'The first change of heart was due to my love for Bai Su … 'Su Ming grabbed his chest, and the scene from the past appeared in his head.
'The second change of heart was a little indistinct, but I could sense that it started when I gained an epiphany about the four seasons, and when I moved from death to life from midwinter to spring. It ended when I gained an epiphany about the will of autumn in Eastern Wastelands Tower.
'The third change of heart … is due to my home. ' The stars and moon in the sky had already become dull and could no longer be seen. Only the sun was still shining brightly in the sky. The arrival of a new day blew away the darkness and removed the self-deceptions, causing the people in Crimson Flame Planet to once again sense the brutality and reality around them.
'There are three ways to get through a change of heart. The first is to fight, the second is to cut, and the third … to forget.
'But I no longer have any love, no longer have any pain. I don't want to cut off my thoughts about home, much less forget … Even if I fight, what's the use? 'Su Ming closed his eyes, covering the sun and moon in his eyes.
After a long while, when Su Ming opened his eyes once again, he slowly stood up. As he did so, Yue Hong Bang immediately charged towards him from the distance.
Su Ming looked at Yue Hong Bang, then at the large amount of blue stones that had been worshiped over the past year. He sucked in a deep breath of the hot air in the place.
"I'm going out for a while. You will be in full charge of the matters in the northern region." Su Ming looked into the distance and said flatly. He moved, and the Crimson Python Phoenix that had been asleep for a year immediately moved. As its roars reverberated in the air, it flew out and landed under Su Ming's feet, bringing him along as it turned into a long arc and charged forward. A black shadow flapped its wings behind them and swiftly caught up to them. Naturally, that shadow was the bald crane.
Yue Hong Bang wrapped his fist in his palm and watched Su Ming leave into the distance. When he disappeared into the horizon, he had a vague feeling that Su Ming was slightly different from how he was a year ago, but he could not tell just what was different. It was just a feeling.
Su Ming flew through Crimson Flame Planet with a calm expression. He walked past mountains and deserts, and on the mountains, he found a type of red grass. This grass grew in volcanoes, and it gave off a fiery presence.
When he found a mountain — a dead volcano. It looked incredibly similar to the ninth summit. Su Ming stared at it quietly. After a long while, he lifted his right hand, and the killing sword appeared. He moved like a gust of wind and surrounded the mountain.
Mountain rocks shattered and dust flew into the air. After a whole day, as Su Ming changed the mountain, it gradually became more similar to the ninth summit. In fact, Su Ming had even opened up a cave abode at the top of the mountain. Second senior brother's courtyard was in the mountain, and Su Ming's platform and Hu Zi's place of residence were in the mountain. Eldest senior brother's isolation grounds were at the bottom of the mountain.
When the mountain appeared before Su Ming, he stared at it for a long, long time.
When the sky turned dark and the moon hung high in the sky, the land became indistinct. Su Ming looked at the ninth summit and smiled. That smile was incredibly cold and merciless, as if he was wearing a mask. However, this was not Su Ming's original intention. As he smiled, a sharp stab of pain shot through his heart once again.
However, this time, the pain did not just come from his heart. There was also a great will that seemed to have descended on Su Ming's aloof face, causing his face to start twitching in the midst of that icy coldness. Gradually, a black mask seemed to have appeared on his face.
Su Ming knew that his actions were, in a sense, a form of love. This homesickness and love was not something he was allowed to have. It was cut off, but his actions were the complete opposite of his aloofness. This caused the mask that had disappeared from his face to appear, and the will contained within it also started suppressing Su Ming.
Blood trickled out of the corners of Su Ming's mouth, but he still lifted his feet and quietly went to the top of the mountain to sit down alone. The Crimson Python Phoenix lay down at the foot of the mountain. It seemed to have noticed the ripples in Su Ming's heart, and it was because he did not want anyone to disturb his thoughts.
The bald crane stared at everything Su Ming had done for the entire day in a daze. The usually active bird suddenly fell silent. It looked at the ninth summit before its eyes and gradually came to Su Ming's side. It looked at Su Ming's aloof face, the blood at the corners of his mouth, and the way he clenched his heart. Grief appeared on the bald crane's face.
"I will not cut off my longing for home, neither will I forget … I will choose pain! Let the pain in my heart remember that feeling. Let me feel this pain at all times. Only by doing so will I remember it … and never forget it, "Su Ming mumbled. He was afraid that one day, he would forget his longing for home. He was afraid that he would gradually lose himself in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence in the midst of this aloofness and mercilessness.
That was why he had to remember this pain in his heart.
In silence, he brought out the red grass he had gathered along the way from his storage bag and began weaving knots in his hands. When morning arrived, he finished weaving a grass puppet before Su Ming.
That grass puppet had no head.
However, the blood Su Ming had bitten off the tip of his tongue and dripped out of its body. That blood gave the grass puppet signs of life, causing it to look as if it was alive.
It did not look like his eldest senior brother, but in Su Ming's eyes, it was not him. He was his eldest senior brother!
Su Ming looked at the red grass puppet that represented his eldest senior brother. His expression was aloof, and his heart could not be seen. However, his focused expression seemed to represent everything.
However, at that moment, the mask that had disappeared during the night appeared on his face once again. This time, the will spreading out from it was even stronger, causing Su Ming's body to shudder. Signs of corrosion appeared on his face, and wisps of green smoke spread out from it. He did not feel any pain, but the will spreading out from the mask was forcing Su Ming to stop his actions.
Su Ming trembled. He felt as if he could not control his hands, as if the will on the mask had taken control of his body, causing him to cough up a huge mouthful of blood.
Su Ming's gaze turned even colder, but once he coughed up blood, he gritted his teeth and struggled to slowly lift his right hand. He brought out some red grass once again, and as his hands trembled, he slowly tied knots. This simple action was incredibly difficult for him to do at that moment, but he persevered.
During the three days, he finished weaving the second red doll. That doll had Su Ming's blood in it, and it looked as if it was smiling. It was as if that gentle smile would always be there no matter when or where it was.
When the second doll was finished weaving, sunlight shone brightly on the side of the doll's face, causing a dazed memory to spread out from that smile.
In that memory, the corrosion of the mask on Su Ming's face became even worse. The will that came from it let out a bang in Su Ming's head, and blood trickled out of the corners of his mouth. Under the pain that surpassed all other forms of pain, even though he felt no pain, he fell to the side.
Seven days later, Su Ming opened his eyes. They were bloodshot, and his body was incredibly weak. That feeling of weakness made him feel as if his heart had been injured, but once he opened his eyes, he brought out the red grass again and started weaving them with trembling hands.
This time, Su Ming fainted three times because of the booming sounds from the will. When a month later, not a hint of light could be seen on his body, but the third doll appeared before him.
It was a simple and honest doll with a silly expression on its face. When Su Ming looked at it, he smiled. That smile was cold, and there was not a hint of emotion in it. However, when the bald crane heard it, everything that had happened during the past month and the aloof laughter was more real than anything else in the world.
"You can cut off my future emotions, but you can't cut off the thoughts in my memories …" Su Ming picked up the red grass. When he started weaving the fourth doll, blood dripped down from his face. The will from the mask was so strong at that instant that it could even make Su Ming's soul tremble.
Su Ming lifted his head and let out a roar towards the sky.
His hands trembled as he tried to weave the grass knots again and again. When another month passed, the fourth doll appeared before Su Ming.
It was a woman, a woman who turned her head around and smiled. She was Bai Su.
When the doll appeared, Su Ming's hands had already split apart. He was incredibly weak, and he was almost at the end of his rope. However, in his aloof eyes, the bright sun in his left eye and the bright moon in his right eye became even clearer, and they occupied all the spots in his pupils.
He brought out some more red grass to weave the fifth doll - Yu Xuan.
Yet this time, Su Ming could not tie the first knot no matter what he did. Every single time he was about to tie the knot, the image of the person who had closed her eyes but was unable to catch her would appear in his heart, and she would disappear into the distance would appear in his heart.
He continued trying, but he could not make the knot. The mask on Su Ming's face shone with a dark light. At the same time it covered his face, the eyes that were revealed became even more aloof and merciless.
"Sir, you've been here for a long time. How long do you intend to keep watching me?" Su Ming looked at the red grass in his hand that he could not make the first knot. He did not lift his head, but spoke languidly with a voice that was filled with a bone-chilling chill.
A sigh came from the sky, and Tian Lin appeared in midair. With a complicated expression, he looked at the black mask on Su Ming's face, at the dolls before him, and at the red grass in his hand, which was now filled with wrinkles.
"Sir, why do you have to do this? I can tell that there's a sealing power on your mask, but why are you fighting against it?" Right when Tian Lin said those words, Su Ming lifted his head. In his left eye was the bright sun, and in his right eye was the bright moon. At the instant he looked towards Tian Lin, Tian Lin's words came to an abrupt halt. His gaze met Su Ming's, and a loud bang immediately rang out in his heart.
As that rumble reverberated in the air, Su Ming and the mountain disappeared before his eyes, and a withered grassland appeared. There were a few families on the grassland, and at that moment, they were letting out shrill cries. It was the sound of a True Guard dressed in red robes coming to slaughter them. In the end, the True Guard, who was built and exuded a bloody stench, fought against a trembling young man whose face was filled with fear, but every single time the True Guard swung his arm, he would be forced back with blood gushing out of his mouth.
"You clearly know that you can't win against me, yet you still dare to fight against me? Oh well, I'll let you live, a child of Tian Kui's fifth generation descendant.
Once the slaughter ended and the True Guard left, the young man threw his head back and let out a shrill roar. He knelt down on the ground and shed tears of blood.
All of this might have disappeared in an instant, but Tian Lin still shuddered. His eyes turned red in midair. This was the deepest pain hidden in his heart. It was something that had happened thousands of years ago in his homeland in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence!
His breathing quickened, and he looked towards Su Ming.
"What is this Art?!"
"The bright sun represents reality, the bright moon represents hope, and the stars … represent home. This is what I have come to understand, the illusion of the stars, sun, and moon. "As for why you asked me why I fought against it just now, my answer is the same as why you fought against the True Guard." Su Ming picked up the four dolls before him, and with his blood contained in them, he slowly fused them into his body, as if … he was one with them.
Su Ming knew that his third change of heart was just the beginning. It had not ended yet. The true end would be when he made all the dolls and fused them into his body. With this method, he would go through his third change of heart.
These two chapters took a lot of effort to write, and I was never satisfied with them, so I had to revise them a few times. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian.Com and vote for me. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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