Greed (one of the three poisons)

Chapter 4

I stood on the bluestone bridge, and I finally waited for it.

Azi said that justice will eventually prevail.

As the swirling flame gradually faded and died down, I withdrew my hand. The woman was gone. She vanished in the final, dragon-like swirling Samadhi Fire. I knew she would never appear again. Her three souls and seven spirits had been scattered; from now on, she would not enter the cycle of reincarnation. If her beautiful illusion was merely an illusion, then this illusion would never appear in this world again. It appeared only once. Only this once.

Someone once said that if you betray your beliefs, you will be reduced to ashes and nothing will remain.

I can never go back on my word. I will remember.

This body finally turned to ashes. The wind came, scattering wisps of smoke. The smoke chased after the ashes, even though it had once been a peerless beauty. In an instant, it was gone. Only one thing remained on the ground, unmoved by the wind or the smoke. I had to reach out and pick it up.

Her heart. Even the most powerful fire could not burn it out. In truth, there was no great secret. I smiled and gently buried it there. A gust of wind blew by, not even a speck of dust was stirred. What could not be burned away was ultimately buried by the yellow earth. Gone without a trace.

There was only one word on it.

flag.

[Local Records]: On the 18th day of the third month of the Gengshen year, rain fell at dusk, and soon after, a great thunderclap struck, striking a Taoist priest dead at the Qing Shi Bridge in Yunjia Village, northeast of the county. The corpse fell, its skin and flesh charred. At that time, the villagers were all terrified and dared not go out for a while. After the rain stopped, the whole village went out to look, but no one recognized him. People said that this must have been a very wicked person, so it was divine retribution, but in the end, no one could fathom the reason.

At that time, I was indifferent to joy or sorrow. I simply couldn't find the reason in my expectations, and I feared I would never guess it in this lifetime. She herself probably didn't even know the word in her heart. And there was no need to search anymore. It was just the heartless affair of this mortal world. It turns out that in this entanglement, from beginning to end, neither she nor I ever shed a single tear for each other. That was clean, after all.

Three days cannot compare to a lifetime. In truth, even during those three days, no one spoke of love. Perhaps that word had long been forgotten. Forgotten completely, there's no need to ask anymore. But thinking back, even the word "hate" was never mentioned. My heart is empty, devoid of joy or anger. What I thought was a lifetime of entanglement was nothing but emptiness. It turns out that everything is truly as someone said long ago: between you and me, there is no love or hate to speak of.

In the end, this whole affair was nothing more than a matter of love and hate.

I've forgotten. I've forgotten everything.

Even though in the end all I heard was her calling out: "My nemesis."

Whether it is or not, this is the last lie.

[Secret]: How can you know the cause and reason for my creation of animals? Those sins that arose out of thin air by the moonlit well. How can you know?

In my life, I first transformed from a beast into a human, and then from a human into a beast. All I want to know is the difference between humans and beasts.

But what is a human, and what is a beast? It turns out, I've never really understood.

Everything in the world is not worth laughing at.

[Legend]: It is said that those who accumulate the deepest evil will incur the wrath of Heaven. At that time, dark clouds surge and lightning flashes. Thunder, like fire, strikes with great compassion to punish evil. Those punished are all unforgivable sins, having committed immeasurable evil deeds in their previous lives, thus receiving the heaviest consequences. Their three souls and seven spirits are scattered and cannot enter the cycle of reincarnation. Even the most extreme punishments of Heaven are not lightly inflicted. Once their souls and spirits are gone, they return to nothingness. To warn the world, a terrifying sight is shown, causing the corpses to kneel and fall, their bones charred and flesh rotten. The Thunder Department then inscribes the sins committed in their previous lives on their backs, to clarify cause and effect.

[Secret]: In the end, I still don't know what I was greedy for in this life. I only wish to bear this truth and never have to go through this again.

[What was the purpose of my greed for immortality? What was the purpose of my greed for those three days? I won't ask. I don't even remember how afraid I used to be of death. Actually, later on, I wasn't afraid of death anymore. Actually, later on, I wasn't afraid of not dying either.] [In the end, I'm only afraid that I'll just remember her for all eternity.] So I forgot.

[Continued from Local Chronicles]: Strangely, the back of the corpse was charred and had markings, and some people could decipher them and found a purple character.

Ultimately, there was no cause or reason.