A Man in the Snow: Starting with a Sword Challenge to the Northern Liang Prince's Palace

The journey home was much slower than the journey there.

When they arrived, everyone was rushing, afraid that if they were even a step behind, Zhou Mi would complete the sacrifice. Now there's no rush. The Heavenly Demon has been sealed, Zhou Mi is dead, and the pursuers from the Wilderness are either scattered or hanging in the distance. In any case, no one is catching up.

The group walked slowly, partly because their injuries were too severe to move quickly, and partly because no one wanted to walk fast. This feeling of surviving a disaster needed time to process.

Ye Yun walked at the very back, using a wooden stick he had found as a crutch. His leg was fine, but there were few parts of his body that were unharmed; every step he took was painful, and he couldn't walk far without the crutch.

Ah Liang walked ahead of him, his left arm still severed and slinged around his neck with a strip of cloth. In his right hand, he carried a sword he had taken from Zhou Mi's secret chamber, twirling it as he walked, like a child who had received a new toy.

He walked at the front, on either side, responsible for scouting the way. His injury was not serious, but he was the kind of person who wouldn't show it. He still walked steadily and quickly, only occasionally coughing, and he would quietly wipe away the blood that came out.

Chen Ping'an and Ning Yao walked side by side in the middle.

No one spoke, but the atmosphere wasn't dull. The quiet was comfortable, as if everyone was tired and didn't need words to fill the silence.

After walking for about two hours, the sun began to set in the west. The sky in the wilderness was lower than that of the vast sky, and the clouds were also low. When the sun set, the entire sky was red, as if it had been stained with blood.

Ah Liang found a sheltered spot and told everyone to stop and rest.

"Let's spend the night here and continue our journey tomorrow."

No one objected.

Ah Liang started a fire, then went to hunt two wild rabbits and brought them back. Ning Yao took them, cleaned them, and roasted them over the fire. Chen Ping'an sat leaning against a rock, pretending to doze off with his eyes closed. Ye Yun sat opposite the fire, took out the bamboo slips from his robes, and flipped through them by the firelight.

Ah Liang leaned closer to take a look: "What is this?"

"The complete inheritance of the Samsara Sword Dao." Ye Yun didn't even look up. "Zhou Mi has studied it for decades and memorized it all."

"Good stuff?" Ah Liang asked.

"Good stuff." Ye Yun nodded, "But I need to heal my injuries before I can practice."

Ah Liang clicked his tongue and didn't bother him anymore.

Ning Yao tore the roasted rabbit into several pieces, first handing one piece to Ye Yun, then one piece to Chen Ping'an, then to Zuo You and A Liang, and finally keeping a small piece for herself.

Chen Pingan took the rabbit leg, took a bite, chewed a few times, and suddenly spoke.

"Boss Ye, what are your plans next?"

Ye Yun rolled up the bamboo slip and stuffed it back into his bosom. He took the rabbit leg, tore off a piece of meat, put it in his mouth, and chewed for a long time before swallowing it.

"I'm going into seclusion," he said. "These injuries won't heal for at least a year or two. Once I'm healed, I'll thoroughly understand the later levels of the Samsara Sword Technique. The legacy left by Zhou Mi will be enough to sustain me for a long time."

Chen Pingan nodded and took another bite of the rabbit leg.

"and then?"

Ye Yun glanced at him, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"Then I'll challenge you to a fight."

Chen Ping'an was stunned, forgetting to chew the meat in his mouth.

"fight?"

"To settle the karmic debt," Ye Yun said calmly. "There is a karmic debt between us that needs to be settled."

Chen Pingan put down the rabbit leg and looked at Ye Yun.

"What cause and effect?"

Ye Yun did not answer directly. He looked down at the fire, the flames reflecting in his gray eyes, flickering as if they were burning.

"Do you remember how much money you owed me the first time you came to the tavern?"

Chen Ping'an frowned and thought for a moment: "Three jugs of osmanthus wine, a dish of peanuts. About... thirty coins?"

"Thirty coins." Ye Yun nodded. "You owe me for over three hundred years."

Chen Ping'an opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.

"Over three hundred years, with interest compounding, do you know how much it is now?" Ye Yun laughed. "You still can't figure it out."

Chen Ping'an remained silent.

Ah Liang, who was listening nearby, interjected, "You're going to fight Ping An just for thirty coins?"

Ye Yun glanced at A Liang: "I said, let's settle this karma. Money is only one part of it."

"What else?" Ah Liang pressed.

Ye Yun did not answer.

He recalled three hundred years ago, at the Sword Qi Great Wall, when he first met Chen Ping'an. At that moment, he knew that this man possessed what he was searching for. Not money, not a sword, not anything tangible.

It is a way.

Chen Ping'an's Dao and his Dao are connected in some inexplicable way. Like two rivers, they have different sources, but will eventually flow into the same sea.

He needs to resolve this karmic conflict before he can go further.

Chen Ping'an remained silent for a long time before finally nodding.

"Okay. But you have to wait until I get stronger."

Ye Yun smiled: "Don't worry, I'll wait."

The two extended their hands and made a high five as a pledge.

It snapped crisply in the night breeze.

Ah Liang watched this scene, shook his head, and muttered, "Two lunatics."

Leaning against the rocks on either side, with her eyes closed, the corner of her mouth twitched slightly, it was hard to tell if it was a smile or something else.

Ning Yao stood up, walked to Ye Yun, took a small gourd from her waist, and handed it to him.

"Boss Ye, this is a 'reunion'."

Ye Yun took the gourd, uncorked it, and smelled it. The aroma was faint but mellow, as if it had been aged for many years.

"When was it brewed?" he asked.

"When you sealed the Heavenly Demon," Ning Yao said, "I didn't know if you could come back, but I had to do something. So I brewed this pot of wine. After you and Chen Ping'an finish their fight, I'll treat you to a drink."

Ye Yun glanced at her, then at Chen Ping'an.

Chen Ping'an's expression was somewhat unnatural, and the tips of his ears turned slightly red.

Ye Yun smiled, raised his wine gourd, and took a sip.

The liquor went down my throat; it wasn't strong, but it was very warming. It felt like a fire burning from my throat to my stomach, then slowly spreading and warming my whole body.

"Good wine," he said.

He stuffed the gourd back into its container and handed it back to Ning Yao.

"I'll save it and drink it after I'm done fighting with him."

Ning Yao took the gourd of wine and nodded.

As night deepened, the fire burned ever brighter.

Ah Liang was already asleep, snoring loudly. Zuo You was also asleep, sleeping quietly, his breathing so light it was almost inaudible. Ning Yao leaned on Chen Ping'an's shoulder, her eyes closed, her eyelashes fluttering slightly; it was unclear whether she was asleep or not.

Chen Ping'an stared blankly at the fire, his eyes wide open.

Ye Yun didn't sleep either. He sat opposite the fire, holding the portrait of Nangong Pushe in his hand, looking at it by the firelight.

"Boss Ye," Chen Ping'an suddenly said softly.

"Um."

"What did you see in the cycle of reincarnation?"

Ye Yun remained silent for a while, then folded the portrait and put it away.

"I saw myself," he said. "I saw my first life, my second life, my third life, and my fourth life. I saw how I came to be, why I came, and where I am going."

Chen Ping'an waited for him to continue.

"I've been waiting for Park She to come back," Ye Yun said softly. "I've waited for over three hundred years. I thought reincarnation could resurrect people, could bring the dead back to life. But I've come to understand within reincarnation that it's not for resurrecting others, but for transcending oneself."

He paused for a moment, looking at the fire.

"Park is not coming back. I know. I've always known."

Chen Pingan remained silent.

"But I won't forget her," Ye Yun said. "I will carry her part and live on. I will continue to drink, continue to practice swordsmanship, and continue to run my tavern. When I die one day and see her over there, I can tell her, 'See, I didn't let you down.'"

The fire crackled and sparks flew out, flashing a few times in the air before going out.

Chen Ping'an looked at Ye Yun, at his white hair, his gray eyes, and his scarred face.

He wanted to say something, but he couldn't say anything.

In the end, he only said one sentence: "You will."

Ye Yun smiled.

"Go to sleep," he said. "We have a long journey ahead tomorrow."

Chen Pingan closed his eyes, leaned against the rock, and slowly fell asleep.

Ye Yun did not sleep.

He sat by the fire, watching over it and the sleeping people.

He looked at A Liang, then at Zuo You, then at Ning Yao, and then at Chen Ping An.

These people were his friends.

For the first time in three hundred years, he felt this way.

It's not loneliness, not waiting, not obsession.

It's the feeling of being alive.

The group continued their journey early the next morning.

After walking for about half a day, the outline of the Vast World appeared on the horizon. It was the ruins of the Sword Qi Great Wall, broken walls and crumbling ruins, looking desolate and solemn in the sunlight.

Ye Yun stopped and looked back at the desolate wilderness.

The sky above the wilderness was still hazy, but a few birds were flying in the distance, like black dots, circling below the clouds.

He thought of Zhou Mi, of the crystal, and of that faint remnant soul.

"Goodbye, Zhou Mi," he said softly. "Goodbye, Pu She. I will live well, carrying your share with me."

Chen Ping'an stood beside him without saying a word.

Ah Liang patted Ye Yun on the shoulder: "Let's go, stop dawdling."

Ye Yun withdrew his gaze and turned to step into the Vast World.

The sunlight shone on me, warm and bright.

He looked up at the sky and took a deep breath.

An unprecedented sense of peace settled over me.

In the distance, on the ruins of the Sword Qi Great Wall, a new sprout emerged from a crack in a broken wall.

Green and tender, swaying gently in the wind.

An ending may be a new beginning.

The End.