Gazing at the lantern, Luo Jianqing was lost in thought. Suddenly, a voice echoed inside his head. Luo Jianqing hesitated and then turned to Xuan Lingzi, “Master, do you still remember the Ninth Grade Godlike Pill who healed your Primordial Life? There is a fair possibility that the Great Master, Jiu Lian, was the guy who forged him. The Godlike Pill would like to come out and see the lantern. Is that ok?”
Xuan Lingzi nodded.
Luo Jianqing released Qing Jun at once.
The moment Qing Jun revealed himself, the nine lotuses floating on the Jade Liquid Stream generated thousands of beams of light, aiming directly at him like a parade of arrows. Xuan Lingzi flicked his sleeve, set up a ward around Qing Jun, protecting him while concealing his presence.
The elegant Pill Spirit stared at the lantern. His face gradually turned wan; then he slowly reached out and stroke the lantern. Luo Jianqing was about to stop him, but the ward surrounding the lantern acquiesced the touch. Qin Jun’s slender fingers gently touched the lotus patterns and every engraved line on the surface of the lantern and then stopped at the gash.
Fixing his eyes on the Life Lantern for a long time, at last, Qing Jun turned back and bowed, “Thank you, Luo Jianqing.”
“I helped little on finding the man whom you are waiting for.”
Qing Jun smiled, ethereally, “He is my Master. I should have known. I’ve waited for thirty thousand years, and finding him won’t be that easy. I am already satisfied and overjoyed by seeing his Life Lantern today. I am willing to devote my life to kindling this lantern, as its wick.”
Luo Jianqing was shocked, “Qing Jun, do you have any idea what it means? As a wick of Life Lantern, every minute, every millisecond, you will be burned and have to endure the scorching pain. Though Sir Jiu Lian’s Life Lantern is almost extinguished, it’s still…”
“I know, but I also know that if no one does it, maybe a hundred year later the flame will be gone forever.” Smiling, Qing Jun looked at the pair of Master and disciple. He fixed his eyes on Xuan Lingzi, and said something odd, “This is already arranged by Heavenly Will, perhaps. The destiny of the Peak Master of Yu Xiao Peak shall be carried on by me. Nine-lotus Qing Mo Pill will ignite this wick, no matter what it takes.”
Xuan Lingzi was stunned. At last, he asked, “You know, even if you keep the lantern kindling, that doesn’t mean a resurrection of Sir Jiu Lian, right?”
Qing Jun lowered his chin, “I know.”
Xuan Lingzi frowned, but Luo Jianqing was still trying to persuade Qing Jun to give up that idea, “This is Tai Hua Mountain’s Life Lantern, do you understand? You are a Pill Spirit, and if you really take this step, you might be trapped inside the lantern forever, never going to take back your freedom! Qing Jun, think it over, please, this is not a joke…”
The Pill Spirit replied Luo Jianqing with a kind smile, tender gaze fixed on the cultivator in bice who was nervous and worried about him.
Qing Jun did nothing but smile, and then, gradually, Luo Jianqing lowered his voice and eventually kept silent.
“The day I was brought to this world, as a Pill Spirit of a Ninth-Grade Godlike Pill, I didn’t run away from him, because I never thought that a cultivator as impressive and talented as him could even exist in this world. I stayed by his side for ten days, and I stayed on that mountain range for tens of thousands of years, waiting, hoping that he would return. He was, is, and always will be my master. His name is Jiu Lian, and I was named after him and his best friend. Nine-lotus Qing Mo Pill, I couldn’t leave him, given that I already lost the chance to save Mo Qing.”
Luo Jianqing was about to say something, but Xuan Lingzi held his hand.
Quietly, both of them looked at the Godlike Pill, while the latter took a big bow to them. Straightening up, Qing Jun beamed, “I guess today might be our farewell. Allow me to say goodbye through a song, putting an end to our forged destiny.”
He paused, and then flicked his sleeves. An ancient Guqin was summoned. Qing Jun sat on the ground in a lotus position, put Guqin on his lap and stroked the instrument with all the tenderness in the world. At last, he sighed, and plucked the strings.
It was a breathtaking melody, with climax like the call of a red-crowned crane, while the refrain was peaceful, like the chirping of larks. It was a sincere confess of one’s inner world, asking for an answer but was deemed to be trapped by solitude.
Qing Jun’s fingers were slender and soft like fine white jade. Strings were plucked; the Guqin made a melody containing no sorrow, but Luo Jianqing’s mind was weighed down.
Surrounded by the song, Luo Jianqing’s cultivation base was gradually stabled and even grew stronger. The aroma of pill was wafting among the stone chamber along with the melody, strengthening Luo Jianqing’s Cultivation Period while healing the wounds concealed inside Xuan Lingzi’s body.
On the Jade Liquid Stream, the nine bice lotuses were brought back some vitality.
Like the whispering of a lover, the song changed its emotion when the climax came. The longest distance was not that the two was separated by death; it was the fact that though I knew from the very beginning that there was no place for me in your heart, I would still wait for thirty thousand years, dreaming that you would return, and I would still be your wick and keep your lantern ignited.
A tear dropped on the Guqin, but Qing Jun continued playing.
When the coda was played, the Pill Spirit was already clutched by sorrow. Tear dripped down from the corner of his eyes, but he was still smiling gently, “This is a song that my Master used to play, tens of thousands of years ago. The Great Elder of the Mo Family was his friend of life and death. He couldn’t bear the loss of his best friend, so he improvised this song. It still lacks a name. You can name it if you want.”
Standing up, Qing Jun presented this Guqin to Luo Jianqing, “I made this Guqin twenty thousand years ago, using a piece of ailanthus wood. If you like it, you can keep it and play it anytime you want to. I doubt that I could play it after I become the wick.”
The Guqin vibrated, but Qing Jun ignored it completely. As if he had sensed nothing, he still presented the instrument to Luo Jianqing.
Taking the Guqin, Luo Jianqing called his name hoarsely, “Qing Jun!”
Qing Jun beamed at him and plucked the air with his finger. A wisp of bice light dashed toward Luo Jianqing’s forehead and emerged into his bice Lotus Sword Pattern located between his eyebrows, brightening the seal. Without saying anything, Qing Jun then transformed himself into a beam of bice light and flew into the bice jade lantern.
Boom!
Massive amount of Spiritual Power was released. Waves of fragrant Pill Aroma dispersed in the stone Chamber, reviving the withered lotuses and bringing back its vitality. At the center of the chamber, the Life Lantern suddenly generated a plume of light. The spark went ablaze, but the wick was still not fully aflame.
A bice-colored wick stood solemnly at the center of the jade lantern.
Elegant like a jade, the wick was generating colossal coercion, as if an invisible fire was flaming inside the lantern. Releasing Spiritual Power, the wick tried its best to ignite it, using its own energy to be the fuel. However, the spark was only lightened a little, and the lantern had no other response.
As the wick, lighting the jade lantern forever; as the wick, suffering from the scorching pain and a future in confinement!
Holding the Guqin in his hand, Luo Jianqing left the stone chamber. He was not expecting today to be the day to say farewell to Qingjun. Closing his eyes, he could easily recall the words that Qing Jun said in Wan Shou Mountain Range.
Graceful, calm, ethereal, the Godlike Pill said:
“What is transform? What is origin?”
“Why give in to lust? Why desire for something that doesn’t belong to you?”
…
“You are not whom I am waiting for.”
Right, we are not whom you are waiting for, but you know the truth all the time – he will never come back.