Chapter 23 Raindrops patter on duckweed, fallen leaves return to their roots
The evening breeze was cool, but just right for the monks.
As the sun gradually sets, the crucial source of light disappears, and the scene before us is gradually obscured by darkness.
Chang Yu Bai brandished a talisman, illuminating the desolate area within a five-meter radius beneath his feet, forcefully carving out a ray of daylight from the twilight.
Li Qingyun had already found a comfortable rock and was sitting on it, observing the moves.
They returned to the wilderness where they had started.
It wasn't a rabbit hutch overgrown with weeds, but something further away, more desolate, where the wind howled from afar, sweeping up dust and mocking the two poor souls still wandering in the sunset.
Li Qingyun couldn't understand what was so memorable about this place. If Master Chang liked desolation, then the Great Wilderness should have been his hometown.
But Li Qingyun misunderstood again, and this time Chang Yubai did not hesitate.
He led Xiaoyun to this place and told her to find a place to rest. He himself had already drawn his twin swords, holding Anning in his left hand and Black Scale in his right, ready to fight, but he could not see the enemy he was about to face.
As I've said before, Master Chang's methods have always been unconventional. The more logical an action seems, the less you should try to understand it in a conventional way.
Li Qingyun still remembers that Chang Yubai is a loyal member of the Flying Sword Sect. He would never use a sword if he could control it. Now, Master Chang is holding two swords as if facing a great enemy, so it must not be related to a battle.
Chang Yubai closed his eyes and walked lightly, his mind tense, paying full attention to every point and line of spiritual energy around him, every meridian and channel, all for the sake of stability, to lock the key method in one move.
He planned to use human power to cut through the scene before him and create a cave dwelling in a completely new alternate dimension.
Unlike the Venerable Qingyun who moved mountains and carved caves to settle in them, Chang Yubai did not want anyone other than himself to set foot in the courtyard this time.
The sword blade flashed with black and white light, slicing through the void and cutting a gap that looked exactly the same to the naked eye, but upon closer inspection, one could not sense the flow of life within it.
Thud—The candy box that Li Qingyun was holding fell to the ground.
What kind of trick is this? Xiaoyun couldn't take her eyes off it, staring intently at the suddenly appearing crack.
Was it split in two in mid-air? Or rather, was a gash torn open?
How did you do that!
"Brother," Li Qingyun stammered, still shocked, "Is this also a technique you created yourself?"
"Yes."
Chang Yubai replied decisively.
This is a man-made space he created, modeled after a mustard seed space used for storage. While a mustard seed space cannot hold living things, a cave dwelling space is different. Here, one can live for thousands or hundreds of years without any change in time.
Although the Ice Soul Pouch could preserve a corpse from decay for a long time, he ultimately couldn't trust it. Time, however, cannot deceive people. Placing his master's remains in the still courtyard was the only way to ensure that they would never change.
It was as if the master was just asleep.
Yes, Master fell asleep, but he slept for a rather long time, and didn't tell him when he would wake up before he went to sleep.
However, he would still wander around outside, while his master remained frozen in place.
He ventured alone into the void, filling in the gaps, placing a bouquet of flowers, growing a blade of grass, and paving the ground with stone bricks to create a square courtyard. He placed miscellaneous items in the east, the kitchen in the west, the north room for resting, and painted the words "Confinement Room" in large characters on the south room.
He raised his hand and drew the sun, giving light to the space.
As the light spilled onto the outlined courtyard, he finally saw clearly the home he had depicted, which was exactly the same as the one in his memory.
He started scrutinizing the details again, gesturing and sketching in the space, outlining every line on the wall, the number of goldfish in the pond, and the old marks where he had dug holes and filled them. He thought of every little detail in his memory, recreating a small courtyard that would never return.
There was no sound, no movement; everything was frozen in time. He buried himself in thought, then picked up his pen and began to redraw until he could look around and there was no longer anything jarring.
Finally, he returned to the westernmost bedroom in the northernmost room, placed his master on the hard bed made of spirit jade, and thoughtfully arranged it in his master's usual sleeping position.
Now that I'm done, it's time to leave.
The bedroom door was right behind me; just a few more steps and I could feel the crack and leave this silent space.
But these steps were far too heavy.
He glanced at the bed again and again, turned around, looked back, turned around again, looked back again... He didn't know how many times he repeated this, but instinct drove him to stop.
Master lay on his side facing the door, his eyebrows and eyes light, taking a nap as usual. This sleeping posture was originally just to keep watch on the door and prevent his greedy disciple from entering the house to steal candy. Later, Venerable Qingyun found it comfortable and added his own little tricks, which evolved into the current posture.
Master is a light sleeper; his eyelids never fully close, as if a gentle breath near his ear would suddenly open his eyes.
Chang Yu tried it, but it didn't work.
His master never woke up.
"..."
"Goodbye, Master."
Master, see you outside.
He finally left the newly created cave.
Just like when he went in, Xiaoyun stared blankly at the spatial entrance that had been cleaved open. Perhaps because she was used to seeing new and interesting things with Chang Yubai, this time Xiaoyun did not excitedly pester Chang Yubai or hug him and beg him to teach her.
Of course, it's also possible that Xiaoyun knew he couldn't possibly learn it with his current spiritual power.
"Are you done?" Li Qingyun asked when she saw someone appear. "You came out very quickly. I just saw you go in and you came out right away."
Chang Yubai nodded: "There is no time in the cave. No matter how long I stay inside, it only takes a moment to come out."
Li Qingyun cried out.
Li Qingyun: "Brother."
"Um?"
Li Qingyun: "...It's nothing."
I was just thinking about random things when I couldn't help but shout it out.
He thought that Chang Yubai was really too strong.
Li Qingyun didn't really understand why such a precious master would approach her for no reason and be willing to take her as a disciple.
These days, he accompanied Chang Yubai through everything he saw, heard, knew, and felt, and they walked many roads that he thought he would never be able to tread in his life. With Chang Yubai by his side, everything was very comfortable.
This person truly kept his promise from the beginning—I want to accompany you as you grow up, just like my master raised me.
Chang Yubai is truly taking care of herself, and she is doing so very seriously.
He didn't believe Chang Yubai's strange explanation, that his master died and he suddenly arrived in Tiansha City—it couldn't be that his grandmaster had stacked hundreds of teleportation scrolls to send him here before he died, could it?
But now, this explanation is actually the most credible.
Otherwise, why would someone travel over mountains and rivers to the Central Plains, spanning three months, just to bring a child home with them?
He had thought that Chang Yubai was a wandering cultivator with no fixed abode, but one’s loneliness cannot be faked.
Li Qingyun's body was filled with the blood of the Tree God. Plants have far more acute senses than humans. When Chang Yubai emerged from the cave, he sensed a loneliness as vast as the sea.
It wasn't sadness, it wasn't pain... This person was so composed before stepping in that he seemed undetectable, but in an instant, he changed completely.
Master Chang still looked the same as before, and one could not discern the fluctuations in his heart with the naked eye.
His master was at his most bewildered when his grandmaster passed away.
Li Qingyun stepped forward and hugged Chang Yubai tightly: "Brother, you said you would take good care of me and raise me. You won't abandon me, right?"
Why, you big oaf? Why be lonely?
I'm right here beside you. You're not alone now. Don't you still have me?
Li Qingyun didn't understand where this loneliness came from. The person who said he would take care of him was Chang Yubai, but it was also Chang Yubai who couldn't see him.
A cool drop landed on Li Qingyun's cheek. He looked up and saw that it was Chang Yubai's tear falling down.
Three months later, he finally realized that Chang Yubai could cry too.
But when this person cried, it was in a calm and even manner, with no emotion in his eyes and no signs of distress on his face. If it weren't for the wet streaks left by the teardrops and the patterns left on his face, who would believe that he was expressing sadness with tears?
Li Qingyun could no longer sense loneliness, but this time, it was sadness that was directly captured in a photograph.
"Xiaoyun, I..."
He heard Chang Yubai choking back tears.
His once languid voice had become deep and resonant, yet it was tinged with an indistinct nasal tone.
In the end, she couldn't stop the tears from flowing freely.
"...I have no master anymore."
"Xiaoyun, my master will never come back."
That face remained as if carved from stone, showing no change whatsoever, yet the sobbing was desolate, a cacophony of whimpers and lamentations, an incessant clamor, unable to fully express the regret in her heart.
Chang Yubai squatted down, his tall body seemingly returning to his childhood. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on Li Qingyun's shoulder.
"Xiaoyun, I have no home anymore."
Li Qingyun hurriedly raised her hand, perhaps wanting to pat Chang Yubai on the back to comfort him, but after searching for a long time, she couldn't find a place to land.
He watched the sunset take away the last ray of light, and his vision was now filled with the fluorescent white of the magic circle.
The white paint on Chang Yubai only made her appear even colder.
His master had lost his master.
Chang Yubai didn't realize until the third month that everything was beyond repair.
An elder heartlessly chose to let go, leaving a childlike person to venture into the world alone.
Countless times he stood tall and proud, countless times he fought without thinking, but it was all because he had a solid harbor behind him. All those things that allowed him to stand tall have vanished like smoke.
The cave dwelling cannot be completed in a day. The objects and furnishings inside will change, the tables, chairs and teacups will be replaced, the wall and floor tiles will become old, and many new things will turn into old junk.
The clutter in the corner is always complained about for taking up space, but when it comes to big cleaning, it is reluctantly taken back.
The cave should be filled with the presence of living people, not a place where a hundred years have passed in an instant, or where the vicissitudes of life have been depicted in a single evening.
He knew that he would still be seeing his master when he came out, but when he tried to turn away from his master's bedside, his steps were heavy.
Perhaps they realized it from that moment on.
Or perhaps it was the moment she saw her young master that she realized it.
Actually, they are not the same.
Whether it's their attitude towards things or their intimate relationship, junior masters and senior masters are completely different.
No one will wait for him to emerge from seclusion, chuckle, and ask if he's come up with something new again.
He would never hear that Yu Bai again.
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