Death… and me

Chu Yang stood up in shock, and at this moment, he looked that he had somehow lost his composure. He stared at this elder with eyes wide open and a palpitating heart!

In his conscious space, the sword spirit could not help but shudder his body! He opened his eyes and looked at this elder through Chu Yang's body. The sword spirit looked as though he did not expect this to occur.

Even the sword spirit did not expect that this elder from the Chu clan had been using the path of sentiment for his cultivation!

Chu Yang probably had not really understood what the path of sentiment was, or how difficult it was. But after 90000 years of experience on Earth, the sword spirit deeply appreciated the fact that to be successful in using the path of sentiment for one's cultivation… it would be harder than to climb into Heaven!

But this elder from the Chu clan did so and even break himself through the peak of the fifth stage of Martial Saint. He even had been desperately trying to suppress his cultivation. Otherwise, he would have become a second stage Supreme Martial Artist!

He had been here for 703 years. From his words, it seemed that the cultivation of his wife was not high. This meant that he would be at most 1000 years old. But, how did he manage to cultivate to such a level within such a short time?

The path of sentiment… every step would be equivalent to confronting an inner demon!

"The path of sentiment…" the elder raised his head and looked upset. Chu Yang could clearly see the elder's face changing rapidly. All the years that he had experienced had seemingly turned into clouds and mists, as they quietly drifted across his face.

At this moment, his haggard face was full of nostalgia, remorse and affection. But the only things that did not appear on his face were grief and despair…

Chu Yang looked blankly at him. Instantly, he felt a series of illusory images appearing before his eyes. They were neither clouds nor mists. They were the time that passed through like a flash of lightning or flew through like a shuttle, the lonely road to mortality of humans, and the evanescence of worldly affairs…

Chu Yang vaguely seemed to see the elder meeting his wife in the tea field. The elder was back into his teenage years. He was spirited, smart, handsome and affectionate. Around him were green grass and a tea field. Under the sky were Intoxicating white clouds blowing under the gentle breeze…

The duo looked at each other in their eyes and fell in love at their first sight. Since then, the seed of love had become deeply rooted in their hearts. They lived with each other and clang on to each other, life or death…

Chu Yang seemed to see the elder having his first meeting with his brothers. Since then, they traveled through the martial society, sought for righteousness in the society and rode on a whirlwind…

When they were happy, they would plan to have a drink together. Even if they were at the corners of the world, they would be willing to travel day and night to meet one another, just so as to share their happiness. When they were in distress, they would shield their brothers, and go through the thick and thins together, not leaving one another even for a single step. In times of suffering, they would huddle and shed tears together…

Laugh the evanescence of the world when in joy; Craze by raging war and stirring widespread chaos when in anger!

Just because I'm not afraid when my brothers are around!

Chu Yang seemed to see that the beloved wife of the elder passed away. During this period when he was so overwhelmed with grief, his brothers came by his side to share his sadness…

Chu Yang also seemed to see the few brothers of the elder aging and dying, one by one. Once living tigers, they finally became motionless and passed away. The elder's heart tore apart again and again…

Chu Yang faintly felt a few tombs covered with green grass appearing before his eyes. As the sun set, the tombs lay silently between the Heaven and the Earth. Before the tombs stood an elder in green. He looked at them with blank and sad eyes…

Chu Yang's eyes turned moist. He suddenly felt deeply affected by these scenes. He could no longer suppress the sorrow in his heart.

Splat… Splat… Splat…

Amidst the silence, Chu Yang's tears fell onto the ground. They sounded soft, yet distinct and full of impact.

When Chu Yang suddenly recovered from his emotions, he found his face covered with tears.

He looked opposite him to only see the elder sitting quietly, with his eyes, which looked as if it contained infinite wisdom and depth, on himself.

Chu Yang wanted to talk, but he felt his throat suffocated, so much that not a single word came out from his mouth. He wanted to stop his tears but to no avail. The grief in his heart started to accumulate in a non-stopping manner…

After a long time, Chu Yang finally calmed himself down, and wiped his eyes somehow bashfully. He did not even understand himself, why he was crying in such a shameful manner at this place…

In his previous life, when Mo Qingwu died in front of him, Chu Yang was so overwhelmed with grief that he almost cried his heart out; In the last moment of his previous life, he also dropped tears when he thought of Mo Qingwu. But ever since Chu Yang's rebirth, no matter how many things he encountered, he had never cried like this before.

But at this instant, Chu Yang felt as if he was wailing like a baby.

"You're awake?" the elder said unhurriedly. He was clearly just in front of Chu Yang, but his voice sounded wispy and illusory, as though it had been sounded across misty rivers and mountains…

"Yes," Chu Yang lowered his head, "I cried in such a shameful manner as I was so deeply affected. I'm sorry about it…"

"Cried in a shameful manner?" the elder smiled, "I used my thousand-year-worth cultivation to condense all the changes that I've experienced in my lifespan into an instant, and to allow my past to be shown in the present, so that I can immerse you in my own world, to let you have a look of the joys and sorrows, sweets and bitters, pride and loneliness, and love and feelings that I have in my life…"

He said slowly, "And you only thought that you had been crying shamefully?"

Chu Yang raised his head shockingly and looked at the elder incredulously, "Elder?!"

For a moment, he felt seemingly imaginary yet real: Is what I saw just now really true?

It's the illusion created by the elder using martial techniques? And he did so just to immerse me into his world? To reproduce his past?

The elder nodded his head softly. This clearly affirmed Chu Yang's guess.

"Do you feel better after crying?" the elder looked at him quietly.

Ever since Mo Qingwu's death in Chu Yang's previous life, he had always felt that there was stiffness in his heart and was unable to vent it out. This had continued on in his present life. In addition to the build-up of many secrets which he could not tell other people but to suppress them within himself, he only felt his chest getting all the way heavier…

But after hearing the elder's words, he suddenly realized that more than half of the load on his chest had dissipated unknowingly…

Chu Yang could not help but wonder: Why is it so?

"Tears are good! Crying is even better," the elder looked at Chu Yang empathetically, "Child, you have too many things in your heart and they have been suppressing you. Your hearty cry this time around had helped you to vent out some of your pressure."

Chu Yang lowered his head and pondered: Could crying really reduce pressure?

"Why do people cry? It's simply to relieve their emotions. When you don't cry when you're supposed to, the loads would be suppressed in your heart. You would think that all bygones were bygones, but actually, they aren't. The more they accumulate within you, the more you would suffer."

The elder said, "Teenagers always think that boys should only shed blood but not tears, as those who shed tears are cowards. Thus, even if he was stabbed, he would rather be in pain than to allow himself to cry out so that he would maintain a strongman image… But actually, that's the most stupid behavior."

"Because even though you could suppress them at that moment, wait till you grow older, human's nature would cause you to be nostalgic. By that time, the older you turn, the more nostalgic you would become. The loads that you suppressed in your mind would suddenly come back to you, and they would become your most painful torture… In the case of martial arts, that's… an inner demon!"

The elder said, "And you can't control this type of inner demon! And the lifetime cultivation of a martial artist will stop here. This also applies to the longevity of ordinary people."

Chu Yang sank into deep thoughts, and murmured, "I see."

"So, a person should live up to his own natural impulses: To laugh heartily when he's satisfied, and to cry to his own content when he's upset. He should cry and laugh as long as he wanted to. Only then can he lead a vivid life."

The elder looked at him smilingly, "Chu Yang, actually… the 'strongman' image that one deliberately holds on to isn't worth it. Really not worth it! A real martial strongman is a stalwart, ambitious and true-natured man!"

"Yes!" Chu Yang was convinced and said, "I've remembered."

Chu Yang carefully tidied his memories of the past and his perspectives of the future. As he thought about the many things he did in the past, including his various pretentious works, he found it really naive and ridiculous. It's indeed a common problem among teenagers…

Chu Yang's eyes looked lucid when he raised his head.

The elder smiled with satisfaction.

The elder did not know that by bringing up his own past, his presentation of the evanescence of his life, and through his teaching, he had dramatically changed Chu Yang's attitude towards life!

Chu Yang sat respectfully on the ground, waiting for the elder to speak. It was the first time that his arrogant heart, that perpetuated from his previous life till now, esteemed towards a person.

The elder smiled meekly and said, "Chu Yang, you may not know that my name is Chu Xiaoxin." He laughed, "Xiaoxin is a homonym for 'careful' (in Chinese). My brothers always liked to use this to play jokes with me. One would always shout to another: Careful! Xiaoxin is coming!"

He smiled as he recollected his past.

Chu Yang also smiled. At this instant, he suddenly thought of the banter that Gu Duxing, Ji Mo and Luo Kedi never failed to say when they fought together: Take care of your Second Brother… Gu, Second Brother 1 …

And Gu Duxing would always become irritated after being at a loss of whether to cry or laugh…

"When I was a youth, I left home for the first time to wander around the martial society. It was then I met her," he laughed, with his eyes still beaming with the same fascination he had in the past, and he said satisfactorily, "She's your foremother."

Chu Yang smiled knowingly. He could imagine his happiness and satisfaction then.

At the same time, he was also sensitive to notice that, after the elder presented his own life stories and resolved Chu Yang's inner demons, he had finally begun to describe his cultivation through the path of sentiment.

All the secrets to the path of sentiment lay within the story he had just begun telling!

Therefore, Chu Yang relaxed his mind and focused so that he could immerse himself into the story. At this moment, two sharp rays shot up from the elder's eyes. Chu Yang was startled for a while. He felt that while this gaze was as sharp as a sword, it was full of warmth, a strange consciousness, and had mysterious traction within it.

Under the guidance of the elder's gaze, Chu Yang seemingly felt himself transforming into Chu Xiaoxin, and entering into the period and space a thousand or more years ago…

But the magical thing was that Chu Yang's mind was still clear…

The path of sentiment…

… 'Gu' is a homonym for 'take care' in Chinese