Volume 3: Old Tales of Kunlun
I Don’t Believe I Came Too Late…
“You Yan, I didn’t mean to…” The little alpaca subconsciously took two steps back. She shook her head in panic, her gaze unconsciously evading, “I didn’t want to disturb your dad, I just saw something come in, and I was afraid…”
The young girl quietly gazed at her; those eyes, gradually turning red, carried pain and interrogation. Such a look made her extremely afraid.
She did not know what she had stumbled upon. Her brain was a chaotic mess, yet she clearly realized one point——what she had stumbled upon was precisely the thing You Yan had been evading all along.
“Daddy doesn’t like being disturbed… Why did you, why did you come in…”
The young girl murmured in a low voice. She tightly gripped that sheet of xuan paper1 in her hand. Her fingernails gradually lengthened, turning dark red and black, like poisonous spikes.
“If Daddy sees, he will get angry…”
She bent down, wanting to tidy up the papers filling the ground, but the right hand she extended could not help but stagnate in mid-air.
That stagnation of several seconds seemed to congeal the air.
Suddenly, the thin paper written with her name wrinkled and tore in her hand, and was stained with a touch of piercingly bright red by the fresh blood spilling out after her fingertips pierced her skin.
“He… has never come back…”
“N-Never came back?” Yi Qiu said in a small voice, her voice trembling uncontrollably, “I, I seem to have seen Little Red Flower…”
“Little Red Flower? Little Red Flower…” The young girl recited that name, then suddenly gave a light laugh, her eyes gradually becoming hollow.
The crumpled handwriting on the paper was also soaked through with fresh blood.
After a bout of silence, she lowered her eyelashes as if mocking herself: “You speak of Little Red Flower?”
As the young girl spoke, the clean room beneath her feet actually turned ashen and decayed inch by inch, and the papers on the ground followed suit, becoming yellowed and dilapidated.
The four sides of the room were suddenly covered in spiderwebs.
A red spider the size of a fist, hanging by a spider silk, fell from above the roof beam onto You Yan’s shoulder.
“Little Red Flower!” Yi Qiu could not help but exclaim.
Little Red Flower only quietly gazed at her. As it gazed, a look of pain suddenly appeared in the depths of its eyes.
The next second, its body actually slowly dissolved into bloody water. And that thick bloody water, just like that under Yi Qiu’s gaze, inch by inch, dyed red the tattered coarse cloth clothes on You Yan’s body——finally, transforming into a set of dark red feathered raiment2.
The young girl suddenly smiled sarcastically: “Where is there any Little Red Flower? Where…”
Yi Qiu could not help but widen her eyes, the depths of her eyes filled with disbelief.
She opened her mouth, wanting to refute something, but found that she simply could not refute.
——Little Red Flower likes the dark and also likes quiet…
——Little Red Flower does not like my Daddy, especially does not like…
——Little Red Flower was born carrying deadly poison; no matter where it goes, it is pushed aside and driven away…
It turned out that everything had long ago given her enough hints.
And the illusion she had once produced in a trance was also not an illusion——Little Red Flower was actually truly You Yan.
Or perhaps one should say, it was a part of You Yan. It was the gloom, the silence, the part that was most unpresentable, yet also the part that could not be abandoned.
【Please note! Please note!】
【Detected that the Dream Realm Master’s self-protection consciousness is about to collapse.】
Self-protection consciousness?
What is meant by the Dream Realm Master’s self-protection consciousness?!
Yi Qiu looked toward You Yan in shock, only to see that You Yan’s eyes had already become thoroughly turbid.
“Why?” the young girl asked in a low voice.
Despair, like a tide, submerged her drop by drop.
“Why…” She questioned repeatedly, again and again, yet it gradually became difficult for people to distinguish whether what she was questioning was the little alpaca before her eyes, the paper in her hand, or perhaps just herself.
That pair of pupils that was once innocent to the point of guilelessness, however, at this very moment, sank into pain and perplexity. She attempted to struggle, struggling until every inch of her gaze was in a tug-of-war with itself, but in the end, she was still thoroughly shrouded by a bottomless gloom.
That was resentment, that was madness, that was a declaration that she could hardly reconcile with this world.
A cold wind suddenly crashed open the window behind her, and at the same time blew the yellowed, dilapidated thin papers all over the ground into disarray.
The “snowmen” that had just been piled up in the courtyard collapsed. They shattered together, falling to pieces together in an unbearably ugly manner, like a falling rock heavily smashing onto Yi Qiu’s heart.
The next second, the red-eyed young girl suddenly lifted her brow and eyes, extending a hand toward the little alpaca before her. That was a hand stained with fresh blood, fingertips sharp as thorns.
Her fingertips welled up with a faint green spiritual light, wrapping around a blood mist that had already turned black, bringing that resentment and grief that seemed to originate from an abyss of despair.
The little alpaca unconsciously wanted to dodge, yet for some reason, a thought appeared in her heart, frantically, risking its life to shout in the bottom of her heart——approach her, do not dodge!
She also did not know why, only faintly feeling that if she retreated even this one step, she would never again be worthy of approaching the person before her eyes.
She was so afraid she almost stopped breathing, yet she still leaned that furry head forward a little, silently meeting that blood-stained hand.
In the instant she touched those ice-cold fingertips, she trembled lightly, yet in the end did not dodge away. She simply took a deep breath, lifted her eyes, and looked toward that young girl whose eyes were flooded with grief.
“You Yan, I said before, I will accompany you; you are not alone anymore.” She spoke softly, seeming to also be able to feel that those ice-cold fingertips were, just like her, trembling slightly. “No matter what has happened, we will face it together, okay?”
When her voice fell, those sharp fingertips seemed to pierce into her skull. Fresh blood spilled out, dyeing the soft fur red, like a plum blossom falling on snow-white ground.
At that moment, she saw the madness in the depths of You Yan’s eyes, the madness suppressed under absolute ice-coldness.
Pain blurred her eyes. She forcefully clenched her teeth, yet still could not help but softly call out the name of the person before her eyes.
“You Yan…” Wake up, okay…
After a brief blurring of vision, she closed her eyes, as if waiting for a death sentence.
Dying in this illusion, I fear not even a corpse will be left behind.
I caused You Yan to fall in here, yet failed to bring You Yan out. I am indeed just one who drags the back legs3; whoever touches me will have great bad luck…
Yi Qiu thought this way, but the anticipated pain did not arrive again.
The sound of the wind blew through every minute and second of this world, yet also made it impossible for people to distinguish exactly how much time had passed.
She suddenly heard two extremely unfamiliar voices.
She slowly opened her eyes, seeing herself standing in the courtyard. The pain was still there, the winter snow had melted, and the surroundings were a scene of spring days.
“You Yan!” She subconsciously called out that name.
Even if, just a moment ago, she nearly died at her hands.
The room door on the left side of the courtyard was wide open. The little alpaca unconsciously cast her gaze over; the furnishings in the room had not changed, yet compared to just a moment ago, it was much cleaner.
After a bout of trance, she closed her eyes and shook her head. When she opened her eyes again, two figures with blurred faces had already appeared before the writing desk.
The little alpaca subconsciously hid behind the wall. After a brief silence, she could not help but react to one thing.
In this world, immortals, yao4, gods, and devils all possess varying depths of perception regarding spiritual breath. Her cultivation base was so low and trivial, she simply could not possibly hide herself in front of anyone in Kunlun Mountain.
Thinking of this, she suddenly grew bold, tentatively turning one front hoof into the room.
After a bout of accelerated heartbeat, she confirmed one thing.
Here, she was non-existent.
At least, at this very moment, in the eyes of those two people in the room, she was non-existent.
“Your body hasn’t been well recently, rest more, don’t get tired…”
“I have a number in my heart5; it’s not that my body isn’t well, it’s just that the child always loves to kick me.”
The little alpaca walked into the room cautiously, attempting to go forward to see the faces of those two people clearly, yet she consistently felt her vision was very blurred.
“Our child, regardless of whether it is a boy or a girl, will be called You Yan, how about that?” the woman with the protruding belly said softly.
She supported her lower back with one hand and held the pen shaft with the other, dropping ink onto the xuan paper placed on the writing desk.
The man beside her lowered his brows to gaze at the handwriting on the paper, the depths of his eyes full of smiling intent.
“We’ll listen to you.” As he spoke, he gently took the pen from the woman’s hand, also lifting the pen to drop ink on the paper.
The little alpaca walked to the side of the writing desk, stretching her neck to take a look. Sure enough, as she expected, what was written on the paper were two “You Yan”s in different handwritings.
“Who do you hope our You Yan will be like when grown up?”
“I hope like you. It would be best if it’s a girl. I will protect her very well, letting her grow up carefree and without worries…”
Hearing the sound, Yi Qiu subconsciously lifted her eyes to look at this couple. The woman curved her brows and smiled just at this moment; on that blurred face, it seemed stained with a wisp of heavenly light, unclear and indistinguishable, yet still very beautiful.
But the next second, her vision blurred again, then turned clear in a flash.
The night color was very heavy, the moonlight very faint. The bloody smell on all sides was so thick it was somewhat pungent.
The young girl, in a set of red clothes, with long hair draped over her shoulders, held a smear of spiritual light in her palm, standing quietly before that writing desk for a long time.
The papers on the desk were blown all over the ground by the wind. She gently pressed down on one of them, the pads of her fingers stroking over that ink which had long since congealed and dried. However gentle her movements were, her gaze was that ice-cold.
Yi Qiu wanted to approach, but when she lifted her foot, she stepped on a sheet of thin paper.
She lowered her head, and borrowing the spiritual light in the young girl’s palm, she saw clearly the words left on the paper.
——That child, I have named her Yan6.
A gust of night wind blew past, blowing the papers all over the ground into disarray.
Yi Qiu subconsciously and hurriedly pressed down on a few sheets; what entered her eyes were actually even more cruel words.
——Her brow and eyes are similar to yours, but I cannot bear to see such similarity.
——You should blame me for eating my words7, but I truly do not know how I should go about loving a ‘her’ who took you away from my side.
So, so…
He abandoned that child.
While Yi Qiu was in a trance, she only saw the young girl turn around and rush out of the room door.
“You Yan!” She hurriedly chased out, but the surroundings suddenly and hastily changed scenes. The swaying light and shadows dazzled her eyes until they hurt.
At the moment everything froze, in the distance of her line of sight stood a tall and withered tree that looked familiar to her.
She stared blankly for a moment, then slowly walked forward. That withered tree, however, instantly scattered into flowing fireflies, flying and scattering aimlessly toward all directions in this night color.
What remained in the end was only a solitary grave.
The young girl leaned lightly on the tombstone, her long hair still draped over her shoulders. She had her eyes closed, long eyelashes trembling slightly, as if she was sleeping very lightly.
At that moment, Yi Qiu gazed blankly at You Yan. Those thoughts in the bottom of her heart that were messy as hemp8 finally became much clearer at this moment.
Beside her ears, it seemed You Yan’s voice sounded.
——I, ah, was born a disaster, coming to this world carrying a body full of evil and baleful devil energy, forcibly eating up Mother’s9 flesh and blood to be able to successfully remain in the world…
——Before the big tree left, it did not blame it, only saying to it: “After I die, the branches and leaves will all wither and fall, no longer able to block the wind and shield the rain for you. If you have nowhere to go, you can dig open my main trunk. From now on, live inside; it can count as me continuing to accompany you.”
In order not to be swallowed by nightmares, she split herself into two. All kindness and innocence were left to that child; all gloom and pain were left to Little Red Flower.
She accompanied herself, took care of herself, and also protected herself…
Is it like this…
“Then what about me? What about me who accidentally barged in?”
The little alpaca murmured softly, walking forward step by step, the depths of her eyes filled with heartache and inability to bear it.
But the more she wanted to approach, the further away everything in the distance became from her.
She suddenly began to run forward. As she ran, the stabbing pain on the top of her head, however, struck once again.
The next second, she returned to that cold winter, returned to that dilapidated room.
The young girl before her eyes was no longer that well-behaved appearance with two small braids. She was in a set of red clothes, long hair draped in between, her gaze ice-cold to a frightening degree.
All of this seemed to be declaring that all the previous beauty was nothing but a void dream.
But this time, in the bottom of Yi Qiu’s heart, there was no longer a trace of fear.
She simply endured the pain, moved closer two steps, and gently lay down beside You Yan, extending two front hooves to encircle the young girl’s ankle.
“I don’t believe I came too late…”
If your world only has darkness left.
I have come, so I will take you away from this patch of darkness.
The author has something to say:
Everyone, this is candy!!!!!10
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