Volcanic Age-Chapter 429.2 Zhou Xuchuan (2)

Sichuan, an unknown forest.
The area was thick with trees. The climate here may have been warm, as the snow had already melted.
"You've arrived."
Zhou Xuchuan turned around at the voice.
"Poison Phoenix. No, should I call you Matriarch?"
"I'm going to get goosebumps out of disgust, so drop it. If you keep talking like that, I might lose my temper and spray poison in your face."
"Aren't you being too mean just because you became a Matriarch?"
"Stop being ridiculous. More importantly…"
Tang Hui looked at Zhou Xuchuan and the people around him.
“I sincerely congratulate you on becoming the Matriarch of the Tang Family," the Divine Physician said, cupping his fist and congratulating her politely.
Tang Hui’s gaze shifted to the girl who wasn't even an adult yet right next to the Divine Physician. It was Little Ghost, the Phantom.
"Are you planning on trying to do something with the Mind Qi Separator?"
Tang Hui raised her left hand and showed off a ring-shaped artifact.
“Well, this and that.”
Zhou Xuchuan approached Tang Hui and offered his palm.
Tang Hui looked down at his palm.
“What’s wrong?”
“…it's nothing.”
She bit her lips slightly and placed her left hand on top of his.
The warmth of his touch surprised her. It might’ve been the first time they’d ever held hands like this.
The ring on her ring finger slowly fell off. Her skin underneath it was pale, marking of how long she had worn it.
Tang Hui stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly curled her fingers into a fist.
“What’s wrong?” Zhou Xuchuan asked curiously.
“Tell me.”
“What?”
“Tell me what you’re going to use it for.”
She didn’t know why she felt the need to ask, but she did.
"I'm thinking of trying to restore Little Ghost's mind."
“Little Ghost?”
Tang Hui looked surprised.
“Is that even possible?”
“I’m not sure, but I think it’ll work somehow.”
“What about the side effects?”
“Hmm…”
Zhou Xuchuan hummed in reply.
Only then did Tang Hui realize why the Divine Physician had accompanied him.
"How could it not be possible when we're going to use Innate True Qi?" the Divine Physician answered on Zhou Xuchuan’s behalf.
Even if the results were hopeless, a physician had to tell the truth. He couldn’t lie.
"It's a miracle you're even alive," he said to Zhou Xuchuan.
“I know.”
Zhou Xuchuan smiled bitterly.
“Still, there’s nothing I can do…”
“Don’t make me laugh!”
Zhou Xuchuan flinched at Tang Hui’s sudden outburst.
“Why are you doing this?” Tang Hui muttered as if she couldn’t understand.
"You've been trying so hard to stop the Dark Heavens Association all this time, and you've even given up part of your life for this. To be honest, it wasn't for revenge, and now, you're even going this far to help someone who has nothing to do with you. Are you in your right mind?"
The Dark Heavens Association Lord hadn’t understood Zhou Xuchuan until the very end.
No, no one could.
While things may have been different if his lover, his teacher, or even his disciple brothers or sisters had been slaughtered and he had been burning with revenge, it wasn't like that.
His obsession was simply incomprehensible.
“No one will say anything if you take a break. Don’t sacrifice any more. I'm telling you to take what you had given up all this time now. Spend your time in love with Luo Xiaoyue. Live your life while being praised as the Empyrean Overlord and Sword God! Do you even know what sort of feelings I had when I gave up on you?!"
“You…"
“Do you know how much I suffered when I thought I lost you in the Great War of Good and Demonic? Listen carefully, Zhou Xuchuan.”
Tang Hui covered Zhou Xuchuan's hands with both hands.
“I… I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose the person I love again. Please, enough.”
A single tear rolled down her cheek.
Zhou Xuchuan looked at Tang Hui silently, then raised his other hand and gently stroked her cheek, wiping away her tears.
“Don’t worry. I won’t die.”
“That’s a lie.”
"It's not. I promise. Won’t you trust me?”
Zhou Xuchuan met her gaze and smiled softly.
Maybe this was why they said, like Master, like Disciple. He resembled Liu Zhengmu.
“Please, Tang Hui. Trust me.”
“Don't you really… know that you’re a coward?”
Tang Hui felt resentful of him.
It was said that the one who fell in love first was the weak one. When he stroked her cheek and smiled, asking her for a favor, her heart wavered.
Her pride was hurt, knowing that she already knew that this was going to happen, and yet still falling for it.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes. Let’s get started right away. If something goes wrong, please save this child instead of me. Please.”
Zhou Xuchuan walked away from Tang Hui and went to Little Ghost.
Little Ghost, as always, stood there as if she had no soul.
The Mind Qi Separator is an artifact that can separate one's self from their qi. If I use this artifact along with Regression, I may be able to restore her individuality.
Zhou Xuchuan sat across from Little Ghost and held her hand.
True Yuan Flame.
His pure white hair fluttered. The source of his soul and body, the beginning of his essence, the Innate True Qi flowed out.
Zhou Xuchuan closed his eyes tightly and recalled the conversation he had with the Divine Physician a while ago.
You lost your cultivation?
Yes. Not all of it, just some of it. Still, it seems impossible to obtain it again.
Well, you were able to turn back time itself and even use your Innate True Qi and still survive, so that much is more than acceptable. You're still alive, so let's just move on.
But what do you think would happen if I used it one more time?
What, do you have a death wish or something?
If one used the Innate True Qi, one would die. Even if one had immense luck, they would still end up a wreck. However, Zhou Xuchuan had been relatively unharmed.
Was it because of the side effect of the Ten Thousand Convergence Art applying here, or was it that the side effects of using the Innate True Qi applied oddly?
Since using Innate True Qi was still an area of martial arts that hadn't been uncovered, the exact reason was unknown. All he could do was guess.
“I really don’t understand.”
The Divine Physician muttered to Tang Hui as he looked at Zhou Xuchuan and Little Ghost.
“This old man may not be a martial artist, but he knows very well that one's cultivation is more valuable than one's life to a martial artist. That statement is even more true considering this is power close to that of a God which had saved the
murim
. And yet, he's going to throw it all away to save a girl? I couldn't understand his thought process whatsoever, so I asked him. Still, do you know what he said?"
The Divine Physician frowned and recalled.
It wasn't something that I should’ve had to begin with.
Zhou Xuchuan separated Little Ghost’s qi and consciousness.
There was nothing left within her mind, a lack of the individual thought (思考) that should have been there due to the Mind Killing. It was this individual thought that Zhou Xuchuan had to regress.
This wasn't something like a record engraved on the brain.
No, dealing with the mind meant dealing with the soul. He was restoring the Phantom killed by the Valley of Phantoms through the past.
Time flowed backwards. It regressed.
And, as a side effect, his cultivation disappeared, technique by technique.
Zhou Xuchuan instinctively knew.
He would no longer be able to learn anything new. Moreover, if he lost the arts he already had, he wouldn't be able to find them again.
The Eclipse Divine Archery Art.
The Divine Phantom Art.
The Green Eyes Ten Thousand Poisons Art.
The Ten-Thousand Jin Sword.
The Iron Shirt.
The Flicking Sword Tune.
The Encrypted Voice Transmission.
The Dragon Roar.
The South Sea Single Blade Flow.
The Water Man Art.
The Power Strike Fist.
The Resonant Palm.
The Heavy Plain Step.
The Ten Thousand Convergence Art.
The True Yuan Flame.
Then, one of his foundations, the Violet Haze Divine Art, also disappeared.
There was no hesitation in his actions. He threw everything away without a single thought.
Both Daoism and Buddhism taught that if one truly threw everything away. One would ascend to the highest level or enter nirvana. However, Zhou Xuchuan was someone who could never do that.
That was because he still had too many regrets. No, most likely, he would just end up becoming an ordinary person.
However, that didn't matter.
Actions are accompanied by responsibility. I've been using Little Ghost to my heart's content, using the excuse that I needed to save the murim as my crutch.
The phrase, 'there was no other way', wasn't something that was excusable.
I don't know what will happen next. I might fail, and there's a chance I won't just lose my cultivation, but my life as well. However, that doesn't mean I shouldn't try.
In the end, the only things he didn’t lose were the Plum Blossom Cultivation Art and the Plum Blossom Sword.
When he raised his eyelids, he saw Little Ghost.
“Little Ghost?”
Zhou Xuchuan asked hopefully.
“…”
"Little… Ghost…"
His heart sank. His hair turned even whiter.
"What… what does it mean to be a hero…"
His hands lost their strength. His body trembled.
“I said, what does it mean to be a hero?!"
Zhou Xuchuan had pretended not to know the darkness of the Righteous Faction. He had let things slide, thinking that he had no other choice. He made excuses to save the people.
"The Sword God? A hero? Stop spewing bullshit! I'm just Zhou Xuchuan! I'm nothing, just a mere Zhou Xuchuan!"
Every time he had given Little Ghost an order, he had felt nauseous.
“What…”
Tap.
Zhou Xuchuan’s eyes widened as he tried to continue. His right cheek was lifted up suddenly by thin fingers.
“Are you sad?”
He raised his head that had been down.
In front of him was a girl who didn’t know what to do.
"Phantom Sovereign, if you're sad, then I, too, am sad."
"Ahh…"
"Phantom Sovereign?"
"AHHH!!!""
Thud!
He hugged her tightly, as if she might disappear, and didn’t let go.
And in that moment, tears came.
He didn’t know why.
He didn’t know if it was relief or joy.
Zhou Xuchuan cried in Little Ghost’s arms. As if he had become a child, he cried and sobbed loudly.
Suddenly, he realized that it had been a long time since he had cried.
***
I had always watched their backs from behind.
I had just wanted to be like them, so I had followed their silhouettes.
So, how was it?
Do you think I could walk alongside you too?
– Fourth Generation Disciple of the Mount Hua Sect, Zhou Xuchuan. –
<End>