It was a profound question, and in response, Patriarch Spirit Stream simply stood there quietly for a moment. The truth was that he didn’t have an answer. A long moment passed, and he seemed to grow a bit older. Then he looked back at Bai Xiaochun, his eyes warm but tinged with pain.
It was pain because of the sorrow he felt for his most outstanding of all the Spirit Stream Division disciples. After all, he knew that from the first day Bai Xiaochun had joined the sect, he had feared death and dreamed of being able to live forever.
Patriarch Spirit Stream had watched this disciple tackle the brutal cultivation world, and yet never forget his dream of living forever. There was a purity and innocence in that which was very, very rare.
“Xiaochun…” he said softly. “You’re right. As long as we’re alive, there are endless possibilities. But just because we die doesn’t mean that our hopes and dreams die with us!
“I can’t speak for anyone else, but I can say that when I look at all of these graves, I'm absolutely certain… that these disciples who died in battle did it because of the Dao that existed in their hearts!”
“What do you mean Dao?” Bai Xiaochun replied, confused. He had been asked a similar question back in the rainbow trial by fire in the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect. And although he had never answered the question, he had the vague feeling that his Dao… was to live forever.
“The word Dao is profound and deep,” the patriarch answered. “No one can really explain it perfectly…. As for me, only by living for many, many years have I been able to experience what it means….
“Dao is focus. Think about all of these heroes who fell in battle. Do you think they weren’t afraid of death? Do you think they didn’t want to live forever? They were afraid. And they did want to live forever! But the sect was their home, and they were fighting to defend and protect it. They were willing to sacrifice their own lives, even to the point of giving up on their own wishes and desires. No matter how much it pained them, they swore to die defending their home!
“As for me, I long since made up my mind. Even if everyone else managed to escape, I would stay behind. If our sect goes down in flames, I will go with it!
“Isn’t it the same with you, Xiaochun…? Back in that battle in the Luochen Mountains, why did you go back to save your fellow disciples? Didn’t you know that if you went back, you might die?
“What would have happened if, instead of facing three devas earlier, it was three demigods…? Would you have come to fight? Or would you have lingered in the distance, watched us die, and then fled?”
The words struck Bai Xiaochun’s heart like a lightning bolt. He had never thought of questions like this before, and wasn’t even sure how to answer them. The truth was that in the sect’s moment of impending doom, he hadn’t been thinking of anything. He just couldn’t stand to watch it be wiped out in front of him, and had felt he had no choice but to advance into battle.
As he pondered these matters, he was suddenly struck by a revelation. Although his focus in life was to live forever… there were too many other things in the world he cared about. He couldn’t simply forget about those things, and that meant that, even if he didn’t like it, sometimes he had to resort to fighting and killing. It was like a natural law of heaven and earth.
When danger threatened his friends, his family, his sect, or his home, then it didn’t matter how much he wanted to live forever. He would always do the same thing!
He would always make the same choice!
“Life and death….” Considering how many years Patriarch Spirit Stream had lived, and the state of his longevity, when he talked about life and death, it somehow seemed more meaningful.
“Sometimes, you might be alive… and yet be dead to certain people….
“And sometimes, you might be dead, and yet be alive…. Zhou Xinqi perished, but she lives for all time in Shangguan Tianyou's heart! That black dog is dead, but exists eternally for Beihan Lie!
“Look at all the names on these graves, Xiaochun. These disciples died in battle, but from now on, everyone in the River-Defying Sect will remember them! Who will ever dare to forget them!?” Patriarch Spirit Stream spoke with decisiveness that could sever nails and chop iron. His words were like a thunderclap that resonated in Bai Xiaochun’s mind and heart, causing a tremor to pass through him. It was almost as if a door had been opened inside of him, making certain thoughts and feelings which had once been obscured to suddenly be as clear as day.
His eyes flickered with enlightenment at the profound implications of the words which had just been spoken. He suddenly felt as if he understood the meaning of life and death, and also understood why he would always make that one particular choice. It was because… of focus!
Although grief still existed in his heart, the more he thought about his new understanding, the more that grief resembled respect. Then he clasped hands and bowed deeply to all of the graves! Even after a long moment, he didn’t rise from his bow.
“I understand now, Patriarch….” he murmured. He was bowing to those who had died in battle, to their sacrifice, to their fearlessness. He was bowing… to the souls of true heroes!
As long as the sect existed… then these disciples who had fallen in battle would live in the hearts of the sect, for all eternity!
They had died, but would exist for all time!
Please go to
install our App to read the latest chapters for free
Chapter
879: Que'er! What Are You Doing Here?
Upon seeing that Bai Xiaochun’s reservations had been cleared up, a smile broke out on Patriarch Spirit Stream’s face. The truth was that he cared very much for Bai Xiaochun, and not just because of how he had just defeated the three enemy devas.
Bai Xiaochun was the heart and the soul of the River-Defying Sect. It didn’t matter that the Spirit and Blood Stream Divisions were now fully integrated; there was no one who could replace Bai Xiaochun!
Most importantly, Bai Xiaochun had the most orthodox and proper background within the Spirit Stream Division!
All of a sudden, the patriarch seemed to remember something. “Xiaochun, you were missing for a long time in the Wildlands. Now that you're back, I have to ask: did you hear about the matter of the Celestial selecting a new apprentice?”
“The Celestial is picking a new apprentice?” Bai Xiaochun said, a look of shock appearing on his face.
The patriarch nodded. “Even I'm not too familiar with what happens in this situation. However, the entire affair should be kicking off soon. All four of the riversource sects are making preparations.
“According to what I heard, any Nascent Soul cultivator can join the running. As long as they’re from the Heavenspan River region, it doesn’t matter if they belong to a sect, a clan, or even if they’re a rogue cultivator. All Nascent Soul cultivators qualify to go to Heavenspan Island!” Patriarch Spirit Stream sighed. Considering how old he was, he knew that he wasn’t suitable for such a position. After all, there was no shortage of Nascent Soul cultivators in the Heavenspan River region.
For one Nascent Soul cultivator to beat so many others to win a spot would be like a mortal being able to ascend to the heavens!
However, there was hope for Bai Xiaochun. Despite the fact that he could clearly defeat almost anyone else in his generation, he clearly had not yet become a deva.
Despite being merely a half-deva, he had killed one true deva, crippled another, and forced a third to flee. Patriarch Spirit Stream had never heard of anything like that happening in the eastern Heavenspan River, and although he couldn’t be sure if something as heaven-defying had occurred in the other three major rivers, he knew it was definitely unprecedented.
This was Bai Xiaochun’s first time hearing about the Celestial taking a new apprentice, but all it did was cause him to shake his head. Because of what he had witnessed in that spectacular battle in the Wildlands, he just didn’t have a very good impression of the Celestial….