The Sorrowmender

Chapter 72 – Cannot walk together, go find your own path

"Then let me ask you first, how do you think you compare to me, and to others?"

Li San's eyes showed a hint of doubt. He didn't understand why Mister would ask such a question, but he answered earnestly:

"Compared to Mister, I am like a mayfly, a frog at the bottom of a well. Compared to ordinary people, I am just about adequate."

Xu Qingzhou asked again, "And how do you compare to this Vast and Righteous World?"

Li San's eyes grew more complex, tinged with a bit of bitterness, "The Vast and Righteous World is like the stars and rivers, I am but a firefly."

Xu Qingzhou nodded in satisfaction and said something meaningful.

"When one's words carry no weight, one should not advise others. When one's strength is insufficient, one should not do good deeds. Do you understand the meaning?"

Li San was taken aback, a self-mocking smile appearing on his lips. He wasn't foolish; Xu Qingzhou had laid it out clearly, how could he pretend not to understand?

"Mister is saying that I am too weak, that even if I follow you, I can't help you and would instead become a burden, so you disdain me."

Xu Qingzhou looked at him calmly, "One falsehood, one truth, which do you want to hear?"

"What is the falsehood?"

"Disdain."

"And the truth?"

"True disdain."

In the exchange, Li San was stunned again, but then he chuckled softly.

"Mister, you truly have a sense of humor."

The atmosphere inexplicably lightened due to Xu Qingzhou's jest.

He spoke the truth, yet it was a truth Li San didn't resent, because what Mister said was indeed correct.

Xu Qingzhou patted Li San's shoulder.

"Just a joke, it's not that I disdain you. But remember what I said, you are now Li San, Li San of the Vast and Righteous World, no longer Li San of Linfeng."

"Do what you want to do, it's not that you can't do good deeds, it's just that right now, you can't, at least not alongside me."

"Birds and fish have different paths, you and I are ultimately not the same kind of people. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Listening to Xu Qingzhou's earnest teachings, Li San nodded heavily.

"I understand what Mister is saying, it's just..." He lowered his brows, avoiding Xu Qingzhou's gaze, as if he didn't want him to see the confusion in his eyes.

"It's just that I don't know where I should go or what I should do."

Xu Qingzhou squinted his eyes and smiled, "So, you want to follow me because you have nowhere else to go, not because you truly want to do good deeds?"

"Of course not... but what Mister said is indeed right, I... sigh!"

Perhaps even he couldn't figure out what he wanted, just like Ning Feng, people like them were controlled by a curse mark for the first half of their lives.

They stayed in a fixed circle, unable to jump out.

But they desperately wanted to jump out.

Yet when they finally did one day, they didn't know what to do.

This world is vast, yet they can never find a place to settle.

They are not only physically unsettled, but their hearts are also unsettled.

How could Xu Qingzhou not know? After all, Ning Feng was not the only one.

He took out a cloth bag and placed it in Li San's arms.

"Mister, this is—"

Xu Qingzhou said, "Since you don't know what to do, then do me a favor and deliver the contents of this bag to Wang Dong'er, who runs a restaurant in Frostsky City."

Li San didn't hesitate and nodded in agreement.

"Alright, I'll help Mister."

Xu Qingzhou patted his shoulder again, sighed, and his eyes carried a hint of depth.

He turned around and walked towards the horse and Wuyou, but after a few steps, he stopped and looked back:

"Li San."

"Mister, I'm here."

"From here to Linfeng, it takes about half a day. I have three questions for you, remember them."

"Mister, please go ahead."

Xu Qingzhou slowly said, "Ask yourself, who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?"

After a pause, he withdrew his sidelong glance and looked up at the sky, where the blue sky and white clouds floated leisurely, and continued:

"If you still can't find the answers when you reach Frostsky City, then keep walking, explore this world, turn the vastness of heaven and earth into the roads you have traveled, until you find the answers."

"One day, you will understand, and maybe you can become a great Mister too."

With that, Xu Qingzhou waved his hand, "I'm leaving."

He left with Wuyou and the white-haired girl, leaving Li San holding the cloth bag, standing alone.

This time, Xu Qingzhou didn't say goodbye to Li San, nor did he bid farewell.

It wasn't that he looked down on Li San, but because Li San was a person without a soul, a person who had lost his soul.

Seeing or not seeing, saying or not saying, what difference does it make?

He hoped Li San could find his own path and know what he should do.

Until he knows who he is.

Li San stood there, his gaze unmoving for a long time, lost in thought, with Xu Qingzhou's three questions echoing in his ears.

Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?

These are such simple questions, yet Li San found himself unable to answer them.

After a long, long time, until the wind stopped blowing, the clouds dispersed, and the figures in his vision disappeared, he finally woke from his thoughts.

First, he looked at the package in his arms, then at the road he came from.

Tightening his grip on the bundle, he stepped forward.

"Then I'll follow Mister's advice, keep walking until I find the answers..."

On the other side, on the road.

Wuyou and the white-haired girl rode on the same horse, walking alongside Xu Qingzhou.

The white-haired girl asked, "What you just said to that fool, is it true?"

"Which part are you referring to?"

"The last part, can he really find the answers?"

Xu Qingzhou smiled knowingly and teased.

"Little White, you seem to care about him."

"I just beat him up a few times, not familiar, and I'm called Xu Dajiang, not Little White."

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

"Alright, Little White."

"Boring—"

Xu Qingzhou didn't answer further. Whether he could find the answers, he didn't know. After all, people have to keep moving forward, don't they?

As long as you keep walking, you will eventually find your place.

He only regretted that he couldn't relieve the man's worries, and it was precisely because of this that he read books, hoping to find the great principle that could save the man, the method to save the man.

It's just that this process is destined to be very long.

Xu Qingzhou didn't respond, and the white-haired girl tacitly didn't ask further.

————

"Master, where are we going?"

On the road, Wuyou asked a question similar to Li San's.

The white-haired girl looked over, as it was also a question she wanted to ask.

Xu Qingzhou laughed heartily, "Travel across thousands of mountains and rivers, see the world's splendor, day and night."

"Ride the horse and sing, wander the ends of the earth."

"Hehe—great, Master, will we come back?"

"Maybe we will, maybe we won't."

"Oh, then I hope we will, so I can see Sister Dong'er, Aunt Wang, Uncle Zhang again. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to them, I wonder if they'll be angry."

Listening to Little Wuyou's chatter, Xu Qingzhou softly spoke to the wind.

"They won't, they won't be angry, and they won't see us again."

In the world of cultivating immortality, the road is long, the horse is slow, and most farewells are forever.

Meeting again is like a lifetime apart.

Wuyou doesn't understand now, and he hopes she never will.

This journey, indefinite.

"Spring breeze proud, horse hooves swift, not believing in earthly farewells."

"Goodbye, Frostsky."

"Vast and Righteous World, here I come—"

...