Chapter 117: Broken

After entering the alley, I continued to run, non-stop, but a feeling of grief almost burst my heart. I felt a current of blood flowing through my body, burning me all over.

“I suddenly realized that I wasn’t really that scared anymore. It’s like when I learned to read and started reading biographies of heroic figures, I always didn’t believe it. How could anyone not be afraid of death? But now I understand, so I’m not afraid at all. Sometimes death can be very meaningful.” Zhu Zhuo was talking in my arms.

Perhaps the tragic scenes gave it a different understanding of life. Even if it was hundreds of years after his death, it was never too late to understand.

My voice was trembling as I ran and said to Zhu Zhu, “But no one has written a biography for them.”

“Why bother to let others write it? Why care about the eyes and praise of others? I finally understand that writing for oneself is a kind of satisfaction, and a complete life is a life lived for oneself.” Zhu Zhu replied.

This child, no, to be precise, this old ghost who has lived for hundreds of years, was the first to say such profound words to me.

I was speechless, but I was very happy about his realization. The truth is everywhere, even in the human heart. Why should others enlighten themselves? In life, we should think, reflect, and maintain a positive and kind heart. We can enlighten ourselves.

The sound of the wind and footsteps continued, and the grief finally spread from my chest and throughout my body, only to be transformed into a courage to forge ahead.

After more than half an hour of silence, we reached the next key point!

Although it is said to be a complete imitation of the world of the living, a space of its own in a dream, in fact, the spirit is still in a spirit state, and the speed is still impossible to be the same as when there is a living body. When there is a living body, it may take several hours to run from one side of the city to the other, but here, it has been done in half an hour.

This is another street, and the center of the street is under a tangled black tree.

Like the previous street, it was also empty, with no ghosts or black-robed people. There was only the lingering smoke and dust from the battle.

The bodies of the Black Robed Men were strewn all over this street. Or perhaps this was just a manifestation of the dream. In fact, death in the spirit state is the complete dissolution of the soul, and there is no longer any existence…

I will not mourn for these black-robed people. My sorrow comes from the fact that among these corpses, there are also the figures of monks and priests, more than a dozen of them, all lying on the ground, where there is not even a trace of life.

“Amitabha, why can’t I give them a chance to be reborn?” Jueyuan’s white robe fluttered in the wind filled with dust and smoke, his voice was sad, and his eyes were already filled with red silk.

“Perhaps, their choice at this moment is the best way to help them. They have already left this place. Maybe the heavens will not let their spirits scatter, but will give them a chance to reunite and start a new chapter.” I said in a low voice.

“It is possible that they deserve it.” Jueyuan’s expression improved slightly. This possibility is a discussion between the Buddhist and Taoist schools about what state the soul will be in after it is scattered, a kind of prediction, which in fact cannot be proven.

However, it can be used to comfort the living.

“Why did you stop me from fighting?” Hui Gen’er’s voice sounded behind me. I always knew that this kid was resentful after I forcibly took him away just now.

I put my hand on Hui Gen’er’s bald head and said calmly, “It is more important to carry their hopes and do what they want us to do than to fight alongside them. If the task is not completed, it is the greatest desecration of their sacrifice. Don’t you understand?”

Hui Gen’er’s body trembled slightly, and he nodded slightly, biting his lip and saying, “I just can’t help it, I feel sad.”

I didn’t blame Huigen. He was a child at heart, and it took time for him to understand the heaviness and pain of things. It was only when I saw the back of Lao Hui that I understood the meaning of sacrifice and what people who have not sacrificed should do.

We were silent for a moment, and in that silence, a weak voice suddenly sounded in our ears: “Hurry… the key point…”

I turned around in surprise and saw a figure leaning against the building next to the black tree in a remote corner, looking at us weakly.

It was a large monk, whose blood-stained robe showed that he was in a weak state and could not hold on much longer.

The doctor has a heart of a parent. This time, it was Brother Chengxin who ran to the front. He walked over to the monk, helped him up, and briefly checked his condition. He shook his head sadly.

“There is a cure for the illness, but it is not suitable for him. If he were still alive, I might be able to save him…” Brother Chengxin explained to us.

Another wave of sadness spread through my heart. I held back my tears and said to the monk, “Hang in there. We’ll save you when we break through the city.”

“No need.” The monk smiled faintly and said, “Save me back to become a ghost? I should have been reincarnated a long time ago. I know my own situation. I saw all the friends who fought with me just now drifting into the sky. They were very happy. I’m going too.”

As if he were returning to the light, he spoke these words in one breath, surprisingly relaxed, without any pauses, and with a yearning smile on his face.

Our group of people could not express this kind of sadness. We ran to each point safely, except for a little trouble at the beginning. This kind of safety was gained at the expense of their own sacrifice.

They even sacrificed some of their inner strength to clear the way for us to continue on.

“Don’t say that,” I said, my voice trembling with emotion. But I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“You are the opportunity that Master Hongren spoke of. I know! Can I see how the formation is activated? I want to see it,” the monk whispered to me.

I nodded, gently let go of his shoulder, then took off a string of agarwood beads from my wrist, walked under the tree, fixed the location of the eye of the formation, and solemnly placed the bead.

There was still a muffled sound of “boom,” and the sky began to crack… The monk just stared at it, until the purple-red crack appeared in the sky, and then a smile appeared on his face. He muttered, “For many years, many years, although… although it is not… blue sky and white clouds… but… but it is really beautiful.”

We were speechless with sadness, but he didn’t even look at us. He just stared at the crack, and then whispered, “It’s really… really beautiful…” and then he was gone.

Chengxin reached out and wiped his eyes, and then closed them. He was either unfortunate, unable to float away into the sky with his comrades-in-arms, laughing and laughing together, or he was very lucky to see the meaning of his own sacrifice.

“He is already… dead.” Cheng Xin’s voice echoed through the street. My nose was so sore that I couldn’t bear to look at the tragic scene any longer. I could only look into the distance of the sky, biting my lower lip hard to force myself to calm down.

It was a purple sky again, and we took our third step.

The wind blew, and the sound of the wind was the last requiem for the heroes… I turned around and picked up Zhu Zhuo, saying, “Let’s go, to the next place. There are two more places, and we will be victorious in the outer city.”

For the first time, when I said the word victory, I found my mouth full of bitterness. Victory is sacrifice, but victory is also the hope of more people. No matter how bitter and tragic it is, we have to move forward on this bloody road.

The fourth key point…

The fifth key point…

The more sacrifices we witnessed along the way, the more our hearts boiled with passion. The only people we were lucky enough to meet were the monk and me, who were able to see the purple-red sky with our own eyes.

But I will prove with my actions that their sacrifice was not meaningless!

I solemnly placed the last incense bead in the outer city. This is the most remote place in the outer city, similar to the outskirts of the city. There is a gray lawn here, and the last formation eye is here.

As the last bead of agarwood was placed, the familiar muffled sound rang out again, but this time the sky was different. The cracks began to expand infinitely…

We stared at the sky, watching the purple-red cracks appear under the cracks, and then watching the cracks begin to expand, and the cracks in the other four directions also began to expand!

Finally, with a roar, they were linked together in a chaotic manner, and from a distance, it looked as if the sky in the middle of the city was about to break apart, with these five points as the edges.

At this moment, a burst of angry laughter came from the east, with extreme anger, rushing towards us.

“I’ll be waiting for you in the inner city!”