Between the lines, there were hidden meanings. Xu Xian toyed with his trowel, thrusting it into the burial soil one stroke at a time, seemingly indifferent...
With a faint smile, he cursed softly, “That brat...”
The little book spirit clicked its tongue in disapproval. “Tsk, tsk. That deer has picked up bad habits from Li Qingshan. He doesn't know how to speak properly anymore.”
Xu Xian did not respond.
He stuck the trowel into the ground, stood up, and brushed off the fresh mud clinging to his clothes. Rolling down his sleeves, he said, “It’s fine. His thoughts happen to coincide with mine...”
The little book spirit was taken aback. “What do you mean?”
Xu Xian strolled away from the spirit herb field, his voice tinged with hidden meaning. “He’s right. We weren't born to belong to Fanzhou. We have to leave eventually.”
The little book spirit pouted inwardly.
“Nonsense!”
Itself,
Lu Yuan,
The Twilight Emperor,
Indeed, none of them were born in Fanzhou.
But Xu Xian...
He was born here, wasn't he?
So, it was all very strange.
And what did he mean by their thoughts coinciding? Could it be...
It suddenly realized something and zoomed after Xu Xian, chirping questions, “Master, have you thought of a way?”
“Did you think of it long ago?”
“What kind of method?”
“Tell me, tell me quickly...”
...
Tianjian Peak.
The Immortal Pavilion.
The disciple on duty was caught off guard when he saw Xu Xian arrive and hurriedly bowed.
“Greetings, Eleventh Patriarch!”
Xu Xian stood with his hands behind his back, treading on the wind. He gave a slight smile. “I’m going in to take a look.”
The disciple quickly stepped aside, making a respectful gesture of invitation.
“Please, Patriarch!”
Xu Xian entered the pavilion and went straight to the sixth floor.
After more than four hundred years, this was the second time he had set foot in the Immortal Pavilion.
Though the sect had enjoyed four hundred years of recovery and growth, the number of everlasting lamps in the pavilion had decreased rather than increased.
Four hundred years ago,
During the battle of the East Desolation,
When the whole world came to attack,
And throughout those two major conflicts, the mid-level combat power of the Wendao Sword Sect had suffered severe losses.
Although the rules of the Wendao Sword Sect had changed after the Sword Inquiry of the world—opening the gates to recruit disciples without requiring a sword inquiry or caring about race, thus attracting many geniuses—
But...
Geniuses needed time to grow.
The nascent soul stage was a watershed.
And only those at the nascent soul stage or above were permitted to place a lamp in the pavilion.
What he saw now was actually quite reasonable.
What Xu Xian had seen before was, after all, the accumulated heritage of ten thousand years.
One had to give time a bit of time.
Only then could a flower become a flower.
Only then could a tree become a tree.
The higher he went, the fewer lamps there were.
On the fifth floor, six lamps had been extinguished during the days that had passed.
Yun Zheng, Li Taibai, Yan Yi, Wu Shuang, Feng San, Chen Si...
Three new lamps had been added.
Li Qingshan.
Tu Kongkong.
Xia Chu Yi...
There were fewer overall. In truth, according to the rules, Lu Yuan's lamp should have been placed here long ago.
As he reached the fifth floor, Xu Xian couldn't help but stop. He glanced to the side, and a sense of sorrow unexpectedly seeped into his calm eyes.
“Sigh.”
He let out a soft sigh.
Yet, in his heart, he felt a sense of relief.
Having a lamp...
Was better than having none.
He remembered that dream. In that dream, the Immortal Pavilion had collapsed, leaving only Tu Kongkong's lamp burning alone.
That was the true tragedy.
Xu Xian withdrew his gaze and stepped onto the sixth floor.
A dark room, four stone walls, a stone map—it was completely empty...
Xu Xian slowed his pace, wandering through the darkness, measuring the land of Fanzhou with his feet.
The Northern Borders, the East Desolation, the far north, the Demon Abyss, the North Sea, the Central Plains...
Finally,
He stopped in a corner of the dark room and sat down. The spiritual light in his eyes remained unextinguished as he scrutinized the stone map...
He fell into deep thought.
His mind wandered beyond the physical world.
Lu Yuan said that the answer he sought was here.
What answer?
In fact, even before Lu Yuan said it, Xu Xian had already thought of it.
It was just that he had never been able to make up his mind on whether or not to do it.
He couldn't guarantee that if he did it, Fanzhou wouldn't follow the same path as in his dream.
At the same time, he didn't want to grant that fellow's wish.
Now,
As he sat here,
He felt something different.
He remembered the words his senior sister had once said to him, and he remembered the instructions his master had given him on his deathbed...
His senior sister told Xu Xian that Fanzhou needed a lamp—an immortal's lamp—to illuminate this dark room of ten thousand years.
His master told Xu Xian that what he should do and how he should do it shouldn't be asked of others, but rather of himself.
The answer,
Xu Xian had to find it himself.
The choice,
Xu Xian had to make it himself.
His path could only be walked by him. From that day on, when faced with setbacks and difficulties on the road ahead, there would be no one to lift him up; he could only rely on himself.
Just like the sect's motto that the Wendao Sword Sect had always upheld.
And now,
He sat in the dark room like a prisoner trapped within.
Should he become a lamp to illuminate this dark room?
But light can never reach everywhere.
Where there is light, there will be shadows; this is an eternal truth. Furthermore, even if he became that lamp,
How long could it stay lit?
A hundred years?
A thousand years?
Another ten thousand years?
Lighting a lamp in the dark room was, in the end, only temporary.
It was like treating the symptoms of a disease without curing the root cause.
Then what should be done?
Xu Xian pondered, Xu Xian meditated...
From what he saw,
The dark room was like a cage.
Everyone in Fanzhou was a prisoner.
What remained unseen was whether the entire starry sky beyond Fanzhou was also shrouded in darkness...
For light to last, it had to shine in from the outside.
A single lamp can illuminate a long night,
But only a sun can illuminate the seasons and the years.
What Xu Xian should be thinking about was not finding a lamp for Fanzhou, but finding that great sun and lighting it up.
The stone map of Fanzhou was trapped in a dark room, not in darkness.
What he should do was not light a lamp, but break this cage.
And the key to the problem,
Lay not inside the dark room,
But outside of it.
Lu Yuan was right; he should leave, regardless of whether he wanted to or not...
How could he protect Fanzhou?
Everything has two sides; where there is good, there is bad.
This dark room was a cage.
But why couldn't this dark room also be a barrier?
Having lived in this dark room for ten thousand years, Fanzhou still existed. So why not just let it continue to stay here?
Inside the cage.
Outside the cage.
A door can be closed from the inside.
A door can also be closed from the outside.
From the inside, the door is blocked, but the door still exists; someone will always come knocking.
What if it was locked from the outside and then hidden away?
In that case,
Would the Breath of Darkness still be able to find it?
At the very least, it could ensure safety for a time.
In the past,
The ancestors of the Li family didn't do this because they feared that if the door was locked, the people of Fanzhou would never be able to leave.
Now,
He, the one they had been waiting for, had appeared.
After he left,
Even if the door was locked, it wouldn't matter anymore.
A self-imposed isolation.
Was this the answer?
It seemed it was the only way.
As for the Twilight Emperor, Xu Xian thought that he probably wanted to leave this cage even more than himself, right?
Like a prisoner in a jail.
Longing for freedom.
Who wouldn't want to be released early?
Wasn't that the ultimate intent of that dream as well?
What he wanted was for Xu Xian to compromise—to compromise in the face of helplessness.
Xu Xian's thoughts gradually returned to the present, and the frown between his brows slowly faded. He looked at the little book spirit and asked unexpectedly, “Do you understand?”
“I understand.” The little book spirit nodded.
Xu Xian pressed further, “What do you understand?”
The little book spirit thought for a moment and recited the youth's old line, “A dark room of a thousand years can be illuminated by a single lamp.”
Xu Xian smiled but said nothing.
The little book spirit was stunned. “Wait, that’s not right. It’s a dark room of ten thousand years can be illuminated by a single lamp...”
Xu Xian took a deep breath and said softly, “A spirit is, in the end, just a spirit...”
“What do you mean?”
Xu Xian said meaningfully, “You possess divinity and spirituality, yet you ultimately lack a trace of humanity.”
Spirits never long for freedom because they are born with masters.
The little book spirit didn't understand.
The little book spirit felt very helpless.
The little book spirit grumbled, “Nonsense...”
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