Chapter 367 The Fifth Star
The changes around Huali were constant.
I don't know how much time has passed—maybe five years, maybe ten.
Gradually, the ripples beneath her feet grew denser. Eventually, they transformed into a surface of water reflecting countless fragments of destiny.
On the water's surface, the blurry light and shadow were replaced by clear yet fragmented scenes—
There are snow-capped mountains, fluttering prayer flags, bustling capital cities, and boundless plains.
There were even some faces that seemed familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen them before.
The scene flashed by, like a disturbed dream. Hua Li, dazed, tried to step forward, but Ao Bai stopped her, "Host, hold on!"
"This is the echo of the River of Fortune; we are about to succeed."
“Not only that,” Luo Shenshu turned the pages, the runes on them lighting up one after another, “this space is also becoming increasingly thinner.”
"Hey, look, Karin!" On the other side, Kota pointed in surprise at the middle of the book page.
Huali turned her head. "This is... a blessing lamp?"
Song Ran and Rong Niang's souls had been reconstituted using the White Bone Grass and the Blessing Lamp. Before entering this space, Hua Li had entrusted them to Rong Xing.
The Blessing Lamp had always been placed inside the pages of the Book of the Goddess of the Luo River, so why did it suddenly start to glow?
Before Huali could think it through, her body suddenly trembled, and the power of the Reincarnation Dial deep within her meridians suddenly emitted a clear fluctuation.
The Burning Heaven Tower and the Luo Goddess Book exchanged a glance, clearly sensing the nameless power as well.
"I understand!" Ao Bai Cat's eyes were filled with excitement and anticipation: "The Four Divine Artifacts are starting to respond, host, quickly check the cards."
Karin waved her hand, and five cards appeared one after another. The fifth star, as expected, shimmered with a faint light!
Everyone stared intently at the scene, afraid of missing anything. But after a long time, the stars still hadn't fully lit up.
Why is that?
Huali frowned, her expression a mixture of confusion and anxiety. "It's better to have no hope, but this uncertainty is really torturous."
The little tower sighed as well, "I miss Zhaozhao and Luochuan." Its big eyes darkened, "Logically speaking, we've already gathered so much luck, and I feel full of power lately, so why are we always just a little short?"
Luo Shenshu thought for a moment, then spoke with a serious expression, “Perhaps... fortune is not water without roots, but originates from all living beings.”
A tower, a cat, and a person, all three looking completely bewildered, said, "Speak human language."
Luo Shenshu: "..."
"It's that although we've collected the 'quantity,' we haven't understood what the cards ultimately represent."
"If it was created in the first place as a form of rebellion, then what was the original intention behind that rebellion? It was to protect and to uphold cause and effect."
Ao Bai suddenly realized, "So, people before could use their luck to fill up the stars, but only with the host, the rules have been changed invisibly."
Karin turned her head. "Isn't it you who changed?"
Ao Bai was stunned, only then realizing that he, a cute little cat, had secretly taken the blame for such a huge mess!
"Of course it wasn't me! I was a premature baby, how could I have those skills?"
The pages of the Luoshen Book rustled. "Perhaps the perfection represented by the fifth star is not the perfection of power, but the perfection of knowledge."
Just as it was about to translate from Chinese, the Reincarnation Sundial within Huali's body stirred again.
The moment the four divine artifacts resonated, they all pointed to the mirror composed of countless fragments of time.
Rosewood brings blessings to the soul.
Right now, what she needs is no longer absorption, but "seeing".
See the weight of each individual life behind this fortune, see what this world, saved by the combined efforts of everyone, really looks like.
Karin stopped resisting, letting her consciousness sink into the fragments beneath her feet, and suddenly disappeared from the spot.
*
"end!"
On the churning, dark sea, words of absolute command burst forth from Yan Xi's lips.
The undeniable power of the law transformed into visible silver ripples, crashing violently into the towering black pillar of energy and forcibly pressing it back onto the sea surface.
"In the last ten years, the dark energy has become increasingly difficult to control." Shrimp Brother's newly changed dress was now tattered, and he gasped for breath, "At this rate, it'll only last another five years at most..."
Yan Xi was about to open his mouth again with no expression when Guan Lan covered his mouth from behind!
"Take a break! Look how pale your face is!"
"Don't glare at me, it won't do any good!"
For over seventy years, he has continuously used the power of words, and even a peak-level expert has approached his limit.
Yan Xi was too lazy to listen to Guan Lan and Xia Ge's whispers about "not being as cute as when they were little," and simply raised her hand to gently brush the stars on her wrist.
Beneath the cold touch lies a burning longing that has never been extinguished for decades.
"Report—Commander Guanlan, the black aura in the northeast auxiliary formation is becoming uncontrollable again, and two groups of the elders in charge have fallen." An anxious voice came from below.
Before Guanlan could speak, Yan Xi's eyes sharpened. Forcibly suppressing his discomfort, his voice was cold and heavy:
"seal up!"
Five years, at most five more years. If she still doesn't come out, he will go to find her himself.
Yan Xi didn't care about life or death in this world; in his world, there was only Hua Li.
However, this time, the black energy only paused slightly, and then a heart-stopping "crack" sound came from its core!
"...What is this?!" Shrimp Bro's voice was filled with shock. "The seal is collapsing? Where?! Demon King!"
Several people simultaneously looked towards another part of the Boundary Abyss. Yan Yue's pupils contracted sharply, before he could even speak—
"boom!!!!"
A jet-black column of air shot into the sky from afar!
*
"Bang—" It landed with a loud crash.
After her consciousness returned to normal, Huali realized that she was not in an illusory passage, but was actually standing on a vast snowfield.
The cold wind, carrying ice pellets, lashed against her face, chilling her to the bone.
"Huh?" Karin was stunned for a moment, then her eyes immediately lit up. "They're out? They're out?"
"Hey! Five hundred years have passed, and I, Old Sun, have finally emerged!! Ao Bai, we..."
The sound stopped abruptly.
There was no one around, only the sound of the wind.
"...Ao Bai?"
"A small tower? A small book?"
No one answered.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, a look of understanding flashed across Karin's eyes.
It seems she'll have to walk this path herself from now on.
Huali took out five cards, straightened her clothes, and without further hesitation, walked forward alone into the wind and snow.
*
Without Ao Bai's guidance, and with no direction at all, they wandered for five years.
She also tried to contact other people, but it was as if there was an invisible barrier between them, and all her attempts were in vain.
And so, with the faint light of fireflies in her heart, Huali crossed the snow-covered mountain ridge and saw a lone eagle circling in the sky.
Wander through the dense, sunless rainforest, witnessing vines strangling giant trees, and then sprouting a bunch of small mushrooms on their rotting trunks.
She seemed to have never observed the world so truthfully and meticulously before.
Five years later, Huali arrived in the bustling city.
Here, she witnessed a little beggar's face light up with ecstasy at the sight of a copper coin, and she also saw the powerful and wealthy weeping in the face of collapse.
The world is really strange.
Good deeds may not necessarily end well, while evil deeds may sometimes go unpunished.
Even so, life can still unleash a tenacious force in desperate situations.
Huali gradually realized that the luck she had collected before was more like collecting unclaimed "energy".
Including the four little stars that Luo Chuan and the others lit up earlier, she seemed to have never understood their true meaning.
In that instant, the scene before Karin's eyes shifted once more.
This time was different from the past; she found herself standing before a familiar city.
"This is... Fufeng City?"
Huali's heart warmed!
Heavens above, earth below!
After all these years, we've finally returned to the realm of cultivation!
She practically ran into the city.
The streets of Fufeng City are still bustling with people, but those who used to sell "Buddha's disciples" have disappeared.
He probably made his fortune by swindling a bunch of rich, naive fools like "Tang Wanwan".
Of course, it's also possible that he was caught and arrested by an anti-counterfeiting unit.
Karin couldn't help but grin.
I wonder if Madam Xu is still here? She left in such a hurry back then that she didn't even have a proper goodbye.
Following the route she remembered, Huali walked quickly into the alley.
Sure enough, Madam Xu's little house was still there, but a thick old osmanthus tree had been added in front of it.
Under the tree, an elderly woman with white hair was hunched over, her hands, covered with age spots, trembling as she picked up tiny golden osmanthus blossoms from a winnowing basket, her movements slow and focused.
Huali paused, then stood still.
In her memory, Madam Xu was still that gentle and beautiful woman, but now she has aged so much...
In that instant, Huali truly felt the passage of time.
She took a deep breath, slowly stepped forward, and softly called out with the joy of a long-awaited reunion:
"Madam Xu?"
The old woman paused in her hand as she picked up the osmanthus blossoms, then slowly and hesitantly raised her head, revealing a face etched with deep wrinkles.
"Madam Xu, do you still remember me?"
Karin smiled. "I am Karin."
The old man's eyes were somewhat cloudy as he gazed quietly at the rosewood for a long, long time.
Karin felt a little confused and disappointed by her gaze.
But she quickly cheered up.
In life, we encounter many passersby, and it's only natural that we can't remember them all.
“We met many years ago. I know you have a lovely little girl named Xiaobao.” Huali, filled with joy at the reunion, naturally helped Madam Xu recall: “I even held her in my arms…”
The old man suddenly burst into tears.
“…Fairy Sister”.
Her voice was soft, with the hoarseness typical of elderly people. But the moment she opened her mouth, Huali paused, frozen in place.
"elder sister......"
Tears streamed down the old man's face, but he slowly revealed an incredibly pure smile: "Mother... Mother has been gone for more than ten years."
She reached out as if to touch Huali, but then timidly withdrew her hand: "...I thought I would never be able to wait for her in this lifetime, but I didn't expect...it's so good."
It took Huali a long time to come to her senses.
Her lips trembled slightly as she tentatively asked, "You are... Xiao... Bao?"
“It’s me, Fairy Sister.” The old man wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and smiled at her. “Eighty-three years have passed, and Fairy Sister still looks exactly the same as when I first saw you… Back then, that black-faced monster wanted to eat me, but it was you who descended from the sky and saved me, along with another brother…”
Eighty-three years is enough for the osmanthus tree in front of the door to grow from a sapling into a towering tree, and it is also enough for a three-year-old child to go from taking his first steps to becoming an old man.
Xiao Bao looked up at the osmanthus tree full of blossoms, his deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes filled with a smile. "It's so nice... to be able to see the fairy sister one last time before I leave."
She gently helped Huali sit down. "Why do you look so tired? I heard from Mother that cultivators also face many difficulties. Have you been wronged?"
Huali took the osmanthus tea from Xiaobao, a tear sliding down her cheek as she shook her head, "It's just..."
"Is it just that time is merciless?"
Xiao Bao smiled and patted the back of her hand, "Birth, aging, sickness and death are like the four seasons of a tree, with leaves growing and falling, it's just the way of life."
Upon hearing this, Huali looked at the lush osmanthus tree behind her and asked, "Did Madam Xu plant this?"
"Yes, this tree was planted by Mother especially for my sister."
Huali was taken aback: "Me?"
“Back then, my sister asked my mother to help her make Buddhist prayer beads. When she left, she also took a lot of pastries with her.”
“My sister said she wanted to eat osmanthus cake, but it wasn’t the season for osmanthus to bloom, and we didn’t have any flowering trees at home…” The old woman’s smile deepened as she recalled her childhood memories. “So my mother took me and asked someone to buy several saplings to plant.”
"The saplings were planted and died, then planted again. We went through this cycle for several years, and in the end, only this one survived." The old man patted the thick branches.
“When my mother was alive, every year at the end of September when the osmanthus flowers bloomed, she would take me to shake the osmanthus flowers to dry, thinking that if my sister came back, we might be able to eat them.”
"I've been doing this for a long time now... After my mother passed away, I did it all by myself, and I haven't dared to miss a single year."
“I thought I would end up like my mother, never to see her again, but I never imagined…” A childlike smile spread across the old man’s wrinkled face: “The fairy sister has really come back.”
At this moment, time stood still, and Huali was already in tears.
Eighty-three years... is but a fleeting moment for a cultivator, but it is the weight of a mortal's entire life.
Huali looked at this child, who used to require her to bend down to make eye contact, but now required her to bend down to hear his words.
Listening to the old woman recount the story of how a seemingly insignificant remark she made years ago, which she herself had forgotten, was remembered by two generations of her family for a full eighty-three years…
Suddenly I understood—why the fifth star couldn't be lit up by luck alone for so long.
For Heaven, not only the chosen ones are its children, but also everyone in the mortal realm, the demon realm, and the demon race—all are children it wants to save.
That's why the fifth star of the Water-type card for the little bird was lit up back then.
What illuminates it is not fortune, but the power it carries.
It is the countless ordinary people who, with their short but sincere lives, write every cause and effect.
The moment this idea came to mind, the cards seemed to sense it, and all five stars emitted a dazzling light at the same time.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
