Gu Baiying went to the Wudan Forest Desert.

The desert was desolate and uninhabited. The prosperous and lively oasis cities had long since become mirages, disappearing into travelers’ dreams.

The setting sun fell from the edge of the desert, and the night wind blew from afar.

Wufan City, which had existed in illusions, had been shattered. The desert was quiet and vast. The stars in the long sky were like miniature bonfires, hiding invisible gorgeous dress hems. Drum beats were passionate, songs fervent, with girls’ dress hems painted in red and embroidered in green, like a brilliant long painting slowly unfolding.

A handkerchief flew from somewhere and fell onto the sandy ground. Half the handkerchief was blown, wrinkled by the wind, like a silk flower that someone had folded up.

He had also once received silk flowers after silk flowers here.

At that time, Zanxing sat beside him, resting her chin on her hand as she gazed at the silk flowers in front of him, lecturing him that he couldn’t be rude to people. At the time, misled by Mendong, he had misinterpreted the expression on her face, thinking she was disappointed for not receiving flowers, and angrily went to the dance to force people to dance with Zanxing.

Thinking about it now, he should have given her a flower then.

Gu Baiying pillowed his hands behind his head and lay down against the dune behind him, looking up.

The Milky Way was directly above him, quietly twinkling in the vast night sky.

Whether real or mirage, the starry sky was always equally lively.

Xu Douniang had also once dreamed beautiful dreams in such a desert, just like him. They had once thought the little girl naive for so easily falling into the Mirage Woman’s illusory dream. Otherwise, ordinary people would only need to think briefly to doubt how a father who had been missing for years could suddenly appear before them.

But Gu Baiying understood now, when hope that had been awaited for years appeared before one’s eyes, even the most clear-headed person would find it difficult to have the courage to choose the cruelty of truth.

Better to sink into beautiful dreams.

On Gufeng Mountain, by Changchun Pool, Putao from the Xiangling Sect had asked him: “She’s no longer here. Will you still wait?”

Gu Baiying had replied: “I’m not afraid to wait.”

He hadn’t lied. Back then, on Gufeng Mountain, he had guarded the paired-wing flower tree left by Qinghua Xianzi, waiting for over ten years without ever growing impatient.

He was very patient. He was very good at waiting.

He was just afraid that this waiting would be the ending.

……

Gu Baiying also went to the Treasure Ground.

In the snow valley of the Treasure Ground, the accumulated snow was still as deep as before. Heavy snow fell in flurries, new snow covering old snow. The snowy plains stretched white as jade, endless to the horizon.

The two names written side by side in the snow had long been scattered by the wind. Even though he had cast wind-avoidance spells and carefully guarded the two names, they would ultimately be buried by heavy snow.

Like the cities that had once existed on the snowy plains.

He spent a night here, and the next day, rewrote the two names before turning to leave.

……

After this, Gu Baiying went to Yue Mountain.

Yue Mountain was now much more lush and dense than before.

After spiritual energy gradually became abundant, the vegetation on the mountain had also become richer. A few years ago, the demon race’s Xiao Shuang had led her subordinates, carrying several large boxes of seeds, to fulfill their past promise—to plant flowers for Yue Mountain.

Originally, when Zanxing had led the demon race into the mountains, they had encountered the demon-exterminating army right upon entering, and the two sides had fought fiercely, destroying Yue Mountain’s flower forest, making the two clan leaders of the Sishi and Sishi clans heartbroken for a long time. To gain the Siyou Kingdom’s help, after Xiao Shuang apologized, she promised they could help restore the destroyed flower forest in the future. After the flood disaster, everything in Heishi City was as usual. With Bujiang’s permission, Xiao Shuang came to keep her promise and plant flowers.

Several years had passed, and the planted flowers and trees had begun to flourish, decorating the entire mountain forest with lively splendor. Mountain orchids, peonies, hibiscus, crabapples—in varying shades, magnificent and thorough.

However, many of the Buddha statues had been damaged. When the flood was fiercest, the floodwater surged up, and many Buddha statues were washed away and carried off. When people later tried to restore them, they weren’t the same as before, so they simply gave up.

Besides the large and small pools, wooden signs had been erected. These signs were made more conspicuous than before, no longer bearing indecipherable patterns that no one could guess. Instead, they bore two concise words: Dangerous.

However, the original flood had taken away most of the water and wood spirits, so nowadays, people who came to Yue Mountain rarely encountered the unlucky ghosts who were suddenly dragged underwater as in the past. Birds and beasts and leopards were still as numerous as ever, circling throughout the mountain forest, guarding against uninvited guests who might damage flowers and trees.

Qiongniang and Youlang remained the same, but there were more empty houses in the Siyou Kingdom. The two clan leaders still had that faint world-weariness between their brows. Several years had passed, and more citizens of Siyou Kingdom had died. One day, this ethnic group would disappear from the land of Duzhou.

Qiongniang spoke listlessly: “It rained heavily last night, and another branch of the newly bloomed peonies broke.”

Through the vicissitudes of life and changing circumstances, birth, aging, sickness, and death were merely normal aspects of human life. To them, these were less important than a flower blooming and withering.

Liuquan Temple remained the same, with many honeysuckle plants planted in front of the Five-Wheel Pagoda.

Large patches of honeysuckle flowers were like small spinning wheels, reflecting the golden sunset at the tip of the Buddha pagoda.

After the Two-Life Buddha Wheel was destroyed, the “balance” of Yue Mountain was broken. One could enter the mountain without needing balance. However, nowadays, no cultivators would specifically come here for trials—trials without rewards were never worthwhile.

The scene of the two mutually disgusted ethnic groups being forced to work together in pairs to enter the mountains would probably never be seen again in the future.

Gu Baiying actually couldn’t quite remember what he had said at the time, but he could still clearly recall the warmth of her palm when he held her hand.

Just like he still remembered later when he, encouraged by everyone, went to deliver medicine to Zanxing. Zanxing looked at him with neither a cold nor a warm expression.

He had always been less than delicate with emotions and didn’t understand Zanxing’s sudden distance. Much later, someone said they had once seen Zanxing and Putao exchange a few words in the forest on that night in Siyou Kingdom.

Mendong suddenly understood: “When love rivals meet, they’re especially hostile. Martial Uncle, she was jealous!”

So she had been jealous.

Gu Baiying looked up and couldn’t help but laugh once.

When he was with her, most of the time, he was the one feeling anxious about gains and losses, tossing and turning. Instead, it was after she left that he glimpsed her secret feelings in various ways from various people’s mouths.

The setting sun was like a spinning wheel, piercingly bright.

Even someone as persistent as Gui Yansheng ultimately couldn’t retain the shadows of the past. Time flowed away like water, following the torrent forward, leaving only memories as gifts for those who remained.

The Two-Life Buddha Wheel had become a legend. There were no arts of resurrection in this world, and even if there were, it wouldn’t work.

Gui Yansheng could kill all living beings in the three realms as burial companions to save his beloved. But he couldn’t—his beloved had originally sacrificed herself to protect all living beings. If possible, he would rather that he had been that chess piece of the Heavenly Dao.

She was heartless toward him, yet gentle toward all people under heaven.

The young man stood before the Buddha pagoda for a long time, until the setting sun fell from the pagoda tip and sank into the entire mountaintop. The moon rose from afar, and Yue Mountain was quiet with cold water at night.

He left, stepping on the cold dew covering the mountain, without looking back.