Volume Two: The Mortal Realm - Chapter 133: Blossoming

In the sky, the blood-colored setting sun and the drifting snow intertwined, tingeing every snowflake with a fiery red like embers that refused to go out amidst a raging fire.

Ye Mingke carried Aru on his back as they walked down the desolate, freezing street. Jian Jiu, who rarely carried anything other than a single sword and wore pristine white robes, followed silently behind them.

"This city will soon become a turbulent and bloody battlefield," Jian Jiu said slowly as he followed Ye Mingke.

"I know," Ye Mingke replied flatly, his voice as hard and unyielding as iron.

"Since you understand everything, you should take her and leave Yangjing immediately," said Jian Jiu.

"I understand."

Ye Mingke raised his gaze toward the far end of the avenue stretching out before them—the towering black Xuanwu Gate that seemed to merge the crimson heavens and the earth—and spoke slowly, pronouncing each word with distinct emphasis.

His voice carried the suppressed, surging momentum of molten lava running beneath the surface. Each step he took forward was heavy; his spine was slightly curved, as though he were carrying a massive, crushing mountain.

Step by step, he trod upon the snow reflecting the blood-red twilight, walking out of that colossal city where a storm brewed beneath the heavy oppression. Ahead, amidst the blood-hued sunset, lay corpses buried by the wind and snow; refugees who, sensing the oppressive atmosphere within the city, huddled together in silence; and a path strewn with bleached bones.

With her eyes closed, Aru buried her face into the hair at the back of Ye Mingke's neck, seeming to try desperately hard to fall into a deep sleep as she spoke with a choked voice.

"Wood, are all our affections destined to be fleeting? The deeper we love someone, the shorter the time we get to spend together. The people Aru loves the most, or those who love Aru the most, always vanish from Aru's world in the blink of an eye."

"Dad said that mother was the person who loved me most in this world, so the moment Aru was born, she was parted from mother."

"I love Dad very much. When Dad was home, he was so, so good to me, but Dad always had to go out to sea alone. The time I got to spend with Dad was truly so very little."

Ye Mingke felt the back of his neck grow damp with icy tears. Aru's choked voice gradually grew louder, like a grieving soul struggling fiercely within that young, crystal-clear tone.

"On the contrary, the bad kids who mocked Aru for being mute always clung to my side. The bad people Aru hates always manage to stay alive."

"Is it only when you care a little less that the time you spend together doesn't pass by too quickly? I've wondered if I could try not to love Dad quite so much, but I've never been able to do it."

"Is that why Dad left me so soon?"

"Wood."

Aru tightly wrapped her arms around Ye Mingke's neck, sobbing softly.

"Actually, I haven't always hated you so much. I didn't really mean to be so fierce with you, nor did I genuinely mean to be mean and keep calling you Wood. I was just afraid that if we got along too well, our connection would be used up too quickly."

"I'm so afraid that you'll leave me, too."

Lowering his head as he stepped out of the giant city, Ye Mingke felt his eye sockets burning red at some point. He lifted his head, forcing a gentle smile as he spoke.

"No, Aru. It's not like that."

Yet his own voice could hardly convince or comfort even himself.

He thought of all the beautiful farewells along his journey—was it because they were beautiful that farewells seemed so frequent, and if there had been no beauty to begin with, would there have been no sorrow?

"Wood, I actually wish I hadn't met you so early. Wood, if I choose to like you a little less first, will we be able to see each other again in the future?"

"Wood... put me down."

The fragile, sorrowful little girl suddenly spoke in a soft whisper, her voice trembling slightly as she addressed the only refuge she had left in this world.

Ye Mingke's footsteps halted on the grand avenue.

The little girl who had been holding onto him so tightly, yet was now asking him to put her down, pressed against his neck and spoke slowly and softly.

"Wood... hand me over to that sword-brother."

"I heard what you said to the spectacled brother; I know you're eager to go and help Sister Liu Xixi. I hate those people, too."

"Wood, go and help them. Go and help those people who are being bullied by the wicked immortals. They are so pitiful."

Her clear, serene voice echoed gently amidst the heavy snow, the setting sun, and the skeletal remains along the roadside.

"Wood, I'm terrified that you'll vanish soon, but I'm also terrified that you'll grow to hate me. I don't want to hold you back from doing what you want to do because of me. Wood, go."

Her delicate, tear-stained face lifted, and Aru reached out a hand to gently stroke Ye Mingke's head, just as Ye Mingke had done every time he comforted her.

Ye Mingke's forward momentum stopped completely, his body trembling slightly.

"Aru, have you really thought this through?" He lowered Aru from his back, setting her down in front of him. Looking at the young girl who was far braver than he had ever imagined, he asked with a raw, red-rimmed gaze and a hoarse voice.

"I... am not afraid." Aru looked back at him, her lips pressed tightly together as she slowly and earnestly nodded.

"I thought I had persuaded him, but in the end, it was you who suddenly changed your mind. Why?"

Jian Jiu, who had been following closely behind them all this time, looked at the young girl and asked slowly.

"Don't you hate us immortals who wield flying swords? Why would you suddenly dare to return with me?"

"Sister Liu uses a sword, too, and not all immortals are bad like you, Sword-brother." Aru turned her head to look at Jian Jiu, her large, reddened eyes devoid of the slightest trace of cowardice. "If I learn the flying sword, I will surely use it to slay those immortals who use flying swords to harm others."

The little girl who wept time and time again over the loss of her loved ones was not a cowardly child.

She was a fierce little girl who, having been bullied since childhood for her muteness and lack of family companionship, had wielded a small wooden stick to drive away all her tormentors; a valiant little girl who, upon her awakening, dared to use her soul-speech to defy immortals; a little girl who had never once been frightened to tears by battle.

"Besides, Big Brother, you are a good person."

"I am neither good nor bad; I am someone beyond such distinctions," Jian Jiu replied flatly, holding only his sword.

Ye Mingke slowly turned around, gazing up at the capital city shrouded in the twilight glow.

"I told you, the Immortal Ascension Array within the capital will open this time, and the gathered strength of all the garrison immortals in Yangjing will converge. Even I might not be able to withstand the might of the immortals forming that array," Jian Jiu said, looking at Ye Mingke.

"I understand."

"If you only wish to save your two friends, I can help you think of a way, but if you intend to openly resist the Garrison Bureau, you will die."

"I understand."

Ye Mingke slowly lowered his head, looking at Aru and Jian Jiu.

"Aru, if I can, I will certainly come to the East China Sea to see you again."

"Jian Jiu, take good care of Aru for me. The debt of a life you owe me, give it to Aru, and we are even."

"I will take care of her," Jian Jiu said after a brief silence.

Ye Mingke reached out to touch Aru's head one last time with a faint smile, then cupped his fists in a salute to Jian Jiu. After that, he turned around, his sword strapped to his back and his case slung over his shoulders, and walked against the fiery glow toward the colossal city that crouched like a sleeping beast.

"Clang." The urgent and resonant bell chimes, sounding just before the opening of the grand ceremony within the city, began to echo across the wilderness between the metropolis and the setting sun.

Jian Jiu did not immediately turn and leave. Instead, feeling somewhat unaccustomed to it, he took Aru's hand and followed behind, trying to keep pace with Ye Mingke as he walked toward the giant city.

"I don't understand."

His voice carried the outward chill of suppressed fury.

"You aren't doing this for a promise, nor entirely for your friends. A monster who isn't even fully human—are you really prepared to die for these mortals?"

"I suppose so."

Ye Mingke, carrying his sword and box, stared fixedly at the looming city ahead, quickening his pace until Jian Jiu, holding Aru's hand, found it somewhat difficult and awkward to keep up.

"I don't understand," Jian Jiu repeated coldly, glaring at him.

"Neither do I."

Bathed in the evening glow, Ye Mingke let out a soft laugh.

"I stayed in that small courtyard in Yangjing for over a dozen days, never daring to step foot into the city itself. Because I knew it would be destroyed, and I would feel a pang of heartache for its destruction, though I know not why."

"There are many things I still don't understand, but there are also many things that have become clear to me."

Without turning his head to look at Jian Jiu, he spoke facing the fiery sunset, his voice slow yet resolute.

"I do not like this era of fierce competition, where men are raised like fighting insects, nor do I believe that simply because I possess strength surpassing ordinary mortals, I am somehow detached from them."

"Why must there always be strife? Why can't everyone simply do what they love? Must the treasures of this world always be forcibly seized from others rather than created by one's own hands?"

"I despise the way you immortals used to look down on people. Is power the sole standard in this world? What has your cold detachment truly brought you? Have you genuinely transcended mortals? Should immortals truly be devoid of all emotion and sentiment?"

"That ugly cultivator driven into my hands by his own sect, the Dust-Spirit Immortal slain by his own disciple, the woman in red who loved the mortal realm so much she would rather burn in raging fire to bring down the immortal workshop—have you truly transcended mortals?"

Ye Mingke no longer looked into Jian Jiu's eyes. His expression remained calm, yet it concealed a madness as he stared at the grand city ahead.

"Are you not also suffering and struggling insects in this era of intense competition? Whether a hundred years or a thousand, you suffer the same pangs of survival. All living beings are struggling to cross to the other shore; you, too, die and are wounded, harboring desires and love and hate. Why then can you act so detached? Is this truly transcendence, or merely an excuse to cloak your greed and ruthlessness?"

"I may not be a mere mortal, but I cannot achieve such detachment. When I see someone injured, I feel anxiety; when I see life distorted, I feel rage."

"I dislike a world of fierce competition where might makes right. I wish for spirits to have their splendor, and humans to retain their dignity and greatness, allowing every living thing to grow in lush abundance according to the laws of its own existence. Why must it always be a battle to the death?"

"Life is the most beautiful thing in this world."

Reaching the deep shadows cast by the towering city walls, the youth turned his head to look into those eyes that feigned coldness but could no longer hide their lingering concern, and smiled peacefully.