"Zhaochan, have you thought this through? Once you take this step, there's no turning back," Xu Huai sighed and asked.

"Yes, Master, I've made up my mind," Zhao Chan said firmly. He was going to find her and ask her why she abandoned him, leaving only a letter before leaving. Hadn't she promised him that she would teach him what love was?

"Zhao Chan, why are you doing this?" Senior Brother Zhao Hua said regretfully from the side. His junior brother, him, and their master had depended on each other since childhood. Now, his junior brother was going to leave the monastic life. He felt a thousand regrets in his heart.

Zhao Chan straightened up, his eyes resolute as he kowtowed to Xu Huai and Zhao Hua, saying, "This disciple is unfilial for betraying Hanshan Temple. I am sorry for Master's many years of teaching and for Senior Brother's many years of care. After this parting, I do not know when we will meet again. I hope Senior Brother will take good care of Master for me. Zhao Chan bids farewell to Master and Senior Brother."

After bowing deeply three times, Zhao Chan grabbed the bundle beside him and walked down the mountain without looking back.

He was going to find Wen Su, alive or dead. He couldn't believe she had just disappeared without a trace, even though she had said she liked him too.

He hadn't even learned what love was before she left him. He didn't want to believe it, and he didn't want to believe it.

As Xu Huai watched Zhao Chan's figure recede into the distance, he couldn't help but sigh, "Amitabha, may your disciple Zhao Chan be safe and well, let go of his attachments, and attain Buddhahood on the spot."

My child, once you've had your fill of wandering outside, you'll come back and obediently become a proper Buddhist disciple.

Xu Huai thought that once Zhao Chan couldn't find Miss Wen, he would return to Hanshan Temple in despair. However, he underestimated Zhao Chan's love for Wen Su and his persistence.

As Zhao Chan walked down the mountain, he held up Wen Su's portrait and asked if anyone had seen Wen Su, but the answers he received were all negative.

Zhao Chan—no, once he left the temple, he should be called Gongsun Gua—this was the name he chose for himself. His encounter with Wen Su, and the fact that Wen Su was his love tribulation, were all known to his master through divination. He chose this name to tell the world that human will can overcome fate. This was his warning to himself and his expectation for the future.

He believed that if Wen Su heard his name, she would surely understand its meaning.

Gongsun Gua searched city after city, traversing countless mountains and rivers, but still found no trace of Wen Su. His hope slowly turned into hatred, resentment, and doubt. Did Wen Su truly love him? If she did, why was she hiding? Why wouldn't she come out to see him?

Gongsun Gua traveled a long way and endured many hardships, but he was unwilling to give up. When he was penniless, he would find a couple to test whether their relationship could withstand the test. On the one hand, this allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of the taste of love; on the other hand, novel things could attract more attention and he could earn a considerable income.

At first, he thought love was simply two people liking each other and getting together. However, after testing more and more people, he discovered that love was full of lies, deception, concealment, and even scheming. His perception of love seemed to be less and less like what he thought, and Wen Su's feelings for him gradually faded from his consciousness. He was increasingly disturbed by the feelings of others.

In an experiment, two people who were clearly in love hurled insults at each other over a small amount of money. Gongsun Gua, witnessing their vile behavior, simply took a knife and killed them both.

From then on, the Buddhist disciple who was revered by thousands became a eccentric ghost doctor who was hated by everyone. No one knew how he appeared or who he came for.

Susu, why did you abandon me? What did I do that you didn't like?

In the fifth year of Gongsun Gua's search for Wen Su, he became increasingly paranoid, becoming neither human nor ghost. He had been practicing in the temple for so many years, and he had recited the word "let go" countless times, but letting go was the most difficult thing.

He couldn't understand why Wen Su left without saying a word. He didn't know what he had done wrong. At first, Gongsun Gua kept reflecting on himself.

Later, he gradually went mad. He began to disbelieve in love and frantically tried to verify whether love existed. Sometimes he wondered if he was different from normal people and if Wen Su was just a figment of his imagination and that she had never actually appeared.

Without Wen Su's patient guidance on what love is, his views on love were gradually influenced by unhealthy relationships. Gongsun Gua became fascinated by watching a couple torment each other under his drugs, forced to choose between profit and love. He tirelessly conducted experiments. Later, he grew dissatisfied with this method of drug control and began to study the formations Wen Su had taught him. He started using formations in conjunction with drugs to test lovers, and more and more lovers died under his formations and drugs.

Yan Wan and the others looked at the crazed Gongsun Gua, and Jing Xi sighed, "He's really too abnormal. Tsk tsk tsk."

"Do you think we might also be trapped in the formation by him in the same way?" Yan Wan asked doubtfully.

"Logically, that's how it should be, but why haven't we hurt each other while we've been watching his past with Miss Wen Su as bystanders? Why haven't his tests on lovers been applied to us?" Jiang Bai said, equally puzzled.

"Could it be that he wants to find out the truth about what happened back then through us?" Ji Mosheng guessed.

"His formation has the ability to rewind time?" Yan Wan suddenly asked, as if she had discovered the reason why Ji Mo'an had approached Gongsun Gua.

Going back in time and reversing the flow of time, that's probably how Ji Mo'an avoided the plot.

“Yes, that’s a possibility,” Ji Mohan said calmly, as everything happening now was shattering his understanding.

"Is their story about to end?" Shangguan Wei'er asked.

"It should be. This formation is about to break." Jing Xi looked around and saw that the scenery was starting to blur. It must be because the formation had been used for too long and couldn't hold on any longer.

"Well, let's wait patiently. The reason we can't get out now is probably because the story hasn't come to an end yet," Li Shang said, patting Shangguan Wei'er's head.

——

"You wretched child, what are you doing? How dare you commit patricide?" Old Master Wen looked at Wen Lu, who was pointing a sword at him. His second son had always been cowardly, but now he dared to kill his father. Was it because he had always been too convincing in his act that he had never recognized him, or was he really like that?

"Father, look, if you had just handed over the Wen family's power to me, you could have enjoyed your old age in peace. Why would it be a matter of us, father and son, fighting each other?" Wen Lu gently gripped the hilt of his sword and moved a little closer to Old Master Wen. He had already dismissed all of the old man's attendants. Now that he had come this far, the old man had to die today.

"How can you do this? How can you face all the years of guidance I've given you?" Old Master Wen's chest heaved with anger.

“Teaching? If you hadn’t been so indecisive and spent so long choosing a successor, would I have ended up like this? You are kind-hearted and don’t want to hurt anyone, but what’s the result? Everyone is dissatisfied with you. Hesitation leads to trouble. Father, after all this time, don’t you understand this principle?” Wen Lu said with a somewhat frantic expression. Clearly, he didn’t want to end up like this either; it was Wen Lu who forced him.

Old Master Wen opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but then felt that Wen Lu made sense. He was wrong. He didn't want to see his descendants fighting for power, so he hadn't decided on a suitable successor. It was all his fault. He had wanted to avoid hurting anyone, but in the end, he had hurt everyone.

"Father, don't make things difficult for your son, please go, okay?" Wen Lu said in a gloomy and deranged tone. After saying that, he plunged his sword into Old Master Wen's heart. Old Master Wen stared at Wen Lu with his eyes wide open in death. Wen Lu pulled out the sword, laughing until tears streamed down his face.

Finally, he became the head of the Wen family.

Wen Lu stepped forward and took out the letter from Old Master Wen's chest. It was a letter that Wen Su had written to Old Master Wen to let him know that he was safe. After taking it out, Wen Lu handed it to the person behind him and said, "Here, this is what you wanted. The handwriting on it is Wen Su's."

"Thank you." The man took the letter and left quietly.

The man returned to Hanshan Temple. After entering the room, he took off his mask and breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that he was Xu Huai.

Without a moment's rest, he walked to his desk, took out a piece of paper, and began writing something, stroke by stroke, on the letter he had just taken from He Wenlu. A quarter of an hour later, looking at the letter on his desk, he laughed triumphantly. Perhaps he could keep Zhao Chan here.

After finishing the letter, Xu Huai leisurely poured himself a cup of tea, waiting for the ink to dry. Soon, he would be done. In a good mood, Xu Huai closed his eyes and counted the prayer beads in his hand.

Tonight, let everything end, let everything get back on track.

Before long, the ink on the letter had dried. Xu Huai picked up the letter and nodded in satisfaction. Then, he carefully folded it and put it in his pocket.

He glanced up at the hourglass; the time had come, and he had to go and settle everything.

"Look, look, I don't think this old man is a good person," Jing Xi exclaimed. She had originally thought that the old man was kind and benevolent, but it turned out that it was all just a disguise.

"Let's hurry up and catch up!" Shangguan Wei'er said excitedly. "Exciting!"

Just as he was about to open the door, Xu Huai paused, turned around and looked in the direction where Jing Xi and the others were, and said out of the blue, "Since you are here, you are guests. Please do not interfere in the affairs of others."

Then, Xu Huai opened the door and went out.

“We might not have been sure before, but we can confirm now that this old man can see us,” Jing Xi said with certainty.

"But why does he keep emphasizing that we shouldn't interfere?" Yan Wan asked疑惑地. Could it be that Xu Huai is not from this world? Or has he obtained some kind of opportunity or glimpsed some heavenly secret?

"Let's follow them and see," Ji Mohan said in a deep voice. All the current guesses are just guesses, but one thing is certain: following Xu Huai will definitely lead us to the answer.

The group followed Xu Huai to the back mountain, where he entered a cave. Ji Mohan paused, and everyone stopped.

"What should we do? Should we go in?" Li Shang asked, looking at the somewhat eerie cave.

"Wait a moment," Ji Mohan said in a deep voice. Xu Huai was a monk who had spent many years in the temple. He might have been imbued with Buddhist qualities, which was why he could see them. He dared not go in rashly, fearing that Zhao Chan's target was them, these "guests."

In this eerie world, they decided to proceed with caution. They didn't go in, but waited outside for a while. Finding no movement inside, they discussed going in when they noticed more people arriving from the foot of the mountain.

As the person approached, Jing Xi exclaimed in surprise, "Wen Su, what is she doing in the back mountain?"

Wen Su quickly walked to the vicinity of the cave. She looked around warily, then glanced at the cave in front of her, and went in with a death-defying spirit.

"What should we do? Should we go in?" Jing Xi asked anxiously, her heart pounding with worry as she desperately wanted to see what had happened.

Yan Wan was also a little anxious, and Ji Mosheng suggested, "Brother, let's go in. Only Xu Huai can see us, so nothing should happen."

Just then, the sounds of fighting came from inside the cave. Ji Mohan gritted his teeth and said, "Let's go in and take a look."

When Yan Wan and the others went inside, they saw Xu Huai pierce Wen Su's heart with a sword. Jing Xi wanted to run up and stop him, but she couldn't save Wen Su. Her hand passed right through Wen Su's body, and she could only watch helplessly as Wen Su died before her eyes.

Jing Xi angrily picked up her sword, intending to stab Xu Huai to death. No matter how hard she tried, Xu Huai remained unharmed, and the sword could not hurt him in the slightest.

Yan Wan stepped forward and pulled Jing Xi back, saying, "Jing Xi, don't try. You can't kill him." They couldn't interfere with anyone or anything within this formation.

"Oh no, this formation is about to collapse," Jiang Bai said, watching the surroundings slowly disappear.

"It seems we can get out now," Ji Mohan said, watching everything slowly disappear.

The master of the formation knows everything he wants to know, so the formation should disappear.

At that moment, an aged voice echoed from the void, a voice choked with sobs and filled with sorrow.

"Oh, I see!"

As Yan Wan walked towards Ji Mohan, she tripped over a stone. Looking down, she seemed to discover something and gasped in surprise, covering her mouth. Then, she looked in Wen Su's direction and saw Wen Su smiling as she stroked the Buddhist scriptures on the wall, her eyes filled with tears.

"Wan'er, stop daydreaming. We're about to leave," Jing Xi said excitedly, pulling Yan Wan along.

"Okay," Yan Wan said, her voice trembling and choked with emotion.

If they hadn't gone through this ordeal, they might never have discovered that their deep love was hidden beneath the veneer of worldly conventions.

All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, dew, and lightning; thus should they be viewed.

Amitabha.