Sabre Cyclone - Chapitre 13
Reply [25]: "You chose the wrong target for your revenge. The person you should hate is me, or my uncle, but you chose the South China Sea instead."
He remained silent for a long while before saying, "We all live for a destiny. You are destined to die at the hands of the first person you see, while I am destined to destroy this South China Sea. Whether or not I seek revenge is not important. What is important is that I was born for this day."
His tone was indifferent, and he spoke only of other people's affairs, nothing about himself.
"Is that why you turned yourself into a fire dragon?"
He smiled and said, "At the boundary between heaven and earth, heavenly fire sometimes falls. I stole and ate the heavenly fire, which is why I finally have the power I have today. Speaking of which, I should thank you. If it weren't for you, I would still be just an ordinary river dragon. Actually, life is like this. If no one urges you on, it will just pass by uneventfully, and you won't feel anything special."
I looked at him curiously. His way of speaking was very different from before. He was much calmer and started to speak in the tone of an ordinary person.
In the distance, mist rises, and I know that is the last bit of seawater evaporating. I can fully imagine my aquatic creatures struggling in this last bit of seawater.
Humans are fragile, and so are dragons.
There's an old story about a fish stranded in a dried-up rut. When I first heard it, I thought my dragon clan would never become that dried-up fish in the rut. Imagining that scenario, I couldn't help but laugh; it's actually quite a ridiculous thing.
He looked at me silently. His eyes were different from before. They used to be as bright as the first light of the night, but now they were a chilling purplish-red.
I stared at him silently, a murderous intent rising in my heart. I was certain that if I could kill him now, I could still save the Dragon Palace.
But would I kill him?
The scorching wind blows from the south, feeling like a blazing inferno on one's face. My South China Sea, once rich and beautiful, has been reduced to scorched earth because of him.
Memories quietly slip away. Decades ago, when I was still a dragon, I longed to leave the sea, just to see this mortal world.
The sky above was azure, with drifting clouds. Perhaps he was right; the clouds were the reflection of this world in the sky.
I slowly drew my sword from my waist. He was standing in front of me, intently admiring his masterpiece. Perhaps he was completely unaware of my movement behind him, or perhaps he was just pretending not to notice.
I can't care about that. If there's not a single drop of water left in the South China Sea, that would be a terrible thing.
I slowly thrust the sword forward. It was incredibly sharp; it pierced my body easily without much effort. Dying by such a sword shouldn't be painful, right?
In a daze, I seemed to have returned to that bamboo forest. I stood on a bamboo branch, watching the bamboo branch rise and fall.
Suddenly, a heavy rain began to fall. As the rain soaked me, I felt a sense of clarity in my heart.
The sword is a precious sword; it kills without drawing blood. I picked up another sword; these are a pair, meant to be inseparable forever.
The sea rose rapidly, and I threw my sword into it. Waves surged and purple and blue energy rose into the air. I knew they would be together forever, whether in heaven or on earth, never to be separated again.
I think I should go back to Huizhou! Actually, I'm a person now, and I have nothing to do with Longquan anymore.
After traveling for many more days, we returned to Huizhou. The thatched hut where Liu Yi and I lived was in a dilapidated state. I searched everywhere around the hut, but I could not find Liu Yi or anything else.
I realized I forgot to record the date; it's been so long since I left Liu Yi.
Whatever! Maybe he's already dead, or maybe he's gone somewhere else.
---janeadam
Reply [26]: I settled in a hut and later moved to a more desolate place, so that no one would notice my strangeness.
This nomadic life has taken me almost all over the world, and I'm starting to feel tired. I should find a place where I can live quietly alone without being discovered by anyone.
One day, when I passed by Tiger Hill in Suzhou, I saw the spring water of Sword Pool. The spring water was deep green, and as soon as I got close, the aura of swords rushed towards me.
I thought of the legend about the Sword Pool, where King Helu of Wu is said to be buried. A thought flashed through my mind: I no longer wanted to hide from the eyes of the world. If I could live inside the ancient tomb, no one would ever see me again.
Without hesitation, I leaped into the sword pool. I am no longer a dragon, but I am not an ordinary person either; I can live forever.
The icy pool water was over my head. I walked in the water, and the resistance of the waves made it difficult for me to move. This was completely different from when I was a dragon. At that time, the water flow was my power, and I felt safe as long as I was in the water.
If I were to die like this, it might be a happy thing.
But I did not die after all.
Legend has it that Helu's tomb is full of traps and mechanisms, and perhaps I will die from them! But no traps have been activated. Is it because too much time has passed? Have all the traps become useless, or is it simply because I am an immortal person?
I didn't care about any of that and settled down in the ancient tomb. All ancient tombs in the world must be the same, right? Besides the tomb's occupant, there are only those lackluster burial objects.
No one knows me anymore. Sometimes I can hear the sounds of the earth. There are bamboo slips here, and I pass the endless days by touching them.
Life is a monotonous loneliness; I live peacefully alone, unaware of how many lifetimes have passed.
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What is love in this world that makes people willing to die for each other?
Flying across the north and south, their old wings have weathered many winters and summers.
Joyful moments, bitter partings, and among them, foolish lovers.
You must have words to say, across ten thousand miles of layered clouds, amidst a thousand mountains covered in evening snow, to whom does this solitary figure turn?
---janeadam
Reply [27]: Five
And so it went. At first, he would walk around in the ancient tomb, but gradually he stopped moving and would sit or lie down, like a dead person.
I thought I would never return to the ground, but suddenly, a sound came and a glimmer of light appeared. For someone like me who had lived in darkness for so long, this was truly an earth-shattering event.
The tomb door creaked open; was someone about to come in?
The tomb is very large, winding underground. I hid in a corner so that people could not easily see me.
A group of people came in, carrying torches, their faces illuminated by the firelight, making them look like ghosts.
These people are walking around in the tomb, looking here and there; perhaps they are tomb raiders!
I slipped silently to the tomb entrance. The water in the sword pool had been drained; these tomb raiders were incredibly audacious. However, they were unlike ordinary tomb raiders; they came on the first day, then the second, and then the third.
I don't know how long they'll stay. They've practically cornered me; they're very patient, seemingly determined to examine the entire tomb thoroughly. Fine! I'll leave and let them have the tomb!
The night I left Helu Tomb was a snowy night. There was almost no moonlight, but it didn't feel dark at all. The snow light was dazzling, making me squint to avoid being stung by the alluring white.