Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 1 The Wedge: The Door
"Let's go." The old man with white beard and hair waved his hand, turned around and walked into the shabby hut, ready to close the firewood doors.

"Teacher, please don't drive me out of the gate!" The tearful young man knelt on the ground and hugged the old man's leg, "Teacher, I sincerely want to learn from you!"

The old man shook his head lightly: "No, you are not. I don't see the brilliance of faith in your heart, but only the undercurrent of interests and desires surging. Those who cannot restrain their desires must not enter this door."

"I can change it, teacher, I can change it!" The young man cried hoarsely, "I admit that my state of mind is not calm enough, and I haven't been able to completely get rid of the temptation of desire, but I can continue to practice and I can succeed. Yes! After following you all these years, am I not the most enlightened among the students?"

"You are very smart, smarter than any of my students," said the old man, "but the way of innate understanding in my door is just a trivial matter. You have a brain, but you don't have a heart."

"I... I have no heart?" the young man murmured to himself.

"The heart is dedicated to faith. In front of faith, personal desires are as small as sand grains," said the old man. "You have never really surrendered to faith, because you are too smart, so smart that you only believe in yourself. We don't You are not from the same world, so I can only ask you to leave."

"I... only believe in myself?" The young man repeated the old man's words in a trance, but his hands had already been loosened.

"The difference between us and the secular people is that they always have the word 'I' in their heads, and we have to get rid of this word," the old man said gently, "You can't escape the world, so let's go. With your wisdom and spirituality, no matter what you do, you will have extraordinary achievements, but that achievement is not in this sect, and there is no need to force it."

He sighed softly again: "You have always been my favorite student, but now... the way is different and we are not seeking each other. There will always be this door between you and me, and we cannot be fellow travelers. May you be kind to yourself, Find your own path, open your own door. You go."

The old man turned around again and closed the firewood door.The door never opened again.

The young man stared blankly at the closed door. The door made of braided branches seemed so fragile that it seemed as if it could be knocked down with a finger; Longing for worlds separated forever and ever.

The tears had dried up, and only emotion flickered in the sockets, complex emotions from the heart.There are regrets, sentimentality, nostalgia, and grievances, but in the end, only resentment remains.A resentment as fierce as fire and as dark as night.

"Teacher, it was you who gave up on me and pushed me into another world with your own hands," he said softly to himself, with a cruel smile slowly appearing on the corner of his mouth, "If this is the case, don't blame me for being ruthless, I Will destroy this world that belongs to you in another world. I swear I will do it."

He stood up and left without looking back, his figure gradually disappeared into the winding mountain road.The chai gate behind him is always closed, just like the horizon separating the sky and the earth.

(End of this chapter)