Embers of Sword

Chapter 234 The Five Decline of Heaven and Man
Xie Xuanyi had a complicated expression as he looked at the ancient books, Records of the Grand Historian, that filled the corner.

Stack after stack.

“So what is the truth of history?”

he asked softly.

The old man smiled and said, "I was too young at that time, and I didn't see many things with my own eyes. It's just that the 'spiritual treasures' left by my parents recorded some of the ancient country's past. So strictly speaking, I don't know the historical truth of the fall of Dayue Kingdom. But I know one thing... The person who gave me life was Qingli."

Green carp?

Although he had guessed and expected this in his mind, Xie Xuanyi was still shocked when he heard these two words.

He turned around silently, and his spiritual thoughts passed through the soundproof array and landed on the little girl in front of the wooden house.

The little girl was squatting in front of the door, staring at the backs of the spirits as they walked away. She had a dull expression on her face, and silently pulled her braids, sometimes occasionally.

"One hundred and twenty-one years ago."

"I woke up from the chaos and saw Him."

The old man closed his eyes and said slowly: "He stood in the endless light, stretched out his hand, and pulled me out of the chaos... Leaving the chaos with me, there were also thousands of resentful souls wandering in the void."

Xie Xuanyi listened quietly.

He has always been curious about how these Li Mei came into being after the destruction of the Dayue Kingdom a thousand years ago.

“Everyone wants to live forever.”

The old man murmured, "The history books only recorded the brutality of the dragon-killing war, but did not record the dark past before the war. Before the arrival of the evil dragon, Emperor Qi practiced alchemy and practiced cultivation, longing to ascend to heaven in broad daylight, to the point of insanity... The entire Great Yue Kingdom had long been in a state of chaos and oppression to the extreme. After the arrival of the evil dragon, Emperor Qi turned from a tyrant into a righteous ruler. The history books were tampered with, the past was erased, but the anger and resentment of the people towards this tyrant could not be erased. If he wants to ascend to heaven in broad daylight, he needs to absorb the luck of the Great Yue Kingdom, and this luck comes from every mortal person as small as an ant."

"..."

Xie Xuanyi had a complicated expression.

"The ancient country was destroyed, and the dead souls wandered around, unable to find peace."

The old man raised his head, his eyes seemed to penetrate the roof and fall on the gray sky.

There is no sun or moon, no day or night here.

This is the end of the abyss and the beginning of purgatory.

In a sense.

The "heavenly way" here has already collapsed...

All that was left was a broken city and a broken formation.

"I came to this deceased city with those resentful souls, wandering in the streets, feeling His guidance."

The old man grinned and said, "Do you remember those unconscious Li Mei you saw in other places?"

Xie Xuanyi was stunned for a moment, then nodded slowly.

Of course he remembers.

The Dayue Kingdom's cavalry roamed the streets, and most of the Li Mei who were executed had lost their will, their hearts were broken, and they were mentally insane.

"Thousands of years, let alone ordinary mortals."

"Even among the monks, how many of them can endure the torture of such a long time?"

After the fall of Dayue Kingdom.

These resentful souls wander in the void, with only a wisp of their spirit left, but they cannot get a good end.

I just endured like this for a thousand years.

Some people originally had "consciousness", but a thousand years is too long.

Their consciousness collapses.

It's not their fault. Even the chosen ones with an extremely strong will would find it difficult to survive this kind of calamity.

Xie Xuanyi hesitated: "You..."

"You want to ask, how did I survive?"

The old man looked at Xie Xuanyi with a gentle expression: "When the ancient country was destroyed, I was already young and my consciousness was very vague. The thousand-year catastrophe tore my soul apart countless times... Because of that accidental call, I got a second life and no longer have to endure the torture of the will in the void."

"There are millions of people in Dayue Country, there must be a few lucky ones."

“I am one of them.”

The old man paused and said with emotion: "I walked forward in the chaos, following the guidance of the lake in my heart, and came to a ruin... and saw a little girl."

Xie Xuanyi frowned: "Qingli?"

"good."

The old man smiled and said, "In the beginning, it was Qingli who brought me to life. She took me to all parts of the Broken Ancient Country, taught me how to read and write, and even fished out my past from the chaos..."

Xie Xuanyi couldn't connect the green carp the old man was talking about with the green carp he knew.

His impression of the green carp.

Little mute girl.

She is a little girl who is ignorant and naive.

"What happened next?" Xie Xuanyi asked.

"later……"

The old man showed a look of nostalgia and emotion, and murmured, "I was lucky to follow her and learned how to survive in this ancient country. We traveled around the four regions together, exploring the broken history in this desolate country. She didn't seem to know her origins, and she didn't even know how powerful she was... I was redeemed in the endless nothingness, and being able to accompany her to "live" became a kind of happiness. I thought that such years would continue forever. This ancient country is not big, but the broken history can never be pieced together."

"Every story has an end, but if she can't find her own end."

"Then I will accompany her to look for it."

"until one day."

"I am still me, but she has become 'blank'."

Xie Xuanyi was stunned again.

"There is no day or night here, and Li Mei doesn't need to sleep. This moment came very suddenly." The old man said calmly: "The last moment, we were still talking, and the next moment, she just stopped... looking at me blankly, just as I looked at her blankly at the beginning."

Xie Xuanyi couldn't understand: "What does this mean?"

Shan Man lowered her eyes, casually took out an ancient book full of words from the house, and tore off a page.

There are traces of scribbles all over it.

next moment.

He reached out and smoothed the paper with his divine sense.

The paper turned blank.

"That's what I mean."

The old man said, "The Qingli who was omniscient and omnipotent just a moment ago... from that moment on, suddenly became a blank sheet of paper. It was as if her entire memory and life were reset. For decades before, she was the one who brought me to live, but now, it suddenly became me who brought her to live."

"This phenomenon occurs once every sixty years."

The old man said with some sadness: "Qingli's life seems to be only sixty years. The Qingli you saw has already experienced a second 'reset'. In her previous life, she was not mute, but blind."

Xie Xuanyi fell into a long silence.

It is recorded in the Lotus Peak Daoist Canon that when one approaches a True Immortal, one will experience the Five Deteriorations of the Celestial Being, loss of the five senses, and shattered memories...

Qingli’s situation immediately reminded him of the “Five Signs of Decay of the Celestial Being”.

But, it seems a little different.

No matter how the little guy looks at it, it has nothing to do with heaven.

Xie Xuanyi rubbed his brows and asked in confusion: "So, what kind of existence is Qingli?"

"In my heart, she is the only light in this endless abyss."

The old man lowered his eyelids and said slowly: "No matter how many times she was reset, she always exudes a holy power... Those who are close to her, even if they are residual souls, can still keep their hearts calm and not be eroded by the ancient country's black evil, and do not lose their spiritual wisdom. But those who are far away from her and have never come into contact with her, without exception, all go crazy and lose themselves in the end."

This is why Xie Xuanyi feels at ease with Qingli.

This is why.

The reason why all these ghosts in Tiesuo Lane are so close to Qingli...

The great way is natural selection.

"Since then, I have tried my best to save those Li Mei who lived a second life, but unfortunately, their lifespans were not as long as mine."

The old man said calmly: "Even if we come to Tiesuo Lane and can live here and retain consciousness, we will still die... The lifespan of the Limei clan is like spring cicadas. If we can live for three to five years, it is already a long life. Over the years, there have been too many farewells here. Everyone knows that they will not live long. But being able to be born from chaos and being lucky enough to meet again here is already a blessing."

"Do they know... the specialness of Qingli?"

Xie Xuanyi asked after a moment of silence.

“They don’t know the truth.”

The old man shook his head and said, "The reason why the people of Tiesuo Alley embrace me so much is because they all think that I am the most special one... If there were no 'outsider' to break the silence, perhaps Qingli could have spent this life in Tiesuo Alley without any trouble."

The old man showed a regretful expression.

"But... in this life, I can't accompany her to the end."

She lived one hundred and twenty-one years.

The deadline is approaching.

Among the Limei clan whose souls are incomplete, this is already an extremely long-lived existence...

A spring cicada that should have died in the snow this winter.

I've lived a hundred years unexpectedly, what else is there to be dissatisfied about?

"Since you know that if you leave Qingli, Limei Heart Lake will be destroyed, why do you still let Muniu and the others..."

Xie Xuanyi suddenly thought of something.

Shan Man dismissed Li Mei from Tie Suo Xiang, leaving only Qing Li behind.

The green carp is gone.

These evil spirits will all die soon.

The old man's expression did not change at all, he just asked back: "What would happen if you didn't come today?"

If Xie Xuanyi didn’t come.

The Iron Bees will kill everyone in Iron Lock Alley.

Not a single one is left.

"We are the embers in the dust of history. We were crushed once, but there were still some residues left, so we started all over again..."

The old man chuckled and said, "Every once in a while, someone dies in Tiesuo Lane. The moment we become Li Mei, we are ready to die. The iron law of this ancient country is still oppressing its people even after a thousand years. Death at the hands of cavalry, death at the hands of outsiders, death under the law of heaven, is all death."

"For the spring cicada, it makes no difference whether it dies today or tomorrow."

The old man said calmly: "For a true dragon, it's different."

Xie Xuanyi stared at the old man in a daze.

"I don't know what the Qingli is, but I know that the 'He' who saved me must be related to that dragon."

"As for her reincarnation once every sixty years."

The old man uttered four words softly: "...the five signs of decline of the heavenly beings."

She stuffed the stone talisman into Xie Xuanyi's hand.

The old man looked at the young man sincerely and said slowly: "It is rumored that the closer one is to immortality, the closer the catastrophe is to come, and the body will show signs of 'decay'. The 'disaster' that appeared on Qingli is very similar to the Five Decays of Heaven and Man... She has been wandering in this broken ancient country for who knows how many years, and now she has begun to decline. This is what I am afraid of. I can die, and the Li Mei in Tiesuo Lane can also die, but she must live. The battle to kill the dragon did not usher in a real ending... I have traveled to Dayuejing countless times, but ended in failure. This is the most dangerous place in the entire ancient country, and it was also the hub for the conclusion of the Dragon Sealing Formation. Perhaps the will of 'Emperor Qi' still remains in the well."

There was a slight pause.

The old man took a deep breath and said, "If, if you know this, you still decide to go to Dayuejing. Please bring Qingli with you."

(End of this chapter)