From that day on, Chang Le frequently went out.
At first it took one or two years, then three to five years, and later it became eight to ten years.
Time has left very few marks on her, as if the world has forgotten her and the past cannot hold her back.
Although she hasn't aged, she seems to become different every time she comes back.
Sometimes they would return with a radiant face and a bountiful harvest;
Sometimes they would return covered in blood, barely alive;
Sometimes it's because I miss someone that I come back;
Sometimes I come back because I'm tired.
After returning, she would always spend some time at Goubuli or the Golden Palace, then go to the Dragon Tomb to rest. After waiting for a while, she would leave again.
She seemed very busy and gradually drifted further and further away from the world, yet she still maintained a deep connection with the world.
Each time she returns, she occasionally sees relatives and friends, sharing her experiences with them. Then, amidst their farewell glances, she departs again, leaving the world's scenery behind in the passage of time. She walks towards the starlight, ever onward.
Time flies by with each parting and reunion.
For example, the ten-year plan has been successfully completed, and the Central Plains has taken the lead in realizing universal cultivation;
For example, Hua Zhixue has already started a family and career, and came to the Ninth District for exchange and study with her younger sister Gu Peixian and a group of friends;
For example, the Wolf Faction appointed a new Wolf Leader, a dashing young woman named Lu Suiren, whose name is derived from "timely and prosperous years";
For example, the Dragon Sect, with Fu Songyun, a newly promoted member of the Heaven-Mending Tower's peak ranking, has basically finalized its new core members.
For example, the departure of Chen Wusui, Changfeng, and Lu Lie...
Spring has passed and winter has come; more than twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Summer of the year 425 of the Cataclysmic Era.
In the training grounds established in Qianyuan Mountain, a girl with a cool and noble temperament is sparring with a tall and handsome man.
One is Gu Peixian, the second daughter of Hua Anning and Gu Yujing, and the other is Fu Songyun, the new generation genius of the Long School.
Hua Zhixue, Si Jingxing, Wei Dangzhi, and others were watching the battle from the sidelines.
Now thirty years old, Hua Zhixue has grown into a bright and aloof beauty, outstanding, intellectual, elegant, and generous, exuding feminine charm.
Hua Zhixue temporarily left the scene, thinking about the things her parents had entrusted to her, and wanted to go find Mr. Luo of the Long faction.
She had just walked through a grove of trees and arrived at a clearing when her gaze suddenly froze, and her eyes slowly widened.
The cool air from the cold pool dispelled the summer heat. Beside the pool, one ancient tree was withered and yellow, while another was lush and green. In the shade formed by the dense, verdant leaves, sat a figure as white as snow.
She was dressed in a white long gown, casually leaning against a tree. The soft folds of her gown supported a curious little squirrel that had climbed down from the tree.
Her snow-white hair cascaded down her shoulders, the ends tinged with emerald green falling across her chest. A green snake lay quietly coiled on her shoulder, while a black ghost fire nestled on her other shoulder.
She rested one hand on her chest and stroked the sleeping three-tailed cat beside her with the other.
She sat there, bathed in the gentle light of time and favored by the sun and moon, ethereal and otherworldly, yet breathtakingly beautiful in the mortal world.
Hua Zhixue couldn't help but gasp.
She opened her eyes, her dark green pupils seemingly holding a galaxy of stars, brilliant, silent, and mysterious.
“Come here.” She patted the grass beside her.
Hua Zhixue quickly went over, sat down awkwardly beside her, and called out, "Jiujiu."
She said, "Don't be shy, just act like you did when you were a child."
Hua Zhixue didn't dare to, and just smiled awkwardly: "That was when I was a child and didn't know any better. I'm a grown-up now."
As a child, she idolized the people in front of her, even believing she had fallen for Fu Jiu during her adolescence. It wasn't until she grew up, learned that Fu Jiu and Chang Le were the same person, and learned to distinguish between different feelings, that her vague feelings for Fu Jiu transformed into respect and admiration.
She often went to District 9, hoping that she might run into Chang Le.
As for the issue of how to address her, after hearing her rambling "brother" and "sister," Chang Le said, "Let's call her Jiu Jiu."
She asked why it couldn't be "Lele," and Chang Le said that was a name from the past.
So she called her "Jiujiu".
After a moment of silence, Hua Zhixue asked, "Did you just get back? Where did you go this time?"
In her memory, Chang Le was like a wanderer of the stars, traversing galaxies that modern technology could not yet reach.
"I've been back for three days," Chang Le told her, his eyes half-closed.
"I went to a very interesting place. The world was in ruins, the original gods had died out, new gods were being conceived, and other gods were making plans. It was like a world from a novel, in a corner of a similar universe."
"So... have you found the end of the Milky Way yet?"
Hua Zhixue once asked her mother what Chang Le was looking for in the Milky Way.
Hua Anning replied, "She is searching for the person at the end of the Milky Way."
She couldn't fully understand why there were people at the end of the Milky Way, but she felt inexplicably sad. That sadness, falling on Chang Le, turned into a faint loneliness, like a veil separating her from the world.
Chang Le opened her eyes: "Soon, we'll find it."
Hua Zhixue's expression was complicated: "So, you're still leaving?"
"Um."
"Going to farther places?"
"At the end of the Milky Way".
Will they come back?
Yes, it will.
Hua Zhixue tilted her head and smiled at her: "Then we'll wait for you to come back."
Chang Le smiled faintly: "Okay."
Later, Hua Zhixue did indeed wait for Chang Le and Fu Jiu again, and not just once, but many times.
Including the time when Hua Anning passed away,
And, when it was her turn...
—Spring of the year 499 of the Cataclysmic Era.
Hua Zhixue, who was over a hundred years old, lay in bed when her great-granddaughter ran over and knelt beside her bed: "Great-Grandma, I want to hear the story of the Dragon Emperor and the Nine Emperors! Tell me the story!"
The adults came over to take the child away, but Hua Zhixue smiled comfortingly and said, "Great-Grandma is going to a very far place. From now on, it will be your turn to tell other people the story."
The little girl tilted her head: "Should I tell other people their stories?"
Hua Zhixue said, "My dear, that's not just a story, it's our history, our civilization. Now, Great-Grandma wants to pass it on to you to continue the story. My dear, can you do it?"
The little girl hesitated for a moment and asked, "Great-Grandma, can I tell this story to others with Brother Liuyu?"
The "Brother Liuyu" she mentioned is Fu Liuyu, the current young master of the Dragon Sect in the Ninth District and one of the next chief candidates for the district.
Hua Zhixue smiled and said, "Of course, you should all be together, and let the people after you be together too, and keep talking about it."
After the little girl left, Hua Zhixue lay quietly for a very long time.
Suddenly, she saw the person she had only seen in her dreams appear beside her, with the sparse silver night sky behind them, as if they had come from the Milky Way.
The man sat down and looked at her, his gaze as calming as she remembered.
Hua Zhixue revealed a bright, girlish smile:
"Nine-nine".
Chang Le sat there, seemingly forgotten by time; a hundred years had left few traces on her.
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