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 behind him faded, 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.
靈力運行與反應速度都在慢慢下降，但麒麟并不覺得苦惱，因為他已經想好了自己最終的去處。
踏上焦土的那一刻，周身所有的靈力都消失了，麒麟慢吞吞地向前走着，又慢吞吞地繞開過了兩千多年依舊存在的巨大裂痕，他看到傷痕累累的建木殘軀，祂似乎沒什麽變化，但建木之上沉眠的草木，建木之下未燃盡的骨頭，都在時間裏被風化了不少。
麒麟一眼就看到了最前方半身焦黑的壽木，他被種在最前方，就像兩千多年前所說的，大家回來時，都能第一個看見他。
方圓千裏都是沒有靈力的焦土，麒麟衰弱的身軀已經疲憊到了極點，他倚靠在壽木下，緩緩阖上了眼睛。
遠在人類王城的谛聽忽然有一陣莫名其妙又強烈至極的心悸，冥冥之中的直覺告訴他，好像有什麽不好的事要發生了。
心神不寧的谛聽匆匆交付好手裏正在打理的一切事物後，立刻去拜訪了蒼龍，這位在人類王朝裏極富盛名的大祭司似乎早知他的來意，他告訴谛聽———
“你可以去無靈之地看一看，也許還來得及。”
無靈之地是一片綿延千裏的焦土，焦土中心有一顆已經死去的、遮天蔽日的樹，凡是踏入焦土的都會被短暫地剝奪全身靈力，若是帶着惡意前去，輕則氣運衰減，重則詛咒纏身。
谛聽并不太在意這些傳說，他只是憂心忡忡地想———
什麽叫……也許還來得及？
他趕赴了那片千裏焦土，在焦土最中心的前方，有一棵半焦的樹，他的老師阖眼躺在那棵樹下，好像無數個午後的小憩。
變回原形的谛聽一下子就紅了眼圈，他好像又回到了幾千年前，那颠沛流離茫然不知所措的幼年時期。
他只能一遍一遍地呼喊着，試圖通過這種拙劣的方式讓老師醒過來，老師會像以往捉弄他時一般，告訴他這是為了測試他的膽量，其實什麽事都沒有。
他一定不會像幼年時一樣生氣地去咬老師的尾巴，撓他的角，而是會故作老成地回答一句———
“嘁～我早就知道了！”
……
麒麟從無盡的疲憊裏醒過來的時候，眼前是一只皮毛黑一塊白一塊，眼圈紅紅還掉着眼淚的谛聽。
麒麟張張嘴，下意識地就想調侃———傻崽子是在哪兒被欺負了？這把年紀還哭成這個鬼樣子，怎麽不早點過來告狀？
但他發不出一絲聲音。
異獸的生命再漫長，這時也到了彌留之際。
麒麟用盡最後一絲力量變成了人形，他費力地擡起手，拍了拍如幼年時一般大小的谛聽的腦袋，這個時候他才突然驚覺，他其實有很多話想叮囑谛聽，只是之前別別扭扭的，反倒失了時機。
沒辦法，他這個老師就是這樣不靠譜，幸虧傻崽子在長大的過程中一天比一天穩重。
麒麟的另一只手點在自己的心口，一團光浮現在他的掌心，他将這團光塞到谛聽懷裏———他的心髒裏篆刻着他畢生力量的凝結，與其放在無靈之地白白消散，還不如給這只傻崽子物盡其用。
全部力量都給出後，衰弱感越發明顯，麒麟看到自己慢慢透明，就像兩千多年前的先生一樣，化作漫天的金色光點。
意識的最後，麒麟感覺有什麽托起了他，将他放在一個寬闊的背上，脊背的主人馱着他一直向前走，走過平坦的大道，大道盡頭有數道影子逆着光，似乎笑意盈盈。
他們好像在那裏，等了他許久、許久。
*
這一年很快就到了深秋。
鳳凰所在的那座山，整座山的梧桐已盡數化為了火紅，鳳凰在小院裏做了很多要提前儲存的年菜，本來可以用靈力輕松搞定，但他已經習慣了自己動手。
小院與兩千多年前的格局并未有太大差別，只是有一座院子已經塵封了很久，而今年，另一座院子也不會再迎來它的主人。
兩千多年來，鳳凰遇到了很多新的異獸異植，也交了新的朋友，他目送着許多故舊離去，又見證着新生命的誕生。
他用靈力向大荒的各處發出信件，而後又收到數道回信，小院的冬日，大部分時候都是熱熱鬧鬧的，可能因為他總是害怕冬日的寂寞。
大雪像以往一樣如期而至，小院的門口挂上了燈籠，貼上了對聯，豔麗得像秋日梧桐。
朋友們在一次次年歲裏漸漸有了明顯的老去痕跡，不是他們的外表，而是他們的眼睛，年歲尚輕的孩子們總對這個世界充滿了好奇，遲暮的老人卻波瀾不驚。
今年的冬日也很熱鬧，只是又少了幾個熟悉的面孔，這本是常事，但鳳凰依舊會怔然與遺憾。
對擁有［涅槃］天賦的鳳凰來說，他從不會因為同樣的情感而麻木，每一次都如第一次，幸福如此，痛苦亦然。
新年的那一日，大荒的各處都在歡慶着，異獸異植人類，難得相似。
又一個百年，鳳凰去找了一趟蒼龍，蒼龍看着他，用很平靜的聲音問：“你的時間也到了嗎？”
“是啊。”鳳凰笑了笑，他的容顏依然華美，姿态依然雍容，“今年冬日，我做的年菜你可沒份了。”
蒼龍其實是他們四個裏活得最擰巴最別扭卻也最通透的人，鳳凰最擔心他，也最不擔心他。
鳳凰最終在自己的小院裏涅磐，熊熊火焰自他周身燃燒而起時，整座山的綠色都化作了火紅，赤色梧桐葉漫山遍野，像是遙遠故事裏傳說中的火照之路。
蒼龍靜靜地在山下守着，他仰着頭，火紅的梧桐林中并沒有風，但每一片葉子都震顫着，像是無聲的悲鳴。
他看到沖天而起的烈焰，看到遍野的山火，看到赤色的火焰将一切燃燒殆盡，化作厚厚的黑煙，整座山的生機在這一瞬盡數湮滅，只留下殘燼一片。
蒼龍在這一刻清晰地意識到最初陪他走來的所有人如今只剩他自己，也許往後他還能見到涅槃的鳳凰，但終究有差別。
*
大荒廣無邊界，幾只異獸死亡并不是什麽大事，即使他們生前極有盛名，時間也會将一切淡化，受過恩惠的人會在歲月裏逐漸遺忘，或者在死亡來臨時将感激戛然而止。
最初的幾十年，人人記得他們的功績，過了百載，便化為書面的留痕，千載時，口頭的傳說勝過切實的記載，一切像蒙上了層美化的濾鏡，大荒屬于人類這個新種族，異獸異植只是上一代僥幸殘留的舊骸。
王朝周邊仍有異獸異植，但大多重新複歸莽莽山川，不再與人類交往密切，《山海經》也從孩童必學的書籍，成了帶有傳奇色彩的歷史記載。
谛聽在麒麟離開後又堅持了将近千年，他已經很少再露出自己原本的形态，他在人類傳說裏是新的智者，有人說他是谛聽的化身，有人說谛聽只是他身上神秘的外衣，他本身還是人類。
紛紛擾擾的流言谛聽并未出面澄清，他本身究竟是什麽這個問題其實無關緊要，哪怕異獸異植确切存在。
他只是覺得，到了他該離開的時候。
曾經人類供奉異獸異植，将他們視作圖騰，異獸異植享受人類的供奉并給予他們庇護，人類也用自己的方式予以回報。
但現在，人類有了自己完整的體系，比如異植那些具有作用的果實，他們研究出了相應的草藥，比如異獸那些移山倒海的手腕，他們也有靈力與陣法作為支撐。
谛聽在某個春和日麗的早上離開了人類的王朝，于是整個都城一片缟素，無數人在真心實意地為他流着眼淚，感動之餘，谛聽卻有種深深的茫然，于是他去見了蒼龍一面。
蒼龍是從災劫過後唯一活到現在的存在，他比谛聽早幾百年卸任與人類有關的事物，也比任何異獸異植都要活得長久。
谛聽見到他時，蒼龍鬓邊的頭發已經全白了，眼神也不複千年前清亮，他做了幾千年受人尊崇的大祭司，即使谛聽也在人類王朝裏位高權重了許久，卻始終不能看透他在想什麽。
谛聽問出了他的疑問。
蒼龍卻給出了一個連谛聽都難以置信的回答，他說：“我也不知。”
人類的生命只有百載，卻比活了幾千年的異獸還要複雜得多。
于是谛聽告別蒼龍回到大荒，他想自己去找一個答案，但這個答案一直找到他要離開前，也沒能回答。
在生命的最後，谛聽去了一趟無靈之地，壽木之下早已沒有了他熟悉的老師，但他對着那片空蕩蕩的焦土，認真地拜了三拜。
他想起老師離開後，他曾去老師的小院裏整理遺物，在《山海經》中，他看到了一頁充當書簽的紙，紙上只寥寥地寫着幾句話———
【無光之地，天道囚籠，時間所厭，不得結果，不得解脫。】
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 climbed halfway 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.