observe without intervening."

"I hear the breathing sound of every living being within the Divine Domain."

"Many years ago, I began a long calculation. All the uninhibited choice is to let everything halt at a specific moment."

"In my view, the truly important thing... is to decide resolutely to stand before me."

"That’s more important than anything combined."

"The reason I do not meet the masses is that my time is genuinely limited; my energy permits only one or two things."

"If Light City is destined to meet the sunset, I hope this sunset is visible only to those standing on the other shore."

He slowly shifted his head, said, "That is you."

"Divine Throne..."

After listening to these long words, Meng Xizhou’s eyes were full of unconcealed shock.

"Yes, in my heart, there is no one more suitable than you as the ’successor’."

The old man bowed his head and smiled slightly, "When Gu Nanfeng came to Light City back then, I gave him a token. At that time, I had high hopes for that young man named Song Ci... But unfortunately, he seemed uninterested in the Light Fire. Choosing a successor is not something to show off, after all, it means I am about to die."

Meng Xizhou remained silent.

After a long time, she finally spoke, "Do you mean I will become the successor of the ’Light Fire’?"

"Yes, you will be the next Light God’s Seat."

The old man calmly spoke, "If there are no accidents... After my death, you are the Light God’s Seat."

"Accident?"

Meng Xizhou raised her eyebrows and said, "What does the accident you speak of mean?"

"The weight of the fire is not something ordinary mortals can bear."

The old man lowered his eyes and said, "Even if you are naturally compatible with light and loved by heaven, you may not smoothly forge the ’Light Fire.’ You not only need strong Extraordinary Essence as support, but you also need an incredibly tenacious will, and a little bit of luck..."

A short pause.

The old man continued, "...to become the sun."

Meng Xizhou took a deep breath and seriously asked, "So what should I do?"

"Do what you should do, do what the sun should do."

The old man lightly laughed and said, "Haven’t you already asked yourself countless times in the Secret Dungeon? The answer is in your heart."

"I..."

Meng Xizhou hesitated for a moment and said, "I came to see you this time with another request."

The old man no longer spoke but looked at the woman.

Meng Xizhou said, "I hope you can lift the restrictions of the [Forbidden Book Tower]."

In the world’s perception, Light City’s greatest divine miracle is Sunset Mountain, is Red Lake.

But actually...

Just like the temple built around Sunset Mountain and Red Lake, Sunset Mountain and Red Lake exist to protect the Forbidden Book Tower.

This tower contains countless books.

It is said that it has the answers to all the world’s questions—

As long as you are destined for this answer.

Then... you can find it in the tower’s treasury.

The power within the [Forbidden Book Tower] is unrelated to the Light Fire; it belongs to the ethereal "destiny" and "causation."

However, six hundred years ago, the Light Ancestor who first came to this ancient city, protected it layer by layer, set countless restrictions, only each Light Divine Position successor, has the authority to open it.

"You want to open the [Forbidden Book Tower]..."

The old man squinted his eyes, "I remember many years ago, you went to see it once, now you want to go and see it again?"

"Yes, and no."

Meng Xizhou said, "I would like you to open the [Forbidden Book Tower] and let the entire world see it."