No results
"The porridge is almost ready."
Seeing Yunxiu's grim expression, Yan Xiu changed the subject, chopped up the washed wild vegetables, and sprinkled them into the pot. The green leaves floated in the porridge, becoming the only bright spot in the dead bamboo house.
"When you first came down the mountain, Master and Yu Wei were injured by Zhi Huan on the mountain."
Yunxiu looked up suddenly: "Zhi Huan? How did he find his way to the mountain?"
"He is the other half of my soul and can sense my location."
There was a subtle hint of self-mockery in Yan Xiu's voice.
"At the time, Wu Yi and I were afraid something might happen to you, so we secretly followed you down the mountain. Only Master and Yu Wei were left guarding the mountain. Zhi Huan couldn't find me, so he went to Yaoxi Mountain. During the chaos, I used my divine power to damage their spiritual veins. Yaoxi Mountain suffered countless casualties."
"Then they..."
Yan Xiu's hand that was serving the porridge paused, and the wooden spoon hit the edge of the pot, making a slight "ding" sound.
"Later, we returned to the mountain and used our immortal powers to stabilize their injuries, but the divine power left by Zhi Huan was like poison, constantly corroding their spiritual veins."
He placed a bowl of porridge in front of Yunxiu. "They gave me all their remaining immortal energy, but they themselves...dissipated."
Yunxiu looked at the porridge in the bowl, the heat blurred his vision.
"Yingtang escaped once." Yan Xiu drank a mouthful of porridge. The porridge was very hot, but he seemed not to feel it.
"She was out looking for a spell to heal her spirit veins, so she wasn't in the mountains. That's why she wasn't hurt by Zhi Huan. After we resurrected you and discovered your condition, she said she was going to the Far North to find ancient books—it's said there's a spell to separate souls there."
"Did she find it?" Yunxiu asked.
Yan Xiu shook his head, his eyes darkening.
"Where's Wu Yi?"
Yunxiu's voice was as soft as a whisper, and she held on to the last glimmer of hope.
"He collected my soul back then, so why can I see him after my resurrection this time? Is there still hope for him to..."
Yan Xiu was silent for a long time, so long that the porridge in the pot had cooled down. He watched the light in Yun Xiu's eyes gradually dim, and then he slowly spoke:
"Back then, after he had collected your soul and the Ancient God's soul into the statue, he was about to dissipate. To prevent the statue's power from leaking out, he fused the last bit of his celestial energy into the statue's veins... Thanks to this, when we used our magic to reshape your body, we were also able to reshape his."
"this time……"
The bamboo house became quiet, with only the sound of wind blowing through the window frames.
Yunxiu couldn't eat a single mouthful of porridge. He just looked at the porridge in the bowl, which reflected his blurry shadow.
She remembered the illusory market she saw when she first came down the mountain, the false bustle of Qinglan Sect, and the broken walls and ruins of Luoxia Town.
It turns out that from the very beginning, she has been living in one well-intentioned lie after another.
"The world is still the same."
Yan Xiu suddenly spoke, breaking the silence.
"Wu Yi gathered divine power, and the world briefly regained vitality, but it didn't last. He couldn't fully control almost all of his divine power, and it kept leaking out."
"We've searched for so many years, but we haven't found a way to dispel the black fog, nor have we found the magic to separate the ancient gods. The village at the foot of the mountain is still in ruins, the river is still murky, and occasionally we can see a few mortals hiding in caves, but they can't even speak, and can only survive by relying on tree bark and grass roots. Yingtang... She saved the world one last time at the cost of her own life, but there was no other way."
Yunxiu looked up at him, and Yan Xiu's eyes were full of calmness.
"Then what should I do?"
She asked, her voice filled with confusion: "If I live, it means that the ancient gods are also alive; if I die, will everyone die with me?"
"I have no idea."
Yan Xiu said frankly:
"Master and the others used up their last bit of strength, telling me to guard you well and not let you use your divine power again. But we all know that this is not a long-term solution. The Ancient God is still within you. If you and I die, no one knows where this divine power will go. If you and I die, and we release Zhihuan and the Ancient God, who knows, one day someone will be devoured by that power and become a new 'Zhihuan'."
Yunxiu looked down at the statue on his heart, and gently stroked the vine patterns on it with his fingertips.
I don’t know how long it was before I couldn’t hold back any more tears, which finally fell and hit the porridge in the bowl, creating tiny ripples.
Is that so? It's so cruel. She's been gone for so long, through life and death, separated from those closest to her by death. Twice, including years ago and now, she's prepared to sacrifice her life for the world. Now, are we going to tell her that all this might be in vain?
Yan Xiu didn't try to comfort her, but silently picked the wild vegetables from his bowl and put them in hers. The wild vegetables were already cooked until they were soft and tasteless, but with a hint of the fragrance of plants.
"Let's eat something first," he said. "There's not much to eat in the mountains. I found these wild vegetables by the stream. After Yingtang left, there's finally something edible in the world."
Yunxiu nodded, picked up the spoon, and slowly drank a mouthful of porridge.
She looked out the window. The setting sun was sinking slowly, dyeing the sky dark red, just like the bloody rain in her memory.
Yaoxi Mountain is still the same Yaoxi Mountain as before, but it no longer has the bustle of the past. Only she and Yan Xiu are left, and the sadness and helplessness that linger throughout the mountain.
The wind started to blow again, making the branches of the sycamore trees outside the yard creak as if they were crying.
Yunxiu's spoon rested in the bowl, and the heat of the porridge gradually dissipated, leaving only a slightly cool film. She looked at the chopped wild vegetables that had sunk to the bottom of the bowl and suddenly spoke:
"You killed so many of my senior brothers and sisters... You know they hate you, right?"
Yan Xiu looked at the other person's red eyes and his trembling hands that couldn't hold the spoon steadily. He felt something pressing on his heart.
"Really? Do you really hate me?" He suddenly leaned forward as if to ask.
Both of them breathed rapidly.
"I hate you, of course I hate you! But..."
But is this... the fate of Yaoxi Mountain? Without you, there's still Zhihuan. Without Zhihuan, there's still the Ancient God.
The fate of this world rolls on, and you and I are just grains of sand in it.
I hate myself even more, because even the emotion of "hating you" is not pure.
Yunxiu's grip loosened again and again, and he simply dropped the spoon and wiped away his tears.
She couldn't ignore Yan Xiu's countless reincarnations of pain and deepest compassion, nor could she ignore the voice in her heart. Countless thoughts disturbed her and almost tore her apart.
"Brother, tell me the truth... If you kill me, will the world ever find peace?"
When Yan Xiu raised his eyes, he saw the confusion and determination in her eyes, like two balls of fog entangled together.
He was silent for a moment, his voice very soft.
"It's possible."
"If you die, the remnant soul of the ancient god will lose its container and will most likely disintegrate. But the divine power scattered within you..."
He paused, his gaze falling on the white jade statue on Yunxiu's chest. The patterns on the statue glowed very faintly in the dim light.
"Ten thousand years ago, the uncontrolled divine power could have caused the heavens and the earth to crumble, and now this power is even stronger than it was then. If you die, the divine power will be like a broken dam, flooding the human world. The black fog may then dissipate, but new disasters will arise. Mortals driven mad by the divine power, and plants devoured by it, will still be in purgatory."
Even death has become a luxury.
The wind outside the window suddenly became stronger, blowing a few dry sycamore leaves against the window frame, making a "da da" sound.
"Then...is there any other way to kill the Ancient God and completely dissipate his divine power?"
Yan Xiu put down his bowl, stood up, and walked to the window. The setting sun had already sunk below the mountaintops, tinting half the sky a dark orange. Even the black rocks in the distance were coated in a thin layer of light. When Yun Xiu thought he wouldn't answer, he slowly spoke, "Perhaps. I haven't tried it, though, so I don't know how well it works."
"I still hold all of Zhihuan's divine power within me. All the remaining divine power in the world is within you. Together, we hold all the divine power in the world."
Yunxiu's heart skipped a beat.
"The remnant spirits of the ancient gods cling to divine power, like vines cling to trees."
Yan Xiu's voice was calm, yet sounded heavy.
"If we draw out our own strength, use our original power to counteract it, and slowly consume the divine power like burning firewood, perhaps we can destroy the remaining soul of the ancient god and all of his divine power."
"perhaps?"
"Yes, maybe." Yan Xiu nodded without avoiding the question.
"No one has ever tried this method. No one knows if, in the end, only the divine power will be burned away, leaving behind the remnant of the ancient god's soul. Or maybe... we'll just drain half of the power before we can hold on and dissipate."
He looked at Yunxiu, his tone frank and almost cruel. "And regardless of whether we succeed or not, we are almost certain to die. Just like Yingtang and Wuyi, they used their original power to resist, but the price was the shattering of their souls... And you and I... perhaps only your and my original power can do this."
They were born from the ancient gods and born from the power of the ancient gods.
"If you and I drain away all our divine power, it's like a tree without roots or a fairy without spiritual veins. We won't last more than three hours."
The bamboo house became quiet again, with only the sound of wind blowing fallen leaves swirling outside the door.
She suddenly raised her head, and the confusion in her eyes completely disappeared, leaving only a calm determination.
"Of course I do."
Yan Xiu paused, as if he had not expected her to answer so quickly.
"Why, didn't you see me dying together with the Ancient God in my previous life? How dare you still doubt my answer?"
After making the decision, she suddenly smiled with relief. However, she became gloomy in an instant.
"That sounds pretty cool. I still remember Wu Yi always said he wanted to be a 'hero'..."
Yan Xiu didn't respond, he just looked at Yun Xiu in silence.
"Brother, I've rarely been down the mountain, and I don't have deep feelings for people. But, for some reason, I always feel like something in my body is closely connected to everything in this world."
“We need this world and the human world, but humans may not need us.”
Yunxiu gently took Yan Xiu's hand, feeling that her words were all over the place and illogical, but she didn't care:
"Brother... I don't believe you are a bad person. No matter what happens later, my heart... refuses to believe that you are truly a bad person."
"The Ancient God stubbornly believed that the human world owed him something. But in reality, it didn't. Only when I stood at this crossroads, about to kill myself for an unknown outcome, did I realize this. This was a wishful redemption."
“The gods exist because of human beings, but humans can live well on their own.”
The setting sun outside the window finally sank, and the last bit of light disappeared from the sky, leaving only the darkening forest and two dim figures in the bamboo house.
Yan Xiu looked at her, remained silent for a long time, and then slowly nodded.
"Then we need to make some preparations first." There was finally some fluctuation in his voice.
"The sacrificial array now requires my blood to break. Let's recuperate here for a while. Once we've both recovered, we can go again."
Yunxiu looked at his back as he cleared the table and tidied the room, and suddenly felt the heaviness in his heart eased a little.
The wind is still blowing and the parasol trees are still rustling, but this dead silent Yaoxi Mountain seems to finally have a different atmosphere.
Like dying plants, they gather their last bit of strength in the cracks of rocks to grow towards the light.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
