But in the end, Ke An stopped and stopped at the 9,239th step.
It was not because he couldn't go on, but because the woman mustered up the strength to say something to him.
"Senior, I've thought about this for a long time and thought about just giving you a random name, but a name is so important, how can it be said casually? I don't have a name, Senior. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I still have to say this because I don't want to lie to you..."
"If one day in the future, another woman comes here, sits at the foot of the Ascension Platform, and watches you walk along the road step by step like I do, her name will be my name."
After the woman finished speaking, two lines of tears fell on her face. The cold wind blew them into two icicles, which remained on her face forever.
She was dead, her body stiff and frozen into a block of ice.
Heavy snow flakes fell on her, gradually covering her and finally forming a raised snowdrift.
The howling cold wind seemed like someone was mourning for her, and the flying snow seemed like paper money sent specially for her.
She lay in a grave made of ice and snow, blending into the silver-clad world, indistinguishable from it.
Ke An stood blankly on the steps, without shedding tears or crying.
He just stood there quietly, day after day, as if guarding her soul.
As winter goes and spring comes, the snow melts and all things come back to life.
Ke An stared at the bulging snowdrift with wide eyes, hoping that the person under the snowdrift would open his eyes like all the revived creatures and give him a long-lost smile.
But he was soon disappointed. The warm spring breeze melted most of the ice and snow, but did not take away the chill that swirled around the grave.
This ice and snow tomb still stood quietly at the foot of the Dengxian Terrace, but no snowflakes floated towards it anymore.
Ke An was unwilling to give up, so he continued to stand on the steps, staring blankly until spring passed and autumn came, and the seasons changed, but the tomb made of ice and snow did not melt at all.
He knew that the woman would never wake up, just like the ice and snow that would never melt.
Ke An turned around, with his back to the grave, and remained silent for a long, long time, until there was no more emotion in his heart.
He has to go, there is still a long way to go...
At the 13,054th step, Ke An stopped again and turned his head to look around. There was still no one here. Only the broken walls, flowers, plants and trees were still with him, just like the countless years before.
He is no longer like before, when he would just keep walking with his head down unless someone called him.
Now, after walking a certain distance, he would stop and look at everything around him, to see what had happened and what had changed during this period of time, and whether anyone had been here.
Finally, his gaze would always linger on the tomb made of ice and snow, and he would stare at it silently for the entire day.
Yes, Ke An has not forgotten the woman who once accompanied him to climb thousands of steps. The reason why he would stop and look after walking a certain distance was also because of her.
The woman once said that if he could one day meet another woman who stood under the Dengxian Terrace like her and watched him walk step by step on the road, that person's name would be her name.
Ke An didn't think about anything before, he just wanted to complete this journey step by step.
But it’s different now. When he walks on the road, he always wonders if there is a woman coming and standing under the Dengxian Terrace looking at him?
He was afraid that the woman would just look at him silently without talking to him, and would leave silently when she got tired of looking at him.
This made Ke An a little jumpy and worried.
He would always look back suddenly while walking, his eyes flashing, as if he had a premonition that something would happen, but he usually found nothing. He could only sigh, turn his head unwillingly, and continue walking.
He walked on this lonely road and felt very uncomfortable at first because the figure of that woman kept appearing in his mind.
She had been with him for too long, and he couldn't help but think of her whenever he walked, what she had said, her smile, and her stubborn back.
Sometimes Ke An would get so angry that his teeth would itch, and he would feel upset, thinking that this woman was deceiving him.
So many years have passed, and he still remembers what the woman said. He looks back from time to time, waiting for the woman she was talking about to appear, but he didn't even see a single figure.
But every time Ke An saw the tomb made of ice and snow, he suddenly didn't want that woman to appear.
This feeling was very strange, and he couldn't explain why. He just felt that once that woman appeared, certain things would be determined and there would be no possibility of change.
No matter what, the road must be walked, just like the endless river of time.
At the 38,714th step, Ke An suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice, as if someone was calling his name.
This kind of illusion had occurred more than once, so Ke An didn't care and continued walking forward.
But when this voice appeared for the second, third, and even fourth time, Ke An suddenly woke up, turned his head, and found a young girl in her prime with a flushed face shouting at him.
Has what is coming finally come?
Ke An's heart skipped a beat, and he felt empty, as if something was missing.
He looked at the tomb made of ice and snow. It was still the same as before, without any change, but it made him feel an indelible sadness.
"Senior! I want to be your disciple and accept your inheritance!"
Ke An had previously thought that the voice was an illusion, so he automatically ignored it. But now that he had listened carefully to what the girl said, he couldn't help but smile.
"I am just an ordinary person and cannot accept disciples." Ke An said.
The girl's eyes widened, her hands on her hips, her brows furrowed, and she shouted, "Who are you kidding? You've walked tens of thousands of steps on the Immortal Ascension Platform, and you still have the nerve to call yourself a mortal? Even those old monsters in the Heavenly Palace would have their bones broken apart if they had walked only ten thousand steps!"
Ke An shook his head helplessly. He wanted to tell her that he had indeed embarked on this journey as a mortal. At first, he just wanted to gain the recognition of the Tianjian Sect in this way. However, he did not expect that this road would be so long. The Tianjian Sect had already perished, but he was still walking on it.
But when these words were on the tip of his tongue, he suddenly understood something and swallowed them back.
"Cao Shan is dead, the old man with white hair and youthful face is dead, the Tianjian Sect has been extinct for countless years, the young woman in her prime watched me walking on the road, and when we met again, I was already old and frail."
"Even this tomb made of ice and snow has existed for who knows how many years, and yet I, a mere mortal, am still alive, standing here, walking on the road...
"It turns out that as I walked along, I was no longer an ordinary person..." Ke An sighed.
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