Longevity, starting from traveling and telling stories

Chapter 246 This is both an end and a beginning (The Grand Finale)
Outside the courtyard, the moonlight was hazy!
The candlelight inside the room flickered in the wind, casting shifting shadows.

Ren Youlan gripped Ye Beixuan's sleeve tightly, anxiously pulling him towards the courtyard gate, saying, "My lord, you should leave quickly! Those cronies of Zhen Guandong are all thugs and hooligans..."

Before she could finish speaking, she plunged into the flickering candlelight of the kitchen. After a flurry of activity, she hurriedly emerged.

"This is dry rations, and some well water that I drew." She stuffed the bundle into Ye Beixuan's arms, then added, "Remember, take the small path in the eastern suburbs, and absolutely do not take the main road..."

"Wait until I finish telling you the ending of 'The Romance of the Western Chamber' before you leave!" Ye Beixuan suddenly reached out and grabbed her hand, which she was about to pull back.

At that moment, the orange leaves were gently swirled by the wind. Before she knew it, Niu Niu was happily watching the two of them being affectionate, just like the scene in her painting.

Ren Youlan's eyelashes trembled slightly, but she still pushed Ye Beixuan toward the wooden door, urging, "There's no time to lose, husband, you should hurry up and go!"

Helpless, Ye Beixuan had no choice but to go out alone. Although he felt that these events were unimportant, he had to endure them for the time being in order to break the illusion.

As time went by, the night gradually brightened.

The sound of blacksmithing came from afar, growing louder as the blacksmith sealed the box. Sparks occasionally flew from the coal.

As Ye Beixuan approached, he saw a seemingly failed iron sword displayed at the entrance of the blacksmith's shop. He stretched out his fingertips and gently stroked the rough hilt.

The blacksmith stared at him, the clanging of his hammer never ceasing, and said casually, "This sword isn't well made, one hundred coins."

Without uttering a word, Ye Beixuan took out the only one hundred coins he had earned from storytelling, placed them on the stage, and left with his sword.

Before leaving the city, he deliberately made a big show of walking around the entire city before leisurely heading towards Black Mountain.

In the mountains, owls cried out mournfully, and Ye Beixuan's footsteps crunched on the dry branches.

He walked to a familiar open space and tightened his belt. The mountain breeze, carrying the fragrance of wildflowers, wafted towards him.

I found a crooked old tree to lean against and sat down, took out some dry food, ate it with water, and waited.

"Why are you taking so long?" Perhaps he was getting impatient, he put down the bamboo tube he was drinking from and idly placed the iron sword beside him.

Just then, a group of dark figures hurried over, stepping on dry branches.

Suddenly, the crowd parted in the middle, and at the very back sat a burly figure in a chair, being carried by two henchmen.

With a delicate, orchid-like gesture, Zhen Guandong pointed "elegantly" at Ye Beixuan and shouted sharply, "Run! Go ahead and run! Do you think you can escape?"

This guy ruined his own brother, and this time, he's determined to cut Ye Beixuan's brother off piece by piece.

"You still came," Ye Beixuan muttered to himself, as if he had expected it all along.

"Zhen Guandong, you were castrated by this guy?" A slightly mocking voice rang out.

"Damn it, you idiot, stop making sarcastic remarks."

"Hahahahahaha."

The group of underlings were also barely suppressing their laughter. Zhen Guandong's face was gloomy, and he glared fiercely at Ye Beixuan.

The maniacal laughter startled the night owl into flight, and a flash of sword light reflected the approaching dawn.

Immediately, a figure fell to the ground. Even without spiritual power, his exquisite techniques alone were more than enough to kill these ordinary people.

The wind blew through the silent forest, and everyone stared in disbelief at the lightning-fast change, realizing that the person before them was not someone to be trifled with.

"run……"

However, no matter how many sheep there are, they are still sheep. When a tiger charges into a flock of sheep, it is a one-sided slaughter.

After a long while, the iron sword was covered in blood, and drops of blood trickled down the rough blade.

Ye Beixuan carefully wiped the iron sword, then took off his blood-stained clothes and burned them. He changed his clothes, tidied himself up, and calmly walked away.

Thinking back to when I first transmigrated, I chose to leave this place. But now, trapped in this illusion, what would happen if I didn't leave?

The sky gradually brightened.

In the small courtyard enclosed by a mud fence, Ren Youlan tossed and turned, unable to sleep, so she got up and started grinding soybeans. She busily and carefully placed the finished high-quality tofu, piece by piece, into her carrying pole.

"I'm back." Ye Beixuan gently pushed open the courtyard gate, and under Ren Youlan's surprised gaze, he said calmly and indifferently, "I'm a little hungry!"

Ren Youlan's eyes reddened slightly, her surprise mixed with a hint of joy.

She quickly picked up a bowl, filled it with tofu, and asked with a smile, "I only have tofu here. Would you like to eat it for the rest of your life?"

Ye Beixuan picked up the bowl of white tofu, with unmelted sugar on top, which looked so sweet it warmed one's heart.

"At least, I hope to tell you the ending of 'The Romance of the Western Chamber'."

"really?"

"Well, really."

Suddenly, a radiant smile bloomed on Niu Niu's face as she peeked through the crack in the door. Despite her young age, she seemed like an adult who knew everything.

"Can 'The Romance of the Western Chamber' have two different endings?" Ren Youlan asked with wide eyes, her gaze filled with curiosity.

Ye Beixuan sighed softly, put down the bowl in his hand, and said, "The first ending is about Zhang Sheng starting a relationship and then abandoning Cui Yingying, who then marries another man." This is the ending of Yuan Zhen's "The Story of Yingying" from the Tang Dynasty. Ye Beixuan felt that this ending might be closer to reality.

"Why is this happening?" Ren Youlan asked, her face full of confusion.

"It's very simple, people often stop appreciating what they have once they have it."

"And what about you?" Ren Youlan bit her lower lip, hesitating to speak, but finally murmured softly, "Would you not cherish what you have?" She was worried; she had a daughter with her, and what if the other party took advantage of her and then abandoned her...

Ye Beixuan did not answer her directly, but said softly, "Later, people were not satisfied with the ending, so they changed it."

"What has it been changed to?" Ren Youlan asked urgently.

"Cui Yingying wrote a letter filled with tears and blood, Zhang Sheng remained steadfast in his love, and the lovers were finally united." Ye Beixuan smiled slightly and said calmly.

Ren Youlan was taken aback upon hearing this, and thought to herself that this might just be a happy ending that people imagined. Most of the time, perhaps everyone would eventually part ways.

"And you!" she asked in a barely audible voice, "Which ending do you prefer?"

"The reason for changing the tragic ending is that people yearn for beauty and like to fantasize about beautiful things." At this point, Ye Beixuan gently embraced her and said, "And I happen to be someone who also likes happy endings."

Ren Youlan tensed up at the sudden hug, but didn't struggle much. For some reason, she didn't resist his embrace, and didn't even reject further intimacy, as if she already belonged to him.

"I may not be able to give you a proper wedding."

"I do not care."

Niu Niu, who was hiding in the shadows, nodded in satisfaction, stepped outside, and called out, "Mom..."

Ren Youlan was startled and quickly pushed Ye Beixuan away. Her face flushed as she touched her burning cheeks and hurriedly pretended to tidy up the tofu.

"Let me do it!" Ye Beixuan said, rushing to help her when he saw her struggling.

A hundred years have passed in a dream, time flies like lightning.

In this illusion, it seems as if a lifetime has passed in the blink of an eye.

As the sun sets, the shadows of the orange trees are stretched long.

Ren Youlan nestled in Ye Beixuan's arms, their silver hair cascading down the edge of the chair, gently swaying in the breeze.

Her aged fingers gently stroked Ye Beixuan's wrinkled face as she said, "If you had left back then..."

"Then we'll miss out on this ordinary yet beautiful life." Ye Beixuan placed the half-eaten bowl of sweet tofu pudding on the stone table beside him and hugged his wife even tighter.

Outside the fence, children were playing happily. Ren Youlan's eyes were cloudy, tinged with sadness: "All these years, I haven't been able to give you a son or daughter."

“Isn’t Niu Niu very filial?” Ye Beixuan’s eyes were drawn to the mud fence wall, where a somewhat blurry portrait of a family of three had not been repainted in a long time. “I wonder how Niu Niu has been doing these years studying Taoism on the mountain.” Ren Youlan’s tone was tinged with regret: “If I had known, I should have let her get married earlier, so we could have a grandson.”

"That kid must be so envious!"

The shouts of tofu vendors drifted from afar, and Ren Youlan suddenly shivered slightly, muttering, "Cold."

Ye Beixuan quickly pulled his wife closer to him and said, "The first time I ate the tofu you made that year, I didn't really taste anything special. But now that I think about it, I could eat it for a lifetime and never get tired of it. It truly is the most delicious thing in the world."

Upon hearing this, Ren Youlan suddenly mustered all her strength, trying to flash the most beautiful smile she had ever shown, but a violent cough forced her to give up. Perhaps she really was getting old, no longer as beautiful as she once was.

Ye Beixuan quickly patted her back gently with the back of his hand, and her cough gradually subsided.

"My lord." After her breathing calmed down, Ren Youlan suddenly gripped his clothes tightly, her voice weak and feeble: "You spent your whole life telling me the ending of 'The Romance of the Western Chamber,' and I am very grateful to you."

"If there is a next life, I still want to be your bride."

Ye Beixuan pressed her icy hand against his cheek and said, "Okay, I'll do whatever you say. No matter who goes first, we must wait for each other on the path of reincarnation, so we don't get lost."

"Ah."

She gave a soft hum, and the weight in her arms suddenly increased.

A large expanse of withered orange leaves swirled and fell in the wind.

Holding the gradually cooling body, Ye Beixuan slid a tear down his cheek and murmured to himself, "Is this really just an illusion? Why did I feel such genuine emotions within it?"

As dusk fell, the last rays of the setting sun quietly disappeared into Ye Beixuan's white hair. Suddenly, an orange leaf twirled and floated up in the wind, hovering in mid-air.

In the sky, a girl dressed in white rode a sword and landed steadily in the courtyard.

"Father." The girl looked at her smiling mother, a smile very similar to Ren Youlan's, and said softly, "Mother has no regrets in this life, Father, you don't need to be too sad."

Ye Beixuan murmured to himself, "Why is it that everything feels so real when it's just an illusion?" Tears slowly slid down his withered face.

"Father, this is not an illusion." The girl knelt beside her parents in front of the chair, her voice choked with sobs, and said, "After you left, Mother longed for your return every day, and until her death, her heart was always filled with thoughts of you."

“Until my daughter met Aunt Aoqin.” Niu Niu continued, trembling, “Aunt Aoqin said you were trapped, so in the future, I used myself as a guide to lead Father to the moment when he first met Mother.”

It turns out that after meeting Ao Qin, Niu Niu discovered that her body had merged with the spatial artifact, the Moonlight Treasure Box. Ao Qin taught her Taoist arts and told her that her father would encounter a great calamity in the past and would need her help.

So she traveled between the future and the past, making up for her mother's regrets.

Ren Youlan, who was in Ye Beixuan's arms, suddenly turned into thousands of fireflies and disappeared.

Niu Niu suddenly coughed violently, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth: "These decades of life, I stole them. Now, I must send you back to where you belong, Father. Please complete your mission."

Before he could finish speaking, Ye Beixuan instinctively reached out to hold his daughter's hand. Just then, the old orange tree collapsed with a crash, and countless fragments of memories surged forth like a tidal wave.

Niu Niu gently pressed her forehead against her father's hand, just like when she was a child and did something wrong, trying to please her father so that she wouldn't be scolded by her mother: "Time correction will make you forget these things, but please don't forget me and Mom, Daddy."

As soon as she finished speaking, Niu Niu suddenly burst out with dazzling light.

The last thing Ye Beixuan saw was Niu Niu transforming into a stream of light, merging into the Moonlight Box, tearing open a spatial rift, and pulling him inside.

The space suddenly trembled violently, and Ye Beixuan stumbled and fell into a strange space. All around him were colorful ribbons.

He felt a sticky sensation in his palm and looked up abruptly. He saw a person with a face exactly like his own, sitting there leisurely drinking tea.

"Want a drink?" The Lord of the Blood Sea pointed to the seat opposite him, gesturing for him to sit down.

Ye Beixuan slowly rose, walked towards his other self, and then slowly sat down, the two facing each other. This feeling was truly strange.

"Ten thousand years ago, you and I drank tea in the same way." The Lord of the Blood Sea moved his fingertips slightly and said, "Try it and see if it tastes the same as it did back then."

As soon as he finished speaking, a glass cup floated to Ye Beixuan's front.

Ye Beixuan stared at the tea in the cup, and after a moment, tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp.

"Pangu separated heaven and earth," the Lord of the Blood Sea said calmly, "Do you know why he created the world?"

"I don't know." Ye Beixuan said calmly, picking up his teacup again.

"Then do you know about the Origin Continent?"

"I don't know, but I seem to know a little bit."

"It seems you've made a breakthrough." The voice of the Lord of the Blood Sea rang out again: "If you cooperate with me, you can break through to the Divine Profound Realm and reverse reincarnation..."

"Divine Profound Realm?" Ye Beixuan looked puzzled and asked, "What kind of realm is that?"

"It seems you truly don't know." The Lord of the Blood Sea's expression turned serious. "Why do you think Pangu created the world, and why did he disappear? I originally thought he was just hiding aside, gathering his strength, but now I understand that this world was nothing more than the junkyard he abandoned when he entered the Divine Realm..."

Then, the Lord of the Blood Sea recounted: It turns out that this world was created by people from a continent called the Beginning Continent. Everyone there had a book of creation, but unfortunately, some people abandoned it halfway through creation, resulting in a large number of unfinished world fragments.

The initial realm of creating a world is the Divine Sign Realm. If the rules of the world become more complete, one can enter the Divine Push Realm 1. After that, there are the Divine Push Realm 2, 3, and 4 in sequence.

If one's world rules are exceptionally good, one can even reach the Divine River Realm, or even the Divine Strong Realm. However, some people, seeking stability, directly aim for the Divine Assault Realm.

"Your level is far from sufficient. If we were to cooperate..."

"Cooperation?" Ye Beixuan shook his head calmly and said, "I refuse."

The Blood Sea space fell into dead silence instantly. Then, the Lord of the Blood Sea said angrily, "Why? Even if you are extremely lucky and enter the fourth realm of the Divine Push, there are still five levels after that, and then there are Heavenly King, Great God, Platinum, and the Five Emperors of the Central Plains."

"If you are not careful and fall into the Divine Slaughter Realm, you will have no choice but to cut off your own cultivation and start over. Without my help..."

"I can continue on without your help." Ye Beixuan shook his head and stood up: "You are nothing but the residue discarded when Pangu proved his Dao. Am I right?"

"Not negotiable?"

"Not negotiable."

The two stood up at the same time and stood facing each other.

On that day, a sea of ​​blood blotted out the sky, and intense light burst forth from within it.

Since then, the Mysterious Sea has never existed in the Immortal Realm again, and Ye Beixuan and Empress Wugou have disappeared without a trace.

Some say they had long since gone into seclusion to have children, while others say they perished together with the eerie sea of ​​blood; opinions vary widely.

Some years later.

Under a crooked orange tree, a boy dressed in a tattered blue shirt leaned against the trunk, holding a worn-out book in his hand.

Just then, a leaf drifted down, and a girl's voice rang out: "Who are you?"

The boy retorted, "Then who are you?"

"Me? My name is Ren Youlan, and this is my home. Who are you?" the girl said angrily, hands on her hips.

"Me? Yes, but who am I?"

Upon hearing this, the girl looked on in surprise: "You don't remember who you are? You don't even remember your name?"

The boy shook his head blankly: "Why don't you help me come up with a name?"

"Look at how skinny and emaciated you are..." The girl looked him up and down carefully, then pondered for a moment while pinching her chin, and said with certainty, "You have a fallen leaf in your arms, so let's call you Ye (叶). You're so thin, how about A Niu (阿牛)? Ye A Niu (叶阿牛), what do you think?"

"A-Niu, Ye A-Niu." The boy murmured to himself, then suddenly shouted happily, "A-Niu, okay, let's call him A-Niu."

That concludes the main text. I'll write the epilogue tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)