Super Righteous Player
Chapter 571 - 112 "Odes to the Celestial Chariot"_1

Chapter 571: Chapter 112 "Odes to the Celestial Chariot"_1

Just by looking at the stone-jade-like texture of the pages, Annan confirmed — this must be an original text.

Just a glance at its cover made Annan feel a heavy burden in his mind. It was like the soreness in muscles after exercise...

This feeling, of course, Annan had experienced before.

For some time after reading an original text, he would have similar sensations.

It was like feeling a bit nauseous at the sight of delicious food after overindulging. This was actually the brain’s warning to the body, signaling "no more eating" ... otherwise, one would end up like a goldfish, bloated to death by food.

This could also be interpreted as the "cooling off period" of the original texts.

Previously, had Frederick read the book "Law of Resemblance and Precognitive Dreams," then fell unconscious and entered a nightmare?

Were those previous events his precognitive dreams?

Annan pondered.

It was at this moment that new introductory plot swept across Annan’s vision:

[After reading the original text "Law of Resemblance and Precognitive Dreams," Frederick fell into a nightmare]

[— Desolate alleyways]

[— Severed friendships]

[— Conspiracies of the gods]

[— Lost loves]

[Did his past self foresee the future?]

[Or did he recall the past moments before his future death?]

[Frederick knew only one thing...]

[According to the "prophecy," Ingrid was about to face misfortune]

[And he would do everything in his power to prevent that unfortunate future from arriving]

After viewing the introductory plot before him, Annan finally saw an expanse of data streams unfold before him:

[Main mission: Change Fate]

[Prevent Ingrid from acting alone]

Below one main mission, followed by a hint-providing side mission.

Annan finally remembered.

Why he had previously felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort...

It wasn’t because of the deserted street.

Neither was it due to the presence of something alien nearby.

Or that he realized he was in a dream...

It was simply because he had already come into contact with the key character "Justus"... but where was his main mission?

Why hadn’t it appeared?

Annan had indeed seen such a situation before, in "Nightmare: Gallery." The external part was merely a location for level selection.

It seems that perhaps the previous instance was just Frederick’s precognitive dream — probably.

But if it was only his precognitive dream, it seemed unable to explain why the prompts when entering included both Frederick and Justus...

"Cough, cough."

At that moment, Annan heard a soft cough.

He noticed that Justus and Ingrid’s expressions suddenly became serious and tense. Realizing something, he immediately stood up and looked in the direction from which the sound had come.

Approaching was an elder whose steps were light.

His gray disheveled hair hung down to his shoulders, dressed in a purple garment akin to an ancient Roman toga, his gray eyes tranquil and calm as water. Wearing gray cloth shoes, he had a dark gray lace sash draped from his left shoulder to his right waist and his face beamed with a smile, his body exuding a faint alcohol scent.

"— Professor."

The three of them responded in unison.

The old man, upon seeing them, couldn’t help but smile.

At the moment of his laughter, Annan caught a whiff of intoxicating alcohol. It wasn’t the stink of booze, but a breath so inebriating that just a slight sniff made Annan’s head swirl with dizziness and heat flushed his cheeks.

"— I was saying, I felt the Spinning Thread being touched. Turns out, it’s an esteemed guest who has arrived..."

He beamed a wholehearted, open smile at the three of them, akin to an exaggerated theater actor, resting the middle and Ring Finger against his chest while leaning forward slightly.

Seeing this, Justus and Ingrid seemed unsure of how to react.

But Annan’s heart suddenly tightened.

Because he saw the gold rings encircling the old man’s fingers.

He realized the true identity of this inebriated elder before him.

— The Gray Professor, Seti.

In this era, he was supposedly the world’s second-ranked idolized Wizard.

It seemed that he also recognized Annan’s true identity... which is why he pointedly referred to him as an "esteemed guest," and offered him a jestingly solemn salute.

"Such wonder."

Old Seti circled around them, sniffing their scent as if savoring delicious food, his eyes squinting with pleasure: "It’s the fragrance of little bugs escaping from the Web.

"Are they escapees? Saviors? Traitors? Or ’Saints’ deluding themselves?"

The old man’s words carried an implication.

Annan narrowed his eyes slightly.

Justus and the others couldn’t fully understand, only grasping a small part.

Ingrid explained in a somewhat panicked tone, "Professor! Frederick really did enter the nightmare... it’s true! It’s just that he woke up again—"

As she spoke, she gently tugged at Annan’s right pinky, pleading in a quiet voice, "You should say something too..."

"That’s right, Professor!"

Justus’s voice was loud, immediately drowning out Ingrid.

He clamored, "Fred really did fall asleep! It was very dangerous!"

Upon hearing this, Professor Gray merely smiled faintly.

With a smile, he looked at Annan, "Did you have a dream... or did you awaken from a dream?"

"It was first a nightmare, and then he woke up from the nightmare."

Ingrid quickly waved her hands, trying to explain.

Annan, however, remained silent for a while.

He tentatively asked, "What do you think?"

"It’s not about what I think, I want to know what you think," replied Professor Gray slowly.

He gazed into Annan’s eyes, "You want to block out hatred, block out misfortune. But that’s wrong.

"The reason you think that way is because you have the heart of a dragon. A dragon’s heart is powerful, stronger than the heart of a jackal, stronger than that of a human, even stronger than the heart of a lion. But humans don’t have such powerful hearts... Only hatred can grant people lasting strength.

"We are but mortals, not born as dragons."

Annan stayed silent.

He slowly raised his head to meet Professor Gray’s gaze.

He became increasingly certain that the "Professor Gray’s" gray pupils had seen through Frederick, through to his inner essence.

But Justus and the others clearly hadn’t understood.

Justus, on the contrary, was looking at Professor Gray with sparkling eyes— the surface level of the professor’s views sounded "cool" to the young people, but he obviously hadn’t grasped what Professor Gray was truly implying.

This was a cross-dimensional conversation that traversed the barrier between dreams and reality, across decades of time.

"What is your opinion?"

After a moment of silence, Annan asked.

Bound by the restriction "those in the dream cannot reveal they’ve realized it’s a nightmare," Professor Gray couldn’t speak directly to Annan. He could only convey ambiguous intentions to Annan in a roundabout, "not speaking human language" manner.

In other words, it was up to Annan to realize it on his own.

...The last one to see through the fact that he was a dreamer, seems to be the person in the mirror now.

In this case, Professor Gray and Michelangelo seemed not too different...

Professor Gray’s mouth curved into a slight smile.

His gray pupils were filled with mirth, yet they reflected not a single human figure.

He chanted to himself, "Let me enter the grave in peace—you only need to pray.

"Those who are unfortunate will dedicate themselves to the furnace of misfortune. My hands will get scorched and become powerful; my legs will get scorched and become nimble. My pupils will get scorched like glass, enabling me to gaze upon the Celestial Chariot."

"...This seems to be a poem from Winter?"

In the silence, Ingrid spoke up with a guess.

Seti glanced at her with a smile.

"And the rest of it? Do you remember it, Ingrid?"

"—I gaze upon the sun, seeking to seal the light within my eyes."

Annan coldly picked up the line, "But when I gaze upon the sun, all I shed are tears... I am keenly aware that I’m merely a mortal.

"In the crucible of the realm of light, my body is ultimately burned away, my teeth rot, my flesh dissolves—

"And for this, I weep—I am but a mortal!"

In "Nightmare: Wolf’s Kiss," he had heard a fragment of this poem.

Latter, with help from Paper Princess, he found the whole text of the long poem.

It spoke of a madman fervently pursuing the "Celestial Chariot," deliberately tormenting himself with the sufferings of the mortal world, longing to transcend and ascend with the Celestial Chariot into the realm of light.

This knowledge had weight. Thus, many believed it was a hint for those Transcendents who lack talent yet seek the path to divinity.

—Since the Ascension Ritual itself is often likened to the "Celestial Chariot." The process of gods ascending was compared to being "sent into the realm of light by the Celestial Chariot."

What Professor Gray recited was the content from the beginning of the poem.

The madman bids farewell to his parents... confidently ready to embark on a journey in pursuit of pain.

And what Annan responded with was content from about two-thirds into the poem. It spoke of the madman, after enduring many hardships, realizing that he remained a mortal unable to board the Celestial Chariot, and thus he fell into utter despair.

Ritualists generally viewed this as implying that even with strong desires, without stepping into the rank of Gold, one still cannot ascend and would instead destroy oneself.

Annan remembered the contents of this poem because of its name.

The name of the book was...

— "Odes to the Celestial Chariot."