Liu Yao: The Revitalization of Fuyao Sect Chapter 48

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Sometimes, a single instance could become extremely long, so long that it seemed to stretch into eternity.

In a person's lifetime, they might experience a few instances like this. On the verge of death, for example.

Cheng Qian reflexively pointed Shuangren backward, the sword hovering in midair, until he saw the face of the person behind him — Han Yuan.

There were many reasons for Han Yuan to suddenly come up behind him. He might have wanted to watch, or add another kick to Zhou Hanzheng, or ramble for a bit to vent… n.o.body would've guarded against him.

At that moment, his Si-s.h.i.+di's eyes were blood-red, just like the rogue cultivators on Azure Dragon Island. That familiar face was shrouded in a dark aura, his features twisted. He seemed to have gathered the entirety of his energy to this one hand and used too much power, breaking his own fingers, but he showed no sign of feeling pain.

The rogue cultivators on the island who had been affected by Soul-Painting were the same — let's not mention pain, they wouldn't even notice death looking them straight in the eyes.

Cheng Qian stared at Han Yuan in astonishment. He could feel his energy and life force bleeding out from the hole in his chest, along with the joy and fury in his heart. There was no patching it up, there was no use in struggling, no matter how much he couldn't believe this situation.

Emotionlessly, Han Yuan returned his gaze. He pulled his hand out of Cheng Qian's chest, causing the blood and gore on his hand to splatter on his face. He then watched as Cheng Qian collapsed at his feet, as if in a trance.

Cheng Qian had been staring at him all along, limbs twitching subconsciously. The little remaining color on his face seemed to gather in a circle around his eyes, but he couldn't speak a single word.

All the ups and downs of the past ten years, at the moment, they had all faded into trivialities, falling into the absurdity of ‘Such is the way of life'.

At last, Shuangren, which was already held against Han Yuan's neck, trembled violently before falling like an ordinary piece of metal, only producing a shallow cut on Han Yuan's skin.

This turn of events happened so rapidly that everyone was dumbfounded. Only when Shuikeng cried out first did Yan Zhengming seem to snap out of his dream-like state. He was still in his half-kneeling position on the ground, but his limbs felt like lead. His entire body had stiffened like a rock, so he couldn't even stand.

But Li Yun, who had always been a coward, was overtaken with emotions in that moment. Forgetting the horrifying image of the rogue cultivators on the island, he rushed forward without a care and pushed Han Yuan away.

After being pushed away, Han Yuan's body tipped backward and fell, but he didn't even try to get up. His blank gaze was turned a bit sideways. If it weren't for the rise and fall of his chest, he would've looked just like a fresh corpse.

“Xiao-Qian, Xiao-Qian…” Li Yun's gaze was muddled by tears as he helplessly kneeled next to Cheng Qian. One of his hands aimlessly felt around his own body, as if still holding onto a shred of hope that he could procure anything to help.

Cheng Qian was lying on his side like a dried fish. Probably because he'd heard Li Yun's voice, his dazed eyes suddenly regained some light. Then Shuangren rose into the air, brus.h.i.+ng past Li Yun, almost freezing the tears on his face, and sunk straight into Zhou Hanzheng's skull.

This sword and the person wielding it seemed to fully satisfy the saying ‘Even in death, the heart of men is immovable as steel'.

Zhou Hanzheng was barely holding on after being released from the Spirit-Condensing Jade, and then he'd activated the ‘Art of Soul Painting' that he had placed on Han Yuan in the past. He was basically finished at that point. After receiving that last strike, the biggest calamity of this generation was finally ended.

Cheng Qian had a special connection with Shuangren, so he didn't need to see for himself that Zhou Hanzheng had truly died under his sword.

A small smile spread on the youth's bloodstained face — he had finally killed that Zhou person. From now on, as long as they were careful, n.o.body out there would know that they were from the Fuyao Sect. n.o.body would come after them, aiming for those questionable artifacts on Fuyao Mountain…

Cheng Qian let out a small breath in relief, feeling as if he could finally retire after winning merit. His face turned toward the ground slightly. It was as if a person on the verge of death would instinctively search for a final resting place.

At that moment, Li Yun exclaimed in surprise, “Han Yuan! What are you doing?”

As soon as Zhou Hanzheng was killed, the puppet-like Han Yuan had twitched violently. But there seemed to be something else affecting him, because Han Yuan didn't fully wake up. His dazed eyes turned to look at the surroundings. When he found Cheng Qian, signs of struggle appeared on his face, as if the real Han Yuan was fighting to regain control over his body.

But in the end, he didn't manage to wake up.

Han Yuan suddenly stood. Without sparing a glance to his sect allies, he walked straight toward the sea.

Li Yun was sobbing so hard he could hardly breathe. Making a seal with his hands, which he didn't even know if he'd done correctly, he slapped Han Yuan's back. Countless fine webs spread out from his palm, binding Han Yuan within them. “Stay right where you are!”

Han Yuan allowed those fine webs to cut into his own body, producing a myriad lines of wounds, as if he couldn't feel a thing. Li Yun clenched his teeth and curled his fingers inward, about to forcefully pull him back. But right then, Han Yuan's body was suddenly engulfed in flames. There seemed to be something with those flames — in the blink of an eye, they had completely incinerated Li Yun's webs along with the clothes on Han Yuan's body. And then, with nothing left to hinder him, the completely naked Han Yuan leapt up and dove into the mighty sea just like that. He didn't surface again.

But Cheng Qian wasn't aware of these happenings. The entirety of his senses had been dulled, all of them focused on his pain. A pair of cold hands reached out, pulling him up and supporting his body. That person's trembling fingers brushed against his face.

How strange. At the moment, Cheng Qian couldn't even smell the blood all over the ground around him, but he was somehow able to catch that fragrance of orchids.

This was the scent wafting out of Ds.h.i.+xiong's sleeves whenever he applied medicine for him, the scent faintly lingering on the sheets whenever he lazed around in s.h.i.+xiong's room. Whenever this scent filled the air around him, he always felt drowsy, on the verge of falling asleep.

Cheng Qian's consciousness began to fade. The clarity inspired by his desire to drag Zhou Hanzheng down with him had pa.s.sed, so for a moment, he had forgotten where he was.

“I…” Cheng Qian began to rave in a soft voice.

Yan Zhengming lowered his head, bringing his own ears close to Cheng Qian's lips, “Nn?”

“… want to go… home…”

Yan Zhengming was stunned for quite a while. The smile on his face was somewhere between joyful and sorrowful.

He staggered to his feet with Cheng Qian in his arms, saying gently, “Alright, go home, s.h.i.+xiong will take you back to Fuyao Mountain, let's go.”

Cheng Qian seemed to have smiled. He was gradually losing the strength to speak, so he fell silent.

At the same time, a thought came to him out of nowhere: How painful. Dying is so painful. Did it also hurt this much when I was born?

And then he remembered, when he was born, his birth mother seemed to have endured the pain for him.

All of a sudden, Cheng Qian's resentment toward his parents and everyone else vanished completely, like a breath of wind. Even the difficulties of living without a home and depending on other people for their livelihood had been dispersed in the serene fragrance of orchids.

At last, Cheng Qian's head abruptly lost its support, weakly falling against Yan Zhengming's shoulder.

The bonds of the mortal world were like a farce in the play of life, coming and going as they pleased. What had pa.s.sed could not be chased.

Li Yun hurried to catch up to him, “s.h.i.+xiong! s.h.i.+xiong! Put him down, Xiao-Qian is gone!”

Yan Zhengming refused to listen. Li Yun grabbed his elbow, “s.h.i.+xiong!”

Yan Zhengming's footsteps paused as he turned to look at him silently. Not a single drop of tear had fallen from his eyes. Li Yun's heart jumped to his throat — he was afraid that he would hear the words ‘Tong Qian has fallen asleep, don't be noisy'.

At the moment, one of them had died and another had gone missing. If yet another one went insane, Li Yun would have no idea what to do. He took half a step back, voice trembling, “Ds.h.i.+xiong, please don't scare me.”

“I know.” Yan Zhengming lowered his eyes, speaking in a low voice, as if talking to himself, “I haven't gone mad. Make s.h.i.+mei stop crying.”

Hearing this, Li Yun became even more frightened instead, because Ds.h.i.+xiong's insanity seemed a bit different from normal.

“Go and fetch some water.” After giving that order, he didn't even turn to look before carrying Cheng Qian's corpse to the center of the uninhabited island, murmuring, “Get him all clean… and then we'll figure out a way to make a boat.”

Li Yun asked, dumbfounded, “Go where with the boat?”

Yan Zhengming, “We'll go back to check the Yan house first. But I reckon the Yan house is already gone. Even though my family is wealthy, it's but a house full of common folks. Getting rid of them is no different from overturning an ant's nest… I'm only going to see things for myself. If it's gone, I'll stop thinking about it.”

Li Yun's body abruptly went cold. On their way here, they had still been lying to themselves that Xueqing's Puppet Charm had just gone missing, and Xueqing himself was fine. Of course the Yan house would be alright. But now, his sect leader seemed to have completely accepted all the grievous news that the world might throw his way.

Zhes.h.i.+ silently put Shuikeng down and fetched some water quickly. He then helped Yan Zhengming lower Cheng Qian onto the ground and wash away the bloodstains covering the youth's body. After doing all these, Yan Zhengming still felt that Cheng Qian's sloppily-dressed state was an injustice to him, so he took off his own outer robe and wrapped it around Cheng Qian.

Yan Zhengming half-knelt next to Cheng Qian, staring at that face in a daze for a long time. It felt as if he was witnessing all of the hope in his own heart turn to dust.

Yan Zhengming suddenly thought, “Why am I still alive, why don't I go with him?”

The moment this thought occurred to him, the core in his body instantly began to turn in reverse. An ominous color suddenly came over Yan Zhengming's face, the faint warning sign of a Qi deviation. Thousands of resentful thoughts rose in his heart, forming an inescapable restraint on his soul. Zhou Hanzheng, Tang Yao, Bai Ji… Countless faces pa.s.sed right in front of his eyes.

“Why don't they die?” Yan Zhengming suddenly mumbled, “Does the heavenly law exist to let shameless people achieve longevity?”

Zhes.h.i.+, who was the nearest to him, immediately noticed the strangeness. He called out in a small voice, “Sect Leader?”

Yan Zhengming's gaze slowly turned toward him. At the moment, those familiar, ever-smiling peach blossom-shaped eyes were like dark endless wells, so dark that finding their edges were impossible. Yan Zhengming suddenly started laughing in a low voice, speaking with each word enunciated clearly, “Even if I've achieved the Dao, I'll still run wild without fear and ma.s.sacre people indiscriminately, taking everything I want as I please. If anyone dares to stand in my way, I'll cut them down with a thousand strikes and make sure they can never join the cycle of rebirth, even if they're a G.o.d or Buddha!”

Li Yun was horrified, “s.h.i.+xiong, you, what are you saying?”

“Why?” Yan Zhengming's voice was low in his throat, “Why!”

Before he even finished his words, a surge of dark energy had risen around him. A circle of sand and rocks were kicked up into the air, preventing the others from coming close to him. Li Yun reached out to grab his shoulder, but before he could touch Yan Zhengming, he had been pushed back at least three steps and fell on his rear.

Zhes.h.i.+ was even more at a loss, so he could only look at Li Yun helplessly.

Li Yun leapt to his feet, trying to put up a threatening front, “Yan Zhengming! Xiao-Qian is dead, Xiao-Yuan is missing, do you think I'm heartless, do you think I'm not in pain? I'd rather the one who'd died be me!”

From a young age, Li Yun's personality had never been forceful, and he never really showed his bad side. As he grew up, he very rarely used harsh words or lost his temper, so with just a few sentences, he had used up all of his pent up anger and quickly became drained. After stomping his foot, Li Yun inhaled, eyes red. Then, sounding as if he was on the verge of tears, he spoke the words that he had never dared to admit out loud all these years, “At least Xiao-Qian is much stronger than me.”

Unfortunately, this rare heartfelt confession of his had fallen on deaf ears, because Yan Zhengming seemed to have lost his hearing. A rock on the ground flew up and smacked Li Yun's face, leaving a b.l.o.o.d.y stain. Li Yun was forced back a few more steps and happened to b.u.mp into Shuikeng, who had been left aside without supervision.

Shuikeng helplessly clung to his thigh. Only a few days had pa.s.sed, but her chubby face had visibly become thinner, her chin so sharp that it could compare with the two Soul-Searching Needles hanging around her neck. After a quick glance over her, Li Yun suddenly squatted down and pressed on her shoulder, saying urgently, “Lend me the Soul-Searching Needle!”

Before Shuikeng could react, Li Yun had tugged off one of the Soul-Searching Needles. He broke the wooden plug with a flick of his fingers and flung it toward Yan Zhengming.

Shuikeng was stunned. With a shrill scream from her, the Soul-Searching Needle disappeared into the dark mist, accurately sinking into Yan Zhengming's shoulder.

The thick dark mist instantly dispersed. With a low grunt, Yan Zhengming collapsed forward and fell on top of Cheng Qian. For a while, he couldn't get up.

Li Yun immediately rushed toward him, quickly plucking off the poisonous needle and cutting off Yan Zhengming's blood flow. He struck Yan Zhengming, sending his own energy into Yan Zhengming's body, forcing out the poison before it could spread, and only relaxed when the black blood flowing out had turned red. He then procured a bottle of antidote, which had been dipped in the sea water earlier, and nudged at the unmoving Yan Zhengming, mumbling, “You didn't respond to my calls… There was no other choice, s.h.i.+xiong, take the antidote for now.”

Yan Zhengming didn't raise his face. Li Yun waited for a while, but received no response. So he carefully placed his hand on Yan Zhengming's uninjured shoulder, and finally felt his Ds.h.i.+xiong's body shaking like a leaf in the wind.

Holding onto Cheng Qian's body, long since gone cold, Yan Zhengming cried until he lost his voice.

After staying on the island for half a month, they finally finished making a small boat with rough carvings of charms. The small boat could barely fit two people. Fortunately, Shuikeng was still quite small, so she could squeeze in. Yan Zhengming could fly on his sword, so he could go along with them somewhat. With a piece of cloth, he wrapped up Cheng Qian's Shuangren to carry with him. Their luggage couldn't have been any simpler.

“Sect Leader, let's go.” Li Yun's voice came as a reminder.

Yan Zhengming nodded. He turned back to look at the obscure uninhabited island for the last time. All the youthfulness that used to be on his face seemed to have been replaced with a gloomy air all within one night's time, as if the years of his heart had been stretched endlessly. In just a brief moment, the young man had thoroughly remoulded himself and grown to maturity.

As Yan Zhengming gazed upon the island, his features suddenly softened, revealing minute hints of warmth, “One day, when we can return to Fuyao Mountain without fear, we'll come back to take you home, okay?”

Of course, there was n.o.body to answer him.

Yan Zhengming carried the bundled up Shuangren on his back, stepped onto his nicked sword, and flew up to lead the way.

The sea and the heavens seemed to be of the same color, both of them boundless and indistinct.

Book Two, End

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