Chapter 141 The Matter of the Past

The tragic scene, that feeling of despair and madness, almost possessed substance from within the image, then lunged out, landing upon him. Chen Yuan's palm trembled slightly, almost instinctively, he threw out a punch, and then, already at its end, the illusory Hetu Luoshu shattered like smoke.

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) had stood up at some unknown time, breathing rapidly, pupils constricted.

This contemporary swordsman, who relied on his feet to travel hundreds of thousands of *li* to enter the sword, actually had sweat-soaked temples.

Everything vanished like smoke.

The scene he had just witnessed dissipated, and the waiter's greeting sounded in his ears.

Outside the window, he could see a *huji* (non-Han waitresses) carrying pottery on her head, gracefully walking away.

Ying Long Gengchen looked at him calmly and said, "This is what I saw in the Hetu Luoshu of Kunlun Mountain... I know Wu Zhiqi's strength, so I was even more shocked than you. I was caught off guard for a moment and was ambushed. Although I forced him back afterward, I was ultimately injured at my source and could not live to that era."

"I need your help, Yuan."

"It is also for the sake of these common people..."

After a long time, Chen Yuan slowly said:

"I understand."

"I will help you, and you must also help me."

Ying Long Gengchen exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.

Then he said, "By the way... in that possible future, the woman on your back was..."

"Jue."

Chen Yuan replied.

He said, "That was Jue."

"I know, it was Jue."

"This poor monk will also help..."

A vague voice came, and then said, "But Yuan, please move your fist away first."

Chen Yuan was startled and turned his head to see that his instinctive punch had landed on Xuanzang's face, giving the monk a big blow to the cheek. Chen Yuan quickly withdrew his hand, and Shi Pantuo's eyes twitched beside him.

There was only one person in this world who could get close to Xuanzang.

If the people who died under that *chanzhang* (Buddhist staff) saw this kind and gentle monk, they would probably die with their eyes wide open, wouldn't they? Shi Pantuo thought to himself, recalling the first time he met his master.

That day, he felt that he almost saw the Buddha, in a physical sense.

Chen Yuan stood up and looked at the handsome young man in front of him. "What do you want me to do?"

Gengchen's expression was calm, he closed his eyes and said frankly:

"Please kill me."

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) drew his sword.

Suddenly he asked:

"Is it necessary to kill you now, or is it enough as long as you die at my hands?"

Gengchen was stunned, opened his eyes and said, "... There is no requirement on the timing."

"Is that so?"

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) sheathed his sword, only rising to pat Gengchen on the shoulder:

"Then there's no need to rush."

"Don't worry, before I die, I will definitely take your life with this sword."

"And before that..."

"You should also enjoy the human world."

"Perhaps you are not used to it, but that is what humans are like, even if they know their death is coming, they will do their best to live in this world."

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) revealed a trace of a smile: "So, please take a look at Chang'an City first."

"Throughout history, there has never been a place more magnificent than this city."

Gengchen, who was willing to die, was stunned.

When he looked up, it was the departing back of the Youxia (Wandering Swordsman), and those last two sentences.

"This world is so beautiful, it would be too lonely to die without seeing more of it."

"Life is short, I will definitely kill you, so there is no need to be in such a hurry."

……………………

That day, Chen Yuan, Xuanzang, and Shi Pantuo returned to Ci'en Temple, where they were currently staying.

A task far more difficult and immense than the Journey to the West was thrust upon them.

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) pondered deeply, sitting on the bed, his brow furrowed enough to kill a mosquito.

After thinking for several days, Xuanzang proposed a method: "We must start preparing now, otherwise, it will be difficult to deal with the crisis at that time..."

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman), who had been deep in thought, jumped out of bed with a *gulu*, his eyes shining:

"How is it? Have you thought of a way?"

"Yes..."

Xuanzang nodded and said gently, "Our greatest advantages now are one, Gengchen."

"Second, we know about the great calamity more than a thousand years in advance."

"So these thousand years are our chance to turn things around."

"Opportunity... are you saying..."

Xuanzang said slowly, "Within this Ci'en Temple, build a Buddha pagoda of one hundred and eighty *chi* (ancient Chinese measurement unit)."

"Over the next thousand years, accumulate power in this pagoda through the power of chanting sutras."

"Until the time of the disaster, this pagoda should also become a power that can be used by people. And this is just the first idea. By using these thousand years to plan ahead, we should be able to gain several more trump cards when that day truly comes."

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman)'s eyes lit up slightly, and he murmured, "So that's it, so that's it!"

"Good!"

"However, Xuanzang... can an ordinary Buddha pagoda accumulate the power of the Buddhist chanting and vows?"

Xuanzang explained in detail:

"In this one hundred and eighty *chi* (ancient Chinese measurement unit) Buddha pagoda, enough *sarira* (Buddhist relics) can be buried on each level."

"In this way, it can be accumulated. I calculated it, and there should be enough *sarira* (Buddhist relics)."

"Oh, oh, I see."

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) suddenly understood, then paused slightly, and looked at the kind-faced and approachable monk:

"Wait a minute, Xuanzang, how many *sarira* (Buddhist relics) did you bring back from Tianzhu (ancient Chinese name for India)?"

"One hundred and fifty."

"... How tall are you planning to build this pagoda?"

"One hundred and eighty *chi* (ancient Chinese measurement unit), with each level covered with *sarira* (Buddhist relics)."

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) silently calculated the number of *sarira* (Buddhist relics) needed in his heart, and looked at the monk:

"So, how many did you bring back?"

Venerable Master Xuanzang smiled gently, his eyes not focused:

"One hundred and fifty, oh."

"How tall is the pagoda?"

"One hundred and eighty *chi* (ancient Chinese measurement unit), each level covered with *sarira* (Buddhist relics)."

"... So how many did you bring back?"

The monk watched his nose and his heart, and only answered when the Youxia (Wandering Swordsman)'s hands were placed on his bald head:

"…Nalanda Temple gave one hundred and fifty."

Chen Yuan's mouth twitched: "What about the others..."

The monk widened his eyes and argued:

"Didn't they all become my disciples after they lost?"

"This... it's normal for the teacher to manage treasures like *sarira* (Buddhist relics)."

"I can't give it to the disciples, can I?"

The experienced horse bandit, Shi Pantuo, trembled as he held his tea.

In any case, the construction of this pagoda, which stored a large number of *sarira* (Buddhist relics), began that year. Even Xuanzang himself went to prepare materials, but was eventually persuaded by the monks to leave and return to translate the scriptures.

This period of time was the happiest and most relaxed for the Youxia (Wandering Swordsman).

He would go to Chang'an City, and drink and sing with Yuan Tiangang and Gengchen in the city.

He would pull Shi Pantuo to perform chivalrous deeds in the Tang Dynasty.

When he had free time, he would return to Ci'en Temple to help Xuanzang translate and organize the scriptures.

If there was still a chance, he would occasionally meet with Wu Meiniang as a relative of her clan. In the second year of the pagoda's construction, the fifth year of Yonghui, Wu Meiniang became pregnant again. This time, the child was a girl. Chen Yuan had seen her and was overjoyed.

"I will teach my sword skills to my niece."

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman), who was already over forty years old, laughed loudly, pestering the monk for seven or eight days before the contemporary enlightened one reluctantly injected a Buddhist true force into the white jade longevity lock that the Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) had personally carved.

"With this Buddhist vow power, it can kill evil and prevent intrusion, and all laws will not be disturbed."

"Then I will teach her swordsmanship again. This child will definitely be smooth and carefree. I have seen her, and she looks too much like her mother when she was a child. I remember the first time I met her, she was such a small dumpling... Tomorrow is the full moon banquet, and I will send this thing up then."

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) rarely fell asleep happily.

At night, he was awakened by a noisy sound. When he pushed the door open, Shi Pantuo told him with a pale face—

"The little princess is dead."

"Queen Wang killed her."

………………

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) almost wished he could fly into the palace.

But in the end, he only entered with the relatives of the Zhaoyi of Wu to comfort her.

He was not qualified to see the child's body.

But unable to restrain the grief in his heart, there were not many who surpassed him in contemporary swordsmanship and movement techniques.

He flew over, wanting to see the child one last time.

His sword had killed countless bandits and enemies, he had competed in swordsmanship with people in Chang'an of the Tang Dynasty, he had cut through the fierce wind in the vast desert of the Western Regions, and he had once stabbed a Turkic cavalry off his horse with a single sword, but at this moment, looking at that small body, the hand holding the sword as steady as iron trembled slightly.

But he immediately discovered a small mark on the child's body, and his body suddenly froze.

The mark was small and weak, almost imperceptible.

But the Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) was very familiar with it.

Because this thing could only be left behind by someone who had used a weapon skillfully for a long time and left a callus. And the weapon that left the callus of this shape was the short knife that he had personally forged when he was young, and had given to Wu Zetian when he left Chang'an.

This also meant who really killed this child.

An unprecedented anger rose in the Youxia (Wandering Swordsman)'s heart in an instant, and rather than anger, it was a feeling that could not be described in words, a pain that surpassed the damage of all weapons. He relied on his movement technique to rush into the palace and found Zhaoyi of Wu.

In the Zhaoyi Palace.

The woman's eyes were red, and she kept washing her hands, rubbing them until they were red.

When she saw the no longer young swordsman, her eyes turned red. The huge psychological pressure made her want to complain, to tell about her struggles and helpless choices, which were unprecedentedly cruel choices.

It was a choice between letting her daughter die and trying to fight back; or being suppressed by the huge power of Queen Wang, so that all her relatives, friends, and acquaintances would be displaced. It was cruel, at least cruel the first time she made such a decision.

And what she faced was a cold gaze like the blade of a sword, which pushed her back:

"...What have you done?"

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) walked in, wrapped in a fierce aura.

"Killed your own daughter with your own hands."

"What do you want to do?!"

"Is power so important in your heart?!"

"Even at the cost of exchanging your daughter for it? You didn't even ask us, I could have taken her away..."

In the Youxia (Wandering Swordsman)'s words, disbelief, disappointment, and pain were mixed, turning into sharp sharpness.

The woman's lips trembled, and she finally laughed mockingly, because she did kill the child with her own hands. There were killings at every step in the palace. She said calmly, "Indeed."

Chen Yuan did not expect such an answer.

He asked so aggressively, not without some hidden hope in his heart, hoping for a reason.

But the woman in front of him had been stubborn since she was a child.

That day, there was no reconciliation after all, because the once playful woman took a step back when facing her childhood friend and said, "Guards, assassins!" The harsh sound echoed in the Daming Palace, accompanied by the murderous aura brought by the armor of a large number of Xuanwu Imperial Guards being mobilized. The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) took a deep look at the woman.

He took out the longevity lock he had personally carved.

The words of the past echoed in his ears.

'Actually, it's not bad, maybe I'll give birth to a princess or a prince? When the time comes, you can send this longevity lock back.'

'You can also engrave a word on it, like your own symbol.'

The former girl gesticulated with her hands and said, 'Then you will be my child's uncle.'

A trace of tenderness appeared in Zhaoyi of Wu's eyes, and she opened her mouth.

The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman)'s five fingers clenched suddenly.

The longevity lock, which had been preserved for more than ten years since he obtained the jade book from Tianzhu (ancient Chinese name for India), turned into powder.

With a flick of his sleeve, the power of the Buddhist vows spilled out bit by bit, and finally mixed into the fragments of white jade, rising between the two of them, just like the winter sunshine of their youth, and finally disappeared. The Youxia (Wandering Swordsman) turned around and strode away, never looking back.

The woman behind him trembled.

Finally, she turned her head, wearing a golden hair ornament, and walked step by step towards the many palaces.

The spring was warm in those young years.

'Brother Chen, if I become the ruler of the world, will you still be good to me?'

'Of course!'

ps: Today's second update...

Everyone, please see clearly about the chapter commentary activity. It was only applied for today.

So it is from today to the end of the month, the chapter commentaries released during this period of time, lying down.

《New Book of Tang》: Zhaoyi gave birth to a daughter, and the queen went to look at her. When she left, Zhaoyi secretly killed the child under the quilt.

When the emperor arrived, she pretended to be happy and looked at the child under the quilt. She was dead. She asked the people around her in surprise, and they all said: The queen just came. Zhaoyi cried sadly, and the emperor could not see through it. He said angrily: The queen killed my daughter

《Tang Hui Yao》: The daughter born to Zhaoyi died suddenly. She also accused Queen Wang of killing her. The emperor then had the intention of abolishing and establishing.