V2C87

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While Sumo was still in a coma in the Restoration Army encampment under the waters of the Mirror Lake, Zhu Yan had already flown to the Northern side of Yunhuang.

Following the fresh rain, a diffuse mist has risen from the distant foothills of the Jiuyi Mountains, like a veil of unparalleled size, enveloping the white bird and the young girl that have just landed on the peaks together.

“Where is the Master?” Zhu Yan couldn’t help asking as soon as the tips of their feet touched the ground, “Where is he?”

The Chongming Divine Bird, exhausted from having flown ten thousand miles from the Imperial Capital, impatiently ruffled its feathers a bit that shook the young girl on his back, as if purging the unclean things that had landed on its body, and turned up its four blood-red eyes to give her a blank stare – Zhu Yan knew he hated her, and lowered her head at once.

In the twilight, a few bright lights appeared in the distance from the temple at the top of the mountain, and Chongming cooed and flapped its wings before darting up the mountain path. Zhu Yan immediately bolted chasing after him.

There was not a single person in sight on the way. Such emptiness on Jiuyi Mountain was a sight hardly to be seen before – indeed, the Grand Master had already ordered all the Divine Officers here to be moved away in advance in order to cut off any outsiders.

The Chongming Divine Bird flew all the way and finally landed gracefully in front of the heirloom censer of the Great Temple, glancing back at her with a surprisingly mixed expression in each of its four eyes, appearing to be angry but also eager and hopeful at the same time.

“What?!” Zhu Yan gasped, “Shifu… is Shifu inside?”

Inside the great hall was dark and gloomy, with only a few distant candle lights and countless shadowed curtains that looked impenetrable. Yet the Chongming Divine Bird lowered its head and nudged her impatiently with its huge beak, gesturing for her to step inside.

With that nudge, Zhu Yan’s heart suddenly drifted into a daze: had this scene happened already once, a long, long time ago, perhaps? Yes, back then, when Master was sitting alone facing the wall in the grotto, when she was still only seven or eight years old… At that time, Chongming had also urged her to walk in and meet the person in the same way.

Everything was exactly the same. Yet, this time, Chongming’s eyes were filled with nothing but hatred.

With mixed feelings in her heart, Zhu Yan carefully pushed open the slightly hidden door of the temple and walked inside. The heavy gilded doors slid open with a distant reverberation.

“Is anyone there…?” Zhu Yan probed in and asked.

There was no one there. The vast hall was empty, with only the lamp in front of the altar still lit in the shadows. She imagined she would find her Master covered in blood the moment she pushed the door, and mustered all her courage in order to do that – however, there was nothing in the Jiuyi Temple, where the Grand Master had placed her Master, was unknown to her.

She walked straight to the innermost part of the room before stopping and raising her head, looking up at the giant Twin Gods. It’s been five years since she left this place the last time.

Back then, she had escaped from the Cangwu Abyss with her master, but the Jiuyi Temple had suddenly issued an expulsion order, sending her down the mountain immediately, when she had just turned thirteen. Of course, she refused, weeping and wailing in the temple, refusing to let go of her Master’s hand, not understanding where she was at fault.

“Ah-Yan, you haven’t committed any mistake, it’s just that the time has come.” Standing under the statue, Master finally couldn’t help but sigh, with an indescribable complexity in his tone, “All gatherings and departures have their own time – and our fate has been exhausted on this day.”

“It can’t be! It hasn’t been exhausted!” She was furious and protested loudly, “Our bond will never be depleted in our lifetime!”

“A lifetime?” The Master appeared to be slightly stunned, “That’s not possible.”

When she was being escorted to the carriage at the bottom of the hill, she cried her heart out, “Master, you… must come and find me!”

He remained silent for a moment and finally nodded.

“You must keep your word!” She was overjoyed and broke into tears, “The Western Wasteland isn’t really that bitterly cold after all, there’s lots of fun and good food! When you come, I’ll definitely show you around properly! By the way, I can even let you meet Yuan… who is very nice!”

Yet, despite all her chattering, the Master never replied. The young Priest’s eyes looked distant, but in silence he raised his hand and inserted the precious Jade Bone into her hair – such a gentle look she had never seen before from him.

However, the Master had lied to her.

Since her departure from Jiuyi Mountain, after five years of separation, he never appeared in her life again. Every year she waited with baited breath at the Celestial Wind City, but he never kept that promise – In the first year, she prepared a caravan of gourmet food and a feast of archery and hunting expeditions early, but she waited until the snow blocked the roads, but he did not come and did not explain why he had missed his appointment.

The following year, she could not resist the urge to write a letter that her father carried to Jiuyi Mountain, formally inviting him to come to the Western Wasteland in the name of the Red King. However, the young Priest excused himself and politely declined, saying that the Temple was overwhelmed with commitments.

She was so upset with her father that she smashed his favorite Great-sword.

By the third year, her anger subsided, and without regard for appearances, she bashfully wrote another letter and had it be delivered by paper crane to Jiuyi, enthusiastically urging her Master to come to the Celestial Wind City. However, that year he wrote back saying that he had just become a Great Divine Priest and could no longer travel down the mountain.

The fourth year… The fifth year…

Gradually, it became clear even to her, as innocent as she was back then, that her Master would never come to visit her – after she departed, the young man who had once again returned to a life of isolation in the deep valley alone, did not want to come out of it just for the sake of her.

She touched the Jade Bone in her hair with a bit of sadness: perhaps, when she is more free next year, she should simply make a visit to Jiuyi by herself to see him? Otherwise, Master would be so lonely there, all by himself. But she was so young after all, she thought about it for only a moment and then put the thought aside again.

When she was a teenager, she loved to have fun. When she returned to the Royal Mansion and met her childhood friends, she gathered together with them every day to go hawking and hunting in the desert, spending so much time having fun with them that she decided that she will never want to go back thousands of miles to see her Master again.

And besides, it was him who refused to come, wasn’t it? He deliberately avoided her and wouldn’t come to see her again – that alone was upsetting to think about, so why should she bother to put up with that?

So, by the fifth year, she simply stopped even bothering to send out a letter.

Perhaps he may have forgotten about her long ago, she thought.

For so many years, in her heart, the image of her Master had always been aloof and cold, like the snow-capped mountain tops and the cold moon between the clouds, unapproachable… But why would such a cold person say such words to her at the end of his life?

“I like you very much, Ah-Yan… though you are so afraid of me.”

His last words were like the sharp edge of a knife, plunging straight into her heart.

Five years later, Zhu Yan was standing alone in the Divine Temple and couldn’t help but shudder – yes, she couldn’t think about it anymore. Every time she remembered the scene of his death in the ruins that early morning, her heart was feeling as if being ripped in half.

“Don’t cry, this is really the best ending possible… We shall return kindness for kindness and grievance for grievance, and in this life, we shall never owe each other anything from now on. Let’s wait for the next life…”

Waiting for the next life for what? Waiting to meet again in the next life?

No! She doesn’t want some illusory afterlife! A soul can linger forever, but a human being only has one life to live!

Nothing in her next life, just like the water that streams through this moment, will ever be the same again – she just needs to live this life and hold on to the people who matter to her the most.

No matter what, even if it means to sacrifice her own life, she has to get her Master back!

As she realized this, Zhu Yan finally lifted her head for a moment, looking at the God statue and silently clutching the page with the Star Soul Blood Oath written on it within her sleeve.

The lamp in front of the deity statue glowed brightly – it was the Seven Star Lamp used by the Jiuyi Temple to subdue the mountain. Legend has it that it was left behind by the founding lord of Kongsang, the Great Emperor Xingzun, the seven lights on it symbolizing each of the Six Clans of Kongsang, together with the Imperial Blood.

However, at this moment, the lamp has been lit, but the Temple was empty.

Zhu Yan crossed her fingers and formed a seal inside her sleeve as she cautiously walked towards the lamp. But just as she took a step inside, a soft noise echoed and the Seven Star Lamp silently turned around! The huge antique bronze tabernacle began to move in a peculiar way, and the seven lights stretched out one by one like a single arm, slowly unfolding in the void.

Atop the seven candlesticks, seven candles were lit, and in the heart of each candle’s flame something very different appeared to dance within the light of the lamp.

Zhu Yan gazed at them and suddenly could not help but exclaim in astonishment.

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