116. Long Wind (Final Chapter)
The cold wind blew and echoed among the mountains, and the shadows of the mountains were submerged in the gray fog.
"Three armies, listen to my order! Fight to the death!"
Shang Changheng remembered that was his last military order outside Luyuan City.
Now he was standing here, with the vast territory beneath his feet representing the peaceful and prosperous times that he had never dreamed of. Even though all this had nothing to do with them anymore, he... still wanted them to take a look.
Take another look at the peaceful and prosperous country.
Just consider it as the fulfillment of the long-cherished wish of these heroic souls who were unable to be reborn during their lifetime.
The people of Luzhou were in a panic, but the formation pattern became darker as time went by.
Granny Liu, who had previously fought with Miao Yuan, did not care about these young men, but directed her attack towards the formation that isolated Lu City from the Heavenly Dao - as long as the formation was broken, the Heavenly Dao would not sit idly by and watch such a powerful evil creature cause trouble!
"Three armies, listen to my orders."
Shang Changheng spoke in a low voice, and the lit array pattern was dimmed by the murderous Yin energy. One after another, pitch-black chains snaked out from his palms, locking all the corpses in place. Back then, blood flowed like a river outside Luyuan City. As time passed, the Cangshan Mountains showed autumn colors again, just like before.
Shang Changheng's expression suddenly changed. He turned around abruptly and looked in the direction of Luyuan.
The iron hooves of the Great Zhou army stepped on bones and blood to fight for the country. Qingling galloped on his horse on the mountain road. He had just learned to ride a horse not long ago, but he was galloping in the thick fog without caring about his life. The marriage contract led them, and Qingling knew where the person he was looking for was.
Everyone follows his own path, but when things get tough, there will always be someone who stands up to defend the truth.
Qing Ling just rushed forward regardless of everything. At the moment when the formation pattern was completely extinguished, a roar like that of a rage came from the black clouds that blocked the moon in the sky!
"retreat."
Shang Changheng's soft voice was drowned out by the thunder.
He had issued orders to retreat countless times, and each time was a choice he had to make. Tonight was the last time, and he would retreat this time to ensure the peace of the people.
As the thunder struck, the chains that Shang Changheng had used to restrain the evil corpses turned into green smoke and dissipated. However, even so, the evil corpses did not struggle. They just stood there straight and were annihilated one after another under the thunder.
Even though they had been dead for a thousand years and had been transformed into evil corpses, military orders were as firm as mountains, and they would face death without hesitation after receiving the orders.
Tens of thousands of acres of thunder poured down from the clouds like a galaxy waterfall. Shang Changheng's figure flashed, and Qingling suddenly tightened the reins. The horse raised its hooves and neighed, and Qingling almost fell off the horse's back.
“Qingling…” Shang Changheng stood at the mountain pass, with thunder chasing him closely.
Shang Changheng's eyes were tender but helpless. He wanted Qingling to stop there, but he saw Qingling getting up from the ground, quickly making a hand gesture with both hands, and countless talismans in the bag he carried with him flew up, emitting a soft white light in the night of lightning and thunder.
"Set up the formation!"
Qing Ling hissed, and the talismans were arranged in order and connected at the end. White light lit up from the ground under Shang Changheng's feet, and array patterns took shape quickly.
Shang Changheng had already withstood three heavenly thunders, and his figure had become illusory due to weakness. However, the gentle array pattern managed to withstand the fourth one and protected his soul which was about to dissipate. This array pattern... was very similar to the one set by Shang Changjun, but it was much smaller, so small that it could only protect Shang Changheng.
"Chang Heng." Qing Ling stood far away. He couldn't get close, otherwise he would be affected by the thunder. He could only smile at Shang Chang Heng from a distance. "You protect all living things and the people. I will protect you. Chang Heng, you said we should have a better ending. I also promised you that I would accompany you to finish this journey. Now is the end of this road."
Shang Changheng was speechless, he just choked up and laughed, "Qingling, my wife... since when did you..."
"Since the first time the sky thunder hurt you." Qing Ling interrupted him and spoke faster, "Chang Heng, listen to me, Pi Zhen can't hold out for too long. I'm sending you away, and you have to wait for me."
"I am here because of you." Shang Changheng's expression was nostalgic and sad. "I have you among all the people in the world, my wife. I want you to live a peaceful life. You can do whatever you want and see whatever you want. Love and happiness are only temporary. You are the most important. My wife...you must live well."
When the nest is overturned, no eggs will be left unbroken. Shang Changheng had witnessed the turbulent times with his own eyes, and he didn't want Qingling to experience the same.
Qing Ling lowered his head and took out a piece of yellow paper and lit it. It was a love letter he had written for Shang Changheng. There were still traces of tears on it. He burned it in the flames.
"I know, I know everything." Qing Ling raised his head with red eyes, "We should have a better ending. You wait for me over there. If you meet an old man in his seventies or eighties in the future, you must not dislike me. Then we can hold hands and cross the Naihe Bridge together, in the next life... the next life..."
He reached out his hand to wipe away his tears, looked at Shang Changheng and said softly: "The wronged soul is lingering, and the Yin and Yang are not connected. Now I ask to summon you and send you back to the netherworld. Shang Changheng - the Yellow Spring Road is open, and you can go southeast."
Shang Changheng stood there in a daze.
Qing Ling looked at him with tears in his eyes and said loudly: "Go, don't look back——"
Qing Ling did not have the Dao Heart to be the core of the formation, and could only rely on the power of the talisman to hold on. Time was running out. Shang Changheng's tender and heavy gaze fell on Qing Ling, and in the end, only pity and infatuation remained. He whispered: "Come find me later, my wife, I will wait for you."
He turned around and raised his foot towards the southeast - with one step, his body was ethereal, with another step, his soul was vague, and with the third step, he had disappeared without a trace.
Yin and Yang have different paths.
Qingling knew that his sweetheart had embarked on a path of no return, and from then on they would be separated by the Yin and Yang and never see each other again.
The rolling thunder turned the thousand years of planning into ashes, the lightning in the sky gradually dissipated, and the mountains outside Luyuan City were covered with scorched earth. A ray of light from the sky split the clouds, and the morning light sprinkled on the earth. A chaotic world was strangled here, and the wind like a wail echoed in the mountains. All the unwillingness, grief, blood, and death were completely blown away, along with Qingling's love for just a few months, and were taken to that untouchable distance.
.
That day, Zhu Lezhi and Miao Yuan found Qingling. The aura of the thousand-year-old evil spirit on his body had completely dissipated, and the bronze talisman concealed his uniqueness, as if he was just an ordinary person.
They didn't dare ask Shang Changheng where he was going, and Qingling didn't mention it either. He just packed his luggage in Luyuan, said goodbye to them, and set off alone.
Qingling is going east.
Having come in a hurry, the return journey was slow, just like the last month spent with Shang Changheng, Qingling walked back slowly.
After the light snow, it was Qingling’s birthday, and they happened to pass by a mountain.
He recalled that day on the top of the mountain when he told Shang Changheng that that was their end of the world. Qingling, sitting in the carriage, tightly grasped the reins and smiled silently.
Thinking about it now, the resentment and fear towards Shang Changheng have long disappeared, and the grief does not seem so deep. When I think of him, I only remember the good things about Shang Changheng. Hatred lasts longer than love, but it hurts more than love. Although he lost his beloved, he feels that his love was worthwhile when he recalls that person.
That's enough.
It was not suitable to travel in winter, so Qingling rented a small house and set out again in the spring of the following year. It took him nearly half a year and he returned to Lincang when autumn was approaching.
Lin Cang still has his house. When he left last year, he asked someone to look after it. Now that Qingling is back, the yard is clean. He can move in after a little tidying up. However, in the bedroom, Qingling made a spirit tablet by hand and placed it there - the spirit tablet of her late husband Shang Changheng.
After settling down, Qingling led his men into Zhanlong Mountain and found the ancient tomb covered by weeds. He wanted to ask people to repair it, but he met an extremely ferocious female ghost there. Several people who followed him were frightened to death. Qingling casually beat the murderous female ghost to death. Only then did he discover that there was an extra skeleton in Shang Changheng's tomb. From the things she carried with her, he found that this woman should be a ghost rider, and she died here as a result of backlash.
But he couldn't let her take over his place, so he asked people to move the bones away and bury them randomly, and repaired Shang Changheng's tomb. Although it was a haunted tomb, there was no body in it. What was buried was the epitaph carved by Qingling himself - that was Shang Changheng's short but heroic and tragic life.
Life has to go on, but Qingling has never gotten over it. He even sometimes feels that Shang Changheng is still by his side, in the dragon pendant on his chest that is no longer cold.
However, ever since the tomb was repaired, word spread about the young master of the Qing family being quite resourceful. Originally, it was nothing, but one day, the youngest son of a pastry shop owner in the city fell ill and was quite strange. The doctor shook his head when he saw the disease. As a last resort, he invited Qing Ling to treat the disease.
Qing Ling knew at first glance that it was an infant spirit that had not yet grown into a powerful one causing trouble. He sent the child away kindly, and the child, who had been in a coma for two days, woke up immediately. From then on, Qing Ling's reputation spread, and the neighbors all knew that this young master of the Qing family was a capable person.
Qingling wrote down all these things and put them into a small booklet, which also included old stories about the Great Zhou. This was his travelogue, but he hadn't finished it yet and Qingling was not in a hurry.
After the fall, Qingling received a letter from Zhu Lezhi.
The old patriarch of the Zhu family passed away, and Zhu Lezhi, who was only seventeen years old, had become the backbone of the Zhu family. Miaoyuan did not return to Wunian Temple, but was still outside punishing evil and promoting good, acting as his angry-eyed Vajra. Last year's flood had long since subsided, and the Xiaohe Village where they had settled had also suffered a disaster. Only a baby girl survived in the whole village - she was placed in a wooden basin and floated, with a piece of cloth embroidered with her name on it.
The girl's name is Zeng Xin.
Qingling put the letter away, wrote a reply, then stood in front of the window, looking at the sky outside for a long time. Finally, he added this incident to his travel notes. He named the travel notes "Miscellaneous Talks in the Wilderness", in which Gu Zhou and Chang Heng were the ones he focused on the most.
King Xiang Chongxiao and the evil spirit Chang Heng have known each other for thousands of years and promised to spend their lives together.
The only thing that I have been unable to write about is the ending. But the story must always have an ending. It was an ordinary day - but not so ordinary. On this day last year, Chang Heng left this world.
Qingling thought for a long time and finally put the last stroke on it - Changheng's soul returned to the underworld.
He placed the paper with wet ink in front of the window to dry. As it grew darker, he took out the small fish lantern, lit it, and then curled up on the couch to sleep.
It started to rain in the middle of the night. The autumn rain came suddenly and woke Qingling up from the couch. He opened the curtains and got down hastily barefoot, but he was still a step too late - the pages of paper in front of the window had been thoroughly soaked, the ink smudged into a ball, and nothing could be seen.
Qing Ling sighed, thinking that there are always regrets in the world and stories don’t have to have an ending.
There was a knock on the bolt outside the yard. Qingling had been asked to go out to check on something in the middle of the night, so he put on his clothes and held an umbrella, walked into the yard and opened the door.
The person outside the door was tall and slender, soaked by the rain, with a gentle smile on her face.
Qingling was suddenly stunned and his hands loosened.
The man quickly caught the umbrella, holding them both in it, smiled helplessly, and said, "I came back a little late, who would have thought it would be a rainy night..."
"You..." Qing Ling touched his wrist with trembling fingertips.
It was actually warm and even had a pulse.
Shang Changheng rubbed his rain-soaked fingertips against Qingling's face and whispered, "I have practiced for ten lifetimes, but the last one was not perfect. I came to the human world for another life. My wife, I am back."
Qing Ling's pale and soft lips moved twice, but only a sob came out, and he suddenly threw himself into Shang Changheng's clammy arms.
——There are often regrets in the world, and stories may not be perfect.
A rain wet the end of a story and became the beginning of another story.
I travel thousands of miles alone with the wind blowing, and I will rest when I encounter a tomb.
——End of text——
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