Chapter 111 A Grave Because of This Person, Like Guanlan, Like Himself. ...
As the saying goes, Heaven has four seasons, and the king has four policies: celebrations are spring, rewards are summer, punishments are autumn, and penalties are winter. Imperial laws have always emphasized conforming to the way of Heaven, and celebrations, rewards, punishments, and penalties usually follow the seasons.
Punishment and reward should follow the laws of heaven and earth. Heavenly punishment occurs in autumn, which belongs to metal. All things wither and decay, which is the beginning of the solemnity of heaven and earth. The killing aura has arrived, which is the order of heaven and earth. Human justice should also follow the laws of the four seasons. In the middle of autumn, all punishments should be strictly enforced, lawsuits should be decided, and the guilty should be executed.
Therefore, the sage king established systems in accordance with the laws of Heaven and carried out punishments in accordance with the seasons, and formulated corresponding decrees for autumn executions, so most death sentences were carried out in the autumn month.
The Autumn Execution Blade in the smiling man's hand, which had slain over a hundred people, was forged from Yin Iron, sacrificed with the blood of a hundred sins, and gathered the Yin energy of the dead. It was, of course, an ancient execution blade specially prepared for Bai Yuan.
Given his long lifespan, even if he wasted it, he would still think about something meaningful. Besides, he was not an unambitious person.
In one's lifetime, one has done good deeds and committed evil deeds, saved people and harmed people. If one were to settle accounts, it would be difficult to distinguish between gratitude and resentment.
A man like him, aware of the trouble he had caused, naturally pondered potential karmic retribution. He certainly didn't expect the prison of laws and punishments to hold Bai Yuan captive forever; he knew that if she were to emerge one day, she might come seeking revenge. He understood the principle of being prepared for danger even in times of peace, so he planned ahead to be on the safe side.
For a time, he had nothing to do and traveled around the world. In a tomb, he saw this Autumn Execution Blade. The tomb owner was an executioner who had killed countless prisoners in his lifetime. His sins were too heavy, and the souls of those who died under his blade were restless. The heavy yin energy formed the blade's evil aura.
According to locals, the executioner was beheaded by his own "resurrected" executioner's blade in the dead of night while he was fast asleep.
Some even say that this knife slaughtered the executioner's entire family, leaving no one alive. In their fear and panic, the neighbors asked a Taoist priest to seal the knife in the tomb overnight to prevent it from causing further massacres and harming the world.
From then on, he began to collect execution knives from all over the world. These knives, used to execute countless criminals in the execution ground throughout the dynasties, were also known as the Autumn Execution Knife.
As the smiling man spoke, he raised his knife and, without hesitation, slashed at Bai Yuan!
Lin Mu tried his best to parry Qiu Jue Dao, but the blade, sharp enough to sever heads and necks, was unstoppable and cut through iron like mud, severing the sword in his hand.
"eventful."
With a flick of his left hand, the smiling man sent the severed half-inch sword tip piercing the throat of the tree. The tree's eyes widened in shock, and it had no time to dodge.
"Sanmu!" The senior brothers who were rushing towards them were terrified.
The sword tip didn't sever the tree's throat, but instead pierced a pale palm!
Bai Yuan suddenly sprang up, blocking the terrified Lin Mu, and thousands of ice threads instantly lashed out at the smiling man.
The smiling man retreated several feet swiftly, as light as a swallow, and swung his sword to sever the ice threads that were strangling him.
These ice threads, at first glance, appear extremely sharp, with several inevitably piercing the skin and flesh. However, they break easily when stirred, just like the cotton thread the woman used for sewing and mending—fragile, easily broken, and not at all to be feared.
She was truly beyond saving; at this moment, she was merely putting up a desperate last stand, fighting to the death.
Beneath that smiling face was also a smiling face. He slightly turned his head to look at the several people rushing towards him. They were all insignificant and trivial people and things, not worth wasting time on. His only target was Bai Yuan.
The Autumn Slash Blade suddenly slipped from his hand, spinning as it was thrown out, whipping up a powerful gust of wind that severed thousands of strands of ice, before piercing straight into Bai Yuan's heart.
She didn't even dodge, perhaps because she had exhausted all her strength to dodge, just to protect a little cub?
The little brat, shielded behind Bai Yuan, stared wide-eyed in utter astonishment at the knife tip piercing her back, her eyes instantly turning red.
Bai Yuan's silver hair, as white as frost and snow, flew up, and the resentment that had been accumulating within her surged. Suddenly, the clanging of iron chains rang out, tugged and snapping. Countless gruesome images of people bound by shackles were revealed from within her body. One after another, ferocious faces screamed and struggled, lunging at Lin Mu's face, only to be firmly bound by the iron chains, unable to break free or advance an inch. Terrified, Lin Mu fell to the ground with a thud, his round, bloodshot eyes staring blankly into the distance.
she……
How could this be...?
He carries so many vengeful spirits and vengeful ghosts on his back...
Thick black mist emanated from the chest where Qiu Jue's knife was inserted, spreading and corroding it until, in a short while, it carved a black hole in Bai Yuan's chest.
The wind and waves on the riverbank had not yet subsided, and the inky black mist was slowly engulfing Bai Yuan.
She swayed precariously, her face pale and translucent in the black mist. The sound of the wind and waves was so loud that she seemed to hear someone calling her name.
"A white injustice—"
It seems someone asked, "Is your name Bai Yuan?"
She blinked very slowly; now, even blinking required a great deal of effort.
Bai Yuan's vision grew increasingly blurry as she vaguely saw someone running towards her. It was a blue robe, or perhaps a crimson robe; she couldn't tell the difference, but there was no real distinction.
It's just... been so long.
Bai Yuan raised the corners of his mouth and gently called out to the person who came: "Zhao Su".
Zhou Yaren lunged at Bai Yuan, but before she could even touch her fingertips, Bai Yuan was completely swallowed up by the black mist.
A powerful wave of sorrow washed over Zhou Ya's heart and lungs, as if it would devour him completely.
Why?
The celestial phenomena are clearly obscured.
He tried his best, but why couldn't he save the innocent?
Only a single strand of hair, tinged with frost and snow, remained wrapped around his wrist, its cool touch resting on Zhou Yaren's wrist pulse. In addition, he was also holding an umbrella.
The innocent man was killed by the umbrella that brought him to justice.
Blood from her palm stained the umbrella. In an instant, those memories unique to Bai Yuan came rushing back, crashing into Zhou Yaren unexpectedly.
His first feeling was one of desolation and bewilderment, the feeling of being wronged.
That was a past that the wronged had never spoken of, concerning a grave.
She guarded a lonely grave every day, the inscription on the tombstone reading "Tomb of A Zhaosu". She buried it herself. From the bare grave mound to the lush grass and flying birds, from the withered grass and yellow trees to the heavy snow, Bai Yuan always lingered in front of this lonely grave.
She chased away birds and wild dogs. Later, after seeing people sweeping tombs and offering sacrifices, she also brought wild fruits and turbid wine to place on the grave. Whenever it rained or snowed, she would unfold the "Annunciation Umbrella" and hold it on the grave, going to unnecessary trouble to shield the "A Zhao Su" in the grave from the rain and snow.
She spent her years with a solitary grave, and was also summoned by many vengeful spirits to report the deaths of those who had been unjustly murdered.
However, that year there was a severe drought and a famine. The tree bark and roots were all eaten away, and the starving people, like hungry wolves with green eyes, began to eat the people who had starved to death.
When Bai Yuan, who had gone to deliver the news of the death, returned to Hangu Pass, A Zhaosu's grave had already been dug up, and the pit was empty, with not even a bone left.
Was it eaten?
On that day, Bai Yuan sat alone on the Hangu Pass tower, admiring the sunset over the long river, and drank all the strong liquor that the gatekeeper had secretly kept.
She wasn't exactly sad, but her heart remained desolate and bewildered. From then on, she wandered through the world, traversing the boundaries of life and death, always alone, never returning to Hangu Pass.
Until one late night, Bai Yuan was walking alone on a mountain path when a girl with a bloody head stumbled and bumped into him.
The girl was barely clothed, and her exposed shoulders, back, and arms were covered with bruises and finger marks. She couldn't push Bai Yuan away even a little bit; it was as if she had hit a hard wall, and she fell to the ground on her own.
The girl, startled like a frightened bird, looked up with tears streaming down her face and saw a face as cold as ice. Then a group of burly men rushed out of the woods, their raised blades still dripping blood. They charged at her, shouting, their filthy words cut short halfway through.
The gleaming ice silk was a hundred times sharper than a blade, and the hot blood it spun splattered all over Bai Yuan. She remained expressionless from beginning to end, and her ruthless killing terrified the girl. Looking at the severed heads and limbs scattered on the ground, the girl stared in horror at Bai Yuan, who was covered in blood.
When Bai Yuan turned to look at her, the girl trembled violently.
"Afraid of me?"
The moment she opened her mouth, the girl felt as if she had seen a living demon.
Bai Yuan watched her fleeing figure, standing there for a long time.
She was a wandering, aimless ghost, unable to blend into the world. She once used a lonely grave as a resting place, but a natural disaster and famine caused people to dig up the grave where she had rested.
And in that grave dwells the only person connected to her, whether alive or dead.
At that moment, the loneliness of being wronged was almost transmitted from the umbrella of death to Zhou Ya's heart. That indescribable feeling made him so sad that his eyes welled up with tears.
Who is Azhaosu?
Why do you stay by a grave, even making it your only resting place, keeping company with loneliness, and going back and forth regardless of wind or rain?
Bai Yuan did not go any further. Instead, he leaned against a rugged tree trunk, sat down amidst the mangled limbs, and closed his eyes.
Just as the sound of horses' hooves approached and stopped in front of him, Bai Yuan opened his eyes and saw the person who had come in the moonlight.
She was almost stunned for a moment, and Zhou Yaren's back trembled at that instant.
Because this person is like Guanlan, and like himself.
He swept over the corpses and limbs scattered on the ground, hurriedly dismounted and came to Bai Yuan. His expression showed concern, worry and tension. He asked Bai Yuan several times what had happened and whether he was injured, but Bai Yuan ignored him.
She stared at the man for a long time before finally speaking: "Ah Zhaosu."
"What?"
“Ah Zhaosu”.
"Girl, you've mistaken me for someone else. I'm not A Zhaosu."
So Bai Yuan didn't speak again, but lowered his eyes and stared at the palm the other party had extended. After thinking for a while, he finally placed his hand on it.
After that, he accompanied Bai Yuan for a while, and those memories were like blooming flowers, like fragments, like fleeting clouds.
Bai Yuan often called him A Zhaosu. He corrected her several times, but in the end, he had no choice but to accept it with a smile, treating her as a pitiful person who had escaped from a bandit's den.
At this moment, Zhou Yaren could sense Bai Yuan's state of mind: "Why is it that after dying and living again, you forget everything from your past life, and even forget who you were originally?"
She even asked herself, "Do I have to start all over again?"
She thought, "If I could do it all over again, it would be better to forget it."
But what happened later told her that every time he started over, he was repeating the same mistakes. From then on, every time they met again, it was after his wrongful death.
Even though Bai Yuan was trapped in the Taiyin/Dao body, he still witnessed every tragic death of Bai Yuan.
At this moment, Zhou Yaren finally saw clearly that there was an unbreakable shackle firmly binding him and Bai Yuan, ensuring that no matter how high the sky or how wide the earth, they would always meet in hell.
"Am I the shackles that bind you?" Zhou Yaren knelt down, clutching the Death Umbrella, his knees hitting the rocky beach. It was a suffocating, indescribable pain. "So, I am the real shackles that bind you?"
Why do you never say that?
Why don't you acknowledge me the same way you acknowledge him?
Because I don't trust you?
Is this injustice done because I don't believe you?
Why did I initially suspect you, doubt you, distrust you, and even try to kill you?
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