Glorious God Throne

Before they even reached room 309, they heard a series of wails and lamentations from inside.

“Alas, alas! The Great Way is difficult, more difficult than ascending to the blue sky!” The voice was sorrowful, aged, and deep, as if the speaker had experienced the most tragic blow in the world, finally turning into a long, mournful sigh, “My path is cut off, my path is cut off!”

Peering through the window, they saw a man with long hair and a beard, draped in a bedsheet, standing on the bed, looking up to the sky in despair, his eyes filled with hopelessness.

It seemed as if he was not standing on a hospital bed but at the edge of a towering cliff, about to leap off and end his life.

“Alas, go! I go! My path to immortality is severed in this life. When I am reborn, I must return to the path of immortality!” He gazed deeply at the ground, stepping forward with an air of unparalleled elegance.

With a “thud,” the man fell flat on the floor. Due to the soft carpet covering the ground, he didn’t even get a bump, completely unscathed.

He sat on the ground, lifted his head dazedly, and covered his face, crying, “How merciless is the Heavenly Dao! You cut off my path to immortality and won’t let me die! The Heavenly Dao is heartless, the Heavenly Dao is heartless!”

While crying and cursing, the man climbed back onto the bed and started repeating his “cliff-jumping” behavior, but no matter what, he couldn’t die.

Nurse Xiao Pang’s mouth twitched, and she tried to explain to Bai Yi in the calmest tone possible, “Half a month ago, he had an appendectomy. After returning, he cried and said his spiritual root was ruined and he couldn’t cultivate anymore… and then, it became like this.”

Seeing her utterly exhausted expression, Bai Yi suddenly spoke in a leisurely tone, “I bet he didn’t want the surgery in the first place. Hmm, when his appendicitis flared up, he was probably quite happy. That’s the sign of being at the peak of foundation building, ready to form the golden core if he succeeded in his tribulation.”

“How do you know that?” Nurse Xiao Pang was dumbfounded and couldn’t help but murmur, “Yes, he refused the surgery at the time, saying he was undergoing tribulation and about to form his golden core…”

Bai Yi nodded seriously.

“Exactly! This time, not only did he fail his tribulation, but he also lost his golden core and ruined his spiritual root. With such a huge disparity before and after, think about it—wouldn’t you break down too?”

Nurse Xiao Pang subconsciously nodded along, “Yes, if it were me, I’d also…” Wait, something’s off. It wasn’t a real failed cultivation; why was she empathizing with a psychiatric patient?

…Also, being able to guess a mentally ill person’s thoughts so accurately, don’t you think there’s something wrong with yourself?

“So, the fact that he can be so strong now, just jumping off a cliff in his room without causing a bigger issue, is already quite well-behaved.” Bai Yi finally comforted, “Thinking about it this way, doesn’t it feel much better?”

Nurse Xiao Pang: ???

…Thank you, I feel comforted. You win, I surrender.

Watching the young man who had already walked into the ward by himself, she subconsciously wanted to reach out to stop him. Then she realized that this patient wasn’t aggressive and could be classified as harmless, so she immediately withdrew her hand and silently waited outside.

In the ward, Li Daotian, who called himself “Li Xianke” and was addressed as “Li Xianke” by many other mental patients, was still lamenting and sighing, repeatedly “jumping off cliffs” but not dying, and then began to curse the Heaven Dao for being unkind. At this moment, a voice sounded.

“It’s not you who is wrong, it’s this world!”

The man who was wailing and howling stopped his actions.

“It must be this world deliberately targeting you!”

The man quickly raised his head and looked towards the door.

Bai Yi directly used Pei Hefeng’s words, seeing that the effect was excellent, he continued speaking while walking in, “Isn’t it normal for a genius in cultivating immortality to be envied by the heavens? This might be your destined tribulation!”

“—Li Xianke, it’s been a long time. I didn’t expect not only that your cultivation didn’t advance, but your mindset has also regressed.” He sighed and shook his head, “Can’t you even overcome such a small obstacle?”

“Exactly! The heavens envy talents, this is my tribulation!” Li Daotian exclaimed, his whole spirit revived. He suddenly stood up, beaming with joy, clapping his hands, “It turns out fellow cultivator has returned! Thanks to your timely reminder, I can see through the illusion and eliminate the inner demons. I have a premonition, after overcoming this tribulation, my cultivation will greatly advance, and I will have hope of ascending in the future!”

Bai Yi immediately showed a look of approval.

“By the way, didn’t you already break through the shackles of this world and ascend to the higher realm?” At this moment, Li Daotian looked around the snow-white ward and voiced his doubt.

“Higher realm?” Bai Yi sneered, “What’s so good about the higher realm? If you knew, Li Xianke, you probably wouldn’t want to go. Besides, your chances are slim anyway.”

“Huh? What happened in the higher realm?” Li Daotian got anxious, “Why are my chances slim?”

Seeing him scratching his head, Bai Yi shook his head and sighed in a semi-literary, semi-colloquial tone, “You don’t know, the higher realm is not a land of immortals, but rather occupied by many unworthy individuals. These people, although descendants of immortals, are mediocre mortals with low aptitude. Yet, they recklessly enjoy the rare treasures of the immortals, absorbing a large amount of the world’s spiritual energy, causing the higher realm to be lacking in spiritual energy and gradually closing the path to ascension. Even a genius in cultivating immortality like you will find it extremely difficult to ascend…”

Upon hearing this, Li Daotian pounded the bed and shouted, “Damn it! Such things exist! How hateful!”

“I came precisely for this reason. It’s truly a pity that you have diligently cultivated for twenty years yet cannot ascend,” Bai Yi spoke again, now in a serious tone, as Li Daotian’s anxiety grew, “You, a peerless genius in the path of immortality, have always been deeply immersed in cultivation. Do you have any method to deal with such people, to destroy their spiritual roots, sever their paths, and prevent the depletion of spiritual energy in the world?”

…..

In the hallway, Nurse Xiao Pang, watching the two people having a lively conversation in the ward from a distance, had an expression on her face that screamed: Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing???

…Did she just bring a relative to visit a patient, or did she bring another patient to be admitted?

As she was questioning her life choices, she suddenly noticed someone beside her. Turning her head, she immediately composed herself and respectfully greeted, “Director!”

The director, who had arrived unexpectedly, nodded, adjusted her reading glasses on the bridge of her nose, and cast her gaze toward Ward 309. A gentle smile appeared on his face, “This child has come here, huh!”

“…He used to love chatting with Xiao Li the most. If I remember correctly, he even tricked Xiao Li many times.” She shook her head and laughed, “So mischievous!”

As she spoke, a faint expression of reminiscence and nostalgia appeared on the director’s face, and her gaze towards the ward softened even more.

Seeing this, Nurse Xiao Pang’s eyes filled with curiosity. She couldn’t help but ask, “Director, do you know this child?”

“Of course I know him. Apart from the doctors, nurses, and patients who have joined in the past two years, there’s no one here who doesn’t know him,” the director replied with a smile, like an elder boasting about a well-behaved youngster in the family, “Strictly speaking, this child was actually born in our hospital.”

“Born in our hospital?” Nurse Xiao Pang’s curiosity was instantly piqued.

She wanted to ask more, but then saw the door of the ward open, and the young man walked out while talking to the person inside.

“…This is my meticulously researched manual on cultivating immortality. Study it well when you get back. The secrets of immortality, the wonders of spiritual roots, are all in there!” Li Daotian’s voice came from the open door. At this moment, he seemed much more lucid and normal compared to before.

He handed a tattered notebook directly to Bai Yi and couldn’t help but shake his head, muttering, “Attacking spiritual roots is treating the symptoms, not the root cause, and it’s easy for some to slip through the cracks. I think you should choose my second method and make those losers give up on immortality on their own. The path of immortality is difficult; how could they reach for it? A cultivator needs great perseverance, great determination, to face great terror…”

“Hmm? Face great terror?” Bai Yi’s eyes suddenly lit up, “Make them give up immortality on their own?”

He smiled and thanked him, turned, and left the ward, the corners of his mouth gradually lifting, “As expected, mental patients have a broad perspective. Just chatting with him has really opened my mind.”

At this moment, he noticed the two people in the hallway.

The nurse beside her was just a passing background. His gaze focused mainly on the other person.

It was an elderly woman, dressed in a white lab coat, wearing reading glasses, with a head full of silver hair, and a kind expression.

“Director Grandma!” Bai Yi’s face lit up with a standard, well-behaved smile, “You’ve returned.”

“You!” The old director smiled and pointed at him, leading him towards the director’s office, “You’re still the same, loving to chat with them so much. Be careful not to be led astray.”

“They’re all old friends. It’s rare for me to come back and visit.”

Bai Yi’s demeanor was relaxed and casual.

In the entire mental hospital, the chaotic mental fluctuations from all directions felt like countless hands lifting his skull and crawling inside.

As a result, his mind became a whirlpool of chaos.

Bai Yi’s expression remained unchanged, quite accustomed to it.

“You still say that!” The old director laughed at the memory, “You probably don’t remember, but when you were a few years old, you behaved strangely, often repeating the mad words of those patients and asking bizarre questions. You scared me half to death, I almost diagnosed you with a mental disorder.”

“Later, I realized it was a misunderstanding. It turned out that children naturally love to imitate adults. If someone said that a square was round, you’d think a square was round too. I don’t know when you were led astray by those patients…”

At this point, her voice carried a hint of puzzlement, as if facing an unsolved mystery. “I distinctly remember that the residential area and this side were separated, and I always kept an eye on it. Except for visiting your mother, you were not allowed to come to this inpatient department… I really don’t know when you sneaked over and interacted with the patients, getting led astray! Hearing you confidently talk about cultivating immortality, I was both angry and amused. Luckily, when you grew older and had basic cognitive abilities, I corrected you!”

She looked at the young man beside her with eyes full of affection and teased, “Otherwise, we’d have to keep an extra room in our hospital!”

The chaotic mental fluctuations from all directions, along with the old director’s laughing voice, crashed into Bai Yi’s mind. Laughter, crying, screaming, red, black, yellow, white, chaotic waves rippled through this world.

Bai Yi seemed to tread on the edge of chaos, navigating through a world of disorder and noise with clarity.

He smiled slightly and whispered, “Yes, I have always been very grateful to you.”

“…All these years, it has always been this way.”

Author’s Note: The protagonist’s worldview was shaped by both the mental patients and the director. Without interacting with patients, he was bombarded by mental impacts every day. So when he didn’t understand anything, he mistook the mental patients’ thoughts as the real world. It wasn’t until he grew older that he could distinguish between reality and delusion.

The former gave him a blurred line between falsehood and reality, right and wrong, with no absolute definitions. Hence, he feels detached from the morals and laws that most people adhere to and doesn’t see the necessity to follow them. The latter taught him a normal worldview, universal values, and how a normal person should live in this world, allowing the protagonist to maintain certain principles and boundaries, enabling him to be an ordinary person. In chaos, there is absolute clarity—perhaps he can be considered part of the chaos faction?

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