Chapter 675: Huang Songxia
"I expelled him that year, not because of the rumors." The shadow of the jade slip appeared in the palm of the sect master's empty hand, "but because his Tao heart was already in trouble."
Shen Dinghai and Shen Zhichen seemed to be able to see the scene many years ago when the sect master handed the identity jade token to Huang Song:
The young Huang Song was kneeling in the pine forest, with the Su Yi Sect Master standing in front of him, and countless green pine needles hanging on the branches.
The cold face and harsh words could not stop the young man's heart from beating violently in his chest, full of longing, yearning and admiration.
All kinds of emotions are mixed together and gradually change as time goes by.
The only thing that remains unchanged is the sect leader.
The young Huang Song leaned against a big tree, his eyes dim and unclear. He exerted a little force with his hands, and the pine needles penetrated three inches into his skin.
"He took respect as admiration and dependence as affection." The remnant soul of the sect leader raised his hand, and the letters Huang Song had written to her during the Waking of Insects countless years ago burned at the same time, and the blazing flames illuminated the faces of Shen Dinghai and Shen Zhichen.
"I destroyed his jade token and severed his master-disciple contract because I wanted to..."
The shadow of the sect leader seemed to be recalling the past and his figure was shaking.
The bright red flames suddenly turned into dark blue, reflecting the scene of Huang Song slaughtering the people of Chengtian Sect on a rainy night many years ago.
He held the head of the elder of the Discipline Hall with the tip of his sword and mercilessly took the life of his fellow disciple with the sword, but he cried bitterly when he saw the empty old residence of the sect master and let the heavy rain wash away the blood on his face.
Shen Zhichen was surprised, and Shen Dinghai shook his head slowly with an emotional expression.
"So, since your residual soul has been living in the jade token, you also felt it when Huang Song massacred the Chengtian Sect?"
The shadow of the sect master lowered his eyes, "If not, how could I have created such a scene."
In the dark blue flames, Huang Song had no expression on his face when killing people, but he was heartbroken when facing the sect master's old residence.
The disparity between the beginning and the end is so great that even if you see it with your own eyes, it is hard to believe that this is the same person.
Shen Dinghai sighed and placed half of the jade token solemnly on the ice coffin: "You hope that the pain of the jade token being destroyed and the pain of being expelled from the mountain gate can make him sober, but you don't know that some people are willing to feed on pain."
The sect leader stood in front of the ice coffin with her eyes lowered. Her pale face was unclear. After a long while, she said, "Even you understand the truth, but he has never realized it. How ridiculous..."
Shen Dinghai didn't care about offending him and asked, "So, Master, you died..."
"Suicide." A shadow flickered in the cold stone chamber. The spell didn't last long, but the sect leader's expression remained calm. He didn't seem to care at all that the last bit of his consciousness would disappear from this world.
"Then Huang Song must have killed the wrong person!" Shen Zhichen said in shock.
"Yes, the souls of the Chengtian Sect who died under his sword were so innocent."
Shen Dinghai relaxed his body that was tense from shock, "...but why?"
The sect leader's hand gently stroked the ice coffin until it touched the half-broken jade plaque.
“Because I figured it out.”
"Think it through?" Shen Zhichen asked puzzledly: "Have you figured out how to die?"
The shadow of the sect leader nodded, "This is a very important question."
"To live in this world, why do we live and why do we die?"
"The way I came here was vague and uncontrollable. I have been unable to gain enlightenment since I became a disciple and adopted Huang Song, so..."
Shen Dinghai naturally continued, "So you began to comprehend why you died."
The shadow of the sect leader nodded slightly.
Shen Zhichen spoke cautiously, "Have you realized it?"
“Never.” The shadow shook his head slightly, and then said the next second, “Until Huang Song was exposed by the elders of the Discipline Hall for having a crush on me.”
Seeing that the doorman said this without changing his expression, Shen Dinghai knew that Huang Song's feelings were completely one-sided.
“I originally didn’t know why I was living. After adopting Huang Song, I regarded raising him as my top priority over time. However, after so much effort, his final response to me was…” The woman curled her lips.
"What a failure this master is."
Shen Zhichen looked at Shen Dinghai in confusion and found that his second uncle had the same confusion in his eyes.
"Master, you have great cultivation and are the head of the Chengtian Sect. How could you possibly feel like you don't know why you are living? I always thought that accepting Huang Song as your disciple was just a move you made to find someone to inherit your legacy. I never thought... you actually regarded raising him as your top priority..."
“This really caught me off guard.”
"Does having a high level of cultivation and an unusual identity mean that you will definitely know why you live?" The woman smiled, "In fact, I have never figured this out." "Sometimes I feel like a hollow puppet. Everything I know is not what I want to know."
"What about Chengtian Sect? As the leader of Chengtian Sect, wouldn't it be a good idea for you to make building the sect your goal?"
The sect leader shook his head and said, "The Chengtian Sect didn't need me. At least, they no longer needed me when I decided to commit suicide. That's why I made up my mind to commit suicide."
Shen Dinghai did not ask any more questions and just patted Shen Zhichen's head comfortingly.
"See? Even someone as powerful as the Sect Master can have an existential crisis."
"Chen'er, no matter how confused you are in the future, don't be discouraged, because it is normal to feel lost. You have to believe that there will be a day when the clouds will clear and the sun will shine."
Shen Zhichen nodded heavily, but the shadow of the sect leader was stunned for a long time.
"If only someone had said something like this to me before..."
The remaining soul let out a long sigh, then smiled with relief, and turned into a soft mist and disappeared.
In the dim light, Shen Dinghai and Shen Zhichen seemed to hear the clear voice of a young boy reading from the depths of the clouds on Mount Huang in the distance.
"The pines and cypresses of Huangshan stand proudly against the frost and snow."
……
Shen Zhichen was still very young, but after this incident he couldn't help but look at Shen Dinghai with a sigh.
"Mr. Huang Song... you really failed the Sect Master's intention to cultivate you..."
Shen Dinghai was also filled with emotion. He wrapped the broken half of the jade token with a silk handkerchief, and in the vibration and hum of the stone chamber, he held Shen Zhichen's hand and walked back into the misty rain in the mountains.
Shen Zhichen was curious, "The Sect Master's spell can only take effect once, which means that there is no residual soul of the Sect Master in the jade token. Is it still useful for you to hold this jade token?"
Shen Dinghai shook his head, "I just don't know what to do with this jade token."
The clear blue color seems to be immersed in a layer of lustrous light in the mist and rain.
"Behind this are the lives of the sect master and Huang Song, as well as those of the Chengtian sect members who died under Huang Song's sword."
"The story begins with this jade tablet. Now the entire Chengtian Sect has withered, but even though this jade tablet is broken, it still exists. It makes people sigh that life is fleeting and flowers are hard to bloom again."
Shen Zhichen stared at Shen Dinghai for a while, then suddenly laughed.
"After Aunt Ranran left, your literary talent has become better and better, and your words have become more and more elegant. You never spoke in such a literary way before."
Shen Dinghai laughed when he heard this. Now he would no longer be sad because of Ranran's departure. He just missed her most of the time.
For example, at this moment, he personally explored the past of Huang Song and the sect leader, and the person he most wanted to share it with was her.
pity……
Shen Zhichen suddenly said, "I know what to do with this jade token!"
"how?"
"It's definitely not right to take it away. This is not our property." Shen Zhichen's eyes lit up and he took the jade token from Shen Dinghai. "It's best to go back to where you came from!"
Shen Dinghai didn't have the time to ask the question, such as how could he go back to where he came from when all the people related to the jade token had passed away?
The next second, he saw Shen Zhichen jump up and throw the jade token with a red rope onto the pine branch.
The red rope was hung on a pine branch covered with pine needles, and the half-broken jade pendant swayed gently in the mist and rain.
All the doubts in Shen Dinghai's mind disappeared. He looked at the jade token with a relieved smile on his lips.
"So, we really should go back to where we came from."
"Let this jade token stay with the ruins of Chengtian Sect in the mountains forever..."
The rain gradually got heavier until it turned into a downpour, turning the former site of Chengtian Sect into a muddy quagmire.
Shen Dinghai held Shen Zhichen's hand and stood on the path, a place where Sect Master Huang Song and many Chengtian Sect disciples had once set foot, and gently closed his eyes.
The sound of pine waves passed through decades of time, and he seemed to be able to see the young man kneeling in the rain, practicing, repenting, and collapsing.
Some mistakes are made right from the very first stroke, but later generations have to circle them heavily with cinnabar to warn the world.
Shen Dinghai pulled Shen Zhichen and turned away, thinking:
It seemed that all the tasks that Ran Ran had assigned to him had been completed, except for the last one.
