Chapter 48

From time to time, a moment short as a blink of the eye will feel very long, as if it would never end.

A person may have to endure a few seemingly endless moments like that, such as when they’re about to die.

Driven by Cheng Qian’s instinct, Shuang Ren’s tip points to the back as it flies up in the air, until he turns his head and sees the person behind him. It is Han Yuan.

There are many reasons for Han Yuan to suddenly run behind his back. Maybe he wanted to watch the show, or to give Zhou Hanzheng a kick, or to yell a few insults. No one would be on alert against him.

At that moment, the eyes of Cheng Qian’s Fourth Brother is filled with the red that appeared on the rogue cultivators on Azure Dragon Island. The familiar face is covered by the black energy, the features distorted. He seems to have concentrated all of his spiritual energy on this hand of his. The strike used up too much force, causing his fingers to break, but he doesn’t feel the pain.

The rogue cultivators on the island who were under the ‘drawing on soul’ spell were in the same state. Forget pain, they weren’t even aware that they were dying.

Cheng Qian stares at Han Yuan, disbelief on his face. He feels that his spiritual energy and life force are pouring out of him from the hole on his chest. His feelings are pouring alongside them too. There is no way to stop them, whether he blocks the hole, struggles, or refuses to believe it.

Han Yuan looks back, unaware of anything. Then he withdraws his hand from Cheng Qian’s chest, blood and flesh on that hand splashing on his face, then he dazedly watches the latter fall under his feet.

Cheng Qian still stares fixedly at him. His limbs unconsciously spasm; the little remaining blood seems to concentrate around his eyes. However, he can’t say a word.

All the unbearable griefs and sublime joys throughout the years since his birth become trivial and faded, in the face of the resigned ‘such is fate’.

In the end, Shuang Ren, which is already on the neck of Han Yuan, shakes wildly then falls down like a piece of ordinary iron, leaving behind only a thin scratch.

Everything happens too fast, that everyone can only stare dazedly. It isn’t until Puddle breaks out first and starts crying that Yan Zhengming acts as if he just woke up from a dream. He freezes in his half-kneeling pose; his limbs feel as if they were filled with lead. All of his body is as stiff as a rock, making him unable to even stand up.

Spurred by the moment, Li Yun, who is always fearful, finds his fire. He forgets how scary the rogue cultivators on Azure Dragon Island looked, and recklessly runs forward to tackle Han Yuan away.

Being pushed, Han Yuan falls down on his back. However, he doesn’t stand up, but keeps lying there with empty gaze. Had it not been for the rise and fall of his chest, he would look just like a newly dead corpse.

“Xiao-Qian, Xiao-Qian,” Li Yun’s vision is filled with tears. He hastily kneels by Cheng Qian, his hand searching aimlessly on his own body, as if he still holds the hope that they’d be in luck and something can be found to save Cheng Qian’s life.

Cheng Qian is lying on his side on the ground, like a dying fish stuck on land. Perhaps thanks to Li Yun’s voice, his pupils that are already dilating become a little lively again, like the last flare of the candle. Immediately, Shuang Ren, which is lying like a corpse, flies up, passes by Li Yun and nearly freezes the tears on his face, then stabs into the top of Zhou Hanzheng’s skull.

Both sword and human are an example of the saying “a man’s heart is firm as steel even at time of death”.

It already took Zhou Hanzheng lots of effort to escape the Spirit Collection Jade, then he recklessly cast the ‘drawing on soul’ spell on Han Yuan. He basically can’t live much longer. With that strike, the threat posed by him is finally over.

There is a special connection between Cheng Qian and Shuang Ren. He can tell without checking that Zhou Hanzheng really died under his sword.

A faint smile appears on the bloody face of the youth. As Zhou Hanzheng is finally killed, no one else will know they’re from Fuyao Sect, provided they’re careful. No one will hunt them for the sake of half-imaginary treasures on Fuyao Mountain.

Cheng Qian quietly breathes out relief, feeling that he can finally rest after completing his mission. He slightly tilts his face toward the earth, as a person who is dying would instinctively search for a place to return to.

Suddenly Li Yun fearfully shouts, “Han Yuan! What are you doing?”

After Zhou Hanzheng dies, Han Yuan’s entire body spasms like a marionette. However, because of some unknown trick done on him, Han Yuan still hasn’t regained his consciousness. His dazed eyes glance around him. When they stop on Cheng Qian, a struggle can be seen on his face, as if the real Han Yuan is fighting with all his might to regain the control of his body.

In the end, however, he can’t wake up.

Han Yuan suddenly stands up and runs straight into the sea, without sparing a glance at his disciple brothers on the island.

Having cried his eyes out, Li Yun makes a hand sign heedless of whether it’s correct or not, then charges in the direction of Han Yuan’s back. Countless threads as fine as spider web fly out from his hand and tie Han Yuan up, as Li Yun shouts, “Stay right there!”

Han Yuan doesn’t seem to register those threads, and just lets them leave scratches on his body. Li Yun grits his teeth and aggressively curls up his fingers with the intention to drag Han Yuan back. However, a fire of unknown origin suddenly erupts on Han Yuan’s body. The fire burns up Li Yun’s threads as well as Han Yuan’s own clothes. Thus, freed from all hindrance and completely naked, Han Yuan runs into the endless sea and disappears.

Cheng Qian isn’t aware of what has been going on. All of his senses have become dull, as he can feel only pain. A cold pair of hands reach forward and lift his entire body up, the shaking fingers caressing his face.

Strangely enough, Cheng Qian can’t even smell the blood, but he can sense the orchid fragrance.

This is the scent that came from the sleeve whenever his most senior brother dressed his wounds for him, that emanated from the brocade blanket whenever he crashed in his senior brother’s room. He always feels sleepy when surrounded by that scent.

His consciousness begins to fade. The alertness just a moment ago when he was determined to make Zhou Hanzheng the mattress of his deathbed disappeared. In that moment, Cheng Qian feels like in a dream and forgets where he is.

“I…,” Cheng Qian says softly as if he were sleeptalking.

Yan Zhengming bows his head slowly so that his ear is by Cheng Qian’s lips. “Yes?”

“Want… to… go… home…”

Yan Zhengming is dazed for a while, then he smiles a smile that is mixed with sorrow.

He shakily lifts Cheng Qian up and gently says, “Yes, let’s go home. I’ll take you back to Fuyao Mountain. Let’s go.”

A smile passes on Cheng Qian’s lips. He gradually doesn’t have enough energy to talk anymore, so he falls silent.

At the same time, a random thought comes to him. “It hurts. If dying hurts this much, did being born hurt like this too?”

He then remembers that, when he was born, his mother suffered all of the pain in his stead.

Suddenly, all of Cheng Qian’s resentment against his parents, against everyone else dissipates. Even the hardship of life in exile at the grace of other person in his short life fades away in the gentle orchid fragrance.

In the end, Cheng Qian’s head loses its strength and falls against Yan Zhengming’s head.

To be able to meet and stay together in this transient world is like a dream. It comes and goes, beyond a human’s reach.

Li Yun hastily chases after him. “Brother! Brother! Put him down. Xiao-Qian has passed away!”

Yan Zhengming turns a deaf ear to him. Li Yun seizes his arm. “Brother!”

Yan Zhengming stops and turns to look at him in silence. There isn’t a single drop of tear on his face. Li Yun’s heart drops, afraid that he would say, “Copper Coin is sleeping. Don’t be noisy.”

One of them is dead; another has gone missing. If Yan Zhengming goes mad, Li Yun won’t know what to do anymore. He steps back a little, and says in shaky voice, “Most senior brother, don’t scare me like that.”

“I know,” Yan Zhengming looks down and mutters in a low voice, “I haven’t gone mad. Go soothe little sister so that she stops crying.”

Hearing that, Li Yun is even more scared, because he senses that his most senior brother’s madness isn’t the usual kind.

“Get water,” Yan Zhengming orders. He doesn’t even look back as he carries Cheng Qian’s body into the island, saying, “Let’s clean him up first. Then we should try and make a boat.”

Li Yun confusedly asks, “Make a boat? To go where?”

Yan Zhengming replies. “Let’s go back to my family first, but I think they’re no longer alive. Although my family are the most wealthy in the region, they are only mortals. Eliminating them is just like crushing a hive of ants. If I can see with my own eyes that I’ve lost them, I won’t long for them anymore.”

A chill runs along Li Yun’s spine. Along the way, they still tried to fool themselves and pretend that Xue Qing had only lost the puppet charm, that nothing serious had happened to him. That of course the Yan family had still been safe. Yet in the present, their sect leader and senior brother has let himself go and opens his arms to all the bad news that can strike him in this world.

Zhe Shi quietly lets Puddle down, then strides to fetch water. Afterwards, he helps Yan Zhengming set Cheng Qian down and clean up all of the blood on the body of the youth. As they’re done, Yan Zhengming still feels that Cheng Qian’s clothes are so torn up, and that’s unfair for him, so he takes off his outer robe and wraps Cheng Qian in it.

Yan Zhengming half kneels by Cheng Qian’s side. He dazedly stares at that face, feeling numerous thoughts turn to ash in his heart.

Yan Zhengming suddenly thinks. “What’s the point of me living on? Why don’t I accompany him and be done with it?”

As soon as that thought appears in his head, Yan Zhengming’s energy base immediately becomes disquiet. His face takes on an unsettling shade, an early sign of qi deviation. Resentment rises in his heart and forms an inescapable net that tightly wraps his soul. Zhou Hanzheng, Tang Yao, Bai Ji,... countless faces pass by his eyes.

“Why haven’t those fuckers died yet?” Yan Zhengming suddenly mutters out loud. “The so-called Path of Heaven, is it just for that kind of scum to live forever?”

Zhe Shi, who is standing closest to him, immediately senses that something is wrong. He calls in a low voice, “Sect Leader?”

Yan Zhengming slowly turns to him. The beautiful eyes that are normally full of smiles look like a bottomless empty well, dark without a speck of light. Yan Zhengming suddenly laughs softly and stresses every syllable. “When I reach the highest level of cultivation, I will do whatever I wish, kill whomever I want, seize whatever catches my eyes. Whoever dares to stand in my way, I’ll rip him to pieces, such that he can’t reincarnate again, regardless if he is a god or a buddha!”

Li Yun is terrified. “Brother, what, what are you saying?”

“Why?” Yan Zhengming’s voice is stuck hoarsely in his throat. “Why?!”

Before he even finishes those words, a sphere of black energy rises around him. Dirt and rocks around him fly up at the sound of his voice, preventing the others to come near. Li Yun grasps at his shoulder before thinking it through, and gets thrown roughly away, smashing his bottom into the ground.

Even more helpless than Li Yun, Zhe Shi has no other choice than to look at him for a solution.

Li Yun springs up with a bravado he doesn’t feel. “Yan Zhengming! This happened to Xiao-Qian. We lost Xiao-Yuan too. Do you think that I’m so heartless I feel nothing at all? I wish I could die in his place!”

Ever since he was young, Li Yun’s personality is soft. He didn’t have much forcefulness even for causing troubles. As he gets older, he very rarely gets really angry. The heat that he used all his might to gather is completely empty after two or three lines. His eyes red from crying, Li Yun takes a deep breath, then chokes out something he has been refusing to admit all these years. “At least Cheng Qian was much more powerful than me.”

Unfortunately, his rare expression of his heart falls on deaf ears. Yan Zhengming seemingly doesn’t hear anything, as rocks fly from the ground into Li Yun’s face like a slap, leaving behind a trace of blood. Li Yun is forced to fall back a few more steps, just enough for him to bump in Puddle, who is completely forgotten.

Puddle helplessly clings to his thigh. Her round face has gotten much thinner, making her chin as pointed as the two Soul Seeking Needles on her neck. Glancing at her, Li Yun suddenly squats down and presses her shoulder, then speaks urgently. “Lend me your Soul Seeking Needles for a bit!”

Before Puddle can react, Li Yun already pulls out one of the Soul Seeking Needles. He quickly breaks the wooden cover, then throws it at Yan Zhengming.

Puddle is immobilised by fear. With an air ripping sound, the Soul Seeking Needle flies into the black fog and pierces Yan Zhengming’s shoulder.

The thick black fog quickly dissipates. Yan Zhengming groans slightly and collapses onto Cheng Qian. He doesn’t get up again for a good while.

Li Yun quickly walks forward and pulls out the poisonous needles from Yan Zhengming. Then Li Yun sends in a gust of spiritual energy to force out the poisoned blood before it can spread. When the blood that comes out is completely red, he breathes out in relief, and takes out a vial of poison antidote soaked with seawater from his robe. He pushes it at Yan Zhengming, who doesn’t even move, and awkwardly says, “I called for you but you didn’t respond. There was no other way. Brother, take the antidote first.”

Yan Zhengming doesn’t look up. Li Yun waits, but receives no reply. He carefully puts a hand on the uninjured shoulder of Yan Zhengming, and finally realises that his most senior brother is shaking like a leaf.

Yan Zhengming holds Cheng Qian’s already cold body tightly in his arms, and screams out his tears.

They stay on the island for half a month, and manage to make a boat carved all over with spells. The little boat can only carry two people. Fortunately, Puddle is still young enough for all of them to fit in. As Yan Zhengming can already ride the sword, he can fly alongside them. He tears a piece of fabric and carefully wraps Cheng Qian’s sword Shuang Ren to bring with him, which is the most simple luggage possible.

“Sect leader and senior brother, let’s go,” Li Yun reminds him.

Yan Zhengming nods, then turns his head and looks on the nameless wild island one last time. His normally cheerful expression is shrouded in grief. Those few days seem to be as long as years. In just a short while, the youth has been remade into an adult.

As Yan Zhengming looks on the island, there is a tremble to his eyes, revealing a sorrowful tenderness. “One day, when we can return to Fuyao Mountain in broad daylight, I will take you home, okay?”

Of course, no one answers him.

Carrying Shuang Ren, which is wrapped in a tattered piece of fabric, on his back, Yan Zhengming steps on his chipped sword and rides forward to lead the way.

Both the sky and the sea have the dull colour of loss.