Chapter 186: The Beginning

The weather in the prairie becomes unpredictable at certain seasons, not to mention the fact that the snow-capped mountains are in an uninhabited area… The wind moves the clouds, and there is an inexplicable light in the darkness.

I thought it was going to snow, but what fell on my face was cold rain… It was just a moment before it started to drizzle and form a rain curtain… with bits of ice mixed in… there was an indescribable coldness.

It was as if the snow was right in front of me, staring at me directly… We were only about 5 meters apart… but it was as if we were separated by a distance even farther than the Grand Canyon… because the distance in time could not be measured, she and I were separated for a lifetime.

I stood in front of her, not Chen Chengyi… and she stood in front of me, long since no longer Wei Chaoyu, and never again would she smile at me as she used to.

The answer is very cruel, and I don’t want to say it directly… The sudden rain made the temperature drop a lot. I spoke, and there was already white vapor. I said to her, “It’s cold, go back.”

She suddenly smiled sadly, then said in a light tone, “I understand.” Then she turned and left…

The sadness and desolation behind this smile made my emotions rise to a great wave… I knew that it was Chen Chengyi’s emotions, but I didn’t know why I suppressed them so much.

I couldn’t help but ask her, “What are you going to do?”

I didn’t answer directly, but she was so smart that she probably knew the answer even if I just said something evasive. Aren’t girls supposed to cry? Why didn’t she shed a single tear and just turn and walk away?

The longer I stay in this world, the more I want to know the emotions of people in this world. It seems that the emotions of people in this world are much stronger than those in my world… Or maybe not. I had almost no emotions in my own world back then, so how could I understand the emotions of others?

Facing my question, Ruoxue stopped walking and turned to look at me… Her eyes seemed to be confused. After all, it was the face she was most familiar with. No matter who I was, this body was always Chen Chengyi’s…

“Once I entered the dragon’s tomb and abandoned the mortal world, I was originally just a tomb keeper… When there was no longer a need to guard it, it wasn’t a big deal to follow it.” Ru Xue’s tone was clear and light, but even I could understand the deep affection behind her words.

The kind of hopelessness that comes from having nothing to live for, the kind of despair that is as silent as death itself…

“Suicide is a big cause and effect…” I said subconsciously.

However, Ruoxue suddenly smiled and said to me, “I and he have never been together for more than half a year. If it weren’t for that half year, it would be something I regret for the rest of my life… Is anything else important? We were always apart, watching each other. Wasn’t I miserable? Having done what I had to do, I finally had a reason to let go of my thoughts and let go of everything. It wasn’t completely bad, was it?

I stood in the rain in silence. The rain blurred the figure in front of me, but her eyes in the rain were so clear. Her eyes fell on my face, but she didn’t look at my eyes… full of some kind of unspeakable affection and nostalgia.

I understood what she meant. People are not the same, so of course they don’t have the same eyes, but the face is always Chen Chengyi’s.

I can’t say whether it’s right or wrong, because at this moment, I discovered that the pain of love is so deep that it’s normal not to be able to cry… It seems calm as snow, but it’s just that the heart is as dead as ashes and has made a decision.

As for why I suddenly understood all this… it was only at this moment that I remembered the duel in that lifetime, Wei Chaoyu’s eyes… the look in her eyes when she suddenly stopped when we were both about to make our big moves… that kind of resoluteness!

No matter how many reincarnations she has, she remains unchanged… that kind of resolute passion for love is ultimately engraved in the soul.

While I was in a daze, Ruoxue had already walked away… I felt a mixture of cold and heat on my face, the cold being from the rain and the heat from the tears… I can actually cry like this? At that moment, I was in a trance, and I whispered to myself, “Ruoxue, how could I possibly give you up? The answer to my life with you is still written by myself.”

I knew that the will of Chen Chengyi, which had been suppressed until now, had once again appeared… but I didn’t understand why he had to express it like this now. And Ru Xue, who was gradually moving away, couldn’t hear it at all.

Is it that when love reaches a certain depth, one is unaware of it, and in the end, one can no longer express oneself freely to the other?

He looked up, and the rain was falling heavily, as if to indicate that the winter on the plateau was a cruel season… it was coming… so early.

On that day, Chen Chengyi’s master found a reason to call everyone away… so there was no time to talk before the big battle.

I naturally avoided it, and the more I talked, the more I made mistakes… Why upset everyone?

As usual, Elder Qi came to me every day to take care of my diet and living conditions, or to report on some matters… I learned that, in the seemingly peaceful practice of the Snow Mountain lineage, there was actually a raging battle going on…

Now, because of the third iron rule, there are no more large or small collisions from the outside world… Instead, the two sides are fighting over the power of the two meridians of life and fate.

The undercurrents come from this… Just as the fate of cultivators is originally unpredictable, but the upper echelons of the Life and Fortune meridians can also be predicted… Once you are targeted in this way, it is actually a problem with endless consequences… The simplest thing is that your whereabouts will be predicted…

So, just like in history, when a major battle in the circle of cultivators comes, the ones who will definitely start it first are the two branches of the Destiny and Fortune. They may not participate in the direct battlefield… but the initial covert war is definitely theirs, covering up and calculating…

“It’s been a month and a half. Wasn’t the original prediction that the battle would last about a month?” I didn’t leave the cave to practice, but I was silently counting the days in my heart. After the medicinal diet was over today, I couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes, it’s been a month and a half… In fact, Yang Sheng is not an ordinary person. If he deliberately wants to delay things, there are many ways to do so… What you see is the hidden war between the two veins of fate and divination, but in reality, there are many actions in the outside world. The two sides are very restrained, and when they encounter a confrontation, they usually disperse on their own… We can only wait until Yang Sheng can’t delay any longer.” Elder Qiu’s expression was light, as he sorted things out for me while talking to me.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” I asked.

“Because the old master said that you should focus on your cultivation and not worry about these trivial matters… because you are the biggest secret.” Elder Qi stopped what he was doing and told me.

“Why couldn’t Yang Sheng go on?” I didn’t ask why he was the biggest secret… I was just curious why Yang Sheng couldn’t go on.

“The intelligence is like this, but no one knows the specific reason.” Elder Qi sighed… Everyone understands that perhaps death is not terrible, but the process of waiting for death is terrible.

I was silent… The short conversation ended here… During the days of training, apart from a few conversations with Elder Qi, I almost forgot that I could speak… Inside the cave, I could not even feel the change of seasons, and there was a sense of time freezing.

Originally, I didn’t feel lonely during my training… However, I felt a little out of place because these days, Chen Chengyi’s will has never appeared again… I had expected that his will would be completely suppressed and then dissipate… Now it seems that this is really the case, and I am the one who is out of place…

After all, compared to my sparse memories, his memories are too numerous… Those memories blend in, making me sometimes wonder if I am really a Taoist monk or Chen Chengyi?

The only difference between the two is the difference in their thoughts, which cannot be changed because it is determined by their will… But is he really gone?

I can’t probe… even his silly tiger has fallen into a deep sleep… It seems that the last time it devoured something, it hasn’t digested it yet, and it doesn’t respond to my occasional summons to check on it.

I sighed unconsciously and took an old booklet from the bookshelf… Anyway, as long as the war does not start, this training must continue.

Ten days have passed in the blink of an eye… It’s almost been two months… I only see Elder Qi every day. After the meeting, the old master has hardly been here… I heard that he was busy preparing for the war… But what I didn’t expect was that the old master came here early this morning.

I glanced at the hourglass in the cave… If we’re going by the current time, it’s only 5 a.m. What is the old master doing here at this hour?

But the next moment, I knew what was going on… I stood up, shook off the robe, and asked, “Is it finally starting?”

The old master didn’t answer me, but said to me, “Change your clothes. After all, I am the head of the Snow Mountain sect… this robe is a bit dirty when you go out…”

Finally, Yang Sheng couldn’t drag it out anymore?