110 Lone Boat
◎White hair that grows overnight◎
This winter was exceptionally cold. Danpa wanted to persuade her parents to move to Jinxi City with her instead of staying in the village, but the old folks were stubborn and refused to move no matter what she said.
Aunt Huang scolded her: "There's no place like home! Besides, if we move away, what if Doctor Ying and Miss Mu come back? We won't even have a hot soup to drink during the New Year."
Faced with her mother's decades-long nagging, Danpa simply ignored it. Her gaze drifted through the window to the pile of ruins next door.
Decades have passed, and the ruins are no longer the desolate place they once were. Spring comes and autumn goes, birds sow unknown seeds here, and the seeds grow and bloom. Although they are not precious flowers, they add a bit of vitality to the withering winter.
Even inanimate objects can struggle to regain their vitality over time; perhaps Dr. Ying has also ushered in a new life. Therefore, no news is good news.
After comforting herself, she was about to close the window to prevent the snowflakes from drifting in when she suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure outside the courtyard.
Sister Mu?!
No. She looked closely and realized she had mistaken someone for someone else. The person standing outside the courtyard, covered in snow, was not Sister Mu, but Huai Zhou.
She quickly pushed open the door and ran out, opening her umbrella to shield the two of them. She asked urgently, "Why are you here? Quick, don't just stand there like an idiot, let's go inside and talk!"
Huaizhou was pulled and dragged back into the house by her. When Uncle Huang saw that her lips were purple from the cold, he quickly poured a pot of hot water, thinking that even if she couldn't drink it, it would warm her hands. Aunt Huang was even more thoughtful, taking out her own winter coat and the thickest quilts in the house and putting them all on her.
Danpa used the most direct, simple, and straightforward method to transfer spiritual energy. After the Huang family had been busy for a while, Huaizhou's body temperature gradually rose, and his lips were no longer stiff and purple.
However, she seemed to be blind, her eyes staring blankly ahead, her gaze unfocused and unfocused, always resting on a certain spot.
Aunt Huang and her husband exchanged a glance and quietly slipped out.
Only the two of them remained in the room. Danpa let Huaizhou lean on her shoulder, gently patting his back as her mother would, and softly comforting him, "Did something happen? Don't be afraid, your older sister is here, your older sister will protect you."
Upon hearing her voice, Huai Zhou seemed to have finally found his lost soul. His dry lips parted slightly, and a tear rolled down from the corner of his eye.
She spoke in a hoarse voice, her lips trembling uncontrollably: "Sister, Doctor Du... is gone..."
She has no home anymore.
From then on, Huaizhou became a lone boat in the vast world, rootless and alone.
————
Danpa pieced together the whole story from her words and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
After ten years apart, they reunited, thinking there would be plenty of time in the future, but little did they know that their brief reunion would be followed by an eternal farewell.
It's better not to meet than to meet.
She looked at the strand of white hair at Huai Zhou's temple, her eyes slightly stinging, and hugged him tightly: "You still have your older sister, you're not alone."
She gently shook her head in her arms, and the day of the seventh day of the eleventh lunar month reappeared before her eyes.
Holding his cold body, she knocked on the doors of clinics one after another, but no matter how many doctors she consulted, she always received the same answer.
"When the pulse stops and the breath is exhausted, medicine is useless."
When the pulse stops and the breath is exhausted, medicine is useless... Huai Zhou had read medical books and naturally knew the meaning of this sentence.
The disease has progressed to an incurable stage.
But how did things come to this? How did they become "incurable"? Just a few days ago, Doctor Du had made a promise with her to release lotus lanterns at Mingyue Canal on the Lantern Festival... He hadn't even kept his promise, so how could he have left her?
Ten years ago you left without saying goodbye, and now you're doing the same thing again. Dr. Du, you really are... heartless.
Thinking of this, her long-dry eyes gradually became hot, as if a ball of blazing fire had fallen into the forest and suddenly set off a raging wildfire.
At the center of the ashes lies a tear of blood.
Danpa knew that nothing she said would make a difference at this point, so she could only remain silent and watch as Danpa fell into pain, regret, and struggle.
She couldn't help but wonder, was this the balance of fate? First, she was given talents that ordinary people could not attain, and then she was given pain that ordinary people could not bear... It turned out that the two sides of the scale had never tilted, and the gains and losses were predetermined in the dark, beyond human control.
Now that things have come to this, all I can do is offer comfort and companionship.
After a moment of silence, even though she was reluctant, Danpa still brought up the matter of the funeral: "What do you plan to do next? Doctor Du must be laid to rest."
Upon hearing this, Huai Zhou looked at her with bloodshot eyes, his lips trembling, his voice hoarse: "I don't know... He never told me where his hometown was."
Liulijing was the "home" she came to after being found, not Doctor Du's true hometown. She didn't even know his full name, only calling him "Doctor Du" along with others.
Only now does Huai Zhou realize that she has never truly understood him, and that she, like the strangers who have passed by him, knows very little.
Seeing that she was about to fall into that emotion again, Danpa spoke up in time: "It's freezing cold now, so the body won't rot even if it's stored for a while. But it will be harder to preserve when the weather warms up in the spring. This matter should be handled quickly rather than slowly."
“…I understand, elder sister,” she said.
Huai Zhou found an ice coffin and placed it in the Tiger's Blood Pool behind the mountain. The pool water was already frozen, and the ice coffin would preserve the body to the greatest extent possible. However, even so, the body still decomposed at an alarming rate, and what Danpa saw was a completely unrecognizable corpse.
Her first reaction was that he was too thin, so thin that even through his worn-out coarse cloth clothes, her shoulder blades were still clearly visible, like two clumps of withered bamboo.
It's hard to imagine that such a thin person raised Huaizhou; no wonder she was so heartbroken...
Besides being thin, Danpa was also surprised that Doctor Du had a full head of white hair, but judging from his skeleton, he was not very old.
She looked again at Huai Zhou's white hair that had grown overnight, and understood.
It is likely that Dr. Du also experienced a deeply tragic past.
As the pond thawed and the weather gradually warmed, Huai Zhou's heart grew colder, like melting snow. Days passed, yet she still hadn't found Doctor Du's hometown, didn't know where it was, and how his body could be laid to rest, returning to its roots.
Does Dr. Du intend to become a rootless duckweed, just like her?
Danpa saw her confusion, sighed, and said, "Why not bury him in the place he loved in life, so that his wishes can be fulfilled?"
Favorite places...
She recalled for a moment, then shook her head blankly: "We went to many places that year, and I don't know which place he liked the most."
Cloud City has peach trees that haven't yet blossomed, the East Sea has fireflies and moonlight shining together, Wanze City is a place where old friends reunite, and as for Liuli City... there are too many memories there, and a grand and cruel snowfall.
Seeing her struggling to make a decision, Danpa said, "Then bury them all. It's always better to leave traces than to let them go without a sound. Next year, as you walk through every place he has been, he will go with you to a new place."
They were Taoist practitioners, possessing a transcendent understanding of life and death, so Huaizhou didn't find their words shocking. She nodded in agreement, and the two of them chose an auspicious day to cremate the body.
In early spring, the scorching heat did not feel sweltering, but rather gentle, softly caressing the ends of her hair and taking away that incongruous white.
Danpa had been observing Huaizhou's expression and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that she did not have any intense emotions like "sharing the same bed in life and the same blood in death".
Tian Huaizhou appeared calm, but the calmer she was, the more uneasy Danpa became, fearing that if she wasn't careful, she would leave with Doctor Du.
The person is gone, but those who are alive must always look forward.
Huai Zhou carried the ashes in four different earthenware jars, intending to bury them in various places. However, for some reason, one of the jars could not be sealed, which puzzled Danpa greatly.
"Could there be something wrong with the material of the jar?" she wondered.
Huai Zhou felt that this might be Doctor Du reminding her of something, but what exactly was it?
Soon, she learned the truth.
Danpa insisted on seeing them off. As they passed a locust tree, suddenly the leaves overhead rustled, a strong wind arose, sand and gravel flew everywhere, and even a wisp of ash from the earthenware jar was blown away to some unknown place.
The two hurriedly gave chase, then slowly stopped.
“This is…” Huai Zhou asked in astonishment, looking at the rows of tombstones in front of him.
Danpa explained: "Cemetery".
This is the very grave that was moved from the back mountain years ago due to the evil dragon's mischief. To avoid disturbing the deceased's rest again, the villagers simply held their worship here instead of moving the grave back.
Huai Zhou thought that Doctor Du was probably afraid of being alone and wanted to stay in a crowded place. Since that was the case, she would grant his wish and let this wisp of hair stay in Wuling Village.
The wind stirred the hem of her white dress, as if trying to hold her back, or waving goodbye. She hugged the earthenware jar tightly, asking herself, "Do you like it here? Okay, I won't forget to come back next year." With that, she turned and left, carrying the remaining ashes.
Danpa watched her figure disappear into the distance, and only after a long while did she turn her gaze away, staring blankly at the direction in which the ashes were heading.
That is... the joint burial grave of Ying's father and mother.
————
Although he is gone, Huai Zhou still keeps his promise to "meet him once after killing a hundred demons," only now the gentle knocking on the door has turned into wiping the tombstone.
Cloud City, East Sea, Wanze City, Liulijing, Wuling Village... She traveled between these five places, shortening the intervals between them from one month to half a month, then to ten days, and finally to seven days.
In the end, it only takes one day to eliminate a hundred evil demons.
The world was in an uproar. Everyone knew that given time, this person would surely break through to the Void Refinement Realm and ascend to immortality.
She is the number one person in the world after Gu Zhang! Not only does the Zhenxie Division want to recruit her, but even the secluded Dengxian Mountain has said it is willing to lend her a hand.
"The later the tribulation, the more dangerous it becomes. Without anyone protecting you, you may find it difficult to survive."
The person sent by Dengxian Mountain was a beast tamer named "Mu Xiao". Her contracted mount "Xuanxing" has the bloodline of a divine beast and can devour lightning.
But Huaizhou refused all help.
"Why?"
She said, "I already have the protective amulet."
Mu Xiao frowned, scrutinizing her from head to toe, but couldn't find any items containing immortal power. Unable to persuade her, she could only ride the suspended star back to report.
After she left, Huaizhou opened his palm, revealing half of the jade pendant that had been rubbed warm by his body heat from being gripped too tightly.
In the first month after his death, she finally learned which character the half of the jade pendant came from.
Yes, "boat".
————
A storm is brewing; dark clouds hang low over the sky, and fierce winds surge from all directions.
A thunderous roar pierced the sky; a tribulation of lightning was imminent.
Danpa unconsciously tightened her grip on her sword, staring intently at the person by the pool. At her current level, she was no longer able to help Huaizhou through his tribulation, but she still couldn't rest easy and chose to witness it with her own eyes.
Whether one achieves perfect tribulation or dies and perishes depends on this one battle.
She felt her heart pounding like thunder, filled with fear and unease. But the person at the center of the storm seemed oblivious, even having the leisure to tuck a stray strand of snow-white hair behind his ear.
Suddenly, a thunderclap shattered the darkness and cleaved the vast sky.
It's coming!
Danpa's heart tightened, and she quickly looked at Huaizhou. She saw Huaizhou slowly raise her hand, and although there was no sword in her palm, it seemed to gather thousands of sword intents.
Lightning struck.
Jian Sheng.
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