Chapter 327
"Teacher, are you leaving too?"
On a very high mountain peak, Di Ting looked down at the city stretching out below him and asked with reluctance.
"Silly boy, you should know how to be content!" Qilin kicked him unhappily. "At first, I stayed and helped you for nearly a hundred years, and then I helped you for more than four hundred years. Your old teacher is almost exhausted!"
Di Ting dodged the Qilin's foot deftly and said with a smile, "How about you stay for a few hundred more years? I don't mind."
"You are the opposite, Tian Gang!" Qilin said unhappily, "You are already so amazing, don't go looking for the teacher for no reason."
"Don't contact me, I'm going to play somewhere else in the Great Wilderness and I won't be back!" Qilin turned around and left. He turned his back to Di Ting and waved, "Don't follow me!"
Qilin did not turn around, so he naturally did not know that the slightly annoying smile on Di Ting's face faded behind him, but his eyes became red, and deep reluctance and sadness seemed to flow from his eyes.
teacher……
Di Ting opened his mouth silently, but ultimately did not say anything to try to persuade the teacher to stay. However, his intuition told him that this farewell would be different from any previous ones, as if the teacher would never come back after leaving.
…
After bidding farewell to the foolish boy who had finally grown a mind after thousands of years, Qilin never looked back. He was afraid that if he turned back, he would not be able to help but talk a lot, and the foolish boy who was becoming more and more clever would discover something.
He sighed and changed back from human form to his original form.
The scales that once sparkled with brilliance have now become much dimmer. Qilin knows that his time has come to an end just like Bai Ze's.
The vague concept of death has been played out before his eyes again and again over the past two thousand years. Qilin has even become numb to death - he still has feelings about life and death, but it's like a hazy layer separating them, no longer the same as it was at the beginning.
Qilin walked down the mountain slowly. On the way, he saw people going up the mountain to chop wood and hunt. He used his spiritual power to draw a concealment formation on his body so that he was not seen by these people. When he reached the foot of the mountain, there were even more people. Several small villages had been formed at the foot of the mountain, relying on the mountain and the water for their livelihood.
Qilin saw the fairly neat farmland, the chickens and ducks in the fence, the bluestone houses, and the winding roads... Time has changed many things, but it still leaves some traces of the past.
Qilin walked on the solid dirt road. It had rained heavily last night and the road was soaked through. He left a series of shallow footprints on the ground, from the end of the village to the beginning.
"Hey? Are these the footprints of some alien beast?"
He heard curious voices behind him.
"I can't guess." Someone answered, "Master Di Ting always arranges the alien beasts to check for fallen monsters from time to time. Maybe this is the footprint left by a certain master?"
"Have you studied the Classic of Mountains and Seas well?" an older voice sounded sternly, "Come here, both of you! I'll check you!"
Then the two voices before began to howl——
"No, Chief!!!"
Qilin passed through the village, and he did not deliberately erase the footprints of his original prototype. Over the years, any alien beasts and plants that had left traces in the village, and any fallen creatures that wandered nearby in a short period of time would not easily invade the village. After thousands of years of fighting, some things were finally engraved into the heritage.
After leaving the village, Qilin crossed several mountains. The vegetation on the mountains was lush and green, but it was very different from before. After ten, a hundred, or a thousand years, the green mountains are no longer the same as they were yesterday.
He walked along the direction guided by the spiritual power until he saw the sycamore trees planted all over the mountain. He skillfully untied the formation outside the mountain and walked to a small courtyard in the mountains. The life of this courtyard was extended by various formations, but it had also been repaired countless times over thousands of years.
Qilin knocked on the door slowly and the door opened automatically. Under the ivy vines, Phoenix on the recliner opened his eyes and said, "You're here?"
"Yes." Qilin said without hesitation, "Give me a recliner, too."
The phoenix pointed, and an identical recliner appeared beside him. The unicorn used its hoof to smash the prototype into the recliner.
"Are you not going to help him anymore?" Phoenix asked.
"I can't stay here to help forever." Qilin squinted his eyes, looking at the sparse sunlight leaking in through the gaps in the ivy above his head. The light spots fell on his scales, but couldn't illuminate the thick dust. "He has grown up a long time ago."
The bamboo lounge chair made a creaking sound when it rocked. Phoenix chuckled and commented, "saying one thing and thinking another," amid the creaking sound.
Qilin didn't refute or respond. He just squinted his eyes, as if he had come all the way to find Fenghuang to steal a few minutes of leisure time.
"I'm old..." Qilin said in a nonchalant tone in the quiet atmosphere, "I always think back to the past."
Photo stones also have a lifespan. The image will become increasingly blurred with each use, and eventually become completely invisible.
During these two thousand years, Qilin recorded many photo stones, but only a few remained. In the last few hundred years, he almost never touched them again.
"It's been a thousand years, and I can hardly remember what he looked like." Phoenix suddenly said, "I only remember that he had white fur and a very stubborn mouth."
"That's how Shirazawa is," Kirin continued. "He's been like this all his life."
Feng Huang was stunned for a moment, and finally smiled and said, "That's right."
"What are your plans for the future?" After a moment of pause, Feng Huang changed the subject. "Like before, traveling around the wilderness?"
"I guess so..." Qilin replied vaguely, "I've been with humans for a long time, and I feel a little tired."
From tribes to cities and then to dynasties, generations rose and fell, but their lifespan was only a hundred years. Perhaps it was the short lifespan that gave rise to resentment and ambition. After all, the alien beasts, alien plants and humans could no longer live in harmony as before, and cracks gradually appeared.
This rift will sooner or later turn into a serious problem. The Qilin and Phoenix under the ivy trellis know it very well, but it no longer matters to them.
"It's not our turn to worry about how things turn out in the end." Phoenix joked, "Look at you, your scales are so tired that they're not bright anymore."
"Hey——" Qilin turned over in the recliner and sighed, "That's right."
…
When the Qilin came, the sun was at its zenith; when it left, the golden crows fell to the west. The phoenix leaned against the door frame, watching its old friend going further and further away. The leaves of the sycamore trees on the way down the mountain turned red silently, forming a brilliant road in the sunset.
"What's the matter?" Qilin turned around and said with a smile, "Are you worried that my eyesight is blurry and I don't know the way down the mountain?"
"Yes." Feng Huang said calmly, "After all, he is an elderly grandfather."
"Not bad, I also experienced the treatment of the elderly." Qilin turned his back to him and waved, "Wutong will show you the way, so you don't have to see me off."
His figure gradually shrank into a tiny dot within the fiery red sycamore tree, and was finally submerged in the hot red.
Phoenix gazed at the tree made of red phoenix trees for a long time. He understood that Qilin would never come back, just like Bai Ze did that year.
*
After Qilin came down the mountain, he turned around and looked for Canglong. Canglong had white hair on his temples, but his demeanor was the same as before. Under the moonlight, they drank wine on the same mountain, just like they did more than two thousand years ago.
Looking down from the top of the mountain, that place is no longer a tribe, but a city rising from the ground, with tall bluestone brick walls, watchtowers at intervals, and armored soldiers on the towers. Dots of light flicker behind the walls, which are the lights of each household.
The fruit wine that people drank more than two thousand years ago was slightly intoxicating, but the wine that people drank more than two thousand years later was so spicy that it burned their throats. Qilin couldn't help coughing after taking a sip. The wine choked him badly.
There were many wine jars piled up at Canglong's feet. He drank the wine as if it were water, without even changing his expression.
Qilin coughed for a long time before he recovered. He complained, "Can't you pat me for a bit?"
"You're so hypocritical." Canglong threw a water cup into his arms, "How can you be so weak?"
"I say you need to change your temper!" Qilin opened the cup and took a sip. It was warm water. "Even if you have a high martial arts value and no one can beat you, people can still hate you in their hearts."
"I can't hear them in my heart, so let them be." Canglong said, "Do they dare to say such unpleasant words to me?"
"I said that our arbitrary and powerful High Priest Canglong—" Qilin dragged out his tone, as if he had returned to that outspoken night more than 2,000 years ago, "People can change, be careful not to capsize."
"People's minds change over the course of a hundred years." Canglong said, "I knew this long ago."
"Boom!"
The wine hit the wall of the wine jar, and Qilin was speechless for a moment.
When Canglong brought him back to the mountain from more than 2,000 years ago, his consciousness found many earth mounds on the mountain. Some of the earth mounds were empty, while others still contained some bone fragments - all the people who died in that tribe more than 2,000 years ago were buried on this mountain.
Qilin knew that when Canglong was in a bad mood, he would come to this mountain to sit and occasionally drink a little wine, and then he would go down the mountain and become the majestic high priest again.
"I can't persuade you." After a long silence, Qilin shrugged, "You are the most determined and stubborn one among us."
He took another sip of wine and sighed, "Over two thousand years...even the taste of wine has changed."
Everything changes over time.
"Canglong..." Qilin asked in confusion, "Are you unwilling to accept this?"
Canglong did not answer.
He didn't answer until Qilin left.
…
Qilin walked around the wilderness and caught up with several friends he had made during his two thousand years of travel. After a brief stay and then parting again, he felt deeply his own weakness.
The speed of his spiritual power and reaction was slowly decreasing, but Qilin did not feel distressed because he had already thought about his final destination.
The moment he stepped on the scorched earth, all the spiritual power around him disappeared. Qilin walked forward slowly, and slowly bypassed the huge crack that had existed for more than two thousand years. He saw the scarred body of Jianmu. He seemed not to have changed, but the grass and trees sleeping on Jianmu and the unburned bones under Jianmu had been weathered a lot over time.
Qilin immediately saw the half-charred Shoumu in the front. He was planted in the front, just as it was said more than two thousand years ago, so that when everyone came back, they would be the first to see him.
The area within a thousand miles was scorched earth without any spiritual power. Qilin's frail body was exhausted to the extreme. He leaned against a longevity tree and slowly closed his eyes.
Di Ting, who was far away in the human kingdom, suddenly felt an inexplicable and extremely strong palpitation. His intuition told him that something bad seemed to be happening.
The restless Di Ting hurriedly handed over all the things he was handling and immediately went to visit Cang Long. This high priest who was very famous in the human dynasty seemed to know his purpose. He told Di Ting—
"You can go to the Land of the Dead and take a look. Maybe you can still make it in time."
The Soulless Land is a scorched earth stretching for thousands of miles. In the center of the scorched earth stands a dead tree that blocks out the sun and the sky. Anyone who steps into the scorched earth will be temporarily stripped of all their spiritual power. If one goes there with ill intentions, at best their luck will decline, and at worst they will be cursed.
Di Ting didn't care much about these legends. He just thought worriedly:
What do you mean... maybe it's not too late?
He rushed to the thousand-mile scorched earth. In front of the very center of the scorched earth, there was a half-burnt tree. His teacher was lying under the tree with his eyes closed, as if he was taking a nap for countless afternoons.
After returning to his original form, Di Ting's eyes suddenly turned red. He seemed to have returned to his childhood thousands of years ago, when he was displaced and at a loss.
He could only shout over and over again, trying to wake the teacher up in this clumsy way. The teacher would tell him, as he did in the past when he played tricks on him, that this was to test his courage and that there was nothing wrong.
He would not bite the teacher's tail or pinch his horns angrily like he did when he was a child, but would pretend to be mature and answer -
"Tsk~ I knew it a long time ago!"
…
When Qilin woke up from endless fatigue, he saw a Di Ting with black and white fur, red eyes and tears in front of him.
Qilin opened his mouth and subconsciously wanted to tease him - where was the fool bullied? Why did he cry like this at such a young age? Why didn't he come and complain earlier?
But he couldn't make a sound.
No matter how long the life of the alien beast is, it has reached the end of its life.
Qilin used up his last bit of strength to transform into a human form. He raised his hand with great effort and patted the head of Di Ting, who was still the same size as when he was a child. At this moment he suddenly realized that he actually had a lot of things to say to Di Ting, but he was awkward before and lost the opportunity.
There's no way, his teacher is just so unreliable. Fortunately, the silly boy is becoming more stable as he grows up.
Qilin placed his other hand on his heart, and a ball of light appeared in his palm. He stuffed the light into Di Ting's arms. His heart was engraved with the condensation of his life force. Rather than letting it dissipate in vain in a soulless place, it would be better to give it to this silly boy and make full use of it.
After giving out all his strength, the feeling of weakness became more and more obvious. Qilin saw himself slowly becoming transparent, just like the gentleman more than 2,000 years ago, turning into golden spots of light all over the sky.
At the end of his consciousness, Qilin felt something lifting him up and placing him on a broad back. The owner of the back carried him forward, walking along the flat road. At the end of the road, there were several shadows against the light, and they seemed to be smiling.
They seemed to have been waiting for him there for a long, long time.
*
This year it was soon late autumn.
The mountain where Phoenix was, all the sycamore trees on the entire mountain had turned into a fiery red. Phoenix cooked a lot of New Year dishes in the courtyard to be stored in advance. He could have easily done it with his spiritual power, but he was already used to doing it himself.
The layout of the courtyard is not much different from that of more than 2,000 years ago, except that one courtyard has been covered in dust for a long time, and this year, the other courtyard will not welcome its owner again.
Over the past two thousand years, Phoenix has encountered many new beasts and plants, and made new friends. He has watched many old friends leave and witnessed the birth of new life.
He used his spiritual power to send letters to various places in the wilderness, and then received several replies. Most of the winter days in the courtyard were warm and noisy, probably because he was always afraid of the loneliness in winter.
The heavy snow arrived as expected as usual. Lanterns were hung at the gate of the courtyard and couplets were posted on it, making it as gorgeous as the sycamore trees in autumn.
As my friends grow older, they gradually show obvious signs of aging, not in their appearance, but in their eyes. Young children are always curious about the world, but the elderly are not surprised.
This winter is also very lively, but there are a few familiar faces missing. This is normal, but Phoenix is still stunned and regretful.
For the Phoenix who possesses the gift of Nirvana, he will never become numb because of the same emotion. Every time is like the first time, whether it is happiness or pain.
On the New Year's Day, people in all parts of the wilderness were celebrating, with alien beasts, alien plants, and humans all resembling each other for the first time.
Another hundred years passed, and Feng Huang went to look for Cang Long. Cang Long looked at him and asked in a very calm voice: "Is your time up too?"
"Yes." Feng Huang smiled, his face was still gorgeous, his posture was still graceful, "This winter, you won't have any of the New Year's dishes I make."
Canglong is actually the most awkward and strange but also the most insightful person among the four of them. Fenghuang is the one who worries about him the most, but also the least.
The phoenix finally attained nirvana in his own courtyard. As raging flames began to burn from his entire body, the green of the entire mountain turned red. Red sycamore leaves covered the entire mountain, like the legendary fire-lit road in a distant story.
Canglong was guarding quietly at the foot of the mountain. He looked up. There was no wind in the fiery red sycamore forest, but every leaf was trembling, like a silent cry of grief.
He saw the flames rising into the sky, the wildfires all over the field, and the red flames burning everything into thick black smoke. The vitality of the entire mountain was completely extinguished in that instant, leaving only ashes.
At this moment, Canglong clearly realized that of all the people who had accompanied him in the beginning, he was now the only one left. Perhaps he would be able to see the Phoenix of Nirvana in the future, but there would be a difference after all.
*
The wilderness is vast and boundless, and the death of a few beasts is not a big deal. Even if they were extremely famous during their lifetime, time will dilute everything. Those who have received their kindness will gradually forget it over the years, or their gratitude will come to an abrupt end when death comes.
In the first few decades, everyone remembered their achievements. After a hundred years, they were reduced to written records. After a thousand years, oral legends surpassed actual records. Everything seemed to be covered by a beautified filter. The wilderness belonged to the new race of humans, and the exotic beasts and plants were just the remnants of the previous generation.
There were still exotic beasts and plants around the dynasty, but most of them returned to the vast mountains and rivers and no longer had close contact with humans. The "Classic of Mountains and Seas" also changed from a must-learn book for children to a legendary historical record.
Di Ting persisted for nearly a thousand years after Qilin left. He rarely revealed his original form. In human legends, he is a new wise man. Some say he is the incarnation of Di Ting, while others say Di Ting is just a mysterious coat on him and he is still a human being.
The rumors were swirling around, but Di Ting did not come forward to clarify them. The question of what he was actually was actually irrelevant, even though alien beasts and plants did exist.
He just felt that it was time for him to leave.
Humans once offered sacrifices to alien beasts and plants and regarded them as totems. Aliens enjoyed humans' sacrifices and gave them protection, and humans also repaid them in their own way.
But now, humans have their own complete system. For example, they have planted fruits with effects and developed corresponding herbs. For example, they have the ability to move mountains and seas with alien beasts, and they also have spiritual power and formations to support them.
Di Ting left the human dynasty on a sunny spring morning, and the whole capital was in mourning. Countless people shed tears for him sincerely. Di Ting was moved, but felt deeply confused, so he went to meet Cang Long.
Canglong is the only being that has survived the catastrophe. He gave up everything related to humans hundreds of years earlier than Di Ting, and has lived longer than any other beasts and plants.
When Di Ting saw him, the hair on his temples had turned completely white, and his eyes were no longer as clear as they were a thousand years ago. He had been a respected high priest for thousands of years, and even though Di Ting had held a high position of power in the human dynasty for a long time, he could never see through what he was thinking.
Di Ting asked his question.
Canglong gave an answer that even Di Ting could not believe. He said, "I don't know either."
Human life span is only a hundred years, yet it is much more complicated than that of monsters that live for thousands of years.
So Di Ting said goodbye to Canglong and returned to the Great Wilderness. He wanted to find an answer by himself, but he was unable to find the answer until he left.
At the end of his life, Di Ting went to a place without spirits. His familiar teacher was no longer there under the longevity tree, but he bowed earnestly three times to the empty scorched earth.
He remembered that after his teacher left, he went to the teacher's courtyard to sort out the relics. In the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", he saw a page of paper that served as a bookmark. There were only a few words written on the paper -
[A place without light, a prison of heaven, despised by time, with no result and no escape.]
Di Ting knew that the Land of No Light was located beneath this thousand-mile scorched earth. Legend has it that creatures that enter the Land of No Light will remain in a state of neither life nor death, and will eventually forget who they are after a long period of time, just like what was written on the paper:
[In a place without light, there is no life and no death.]
I am not myself, forget my own heart. 】
Over the long course of thousands of years, a lightless land emerged from the scorched earth. Di Ting always felt that there were secrets inside. He even had an illusion that his teacher... might still be alive.
The paper briefly recorded some discussions, which looked like childish messages passed between each other. Only at the end, Senior Phoenix's handwriting made a summary—
[Qilin, we don't have time.]
Teacher, they seem to be waiting.
But Di Ting didn't know what they were waiting for, nor did he know whether they had waited for it or not.
But he felt unwilling.
He thought of the white fish in the dark blue sea and the flying birds in the sky. It was the cycle of life and death. If he entered the dark land, if he existed long enough, would he be awakened again by chance one day and be able to see the person he wanted to see?
Driven by the desire in his heart, he made such a decision. He gave up his body, turned his consciousness into tiny points of light, chased the butterfly with a star-like tail condensed from the last of his life force, and sank into the scorched earth.
He will...sleep in the dark.
The unconscious body fell heavily onto the scorched earth. Someone came over from the other side of the scorched earth, burned the body into ashes with flames, and buried it under the huge remains of Jianmu, where it rested forever with the alien beasts and plants that had existed for thousands of years.
The visitor's cyan eyes scanned the scenes that once existed in his memory inch by inch. Thousands of years had cruelly made his memories blurry, and the more he recalled, the more painful it became.
His time had come to an end a long time ago, but he had been holding on with his talent. If he could assimilate himself with the mountains and rivers, he would be able to continue in time, and he had already chosen the mountain to assimilate.
Why do we have to leave when the time comes? Why does everything have to be arranged by heaven?
Canglong slowly walked out of the scorched earth thousands of miles away, heading for the mountain he had chosen. It was already late at night when he halfway climbed up the mountain. He shot a rabbit, and roasted it over a fire on the spot. In the shadow cast by the fire, a pitch-black "stick" swallowed quietly, staring at the roasted rabbit that was so delicious.
Maybe it was because the sound of it swallowing saliva was a little loud, and Canglong glanced over with cold eyes. The "stick" hidden in the shadow froze, and under Canglong's gaze, it dived into the ground. After a few seconds, a piece of black tail tip appeared on the ground, and the tail cautiously flapped around to test. After hitting a black oval "stone", it rolled up quickly, dragging the "stone" into the ground, and a conspicuous mound of earth instantly bulged on the ground.
Canglong raised his eyebrows, broke off a dead branch and stuck it right in front of the mound.
The dirt bag was shaking like he had Parkinson's disease, but he still pretended to be a dirt bag. Canglong tore a piece of meat from the roasted rabbit and placed it in front of the dead branch.
After eating and drinking his fill, at dawn, the Canglong climbed to the highest peak of the mountain. At a specific location, he transformed back into his original form and coiled on the top of the mountain. Blood oozed out from the gaps between his scales, wetting the land beneath him inch by inch.
This is a method with a very low success rate, but the user has to endure unspeakable torture. In extreme pain, he still has to ensure that the spiritual power flows along the formation outlined in advance, without any mistakes.
The sky, which should have been bright and sunny, was suddenly filled with wind and clouds, and in an instant there was thunder and lightning followed by heavy rain. The mountain and its surrounding environment seemed to be separated from the wilderness, and the bad weather lasted for a hundred years.
The body coiled on top of the mountain was already in tatters, as if it had lost all signs of life. Its flesh and blood had been corroded by the rain, leaving only dark blue scales and a pair of eyes of the same color.
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