Chapter 1295 A Young Man's Thoughts
Crown Prince...
Upon hearing those two words, Yuwen Ye's breathing immediately became heavy. Without thinking, he jumped off his horse and immediately ran forward. Before long, he arrived at the place where the Crown Prince had just been shot by an arrow and fallen to the ground.
A bloody battle had just taken place here, leaving corpses strewn everywhere and rivers of blood flowing, but it hadn't affected the Crown Prince, and no one dared to set foot here, so much so that there wasn't even a single bloody footprint around. Yet here lay a pool of blood, exceptionally bright red and glaring, and on it lay Yuwen Qian's snow-white figure. Although half his body was stained red, the other half, including his face, remained pristine white, like a light feather floating in a sea of blood.
The one kneeling beside him was still Yu Mingyue, and her posture remained unchanged.
As soon as he got closer, Yuwen Ye's steps slowed down and gradually became lighter.
Because he heard a low chanting of Buddhist scriptures: "When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound Prajnaparamita, he perceived that the five aggregates are empty, and thus transcended all suffering and distress..."
The closer you get, the clearer you can hear it. It is the Heart Sutra, unhurried and serene. Even though the air still carries the tension of the recent battle, the smell of blood in the wind is so strong it's nauseating, and you can even hear the terrified cries of those who have surrendered in the distance, the chanting of the Buddha's name suddenly makes the place quiet in such a noisy and chaotic night.
Finally, Yuwen Ye walked to his side.
No one had touched him, so Yuwen Qian looked exactly the same as when he was shot by an arrow and fell from his horse. The arrow was still stuck in his throat, and with his low chanting, the arrow feathers trembled slightly, and blood flowed out of the wound in his throat little by little.
It seemed like he was almost out of blood.
His voice was so faint it was almost inaudible.
Yuwen Ye stood beside him, quietly gazing at that incredibly familiar, incomparably handsome face. At this moment, it was just like when that man had looked at him from the shore back then.
Yuwen Ye said softly, "Big brother."
"...Therefore, the Prajnaparamita mantra is recited. The mantra is: Gate Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha."
After reciting the last line, as if he had let go of something, Yuwen Qian let out a long sigh of relief.
Then, he slowly opened his eyes.
Those translucent, clean, and clear eyes were just as they were when we first met.
Following closely behind Yuwen Ye, Shang Ruyi couldn't help but gasp. She hadn't expected that he would still be alive after being hit by such an arrow, and even more unexpectedly, that he would still be able to finish reciting the Heart Sutra.
Is this person a Buddha or a demon?
Yuwen Ye looked down at him, his gaze as cold as his own back on the shore, but his voice was hoarse with barely suppressed emotion: "You're chanting Buddhist scriptures now, is it because you want to become a Buddha?"
"..."
“But have you forgotten the verse that Xinzheng spoke of—'Reciting it for years will turn you into a demon'?”
"..."
"How can you become a Buddha if you have inner demons?"
Upon hearing the words "inner demons," Yuwen Qian's gaze trembled slightly as he looked at his second brother. A hint of despair flickered in his eyes, which had been calm and empty to the point of being almost devoid of warmth. It seemed to echo Yuwen Ye's words—"If you have inner demons, how can you become a Buddha?"
"well……"
He actually let out a soft sigh.
Yuwen Ye slowly squatted down, looking at him lying in a pool of blood, and said softly, "Brother, what exactly is your inner demon? Why is it that after so many years of traveling away from home, practicing Buddhism, and then entering the world to ascend the throne and stir up trouble, you still can't get rid of it?"
"..."
What exactly is your inner demon?
Yuwen Qian didn't speak, but just looked at him quietly. After a while, his gaze shifted to Shang Ruyi behind him.
After the chaotic fight, Shang Ruyi's hair was loose, her hairpins and ornaments were scattered on the ground, and a few strands of her dark hair were constantly tangling in the wind. If it weren't for the hair ornament that was barely holding her hair in place, she would probably be disheveled by now.
Looking at her hair, Yuwen Qian's gaze seemed to linger.
However, his gaze did not linger on her for long. After looking at her for a while, he coldly withdrew his gaze and closed his eyes.
He seemed to have breathed his last.
Yuwen Ye stared intently at him, his eyes gradually turning red.
Just as he was about to get up and leave, he suddenly heard Yuwen Qian's low whisper from the ground, as faint as a mosquito's murmur, yet it landed heavily in his heart at that moment: "The day she married into the Yuwen family, the weather was beautiful. The setting sun shone on her golden hairpin... She was glowing."
"...?"
Upon hearing this, Yuwen Ye immediately frowned and turned to look at Shang Ruyi.
Standing behind him, Shang Ruyi instinctively frowned, but the next moment, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
The day she married into the Yuwen family, the weather was indeed very nice, and the sunset was very bright.
She didn't know if she shone in the sunlight, but—
She didn't wear a gold hairpin.
She only had one gold hairpin, the one she was wearing now, but it was given to her by Guan Yunmu shortly after she married into the Yuwen family. Jin Yun had told her that it was the one Guan Yunmu wore when she married Yuwen Yuan.
"...!"
Shang Ruyi gasped sharply.
At this moment, Yuwen Qian slowly opened his eyes again. His pupils were completely transparent, as if all his thoughts and emotions had been drained away with the blood. The remaining body had lost its five senses and was devoid of any warmth. The only thing that remained in those eyes was the scene after scene of the past he had witnessed...
On the day she married into the Yuwen family, the setting sun blazed like fire, its fiery rays shining upon her. Her golden hairpin swayed gracefully with her lotus-like steps, its light penetrating deeply into the eyes of the child who was peeking from a corner.
He always remembered her graceful figure in her green dress.
Aunt Hui's voice, cold and filled with boundless resentment and bitterness, echoed incessantly in his ears—this woman, she's been waiting for your mother to die. Once your mother is dead, she'll marry into the Yuwen family. Maybe your mother was cursed to death by her! You can't really treat her like your mother. She won't be close to you; not only will she not be, she'll also harm you!
When she gives birth to a son, everything you have will be over...
The voice was like a ghost, always there.
So he became wary, like a hedgehog with its quills standing on end; and sure enough, she treated him coldly, and he didn't get close to her either—in fact, he didn't easily get close to anyone, and after sensing her coldness, he became even more cautious, because Aunt Hui had said that she would definitely harm him for her son's sake.
Then one day, she really did give birth to a son.
However, she was not close to this son either.
Her gaze did not linger much on her biological son, but instead always focused on her husband, who was also her father. In her eyes, from beginning to end, there was only that one figure.
The boy gradually calmed down, and when his half-brother felt lonely, he would even take the initiative to get close to him and take care of him—since we are both lonely.
But one day, when he was about to take his younger brother boating on the lake, he saw him curled up in her arms, fast asleep. He was sleeping so soundly, with a happy and content expression on his face, as if he had won the whole world.
At that moment, the boy felt betrayed.
It wasn't the younger brother who betrayed their shared loneliness, but this woman... she betrayed herself!
In that instant, hatred engulfed the little boy like a tidal wave. He hated so much that he didn't even have time to hide his venomous gaze, which was seen by his younger brother who suddenly woke up. But he thought he was seeing things, so he let him believe that it was just his imagination.
However, it was not an illusion after all. When the two of them were boating on the lake and the younger brother accidentally fell into the lake, he did not immediately reach out to save him. In that instant, he suddenly wondered if, if the child who made him betray himself died, she could go back to the way things were before—when neither of them was close to the other and they were both lonely.
But in the end, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
The second brother, who had been rescued, fell seriously ill. His father asked him only one question and then didn't ask any more. But he felt as if his heart was being slowly tortured, because she stayed by his side from beginning to end, never scolding him, never complaining about him, and never even glancing at him.
Afterwards, the whole family went to a Buddhist temple to pray for blessings, and when he saw the Buddha with his lowered phoenix eyes, as if he could see through all the hearts of people in the world, he suddenly decided to enter the Buddhist order.
He wanted to do this to wash away his sins and suppress the inner demons that even he found despicable.
So over the years, he traveled far and wide, and devoted himself to Buddhist practice. But no matter how many prayer cushions he wore out or how many times he chanted the calming mantra, he could not dispel the resentment he felt towards her. On the contrary, because of the distance he traveled and the loneliness of his practice, his resentment towards her grew deeper and deeper.
He knew he hated her.
He knew that his hatred for her, along with his hatred for her son, was his inner demon. When he met Yu Mingyue, and when this woman of extraordinary background told him about the possible end for him, that hatred reached its peak.
He wanted to destroy her son, even if it meant using the most despicable means, even if it meant pretending to be affectionate and gentle, to get close to the woman who had broken off their engagement and made him lose face.
Over the years, he has gone through many twists and turns, struggling and churning in such hatred, allowing this inner demon to erode his conscience and beliefs. He tries to save himself while falling into depravity, remaining clear-headed while indulging in it.
Today, he has finally reached the end of his life.
His inner demons seem to be about to disappear from this world with the end of his life.
All these years have passed, and he has always believed this—until this moment, a thought suddenly arose, just like the bright moon rising from the snow-capped peaks, and silver fish leaping in the great river.
His mind was completely clear.
From beginning to end, these were his childhood concerns, not inner demons.
It was his love, and the love he could not have.
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