Chapter 196 - Overwhelming Sadness
TL-checked – Zaki, Edited -Animeart
The thunder boomed, like a blazing light of extreme intensity, boundlessly harsh and with bitterness, poured down from the highest of the Ninth heavens.
Lin Shu’s whole vision was flooded by the strong purple and white light.
He couldn’t see anything, but he still didn’t want to close his eyes.
Strangely, his heart did not have any fluctuations, just a wrong string at the end of the song was strummed.
He even thought, Xiao Shao, you have finally achieved perfection.
He didn’t know how long had pa.s.sed, perhaps only a moment, perhaps many years.
At the moment, the light receded like the tide, the dark clouds that had shrouded the sky for a long time, centering from the Sacrificial Altar, gradually dispersed in all directions.
In the light of the sky, Lin Shu looked towards the center of the Sacrificial Altar.
Empty. There seemed to be no trace of any existence at the Altar.
He held the zither and went forward, drew out the Guiltless blade from the Altar, and returned it to its sheath.
The Guiltless blade, made a long cry.
His fingers trembled a little, and he finally put the blade on his body.
A piece of red suddenly fell in front of his eyes.
He reached out to catch it and saw that it was a golden-red Phoenix feather about the length of his forearm.
Was this feather from Xiao Shao’s body? The Heavenly Thunder and Lightning did not destroy it.
He didn’t know. He just held the feather that had a faint burning temperature and put it away.
The cause and effect mirror also floated out and hung on his side.
After doing all this, he hugged the zither and turned around, wanting to go back.
But then he saw all the Chivalrous warriors of the various sects, who were standing on the side of the Altar turn to him, and they all came forward together, and each drew their swords, and actually formed a siege against him.
The first sage-like old man said, “The Traveler is dead! The evil Dao’s magic must be on this person’s body.”
The crowd agreed: “If we let this man stay, there will be endless trouble!”
Furthermore, someone said: “If you are tactful, then give up the method and swear you have nothing to do with the Traveler!”
Their movements were firmer, each using their magical powers.
Lin Shu looked coldly at the various people who were advancing forward.
It is true that some of these people genuinely wanted to cut down and eliminate demons, and it was also true that some people fished in troubled waters.
After all, the little pretty boy who was with the Traveler had no cultivation and could only play the zither. This everyone had already witnessed.
And he had been following the Traveler for a long time, certainly should know where the weird and terrifying cultivation of the Traveler came from.
If the person who was carrying the jade was weak and could be deceived, and his reputation was bad, he couldn’t blame others for coveting it.
He did not move, allowing those people to come forward.
But then he saw a broadsword, guarding in front of him.
Cangmin suddenly appeared in front of him and said, “Brother Lin is not a person with evil intentions, if you want to kill him, then kill me first.”
Yue Ruohe emerged like a wisp of light smoke: “I’ll come too.”
Together with them was a disciple who Lin Shu knew but didn’t know very well. He vaguely remembered that this was the girl who squatted in the Academy’s Treasure Pavilion and took the lead when looking out for the Folding Bamboo Sword.
Immediately someone said: “Old Senior Cang, Dream Hall Master Yue, how can your descendants also be by this demon!”
Elder Cang said, “Little friend Lin has been kind to this old man, fellow Daoist Qin, forgive me for not being able to obey the order.”
Dream Hall Master Yue also said the same thing.
Lin Shu knew that they did not want to harm him, but due to their friendship between various sects, they could not help him either.
Then the “Fellow Daoist Qin” said, “You have your own difficulties, but these three youngsters, since they are in the company of demons, cannot be spared!”
At that moment, they were about to attack him!
Cangmin said, “Brother Lin, don’t worry.”
Then he closed his eyes and guarded the array.
But he was still young, how could his cultivation compare with those who were already famous seniors of the Immortal Dao.
At this moment, they heard a clear cry from mid-air: “How Bold!”
Lingsu and Elder He landed, along with Yunlan and Qinglu.
Elder He said in a deep voice: “Who dares to hurt my Sword Pavilion Master?”
Lingsu half-kneeled in front of Lin Shu: “Pavilion Master, we are late.”
“No harm.” Lin Shu said gently.
The crowd didn’t take their words into account: “This person was known to be following the Traveler! Since you guys are defending him, we have nothing to say. Swords have no eyes, you guys, be careful!”
Then the glint and flash of the swords and blades came together!
These people who stood in front of Lin Shu also geared up to fight the other side.
Lin Shu said, “Wait a minute.”
Lingsu turned back: “Pavilion master…”
Lin Shu put the zither on the ground and slowly pulled out the Folding Bamboo Sword: “I’ll go.”
“But…”
Lin Shu said, “You can rest a.s.sured.”
Seeing that he had come out his protective guard, “Daoist Qin” had a greedy look in his eyes and suddenly wielded his blade!
Lin Shu held the cold hilt of the Folding Bamboo sword.
No fancy moves, no spiritual power, no Qi.
With just the simple “Moonrise Cold Stream” form, Lin Shu’s sword collided with Daoist Qin’s blade.
Daoist Qin’s eyes suddenly widened.
He fell to the ground as if he had lost all his strength: “You… You…!”
Lin Shu looked at the others.
He originally thought he would seclude himself in the green mountains and countryside, but he didn’t expect that people in the world didn’t want him to remain pure.
Also, if he has no high cultivation, some people would rush to trouble him. Even if someone blocked them today, they would come again in the future.
But Xiao Shao… Since he left at ease, he wouldn’t let himself be bullied by these people.
Under the urging of that person, he had a slight understanding of the 《Extinction》.
The rest of those people, seeing that Daoist Qin had fallen, were originally somewhat fearful, but seeing that Daoist Qin did not seem to be seriously injured, they shouted and swarmed up once again.
Lin Shu stood still at the same place.
In his eyes, those people who filled the sky were all blurred and turned into all kinds of noisy shadows.
Xiao Shao had said that the world was dirty.
He lived and died for the world all his life.
Lin Shu didn’t know whether the world was dirty or not. He only knew that Xiao Shao was gone forever.
The world was suddenly silent. He lost contact with all people and things in the world. In this vast world, he was the only one left.
He also seemed to have lost his senses. His eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind were all empty, as if he was shrouded in nothingness.
Silence.
Nothingness.
Extinction.
Back then, when Qingming Demon Lord had locked himself in a cave with no light, no sound and no feelings for hundreds of years to comprehend 《Extinction》, was his feeling then similar to his feeling now?
With the autumn wind, thousands of leaves fall.
Thousands are bustling, in the end it was a dreamland.
In a trance, he smelled the fragrance of cold plums again, making him lost in it.
——It was almost like a dream. For the time being… It was rapturous here.
Facing the crowd, he lifted his sword, put forward his sword and swung his sword.
The momentary flash of light, coupled with a trance-like realization of the silent nothingness, lit up his mind like a lightning bolt.
As he did this, he remembered the name of the move.
Overwhelming Sadness of Parting.
The last form of 《 Everlasting Yearning》, however, it was indispensable to have the legacy of Qingming Demon Lord’s《Extinction》.
The crowd seemed to be struck by something invisible and untouchable in the void and fell to the ground.
Lin Shu put away his sword and returned it to its sheath.
The rest of the people were both frightened and terrified, looking at him, not daring to go forward again. Finally they said a few harsh words and retreated in the dust.
Cangmin and few people still remained.
Lin Shu said, “Many thanks.”
He then picked up the zither, held it, picked a random direction, and walked towards the horizon.
In the second month, when the gloom had cleared and the gra.s.s was growing, the distant mountains were lightly smokey and green, and looked faded due to the lack of daylight, like a haloed and lightly colored landscape painting.
He was walking among the mountains when he tripped and barely managed to stabilize himself. The ice-stringed zither was unstable and clicked, touching the bracket somewhere, and a snow-white paper seal floated down.
Lin Shu caught it.
It was an envelope.
It was unknown when it was put into the zither. There were some words on it.
I love you, my dearest.
Lin Shu hadn’t cried. From beginning to end and till today, he had no fluctuations in his emotions
But at the moment he read the words on the paper, a wind blown sandstorm struck his eyes.
The author has something to say:
“It was almost like a dream, for the time being, it was rapturous here.” An elegiac couplet written by Zeng Guofan.