Chapter 596: The Oil was Exhausted and the Lamp was Dry (2/2)
A death knell was not rung upon the passing away of every disciple. Even Conclave disciples did not qualify for something like that, nor Elite Apprentices.
Only people who had rendered incredible services to the Sect would qualify to receive the death knell of the Demon Immortal Sect, as a means of protection on the way to the underworld.
Other than such people... only when a Paragon perished would the ringing of the death knell be heard in the Sect….
When the ninth bell tolled, Meng Hao suddenly trembled. He slowly lifted up his head, as did Ke Jiusi.
“Bells….” he murmured. Fear filled his heart, and suddenly he didn’t care about anything. He didn’t care about the pill concocting, or the illusion, or the ancient times. He didn’t even care if this batch of pills really were Celestial Pills, nor whether or not he succeeded in concocting them.
His body shook, and a realization as dark as night swept over him. Trembling, he rose to his feet.
In that instant a roaring sound could be heard from the pill furnace. The medicinal pills and the furnace itself suddenly exploded; their connection to Meng Hao was broken, and blood sprayed out of his mouth. The blood spattered down onto the exploded remnants of the medicinal pills; this was blood filled with his indescribable thoughts, thoughts that carried his unceasing love for a father.
“Dad….” Without hesitation, Meng Hao rushed outside.
He left the pill concocting workshop, completely unaware that within the shattered remnants of the pill furnace were nine destroyed pills. However, the batch had been a batch of ten. All of the medicinal strength of the nine destroyed pills had merged into the tenth pill.
That tenth medicinal pill appeared, glittering brightly as it began to transform from something illusory into something real!
The pill also absorbed Meng Hao’s blood, which contained his true feelings and emotions. Because of that, the pill… began to thoroughly transmogrify. This was creating something from nothing!
However, it didn’t matter that the medicinal pill was something from nothing, nor that it met all the qualifications that Meng Hao had dreamed of. Within his mind, there was no medicinal pill. There was only his anxiety, an anxiety so intense that he forgot who he was….
He rushed out of the pill concocting workshop, out of the Immortal’s cave, out of the entire area he was in. He transformed into a beam of light that shot with incredible speed toward Ke Yunhai’s Immortal’s cave.
The death knell sounded out throughout the seven great mountain peaks of the First Heaven…. DONG…. DONG…. When the thirteenth toll was reached, Meng Hao arrived at Ke Yunhai’s Immortal’s cave.
Seeing that the door was sealed shut tightly, tears began to pour down Meng Hao’s face. He kneeled in front of the door.
“Father!” His voice wasn’t very loud, but it filled the entire Fourth Mountain. His eyes were wet. He wasn’t sure when, but at some point, he had thoroughly immersed himself into this ancient, illusory world. Ke Yunhai had appeared to fill a void of fatherly love that had existed in his heart since he was young.
That void was something that Meng Hao usually kept carefully hidden away. He did not want anyone to touch it, not even himself.
But then, Ke Yunhai had appeared in this ancient illusion, and that void… had been filled.
Meng Hao’s heart was being ripped into pieces. To him, Heaven and Earth had lost all color. An indescribable feeling surged over him; he felt like his body had been turned into a black hole that was consuming his soul and his life. His everything.
“Father….” Tears streamed down his face as he looked at the door of the Immortal’s cave. The death knell continued to echo about. It had now tolled nineteen times. Every bell toll caused a green beam of light to surround the Fourth Peak. Currently, nineteen glowing rings of light surrounded the mountain.
As the tears rolled down Meng Hao’s face to drop to the ground, the door to the Immortal’s cave began to open silently. Ke Yunhai’s exhausted voice could suddenly be heard from within.
“Don’t cry.”
Meng Hao’s head shot up immediately, and his body began to tremble. Without any hesitation, he rushed inside. The Immortal’s cave was dark, but he could still see Ke Yunhai sitting there cross-legged on his stone bed.
Ke Yunhai was even more ancient than before. He seemed to emanate an aura of complete decay. White nodes of light pulsated out from him; it seemed his body was currently in the processes of passing away into meditation.
As for the lamp next to him… the oil was exhausted and the lamp was dry. Its light was weak, as if the slightest wind could blow it out.
An enormous coffin rested off to the side, its surface carved with auspicious beasts. It seemed ordinary, but if you looked closely, you would be able to see how incredible it was.
“Jiusi, don’t cry….” he said hoarsely, looked at Meng Hao with a tender expression. “You’ve grown up. Daddy can’t stay with you forever. From now on, you’ll need to rely on yourself…. However, there is one last thing I can do for you. Before I pass away into meditation, I will give you the precious treasure of a lifetime, forged personally by me!”
The death knell outside had reached the fifty-seventh toll. When it reached ninety-nine, the soul would disperse. Along with the ninety-nine rings of light created by the bell tolls, it would return to Heaven and Earth, and enter the underworld….
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Note from Er Gen: The love of a father is like a mountain. For many years, I didn’t understand this. I truly came to understand what it means to be a father eight years ago, when I became a father. Then I understood how the love of a father and mother are different. When I was young, I read an essay by Zhu Ziqing, called Retreating Figure. I didn’t understand it then, but many years later it came to mind. Every time I read it, I understand it more, and the meaning becomes more profound. Every time I read it, I understand more about what it means to be a father.
Today, I won’t ask for any monthly vote tickets. Instead, I wish a safe journey through life to all fathers. (Brothers and Sisters, please spend more time with your father. Take more opportunities to wish him well. It wasn’t until I had my own child that I realized how difficult it is for a father and mother to raise a child.)
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This chapter was sponsored by Jusaz