101: Chapter 101 Returning to the Northwest
Traveling in a straight line from the eastern coast to the Northwest Rift would mean crossing more than half of the Central Plains.
Lu Mingyuan did not travel in a straight line.
He still avoided all towns and all places where Cultivators gathered, sticking to desolate, uninhabited mountains and wilderness.
Bai Ze looked at his chosen route, somewhat puzzled.
"What are you avoiding?"
Lu Mingyuan gazed at the mountain path ahead and was silent for a moment.
"I don't want to explain."
Bai Ze understood his meaning.
It understood better than anyone the commotion and endless questions that would arise if an Earth Immortal—no, now a Heavenly Immortal—accompanied by an ancient Divine Beast appeared among people.
"But taking this detour will add over half a month to your journey."
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"I know."
He paused.
"But I'm more afraid of standing among people and being asked a question."
Bai Ze looked at him.
"What question?"
Lu Mingyuan said softly:
"How is the situation at The Rift? Have you been there? Why haven't you gone?"
Bai Ze fell silent.
Lu Mingyuan continued:
"The Queen Mother of the West said I am the Person of Destiny. But I only stayed at The Rift for a few days before going to the eastern sea. I was delayed for ten days there. What happened at The Rift during those ten days? How many died? Did anyone curse me?"
He looked at Bai Ze.
"I can't answer those questions now. So, it's best not to see anyone."
Bai Ze looked at him, its gaze holding something complex.
"Do you think you were wrong?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time.
Then, he shook his head.
"No. Saving you wasn't wrong. Senior Song Yun's ruins, I had to go there too. Those things, I had to find them."
He paused.
"But those who died weren't wrong either. They died, and I lived. They died, and I wasn't there."
Bai Ze said nothing.
After a long while, it whispered:
"Thinking like this will wear you out."
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"I know. But I can't help thinking this way."
He looked ahead.
"The Queen Mother of the West said, remember those who died, remember what was lost. I remember. Remembering means carrying the burden. Carrying the burden means walking. Walking means continuing onward."
Bai Ze looked at him for a long, long time.
Then, it said one thing.
"You are different from everyone I have ever met."
Lu Mingyuan looked at it.
"How am I different?"
Bai Ze thought for a moment.
"They cultivate to transcend. To transcend Karma, transcend life and death, transcend everything. You cultivate to bear. To bear Karma, bear life and death, bear everything."
It paused.
"I've never seen a path like yours."
Lu Mingyuan was silent for a while.
Then, he smiled.
"Then watch. See if I can walk it to the end."
Bai Ze also smiled.
"Good. I'll watch."
They walked for five more days.
That evening, they reached a valley.
The valley was small, surrounded by mountains, with a small stream flowing through the middle. Beside the stream stood a few thatched huts, their roofs overgrown with grass, clearly long abandoned.
Lu Mingyuan stopped, looking at the huts.
Bai Ze walked to his side.
"You know this place?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"I came here five years ago. Back then, a family lived here. A husband and wife, and a child of seven or eight."
He paused.
"I stayed with them for one night. The child was called Gou Dan. He insisted I tell him a story at night. I told him about Bai Ze."
Bai Ze smiled.
"About me?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"About how you comprehend all things, know everything under heaven. His eyes shone as he listened. He said he wanted to be like you when he grew up."
Bai Ze fell silent.
Lu Mingyuan walked towards the huts.
Pushing open the door, the interior was empty. The stove had partially collapsed. Only a pile of rotten straw remained on the bed. In a corner lay a small skeleton, curled into a ball.
Lu Mingyuan stood there, looking at the skeleton for a very long time.
That was Gou Dan.
Seven-or-eight-year-old Gou Dan.
Gou Dan, whose eyes had shone five years ago.
Bai Ze walked to his side, looking at the skeleton.
"Devilish Qi erosion."
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"I know."
He crouched down, looking at the skeleton. It was small, curled up as if asleep.
He reached out and gently closed the skeleton's eye sockets.
"Gou Dan," he whispered, "Bai Ze is here. Didn't you want to see it? It's right here."
Bai Ze stood behind him, saying nothing.
Lu Mingyuan continued:
"It doesn't comprehend all things. There are things it doesn't know either. But it's alive. Being alive means it can keep learning."
He paused.
"You died. Once dead, you know nothing anymore."
He stood up and turned around.
"Let's go."
Bai Ze looked at him.
"Not burying him?"
Lu Mingyuan shook his head.
"No time. There are many more waiting."
He stepped out of the hut.
Bai Ze followed behind him.
After a few steps, Lu Mingyuan suddenly stopped.
He glanced back at the hut, at the skeleton, at that curled-up posture.
Then, he whispered:
"Gou Dan, I'm sorry."
Having said that, he turned and strode away.
By the time they left the valley, it was already dark.
Zhang Qingyuan lit a fire and took out provisions.
Lu Mingyuan sat by the fire, gazing at the flames, not saying a word.
Bai Ze lay beside him, also silent.
Zhang Qingyuan looked at his Master, then at Bai Ze, not daring to make a sound.
After a long time, Lu Mingyuan suddenly spoke.
"Bai Ze."
Bai Ze raised its head.
"Hmm?"
Lu Mingyuan looked at the flames.
"Tell me, if I hadn't gone to the eastern sea, if I'd returned directly to The Rift, would Gou Dan still be alive?"
Bai Ze was silent for a moment.
"No."
Lu Mingyuan looked at it.
"Why?"
Bai Ze said softly:
"I examined that skeleton. He died at least three months ago. Three months ago, you were still at Kunlun."
Lu Mingyuan froze.
Three months ago, he was still at Kunlun, listening to the Queen Mother of the West speak of the Seven Great Calamities.
Three months ago, Gou Dan was already dead.
He couldn't save him.
Whether he went to the eastern sea or not, he couldn't save him.
He lowered his head, looking at his own hands.
Those hands had rescued Bai Ze, obtained Song Yun's manuscripts, achieved a Heavenly Immortal Breakthrough.
But those hands couldn't save Gou Dan.
Couldn't save the people in that hut.
Couldn't save those eroded by Devilish Qi.
Bai Ze looked at him.
"What are you thinking?"
Lu Mingyuan was silent for a long time.
Then, he whispered:
"Thinking about the Queen Mother of the West's words."
"Which ones?"
"'Remember those who died, remember what was lost.'"
He looked at Bai Ze.
"I remember. But what use is remembering? They're still dead."
Bai Ze did not answer.
Lu Mingyuan continued:
"Senior Song Yun said, when you walk to the end, you'll naturally know. But before reaching the end, how many must die? How much must be lost? How many regrets must be borne?"
He looked at the flames, his eyes slightly reddened.
"I don't know."
Bai Ze stood up, walked to his side, and pressed its forehead against his shoulder.
"No one knows."
It whispered.
"But you still have to walk. Because if you stop walking, more will die."
Lu Mingyuan closed his eyes.
For a long, long time.
Then, he opened his eyes and nodded.
"I know."
Early the next morning, the three of them set off again.
Not long after leaving the valley, Bai Ze suddenly stopped.
It stared ahead, ears pricked, nostrils twitching slightly.
Lu Mingyuan looked at it.
"What is it?"
Bai Ze didn't answer immediately. It stared at the sky ahead for a long time, then turned its head.
"There's a change at The Rift."
Lu Mingyuan's heart tightened.
"What change?"
Bai Ze thought for a moment.
"The Devilish Qi is spreading. At least three times faster than ten days ago."
It paused.
"And... there's fighting."
Lu Mingyuan frowned.
"Fighting?"
Bai Ze nodded.
"The aura of Cultivators. Several. Near The Rift."
Lu Mingyuan was silent for a moment.
Then, he strode forward.
"Let's go see."
Bai Ze followed.
Zhang Qingyuan, holding the heart lamp, also followed.
After walking for half a shichen, Lu Mingyuan could sense it too.
There was faint Devilish Qi in the air, growing denser the further they went. It drifted around like mist, colorless and odorless, but Divine Sense could detect it—cold, viscous, carrying a faint resentment.
And the smell of blood.
Faint, but definitely present.
Lu Mingyuan quickened his pace.
Crossing over a hill, he saw The Rift.
That rift was at least twice as wide as ten days ago. From a hundred li wide to two hundred li wide, from a gash to a canyon.
At the edges of The Rift, Devilish Qi churned like boiling water.
Below The Rift, several figures were moving.
Lu Mingyuan narrowed his eyes, looking closely.
They were Cultivators.
Four Cultivators, two men and two women, all young, looking at most Golden Core Stage. They were fighting several masses of black mist—those black mists he recognized as Chaos Demon Soldiers.
But they were struggling.
There were seven or eight demon soldiers, and only four of them. Moreover, those demon soldiers knew no fatigue, no pain, and fought more ferociously the longer the battle went on.
A male Cultivator was struck by a demon soldier and sent flying, crashing into a rock, blood spurting from his mouth.
A female Cultivator screamed, desperately trying to rush to his aid, but was surrounded by three demon soldiers and couldn't break free.
Lu Mingyuan watched them, a strong impulse surging in his heart—
Charge down and save them.
But he didn't move.
He stood there, watching the four Cultivators, watching those demon soldiers, watching that rift.
Bai Ze walked to his side.
"Not going down?"
Lu Mingyuan was silent for a while.
"I'll go down. But before going down, there's one thing to do."
He closed his eyes.
His Divine Sense spread out, probing deep into The Rift.
There, a core of resentment. Larger, denser, blacker than the one he'd seen ten days ago.
Around the core of resentment, countless thin black threads were extending outward. At the ends of those black threads were the demon soldiers.
He opened his eyes.
"These demon soldiers are born from the core of resentment. Kill one, another is born. They can't be finished off."
Bai Ze looked at him.
"Then what do we do?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time.
Then, he whispered:
"Don't kill them. Kill their root."
He strode towards The Rift.
Bai Ze followed behind him.
Zhang Qingyuan, holding the heart lamp, also followed.
At the edge of The Rift, the four Cultivators were on the verge of collapse.
The injured male Cultivator lay on the ground, face pale, breath faint. The three demon soldiers surrounding the female Cultivator had broken through her defense. One of them extended a claw formed from condensed black mist, reaching for her chest.
The female Cultivator closed her eyes.
At that instant, a sword light flashed.
The demon soldier's claw was severed at the wrist, black smoke billowing from the stump.
The female Cultivator opened her eyes and saw a person standing before her.
That person stood with his back to her, holding a long sword that gleamed with a faint light.
The demon soldiers stopped, staring at the person.
The person said nothing.
He simply raised his sword, pointed it towards the depths of The Rift, and gave it a light swing.
The sword light arched like a rainbow, shooting straight into the depths of The Rift.
Struck by the sword light, the core of resentment shuddered violently.
Immediately after, the demon soldiers seemed to have their bones removed, collapsing one by one, dissolving into black smoke.
The female Cultivator stood with her mouth agape, speechless.
The person turned and looked at her.
"Can you still walk?"
The female Cultivator nodded dumbly.
The person glanced at the male Cultivator lying on the ground.
"Take him and leave this place. The farther, the better."
The female Cultivator opened her mouth, wanting to ask something, but before the words could leave her lips, the person had already turned and walked towards the depths of The Rift.
Behind him followed a snow-white Divine Beast.
And a little Daoist priest, carrying a lamp.
The female Cultivator stood there, watching that receding figure for a very long time.
Then, she bent down, helped her injured companion up, and staggered away into the distance.
Walking far away, she glanced back once.
The edge of The Rift was now empty.
Only that blood-colored rift remained there, silently gaping.
Lu Mingyuan stood at the edge of The Rift, looking at the core of resentment deep within.
It was much larger, blacker, and denser than ten days ago.
Those black threads were regrowing. One, two, three—soon new demon soldiers would emerge.
Bai Ze stood beside him.
"Your sword strike injured it. But not deeply."
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"I know."
He looked at the core of resentment.
"What it needs is mending, not injuring."
Bai Ze was silent for a while.
"Then how do you plan to mend it?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time.
Then, he whispered:
"I don't know. But I know I can't keep walking away."
He looked at Bai Ze.
"Starting today, I will stay here. Guard this rift, guard these people. Until I find a way to mend it."
Bai Ze looked at him, its gaze holding something complex.
"What about your path?"
Lu Mingyuan smiled.
"This is my path."
He turned, looking at the distant mountains and wilderness, at those villages, at those living and dead.
"The Queen Mother of the West said, keep walking, walk until the day it is mended. I've walked a long way. Now I've walked back."
He looked at Bai Ze.
"This place is the path I must walk."
Bai Ze was silent for a long time.
Then, it nodded.
"Good. I'll accompany you."
Lu Mingyuan looked at it and smiled.
"Thank you."
Bai Ze also smiled.
"No need to thank me. I am your Divine Beast. Where you are, I am."
Zhang Qingyuan stood behind them, holding the heart lamp.
He looked at his Master's back, at that blood-colored rift, at that snow-white Divine Beast.
Then, he too smiled.
"Master, I'm here too."
Lu Mingyuan turned to look at him.
"Hmm. You're here too."
He turned back, gazing at the core of resentment deep within The Rift.
"From today onward, we stay here. Guard this rift, guard these people, guard this world that has lost something."
He paused.
"Guard until the day it is mended."
Bai Ze stood to his left.
Zhang Qingyuan stood to his right.
The three of them—one man, one beast, one disciple—stood shoulder to shoulder at the edge of The Rift, looking at that slowly writhing darkness.
Behind them was the world of the living.
Before them was the unmended gap.
But they knew, one day, this gap would be mended.
Because someone was guarding it.
Someone was here, guarding.
Guarding all the time.
Guarding until the day it was mended.