Chapter 361
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Chapter 361: You Rest in the Underworld, I Remain in the World Covered in Snow
The sky grew dark with flashes of lightning and booming thunder, as heavy rain poured down.
Raindrops fell, as three umbrellas opened up to create a small shelter from the downpour.
"And the monk had no intentions of letting anyone leave," Bai Suzhen suddenly said.
"Could it be…?" Little Green exclaimed. "The monk, he’s really easy to talk to, sister."
"The monk used to restrain himself from taking action because they were friends, but now that bond has been torn apart," Bai Suzhen said softly, her voice gradually losing its gentleness and becoming cold and distant. "In the end, he… crossed the line!"
Diwu Qiansui asked, "Bai Suzhen, what do you want to do?"
"I want to reclaim my husband," Bai Suzhen said.
For thousands of years, the White Snake had experienced a deep and abiding love. The latter surpassed the former a hundredfold, a thousandfold. She could conceal her scales, endure the world’s complexities, submit to societal norms, hide her claws, and don a glamorous disguise. All this, just to catch a fleeting moment of enchantment and experience fleeting happiness.
Having obtained all these things, she simply couldn’t bear to let them go. She even forgot that she was still a white snake.
She had become Bai Suzhen, Xu Xian’s Bai Suzhen.
"I will bring back my husband, no matter the cost."
The power of the monster surged, shaking like thunder.
Bai Suzhen spoke slowly, "I will flood Golden Mount Temple with water!"
Little Green bit her lip tightly.
Diwu Qiansui lowered her voice, "With the pouring rain now, if you were to use your thousand-year cultivation in Qiantang and Lin’an, it would be disastrous."
Flooding Golden Mount Temple, the water submerges the mountain top, and even if there is some distance, the water will inundate the city. The once prosperous city in Jiangnan will inevitably be engulfed, and countless people will perish in the flood, while many others will be displaced.
"Are you trying to drive yourself crazy?" the immortal fox exclaimed.
"If I cannot retrieve my husband, what does it matter how many people die?"
In Bai Suzhen’s voice, one could no longer discern the former tenderness and gentleness. The compassionate-hearted woman had long been devastated before the threat of losing her beloved, revealing her true nature as a thousand-year demon cultivator. She never really cared about the mortal world; she merely liked it because he liked it. But if he were no longer there, what reason did she have to remain in this mortal realm?
"My love, separated by mountains and seas, but mountains and seas can also be overcome… My love was always dangerous."
She said, "Because, I am a fairy."
Bai Suzhen’s anger subsided for a brief moment, and she looked at the little fox with rain-soaked shoulders.
"As for you, you can choose not to come."
The fairy fox remained silent.
"Little Qiansui, you and I are different. Now, you still have a chance to back off, but I have no way out anymore," Bai Suzhen said again. "You are still young, even too immature. Even if you want to stay together, it will cost too much… Qiansui, you asked me before, whether it was all just for repayment. I said it wasn’t. So, what about you? Is it just for repayment?"
The fairy fox shook her head vigorously.
Diwu Qiansui, feeling lost and disoriented, hoarsely said, "I just want to see him one more time, just once, for the last time…"
Bai Suzhen hugged her shoulders, gently admonishing, "Don’t follow us anymore. You can’t bear it, silly girl… You can’t afford to lose again."
The little fox completely lost her strength and knelt down in the pouring rain, crying her heart out.
Bai Suzhen released the umbrella, letting the white paper umbrella float away in the wind.
She lightly tapped the ground, and instantly rushing water surged towards her. The flowing water in the river changed its course, and rainwater falling from the sky gathered into whirlpools. The turbulent water converged under her will, forming waves like towering battle stages, steadily rising in height.
Lady Bai had almost forgotten the memory of wielding such incredible power over nature, but she didn’t feel happy about it at all. Instead, she felt somewhat sorrowful.
She wanted to show her most hideous and wicked side to the person she loved the most.
Little Green let out a high-pitched scream and jumped into the flowing water. In the blink of an eye, Little Green turned into a massive serpent with a deep green color. Its tail curled up, creating waves in the water.
"Sister, let’s go together," Little Green said. "This troublesome monk, I want to personally wake him up!"
With one green and one white, stepping on waves, the dark clouds covered the sky, and the big water engulfed Golden Mount Temple.
"Fa Hai! Return my beloved!"
Golden Mount Temple’s precious pagoda.
Fa Hai opened his eyes wide, gazed into the distance, and saw towering waves. Uncontrollable torrents of water cascaded down, washing over the mountains and transforming into terrifying floods rushing towards the city. Wherever they went, farmlands were submerged, houses collapsed, and an entire village was devastated in an instant by the raging flood.
The monk’s eyes turned red, and with a fierce gaze, he stood up, wrapping his robe around him and removing the outer garment. A flying dragon tattoo on his back bloomed with infinite Buddha light.
"Evil creature! How dare you?!"
…
The immortal fox left Qiantang, leaving the human world behind.
She arrived at Kunlun Mountain and once again knelt before the Queen Mother of the West. The ruler of Kunlun was not surprised; she seemed to have known that the little fox would come back.
"From now on, you shall accompany me on this journey of cultivation."
"One hundred days later, I set you free, wherever you may choose to go."
…
Fifty years later.
At Golden Mount Temple, beneath the Bodhi tree, a young-looking scholar sighed, "Really? Did I actually sleep for so long, a whole fifty years…"
In front of him, on the left, was a kind-looking old monk with a benevolent expression, and on the right, was a venerable-looking old monk with a weathered face.
"Amitabha Buddha."
"I thought I would never live long enough to see you wake up."
Both monks spoke at the same time.
The scholar couldn’t comprehend, "But why, both of you became monks?"
Fa Hai calmly said, "He insisted on staying, and I didn’t force him, the humble monk."
Xu Xian said, "My wife committed many sins, all for me. I am the only person who cannot blame her in this world. Now, she rests eternally in the Thunder Peak Tower, and I can only remain at the Golden Mount Temple, reciting scriptures every day to atone for her."
The scholar’s gaze became distant, "In the end, the result remained the same…"
He tapped his knee and found it amusing, so he chuckled, "In the end, it’s still the same, without any changes. You too, you too… Are you still Lady Bai, forever resting in the Thunder Peak Tower?"
He started laughing, but then his expression turned sorrowful. He asked Fa Hai, "Is it because humans and demons follow different paths?"
No one answered him.
Fa Hai suddenly felt a pain in his arm. A green snake coiled around his wrist, tightly biting it, breaking the skin and drawing blood.
Little Green, she still refuses to speak to you," Xu Xian said. Ever since that day, the green snake has been binding Fa Hai, biting him once a day and devouring a piece of his flesh.
"Fa Hai, being true to his heart, had no regrets towards the world or his friends. If she hates me, let her hate," Fa Hai said calmly. In just a moment, his wounds completely healed, as if they were never there.
The scholar gazed at the green snake, then turned his eyes towards the monk before letting out a gentle sigh.
Those who love each other must be separated forever,
Those who have hatred towards each other must constantly meet.
The scholar left Golden Mount Temple and returned to West Lake, where he became an ordinary boatman.
On the nights, he would drift on the lake, getting heavily intoxicated time and time again.
Clouds unfurled and curled, flowers bloomed and withered.
He gradually grew old, his hair turning silver, his body becoming slower little by little. Although he appeared ageless, he knew he had reached old age, like a weathered stone monument.
One day, he climbed up Golden Mount Temple and saw Xu Xian sitting under the Bodhi tree, fast asleep. He never woke up again. From that day on, Thunder Peak Tower became incredibly quiet.
One day, he arrived at the Buddhist pagoda and beheld a green snake with hair cascading like a waterfall. After many years had passed, she once again transformed into human form and stood upon the pagoda, gazing sadly at the old monk meditating cross-legged.
When he saw her, a thought inexplicably emerged in the scholar’s heart… Fa Hai passed away peacefully.
True cultivation in Buddhism doesn’t focus on the next life.
The green snake looked at the deceased old monk, wanting to say something, but when she opened her mouth, not a single word came out. Perhaps she had already forgotten how to speak.
The green snake disappeared.
Left behind was a lonely Thunder Peak Tower, along with two tombstones in Golden Mount Temple.
The scholar would come to the tombstones every now and then, just like before, to have tea and chat.
He chuckled and said self-deprecatingly that his initial premonition had indeed come true — he had managed to live past the age of one hundred.
It was another evening and he was alone, drifting on the lake in a small boat.
Bai Wei, carrying a wine jug, drank until he became heavily intoxicated. After he was drunk, he lost track of time and reality.
He gazed at the dazzling starlight and let out a burp from the alcohol he had consumed.
"Slept for fifty years, waited for fifty years."
"But you still don’t come."
"Speaking of it, I am no longer waiting for you, and I don’t miss you as much."
"Love, you see, is something that some people can let go of easily, while others find it difficult to do so. As for me, I am having trouble letting go and also doubting if I am being too dramatic."
"I have lived to this age, but every time I open my eyes, I still feel like a young boy. A man remains young until death, so to toy with the innocence of a young boy is somewhat excessive, isn’t it, Miss Diwu?"
"All the people I knew are gone. The kind-hearted monk has departed, Xu Xian has left, Bao Zheng, Zhan Zhao, Ouyang Chun, the Three Heroes and Five Righteousnesses, and even the Emperor have passed away. The Great Song Dynasty is also on the verge of disappearing… Yet, here I am still waiting, patiently waiting, not knowing what I am waiting for."
"Otherwise, let’s not wait any longer."
"Did I not tell you? I will not die. Even if this life is gone, in the next life, I will start over. At worst, my memories will be sealed, but I will still be myself."
"I will forget about you."
The drunken scholar shouted loudly, "I will forget about you!"
The sound carried across West Lake, the night sky silent and still.
Drunk and deeply immersed in his drink, he lay on the small boat, reminiscing about a poem.
Everyone says Jiangnan is beautiful, but only the elderly truly appreciate it. The spring water is as blue as the sky, lying on a boat, listening to the rain, and drifting by the riverbank under the moonlight, with fair wrists gleaming like frosty snow…
Once upon a time, there was a girl by his side.
The scholar had waited for a hundred years, longing to see her one last time.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t wait for her return.
The handsome scholar from the southern regions, rests eternally on the flat boat of West Lake. He lived a long and fulfilling life, reaching the age of 127.
…
After one hundred and five days and nights, the Fairy Mother of the West kept her promise and allowed them to pass through the Kunlun Mountain.
Diwu Qiansui had long hair flowing down to her waist. She put on the hairpin and walked down the Kunlun Mountain.
Her steps were swift as she once again arrived at Qiantang, reaching the city of Lin’an.
In her memory, only three months had passed, but the current city made her feel so unfamiliar.
She went to Golden Mount Temple, but she couldn’t find Fa Hai. She looked around, asking everyone, but she couldn’t find Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian.
Finally, it was from the little novice’s mouth that she learned, only then did she find out that Golden Mount Temple had been submerged by a great flood, more than a hundred years ago.
One day in the sky, but a whole year on the ground.
Above Kunlun Mountain, there existed a marvelous and mysterious path.
Diwu Qiansui stayed in her place, understanding why her hair turned gray so quickly and why the Queen Mother of the West only mentioned a hundred days.
She arrived at the burial grounds of Golden Mount Temple and saw three graves.
The immortal fox squatted down, gently touching the relatively new tombstone, on which was written a line of words.
In life, without meeting each other, we engage like partners.
Qiansui’s eyes turned red, and with a choked voice, she couldn’t hold back her tears.
She arrived late, five days late.
He had patiently waited for a whole hundred years.
In the end, neither of them waited for each other, and neither of them could find out what the other wanted.
Just like he sold his long sword and exchanged it for a hairpin; just like she cut off her long hair and exchanged it for a sword sheath.
Bai Wei thought that as long as he treated her unconditionally well, they could be together. However, he never considered what the future would hold.
Qiansui is afraid of repeating the same as the previous life, losing him again at the closest distance, but leaving behind the regret of missing the last meeting.
They were all too young, too cherishing of the first budding romance, and thus neglected some more important matters.
The world is filled with suffering.
All love stories are tragic.
…
A hundred years later, at the same marketplace, at the same stalls, a beautiful woman with long flowing hair arrived alone.
"Shopkeeper, I am looking for a Yunhu Sword, is it still here?"
"Yes, this sword has never been sold. It is my favorite, and normally I don’t sell it."
The woman giggled, lifted her hand and chopped off her waist-length hair, letting her dark hair flow down. "Is this enough?"
The shopkeeper stared blankly at the generous customer and nodded, "It’s enough."
The cloud tiger sword returned to its scabbard, fitting perfectly in size.
The enchanting fox lady walked while wearing a sword, gazing at the willow tree from a hundred years ago. She still remembered the wooden plaque they hung together back then, and she also remembered the wish she wrote with her own hands.
…may we be like swallows on the beam, seeing each other year after year.
She seemed to see a scholar standing beside the stone bridge. He smiled at her and asked, "Who won, and who lost?"
While you rest beneath the springs, your body in decay,
I wander in this mortal realm, snowy hair in display…
The enchanting fox closed her eyes and softly replied.
"We all lost."