Arc 5: Chapter 29
A light spring breeze shuttled through the ruins of Frost City, rippling the snow-white robes gently. Just like hundreds of years ago, similar white-robed figures stood at the fallen city’s gate.
They took away the city’s sole survivor—a boy.
As Lin Yuan walked through the empty streets, he felt couldn’t stop his body from shaking with fear. He was still very scared of ghosts ah!
Wuuu, just thinking of how intense the resentment must be, it was totally possible for there to be ghosts right? QAQ
Ever since entering Frost City, Xie Hanzhou and Yu Sui’an hadn’t spoken a single word. Through the decay and rubble, they seemed to be looking at the Frost City from the past, the one that had once been alive.
Suddenly Yu Sui’an stopped and looked at a building, sneering: “That son of a b*tch took me to this tavern and made me serve him a meal, and even forced me to get on all fours and eat like a dog.”
“Xie Hanzhou, wasn't it karma? In the end, that bastard was crawling on the ground, licking the dirt. He deserved it.”
Xie Hanzhou gazed at the half-collapsed tavern with indifferent eyes: “This is not cause and effect nor karma. It’s fate. My fate, and the fate of Frost City were both unlucky.”
Yu Sui’an rolled his eyes: “Unlucky fate? You and I both know the truth. If you want to form a Daoist couple with your little disciple, shouldn’t you be honest with him? What’s the point of all these half-truths and evasions?”
Lin Yuan glanced at both of them and asked cautiously: “Frost City…what happened to it?”
Xie Hanzhou didn’t want to tell Lin Yuan. He thought his little disciple was too young to be exposed to the darkness and shadows of the world.
Yu Sui’an’s beautiful features seemed to be overcast with heavy shadows, like a rose at the end of its bloom. He looked at Xie Hanzhou and said coldly: “Master, your little disciple is asking you what happened to Frost City.”
They stood in heavy silence. After a long time, Xie Hanzhou clasped his hands behind his back, and tilted his head to look up at the clear sky and spoke.
“At that time, the demon race and the monster race colluded together. The demon race destroyed the grassland’s grand formation, forcing cultivators to focus on repairing it, while the monster race besieged human cities. In the end, the various sect leaders, left with no other choice, lured all of the monsters to Frost City. Because Frost City was the largest city in the Northern Region, they had enough humans to attract the monsters.”
“And monsters… eat humans.”
Lin Yuan’s eyes widened in horror. Then… the people of Frost City back then…
He suddenly got goosebumps, and a chill crawled down his spine.
Lin Yuan grabbed Xie Hanzhou’s arm and shook his head frantically: “No, Master, how could they…”
Xie Hanzhou looked down at the youth and quietly observed his anxious expression. He suddenly let out a low chuckle and murmured: “The sect leaders… sacrificed the few for the many. Sacrificing Frost City to save the entire Northern Region… was a good decision.”
Yu Sui’an’s voice, which was unexpectedly calm, sounded: “Indeed, the 400,000 people in Frost City perished, but millions in the Northern Region survived. A grand sacrifice.”
He looked at his other self, and said softly: “Xie Hanzhou, you believe this, don’t you? Although Frost City was destroyed, their deaths were not in vain.”
The man’s glass-like eyes were frighteningly clear, like an untainted mirror which could reflect one’s soul. And at this moment, they reflected Xie Hanzhou.
But, did Xie Hanzhou truly accept this?
Accept sacrificing the few for the greater good? Accept sacrificing Frost City?
If Xie Hanzhou had truly accepted the city’s annihilation, then why did Yu Sui’an exist?
Words could lie, but the Dao heart and soul could not.
Yu Sui’an’s existence was the truth. Xie Hanzhou was unwilling, and the 400,000 citizens of Frost City were also unwilling.
【Di! Please pay attention host, the villain, Xie Hanzhou’s blackening value has risen to 40%.】
Hearing the system’s prompt, Lin Yuan became even more anxious. He didn’t know what to do except hugging the man’s neck. His voice carried a trace of uneasiness, but still soft and gentle: “Master, I’m here… I’m here…”
“Don’t think about the past anymore, just think about me, okay?”
Xie Hanzhou could feel the coldness of Frost City, but he could also feel the warm temperature from the youth in his arms. A long time passed before he finally responded, wrapping his arms around his little disciple’s thin frame, holding him tightly like a python constricting its prey.
“Sui Sui, you’re so good. If I had been as well-behaved as you when I was young, things would have been much better for me.”
“But hundreds of years have passed, and I haven’t changed at all. I’m still selfish, hypocritical, and full of calculations. Sui Sui, in fact, the real reason I brought you here was for myself.”
Xie Hanzhou smiled as he spoke: “To reach the realm of being hidden from heaven’s eyes, my Dao heart must be completely untainted, achieving true clarity and stillness. But you have moved my heart and made me feel emotions, so… you are my only chance.”
He used to think that in order to erase the speck of dust on his Dao heart casted by Frost City, bringing Yu Sui’an into the world was enough. But the wound in his heart still remained, and the fall of Frost City was still his greatest inner demon.
It was Lin Yuan’s arrival that allowed Xie Hanzhou to realize that Yu Sui’an represented the Frost City he could never forget.
Only by returning to Frost City could he get rid of his heart barrier.
Although Lin Yuan was still a bit confused, he thought he understood the general idea. Xie Hanzhou had never escaped his inner demon because his Dao heart still remembered Frost City’s destruction, so he was never able to attain true clarity. Now, he wanted to return and face his past.
In other words, his first husband was proactively helping him lower the blackening value!
Lin Yuan looked up into Xie Hanzhou’s eyes and said firmly: “Since I’m Master’s only chance, I will definitely help Master. Just tell me what to do.”
Xie Hanzhou wasn’t surprised that Lin Yuan agreed. His little disciple had always been a very good child, very soft and warm.
“Walk with me first.”
As they passed by the tavern, Xie Hanzhou’s sight fell on a small alley. It was covered in moss and almost unrecognizable. How ironic that hundreds of years of wind and rain could wash away the past, leaving not even a trace behind, but could do nothing to Xie Hanzhou’s memories.
Yu Sui’an followed Xie Hanzhou’s sight and smiled: “Sui Sui, when I was young, I was taken here and beaten by the servants of that son of a b*tch. They broke one of my legs, and it took three months to heal.”
Lin Yuan had no idea who the so-called “son of b*itch” was, but he knew they definitely weren’t a good thing. They always bullied his husband, they must be some kind of trash or sh*t!
He held Yu Sui’an’s hand and coaxed softly: “It’s all in the past, now no one dares to bully you. If someone hits you, I will beat that person into a big pig’s head!”
Yu Sui’an had only been remembering the past, but unexpectedly, the little liar came to coax him. His eyes narrowed in pleasure and he laughed softly. Gently squeezing the youth’s hand, he whispered in the other’s ear: “Mm, Sui Sui, then I’ll be waiting for you to come and save me.”
Lin Yuan nodded seriously.
The three of them walked down the main road, and along the way, Lin Yuan heard many stories about Xie Hanzhou’s past. Every story made his heart hurt, hearing of young Xie Hanzhou living a miserable life, deliberately pressed into the mud and trampled on.
Then, they stopped in front of an estate.
Lin Yuan carefully examined the building, but the words on the door plaque were too eroded to see clearly.
Yu Sui’an looked ahead expressionlessly. At this moment, he and Xie Hanzhou seemed to become one and the same.
Xie Hanzhou spoke first: “This place is… Xuanyuan Manor, the former residence of the Mayor of Frost City.”
Lin Yuan guessed something: “Master… are you from the Xuanyuan family? Was your original surname Xuanyuan?”
Xie Hanzhou’s body was tense and stiff. Hearing Lin Yuan’s question, he was silent for a moment, and then his lips slowly curved. His handsome face was breathtakingly radiant, but he wasn’t happy at all.
“Yes... I was the son of the City Mayor and the most famous beauty in the Northern Region…”
Yu Sui’an’s cold voice interrupted: “The so-called number one beauty was just a courtesan. A child of a courtesan being the firstborn son of that bastard. Back then, this was the most ridiculous romance in the Northern Region.”
“But this number one beauty was quite cruel to herself. She gave birth to her child in the Red Pavilion, and when she fell gravely ill, she took him to Xuanyuan Manor. She knelt outside for two days and two nights before committing suicide, forcing the Xuanyuan family to take her child in.”
“She was afraid that her child would be sent to a brothel after her death. After all, even though only nine years old, he was already extraordinarily beautiful.”