V2C97

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It was only when he closed his eyes that she dared to lift her head and sneak a peek.

Perhaps because she had grown up being too afraid of this man, never daring to look him in the eyes, she had never actually noticed that her Master was actually such a good-looking man, with handsome eyebrows and beautiful eyes like an ink painting, with a majestic bearing, almost unlike any other human in the earthly world.

As she was looking at him, she actually fell into a moment of daze.

It was only after three hours later, when the thin dusk was beginning to rise and it appeared that it would rain again, that he opened his eyes, and they sparkled as bright as stars. Zhu Yan’s heart skipped a beat and she hastily turned her eyes away from him and lowered her head again.

“Almost seventy to eighty percent restored, that’s enough. We can take our time with the rest.” Shi Ying whipped his front sash and stood up, displaying his full glory, “Let’s go back to the temple and take a look, maybe cleaning up the mess a bit…”

The two of them stepped out of the Valley of the Kings and climbed their way up by the rocky steps.

Zhu Yan walked a step behind him, looking at the man in white in front of her, suddenly feeling that he was so unattainable; her heart was pounding heavily, and her feet couldn’t help but slowly lag behind – she wanted so badly to continue walking side by side like this, forever. And yet, she would never be able to do so.

For she was a cursed plague that would bring a second calamity to her Master!

If there was even a one in a million chance that he would die because of her again, she would rather kill herself a hundred times before it ever happened!

Perhaps the Grand Master was right and she should just disappear from his life.

It was quite a long walk from the Valley of the Kings to the Jiuyi Temple, with thousands of steps. Halfway up, the rain was getting heavier and heavier in the twilight, and Zhu Yan was so lost in her trance that she didn’t even notice anything. As he walked ahead, Shi Ying lifted his hand and with a twist of his wrist, an umbrella appeared in the palm of his hand.

Holding the umbrella in one hand, he paused slightly on the steps in front of him, as if waiting for her to come forward. Zhu Yan’s heart suddenly fluttered, and she flinched a little, wanting to stop in her tracks. However, he was merely holding his umbrella while looking at her quietly on the steps, and she didn’t dare to stop, so she took the few steps forward and joined him shoulder to shoulder on the threshold.

The two of them shared the umbrella walking side by side, while the rain drizzled down onto it, and the atmosphere underneath was surprisingly quiet.

Listening to the sound of his breathing that was so close beside her, she desperately tried to restrain her mind from thinking more about it, yet the less she wanted to do so, the more the scene of that day when they parted in life and death came back to haunt her clearly.

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

She recalled his last words at the end of his life, with an overwhelming fire burning into her chest, despite all her efforts to restrain her thoughts; she recalled the last kiss he laid on her lips, cold as snow, followed by the fading breath…

The very thought of all this made her entire heart tighten, burning like fire, and she could hardly catch her breath. What he said in that moment, was it all true?

“Ah-Yan?” Suddenly she heard the person beside her asking, glancing at her who stopped and would not move, “There’s something wrong?”

“Huh?” She snapped out of her trance, “No… no, there’s nothing!”

Oh no, Master can read minds, wouldn’t he know what she was thinking of earlier? And in a flash her face turned red… yet Shi Ying just shook his head and said, “You seem to be much quieter than before, and you don’t like to smile anymore.”

“Ah…” she stammered, hastily trying to cover up, “It’s really nothing!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t casually use mind reading again.” He could see her discomfort and just sighed slightly, “I respect what’s in your heart. If you don’t want to talk about it, no one will force you.”

She breathed a long sigh of relief, but her heart ached a little, wondering what to say. At the moment, she had so much on her mind, but she was unable to say a word. It would have been so much better if he had just read them.

“Reading the end of the world is bitter, returning from the wrong way, scattered flowers look like promises.

There is no word from underneath the flower, the green window is in spring and the sky is in twilight.

When the acacia lamp is lit, I want to confess my love for each other, a strand of new love, a thousand wisps of old hatred.

The most important thing is that we cannot stay on earth, the vermillion (Zhu Yan) resigns from the mirror and the flowers from the trees.”*

In a trance, she suddenly remembered this poem that Yuan had taught her when she was a child.

That song which originated from the Middle Kingdom concealed a lot of deep feelings and faint sorrows, a thousand twists of the heart after a long period of hardships, but in the end it transforms into silence.

The two people, walking in silence under their umbrella, picked their way up the stairs and before they realized it, they were arriving in front of the temple.

All the priests and attendants had been sent away, and they were alone on the empty mountain. The wind blew through the hollow forest, and the leaves rustled like waves, drowning out the sound of the rain.

Shi Ying was standing at the foot of the steps with his umbrella, looking at the huge statue of the Deity in the temple with a mixed expression. She stepped aside and stood in silence for more than half an hour before she couldn’t help but sigh, “The last time I came here was five years ago – that day I was just about to enter the temple to light a stick of incense when you suddenly stopped me and drove me off the mountain without a word.”

“That could not be helped,” said coldly Shi Ying, frowning slightly as she reopened old wounds, “You were already a grown-up girl by then. The Temple cannot retain women.”

Zhu Yan, however, was still pouting, “But, you said you would come to visit me in the Celestial Wind City, yet you never came!”

“…” His face turned slightly pale but he didn’t comment.

Yes, back then, after her departure from the mountain, he never visited her again, and even when she invited and urged him several times, he only ruthlessly turned a blind eye.

It was only after a long time that Shi Ying whispered, “I originally wanted to cut the matter off just at that point.”

Life is like an ocean of floating weeds. At that time after sending her away, he settled down and tried to suppress his heart, as if everything was just the first manifestation of a demon, a shadow of an empty flower that would be washed away in the blink of an eye, without a trace. But… after more than a thousand days and nights of painstaking cultivation alone in the Valley of the Kings, he has never been able to erase the shadow in his heart, which has ultimately led to such a situation today, just like drawing a sword to cut off the water and making it flow even more.

Zhu Yan was so confused, she didn’t understand what he meant by cutting the matter off. She wanted to ask, but when she saw his mood and demeanor at this moment, she vaguely felt that it was not something she should ask, and she could not help but feel apprehensive.

The two remained silent for a while, and as Shi Ying gazed at the statue of the Deity within the temple, he suddenly said, “The Deity’s eyes have changed – it seems that they have already learned everything that has happened to me.”

“What?” She froze for a moment and glanced at the temple.

Under the Seven Star Lamp, that one statue was still exactly the same, where was the change?

“I grew up in this temple, and I vowed to serve the gods with all my heart and soul, and never set foot in the mundane world.” Through the raining curtain, Shi Ying stared at the golden pupils and dark eyes of the twin deities, his tone revealing a hint of bitterness, “But now, I can no longer afford to be a priest in these white robes.”

What? Zhu Yan was shocked, remembering what the Grand Master said – could it be that the old man predicted it correctly again: that after a trip to the Gates of Ghosts, Master still wants to resign from the priesthood?

“The present me is no longer fit to serve in front of the Gods, and even less fit to take up the position of the Great Divine Priest.” After a moment of silence, Shi Ying spoke resolutely, “From now on, I will resign from my Divine position and will leave Jiuyi Mountain.”

The Grand Master was really good at predicting things! In that moment, Zhu Yan couldn’t help but gasp in a breath of cold air: she had thought that after what he had gone through, Master would probably stay away from the world and spend his life alone in seclusion. However, he had made up his mind to leave the Temple, just as the Grand Master predicted!

This old man is the most insightful person in the world who knows what the Master is thinking, isn’t he?

Bewildered, she inquired, “So… what are you planning to do?”

“To wander the world, to go back and be a commoner in the mundane world of mortals.” Shi Ying stated lightly, “I have been buried in this valley for the first half of my life, now it is time to go out and see the world.”

“Hmm.” Zhu Yan didn’t want to spoil his mood, so she said, “There are infinite sceneries in the Six Harmonies, just in the Western Wilderness alone, there are enough for you to spend ten years and not finish seeing them all!”

Shi Ying nodded, paused for a moment, then suddenly raised his head to look at her and asked, “So… would you like to come with me and see them?”

The words were straightforward and unequivocal, and even as slow and dull as Zhu Yan was, she understood them at once. With a sudden shiver, she raised her head in disbelief and met his eyes. Under the snow-white rose paper umbrella, his eyes were shining as clear as the stars in the night sky, waiting for her answer.

In that moment, she received a blow in her chest and was unable to speak.

So he didn’t pretend to have forgotten, didn’t pretend that the words were never said that day! He finally repeated the same words to her all over again!

How much courage it must surely have taken for such a proud man…

Having gone through the experience of life and death all over again, he has really changed a bit from his former self.

“I… I…” Zhu Yan stammered, blushing and actually not daring to look at him.

The answer was already gathering on the tip of her tongue, but in an instant, she remembered the words of the Grand Master, and for a brief second it was as if a hand had reached out and clamped itself around her throat so tightly that she could not speak a word – as if by saying “yes” she had once again put a curse of death on him.

“Don’t you want your Master to have a good life and a good end?”

“Do you want your parents and clan to suffer a terrible misfortune because of you?”

Such chilling prophecies came from the mouth of the old man who had pierced heaven and earth, as cold as death.

Her lips moved slightly, but she couldn’t manage to bring herself to say that simple word.

After a moment of silence, Shi Ying was observing her emotions, the little light in his eyes slowly dimmed, and finally he also turned his head away, not saying a second word. Yes, he had grown up watching her, how could he not know what kind of person she was? If she had any intention, she would have never mumbled a reply like she was doing now.

After all, there was no turning back, right? He had killed the love of her life, and it was already good enough that she didn’t hold a grudge, so how could he expect anything else? Not everything in this world can be done all over again, no matter the circumstances.

“I understand.” He sighed softly and never said another word.

“…” Her lips wavered, but she could not open her mouth to speak a half-word of justification – she knew that he was not going to ask her the same thing a second time.

This lifelong bond between them may have truly come to an end in this very moment.

*Wang Guowei – “Butterfly Love Flower” poem

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