Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 44 Tracing the source (2)
The mountain where the female scouts followed the emperor was called Chiyan Peak. The mountain looked strange red from a distance. The mountain was steep and precipitous, and there were no valuable products.Heluo once went here to inspect the mines, but was disappointed in the end, so this mountain has always been inaccessible, and the nearest inhabited village is a day's journey away.

It was getting late, and the two had to spend the night in this village.It was still easy to do things with money, and they got comfortable beds, a warm brazier, and a good dinner full of mountain game.The owner of the house happened to be Orion, who had just planted a fat and tender muntjac, and An Xingmian feasted on the scorched muntjac leg.

"It's a coincidence that the two of you came here. If we come here on weekdays, our family in the mountains really doesn't have much to entertain," said the bold hostess. "But during the Chinese New Year, no matter how poor you are, you have to take care of it, right?"

"New Year?" An Xingmian was taken aback.

"That's right, today is New Year's Eve," the male host was slightly surprised, "Did the two of you travel too hard? You forgot about the New Year?"

"It turns out that today is New Year's Eve." An Xingmian sighed slightly, "It's so easy to pass by."

He couldn't help but think of the previous year's Chinese New Year.When he was a child, he was the young master of a rich family. During the Chinese New Year, the sound of bamboo and flowers was naturally full of the smell of meat. Relatives and friends he knew or not would give him money for the new year. Save a little.Born in a wealthy family, he is not eagerly looking forward to having delicious food and new clothes for the New Year like ordinary children, but he still likes the lively and happy atmosphere, as if everyone is in a very happy mood. it is good.

After practicing with Zhang Haoge, Chinese New Year has become dull and boring. Changmen monks don't pursue this kind of worldly excitement. Drinking, eating meat, and frying bamboo flowers are purely extravagant hopes.But every new year, people who have been helped by Zhang Haoge will always come to the door, and they will give Zhang Haoge a gift no matter what.When the teacher really can't shirk it, he can only accept it, but he will not keep a little bit, and finally distribute it to the poor.The most important significance of Chinese New Year to An Xingmian is that Tang He will always find time to come back to reunite with his brother. Although it may not be in time for New Year's Eve, sooner or later he will appear.Even if Tang He treated him coldly, he would feel relieved to be able to see Tang He's face.

And this year?His father had passed away, and he left the house by himself. The teacher became a mysterious existence with no discernible right from evil, and Tang He was still immersed in a deep sleep that was no different from death.Nagato became a mess, and he ran so hard to find the answer to save Nagato that he even forgot about today and night.All things considered, this has been a terrible year.

He was secretly sad in his heart, but suddenly he heard Xue Huaiqing say: "So it's the Chinese New Year, it's really good."

"Okay? We're so busy that we forget about it for years, is that good?" An Xingmian said.

Xue Huaiqing smiled sweetly: "Since I left my adoptive father, this is the first time that I have someone other than my master accompany me to celebrate the new year. Moreover, my adoptive father will get drunk when the new year arrives, missing his dead wife and his early death. My child; the master has a bad temper, and it gets even worse when he thinks of Sumeru during the Chinese New Year, so I haven’t had a comfortable New Year for a long time.”

An Xingmian was startled, and then realized that such a new year is probably extremely bad for him, but for Xue Huaiqing, it is already quite rare.This young girl has been living alone with her moody master for many years. Even a happy New Year seems to be just a wish.He suddenly felt pity and guilt, and felt that compared to Xue Huaiqing, he was already happy enough.

And he also discovered another thing, when she first met Xue Huaiqing, every time she smiled from the bottom of her heart, she would surprise him, but now, he has become accustomed to Xue Huaiqing's smile.She has gradually become cheerful, and the gloomy breath of the corpse dancer is getting away from her little by little.An Xingmian was sincerely gratified for this.

"You're right!" He also laughed, "That's great! Let's toast to this rare New Year."

The small mountain village was very noisy that night. Even though it has been a year of hardship, the new year can finally bring new hope.People rarely put on new clothes, light bamboo flowers, and let the crackling noise convey the hope in their hearts.An Xingmian lost sleepiness for a while, and simply wandered around the village with Xue Huaiqing, looking at the children who rarely put on new clothes and walked carefully, he really regretted not bringing some candy.

When the simple villagers saw the guests, they greeted them warmly, and there were many New Year greetings along the way.Xue Huaiqing sighed: "When I was a child during the New Year in the village, no one ever paid attention to me, and other children threw stones at me. I wonder why now that I have grown up, it is reasonable to say that I am more threatening to people. But no one came to bully me? Looking back, when my adoptive father passed away, I went back to the village, and no one came to provoke me, but they hid away when they saw me."

"Because once you threaten them, they will never dare to touch you again," An Xingmian said after thinking for a while, "It is human nature to bully the weak. Those people hate Yuren, but they dare not touch you." Fighting them with knives and guns, you can only vent your anger on an innocent child. But you can't blame them."

"I didn't intend to blame them, but I still have to ask, why can't I blame them?" Xue Huaiqing asked.

"They can't control this world," An Xingmian said. "Everyone is just an ordinary person. They just want to have food to eat, clothes to wear, and live their lives in peace. But emperors and monarchs like to kill people." Come and kill, what can they do? 1, 10, or 100 people died in a war. For the emperor, it is just some cold numbers, but for the dead, it is the complete end of life. Family The rupture of happiness, the shattering of happiness. But the common people have nothing to do with those superior people, so they have to vent their anger on the same foreign common people. As long as there are races in Kyushu, there will be conflicts; there are no races, as long as there is a country, or It’s still the same. No one can get rid of it in life.”

Xue Huaiqing remained silent, and said after a long time: "So you Nagato are tired of such and such disputes, so you choose this kind of self-cultivation?"

"I can't tell, but it's not impossible," An Xingmian said. "In the past, I always thought that I had a thorough understanding of Nagato's scriptures, but after the past six months, I realized that I actually know everything. I don’t understand, I don’t understand anything. The pain in life can’t be understood by just writing and scratching a few words on paper. To rise above the pain, and I can't."

"If you can't do it, don't do it. What does it matter?" Xue Huaiqing said, "Is it really meaningful to force yourself to do something you don't like at all?"

"What about you?" An Xingmian asked back, "Do you really like being a corpse dancer?"

"It doesn't matter if you are sincere or not," Xue Huaiqing said, "Since you have taken this path, let it be. At least until now, I don't think there is anything wrong with Corpse Dancer."

"Let it be..." An Xingmian chewed these four words, "Actually, you are the one who truly has the spirit of a monk."

Xue Huaiqing smiled faintly.All of a sudden, they talked about a lot of heavy topics, unknowingly diluting the joy of New Year's Eve a lot, and thinking about the difficult schedule of the next day, both of them were a little bit depressed.

"Go back and rest early." An Xingmian finally said.

The next day is the first day of the new year, but the mountain people have already got up early and started working.For them, the short-lived joy of the previous night will eventually pass, and after opening their eyes, they still need to face the heavy livelihood.This is their hard life day after day, year after year. Compared with the long monks who actively seek pain, this is another kind of penance.

An Xingmian originally planned to secretly leave a bank note to the village chief, explaining that it would be distributed to the whole village, but after thinking about it, he decided not to.As the saying goes, people can only save the emergency, but not the poor.He can help improve the living conditions of people in one village, but he cannot help everyone.Not to mention that he is just an ordinary wealthy businessman, even if he is the head of the Nanhuai Li family, he can't do this.

The two left the small mountain village with some gloom, and began to march towards Chiyan Peak. Even in the heavy fog, this lonely and tall mountain could be seen with the naked eye.It's just that what you see is one thing, but it's really difficult to get close.Fortunately, the two not only have martial arts, but also often walk in various mountains. Walking on the mountain road is far more comfortable than walking in the illusion forest. Even so, they still went from early morning to afternoon before arriving at Under Chiyan Peak.By the time we climbed to the cave, it was already pitch black.

An Xingmian first tried to push away the boulder.Sure enough, the boulder was not as unshakable as it seemed, and he could feel a little loose under his force.But after all, he lacked strength, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't push it away.Seeing this, Xue Huaiqing summoned the corpse servant to come forward. Before the two entered the mountain village, they dug the corpse servant and buried it in the ground, so as not to attract the attention of this big guy who doesn't eat or drink. Naturally, the corpse servant followed around.This giant man like an iron tower stretched out his hands, only to hear a sharp rubbing sound, and the boulder was really pushed away, revealing the cave.

"It seems that the living are not as useful as the dead." An Xingmian wiped off his sweat, and walked in holding a torch. Xue Huaiqing followed behind, leaving the corpse servant at the entrance of the cave to prevent accidents.The cave was not deep, and it came to an end not too far into it, and there was a pile of white bones scattered on the ground.Xue Huaiqing, who knew the corpse well, squatted down and looked at it for a while: "Two humans, one Yuren, and one Heluo, but I don't know their identities."

"I might have had a chance to know." An Xingmian pointed to the cave wall beside him. "Obviously there were many words engraved on it, but they were all scratched off. The scratches are not long ago. I guess, it is our emperor." Do it."

Apart from the pile of bones and the scraped words on the wall, there was nothing else in the cave, and the emperor threw all the valuable clues under the cliff.The two of them went out of the cave again and came to the place where the emperor dropped the bag of things described by the female scouts. The thick gray fog makes it difficult to judge its depth.The cold wind of winter night whistled and blew past my ears, like a knife cutting.

"I can go down with a torch," An Xingmian wanted to resolve the matter with all his might, "The rope and hooks prepared by Li Fuchuan are quite strong, you can try it."

"I've been waiting for so long, I don't care about waiting for this night," Xue Huaiqing said, "You are not afraid that if you miss the torch, it will fall. What the emperor failed to burn, you fulfilled his wish?"

An Xingmian scratched her scalp: "That's right...then let's rest first. It just so happens that this cave can be used."

Under Xue Huaiqing's order, the corpse servant quickly cleaned up the cave, lit a pile of firewood, roasted dry food for the two of them, and boiled hot water.The two chatted for a while and decided to rest early so that they could recharge their energy and prepare for the difficult task of climbing down the cliff the next day.An Xingmian got into his sleeping bag and was about to say good night when he suddenly found a small stone thrown in front of him.He was slightly taken aback, and when he turned his head to look, Xue Huaiqing from the other corner of the cave made a "silence" gesture to him.

Is there someone outside?An Xingmian understood, put on her coat lightly and sat up, walked slowly to the entrance of the cave, but did not hear any sound.When I went out to look, I didn't see anyone.

Xue Huaiqing came behind him, very puzzled: "My ears can't be wrong, it's the footsteps, and it's definitely the footsteps of a person wearing boots, not a beast. people?"

"It's really strange, could it be a ghost in the mountains..." An Xingmian wanted to make a joke, but suddenly his face darkened, thinking of something.This unexpected thought suddenly aroused his depression and anger that had been smoldering for many days.He cursed something, and suddenly made a movement that Xue Huaiqing didn't expect.

——He ran out of the cave, rushed towards the direction of the cliff, and even jumped straight into the abyss in front of him.

At that moment, Xue Huaiqing almost stopped beating her heart.Although she was used to seeing death, she never thought that someone like An Xingmian would choose to commit suicide without warning.She didn't even have time to stop her, she could only watch An Xingmian's body disappear out of sight.

For some reason, there was a burst of intense sorrow in her heart, a burst of sorrow and emptiness that she had never experienced before, as if An Xingmian's jumping action also took away her soul.This was a strange emotion that she had never experienced before. Even the death of her master and adoptive father only caused faint ripples in her heart.But now, why is she suddenly bewildered and at a loss, as if she has lost the most important thing in her life?
Xue Huaiqing was confused by her incredible emotional fluctuations, but such sadness only existed for a short moment, because just as An Xingmian's body disappeared under the cliff, a white shadow suddenly flew high in the sky , swift as a meteor, and rushed down the cliff at a faster speed than An Xingmian's fall.

After a few moments, Bai Ying flew back again, but the shadow seemed bigger than before.It was only then that Xue Huaiqing could see clearly that it was a feathered man flying high. The white wings exuded a bright and soft luster, giving it a very noble aura.And Yuren held a person in his hand, it was An Xingmian who just jumped off.Obviously, he was caught by Yuren and brought back while he was falling.

Xue Huaiqing let out a long breath, only then did he notice that his legs had weakened, and he had to rely on his hands to hold on to the mountain wall to stand firm.She recognized that Yuren, it was Feng Qiuke whom she had seen in the Illusion Forest, that Feng Qiuke who for some reason had been protecting An Xingmian with all his life with poor excuses.

She also understood what happened to the seemingly thrilling scene just now.When An Xingmian came to the entrance of the cave, he didn't see anyone, so he already guessed that it must be the lingering Feng Qiuke who has been following them.So An Xingmian probably couldn't bear it anymore, and used such a risky move to torment Feng Qiuke - anyway, this feathered man who can condense his wings will definitely fly out to save people.

It just scared me a lot, Xue Huaiqing thought, her heart was still beating violently, but her face felt a little hot unknowingly.However, she adjusted quickly, and with a nonchalant expression on her face, she watched Feng Qiuke, who was full of anger, and An Xingmian, who also looked unhappy, walked back together.

"Do you think Yuren is a god?" Feng Qiuke said angrily, "You jump so fast, what if I don't realize it and can't catch it? What if there are some protruding rocks or tree trunks on the edge of the cliff? How to do?"

"Where are there so many eventualities in this world?" An Xingmian shrugged, "With an almighty protector like you, I don't have to worry about anything, and I don't have to worry about anything. The feeling of jumping off the cliff just now was really exciting , shall we do it again?"

In fact, An Xingmian never likes to sarcasm and run on others by nature, but Feng Qiuke's "loyalty" that is more conscientious than Jin Wuwei's protection of the emperor really made him a little bit hard to suppress his anger, so he simply vented out the depression accumulated these days .Xue Huaiqing sighed, knowing that there was no way for the two of them to get into a stalemate like this, so she stepped forward, intending to persuade them.After staying with An Xingmian for a long time, she has gradually become less disgusted with the common ways of the world. What's more, the matter involving An Xingmian does not seem to be considered "ordinary". Of course, she did not dare to think about it.

(End of this chapter)