IS Chapter 102

Ye Zhuo didn’t know how long he had been falling.

He saw the fluorescent blue water of the heart lake transform into a vast expanse of white mist. In the mist, three towering Buddha statues stood distantly, their faces indistinguishable. The three Buddhas quietly overlooked him from the sky, and the further he fell, the more he felt their gaze.

He knew that these were the Buddhas of the past, present, and future, as described in Buddhist scriptures.

A solemn and peaceful voice echoed in the mist.

“In the Great Sumeru World, everyone cultivates Buddhism. In the three thousand worlds, all beings believe in the Buddha. But I must tell you, there is no true Buddha in the world.”

Ye Zhuo was still falling, and he saw countless other Buddha statues appearing layer upon layer, filling the sky and the earth, between the three giant Buddhas in the hazy mist of the horizon.

These were all the Buddhas in the past, present, and future.

“Buddha is not Buddha, you are not you. You come to observe the Buddha, but you are truly observing yourself. The Buddhas of the three worlds are all the selves of the three worlds.”

Those countless gods and Buddhas with indistinguishable faces all looked down at him as he fell, and he naturally returned their gaze in silence, like a confrontation.

Such a confrontation had been happening in his past and would continue to happen in the future.

The scent of lotus leaves and water lilies drifted in the wind, and he saw countless giant gray lotus stalks rising from the deepest depths, surrounding and passing through all the Buddhas of the three worlds, unfolding their broad leaves and flowers, connecting the sky and the earth.

Another gentle and serene female voice came to his ears.

“Xiao Zhuo,” she said, “what kind of Dao do you want to cultivate?”

“Xiao Zhuo, sometimes I wonder what you will be like when you grow up. Actually, it doesn’t matter what you are like, I just want you to cultivate the Dao in your heart.”

The lotus flowers and leaves were just shadowy outlines in the sky, but they cast their shadows down, layering upon layering on him, and finally, he seemed to sink into the serene darkness composed of these shadows.

Ye Zhuo heard other voices again.

“Xiang Zhuo, come here.”

—This person’s voice was white.

Like that ice-white, snow-covered sword.

The voice said:

“I will unravel the Path of Emotionlessness for you.”

Ye Zhuo calmly raised his eyes and looked towards the very center of the sky.

There, a scarlet slit suddenly tore open across the horizon, and the heart beast’s eyes stared at him fanatically, bloodshot and filled with ecstasy, anticipation, and a hint of malice.

And Ye Zhuo faced it calmly.

In the heart beast’s eyes, he saw a shadow, it was his past self. He looked across the river at his past self, and in that instant, Ye Zhuo’s vision suddenly overlapped with his own from that year.

—He remembered that it was twenty years ago, August 14th, night.

The night breeze was warm.

Li Yuan found himself under an osmanthus tree, and Ye Zhuo was not by his side.

After all, this was a past illusion woven by the heart beast for Ye Zhuo alone. Li Yuan thought that the person might be elsewhere, and he had to find him.

The bright moon was clear, and the osmanthus flowers were in full bloom, it should be an autumn night.

In the wind, besides the fragrance of osmanthus seeds, there was also the fragrance of lotus flowers and leaves. Autumn should be the season when lotus flowers wither and lotus leaves wither, but if it was in the territory of a Xian sect, the seasons wouldn’t be so distinct.

Li Yuan followed the fragrance towards that side, and sure enough, he saw a spirit pool full of lotuses by the mountain and near the water. Immortal mist lingered over the spirit pool, and crystal pavilions and towers were set up by the water, all exuding an air of lightness and flight. If this was a residence, the person living there must be a graceful immortal with noble character.

The shadow of the flowers moved slightly, and a bamboo raft drifted leisurely from the depths of the clear waves of the spirit pool. Li Yuan saw the person he had imagined, a woman like the Luoshui Immortal in a mortal story. She wore a light pink and light green dress, with lotus buds in her temples, and a slender figure.

Beside her, Li Yuan also saw the person he was looking for. In that instant, he held his breath, somewhat lost in thought. So, this was what Ye Zhuo looked like when he was a child.

Yes, this was how this person should have looked when he was a child.

Perhaps he should be called “Yun Xiang Zhuo.” Li Yuan didn’t know if he had Ye Zhuo’s consciousness or if he was just a phantom of the past. In any case, this was the young Ye Zhuo, whom he had never seen. The first time he saw Ye Zhuo, he was already a fifteen-year-old teenager.

—So, this person wore such snow-white robes when he was a child. The clothes were very beautiful, neat and simple, but they revealed careful attention everywhere. The hair crown was a cloud-water pattern that concealed its sharpness, with thin silver tassels hanging down on both sides, appearing faintly in the ink-like hair, like the ripples on the water surface.

Li Yuan looked at him.

What was he doing when Ye Zhuo was so young? Maybe he was playing in the Yuanhai, maybe he was fighting other dragons in other sea areas, finally alarming the Dragon Ancestor of Yunxiao Heavenly Palace. The Dragon Ancestor said, come here, and I’ll spar with you.

Not even up to his waist, not yet grown up, such a small, exquisite person. Standing on the bamboo raft on the water, appearing from the depths of the lotus flowers, the bamboo raft was actually swaying slightly, but he stood on it, light and serene, and one could already see his slender figure. His bones and figure were growing very well, only those who had practiced martial arts since childhood would be like this.

Actually, one could vaguely see what he would look like when he grew up. Li Yuan looked at his delicate features, so beautiful that a painting couldn’t capture it, like a crystal-clear, snow-colored Fairy Mountain Jade. His eyebrows and eyes already revealed a hint of thin coldness, but he was still small. Li Yuan couldn’t take his eyes off him.

Those eyes were not as ethereal and indifferent as they would be ten years later, nor as cold and beautiful as they would be twenty years later—they had not yet grown into such soul-stirring shapes, almond-shaped, half-covered by delicate eyelashes, he lowered his eyes, quietly. So small.

But he looked like he could already fight very well, much better than Shen Xing Pavilion. Like a little immortal walking in the mortal world, just not drawing his sword yet.

What was he looking at? Li Yuan looked over, and the night wind blew up the Fairy’s sleeves, and the flowing green ribbons also fluttered, casting reflections on the water surface, which were then scattered into hazy fragments by the waves raised by the bamboo raft. This was the scene that the young Ye Zhuo was looking at.

Who was this Fairy? Li Yuan felt that he already understood.

The Han Hua spirit body on Ye Zhuo came from the Lian family of the West Sea, that was his mother’s bloodline, Lian was lotus, and this was a lotus pond. Ye Zhuo had said that her name was Ling Ye.

Her face was very beautiful, bright and moist, like clouds shining brightly, in terms of facial features and temperament, Ye Zhuo and she were not very similar. Perhaps the beauties of the world would eventually grow into their own likeness.

What were they doing here? A quiet night, boating on the pool together? It seemed to be a very tender scene. But even at such a young age, there didn’t seem to be any tender expression on the face of the little Immortal Lord, at most just quietly, without speaking.

The bamboo raft was about to drift to shore. At this time, Li Yuan saw Ling Ye turn around and smile at the young Ye Zhuo.

“Xiao Zhuo,” she said, “I’ve decided to go back to the West Sea.”

—“Xiao Zhuo, I’ve decided to go back to the West Sea.”

Twenty years later, Ye Zhuo heard her say these words to him again. And the trajectory of the past had already been determined.

He also looked up at her, like he did twenty years ago.

He saw the lotus about to bloom in her temples, saw the bright pearls adorning her hair, saw her gentle, watery smiling eyes.

If a child’s mother said that she was leaving, the reply she would get would probably be an interrogative “Why?”, or a pleading “Can you not go?”

But Yun Xiang Zhuo didn’t ask why at that time, nor did he try to keep her. Ling Ye had told him, and he knew. It seemed that was all.

He just quietly looked at Ling Ye, and then said, when.

“Tomorrow? Maybe the day after. I want to spend this Mid-Autumn Festival with you. ” Ling Ye said, “Everyone gathers together during the Mid-Autumn Festival, after the Mid-Autumn Festival. Old The owner of the house is very kind to me, I should thank him.”

“Phantom Sword Manor is a good place. I learned swordsmanship here, met some very kind people, and also had you, Xiao Zhuo. It’s a pity, I still don’t belong here. This spirit pool is good, but my home is the West Sea. So, I won’t come back again. Your grandfather wrote and said that they all miss me very much.”

So Yun Xiang Zhuo said, okay.

She frowned like a complaint: “It’s really hard to hear a word or two of retention from you.”

Yun Xiang Zhuo looked at her.

Ye Zhuo also looked at her.

“I will come to see you,” he heard himself say.

“Okay.” She smiled again, “Then it’s a deal!”