A flicker of emotion passed deep within Tang Licheng's eyes as he suddenly understood what kind of ending Pu Zhu would bring to this day.
Pu Zhu had come bearing the Gu King.
From the ashes of the destroyed Piaoling Meiyuan, he had brought the Gu King.
Wang Lingqiu was no longer a threat—Pu Zhu would take his place.
Tang Licheng slowly exhaled and closed his eyes.
All matters had been settled.
The battle at Piaoling Meiyuan on Soul Prayer Mountain had ultimately ended in victory for the Central Plains Sword Assembly.
Among the fallen were Ren Qingchou, Zheng Yue, Xue Xianzi, Shui Duopo, Mo Ziru, Abbess Wenxiu, Bai Suche, and many others. A Shui had vanished without a trace. Pu Zhu carried the Gu King, while Fu Zhumei's venomous blood from the Gu Spider became the nourishment that sustained Pu Zhu. The Fengliudian and Tianqing Temple forces were nearly annihilated, while the thousands of innocent soldiers poisoned, along with figures like Bi Lianyi, would have their toxins extracted and neutralized one by one by Pu Zhu and the detained Wang Lingqiu.
The sword monk of Shaolin had ultimately become the successor of the "Calling Lantern Order."
Tang Licheng was not the master of Fengliudian after all—he was the hero who had endured humiliation to reverse the tide of battle and rescue Pu Zhu from peril. This man had strategized to overthrow Fengliudian, slain Gui Mudan, and quelled the rebellion of Tianqing Temple before it could take root. Without Young Master Tang, the world might have descended into chaos. Yet, to save the crisis, he had toiled tirelessly, bearing grievous wounds.
For a time, the emperor issued decrees of reward, the court sang his praises, and the common folk rejoiced, eagerly awaiting Young Master Tang's recovery.
All matters had been settled.
Tang Licheng drifted in and out of consciousness, lying on his sickbed for who knew how long.
One day, he dreamed of a great fire.
In the dream, there was a green mountain.
The green mountain was engulfed in flames.
The mountain burned to barren earth, devoid of any people—only an ever-growing inferno and the increasingly charred, grotesque, and terrifying mountain.
He remained unconscious for over a month, unaware of who had moved him from place to place. He could sense himself being transported between carriages and horses, seemingly examined by many physicians and given countless medicines.
He dreamed of that monstrous black mountain many times.
Until one day, he awoke fully to find himself in his former residence on Haoyun Mountain. Outside the window were green hills, veiled in mist, with serene and picturesque scenery—no charred ruins in sight.
He murmured, "A Shui," but no one was by his side.
After a long while, Tang Licheng sat up, wrapped in blankets, and saw the setting sun outside the window, dusk mist drifting like smoke.
It was an exceptionally tranquil and peaceful sunset.
He could not call for A Shui, nor did he see Liu Yan or Fu Zhumei.
During the month Tang Licheng lay unconscious, Tianqing Temple was sealed by the Dali Temple for investigation into the so-called "sorcery of the late emperor's spirit." Yang Guihua arrested many, and Shaolin Temple was thoroughly scrutinized.
But these matters no longer concerned Tang Licheng.
Once he could rise, he retrieved Fengfeng.
A Shui had vanished into the deep pools and streams of Yujing Mountain. Tang Licheng dispatched hundreds of remaining members of Wanqiao Zhai to search Yujing Mountain and its rivers, but she was never found.
Truthfully, he seldom thought of A Shui.
For some reason, even in dreams, he dared not dream of her.
About Fengfeng, about throwing her out as a decoy, about that silver note... he had so much he could say. But most of the time, he felt A Shui did not need those justifications or answers.
The one who needed explanations and justifications was Tang Licheng.
Not A Shui.
Mountains stretched far, the azure sky endless, the flowing water silent.
She would never return.
And he would remember her always, etched into his bones for the rest of his life.Tang Lizhi bought a plot of land outside the capital and spent a long time building a tomb.
In the first year after the tomb was completed, he brought a great deal of joss paper to burn.
Standing before the grave, Tang Lizhi’s sleeves fluttered in the wind. The burning joss paper danced with the breeze, and even the ashes scattered away, leaving behind only the faintest wisp of smoke.
Burned away.
As if it had never existed at all.
Later, he once found Yu Tuan’er in Jihe Valley. She was dressed in white.
Yu Tuan’er told him that on the second day after he fell unconscious, while the members of the Central Plains Sword Assembly had yet to disperse, Liu Yan set himself on fire before many of the gathered heroes… He burned himself alive. Before doing so, he said, “Tang Lizhi was never the master of Fengliudian. By now, you should finally believe it, shouldn’t you? His obsession with me was only because of our childhood bond… He always believed I would never change, that even if I committed evil, it was because I had been deceived—that I had no choice. But one’s actions are one’s own, and one knows oneself best. I harmed so many people. If I were to meet a peaceful end, it would only prove Heaven blind.”
Tang Lizhi listened in a daze. After a long while, he asked, “And then?”
Yu Tuan’er said, “Then… he said, ‘Go home,’ and jumped down again from the edge of that great hole in Piaoling Meiyuan. He was a man of fire as he fell, landing among the pile of charred corpses below…”
Whatever else Yu Tuan’er said afterward, he could hardly remember now. He faintly recalled that she hadn’t cried much, but neither had she smiled.
He lit incense and offered fresh flowers before the graves of Chi Yun, Xue Xianzi, Mo Ziru, Shui Duopo, Zheng Yue, Bai Suche, Abbess Wenxiu, Liu Yan, and so many others.
Slowly, he knelt and kowtowed before these tombstones.
First bow.
Second bow.
Third bow.
The mountain wind was biting.
All was silent.
In this life—greed, hatred, delusion; unfulfilled desires; resentment and strife; parting from loved ones—he had given his all to each and every one.
[The End]
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