Chapter 45
Everyone was still worried, so they checked Qi Li again and again, and only stopped when Qi Li was about to get angry.
She made a face and said, "I told you it's okay! You guys are too surprised!"
Tan Jue's eyes were filled with worry: "We should check it again with the instrument when we get back to the headquarters. The spiritual power fluctuation detector has never had such a big reaction before."
He was very worried that the mission born this time would be above C level.
The group continued to move forward with heavy hearts. After cutting away the bushes that blocked the road, they saw another spring in front of them. The bottom of the spring was made of pebbles and the water was clear and transparent.
"The spring water just now is not drinkable, but this one should be okay, right?" Qi Li poked his head out from behind the crowd, "I'm dying of thirst!"
Uncle Zhao turned on the spiritual power fluctuation detector, then picked up a stone from the ground and threw it into the water - the spiritual power fluctuation detector did not respond at all.
Mu Yan looked in the direction of the spring, a little hesitant on her face: "I think... let's just forget it."
"Look ahead and behind." Qi Li muttered in a low and dissatisfied voice. She suddenly pushed everyone away and ran forward. She clasped her hands together, scooped up a handful of clear water from the spring, and drank it up. At the farthest place from them, Meng Ziqiu was standing there alone. In his hand, the slightly retracted sword was looming. The backs of the five people in front of him suddenly turned into blurred blocks of color in his eyes. These blocks of color were spinning, and the world changed. When his eyes became clear again, it was a whole wide grassland.
Meng Ziqiu lowered his head. A piece of sword blade had pierced his protective suit on the right side of his chest. Blood kept gushing out from the wound, leaving large patches of dark color on the black protective suit.
The pain of suffocation spread from the wound to the brain. Meng Ziqiu grasped the broken sword blade and shattered it with force. The sharp fragments cut his palm and made it bleed. He turned around and saw Uncle Zhao's ferocious face.
Joy, pleasure, pain, shock, discomfort, and happiness - many expressions appeared on that old face, with a distortion like an abstract painting. In his hand, he held a half-broken sword, pointing it straight in the direction of Meng Ziqiu.
Blood dripped down Meng Ziqiu's palm. He looked around and saw Tan Jue fighting with Mu Yan. Qi Li's hand had already pierced Yang Zhirou's shoulder...
"That's enough." Meng Ziqiu whispered, "That's enough."
From the moment he woke up by the river, he knew he was dreaming, but he hadn't seen these old friends in such a peaceful setting for five years. Even if it was a dream, he was willing to indulge in it for a while.
He tried to change the scene of their first encounter with the birth of [貪泉], but Qi Li was still splashed into the spring water. In the frequent nightmares five years ago, he had tried to change the situation countless times, but no matter how he changed it, it was a dead end, and this dream was the same. However, this dream was better than before, at least it left him a moment of peace.
He was tired of the painful memories along the way, and was more familiar with the scene in front of him—the sudden attack from behind, the pain of the sword piercing his body, and the wounds on his body from the team members fighting each other...
B-rank mission [Greedy Spring] From the moment it was born, the entire mountain was its carrier, and all the water on the mountain was its incarnation—the dew on the grass, the mist when breathing, the drizzle on the face...
[貪泉] was born out of a story handed down from history, and gave birth to a weirdness in poetry. The mountain where they carried out their mission was the hotbed for its awakening.
Once the water on the mountain is touched, the greed of human nature will be infinitely magnified. This greed will magnify people's emotions a hundred times or a thousand times, constantly urging people to practice—
People's eyes always fall on him. If he disappears, will they look at me?
She seems to have no worries. How can she be so happy when I am unhappy?
I just did a small thing wrong, why are you criticizing me so much? Will I be able to have peace if I just tell him to shut up forever?
…
No one in the world is a saint, no one can guarantee that they will never have negative emotions, and will not quarrel with others because of a certain thing. People can restrain themselves, adjust themselves, and forget, but the water of the greedy spring will dig up the forgotten thoughts that people find terrible, and then tempt them to implement them like a devil.
[How does he make so much money? I really want to rob him and stab him to death...]
[Why is she so pretty? I really hope something bad happens to her...]
[This kid is so noisy, I might as well strangle him to death...]
[He is so close to the railroad tracks, push him down, push him down...]
Greed is desire, thought, imbalance, jealousy, and the dark thoughts that occasionally arise in the heart. Under the influence of the Greedy Fountain, these thoughts will not disappear, but will only become more and more intense as time goes by, and finally turn the thoughts into actions. The more people take action, the greater the scope of the Greedy Fountain's influence will be, and the faster it will catalyze.
Meng Ziqiu closed his eyes slightly. He knew what would happen next in this nightmare. He could even recite every word that would happen next.
[We are both sword cultivators, why am I still a member of the team even though I am almost retired? You are the team leader at such a young age! ]
[Minding everything! Minding this and that, just die! ]
[Isn't it just your swordsmanship? Look at how arrogant you are! ]
[Why didn’t you stab me accurately? Stab me in the heart!]
…
In countless nightmares in the past, these words were repeated again and again. Then, in the atmosphere stimulated by these words and in which everyone's negative thoughts were extremely magnified, they fought fiercely. As the blood flowed and under the stimulation of pain, reason finally overwhelmed "greed" and temporarily returned to the cage.
They supported each other and stumbled to leave the mountain. After leaving the mountain, the effect of the spring water would gradually weaken, and as long as they could control themselves, the influence would gradually disappear.
Less than a hundred meters from the entrance to the mountain, there was a man sitting on a tree. Whether it was back then or in his dream, Meng Ziqiu never saw his face clearly, but he remembered his eyes—
The corners of his eyes and pupils were a gorgeous red, like burning fireworks, mocking him with contempt, as if they were prey in his hands and ants under his feet.
He raised his hands, and water gathered at his fingertips. Then dark clouds gathered and it began to rain. The raindrops fell on the wounded group of people, washing out dark red puddle of water under their feet.
"I can't leave..." The old man with scars all over his body suddenly sighed. He looked at the wound on Meng Ziqiu's chest that was still bleeding. "Ziqiu... I'm sorry. I didn't expect that I would do such a wrong thing when I was about to retire."
"Boss Meng, it's true that I was jealous of you, but it's also true that I admire you."
"Team Leader, I sometimes feel annoyed when you control me, but I really like it and am very happy."
…
Everyone just said something hastily, and then they worked together to push Meng Ziqiu back. Each special group had at least five people to ensure that each group had the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, so that they could form a formation at the critical moment.
Even though they were influenced by Greedy Spring, they still made a decision in the end - to save Meng Ziqiu and bring the news back to the Foreign Affairs Bureau. This was also the best solution to the current situation.
No one said anything sentimental like "You go and I'll stay to cover your retreat" or "If we die, we die together". There was only the formation unfolding in silence and Meng Ziqiu, who was running desperately out of the mountain with injuries all over his body.
There is sincerity in malice, and there is malice in sincerity; good and evil exist at the same time.
This is human nature. This is human nature.
The light spots representing the marks of life faded away one by one, but the swords transformed from words remained deeply in his heart. Meng Ziqiu was also young and frivolous back then. He had the indomitable spirit of a swordsman, but also a bad temper. When his companions used words to make swords to hurt him, he would respond with a cold and sharp blade, wounding his companions with blood.
If you can escape, perhaps at a party after the mission is completed, perhaps in a hearty fight after the wound has healed, or perhaps in a nighttime conversation, these problems will be exposed to the sun and slowly smoothed out.
But there is no chance.
The wounds left behind and the attacks uttered have all come to an abrupt end with the disappearance of life.
He made the right choice, but he could no longer swing the sword of his youth. The sword in his heart was chained by words and imprisoned by his turning away and abandoning his companions, and was trapped forever.
It seemed that the same words were echoing in my nightmare five years ago.
[We are both sword cultivators, why am I still a member of the team even though I am almost retired? You are the team leader at such a young age! ]
"We are both sword cultivators, but you have done much better than me. The Yangtze River has always been full of success, so I can retire with peace of mind!"
[Minding everything! Minding this and that, just die! ]
"You're meddling in everything! You're meddling in everything. Boss Meng, are you my team leader or my father?"
[Isn't it just your swordsmanship? Look at how arrogant you are! ]
"You are so awesome because you are good at swordsmanship. But if my swordsmanship was this good, I could be so awesome that I could fly to the sky!"
[Why didn’t you stab me accurately? Stab me in the heart!]
"Why did you stab me all of a sudden? If you were a little off, you would have stabbed me in the heart!!"
…
Two different sounds alternated in his ears, making it difficult to tell which was the real sound in the dream.
The dream gradually became foggy, obscuring his vision. Then, he saw those eyes again. The corners of the eyes and the pupils were a gorgeous red, like burning fireworks, mocking and contemptuous, as if he was watching a farce.
Meng Ziqiu was filled with hatred, but he could not summon the sword. As a swordsman, if he abandoned his companions without hesitation, no matter what the reason, he would lose the qualification to wield a sword.
The white mist began to turn blood red, and red water meandered to his feet. The mist became thinner, and he vaguely saw five corpses lying on the ground - exactly the same as what he saw on the day he returned to the mountain.
The sword in his hand was clearly flashing rapidly, but the sword never took shape.
[Who do you hate, him or yourself? ]
Somewhere in the dark, he heard such a voice.
He really hated Di Changqing—
Or... hating himself?
He hated himself for being incompetent and having to run away when faced with danger. He hated himself for being the team leader but letting his team members lose their lives for him.
Meng Ziqiu closed his eyes.
He hated Di Changqing, but he hated himself even more.
What restrains the sword in his heart is his hatred and disgust for himself.
It was as if something invisible was vibrating, trying to break through the chains. The bloody mist suddenly became thicker and then dispersed, and he was back in the teahouse.
The empty space on the table where the tea pet should have been placed suddenly sprouted new buds, which grew and blossomed, turning into a hyacinth again.
"Meng Ziqiu, it's your flower."
Exactly the same words as last time.
Meng Ziqiu looked up and saw the senior whom he had seen in his dream not long ago holding a cup of steaming tea in his hand.
He placed the tea in front of Meng Ziqiu, with a slight smile on his face.
"You may have tea now."
The hyacinth swayed and cast its shadow on the table. Meng Ziqiu suddenly thought of Qi Li. The little girl was always keen on various new things, such as the flower language that was once popular. She once pulled the whole group to study it together.
"This is a flower formed by the energy of the deceased." Meng Ziqiu heard his predecessor say, "I am an old antique and don't understand these things."
He bent slightly, and Hyacinthus swayed and gently touched the back of his hand. A little smile appeared in his eyes:
"But... as compensation, I'll tell you a secret."
"The words you heard in your dream are the true feelings without the influence of greed."
The aroma of tea filled the air, and the smoke was lingering. Meng Ziqiu picked up the teacup blankly and drank it all in one gulp.
It seems that some forgotten memories have been awakened——
[Team leader, please be careful when buying flowers. Are you buying hyacinths to express your feelings?]
[Going to see a friend, what is going through the little girl's mind every day?]
[Eh, what's so fierce? Then give me sunflowers!]
[Do you think I'm a fool? You just explained the flower language of sunflowers to the group two days ago: "Silent Love."]
[I am really impressed... Team Leader Meng, every flower has several meanings, just like the hyacinth in your hand has many.]
In my memory, that lively voice said:
[Its most special flower language is to forget the past sorrow and start a new love.]
…
The hyacinths were swaying, and Meng Ziqiu's figure became fainter and fainter in front of the tea table, and finally disappeared completely.
On the wooden table mat, a line of words slowly emerged.
[The ancients said that a sip of this water is worth a thousand pieces of gold.]
Try to make the barbarians drink together, and they will not change their minds. 】
The water of the Greedy Spring remains true.