Switch Mode

HS Chapter 85.2

Amnesia 40 End

The snake thrashed and struggled in the golden net, and blood rain fell through the mesh.

A fiery-tipped staff pierced toward the snake at a speed invisible to the naked eye, splitting the air with a loud whistle.

The staff stabbed through its vital point and pinned the giant snake within the golden net onto the Anning Tower at the lake shore.

Hen Zhen’s eardrums throbbed in pain. He heard the wooden tower crack and splinter, followed by the crisp shatter of scales.

‘Xin Hexue?!’

The blood-red vertical pupils contracted, sweeping across the lake and shore, but he saw no trace of white.

Hen Zhen’s eyes were bloodshot.

The crash of the collapsing wooden tower sent dust soaring into the air, obscuring all sight.

Liao Yi was originally looking happy, but suddenly he thought of something, and his expression changed drastically.

As the dust settled, a shrill dragon cry rang through the air, making his eardrums buzz with pain.

Liao Yi’s aged eyes narrowed.

From the ruins of the tower, a blood-colored dragon sprang forth, breaking through the dust and fog and dove toward him.

Did the blood koi suppressed under the tower transform into a dragon?

Liao Yi saw the red, surging vertical pupils.

It was the fallen demon on the path of slaughter!

Liao Yi’s heart trembled violently, and he clenched the fiery-tipped staff tightly.

…………

Bu Jincheng was groggy and dazed, and he thought he heard the sound of heaven collapsing and the earth cracking.

He slowly opened his eyes.

“Hexue…?”

Bu Jincheng was being dragged toward the shore by Xin Hexue. He didn’t even know Xin Hexue could swim.

He glanced downward and saw a snow-white fish tail. Thinking he must be dreaming, he asked, “Am… am I drunk?”

Was he so drunk he forgot the sky could be reflected in the water… otherwise, how is there a dragon in the lake?!’

Bu Jincheng stared at the distant battle at the center of the lake in disbelief.

Xin Hexue: “Can you swim?”

Bu Jincheng snapped out of his shock and answered seriously, “I can.”

Xin Hexue pushed him toward the shore.

Bu Jincheng turned back and asked, “Hexue, are you a demon?”

In response, the snow-white tail stirred the water.

Bu Jincheng hadn’t drunk much during the banquet, so his consciousness recovered quickly.

He swam to shore, where the sandy bank was full of unconscious jinshi who had not yet awakened.

Bu Jincheng immediately turned back to look toward the water.

[Bu Jincheng’s love value +15]

But Xin Hexue had no time to pay attention, he was still searching for Zhou Shanheng.

He didn’t know if Zhou Shanheng had been crushed beneath a burning beam when the painted boat fell. If so, he might have sunk into the lake with the wreckage.

Xin Hexue heard Du Zhi’s voice from a distance.

“Over here.”

Xin Hexue looked in the direction of the voice…Du Zhi was pointing for him.

Zhou Shanheng was lying on a piece of floating wood. Although there was a gaping wound on his head, his life was not in danger.

Xin Hexue’s taut nerves finally relaxed. Just before his vision darkened, he saw Du Zhi calling out to him in alarm, and the two swam toward him.

…………

Liao Yi couldn’t tell how long the battle had gone on…perhaps hours. Trees along the lake were broken and snapped by the raging wind.

His cultivation had already dispersed when he awakened the earth dragon last year due to the infusion of karma. Combined with the fact that his cultivation hadn’t improved much in the past hundred years, it was clear why he had tried to cast off all karma in hopes of finding a path to ascension.

Liao Yi could feel that his body was withered and decaying. If this struggle continued, he wouldn’t be a match for Hen Zhen.

At the bottom of the lake, the eye of the formation stirred the heavens and earth, summoning silver lightning to tear through the night.

The blood dragon landed a heavy blow on Liao Yi, crushing him like dry twigs, and the old monk’s bones cracked audibly.

Liao Yi clutched his chest, and spat out dark blood. His eyes darted around rapidly, finally locking onto his prized disciple.

This mortal body had reached its limit. If Liao Yi wanted to ascend, he still needed a longer lifespan.

He needed a younger, stronger body.

He had already planned this more than twenty years ago.

According to the ancient texts, he needed to find a pair of twins, strip one of all emotions and desires in the soul.

When grown, that would become the perfect vessel.

Liao Yi’s gaze grew turbid.

No one expected this dying old monk to suddenly attack Du Zhi at this moment.

Even Hen Zhen had just relaxed his guard.

And it was just that moment of letting down his defenses.

Xin Hexue was the first to react.

Having lost the heart-protecting scale, the crack at his danxin was struck once again. Though the system’s program for a painless world exit protected him from any physical pain, he could still feel the rip in his danxin being torn open by karmic force.

He collapsed limply into Du Zhi’s arms.

Crimson blood slowly spread across his thin robe.

A sharp dragon’s cry pierced the sky. The dragon’s claw, like an eagle’s talon, pierced Liao Yi’s body, soared into the air, then plunged into the vortex-shaped eye of the formation in the center of the lake.

As the formation sealed both the old monk and the karmic residue within, the blood red dragon went crazy and churned the lake into chaos, and the vast lake boiled into steam.

The sediment at the lakebed was exposed. Fire and lightning erupted from the dragon’s mouth, descending together like a purgatory on earth.

The path of slaughter was driving it mad.

“Hen Zhen.”

It was a voice as light as a breath, barely louder than the wind.

But the fallen demon heard it.

The giant dragon collapsed at the shore with a bang, its head resting on the shallows, letting out a pained wail.

…………

The fortune-teller who read their fate said it might be better to return the koi demon to the Tianchi lake of Zhaoyao Mountain.

That was where the butterfly koi came from.

Even if it couldn’t save his life, the blessed land might nourish him and help delay the inevitable.

Du Zhi and Zhou Shanheng fed the koi demon with flesh and blood along the way, keeping him alive.

But Hen Zhen couldn’t do so. Now that he had become a fallen demon, the karmic residue in his body would only pollute and further damage Xin Hexue’s already shattered danxin.

They brought Xin Hexue back to Zhaoyao Mountain.

Clouds and mist drifted over the mountain, and waves of mist stretched out endlessly.

Hen Zhen used spells to build a small house right beside Tianchi Lake.

Xin Hexue’s condition worsened day by day. Sometimes he couldn’t even swallow Du Zhi’s blood and flesh, forming a vicious cycle.

His long snow-white hair draped over his back, and his body was so frail it could barely support a thin robe.

He slept longer and longer each day, sometimes going two full days and nights without waking.

When Xin Hexue opened his eyes again, he often found a man waiting by his bedside. The longer he slept, the longer the other person did not close his eyes.

So Xin Hexue would usually judge how long he had slept by the blood in his eyes and the exhaustion on his face.

All of them knew that the damage to his danxin was irreversible.

The ancient bodhi tree by the pond had already closed its eyes.

This time, the one keeping vigil by the bed was Hen Zhen.

Xin Hexue barely propped himself up, sitting at the bed’s head. Just that small effort sent him into a fit of coughing that shook his entire body.

Coughs piled one after another. His bloodless fingers held a handkerchief tightly to his lips, and his outer robe even slipped from his shoulders.

It took a long while for the coughing to stop.

Hen Zhen silently took the handkerchief and carried out a basin of bloodied water.

Xin Hexue didn’t know how long the other party was gone.

He simply closed his eyes for a nap again…perhaps for a quarter-hour, perhaps an hour.

Hen Zhen finally returned, expressionless.

The sound of movement made Xin Hexue subconsciously open his eyes.

Xin Hexue asked him, “Have the flowers bloomed outside?”

The top of Zhaoyao Mountain was covered in snow all year round. Glaciers never melted, and vegetation was scarce, so naturally there were no flowers.

Hen Zhen didn’t answer Xin Hexue’s question. He was unusually quiet this time, placing his fingers on Xin Hexue’s pulse, beneath which was a faint, almost imperceptible beat.

“Xin Hexue, you are so cruel.”

Hen Zhen gritted his teeth as he spoke.

The blood-red surging in his eyes was so intense that Xin Hexue couldn’t tell whether Hen Zhen’s eyes had reddened or not.

“I’m telling you,” Hen Zhen locked eyes with him, “you can never dream of escaping me.”

“No matter if you’re in the six realms of reincarnation, whether you turn into a cat, a fish, or a mortal, I will find you.”

Hen Zhen kissed him fiercely, like a violent storm, giving Xin Hexue’s bloodless lips a hint of red.

He repeated over and over again about hate, and love.

Xin Hexue felt that Hen Zhen had no outlet for his emotions. They were building up to the point of madness, to the point he almost wanted to take him right then and there.

But now, he was like a glass figure, one touch him and he might shatter.

So Xin Hexue knew, Hen Zhen didn’t dare touch him. He didn’t dare to do those things that could be called either love or hate.

They only held each other on the bed.

With the final kiss, Xin Hexue sensed something sliding down his throat, dissolving instantly upon contact with his throat.

“I’m giving it back to you.”

Hen Zhen left.

A great demon from the Path of Slaughter was never meant to have a good ending. Rather than waiting for the day he would eventually lose his mind, die from a body that exploded under a frenzy of killing, and scatter his soul in a foreign land…

He would rather die at Xin Hexue’s side.

Once he disappeared into the heavens and earth, spiritual power would return to this place and nourish all things in the world.

When a whale falls, all things thrive, but Hen Zhen had only ever wanted one thing: for Xin Hexue alone to survive.

His demon crystal could preserve Xin Hexue’s soul from dispersing, and keep him from mistakenly entering the Asura Path, the Hungry Ghost Path, or the Hell Path during reincarnation.

Such a dangerous place as the Avici Hell…his Ah Xue had no need to go there.

And considering he willingly used his spiritual power to nourish the world and cultivated a small measure of merit, perhaps..just perhaps, there was a sliver of hope that his soul might one day reform.

No matter how many years passed after that…decades, hundreds, tens of thousands, or tens of millions of years…as long as consciousness could rise again, as long as Xin Hexue’s soul still existed in this world, Hen Zhen would find him again.

Hen Zhen felt no pain. With hope brimming in his heart, he closed his eyes.

He would love Xin Hexue forever, even if his body perished, his soul scattered, and his spirit shattered.

Let all things and the mountains and rivers bear witness.

The next day, Xin Hexue did not see Hen Zhen.

His condition had improved a bit, and Du Zhi carried him outside the small building to get some fresh air.

It had rained all night on the top of Zhaoyao Mountain.

In just one night, nameless wildflowers had bloomed all across the field.

‘Had the flowers bloomed?’ Xin Hexue opened his hand.

A droplet of water landed squarely in his palm, trembling gently.

……

Decades later.

Bu Jincheng once again returned to the foot of Zhaoyao Mountain.

At the foot of the mountain were two or three villages, and today happened to be market day.

Bu Jincheng sold some specialty goods he had brought from elsewhere. He came here once every year, and most of the villagers recognized him by now. A stranger asked him directly whether he was selling the items in another bundle.

Bu Jincheng smiled. His temples had turned slightly gray, but his eyebrows remained sharp and his eyes bright.

“No. I’m giving them to someone.”

He walked along the base of the mountain, and was preparing to climb when he overheard villagers once again talking about that dazed and silly scholar.

They all said he was a top scholar from the Qingji period. No one knew why he had abandoned his golden laurels and official hat, left his government post, and fled to this remote mountain to live his days guarding a grave.

He only descended the mountain once a month to earn a little money here and there, and send letters and silver back home.

Zhaoyao Mountain had originally been treacherous and hard to access, but over the decades, that scholar had carved out a stone stairway and wooden walkway through the cliffs and crags.

After traveling across rivers and mountains for decades, Bu Jincheng finally came to understand why his grandfather had thrown himself into the wilds after his grandmother’s death.

He climbed to the top of the mountain.

The gravekeeper had probably gone to work the fields.

Or maybe he had gone out to hunt wild goods again.

The two didn’t meet.

Bu Jincheng laid out the items he had gathered over the year from various places, along with things he had bought at the foot of the mountain, in front of the grave.

“This is lychee syrup. Unfortunately, the sun was strong today, so the ice melted by the time I got up here. It’s a bit sweet, I don’t know if you’d like it.”

“This incense is called ‘Spring Message in Snow.’ Its scent reminded me of you, though I think it doesn’t smell as nice as your scent… but I can’t quite remember it clearly anymore.”

“All these years, I’ve wandered through mountains and rivers, thinking of you every day.

“But you’re so stingy…when will you finally be willing to appear in my dreams again?’

He rambled on, and suddenly his throat choked up. He turned his head away and covered his face.

Before sunset, Bu Jincheng descended the mountain.

He saw Du Zhi.

Back when the Anning Tower collapsed, many demons and evil spirits escaped and caused harm in the mortal world.

There was no doubt the other party had not had a single moment of rest over these years.

But for a mortal, the troubling years had not left a trace on this monk’s face.

Bu Jincheng couldn’t help but feel envious. “I only have another forty years at most to think of him. But you still have a long, long time.”

Du Zhi fell silent.

He had been subduing demons and monsters in the mortal world, and re-suppressing evil spirits.

Measuring the land of Dacheng over and over again.

Those mortals who had once crossed paths with Xin Hexue were all slowly forgetting the young man.

But as he walked the roads they once traveled together, Du Zhi remembered Xin Hexue anew. The memories in his mind pierced through the cobwebs of dust, growing clearer and more blinding by the day.

Heavenly light fell upon the incense burn scars on his head.

In a daze, Du Zhi recalled a time when the koi demon lay nestled in his arms, his breath fragrant like orchids. “Why doesn’t Master answer? Which is scarier, lust or hatred?”

Du Zhi remembered the answer he had once given across the Go board.

“Lusting for someone is like holding a lit torch and walking against the wind. If one insisted on raising the flame high, it was bound to become a disaster that burned the hand.”

But then, what is love? What is hate?
Why did his chest ache so often?

His seven emotions and six desires had already vanished completely with the young man’s departure.

End of the [Amnesia] Arc!!

Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You cannot copy content of this page

Options

not work with dark mode
Reset