Chapter 87
Legend has it that there is a platform in this world that can transform a person and allow them to be reborn, called the Marrow Cleansing Platform. It can wash away all the sins in a person, as well as the sinful bloodline that remains in their body.
However, those who enter the Marrow Cleansing Platform will inevitably suffer excruciating pain, such as having their tendons and bones pulled out, and being condemned to eternal damnation. This is euphemistically called paying back all the sins they committed in their previous lives.
Xie Wen recalled that day, wondering who among the people had first suggested the Marrow Cleansing Platform as a form of "execution" for her. Anyway, it didn't matter anymore; nothing mattered.
When Chu Xianyue arrived at the scene, everything was already beyond his control.
He searched for Xie Wen for a long time, but it seemed that Xie Wen had severed her connection with the blood bead using some kind of magic, and he could no longer sense Xie Wen's presence. He knew Xie Wen didn't want him to look for her. But how could that be? He had been to the small bamboo house in Youzhou, to the border of the Canglan River, to the Cangmo Snow Mountain, and finally to the Sword Sect. Unfortunately, he arrived too late; Xie Wen had already left the Sword Sect and gone down the mountain.
When they met again, it was in this kind of scene.
As everyone saw Chu Xianyue flying over, they had all expected that he would come.
Xie Wen stood on the Marrow Cleansing Platform, her robes fluttering, her brows furrowed as she coldly observed everything below. She seemed to stand outside of time and space, as if the clamor and doubts below were irrelevant to her. At this moment, the Marrow Cleansing Platform had not yet begun to operate.
Chu Xianyue approached Xie Wen, facing the crowd, but glanced at Xie Wen instead, subtly extending a hand. Xie Wen naturally took the hand, which Chu Xianyue then firmly grasped. Chu Xianyue said, "You've already made your decision about today, haven't you? Aren't you afraid?"
Xie Wen shook his head and said coldly, "I'm not afraid. It's my fault. It's not that I want to die, but this matter needs to be put to rest. Please understand me. I don't want to drag you down with me. This is my own business."
As she finished speaking, she instinctively felt him grip her hand even tighter. He said coldly, "I understand, but please do your best to drag me down with you, okay? Besides, this isn't just your problem; don't expect to bear it all alone."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xie Wen stood on the marrow cleansing platform, watching his back. His heart and the hem of his clothes were billowing in the wind, and his hand was held tightly in his hand with peace of mind.
The arrogance of the crowd below the stage diminished by half after Chu Xianyue's arrival. After all, if they had truly angered him, they would likely not have fared much better.
They hesitated for a moment, then someone in the crowd stepped forward, loudly denouncing the Feathered Clan's numerous crimes: "It was the Feathered Clan who opened the Netherworld, creating a leak in the heavens and releasing all the sealed evil spirits, causing countless families to be torn apart and countless relatives and friends to die at the hands of evil creatures. Look at the state of the human world now—corpses strewn everywhere, rivers of blood flowing. And all of this is the fault of you Feathered Clan! Don't think that just because you're the only one left of the Feathered Clan, you can escape your crimes. Don't even think about it. Since you have that evil blood flowing in your veins, you must bear the consequences of the Feathered Clan's evil deeds! If we're not having a good time, you won't have one either!"
This statement rang out sharply from the crowd, like the prelude to a tsunami, which then stirred up towering waves within the crowd, roaring and surging towards Xie Wen and Chu Xianyue, leaving them with no way to escape.
“My parents, wife, and children were all bitten to death by evil creatures. I used to have such a happy family, but now everything is completely destroyed. It's all your fault, all the fault of those damned Feather Clan people. Your sins are too great to count, and you will all go to hell after you die!”
Upon hearing this, Xie Wen suddenly wondered where Jin Huaran would go after he died. Would he go to hell? But none of that seemed to matter now; to him, the human world was hell.
Cries of condemnation rose and fell: "It was all the Feather Clan who killed my daughter! She was so young, only three years old, when she was corrupted by evil energy and died a painful death."
“My friends and family all died because of you; you are a sinner. If the Feathered Clan hadn’t opened the Heavenly Leak, how could the world have become like this? I could have lived openly and honestly, but since the Heavenly Leak, I have to be constantly on guard, and I could be bitten to death by evil creatures if I’m not careful. It’s all the Feathered Clan’s fault!”
Amidst the horde of attackers, Yun Yan, Chi Yufei, and Sikong Mingxue gradually disappeared into the crowd, silently watching everything unfold. This was Xie Wen's decision, and they had nothing to say, except that their only prayer in their hearts was that she could survive.
Having undergone the Cleansing Platform, cleansing himself of the so-called "sins" in the eyes of the world and washing away the blood of the Feather Clan, perhaps the world will be more tolerant of Xie Wen, and perhaps Xie Wen will be able to live more easily in this world.
She did this not to atone for her sins, but in a true sense, to resolve some of the hatred between humans and the winged race.
The various criticisms from the audience almost overwhelmed Xie Wen.
Finally, a familiar voice emerged from the crowd, abruptly ending the seemingly endless clamor. Yun Yan stood in the crowd, silently watching the person who had spoken. It seemed this was the same person who had been the first to stir up trouble from the very beginning. Yun Yan remembered this person's face. Those who constantly incite conflict at such times are either malicious or foolish. If they were truly malicious, in a time of widespread fear and chaos, it would be far too easy for them to manipulate events and incite even greater unrest.
As Yun Yan stared at the unfamiliar face, the person was loudly and passionately provoking Chu Xianyue, "Chu Xianyue, you just heard it too, the Feather Clan committed a crime she can never atone for in her lifetime! Now, we're giving you two options: either you kill that Feather Clan member with your own hands, or you make her atone for our sins on this Marrow Cleansing Platform. It's impossible to wash away the sins, but at least atonement is possible."
Chu Xianyue stared at the man's scarred face. He could tell at a glance that this wasn't the man's original appearance, but rather that he was wearing a human skin mask, afraid to show his true face. What else could it be but a guilty conscience? For so many days, this man had been stirring up the emotions of the people. Foolish people even worshipped him as a "god," unaware that the real "ghost" that wanted to harm them was right beside them.
Chu Xianyue didn't say anything more. He was an outsider and saw things clearly. How could someone who was in a delusion know that he was in a delusion?
However, Chu Xianyue did not choose either of these two options.
Xie Wen stepped forward, his brows furrowed in determination, and said, "The Marrow Cleansing Platform."
She did not admit her guilt, nor was she seeking atonement or to cleanse herself of the winged race's blood. She felt no shame or regret for being a winged person.
The reason I'm making this choice now is simply so that I can live in this world with dignity.
As soon as Xie Wen finished speaking, Chu Xianyue turned around and frowned at Xie Wen. He thought Xie Wen didn't know how painful it was to go up the Marrow Cleansing Platform. The pain of having tendons and bones pulled out was no joke. Even an ascended god would lose half his life once he went up the Marrow Cleansing Platform.
Besides, Xie Wen was merely a cultivator. The Marrow Cleansing Platform wouldn't necessarily kill him, but surviving was one thing, and how he survived was another.
In severe cases, one loses all cultivation and magical power, becoming a sickly person on the verge of death, even worse off than a mortal without magical power. After that, it will only be more difficult for them to survive in this turbulent world of cultivation.
For a cultivator, this is worse than being killed.
Xie Wenyi had made up her mind and would not change it. She said to Chu Xianyue, "I would rather live that way than not live an upright life. As long as I can get through this, I won't have to live that kind of dark and hopeless life anymore."
As she spoke, Xie Wen smiled at Chu Xianyue, holding his hand while her eyes crinkled. The wind constantly lifted her hair and the hem of her dress, gently stroking Chu Xianyue's cheek again and again.
He reached out and grabbed a strand of Xie Wen's black hair. Her hair was originally white, but Jiang Boyu had previously used an illusion to conceal it. Chu Xianyue raised his hand, and with a flash of inspiration, broke the illusion.
Her hair, floating in the air, slowly faded from black, turning into white silk, swaying in the wind.
Upon seeing the white hair, someone below seemed to be awakened by a past fear of being dominated by something unknown. Their pupils widened, and they cried out, "White hair! See? I told you this person is a member of the Feathered Clan! She can't escape!"
Her white hair flowed in a thousand turns on the stage, and the white hair hanging down from Xie Wen's scalp made her fair and slightly weak face look more like a white porcelain goddess statue in a temple.
People had to admit that the white hair on Xie Wen's head, far from the ugly and incongruous image they had imagined, resembling a wicked witch, actually resembled the goddess of legend. However, the goddess standing on the platform at this moment did not display a compassionate demeanor, but rather an extreme calmness, observing them from an aloof perspective. That was all.
The Marrow Cleansing Platform is about to be activated.
Chu Xianyue remained standing there, showing no intention of leaving.
Xie Wen touched his face and said, "You can go now. Actually, I don't really want you to see me looking so disheveled. Can you not look? I'm afraid you'll feel sorry for me and your heart won't be able to take it."
After she finished speaking, she noticed that Chu Xianyue was acting strangely, and then she heard him say, "Why can't I be with you? I said I would never leave you. No matter what."
Xie Wen said incredulously, "Are you crazy! Do you even know what the Marrow Cleansing Platform is?"
Chu Xianyue raised his head slightly. Of course he knew; he knew all too well. But so what?
He had said long ago that he would stand by her side through thick and thin. And now, it was just a mere marrow-cleansing platform—what was there to be afraid of?
Moreover, he also has half-feathered blood in his veins, so if Xie Wen is to bear these burdens, then he should bear them as well.
Chu Xianyue suddenly turned his head and said coldly to the crowd below the stage, "I also have half of the Feather Clan blood in my veins. I should be with her too."
Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted like a boiling pot.
Chu Xianyue's memories traveled through the bustling crowd and back to the snow-capped peak of the desolate desert thousands of miles away, as if his soul had once again entered the memory scroll unfolding on that snow-capped summit.
After Xie Wen was taken away by Jin Huaran, Tu Yu Chu Xianyue was trapped inside the scroll alone. No matter how hard he tried to get out, it was all in vain. He could only helplessly follow the torrent of memories within the scroll forward. Only when he reached the end of that memory was he able to escape.
He composed himself and continued his solitary journey through the scroll of memories, walking through the slowly dark night.
After Xie Wen and Jin Huaran left the memory scroll, Chu Xianyue later entered Chu Yu's memories and glimpsed his unknown life. Chu Xianyue finally found peace with their sudden deaths.
Chu Xianyue stepped out of the darkness, surrounded by light. In the dim light, he heard a loud baby's cry break the silence. As he walked forward, the almost shrill sound amplified in his ears, stimulating his eardrums.
The first thing that catches the eye is a dimly lit room with candlelight. A pale, weak-looking woman sits on the bed, holding a two-day-old baby. She carefully tries to soothe the crying child, looking somewhat helpless.
Chu Xianyue recognized the room; it was the place his father had used to imprison his mother, as he had previously mentioned.
Chu Xianyue didn't communicate much with his parents growing up; both parents had already passed away by the time he was old enough to understand. He didn't really know his parents; his memories of them were from when he was very young, the only time they took him out of the mountain gate.
Chu Xianyue was overjoyed because his father said his mother would come along too. He had hardly ever seen his mother when he was little; for reasons unknown, she had been kept under house arrest by his father. Chu Xianyue rarely saw her. And each time they met, it was for a very short time. Chu Xianyue was still young then, and for some reason, he felt extremely awkward in front of his mother, whom he hadn't seen in so long. No matter how his mother tried to make him happy and laugh, he couldn't manage a smile.
Both her father and mother were heartbroken and disappointed for a long time. Even until her death, her mother never knew that Chu Xianyue had never disliked or resented her. She was just young then and didn't understand the behavior of "not smiling" in front of her mother. To some extent, it was just that she longed to be coaxed by her mother and to be cared for by her mother.
Unfortunately, Chu Xianyue himself didn't realize it at the time, and his mother never had the chance to find out.
That was the first time Chu Xianyue had gone down the mountain with his father and mother. It was the first time he had spent so much time with his mother. But at the time, he never imagined that the only sweetness he would taste in his few years of life would come at the cost of his parents' lives.
Chu Xianyue knew that perhaps he couldn't be blamed, but his younger self hadn't thought so. Back then, he was used to taking all the blame upon himself because no one had ever told him that it wasn't his fault. Now, as an adult, Chu Xianyue looked at his younger self and couldn't tell him that either.
He still remembered that day when his father came over as usual to examine his incantations and swordsmanship. At the same time, he said to Chu Xianyue in a very calm tone, "Ah Yue, there is a Lantern Festival in the human world tomorrow. How about we go down the mountain together to admire the lanterns? Your mother will be going too."
Young Chu Xianyue didn't react much to the first half of Chu Yu's sentence, but the second half made his round eyes light up. He didn't show much outward expression, letting out a soft "oh," but no one knew better than the grown-up Chu Xianyue how red his ears and neck had been at that moment. It was caused by an intense feeling of excitement.
Chu Yu patted young Chu Xianyue's head; this was the closest they ever got to interact. Young Chu Xianyue was still a little unaccustomed to it.
Ultimately, the main reason was that even though young Chu Xianyue and Chu Yu lived together in the Sword Sect, they rarely saw each other. The most vivid memory Chu Yu left on young Chu Xianyue was a fleeting glimpse of his back. Chu Xianyue was mostly raised by the elders of the Sword Sect. Even then, he vaguely knew that he might have been born with a shallow connection to his parents.
On the night of that Lantern Festival, Chu Xianyue saw his mother, Fuyin, again. He couldn't remember how long it had been since he last saw her; he only knew that the seasons had come full circle.
That night, Chu Xianyue felt Chu Yu hold his small hand for the first time in a long time. Chu Xianyue couldn't even remember the last time Chu Yu had held his hand. It always seemed to last much longer.
The father and son stood outside the forbidden room, welcoming Fuyin, Chu Xianyue's mother, who was coming out of the forbidden room.
At this moment, he, now grown up, and he, now young, watched together as his mother finally walked out of that door. In that instant, she stepped out of the forbidden room, like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis.
Even after he grew up, Chu Xianyue could still immediately notice the abnormality in his mother's hair through the memory scroll. Beneath the black hair was the same illusion spell that Jiang Boyu had cast on Xie Wen, which could turn white hair into black hair.
At this moment, Chu Xianyue stood in the scroll of memories and saw something he had not understood in his childhood: beneath the black hair was the white hair that was the mark of the Feather Clan.
He suddenly realized that his father, a member of a prestigious and righteous sect, the head of the immortal sect, had actually married a member of the Feather Clan who was destined to be rejected by everyone.
Meanwhile, many things that Chu Xianyue had racked his brains to understand now seemed to make sense, and the truth was slowly surfacing. For example, why had his father kept his mother imprisoned all this time? Why had he never seen his mother's relatives or friends when he was a child? His mother seemed like someone abandoned in this world. And why did his father and mother suddenly decide to go down the mountain again? And why did they both die later? The answers to these questions were all simply because Chu Xianyue's mother was a member of the Feathered Clan.
Therefore, no matter how hard he racked his brains before, he could never come up with this answer.
If Jiang Boyu hadn't deceived Xie Qingci for his own selfish desires that day, hadn't led the Feather Clan into that dangerous, decapitated forest; if Chu Yu had gone to rescue them; if Chu Yu hadn't returned to that forest strewn with corpses afterward, he wouldn't have met Fu Yin, who still breathed her last, nor would he have brought the woman into the sect, nor would he have fallen in love with her, married her, and had children. In the very end, they wouldn't have died together in that endless sea.
It all seemed like fate was playing tricks on us.
As his thoughts returned, Chu Yu, holding young Chu Xianyue's hand, watched Fu Yin emerge from that perpetually closed-off place. Fu Yin possessed a gentle and dignified appearance. Upon seeing young Chu Xianyue, her eyes brightened, then softened, but her gait was somewhat unsteady, each step feeling as if she were walking on cotton, and her face was undeniably pale. She seemed like someone who had just received devastating news.
Young Chu Xianyue didn't notice this emotion in his mother's eyes, nor did he know that he would soon lose everything. So, when his mother came over, knelt down in front of him, and showered him with sweet words and tenderness, he still took it for granted and became spoiled. Sometimes children are like that; the more they are pampered, the more spoiled they become. Chu Xianyue thought that he might have been that kind of child when he was young.
He came to understand his parents as he grew up, but he never tried to understand his childhood self. It wasn't about being spoiled; if his parents didn't owe him much, why did they feel the need to compensate him? Perhaps it was simply their way of making up for their own guilt. But who made amends to Chu Xianyue back then? No one.
That night, on the night of the Lantern Festival, young Chu Xianyue didn't delve into why his mother suddenly left that door, or why his father suddenly wanted to take them down the mountain to play. He was simply overwhelmed by the immense joy and devoted himself entirely to the Lantern Festival and to the long-lost and rare love from his parents.
The Lantern Festival is an annual event at the foot of the mountain, but such celebrations are rare in the Sword Sect. While people at the foot of the mountain are immersed in singing and dancing, the cultivators on the mountain continue to wield their swords. Chu Xianyue stayed on the mountain day after day, year after year.
When he went down the mountain with his parents for the first time, he saw a world he had never seen before. On both sides of the street, lanterns of all colors and shapes were lined up in order. Some lanterns were hung on both sides of the road, while others were suspended in mid-air in an orderly manner, stretching for ten miles, and were extremely beautiful.
This experience deeply moved him as a child, a profound experience that touched him deeply with the warmth and humanity of this small town. Chu Xianyue showed no outward expression; his face remained expressionless. Only later in life did he realize just how excited and overjoyed he had been.
As Chu Xianyue grew up, he was surprised to realize that he had also been moved by such an ordinary little thing.
Pedestrians strolled along both sides of the street, and various vendors set up stalls displaying beautiful and exquisite handicrafts. Chu Xianyue was naturally curious, but when Chu Yu asked him if he wanted any, he almost immediately turned cold, as if trying to prove that he was the one who looked down on such things. In reality, it was a kind of rudeness stemming from his awkwardness. He felt awkward in the new environment, and also awkward about his parents' sudden kindness towards him.
Chu Yu put the handmade toy back on the stall, a hint of embarrassment on his face. He clearly didn't know how to interact with his son. In the end, it was Fu Yin who bought the cricket made of vine. The awkwardness that Chu Yu couldn't see in his son, Fu Yin saw right through him.
No matter how difficult young Chu Xianyue was, his mother could always see through his true thoughts. Fu Yin squatted down in front of Chu Xianyue and said, "A-Yue, this cricket can chirp."
Upon hearing this, the little boy paused for a moment, as if all his shyness had vanished. He stared curiously at the straw cricket, seemingly trying to discern something. He wondered, how could such an ordinary creature possibly chirp?
Fu Yin smiled brightly, and with her hands hanging by her sides, she secretly cast a spell, and without the young Chu Xianyue noticing, a ray of spiritual light was injected into the lifelike straw cricket.
Under his bright, gleaming gaze, the cricket suddenly jumped up and clung firmly to Chu Xianyue's face, startling him. He immediately squeaked and frantically tried to shoo it away. Fu Yin laughed, and Chu Yu couldn't help but smile as well. Chu Yu squatted down and reached out to help Chu Xianyue remove the "lively" cricket.
Young Chu Xianyue only felt ashamed of his cowardice and loss of composure afterward, his chubby face turning as red as a peach. However, Chu Yu and Fu Yin didn't care about this.
On the brightly lit streets, many couples like them strolled with their children. The children rode on their fathers' shoulders, holding all sorts of beautiful lanterns, their smiles radiant and bright.
However, at that moment, Chu Xianyue looked up and met the eyes of a chubby little boy with a runny nose. The little boy was staring at the cricket, eager to know why Chu Xianyue's straw-woven cricket was alive and chirping, obediently staying in Chu Xianyue's hand like his pet.
The chubby boy pointed at Chu Xianyue's cricket and cried, demanding an identical one for himself. His parents stood by helplessly, saying, "That person is a cultivator from the Immortal Capital. He has magic powers and can conjure up anything."
The chubby boy ignored everything and simply sat down on the ground, crying, making a scene, and threatening to hang himself, shouting, "I want it! I want it! I don't care!"
Chu Xianyue's brow twitched slightly at the sight, but what surprised him even more was that even in this state, the little fat boy's parents still unconditionally pampered and indulged him.
At this moment, Chu Xianyue looked up and suddenly met Chu Yu's eyes. He said, "Want to sit on my shoulders? It's very high up there, and you can see everything."
Young Chu Xianyue was at a loss again. After a long while, Fuyin picked him up and placed him on Chu Yu's shoulder. At that moment, little Chu Xianyue's mind was completely blank. Later, he realized that sitting on his father's shoulders really did allow him to see very far and felt very solid and reliable.
He sat on Chu Yu's shoulder, his gaze sweeping across ten miles of lights, the cricket in his hand chirping incessantly, and his father silently taking his mother's hand.
If those things hadn't happened later, what a happy day that would have been.
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