Chapter 231
How bright can one person get when they burned up?
How bright would a flame be to illuminate the entire world?
The people on the ground, the elders in midair falling down from exhaustion, every person looked up at that man burning up in the skies. All of them recognized him, but among all the sect leaders of the Eight Sects, Yi He Ping was a far-too withdrawn existence, neither revealing any part of himself[1], they always only saw this man’s gentle and hard-to-guess appearance.
They had never seen this hot-blooded-youth-like appearance of him burning himself, and yelling out.
That was an incomparable magnificence.
His body burned with this world’s brightest flames, his hands held the last/final longsword, and he went against that god-like existence that was the ancient emperor, to receive that one attack coming down from the skies that would destroy the entire Jade Harmony Pavilion.
With the strike of light expansive, that final strike that Yi He Ping who burned himself up poured in all his life to make was comparable with that one strike made by the formation connecting everyone. The strike of light and silver-white black dragons intermingled and collided in midair, illuminating the entire world with a hazy span of snow-white colour, while all the people’s ears echoed with rumbles.
Bai Yi Qing had blood spilling out from his mouth and nose.
In the end, he was only a cultivation-less normal person. Even if Bei He already used all his strength to protect him, within the pressure of this level of power colliding and erupting, he still got injured.
But he paid no heed to it, he only lifted his head up to observe the battle in the skies.
Yi He Ping.
This man was far too patient, and far too fearsome. From the very beginning, he was amassing power, holding it in until this final most crucial strike. He was not a person afraid of dying, he kept his own life only to throw it out in the most critical moment.
And he succeeded.
The ancient emperor’s second attack did not continue coming down.
The Sky Emperor sat on the throne, and oversaw Jiu Xuan Sect’s world.
Yi He Ping who burned away all of his life fell down from the skies- this man who, in that long of a period, propped up Jiu Xuan Sect and maintained Jiu Xuan’s prestige with many means, after burning away his life, was actually just an ordinary man. After the incomparable resplendence, the figure of him falling down from the skies, was just like a raven that could no longer spread its wings again.
Someone caught him.
The heavens and earth were that quiet.
Jun Wan Bai, Chu Zhi Yuan, He Zhou, Bai Li…… all of Jiu Xuan Sect’s disciples stood on top of the mountain peaks, gasping for breath, with their primordial energies pretty much all dried up, and vacantly stood there. The expression on these arrogant Jiu Xuan Sect disciples, at this time, looked similar to that of small children who were suddenly at a loss—— small children that lost an adult who would always stand to their front, and block the winds and rain for them.
Every child would complain how the adults interfered with too many things, and would be itching to try and leave the adult’s protecting wings to go do some things to prove themselves, to prove that they had already grown up. Every small child liked to say they did not need the adult to mind them.
But in truth, each person would subconsciously watch the adult walking in front of them.
That steady figure standing on top of Jade Harmony Pavilion was their pillar of support.
But right now, the person who would always stand in place and watch them go out, wait for them to return, who would spread open their wings for them, was suddenly gone.
No one was crying.
Everyone just blankly stood there, like they completely had no way of understanding what just happened.
Above Jade Harmony Pavilion.
Yi He Ping used strength to raise his head up and look at the young man half-kneeling by his side. The young man who walked out from the final door was draped in a black robe, and the young man’s eyes was quiet and calm. Yi He Ping was able to feel that distant and yet majestic aura on him.
The young man who was sitting by his side, lowering his eyes to look at him, was already no longer the desolate young boy sitting on top of the high platform all alone from back then, saying how he could not remember anything.
His body was shrouded with a paramount authority, he was this world’s lofty and unreachable existence.
However, he looked to still be that sad.
“Don’t be sad.” Yi He PIng lightly said. His vision gradually turned hazy, and his aura gradually weakened. In his hazy vision, he faintly saw that quiet and desolate young boy sitting on the high platform from back then. Thus, he reached out, like he wanted to pacify something, “Don’t be sad… the master protecting the disciple…… is a worldly principle……”
Yi He Ping’s voice was so soft, it was like a quiet wind brushing over a silent hill.
He wanted to protect.
Wanted to protect the Bai Li Shu who sat down on the star-gazing platform and could not remember anything back then, wanted to protect all of Jiu Xuan Sect’s many disciples, wanted to protect the twelve dynasties’ every single commoner.
He wanted to protect too many things, but he did not do it well.
Just like in the end, Bai Li Shu still draped on the long robes that symbolized the sect leader, and walked into the underground nine black doors. Everything looked like a journey of futility. However, he still wanted to make an effort to tell his own disciple, and tell him…… there was no need to be sad, there was nothing to be sad about.
In this world, the master protecting the disciple, was originally a worldly principle.
This master was pathetic, with no way of protecting his own disciple, he could only send his own disciple up to the battlefield, but within the range of what he could do, he similarly did his all to protect his own disciple.
Don’t be sad, this is his duty.
Yi He Ping’s hand fell down, and his eyes vacantly watched the black, gloomy skies.
Jiu Xuan Sect turned into a span of silence.
Above the skies, the Sky Emperor sitting on the throne within the imperial city no longer made any attacks. He watched that slender young man on top of Jade Harmony Pavilion, with his gaze carrying that much insanity and grudges- this was the existence that he woke from his long slumber to kill. The sword suspended before the throne slowly fell down, and the Sky Emperor gripped the hilt.
The final battle that would determine everything, was destined from a very, very long time ago. It would only unfold between them, and once that person walked out from the final black door, all the irrelevant attacks would of all already be meaningless.
A fight at this kind of level, no matter who it was, they could only go forth with all their strength, without another thought.
The world was quiet and calm.
Like a soundless funeral.
Bai Li Shu watched Yi He Ping stop breathing.
Bai Li Shu’s eyes were calm and quiet, without anything in them, just like that pair of Heaven’s eyes above the skies in merchant city back then, indifferent, and icy.
He watched Yi He Ping die, like he was watching a complete stranger die.
Yi He Ping’s voice fell upon his ears, yet seemed like it was separated by a very long time, a very long distance, carrying a very surreal tint to it. Sad…… he was unable to understand the meaning of this vocabulary, this word seemed like a completely unfamiliar thing to him.
It was only at the time Yi He Ping’s hand hung down, that Bai Li Shu felt there was some fluid slowly falling down along his cheeks.
Was it rain?
He lifted his head up, and watched the gloomy skies.
Some hazy, distant memories flew by his eyes. There was a fragmented, hazy image- he only saw within a dim world, a big rainstorm connected the heavens and earth together. The rain was that strong, like it was to wash away everything cleanly, leaving nothing behind.
“It should be raining now.”
Those images seemed like they were separated by a distance, obscure, and unclear, but faintly, Bai Li Shu seemed to feel like he was standing right in that rain, lifting his head, looking at something.
Thus, he spoke.
His voice was calm, without any joy or sorrow.
Once his voice fell, a big rainstorm suddenly came down. Up in the heavens and down in the earth, there was icy-cold rain everywhere. That big of a rainstorm heavily washed the world away, washing away all the bloodstains, washing away all the filth, about to rinse away everything cleanly, leaving nothing behind.
A cloudless rain, is called Heaven’s tears.
From a very far distance, Jun Wan Bai lifted her head up, and looked at the thin young man on top of Jade Harmony Pavilion, then suddenly recalled the time at Yan Men Prefecture back then.
At that time, they came out from underneath Yan Men Prefecture, and the skies similarly came down with an unforetold big rainstorm. The rainwater came down from the skies, hitting the young man draped in white robes. The white robes were veiled with a layer of faint light, while rainwater futilely washed away at it. The Bai Li Shu of that time held a gold longbow, and when the rainwater fell onto the bow, it vaporized into white and hazy steam.
He quietly stood in the rain just like that, slightly lifting his head up, looking at the rain.
Jun Wan Bai asked him, what he was looking at.
He said, to rain without clouds, is called Heaven’s tears.
At that time, Bai Li Shu’s voice was very light, carrying an unfathomable sorrow to it.
Was it like this?
Jun Wan Bai suddenly wanted to return to that time, and ask Bai Li Shu, was it like this? A rain coming down without any warning whatsoever, was called “Heaven’s tears”, but what was Heaven in sorrow for? Was it because the skies was mourning?
Was it like this?
The young man standing on top of the high pavilion whose air already turned completely unfamiliar, was distant like he stood in another world, like he was the embodiment of the world’s will, incomparably majestic, and also incomparably unfamiliar- icy, and yet apathetic.
But, why did he say it should be raining?
Is it because you were secretly actually in mourning?
Jun Wan Bai reached out and caught the icy rainwater falling from the skies, and recalled Half-crazed Li walking together back then, with his face strangely also damp.
The rain fell down quietly. In this moment all over the twelve dynasties’ lands, it was raining with a never-before-seen big rainstorm.
Within the rain, everyone was silent.
◈◈◈
Bai Li Shu extended his hand and lightly closed Yi He Ping’s eyes.
He stood up.
The rain fell down, then fell onto his black robes, but his surroundings seemed to have a faint light there, so the rainwater could only futilely wash around. Within the rain, Bai Li Shu lifted his head up, and looked towards the suspended imperial city in the skies.
At this time, a strike of lightning suddenly passed by the entire stretch of skies.
That strike of lightning illuminated the heavens and earth, illuminated the young man in swirling black robes standing on top of Jade Harmony Pavilion, illuminated his apathetic, icy, seemingly-empty pair of eyes, and also illuminated the snow-like longsword in the Sky Emperor’s hands up in the skies.
In this instance where the world was a pale white colour, Bai Li Shu left the Jade Harmony Pavilion, and the Sky Emperor stood up from his throne.
The final battle, finally began.
[1] 不显山不露水- literally, not revealing mountains nor leaking water.
Chapter 232
The imperial city cast from black stone stood in the skies tens of thousands zhang high. That was a majestic castle that exceeded human imagination, definitely not something that human civilization could create. Within the never-ending rain, it cast down a shadow that covered over the lands in the towering canopies. In the era of Chaos tens of thousands of years ago, it was precisely this kind of city that symbolized paramount authority that eternally and unfallingly surpassed the clouds, with people prostrating within its shadows.
The living beings and everything in the land of the twelve dynasties all felt that ancient existence’s return.
Mountains and rivers, cities and beasts.
The entire world came down with a big rainstorm, and everything- those with life, those without, all prostrated. Two waves of similarly exceedingly majestic wills spread over the entire land, in front of this kind of power, everything was an ant.
The ruler of the era, the final ancient emperor, the Sky Emperor.
His hands held the longsword that killed a million fog raptors back then, while the space surrounding him emerged with warping. Rainwater fell into his imperial city, knocking onto the rigid stone, with the sounds gathering into a grand performance. The bronze throne behind him was engraved with the authority of the heavens(?), and the blood-red cloak dyed with countless sinners’ blood.
Of all the emperors, he was the existence that wielded the authority of massacre, where the life of all blood dyed his cloak red.
The rain fell down, sliding down from his bloody red robes, and when it fell down, it already turned red.
In this area several tens of thousands of zhang high up, separated by a thick, heavy endless curtain of rain, the Sky Emperor and another person was remotely across from each other.
In the dim and gloomy world full of rain, everything was far off, only remaining with two people remotely opposite from each other.
“We finally meet, we long should have met.”
The Sky Emperor gripped “Jue’s” handle, and walked down from his bronze throne.
At the central axis of the imperial city was an extremely broad road, and he stepped on the sturdy central road. The rainwater coming down from the skies gathered in the center of the imperial city, flowing around like a river. The Sky Emperor’s bloody-red robes hung straight down, and behind the robes, the river gathered from the rain was dyed red, just like a bloody-red carpet spread open just for him.
Separated by the heavy curtain of rain, on the tops of the blue canopies tens of thousands of zhang high, the young man was suspended within the rain.
The rain unfolded a majestic prelude for them- they were like enemies destined to cross each other in a play, separately placed on two ends of a stage. At the moment before the battle started, they were like old friends in a meeting, yet both sides’ swords were already brandished from their sheaths, and their eyes only remained with the killing intent and hatred for the other that would only cease in death.
Silver lightning rapidly drew by between the two, illuminating the two people’s face all clear and bright.
The youth donned in black robes did not have any expression on their face, their pupils were clear like ice, and also as indifferent as ice, without anything in them. He was suspended in a place slightly higher than the imperial city, indifferently observing the Sky Emperor walking down from the throne, stepping on the central axis of the imperial city, just like he was watching not one of this world’s strongest existences, but an old object destined to be erased.
That was a gaze like time itself.
In front of time, there was no love nor hate- it would not have compassion, it would not sympathize, nor did it ever possess resentment. Time never hated any person, never hated any existence, it only silently moved forward, never without pause, it would not stop the decay brought by today because of yesterday’s brilliance.
“I hate your gaze very much.”
The Sky Emperor slowly turned the edge of the blade, and a cold light started flowing around on his sword.
“Because it would make me constantly recall……”
The Sky Emperor certainly was the most violent and most insane of the ancient emperors- in the previous moment, he was speaking like old friends meeting again, and in the next, he was already stepping over the rainwater that was flowing like a river, bursting with a quick rush, rushing towards the youth suspended in the air, with the substance-like killing intent sweeping along with his red robes.
“—— that we are only tools used to write destiny!”
The Sky Emperor’s roar echoed throughout the skies, carrying that much hatred and that much rage.
Tens upon thousands of lightning burst on top of the skies at the same time, like the big gates to hell had been opened, and the mad snakes and dragons that had been locked up for a long time all swarmed out in an instant. Inside the shadows of the black-stoned imperial city, countless bronze-armoured cavalrymen swam out, spread open their black wings, and then together with the Sky Emperor, rushed towards the youth suspended in the skies.
This was the battle of the end!
The lofty emperor had brought his bronze cavalry and personally stepped into this apocalyptic battle!
Towards the archaic, fixed destiny, the outraged emperor let out his roar!
The hideous, terrifying truth revealed its haze-like figure within the emperor’s rage. That the most terrifying truth of the era. Legends say, time circulated without ever changing since old, and the eras were just like a slowly spinning mill, mercilessly crushing through everything.
Who knew of the origins of the ancient emperors?
Who knew just what existence bestowed Kong Jia of the white riverbanks the power to resist the Savage [era] in the very beginning,?
It was those eyes that invisibly oversaw life and the lands!
It was those Heaven’s eyes!
About ninety thousand years ago, on these lands, there was no life. Only black rocks and red fires existed together on the lands, with the world in a span of silence. The invisibly existing will within the world felt this land needed life, needed a mass of colour, and thus, the crude beasts appeared on this land.
The crude beasts became the world’s favoured existence. They were strong, the creation of primeval times, and so, their entire bodies were covered with the aesthetics of strength and the primitive. Their natures were ruthless and cruel, thus, they killed, they fought day after day, and the lands were dyed by the blood, and all around was chaos.
Thus, that invisible will of the river of destiny and history wanted to establish a new order on the land- hence, on the banks of white waters, Kong Jia who was originally a mortal obtained the favours of the ancient will. That shapeless, yet genuinely-observing will allotted a small amount of their own authority to some living beings, and allowed them to create the new order to rule the lands.
The person who obtained divine authority walked out of the white banks, and ended the primitive beasts, and since then, the lands no longer had never-ending battles, and the black dragons and gold crows could no longer casually allow floods to overflow the lands, and let the fires burn for thousands of miles.
Heavenly pillars were then erected loftily, symbolizing a new era, a new order.
Those existences conferred with authority, they were called “ancient emperors”!
They were originally this world’s favoured ones, tasked to build up a new era, a new order on these lands! Tens of thousands of people submitted beneath the Heavenly pillars, abided to their established laws, and everything turned orderly and neat, with the sparks of civilization burning up on the thick soils.
“Conferring to us power!”
“Conferring to us authority!”
“Then depriving us of our glory!”
“Driving us to our deaths!”
The Sky Emperor howled, and unleashed the rage gathered from the tens of thousands of years.
The archaic emperors eternally took up residence in the empty imperial cities, and lonesomely sat on the icy throne cast from bronze, maintaining paramount prestige, eternally lonesome, and eternally still. All that was in their eyes, was only the army that was as silent as iron. They were on top of the Heavenly pillars, guarding over the skies, protecting the order they established.
But what did they get?!
What did they get!
Before him, the ancient emperors died off ignorantly, and at the time they fell, they didn’t even know just what it was that wanted to strip them of their lives. Only the three emperors who remained up until the era of Ten Thousand Immortals finally discovered something.
The so-called ancient emperors, were only tools that that invisible will used to manage this land.
Just like the crude beasts of the Savage Era, their births flourished only because this world felt like it should have life. And once the world felt the crude beasts turned chaotic, and felt like it was the time to establish order, the ancient emperors would then appear. They long should have understood everything from the destiny of the crude beasts!
The dominion of the crude beasts from the Savage Era was able to erased off without any hesitation whatsoever.
Then, once time flowed and the world’s mills turned to the next era, the will above the world would naturally take them as the new chaos without any hesitation, and then kill off and erase them.
They were only tools used to govern this land!
What a pitiful, laughable destiny!
The Sky Emperor brought his bronze cavalry and rushed towards the skies, over to the quietly suspended youth watching him go insane.
The youth’s black robes were like the colour of the deepest ink in this world, while he watched the large army coming towards himself.
“Do you guys see?”
Bai Li Shu asked. His eyes were calm, like an eternally-still sea, completely unlike the gaze a person should have. It was like he did not hear the Sky Emperor’s question at all, and paid no heed to the Sky Emperor’s fire of rage. But when he spoke up, his voice was light, and his tone even carried a bit of the solitude and desolation of the young boy on the high platform.
“It’s raining.”
Faced against the large bronze army, Bai Li Shu spoke like this, like it was a no more ordinary encounter between old friends, and a no more ordinary casual question.
Tens of thousands of droplets of rain shrouded over the heavens and earth. The rainwater fell down, and penetrated the nearly several thousand-ton bronze armour.
A very shocking scene was being played out in the skies- the bronze cavalry following the Sky Emperor out of the city suddenly slowed down, like they were fixed in the skies. The rain passed through them like passing by an illusion, and after being passed through by the rain, the figures of the cavalry turned dimmer and dimmer.
Just like there was someone slowly erasing this army that was once enough to destroy an entire Jiu Xuan Sect.
Completely erasing them from this world, leaving not even a single trace any longer.
The Sky Emperor never felt his own cavalry was able to be of any use against this existence that once conferred them authority. He was an emperor who was personally going into the battlefield, and so, he brought his bronze cavalry, gripped his longsword, and left the throne that belonged to him.
He did not turn his head back, he did not go see that army that was erased from the world, he was up high in the skies, making the one strike of judging destiny towards the existence who once conferred to him authority.
The Sky Emperor was an ancient emperor who was in charge of massacre.
With an imperial sword named “Jue”!
He was born wielding the authority to judge everything. And right now, he pointed the blade that judged everything towards the existence who controlled destiny and history. This was a scene that had never happened in the era. Between the heavens and earth, there was finally someone making a challenge and howl towards that world’s wheel.
Chapter 233
The youth draped in robes slightly bent over, and looked down at the Sky Emperor heading towards himself from a high place.
The “Jue” that ruled[1] over everything made the orders to all in these skies to “kill”, and in an instant, the air turned into countless icy knives. The rain that fell from the skies turned into countless icy-toned spears, and fell down from up high towards the suspended youth.
The world seemed like it descended into madness. Everything was carrying out the same order, and that was to kill the youth suspended up in the skies.
This was an ancient emperor’s power- the former ancient will conferred the world’s authority to them, and so they became the owners of the world. They naturally had the authority to order the entire space. The spiritual energy in the air submitted to the Sky Emperor’s will, and transformed its nature in and instant- all the spiritual energy in the land of the twelve dynasties gathered together, and formed into countless silver dragons circling and dancing around.
The white dragons hovered in the skies high above, rushing towards the quiet youth one after another.
This was an unprecedented battle of the era, this battle was betting with the entire era’s fate.
Everything on this ground turned into unnecessary ants and dust at this time, be it the people or animals, everything, within the intensely turbulent power in the skies, shivered and prostrated to the ground. They lifted their heads up, and were only able to see the silver light drawing past like meteors in the skies, wilfully sweeping up a mad tide in the vast skies.
Against the attacks coming from all around and gathering together, be it from the skies or down from the earth, Bai Li Shu finally moved as well.
His black robes swept around. The ancient symbols once formed from gold and silver threading long faded away at some time ago, with his robes floating around with the universe’s constellations.
The black robes seemed like another sky- that boundless sea of stars behind the nine black doors was contained in his robes, and when he moved, the entire span swept along with him, all boundless and vast.
Bai Li Shu reached his hand out, and gripped his hand in the air.
“Blade of the Skies[2].”
The ice-like eyes shrouded with a lofty prestige, a prestige that soared above this space. Within this land’s uproar, Bai Li Shu spoke as such. His voice was calm, yet carried an archaic, irresistible power.
Along with the fall of his voice, the curtains of the skies were torn apart.
The blue canopies, by it’s actual and genuine meaning, were torn apart!
A bunch of incomparably brilliant light—— even brighter than all the silver dragons formed from the twelve dynasties’ spiritual energy—— descended down from outside the skies like a rainbow. That line of light came from outside this space, came from the high, distant and obscure starry skies outside this space. That was the light of the universe’s constellations.
That line of light that came down with force of shaking the world, was held in Bai Li Shu’s hands, and formed into a longsword.
Blade of the Skies.
The figures of the array of stars finally appeared in a much higher stretch of skies. After the Sky Emperor’s imperial city formed, a boundless ink-like shadow flooded over the skies, making the people unable to see even a single star. And yet at this time and moment, those seas of boundless and mysterious stars shined with an ancient summon, and reappeared on top of people’s heads.
This was an odd and also insane scene.
A world full of rainstorms, a world full of silver dragons, yet the sky emerged with countless arrays of stars.
Bai Li Shu gripped the Blade of the Skies and rushed down, colliding with the Sky Emperor without a bit of concession.
The authority to this space was once conferred to ancient emperors, thus, the control the ancient emperors had towards this space was above any person- he was the supreme tyrant. But Bai Li Shu was the ruler of a much higher place- all the skies. He came to take back the authority that was once given out, but since this space was ruled and controlled by the Sky Emperor, he tore open the canopies, and summoned the power of the boundless stars above the heavens.
If one said that the ancient emperors were the monarchs of the countries on the ground, then Bai Li Shu was the ruler of the divine country up in the skies!
The battle erupted tens of thousands of zhang or even higher above the skies, exceeding the limits of people’s visions.
The people lifted heads up to try and look, but only saw the boundless river of stars circling about above the skies. The river of stars cast down an endless light, and then formed into an inexhaustible sword. The world full of fierce winds and rainstorms intermingled with that light from the river of constellations like dragons and snakes, and every time they collided, it was like the world shook.
They could not see the two figures battling at all, and could only see continuously erupting light like stars perishing and suns dying off.
The battle was already very far away from the ground, but the fluctuations from the battle came down from above the skies, shaking the entire world along with it.
The deep ground layer seemed like it shattered and collided along with the battle up the skies. In some ancient mountains, there was burning lava continuously spurting out from the ground without any warning, rushing towards the air. And within the big rivers, the waters slowly rose, and brought up giant waves. Above the great vast seas, monstrous apocalyptic waves swept up, while the eternally still sea of ice in the far-north lands continuously broke apart, and giant glaciers continuously collided together on the sea, then shattered together, forming into innumerable crystalline crumbs.
Above in the skies and down on the earth, the world seemed like it was about to fall.
Above the skies.
Bai Li Shu and the Sky Emperor separately retreated a distance that to normal people, could be called quite far away. The Sky Emperor descended on top of his black-stone imperial city, and stepped at the core of the very center of the entire city. The city’s streets lit up one after another just like a star chessboard, and power gathered into the Sky Emperor.
Bai Li Shu stood in the air His hands held up the longsword named “Blade of the Skies”, with the body of the sword continuously having droplet-shaped lustre sliding down along it.
But those were not water droplets.
The sword in his hands was congealed from all the skies’ stars- the lustre that slid down on the sword’s body like water droplets, were the perished constellations from each collision.
But Bai Li Shu’s face still did not have any expression to it whatsoever. His eyes were still indifferent like the surface of ice, so one could see just what kind of state he was in during this battle from his face at all. Except, on Bai Li Shu’s robes, the light from those vast seas of stars intensely transformed, like it was enduring a very big burden.
On the other side, the Sky Emperor stood in the imperial city.
The Sky Emperor’s bloody red robes got torn up quite a bit in the battle just now, the imperial sword already appeared with quite a lot of decay, and the blood on his face mixed with the rainwater, slowly sliding down.
And yet, he was completely unfeeling to it, and laughed out loud.
“So it’s like that, so it’s like that!”
It was like he discovered some terrifying secret, some hard to imagine truth. Thus, he laughed out loud. The laugh was that tyrannical and insolent, carrying a hysterical madness to it.
“You are only a newborn! You were long already injured! You, too, paid the same price! So it’s like that!”
He laugh out loud, with his face pretty much twisted together.
He finally realized a bit of something- standing before him, was not the ancient will that possessed complete power at all. After going through the era of Chaos, the ancient entity that once bestowed them power created his own form on the lands, and that was the Bai Li clan family head who suddenly appeared.
But against the entire vast era, against the entire endless river of time, Bai Li Shu was only a newborn existence! His power was not complete!
Back then at the white-watered banks, the ancient emperors bestowed with power divided the “order’s” authority, hence Bai Li Shu would hide his own identity in the beginning, and borrow the Eighteen Clans’ aid to retrieve the authority he turned over. However, when the ancient emperors fell, the curse they made with their lives made him pay a similarly heavy price!
The severance of the era of Ten Thousand Immortals, for Bai Li Shu who was “order”, created the biggest wound!
At present, Bai Li Shu’s power was not complete, he was long already injured! He simply relied on the power of the stars behind the black doors, forcefully recovered himself, and went to battle with him.
“Since it’s like that——”
The black-stoned imperial city erupted with a boundless light.
The city burned up.
A magma-like inferno flowed on the black-stoned city’s streets, and covered over the entire archaic city- the fallen White Emperor’s power was flowing within the imperial city. Back when the White Emperor completely fell, he used his own power to protect the Sky Emperor, and this last bit of power had always been hidden in the city’s core very carefully by the Sky Emperor.
And now, he finally summoned the power belonging to the White Emperor.
The black-stoned imperial city was covered by scarlet flames, and burned in those scarlet flames.
This was an all-out attack. The Sky Emperor personally burned the imperial city that symbolized himself, and drew out that power from the Heavenly pillars preserved within the imperial city. The imperial city that lost its foundation turned into ashes inch by inch within the scarlet flames, just like all the power was returning to the Sky Emperor once again.
He abandoned all the glory and brilliance he had as an ancient emperor, and put all he had into this battle of vengeance.
The bronze throne suspended in the air was also melting. The bronze gathered into the Sky Emperor’s “Jue” after melting, and the imperial sword shrouded with the radiance of bronze.
The era of Chaos was also called the Bronze Era, and now, the longsword in the Sky Emperor’s hands seemed to be condensed with this ancient period’s past glory.
The longsword turned into a bronze one.
The Sky Emperor’s face revealed a hideous smile. He flew out with a speed that exceeded all limits of the imagination, and carried the raging fires burned from the imperial city, and rushed towards Bai Li Shu standing in the air.
“Since it’s like that……”
“Go die!”
He roared, with his voice just like the radiance of the era of Chaos erupting out.
Bloody and fiery, bronze, cruel, prestigious, vengeful.
He was wrapped in all of this, and rushed towards the silent youth in the skies.
Just like an incomparably brilliant sun.
“You are right.”
Bai Li Shu gazed at the final attack coming towards himself like an intense sun. His pupils cast with that brilliant flame, and in that instant, it was like the unyielding ice in his eyes finally melted down. His face seemed to emerge with the expression of the youth sitting on the star-gazing platform back then watching the overturning clouds, with that faint solitude and melancholy.
“I certainly have been injured since long ago.”
At a time long, long ago, the light and fire of the Bronze Era covered over the lands, and the emperors’ prestige was present everywhere. They ruled over the vast lands, just like the scorching sun in the skies.
When will the times die, what can the thick earth store.
The people prostrated on the lands, and let out their grievance and pleading.
[1] Here, you finally know which term “Jue” is derived from- 裁决. To judge, rule.
[2] For clarification. The specific term being used here is 诸天, for “the entire sky” or all the divine as explained before. There might be a bit of confusion in regards to the overlap between the ‘skies’ and the ‘world'(天地) in which lies in the ancient emperors’ domain of rule, but the world is technically ‘between the heavens and earth’. The word for ‘world’ has never implied the inclusion of stars, and that which is beyond in the universe. Hence, you can interpret it as being ‘诸天’ here, and as a domain beyond the control of ancient emperors.
Chapter 234
Let us ask the divine being above the skies to come end all of this. Under the domination of the scorching sun, the people long could not bear the heavy burden, and lived like walking corpses. Thus, invisibly, the ancient will felt that he had made a mistake. He should not have handed authority to a numbered few. Answering to the people’s calls, the lands appeared with a youth.
The youth had no father nor mother, and did not know where he came from.
He stood on the lands, muddle-headed like an ignorant child.
He seemed to know about many things, but also seemed like he did not know about anything at all. He looked all around on the vast, boundless lands, unknown where his place of belonging was. When he looked up at the blue canopies, the boundless sea of stars was familiar yet distant. He was an ill-adapted alien.
He vacantly walked around. In the very beginning, he could not speak, and did not understand many things either.
The youth walked into the place where the insurgents lives- they asked him who he was, asked him where he came him, but he did not know at all. They thought he was a rebel who failed in seizing the ancient emperor’s power, and lost his memories, hence, they helped him build a house. He lived among them, and watched them extend their hands out, help each other, and mutually lift each other up within the arduous rebellion. Even if they were discomposed from head to toe, they would continue to smile at each other.
Then later on, the ancient emperors’ punishment descended on these weak little rebels.
He lifted his head up, and saw the skies emerge with lofty apparitions. In that instant, he seemed to have heard a voice inside say, you have to kill them.
Thus, he drew out his sword.
He protected this group of people who should have originally died in the divine punishment, and at this time, understood the meaning to his own existence.
—— He came to kill the ancient emperors.
But why did he have to kill ancient emperors?
When he looked all around, and saw a small child who once gave him water fall into the pools of blood, he thought he understood the truth. Just as these people thought, he originally was one of them. He had a deep and intense hatred for the ancient emperors, therefore, he had to kill them.
The elder who survived propped on a cane and walked over to ask him, our family head has died, we have no leader anymore, are you willing to become our family head?
He accepted.
Since then, there was a person on the lands, called Bai Li Shu.
He took himself as the family head of the Bai Li clan, he carried a longbow, and walked over the barren lands, used any means possible, travelled near and far, all to kill those lofty rulers.
But along with the fall of every ancient emperor, and the ancient authority being taken back bit by bit, his memories also slowly recovered, and he finally gradually approached that absurd truth. In that instant the era of Ten Thousand Immortals was severed, he briefly understood everything, and also very quickly lost all his memories.
He finally knew.
He, was actually…… that so-called order.
His arrival was to end everything of the old, and establish a new system.
At the time the era of Ten Thousand Immortals severed, the one who received the biggest injury, was him, the order.
He was actually frail, broken, and seriously injured. He had forcefully gathered the power behind the black doors, all to meet the Sky Emperor who had two Heavenly pillars as support head-on.
But…… what of it?
“The old is fated to decay, the new is fated to be built.”
Bai Li Shu’s pupils faced the sun-like Sky Emperor who was closely approaching him, and lightly spoke. In this moment, his face was illuminated by the glows of the flames, so pale it was almost transparent.
All the stars on his black robes quietly disappeared.
Then, a gold longbow silently appeared in his hands—— starting from when the battle erupted, he kept this longbow and did not use it, just for this final moment.
The Blade of the Skies then melted in Bai Li Shu’s palm, and congealed into a incomparably brilliant long arrow. This was a long arrow formed from all the sky’s stars, one would not be able to find an even more magnificent, resplendent arrow all throughout time.
Once the arrow was put on the bowstring, the time in Bai Li Shu’s surroundings seemed like it slowed down countless times in that instant. He stared the Sky Emperor’s rage-filled face in the flames, and slowly pulled open the string. By Bai Li Shu’s side, a golden fire started silently burning up, even more dazzling than the Scarlet Flames the White Emperor left behind.
As though in this instant, he also became a new sun.
The longbow named the “Setting Sun” was pulled open by him, and the long arrow formed from all the skies finally left the string.
Within the skies, all was silent, only remaining with that most dazzling, most brilliant one arrow of the era.
Endless flames, gold-coloured flames spread open above the skies, just like a big overturning sea. At this moment in time, the canopies of the heavens had been ignited. All the old, decaying matter all burned up within this golden flame.
No one could see what the situation was in the skies.
The canopies of the heavens were incomparably brilliant at this time- the big rainstorm suddenly stopped, no sound of thunder nor lightning, only left with a boundless, vast, golden flames. As though it would burn to the ends of the world, constantly without a stop.
After some time, the gold flames in the skies started falling down like rain.
At this moment, the land of the twelve dynasties all sunk into the same surreal dream.
Within this rain-like falling flames, the remaining spiritual energy and demonic aura in the heavens and earth all completely disappeared, all the ghost realms in the corners retreated back, and the world returned to a clean, pure span of clarity.
The flames fell onto the bodies of the dynasty’s army donned in black armour, and all the soldiers’ armour silently disappeared, while the blades and swords in their hands quietly turned into countless specks of light, slowly rising up like fireflies, disappearing in between the skies like a nightmare that finally ended.
The flames fell onto the weary and tired immortal sect disciples, and all the gruesome wounds closed up with a speed that could be seen with the naked eye- as long as one’s breath still remained, they would wake up once again in this warm flame that did not burn them.
The flames fell onto the magma spurting out from the ground, and the magma started slowly retreating, returning to the deepest parts of the earthen layer; the flames fell onto the lands burned by the magma, and the cracked surface of the earth returned to its usual appearance, with faint new sprouts budding from the soils; the flames fell onto the overturning seas, and the surface of the seas slowly calmed down, no longer sweeping up giant waves that could reach the skies.
A very drawn out, long-standing nightmare, in the continuously drifting down golden flames, finally ended.
◈◈◈
Bai Li Shu stood within the air, with his figure close to being an illusion.
His power continuously spread out, and enveloped the lands of the twelve dynasties.
Order should not have emotion.
Heaven did not have emotions, nor would history have it either.
But he would.
In the end, he still bore selfishness, bore love, bore hate, bore grievances.
He would have it.
So, just let it be.
The injured would be eased of their wounds, the weapons and armour that would be swung towards others, used to kill each other, would melt and disappear. From then on, the flames of war on the lands would be pacified, no more bloodshed, and no more fighting.
He is not Order, he is Bai Li Shu.
He wanted to see everyone safe and soundly live on.
[See] the mountains and rivers peaceful, no flames of war, and no blood.
His power gradually seeped away. All the authority that was reclaimed diffused into the heavens and earth, used to repair this world already riddled with many wounds. Bai Li Shu’s figure gradually turned transparent, and by the end, he looked in the direction of Jiu Xuan Sect one last time, then completely disappeared from the world.
The flames finally completely faded away, and the skies turned back into an azure blue.
No imperial city, no Sky Emperor, and no figure of the youth.
A dull longbow fell down from the skies.
Ye Qiu Sheng walked over, and picked it up.
Jiu Xuan Sect.
Jun Wan Bai, Chu Zhi Yuan, Bai Li, He Zhou…… all of Jiu Xuan Sect’s disciples blankly reached out, all to catch the golden flames drifting down from the skies. The flames spun as it fell, like a continuous, surreal dream. And they, were in the most gentle and beautiful place in the dream.
They caught the gold flames.
The flames were that warm.
Carrying an aura they were familiar with.
Just like, they could see that slender, white-robed figure slowly walking over from the mountain peaks. That figure that eternally stood to their front, straight like a longsword That person was always silent, yet always calmly stood to their front.
All of a sudden, Jiu Xuan Sect’s disciples cried with a face full of tears.
Chapter 235
The era of Ten Thousand Immortals, in that year the “Separate Governance of the South and North” was broken, completely ended.
The later historians then re-indexed the division for the eras- in the turbulent battle with the Three Emperors, the era of Ten Thousand Immortals did not actually end. The era of Ten Thousand Immortals’ actual end was in that battle where all the Heavenly pillars were destroyed, and the final ancient emperor, the Sky Emperor, had also completely fallen.
That one battle was called the “Battle of the End”.
The family head of the Eighteen Clans of Old, Bai Li Shu, faced off the final ancient emperor, and was victorious in the end. And after the “Battle of the End”, all extraordinary power in the lands faded away, and since then, the twelve dynasties had no immortals nor demons- the long era of the Ten Thousand Immortals was finished just like that, the mythical era starting from the era of Chaos completely ended. The sparks of technology was thus born on the lands, “man-made” replaced “works of nature”, and the era belonging to the countless ordinary people finally launched off.
In the domain of historiography, just what exactly happened in the final year of the era of Ten Thousand Immortals, was always a topic that the historians debated about incomparably heatedly.
The historical matters of the era of Ten Thousand Immortals carried a very distinct tone of an era of mythology, confusing and indistinguishable.
For example, why would all the weapons suddenly disappear in the Battle of the End. And after the immortal sects lost their extraordinary power, the dynasties, with Bai Yi Qing as the leader, did not take one step further towards the immortal sects, and did not completely erase the existence of the Eight Immortal Sects. Admittedly, on one side, there was the reason that all the weapons disappeared, but this young emperor, Bai Yi Qing, was similarly hard to ignore in the making of the decision.
But why did he do it like this? Logically speaking, Bai Yi Qing had a deep grudge against the immortal sects.
After the Battle of the End, the dynasties’ army that lost their armour and weapons dispersed under Bai Yi Qing’s orders, and returned to their hometowns to farm. The agricultural economy vigorously developed as it was no longer restricted by the immortal sects’ ownership of land, and in the end, under the stimulation of Qi Qin dynasty whose commerce was comparatively more flourishing, gave birth to the rudimentary form of a commodity economy.
And the youngest emperor, Bai Yi Qing, after promoting the form of Qi Qin dynasty’s imperial power and governance being separate, in one early morning of hazy big fog, only brought a guard named Bei He and left the palace, and since then, had his whereabouts unknown.
Ten or so years later, the twelve dynasties appeared with a historian named “Jiu Shu” who compiled a very detailed book on the historical matters of the era of Ten Thousand Immortals. It recorded down the events of the immortal sects in great detail, their writing was extremely considerable, and at the same time it described the immortal sects’ negligence, it also recorded the various efforts the immortal sects made to protect the lands, of which, was a rarely-seen detailed historical materials concerning the final battle.
The later historians had always been debating, whether this “Jiu Shu” was Bai Yi Qing or not.
If so, why would he spare so much effort to write a considerably fair history book for the immortal sects?
In the era of Ten Thousand Immortals, there were many complicated characters, and Bai Yi Qing was considered one of them.
And inside the immortal sects, the people full of contradictions and complications were similarly many.
After the “Battle of the End”, under the lead of Ye Qiu Sheng, Jun Wan Bai, Liu Wu Yan, and other leading characters in the young generation of the immortal sects, the immortal sect’s people who were willing to leave the sects and return to their hometowns took off their long robes, changed into ordinary clothes, and since hid within the crowd of people.
But many more disciples instead, under the leadership of the group of young leaders, retreated north into Huang Ling dynasty.
Huang Ling dynasty’s lands were vast and of few people- though it was called a dynasty, in reality, unlike the Central Plains, they did not build up a complete state institution. After the immortal sect’s people entered Huang Ling, with the assistance from Yu Shou Sect, they settled down, and brought the Central Plains’ culture, economy and farming methods over to the Huang Ling dynasty that was in the trade of animal husbandry.
They formed into a new nation.
On the other side, the south’s Jin Tang, South Chen, and Qi Qin dynasty did not make advances on this action, just like both parties tacitly abandoned war at the same time. In truth, approximately hundred years after the Battle of the End, the twelve dynasties’ lands was called “National Peace”, as though there was a kind of invisible, ancient law restricting this flame of war to burn up.
Within the immortal sects, Jun Wan Bai’s identity and origins had many points of suspicions, Tai Shang Sect’s Ye Qiu Sheng was furthermore very possibly Jin Tang dynasty’s prince, while He Huan Sect’s Liu Wu Yan and Jin Tang’s aristocratic family, the Cloud’s Liu family, had a complicated relationship. After re-obtaining the control over the northern regions, Jin Tang’s emperor obstinately retained the original appearance of Jiu Xuan Sect’s ruins, and did not allow for others to destroy it.
And after Jin Tang had stabilized its interior, Jin Tang’s emperor disappeared without a trace just like Bai Yi Qing.
But someone said, after that, the main Jiu Xuan Sect’s ruins appeared with a youth guarding the mountains. Each early morning, he would sweep the fallen leaves step by step of the long stone stairs. In the morning fog, they would walk over each mountain all alone.
All of this pointed Jin Tang’s emperor’s identity at Jiu Xuan Sect’s former Qian Range Head Representative, that rumoured deceased Shen Chang Ge.
Along with the historians’ research, Jiu Xuan Sect’s fairly inconspicuous Sect Leader Yi He Ping, gradually turned complicated.
This refined and amiable sect leader who seemed to be most unremarkable of the Eight Immortal Sects, took charge with steadiness, and under his command, Jiu Xuan Sect retained the greatest prestige among the immortal sects. The most dazzling time in his life should be before the Battle of the End, when he relied on his own power to forcefully take on the ancient emperor’s attack, and won over the most crucial time for Bai LI Shu.
And yet, Yi He Ping’s entire life appeared particularly contradictory.
When he was young, he was full of boundless vigour, then suddenly restrained all the splendour, and started turning inconspicuous. There were two of his three junior brothers who, due to some reason, seemed to have a falling out and became enemies with him, but also still carried out all of his orders. Behind many things, there seemed to exist with this person’s shadows.
However, the most complicated in the era of the Ten Thousand Immortals, and also the most mysterious person, was still Bai Li Shu.
Just who is Bai Li Shu? Why was it that all the ancient emperors highly likely fell to his hands? His origins, his past, only left the people of the later generations a countless amount of mysterious question marks.
Furthermore, many traces indicated that after the era of Ten Thousand Immortals, Bai Li Shu who was the immortal sects’ leader had a high possibility of having a shocking partnership with the leader of the dynasties, Bai Yi Qing. And their partnership, in the very end, prompted the situation after the “Battle of the End”. There was a high possibility that Bai Yi Qing advocating abandoning the pursuit of the immortal sects in the end, was related with Bai Li Shu.
However, the two should be complete opposition, why would they enter a partnership?
After the “Battle of the End”, all of the dynasties’ armies weaponry disappeared, the immortal sects’ wounds all recovered- this all seemed to come from Bai Li Shu, as though he was protecting the immortal sects. However, since he was able to use his own power to influence the entire lands, and was even as powerful as a miracle, why did he not help the immortal sects that was about to be defeated at that time to turn the tides around, but instead only kept their lives?
Just which side was Bai Li Shu standing on?
A succession of questions and countless contradictions gathered and was embodied on that era’s people.
That was a mad, despairing era, with flames of war, schemes, grudges, and love and hate. Countless men and women in the tragic era loved each other, hated each other, stood in different sides in their decision, and in the end, brought up historical events filled with mania, complications, and contradictions.
The people of that era burned with a demeanour the people of later generations were unable to imagine.
That was the sorrow of the generation, and also the generation’s madness.
Later on when many famous historians gathered together and compiled a complete history book, once they got to this period of time, a noble and prestigious, famously rational old scholar used an emotionally wrought brush stroke to write:
The final year of the era of Ten Thousand Immortals was a time that truly shook people.
The fires of war that gestated over a long period of time erupted out within the blood, the world was flooded with unease and chaos, the new order and old order alternately fought, and the ancient glory seeped out its archaic splendour from within the gaps of time.
And in that era, those such as Bai Li Shu, Yi He Ping, Bai Yi Qing…… who possessed shocking talent, jointly played with the world as a chessboard, and underwent a game and fight concerning the twelve dynasties’ destiny. In this war at the final year of the era, they were enemies, but also companions.
At that time, the immortal sects found back their mission and glory within the long time of being astray. The dynasties, after endless accumulation and struggle, burst with the voice of the mortals, and the ancient clans’ long-standing destiny ended in that instant the imperial city fell.
In the end, a new era and order was born.
Chapter 236 (End)
Canoes drifted about, while white walls and grey tiles mingled together.
“Big Brother, can you still not remember?”
A girl with hair tied into two small balls held a peach-coloured oil paper umbrella, and stepped over the slowly flowing rainwater on top of the limestone slabs with a tap tap tap, and tilted her head while looking at a young man holding up another oil paper umbrella, quietly walking.
Zhou xiao’Qi had met this big brother by coincidence.
That day was just like right now- the skies were grey and gloomy, and coming down with rain. The small town in Jiang Nan was all a haze in the rain. The people of the small town was long already accustomed to this kind of rain that would go on for several months. The people slowly opened umbrellas in the rain, while canoes slowly passed beneath the stone arch bridges. Gentle-looking women would sit at the bow of the canoes, watching the blooming ripples, while the young men who liked her would stand on top of the bridge, and toss down flowers towards the small canoe.
The chaos from the north stopped for a few years already. The past wounds had been gradually smoothed out, and in the gentle and placid Jiang Nan rain, the people slowly continued on with their happy and auspicious lives.
Zhou xiao’Qi’s parents died under the blades of the Hu troops on a rainy day.
Thus, every time it rained, she would always open her umbrella and walk around, just like her parents had returned to her side in the rain again.
It was at this time, that Zhou xiao’Qi met Big Brother.
In the dim and dark streets of limestone, a youth dressed in white robes quietly stood against the wall, hanging his eyes down, looking at the rain slowly flow past the limestone slabs. The young man was prettier than all the people she had seen before.
But unbeknownst why, at the first glance she saw the young man, Zhou xiao’Qi’s nose ached, and a strange sadness instantly surged up inside her.
That kind of unspeakable sadness was just like when she saw her parents slowly falling down in front of her back then, with the fearsome Hu troops’ scimitars glaring with blood.
But, why?
Even though she did not recognize this big brother at all.
She ran over, then tried her best to lift the umbrella up high to block that rain for the big brother. Big Brother lowering his eyes all quiet was very pretty, but it also made people extremely sad. Zhou xiao’Qi was still young, she did not understand why Big Brother looked to make people that sad, so she lifted her courage up and pulled at the big brother’s sleeves.
The big brother looked at her.
“Big Brother, why don’t you come live in my home?”
The words so naturally came out of her mouth, but her brain was all a mess, not understanding anything at all. Once the words came out, tears strangely came out. Zhou xiao’Qi pulled at the young man’s sleeves while sobbing intermittently, and spoke in a disorderly way.
“My grandpa can tell stories, he can make chairs, he is an incredible carpenter. I can listen to you tell stories, otherwise, I can tell stories for you too.”
The young man lowered his head and quietly looked at the little lady who cried for some unknown reason, and after a long time, lightly said:
—— Alright.
Hence, Zhou xiao’Qi had this world’s best-looking big brother.
However, Big Brother forgot who he was. He did not know what name he was called, and did not know where he came from. Zhou xiao’Qi held up a bowl and said, that’s alright, this will be the place you return to, Big Brother. Grandpa will also save food for you.
The old carpenter leaned on the bamboo chair, knocked the little lady with a tobacco rod, and said to just obediently eat.
And then, at the time the young man was about to go out, the old carpenter suddenly slowly called out to him, and said, “The room at home will be empty either way, another person makes it more lively.”
After finishing, he turned around, and slowly walked back.
The young man held up an umbrella, stood at the door, looked at the small little courtyard, and after a long time, slightly smiled.
The young man could not recall his own name, so Zhou xiao’Qi originally thought, why not give Big Brother a name. However, the old carpenter knocked on her head, and asked her if someone called her Wang xiao’Liu, Li xiao’Wu, would she be okay with it? Zhou xiao’Qi propped her face up, thought about it, then shook her head.
Then since then, they very rarely mentioned the matter of the young man’s name.
Zhou xiao’Qi then started calling out “Big Brother”, “Big Brother” here and there.
Today, Zhou xiao’Qi suddenly asked the young man if they recalled anything yet, because she saw a young person in the small town who had been separated with his family while seeking refuge. He took residence in the town all by himself, but today, his family found him, thus, the young person left.
Zhou xiao’Qi suddenly got worried.
If Big Brother’s family found him, would Big Brother leave?
Would there still be someone to tell her various kinds of stories in the future? Those ancient sects, those stories of immortals that seem to be from another world. That sect that would always appear in Big Brother’s stories, was that brilliant, the sect’s people were that lovable. But unfortunately, every time Zhou xiao’Qi asked, what that sect was called.
Big Brother would say, I can’t remember.
Just like this, one would tell a story with incomplete names and places, with time also all over the place, with people whose names were always forgotten. One would seriously listen, just like everything the other person was saying was the truth.
Zhou xiao’Qi felt like these were the happiest days in the world.
But, what if someone found Big Brother?
Would Big Brother leave?
She suddenly turned worried.
The young man held up the moon-white oil paper umbrella, and half-knelt in front of Zhou xiao’Qi. He looked directly into Zhou xiao’Qi’s eyes, and reached out to stroke her hair, “Don’t worry, I won’t leave.”
He won’t leave this place.
The small town here was quiet and peaceful, the people loved each other, and days slowly flowed by like a small creek, with no flames of war, no parting, no death. He did not remember his own name, and did not know of his own past, but strangely, it was as though there was a voice telling him.
It was you yourself who wanted to come here.
This is what you wanted.
Zhou xiao’Qi tilt her head and looked at him, then excitedly smiled. Big Brother would always keep the promise he makes.
“Xiao’Qi, go back first, Big Brother will come back in a bit.”
The young man stood up, and fixed the umbrella for Zhou xiao’Qi.
Zhou xiao’Qi said okay, then stepped on the piled up water and ran back. Grandpa said that the auntie next door gave them a chicken today, and made some chicken soup for them to drink.
The young man stood in the rainy alley, watched Zhou xiao’Qi’s figure disappear in the alley, then turned to look in another direction.
In the alleyway, a young scholar-dressed person walked out. The scholar’s hands held a gold longbow, that longbow was suffused with a faint gold colour in the gloomy rainy skies, as though it was a gold fire. The scholar’s face carried a weary expression, just like he walked through a very, very long journey, and trudged through many places.
The young man looked at the scholar.
The scholar did not have an umbrella. He stepped over the accumulated water and slowly walked over to the young man.
When he walked up to the young man, he lifted his hand up, and passed the longbow to him, “Yours.”
The young man did not take it.
He hung his eyes down and looked at the longbow, then after a very long time, he lightly asked.
“Who am I?”
The scholar looked at him, and slowly smiled, “Your surname is Bai Li, given name, Shu.”
Rain fell on top of the oil paper umbrella, like a distant song.
END