Chapter 2: Red

Behind this hill is the ancestral grave of the Yueyan Miao village. Irene was a traitor to the village for love, but she also proved her love for the village with her life. No matter how much she struggled with melancholy in life, and no matter how difficult it was for her to choose between Lin Chen and the village, she was ultimately buried in this ancestral grave.

This is perhaps the answer the village gave her: no matter what mistakes you make, as long as you have the village in your heart, you will eventually return to its embrace.

The terrain on the hillside was high, and the mountain wind was cold, blowing my hair and Lin Chen’s hair flying. Lin Chen didn’t know what he was thinking, and even though it was already late at night, he was still wearing sunglasses. Perhaps such a person doesn’t like others to peek into his heart, and a pair of small sunglasses can hide a lot.

As for me, I stood in the formation that had been drawn beforehand, wholeheartedly gathering the remaining soul for Irene. The process of doing this was tedious and laborious. After all, so many years had passed, and how difficult was it to reunite?

My spiritual awareness ultimately helped me. The most important part of this process of gathering the remaining soul is to find the word. With a strong spiritual awareness, it is naturally easier to sense the remaining soul of another part of Irene. She cannot reincarnate, so her soul naturally lingers in the place where she died. This is the only thing that is most relaxing.

Perhaps because it was a remnant soul, when I cast the spell to completely release my spiritual awareness and found Irene, in my spiritual awareness, she was always a little wooden and sluggish. I sighed inwardly, I never thought that after almost ten years, I would see Irene again, but in this situation, it was indeed a bit sad.

After finding Irene, I naturally lit the soul-attracting lamp in the formation and used the method of calling the soul to gather Irene’s remaining soul.

Lin Chen helped me light the soul-attracting lamp, but the process of calling the soul was not very smooth. After all, I am not a close relative of Irene, so it was difficult to call back Irene’s remnant soul.

At this point, Huigen was clever and went to find Irene’s brother and parents early, and finally called back Irene’s remaining soul.

I released the remnant soul of Irene hidden in her finger bones, and finally gathered Irene’s remnant soul with difficulty using the formation.

At the moment the remnant soul gathered, Irene woke up. Her eyes fell on Lin Chen, and Lin Chen also opened his third eye at some point. The two looked at each other, but were silent.

I can’t describe the feeling I had when I saw them again after ten years. I always felt that Irene had let go, but Lin Chen had a lot to say but couldn’t bring himself to say it.

The two seemed to be looking at each other for a long time, but in fact it was only a few seconds. Irene withdrew her gaze. I couldn’t read the emotions in her eyes. Perhaps it was sadness, or perhaps it was a kind of letting go after a complete disappointment. I remembered Irene’s voice in my head: “Chengyi, thank you.”

After she came to her senses, Irene naturally understood what had happened. Behind this thank you, there seemed to be a lot of things she wanted to say but couldn’t. But I think a thank you is actually enough. This is the last sentence to settle things in life. The rest has been buried in the years, including the various emotions after suicide. Therefore, Irene was right to say a thank you.

After saying thank you, Irene turned around. She had already missed the best time for reincarnation. She must have my help. Her eyes told me that she no longer had any lingering feelings, and I knew what I should do.

I recited the incantation and made the hand gestures 鈥� the guiding hand gestures, a benevolent hand gesture that guides lonely spirits and wild ghosts to the Yellow Springs Road. Taoist practitioners will help lonely spirits and wild ghosts in this way on special days, but there are too many causes and effects involved, and they will not easily help on ordinary days. The Taoist way upholds fairness, and those who miss the opportunity will have to pay the price.

Of course, I have a karmic connection with the dead, so I can also use this guiding spell!

Back then, my master wanted to use the guiding spell for Li Fengxian, but unfortunately, the soul-dispersed Li Fengxian never got the chance.

Under the guidance of the road, the road to the underworld opens. Or maybe I’m not in a spirit state, so I can’t see where the road to the underworld is. But Irene is determined to follow the road, as if there really is a road in front of her.

“Irene, I’m sorry. I love you.” Suddenly a voice entered my ears, with a distinct sobbing tone. Needless to say, the voice was Lin Chen’s.

I didn’t expect Lin Chen to be so unable to control his emotions. Looking back at the firelight, I saw two lines of tears under Lin Chen’s sunglasses. Perhaps at this moment, there was no need to hide anything, so Lin Chen simply took off his sunglasses and his eyes were red.

Lin Chen’s sentence attracted the scolding of Irene’s family. The family’s hatred of Lin Chen was naturally understandable. Although they were restrained at first, they must not have been able to hear Lin Chen say the word “love.”

Lin Chen is a person who doesn’t care about what others think. Amid the curses, he just stared at Irene’s back. Perhaps he was hoping that Irene would look back at him again. But if that was the case, why didn’t he cherish it at that time? If it was love, Lin Chen didn’t have to make Irene a traitor. At most, he would only have to take less credit in the organization.

If he had known this, why did he do it in the first place? This casual remark is actually a very heavy truth that the ancients told us.

Unfortunately, Irene’s figure only stopped for a moment, and in the end, she did not turn back, but walked forward again without hesitation. When she was about to disappear, a sentence, “That’s it!” came to everyone’s mind.

Erin’s parents wept in grief, and her brother was also overcome with grief and no longer wanted to scold Lin Chen.

Lin Chen seemed to have been stripped of his bones, and suddenly he knelt on his hands and knees. The mountain wind was cold, and in the wind came Lin Chen’s intermittent voice: “Why won’t she look at me again? Why?”

As for me, I had stopped my hand movements, and the only thing that kept going through my mind was this question: “This word ‘it’s over,’ how much emotion is buried behind it?”

Hui Gen’er chanted a Buddhist mantra and walked up to Lin Chen, whispering, “Sister Lin Chen, she said it was all right, which means she has expressed her willingness to let go of everything in this world! After she committed suicide, it was my master and I who personally blessed her with spiritual power, so she won’t have any problems in reincarnation. You… you should let go too. All these worries will only add to her karma.”

Hui Gen’er’s words were somewhat ruthless, but I actually understood that this was the correct attitude. When a loved one passes away, you can miss and grieve, but you must never long-term miss and worry. That is a hindrance to his (her) reincarnation path, and it will mean that the grudges from the previous life have not been resolved. In severe cases, it may even affect the long-term inability to enter the reincarnation cycle!

Because feelings are a thread that still binds him (her).

This is a saying common to both Buddhism and Taoism, but it is too difficult to achieve. People can only rely on time, which is often weak.

Perhaps Lin Chen was hurt by Hui Gen’er’s words. He stood up unsteadily and said, “She only said that to me, so I’ll just let it go.”

Lin Chen is like this, not willing to be weak at all, but his words sounded so weak to me. There was a deep sense of hurt in them, but I also hoped that he would really give up.

He walked up to me and said, “Give me your finger bone.”

I took out the finger bone and gave it to him. Irene’s brother shouted at me, “Don’t give it to him. If he takes it away, my sister won’t have a complete body.”

In fact, I thought that the soul had already left, and all that was left was the body, just like a broken machine that had been used. But I couldn’t say this kind of ruthless truth to Lin Chen’s brother, so I could only say to Lin Chen, “fulfill her family’s wish.”

Lin Chen didn’t care about Irene’s brother at all. He just walked to Irene’s grave, dug a small hole, and buried the finger bone in it. He said, “I once promised that we would be together in life and in death. If you die, I will bury you myself. If I die, you will bury me yourself. At that time, I thought it was just sweet words to comfort you. Later, I knew that I really wanted to do it. A finger bone, which I dug out with tears, is now buried again. This is karma, and I have buried you with my own hands. I don’t owe you anything, right? Then it’s fine.”

After saying that, Lin Chen bowed in front of the grave. In fact, this gesture no longer had much meaning. He knew very well that Irene had already left, but bowing in front of the grave was better than the pain of living.

In the mountain breeze, Lin Chen turned around. His men, who had been standing far away, came over and put a windbreaker on him. Lin Chen put it on and walked down the mountain in the mountain breeze. The wind blew the corners of the windbreaker. I always felt that he was humming a song, so I walked a few steps toward him. I found that he was almost unconsciously singing: “The red is like the capricious ending of a rose, the red is like the blood dripping from the lips, the dream from the darkness, the pain from the mirror, you are as heavy as the dust of the world…”

“Red is like the flame of youth in full bloom, red is like the memory of the setting sun, it is the smiling face that you and I have shared, like the thread of life in the palm of your hand…”

“You are the most beautiful wound, perhaps…”

Lin Chen was crying, I heard the heavy nasal tone. Red? I felt like I was back in that year, the moment I saw Irene, the bright red blood really looked like a rose blooming around her body, so glaring that it made people cry.

Later, I found this song, and looking at the lyrics, I suddenly realized why Lin Chen would unconsciously hum it when he was most sad. It was because it was all he felt for Irene.

I don’t know what kind of mood I was in when I walked down this ancestral mountain with Huigen. The mountain breeze made me feel a little cold, but in the moonlight, I saw far away that at the foot of the mountain, next to an old tree, there was a figure standing there, looking indifferent.

It was Ruoxue!

I had actually been avoiding seeing her here, but when I suddenly saw her, I froze. Many memories came flooding back, and for a moment, I didn’t know whether I should go up to her or not.

From a distance of more than ten meters, Ru Xue looked at me and asked, “Aileen, is Aileen at peace in her passing?”