Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 39
"Haven't you noticed? This village is in good condition," An Xingmian said, "The land nearby is fertile, and there have been no major disasters in recent years. People in the village can get by, so naturally they won't be so greedy and stingy. In fact, The minds of the common people are really simple, if they have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a house to shelter them from the wind and rain, anyone can be a kind person. Only poor people always come out of trouble, it’s all forced by life.”

"I haven't thought about such a profound question," Xue Huaiqing shook her head, then looked at An Xingmian, "I found that you seem to be back to normal today, and you're in a pretty good mood."

An Xingmian smiled: "Last night I had a lot of dreams. In the worst dream, my teacher was confirmed to be the traitor of Nagato, and was despised by all the Nagato masters. I was very sad at that time , without any scruples in the dream, the first reaction was to jump out and beat up all the people who accused the teacher. But then I thought, what can be changed by beating them? Facts are facts after all. "

"After waking up, I reflected on this dream, and suddenly thought that even if the teacher really betrayed Nagato, it would not change anything for me. He is him, and I am me. I just need to do my part and be worthy of In the heart, that's fine. After all, my life is determined by myself, not by who my teacher is."

"He is him, I am me... In this way, she is her, they are them, and I, after all, am myself, and no one can change me." Xue Huaiqing said to herself.An Xingmian couldn't hear the difference between "he" and "she" in her words, but felt slightly strange from the sidelines.

Then he saw Xue Huaiqing's smile again.Although it was only a shallow smile, he had to admit that this kind of smile fascinated him. It was like trekking hard in the white snowfield of Shangzhou, but suddenly found a dancing bonfire in the distance. Seeing hope in the ice-like desperation.

"You are right. My life is determined by myself. Thank you," Xue Huaiqing said with a smile. Come on, that has nothing to do with me, I want to do something more important, something I have always been afraid to do in the past, but in the bottom of my heart I have always longed for it."

"Although I don't know what it is, I'm glad to see you make up your mind," An Xingmian said, "I'll buy you a horse in the next town..."

"No, I haven't finished yet," Xue Huaiqing shook her head, "I was able to make this decision because of your help, so I plan to accompany you to Yunzhong City first. To solve the big problem of Nagato , you must need one more helper. Of course, if you think it is inappropriate for a corpse dancer to interfere with your Nagato, I can understand."

An Xingmian moved his lips, as if he wanted to refuse, but in the end, he also laughed: "Since you are so straightforward, I don't want to be hypocritical. Yes, I really need all possible help, thank you. Plus... I don't care if you're a corpse dancer or something, I actually think corpse dancers are fine."

He paused, and added with some difficulty: "What's more, staying with you makes me feel very...pleasant."

Xue Huaiqing blushed a little imperceptibly.

Two days later, the two arrived at Cloud City.An Xingmian excitedly led Xue Huaiqing into the gate of Qianyun Hall.For him, it was great to get new information from Bai Qianyun, but even just meeting this good friend again was enough to make people happy.

However, unexpectedly, he did not see Bai Qianyun.The guy who came out to greet him was the guy who was knocked out by him at the beginning—he already knew that guy's name was Li Fuchuan.Although Li Fuchuan tried his best to look calm, he still couldn't hide the trembling in his voice, and said straight to the point: "Mr. An, my master has been taken away!"

"Abducted? When? By whom?" An Xingmian asked hastily.

"Let's find a quiet place to talk," Xue Huaiqing tugged at his sleeves, "This can't be explained clearly in a few words."

Li Fuchuan brought the two of them to the secret room that An Xingmian was familiar with, and ordered his servants to bring tea.Before that, he had personally served Bai Qianyun and An Xingmian, but now it seems that his status in this blacksmith shop is obviously higher than that of ordinary guys.

"Master was just taken away yesterday," Li Fuchuan said after An Xingmian and Xue Huaiqing had two sips of tea. I have always been very concerned about various trends related to Nagato, and used all his sources to pay close attention to this matter. About half a month ago, the master got the news that people began to use Nagato's internal codes to trap Nagato monks. It is said that those internal The passwords were all provided by a long door monk..."

"That head monk is called Zhang Haoge, right?" An Xingmian interjected.

"That's right, that's the name," Li Fuchuan said, "You know him too?"

"He is my teacher." An Xingmian said briefly.

Li Fuchuan opened his mouth, obviously very surprised, but he quickly calmed down, and continued: "No wonder the master is so interested in this Zhang Haoge. A few days ago, another troupe called Qiuyan troupe came here. The master didn't know why, so he made a special trip to that troupe to meet a man named..."

"Tang He!" An Xingmian interrupted again, but this time he was so surprised and surprised that he stood up all of a sudden, "He actually went to find Tang He? So, he and Tang He... "

Li Fuchuan glanced at Xue Huaiqing meaningfully, and then at An Xingmian: "Yes, he was taken away with Miss Tang He."

An Xingmian sat down dejectedly, gulped down the teacup in hand, and then calmed down a little: "Tell me what happened in detail."

"The master went to Miss Tang He, and the two agreed to go to Zhang Haoge," Li Fuchuan said, "I advised him that it would be too dangerous, and Zhang Haoge was just a long-time monk, but this time, the person standing behind him It's the power of the imperial court. The master didn't listen, saying that he must find out the truth about Zhang Haoge before you return to Yunzhong City. I didn't understand why at the time, but now I understand."

An Xingmian clenched her fists, feeling sad and grateful in her heart: "Your master knows the relationship between Zhang Haoge and me, and worried that I would not be able to handle this matter well, so he went to investigate for me. He is a A true friend. Don't worry, even if I risk my life, I will definitely rescue him."

Li Fuchuan nodded with satisfaction: "In this case, my master is not in vain to take such a risk. At that time, he refused to tell me the reason, but only said that Zhang Haoge would arrive in the cloud that day, and I couldn't persuade him to seize this opportunity. I can only prepare horses and other equipment for him. But I am really worried, so I have been secretly following behind, but unfortunately I am too weak to help."

"That is to say, you saw them being taken away with your own eyes?" An Xingmian asked.

Li Fuchuan nodded and shook his head: "I didn't see it with my own eyes, but it's about the same. I followed them all the way and found that they went to an abandoned house in the western suburbs of Yunzhong City. It seems that the person they are looking for is there. Gather there. They dismounted from a distance, approached very carefully, and climbed over the wall to enter—the master's legs and feet are usually not flexible, but when he has to bear the pain, he will be more flexible than ordinary people."

An Xingmian recalled the scene when he fought against Bai Qianyun that day, and couldn't help smiling: "Of course, he jumped faster than a monkey... What happened after that? What happened after they entered?"

"They never came out again," Li Fuchuan said. "The abandoned house was silent, and there was no movement. I waited there until dark, and even today, but they still didn't show up. They must have been arrested." Let's go. Maybe it's already..."

He didn't dare to continue, An Xingmian patted him on the shoulder: "Don't think too much, things have already happened, the more you frighten yourself, the more you will be disturbed. Tell me where the abandoned house is, and I'll go looking around."

Li Fuchuan looked at An Xingmian worriedly: "Then you have to be careful, you have seen my master's skill before, even he has been tricked silently, you..."

"I have one more powerful helper than him, so it's not a big problem." An Xingmian comforted him and said, even though he knew in his heart that the opponent's power was huge, and one or two more people on his side was nothing at all.

"But we'd better wait until it gets dark," Xue Huaiqing said suddenly, "For corpse dancers, night is the best time to move around."

Only then did Li Fuchuan understand that Xue Huaiqing was a corpse dancer, and the burly man following her was probably her corpse servant.Although he often received guests from all walks of life for Bai Qianyun and had a lot of experience, this was the first time he had come into contact with the fearsome corpse dancer, so his complexion turned slightly pale.

"Don't worry, at least she won't kill you and turn you into a corpse servant." An Xingmian's hand on Li Fuchuan's shoulder changed from clapping to pinching, and he felt Li Fuchuan's body trembling slightly.

"It's not certain, it depends on the material." Xue Huaiqing deliberately looked Li Fuchuan up and down, Li Fuchuan finally couldn't help it, and found an excuse to say: "I'll go prepare meals for you two." Turned around and slipped away .

An Xingmian looked at Xue Huaiqing as if she didn't know each other: "You are getting better at joking, it's really not easy."

"I've said it a long time ago, corpse dancers are also human beings." Xue Huaiqing replied.

After the two had a meal, they went back to their rooms to rest and recharge their batteries.An Xingmian sat down cross-legged, and began to use Nagato's unique meditation method to completely calm her mind, and her limbs and bones entered a state of bliss.It's not that he doesn't feel anxious and fearful. After all, he is in a dangerous situation and the three people closest to him in this world are responsible for this dangerous situation. However, Nagato's practice over the years is still useful. The more critical the situation is, On the contrary, his mind is more stable. If these meditations can be successfully completed, his own cultivation can even be improved.

It is a pity that this time the meditation did not end normally, because he was interrupted by someone knocking on the door, just like a sleeping person being awakened, which of course is not very pleasant.He stretched his limbs, and asked the person who knocked on the door impatiently: "What's the matter? What's the matter?"

The visitor's answer made him break out in a cold sweat: "Master An! It's not good, something happened! Manager Li, please get out quickly!"

He hurriedly opened the door and went out, and came to the outer hall of the blacksmith shop.It was dark at this time, the blacksmith shop was closed, and there were no outsiders.At a glance, he saw two wooden planks on the ground, and a person covered with a white sheet was lying on each plank. Immediately, there was a buzzing in his mind, and he felt that there were stars in front of him.

Amidst bouts of dizziness, he heard Li Fuchuan's crying voice: "It's the master and Ms. Tang! They were delivered just now, and they were thrown outside the door. I didn't see who delivered them. I tried... two Everyone has died!"

three

Both have died.

These words hit An Xingmian's heart like a heavy hammer.He slumped on the chair, his face livid, and he was panting heavily.Xue Huaiqing stood aside, looking at him worriedly.Since the two met, it was the first time she saw An Xingmian lose his composure.After all, she was still a corpse dancer, dealing with the dead all day long, and she was very indifferent to matters of life and death. Even when her adoptive father Shen Zhuang passed away, she was only a little sad in her heart.But now seeing An Xingmian's appearance as if struck by lightning, she couldn't help but feel a little distressed.

Li Fuchuan stood aside dejectedly, not daring to disturb An Xingmian, but tears were already streaming down his eyes, which showed his deep affection for his master Bai Qianyun.Seeing Li Fuchuan's sad expression, An Xingmian calmed down instead. Now that Bai Qianyun is not here, he must take charge of the overall situation.If he himself was at a loss and messed up, it would all be over.

"What's the specific situation?" He stood up slowly, forcing himself to ask in a calm tone.

"After closing tonight, we just plugged the door when we heard someone knocking on the door outside," Li Fuchuan said with a sob, "The guy opened the door, but he didn't see anyone, but saw these two wooden boards thrown on the ground. It's just...it's..."

An Xingmian stepped forward and uncovered the white cloth covering the first wooden board. Under the white cloth was indeed Bai Qianyun.He stretched out his hand, touched his breath, and then pressed his pulse. His breath and pulse were gone, his skin was cold, and he was dead.This best friend who was still drinking together a few months ago is now a lifeless corpse.

However, it was the second person that made his heart tremble even more.He stretched out his hand, but his hand was hanging in the air, and he didn't dare to stretch it out, but he also knew that no matter what, what had happened could not be changed, let alone disappear because the eyes could not see it.Everything needs to be faced after all.

An Xingmian gritted her teeth, and opened the second white cloth, Tang He's pale face appeared in front of his eyes.His mind was dizzy again, and he quickly reached out to support the table.At this time, he felt someone gently supporting his arm, and the aroma from his nose made him know that it was Xue Huaiqing.

"Dead people can't be resurrected," Xue Huaiqing said in a low voice, "You have to mourn and don't panic."

An Xingmian waved his hands, staring at Tang He's face, speechless for a while.He recalled the scene when he first met Tang He, recalled the situation when he confessed his heart to Tang He intentionally or unintentionally but was ruthlessly rejected, and recalled the annoyance that Tang He couldn't hide every time he saw him. Evil, bursts of indescribable confusion in my heart.He thought that he was so obsessed with a woman, but she had already left before this feeling even sprouted, what is this?

For the first time in his life, he felt a real pain, which was deeper than when his father died, and when he saw Zhang Haoge off a few months ago, as if he wanted to tear his heart apart and fry his blood. until it boils, and then empties out his brain completely.This kind of real pain is incomparable to any previous penance of Nagato.

Suddenly, An Xingmian began to understand the meaning of Nagato.Is life really one door of endless suffering?Is this just the beginning of suffering?He was thinking blankly, and the words Zhang Haoge taught him when he was getting started rang in his ears again.

"Teacher, what is the 'Tao' we are after?" the young An Xingmian asked.

Zhang Haoge shook his head: "If it can be described in words, it cannot be called the true way. But I can give you a little hint from the side, that is the process of pursuing the true way, in fact, it is the process of recognizing the essence of life .”

"The essence of life?" Although An Xingmian was talented, he was a little confused when faced with such a big proposition.

"Nagato's practice is to actively pursue all the pain and suffering in life, and to experience this suffering with one's body, mind and soul," Zhang Haoge said gently, "because only through the baptism of pain can people recognize Only by understanding the nature of desire and how desire blinds our eyes and mind can we transcend desire itself, pass through the long gate of life, understand the true meaning of life, and seek the true way.”

"It's so complicated..." An Xingmian shook her head, "But at least I understand one thing. Being a long-door monk means suffering."

In the days that followed, An Xingmian turned from a rich man into an ascetic monk with his extraordinary perseverance. He gritted his teeth and survived all the trials and tribulations. He was also able to eloquently explain the "Long Gate Sutra".However, only at this moment, when he saw his beloved friend and beloved woman turned into cold corpses lying in front of him, did he really feel that he had experienced the meaning of pain with his soul.

(End of this chapter)