Chapter 101 The World Turns, Time Presses On (Part Six) A thousand years have passed...

The cicada didn't actually know which direction to go.

She simply followed the position of the rising sun.

They kept walking until they were completely exhausted, then stopped to rest for a while until dawn broke and the east turned white. Then they adjusted their direction and continued on their way.

She didn't feel particularly tired; her body felt very light. This was probably because her internal organs had been shattered and mostly drained away as blood. She mobilized all the vital energy in her body, gathering it at her Mingmen point, hoping that this last bit of strength might be enough for her to find the masked man and question him about the truth of everything, and whether the white figure she had glimpsed was related to him.

Si You is dead.

Most of the time, the cicada is unaware of this.

Not being able to see him is like being in a poor and desolate place, unable to see his face, smell his scent, or feel his warmth, but in my heart I know that he is there.

In a cabin nestled in a forest where the pines rustle like the sea.

A person leans lazily against the window, watching the clouds gather and disperse in the sky.

So most of the time, she didn't feel sad, she just missed him as always.

The world outside Puyang was indeed as her mother-in-law had described: green mountains and clear waters flowing endlessly, moonlit nights and flowery mornings repeating themselves, fish and cicadas swimming about, stopping and starting. Seeing the golden sunset on the horizon would remind her of him, seeing the smoke rising from the mountain streams would remind her of him, and when two wild sparrows chirped and played on the branches, she would subconsciously say to the air around her, "Look, that scruffy one looks just like you."

The only responses she received were the gentle breeze and the rustling of leaves.

Xia Zhu suddenly remembered that she was the same way during the time her grandfather passed away. She went to school, ate meals, and took walks on the playground as usual. She wanted to have a good cry in some free time, but she found that the more she tried to squeeze out some tears, the more ridiculous and funny she felt.

She thought her emotions had become so indifferent.

Until one day she came home from school.

She pushed open the iron gate to the yard, the chains clanging. The stool with a broken leg sat forlornly under the eaves; no one sat on it waiting for her anymore. Everything in the house was the same: the firewood was chopped and piled in the shed, two skinny chickens paced back and forth, occasionally clucking. She even found a bag of dry, hardened loose bread in the refrigerator—her favorite childhood treat.

Grandpa would go to the market in town, and when it got dark, he would slowly walk back, tapping his pipe.

But Xia Zhu knew that she would never see him again.

Finally, in the pitch-black, lonely room without any lights on, Xia Zhu sat on the stool, buried her head in her knees, and cried until the world seemed to end.

From that day on, she truly realized that she was all alone.

Yu Chan was like a rag doll filled with blood clots, covered only by a thin layer of skin. She dragged this broken body and walked with difficulty. The surrounding environment became familiar. Xia Zhu heard the gurgling of the water and knew that this girl was probably about to finish her life.

I wonder if she understands the meaning of this word now.

The setting sun cast its glow on the mountainside, painting the world in crimson. A crimson stream meandered behind Yu Chan, its vibrant color like the fading light of sunset. But she didn't notice, simply walking with her head down along the water's edge, her steps growing lighter and lighter, as if she were about to take flight.

For a moment, Yu Chan couldn't remember anything. She didn't know why she was there or where she was going. A smiling face flashed before her eyes. His skin was as white as snow and his eyes were light blue. He rarely went out into the sunlight, but when he was facing her, his eyebrows and eyes were always curved and the color of his mouth was more beautiful than that of a peach blossom.

"You're here." She saw him waving at her and said softly, "Why did you go to such a far place? I've been looking for you everywhere."

The path beneath her feet was completely blurred, yet she continued walking mechanically. Over six thousand days and nights in Puyang flashed through her mind. She heard many people calling her: Si You, her mother, the elder woman, and it seemed there were two other brothers as well.

Sun and Moon Mountain was bathed in a magnificent glow.

She felt a warm spring breeze on her face, and then a satisfied smile appeared on her face.

Xia Zhu saw the shimmering Ruoshui River just a step away, and she tried to call out to Yu Chan but couldn't make a sound. Suddenly, she heard something break, and everything in her vision shook and fell rapidly. Isuzu seemed to have broken free from Yu Chan and fallen onto the grass by the river.

Even knowing the ending, Xia Zhu was extremely anxious, but her limbs were still unable to move. She could only watch helplessly as that frail figure plunged into the golden Ruoshui River, floating down silently like a snowflake in a beautiful spring day.

The setting sun shone on the river, making Xia Zhu's eyes sting.

When Yuchan was still wearing Isuzu, she tried to use her own power to repair the damage by contacting her skin. She tried many times but to no avail. It seems that Isuzu only allowed her to see this past, but did not allow her to participate in it or disrupt the predetermined fate.

She thought Yu Chan would die alone at the bottom of the river, unknown to anyone, but the haggard, aged woman with white hair overnight found her at the riverbank three days later.

The female cultivator sent people down into the river to retrieve Yu Chan's body, but to no avail. It was as if she had truly turned into a snowflake, melting and following the river eastward. She couldn't believe that her daughter, who could freeze a thousand miles, would drown in a river, even though she knew in her heart that the reason she was able to catch up with Yu Chan was entirely due to the bloodstains along the way, each drop representing fragments of her life.

The woman found the Isuzu bell left behind by Yuchan by the river, and at that moment, the expression on her face was just like when Xia Zhu first met her.

A lifeline.

Xia Zhu defined it in this way at the time.

The female cultivator grabbed the fifty bell and shook it frantically, making Xia Zhu dizzy, but the bell wouldn't ring. Thinking she wasn't doing it right, she cut open her palm and dripped her blood in. Then, holding the bell in both hands, she prostrated herself on the ground, crying and praying that the god in heaven could help her, or that the divine artifact could work its magic.

She guessed that the person who gave the bell to the female cultivator had told her that it was a magical artifact that could grant wishes or bring the dead back to life.

In short, things didn't go as planned; the female cultivator cried out to heaven in vain, and her heart was filled with anguish.

Blood tears streamed from her eyes as she gripped the Isuzu tightly and screamed as if in a frenzy.

"Liars! They're all liars! This whole world is a lie! All living things are drowning in a sea of ​​suffering, yet they watch helplessly as they churn and agonize!"

"No...no! There's no turning back now...I don't want anything anymore! I just want my son's life! I just want Yu Chan!"

After saying that, the female cultivator tossed the bell behind her, causing Xia Zhu's consciousness to fall into the water along with it.

Lying on the riverbed, surrounded only by soft sand and swaying water plants, Xia Zhu thought the memory was over. Unexpectedly, in the rising bubbles, she saw the female cultivator returning to Sun and Moon Mountain again.

She changed her usual demeanor and led all the unknown officials of the tribe southward, traversing mountains and valleys in search of smoke and mist, until she finally stopped at a remote village hidden deep in the mountains.

Judging from the surrounding vegetation and mountain topography, one can roughly determine that this place is located in the southwest, naturally nurtured by nature, and filled with spiritual energy.

Xia Zhu saw the female cultivator negotiating with the tribe's leader, a beautiful woman with secret markings on her face. It seemed that she wanted them to hand over something, but the negotiation was bound to end badly.

So she pretended to leave, then sneaked back into the village at night to try and find the thing, but she alerted the villagers.

The other party acted strangely, and was surrounded by many rare and exotic beasts, but unfortunately, their numbers were too small to be a match for the Zhuanxu tribe. The female cultivator had gone mad and her eyes were bloodshot. She was determined to find that thing, even if it meant killing everyone here.

Suddenly, a heavy snow began to fall in the humid mountains, turning into ice as soon as it hit the ground. The female cultivator walked alone in the swirling snow, flicking her wrist to condense ice into arrows, which shattered the human-shaped ice blocks wherever they struck.

Xia Zhu was astonished. She remembered what Ji Wuchou had said about the long-standing feud between the Miao and Man Yun families and Puyang, which could be traced back to tens of millions of years ago. This was the reason.

She just couldn't understand what the female cultivator was looking for that could make her so ruthless and heartless.

Suddenly, a cloud of miasma rose up and obscured the figure of the female cultivator in the snow. The wind and snow fell silently, and only a chilling gurgling sound came from the mist.

Xia Zhu couldn't see anything, but the images brought to her by Isuzu made her feel as if she were there, as if she were participating in it. Suddenly, she heard a splattering sound, and a liquid like rain was splashed in front of her, realistically appearing as if it had splashed on her face. Xia Zhu blinked and realized that it was blood mist, not raindrops.

As the mist dissipated and the ice melted, she was shocked to find that the female cultivator on the ground had long since been decapitated, with broken walls and limbs scattered in all directions, eerily resembling some kind of mysterious jigsaw puzzle.

She herself was clearly unaware of what had happened, her face contorted in a deathly rage as she stared at the heavens.

The god Zhuanxu died a violent death in a foreign land.

It turned out to be a fulfillment of a vow made many years ago.

A six-petaled snowflake fluttered down from the sky, gently landing in the female cultivator's fluorescent blue eye. In her eyes, Xia Zhu saw that initial time, the past flowing and reappearing.

A baby's cry came from inside the house, and the people guarding outside began to stir. They were all eager to see if the third person born in the chief's house would be a girl.

The Zhuanxu tribe has recently been afflicted by a strange plague. The disease is extremely vicious; once infected, one's entire body will rot and one will die. The shamans and healers have racked their brains but have no cure. The chief's prayers to the heavens from the Jianmu tree have been like throwing a stone into the sea.

The people lived in constant fear, hoping that auspicious omens would descend from heaven to help Zhuanxu break through the gloom.

A moment later, the elder woman came out looking worried. She sighed repeatedly with a solemn expression, saying that the baby boy was born abnormally, with a frightening black spot between his eyebrows, which might be suspicious.

Everyone was shocked and looked at each other in dismay. In addition, the epidemic had broken out just the day before, and the baby boy with black spots on his face was born at this moment. They had no choice but to carefully consider the connection between them.

The seeds of doubt take root as soon as they touch the ground, and a few words of watering can nurture a towering tree of rumors.

The female cultivator was overjoyed and solemnly named her child Si You, unaware that the rumor that the child was a plague demon had swept through the entire tribe like a whirlwind. By the time she returned to her post, the rumors were already out of control.

Forced by circumstances, the mother had no choice but to send her newborn child to the uninhabited Qiongyin Mountain. She traveled back and forth between the two peaks day and night, handling her affairs as usual during the day and returning to the mountain at night to take care of her son.

Like every mother, she raised Siyou with her own flesh and blood, hoping that he would grow up healthy and happy, regardless of gender, ability, or even whether he would be a great man or a great woman, as long as he could move freely in the world.

But a look of melancholy always lingered between her brows. She feared that the name of the plague demon would forever haunt Si You. So every night when all was quiet, she would come to the edge of the cliff in Qiongyin, humbly kneel and kowtow three times and nine times, praying that the gods in heaven could help her drive away the plague and let her son Si You grow up like a normal child, falling and getting up among people.

Spring comes and autumn goes, the sun and moon never stay still, and Si You can never leave his cage.

A year and a half later, the female cultivator gave birth to another daughter, and the plague miraculously disappeared on that day.

The clansmen cried out with tears in their eyes, saying that Yu Chan was an auspicious omen for Zhuanxu, a daughter bestowed by heaven.