Don't be afraid, fairy, I'm blind

Chapter 427: Enlightenment Again

The north wind was so sharp that it cut across my face like a knife. You Su stood on the deck of the shuttle, looking at the vast northern Ao world.

The shuttle sped through the wind and snow, rolling up snowflakes as if it wanted to sweep away all the coldness between the world.

His sleeves rustled in the wind, and the hilt of the Mosong sword was tightly gripped in his hand, as if he was ready to cut off the endless wind and snow at any time.

His eyes penetrated the wind and snow, and recalled the scene when he left Hongcheng.

He had never been to Hongcheng, but he guessed that with a city lord who led by example and died for the people, this city built in the wind and snow must have the warmth of home.

But he could only guess, because the streets were full of fleeing people, their faces full of fear and despair. Corpses piled up like a mountain at the city gate, as the last barrier after the city defense formation was broken. The once high-spirited Lord of Hongcheng and the majestic Huayu monk were left outside the city gate forever.

The small shuttle under his feet was the flying magic weapon used by the Lord of Hongcheng during his lifetime. It was also the only thing in the city that could carry people away from Hongcheng.

Le Yingdong lent it to You Su.

The reason was simple, because she felt that You Su was the only one who could tell Shenshan about their situation. She wanted to save the people of this city, even if there was only a glimmer of hope.

Before leaving, Le Yingdong solemnly said to You Su:

"I know that you are rushing to the Divine Mountain for something important. I only hope that you can inform the immortals in the Divine Mountain of the current situation of Beiaozhou, including Hongcheng, when you have time. Yingdong will be grateful to you!"

Her eyes were full of expectation and trust, as if she saw the dawn of hope. However, You Su felt that this eager gaze was really dazzling, making it difficult for him to adapt.

This reminded him of the look in the eyes of the Zhengyang Master when he was on the Fairy Island, as if everything was entrusted to him. Such a look was too heavy, and it was so oppressive that it made him feel breathless.

"You and I are just casual acquaintances, how dare you give this to me? If you really want to save them, you should take this shuttle to the sacred mountain yourself." You Su did not accept her gift.

"Fellow Daoist, do you think we are just casual acquaintances?" Le Yingdong put his hands behind his back, a tired smile on the corner of his lips.

You Su asked in surprise, "Isn't it?"

"You are You Su." Le Yingdong's answer was like a bolt from the blue, shocking You Su's heart.

"There is still a portrait of Brother You on the bulletin board outside the city gate. Even though you have been covering your mouth and nose, Yingdong still recognized you." Le Yingdong still smiled.

"Have you seen me?" You Su raised his hand slightly. As long as Le Yingdong showed a hint of hostility, the Mosong sword at his waist would be unsheathed.

"I have seen it, but I haven't seen it either." Le Yingdong shook his head. "To be honest, ever since I learned about Brother You's crimes, I have always made it my mission to capture Brother You. I have to check every person who comes before the city gate. I have seen that portrait thousands of times, but I remember it more clearly than my brother's appearance."

You Su was silent, "Since you know that I am a desperate criminal wanted by all five continents, why do you still think I will save you? Aren't you afraid that I am the fourth evil god as stated in the wanted order, and that I went to the sacred mountain to do evil?"

Le Yingdong shook her head even more. She said firmly, "Many cultivators here follow me to slay evil spirits not to save others, but to save themselves. But you are different. The compassion in Brother You's eyes when he saw those refugees was not fake. Such a person would never do the kind of things that are rumored. I can't go to the sacred mountain. Before he died, the city lord handed the authority of the city defense formation to me. If I leave, all the people in this city will die. So, I can only ask Brother You for help!"

After saying that, Le Yingdong suddenly lifted up the hem of her thick skirt and pretended to kneel: "Yingdong is a citizen of Hongcheng..."

Before she could finish her words, You Su's sword pierced straight into the snow in front of her knees, forcing her to stop kneeling.

She raised her eyes and stared at the boy. You Su remained silent for a long time before he spoke:
"How long can you hold out?"

Le Yingdong stood up straight, his eyes determined: "Hold on until the day we are rescued!"

You Su nodded when he heard this. He did not leave any promises, but took the leaf-sized ship model and said calmly: "I'm borrowing this shuttle. The return date is yet to be determined."

When he turned to walk towards Bai Ze and his group, he suddenly turned half his head back and said, "But I will do it as soon as possible."

Le Yingdong felt a sore nose as she looked at the boy's back. In fact, she was also gambling.

This person was misunderstood by the world like this, he should hate this world...

……

You Su woke up slowly from his dream.

In order to prevent his master's wife from noticing anything unusual, he needs to come back here from time to time and play the role of You Su in his master's wife's dream.

Fortunately, he had tested it and found that the passage of time in dreams was much slower than in reality. Whenever he woke up, he had the illusion that he had slept under a tree and lived his whole life in a dream.

When I opened my eyes, a familiar cold fragrance lingered around my nose. Fine snow was falling outside the carved window lattice. The season in my dream had turned to winter, which was consistent with the reality of Bei'ao, where snow fell all year round.

He Shutong was making tea with her back to him, her white sleeves hanging down like pouring moonlight, and the ice crystals in her hair reflected tiny rainbow colors.

"Master's Wife..." A sigh escaped from his throat, as if a tired traveler finally found a sheltered roof.

He Shutong suddenly looked back, the teaspoon knocking against the edge of the celadon cup made a clear sound. She saw the frost on the boy's brow. After being inseparable from him for half a year, she actually learned to joke:

"Why do you look so tired after waking up? You look like a wounded soldier coming off the battlefield."

You Su lowered his eyes and smiled, then took the teacup she handed over. In the mist, the jade bracelet on the master's wife's wrist made a clear sound, which overlapped with the roar of the eddy currents on the seabed.

He took a sip of the bitter tea, letting the warmth flow down his throat into his empty chest. You Su didn't want to talk about his troubles in reality in his dream. He didn't want his master's wife to notice anything and ruin the dream she had carefully made.

But the reality he was in was dire straits, so how could he be at ease and spend time with his master's wife here?

He Shutong seemed to see that he was worried, and pressed a soft hand on his forehead. They both felt each other's warmth.

The gentleness of the master's wife still shook You Su's defenses. The only person he could find who could enlighten him was the master's wife.

"But...it was just a ridiculous dream."

Can people in dreams dream? You Su didn't know the answer, but he felt that this reason was lame.

"Oh?" He Shutong's wide sleeves brushed across the table, and her black hair brushed across the back of his hand holding the cup. "It's probably not an ordinary dream that can make the little sword immortal of the Yuanyang Sword Sect frown."

You Su secretly thought that fortunately, Master's Wife didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with this. Or perhaps in Master's Wife's eyes, his dreaming was a more realistic reflection of the reality.

He casually picked up a piece of osmanthus cake, and the crispy crust fell on the brocade tablecloth, just like an 18-year-old boy. "I'll tell you, Master's wife, don't laugh at me."

"Just tell me, Master's wife will never laugh at you." He Shutong said this with certainty, and he personally wiped the snack residue from the corner of You Su's mouth with a handkerchief. It seemed that they were used to such actions.

"I dreamed that I became the savior in the teahouse story...the one who saved the common people from the water and fire!"

As soon as he finished speaking, He Shutong burst into laughter, like a spring pond suddenly breaking.

You Su's face flushed and he said angrily, "Master's wife said not to laugh!"

He Shutong placed his hand on the back of You Su's head and stroked it, as if trying to comfort an angry child:

"My smile is not a sneer, but a smile of relief. Why can't I smile?"

"What's there to be happy about?"

"I'm glad you've been independent since you were young. I was worried that you'd become old at a young age, but I never thought that even though you've suffered more, you're still an 18-year-old boy at heart, and you'll dream big dreams just like other teenagers."

"Didn't Master's wife laugh at my childishness?"

"I just find life interesting." He Shutong's lips curved, "Okay, okay, go on. I promise you I will never laugh again."

You Su pursed his lips and said, "If you laugh again, Master's Wife will read to me."

He Shutong raised her eyebrows slightly. You Su couldn't see, so if he wanted to read, he could only let her teach him orally. But what good books could the Mandarin Duck Sword Sect have? Although she had read all of them for the sake of cultivation, she couldn't read them to You Su, so she found a reason to reject the young man's enterprising spirit.

But she really wanted to know the boy's dream, so she hesitated and finally decided to muddle through.

"I don't want you to listen, it's because you haven't practiced enough. Since you want to learn so much, I will teach you next time after I test your skills. There is no need for this bet."

When You Su heard this, he was delighted and said, "Then I'll tell you."

He Shutong straightened her posture and listened attentively, but she still felt guilty. After all, whether You Su passed the test was up to her. But she didn't know that You Su was also the dream master here, and he would pass no matter what...

You Su coughed twice and said, "I thought being a savior was a very glorious thing. I could fight against the evil demons alone with a sword and kill the three evil demons without leaving a single piece of armor. But when I really became the savior in my dream, I realized that saving the world is not that simple."

"I have to endure so much criticism and conspiracy along the way, but I still have to carry the earnest hopes of so many people. These are not motivations, but heavy pressure. There are so many people in the world who want to be the one and only one, but when they really become the one and only one, they wonder why it has to be me? In my dream, I was thinking, if someone came to tell me that I was wrong, and the savior was not me but someone else. I am afraid I would not even bother to distinguish the truth from the falsehood in his words, and would hurriedly retire."

Saving the world, saving the world, for You Su himself, perhaps saving the world means picking up a sword and killing all the three evil gods. He has never thought about seeking help from anyone, nor does he expect to get anything from the people he saved.

Although he saved a lot of people in the battle on the fairy island, he did it just for fun. The only person he wanted to save was Ji Xueruo. If he had to choose between that group of people and Ji Xueruo, he would not hesitate at all.

But when he really saw the suffering of all living beings, he couldn't help but doubt himself.

Tea smoke formed a hazy veil between the two of them, and He Shutong suddenly reached out and touched his tense spine. You Su trembled slightly, and the remaining tea in the cup rippled, reflecting the flickering candlelight in the master's wife's eyes:

"So it's the gap between fantasy and reality that makes you feel disillusioned with life?"

You Su was silent for a moment, then hesitantly replied, "I guess so."

He Shutong shook his head, "No."

You Su was slightly startled, and He Shutong opened his red lips again, "Your hesitation is not because you feel the road ahead is too difficult, but because you are afraid that you will disappoint others. You don't like to trouble others, and you don't like others to trouble you. It's not that you are born to like to alienate people, but it's also for this reason. The less contact you have with people, the less trouble you will have from being expected by others."

"But once you regard something as your responsibility, you will no longer refuse. You are never afraid of the hardships along the way, you only worry about whether you have the ability to overcome these hardships. Your real trouble comes from this, so you should not describe yourself as a person who is hesitant and avoids things, because you have never thought about escaping."

"When young, everyone wants to be a savior, but little do they know that the title of savior is the most vicious curse on young people."

Outside the window, the snowstorm blew hard, and the carved window paper rustled. You Su suddenly remembered Bai Ze curled up in his arms to keep warm, and remembered Ah Jiu's stumbling footprints in the snow with his sister on his back. The evil roars, children's sobs, and the cracking of ice that were cut off by his sword gradually became silent in the cool body fragrance of his master's wife.

He didn't know what to say, so he just raised his cup and drank his tea. He Shutong flicked his forehead with his finger, and laughed softly at the way he shrank his neck as if it was burned:

"Cold tea can soothe the blood, but it can't extinguish the red heart. Remember, there is no shortage of people who wield swords, but there is a shortage of people who dare to look directly at the bloodstains on the sword after swinging it."

She stretched out her jade finger and touched his heart: "What a sword cultivator cultivates is not in his hands, but here, in his cowardice that he dare not show to others. From my selfish point of view, I definitely don't want to see you bear the crime of being the savior. But if this day really comes, I will also think that if I can choose you, it means that you are the only one in the world."

Only I can...

The wind chimes on the eaves suddenly rang together, and You Su felt that what his master's wife said was like soft swords that penetrated into his mind and cut off all the gloom.

Since even his master's wife trusted him so much, what reason did he have to doubt himself?

"Of course, it doesn't matter if you really didn't do it, as long as you have a clear conscience."

He Shutong suddenly hugged him in her arms, and the boy's thin shoulder blade pressed against her heart, like an unsheathed sword.

"Well, seeing that you are restless, you should have a good rest and continue your unfinished dream of saving the world."

The last thing that caught You Su’s eyes was the snow-white smile on the corners of his master’s wife’s lips, like the never-fading Udumbara on the ice field.

……

"elder brother!"

Bai Ze's exclamation pierced through the chaos, and You Su suddenly opened his eyes. The shuttle was bumping in the blizzard, and outside the black crystal porthole, the outline of the sacred mountain pierced the sky like the fangs of a giant beast.

"Hold on tight." He shouted hoarsely, pressing his sword finger hard on the control array plate.

The shuttle's tail wing exploded with a deep blue flame, like a meteor slicing through the darkness. Ah Jiu and Ah Ying's screams mixed with the wind and snow poured into the cabin, and You Su looked at the sacred mountain getting closer and closer, and suddenly remembered the last words of his master's wife -

"Whether you are the savior or not, Master's Wife will always be by your side."

(End of this chapter)