At the 5,681st step, the woman came back. She did not call Ke An, but stood under the Ascension Platform and looked at him silently for a long, long time.
Ke An turned around and saw her inadvertently. When their eyes met, the woman lowered her head like a frightened rabbit and covered her face with her hands.
“You are…”
Ke An felt strange and was about to ask, but suddenly he found that the woman standing in front of him was no longer as beautiful as she used to be - she was so old that she could not even stand up straight.
As if she felt Ke An's gaze, two lines of tears slowly slid down the woman's old face.
"Senior, I am old. My eyes are dim and my face is full of wrinkles... My life is coming to an end and I am not far from death. I just want to see you one last time before I am buried. It's a pity that I don't have the chance to see you complete this journey..." said the woman sadly.
After the woman finished speaking, she sighed and limped out of the sect - her life was almost over, and it was time to dig a grave for herself.
But before the woman had taken a few steps, Ke An suddenly called her and she stopped.
"Don't you want to see me finish this journey? Then stay. It's not too late for you to leave after I finish this journey." Ke An said.
"But Senior, I have already..."
"What has happened cannot be changed, but what has not happened may never happen."
"Stay, the journey is not as long as you think."
The woman was silent for a long time, then nodded gently, but she kept her back to Ke An and never looked back.
Ke An felt strange and asked her why she had her back to him and why she didn't look back. She didn't say anything, but just smiled gently.
The woman found a rock to sit down and started chatting with Ke An, from their ignorant childhood to the time when they first met, and from the time when they parted to the day when they would meet again.
Ke An did not shy away from speaking freely and opened his heart to talk about his short boyhood and what he saw, heard and felt after climbing these stairs.
Before they knew it, Ke An had reached the 7,322nd step. The two of them opened their hearts to each other, talked about everything, and became close friends.
What made Ke An sad was that the woman's back became more and more bent, and it became more and more difficult for her to speak. She would be exhausted and gasping for breath after chatting with him for a while. Sometimes, she would fall asleep while chatting with him and would not wake up for a long time.
The woman had already expected this, and she remained open-minded and always had a smile on her face. But Ke An was heartbroken. He quickened his pace and moved forward quickly under tremendous pressure, wanting to finish the journey quickly. However, he collapsed from exhaustion when he reached the 7,834th step, and did not open his eyes until three days later.
The road must be walked slowly, without any haste or haste.
This is what Ke An once said, but he is now doing the exact opposite.
After waking up, Ke An stepped forward without hesitation, but when he took the first step, he was shocked by the woman's cry and retracted his leg.
"Senior, that's enough, that's enough..."
Turbid tears streamed down the woman's face, but a touching smile bloomed on her face.
However, Ke An could only see the tears dripping onto the ground, but he could not see the smile as warm as the spring breeze, because until now, the woman still had her back to him and had not turned back.
"Please wait a moment, I'll be able to..."
Ke An's words stopped abruptly because he heard the sound of tears hitting the ground.
This voice was like a knife stabbing into Ke An's heart, making him so painful that he could hardly breathe.
"Senior, that's enough." The woman said in a weak voice.
Ke An looked at the endless road ahead, closed his eyes, was silent for a long time, and finally nodded with difficulty.
He stopped and sat on the steps, looking at the woman quietly, just as the woman looked at him quietly back then.
However, the woman could see him moving forward, but he could not see the woman's face as she sat quietly.
"Can't you... let me take a look at you?" Ke An asked.
The woman smiled slightly and said, "Haven't you seen it before? Thousands of years ago."
"But if I do that, I'll only remember what you looked like thousands of years ago, but I won't know what you look like now..."
As Ke An was speaking, his voice suddenly stopped - he had understood.
"Senior, please tolerate my willfulness. This is my...only request..." As the woman spoke, her eyes became red, but she could no longer cry.
How she wanted to turn around and take another look at the person behind her, but she didn't want the person behind her to see her current appearance.
Ke An's nose felt sore and his eyes were filled with tears, but before they could fall out, he forced them back.
How he wanted to rush over and hug her, but he could only stand on the stairs with no way forward and no way back, unable to move an inch.
He stood there, staring at the woman for a long, long time, until a gust of cold wind brushed his cheek, bringing his thoughts back to reality.
Winter has arrived, frost has fallen from the sky, snow has fallen heavily, and everything is silent.
The woman still had her head lowered and her back to Ke An, but her body was curled up even tighter.
"If you don't let me look at you, then at least tell me your name," Ke An said.
Ke An's voice cut through the cold wind and reached the woman's ears, but she did not respond for a long time.
Ke An panicked. He called out to the woman anxiously and tried everything to wake her up, but all failed.
With a thud, Ke An knelt on the steps. His mind went blank and he could no longer hold back his tears, which burst out, wetting his cheeks and melting the snow on the ground.
Suddenly, the woman moved, and tremblingly raised her old and withered hands, trying to grab something, but all that fell on her hands were the cold and ruthless snowflakes.
"Senior...Senior...Where are you? I can't see you..."
The woman's voice, as thin as a mosquito's buzz, reached Ke An's ears. He jumped up from the ground as if he had been electrocuted, and shouted with all his strength, "I'm here, I'm right behind you!"
Ke An didn't know whether the woman heard what he said or not, he just heard her say a few words in a disjointed manner.
"What a pity, in the end... I still didn't get to see... Senior complete this journey..."
Hearing this, Ke An's face turned pale instantly. He shouted, "It's not the end yet! Just wait a little longer, it will be over in a little while. You must wait for me and don't fall asleep!"
Ke An rushed forward like a madman, taking five steps at a time, and he reached the 8,845th step while enduring the increasingly terrifying pressure.
This crazy behavior brought his body to the brink of collapse several times and almost disintegrated on the spot, but there was not a trace of fear on his face, not even a hint of hesitation. He only knew that he had to keep moving forward, not slowing down, not stopping.
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