The pain in the heart was a different feeling from pain in the body.
Su Ming pressed the hand tighter against his own chest. The sharp stabs of pain that coursed through his heart after he gained a true physical body gave him a feeling as if his heart had twisted together. He ended up counting the stars in the sky in this silent night.
"You took away the pain of my physical body… but you did not take away the pain of my heart…" Su Ming whispered softly. He did not know that there was a pain in the world that would surpa.s.s that of the physical body. Apparently, it was a pain that came from one"s soul.
Pain of the soul.
Su Ming did not know when he closed his eyes. He buried that pain in the depths of his heart and made himself remember this feeling firmly. He knew that this was perhaps the only form of nostalgia towards his past that remained available for him.
Within that pain in his heart was Yu Xuan closing her eyes, him being unable to catch her hand, Bai Su turning her head back and smiling at him before only a white piece of fabric remained of her, and him only being able to watch her leave into the distance.
There was also his eldest senior brother waking up, his second senior brother smiling, Hu Zi scratching his head, his Master, who loved changing his clothes… and many, many other things.
The night grew darker. When it went by, Su Ming"s hair was no longer purple and black, but gray. That gray color seemed natural, as if it was fitting once he had endured an entire night of pain of the heart, the pain which had affected his soul and body.
With a head of gray hair and his body clothed in a white robe, Su Ming sat outside the cave. When sunlight came from the ends of the earth, he lifted his head.
At that moment, there was a strange existence that seemed to have come straight out of a picture. That picture was of the morning sun that had just risen its head, and on the other side was a gradually darkening moon, along with a brilliant star that was slowly fading away.
One star, one moon, one sun.
The sun, moon, and star all existed together in the sky during that instant. Such a sight would only appear once a year in Crimson Flame Planet, and it would last for less than an hour.
Only when the sun and moon were exchanging places in the sky and day replaced night would this strange phenomenon appear in the sky. It was only on the Day of Eternity that the brilliant star would appear, and whosoever saw this sight at that moment would be unwittingly attracted to it.
Su Ming looked at it with a dazed expression. At the moment this strange phenomenon appeared in the world, it seemed to have made him understand something. The first thing he remembered was the Art he had inherited from the second G.o.d of Berserkers as he fought against Si Ma Xin. The divine ability Alterations towards the Stars, Sun, and Moon had been given to him when he inherited the second G.o.d of Berserkers" divine abilities from his left hand.
The power contained within that Art was incredibly great, and it was something that only belonged to the second G.o.d of Berserkers. Su Ming might have been casting the divine ability all this while, but he had never truly understood it.
Yet at that moment, once he saw the strange sight of the sun, moon, and star in the sky, he suddenly came to understand some applications of the Art which he had not really understood in the past.
However, that understanding quickly faded away. Su Ming looked at the star, sun, and moon in the sky, and the words he uttered from a beast skin scroll with eagerness and hopefulness when he was still a child in Dark Mountain a long time ago appeared in his head once again.
"Since the creation of the world and of man, the Berserker Tribe has existed and it still exists to this date…The people who hold the Berserker"s Power are known as Berserkers. They can fly in the skies, move mountains and turn the tides in the sea…Those who have the Berserker Mark can read the future and obtain the power of the sun, moon, and stars…"
"Obtain the power of the sun, moon, and stars…" Su Ming mumbled and looked at the sky with a dazed expression.
Time trickled by. The phenomenon in the world that would only exist for an hour once a year was slowly reaching the end of its existence. As only a faded shadow remained of the brilliant star in the sky, a shudder wrecked through Su Ming body. Even the words from the beast skin scroll disappeared from his head. At that moment, his mind was blank, but he could sense the vague presence of an epiphany that would allow him to raise to an even greater level. It was slowly taking form within him, and that was the third epiphany he had gained while seeing this sun, moon, and star.
However, this third epiphany was very faint, unclear.
When only a shadow remained of the moon, as it too faded away, the indistinct epiphany in Su Ming"s mind became stronger, but he still could not figure it out.
He looked as the star disappear, watched as the moon vanished, and stared as the sun in the distance gradually rose into the sky. When the phenomenon that only appeared once a year disappeared, Su Ming remained in an absent-minded state for a long, long time.
He had a strong feeling that if this third epiphany would clearly appear in his head, then he would obtain an astonis.h.i.+ng result.
In fact, even when Yue Hong Bang returned and knelt down on one knee before Su Ming, Su Ming did not notice his presence. He looked at the spot in the sky where the star and moon had been but no longer be until a year pa.s.sed, and he knew… that he had missed gaining a great epiphany.
He did not know what sort of understanding he could have gained from that epiphany. He might have been able to gain a divine ability, or perhaps it would have been a new state of mind, or perhaps it would have even been an increase in his level of cultivation, but he had missed it.
Perhaps it would not be accurate to say that he had missed it. That phenomenon in the sky had simply disappeared too quickly.
Su Ming sighed and averted his gaze from the sky.
Yue Hong Bang had remained kneeling on one knee before Su Ming silently. He had his head bowed, and he did not say a single word. He had been able to tell that Su Ming had been trying to gain an epiphany from the phenomenon in the sky, and he knew that he absolutely must not interrupt this sort of thing. Only when he heard Su Ming"s sigh did he lift his head.
"This phenomenon where the sun, moon, and star appear at the same time in the sky occurs once a year, and every time it appears, it lasts for less than an hour… Senior, if you"re interested in it, you can see it every year at the exact same moment."
Su Ming remained silent for a moment, then asked quietly, "What is that star?"
Yue Hong Bang was momentarily stunned, then he understood that Su Ming was definitely asking about the bright star last night, the star that would s.h.i.+ne with a light that could compare with the moon once a year.
"No one knows what star that is. Some of the powerful warriors in Crimson Flame Planet wanted to search for it in the past, but they never obtained any answer… As time went by, a legend formed. It said that the brilliant star that appears once a year and the moon were close lovers," Yue Hong Bang said in a low tone.
Su Ming looked back up at the sky. After a long time pa.s.sed, he shook his head. He did not say a word and remained in the same position. Even if the star and moon were no longer in the sky, with only the sun remaining.
Yue Hong Bang stayed silent for a moment, then left. When he was far off, he looked back at Su Ming. After a moment of pensive silence, he chose to sit down on the ground and protect him silently, not allowing a single outsider to enter the place. Even the people from the northern region who had come to deliver blue stones would have their paths blocked off. Yue Hong Bang had them place the blue stones by the side, not allowing them to get close to Su Ming.
Su Ming continued looking at the sky. He watched the blue sky gradually turn dark and the moon slowly emerge from the darkness. One day pa.s.sed, and another, and another…
Su Ming did not know how long he had been staring at the sky. He had forgotten about the flow of time and even about absorbing the blue stones. He simply sat there and looked at the sky.
The Crimson Python Phoenix remained by his side. Time was irrelevant to this creature. It had also gotten used to this sort of peace. The bald crane would occasionally return, but it was an energetic bird, and most of the time, not long after it returned, it would once again leave the place and busy itself with something.
Yue Hong Bang continued protecting the place from the distance. He had been able to tell that Su Ming was immersed in a strange condition, and this sort of condition was something that would only come through luck.
In fact, even Su Ming himself did not know that his cultivation base had almost stopped circulating while he was in this state. It had begun slowly shrinking into itself as if it was falling asleep. In this state where his cultivation base had fallen asleep, only his heart remained beating slowly.
Only his soul remained looking at the sky after it fused with his eyes.
He did not know that as his heart beat in his chest and his soul looked at the sky, his third change of heart had arrived without him noticing it.
Time pa.s.sed, and one year gradually went by.
Most of the people in the northern region knew that their leader was in isolation outside the cave abode that originally belonged to Qi Bei Shan. All people were forbidden entry to that place, told not to go any closer than a circular area of a hundred lis. Not a single one of them were allowed to take even a single step into that area.
On the night a year later, besides the bright moon in the sky, the star that had once appeared on the other side of the sky begun to s.h.i.+ne brilliantly again. Once it appeared, Su Ming"s body, which had not moved for an entire year, suddenly shuddered as he looked at the star. The year had gone by too quickly. He felt as if he had just spent a short moment thinking about that missed epiphany.
At that moment, as he looked at the star, the epiphany he had a year ago begun forming once again, and it was continuously growing clearer and clearer. Gradually, the night faded away. When dim light appeared in the sky and the morning sun showed up, the strange phenomenon of the sun, moon, and star s.h.i.+ning in the sky at the same time appeared before Su Ming"s eyes once again.
When he looked it, a rumbling went off in his head. As his body shuddered, real tears fell from his eyes. He had suddenly… understood.
He understood why he was so absorbed by the star and why he would gain an epiphany when the sun, moon, and star appeared at the same time.
"The sun that appears every day is the harsh reality. It"s reminding me that I"m in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence. It"s a cruel world, and the sun is making me see unfamiliar sights wherever its light s.h.i.+nes…
"The moon that appears every night is an illusory dream. It makes people forget the unfamiliar sights around them and helps them forget where they are. This darkness is a form of self-deception, and from it, desire and hope will be born.
"And that brilliant star that appears once a year in the sky… is… home," Su Ming whispered softly.
"The sun, which is reality, the moon, which is hope, and the star, which is home—they speak of… a wanderer that has left his home, and they symbolize the persistence in his heart to go back…"
Su Ming looked at the star, moon, and sun in the sky. At that instant, he seemed to be able to see the three heavenly bodies s.h.i.+ning with a brilliant light. That light gathered on his person, and a loud bang to resound in his head. A sharp, intense pain rose in his heart, and it was the pain of longing for his home.
In the eyes of other people in Crimson Flame Planet, the sun, moon, and star in the sky did not s.h.i.+ne with such a brilliant light as they did in Su Ming"s sight. The star and moon were still gradually darkening as the sky brightened up, and everything seemed to just be an illusion, a figment of Su Ming"s imagination.
Yet the shadow of a sun gradually appeared in Su Ming"s left eye at that instant, and the moon seemed to be reflected in his right eye.
The star, then, was contained in his aching heart.
This was Su Ming"s epiphany. Due to it, even though the moon and star had faded away and the sun taken over the sky, all three of them… were imprinted deep into Su Ming"s mind in the form of memories on drawing boards and epiphany carved into his soul.
"The third change of heart, huh..?"
Su Ming seized his chest. He could sense the change of his emotions, something that had occurred when he experienced his first change of heart all those years ago.