Chapter 1555: Sweeping the Inner Realm, Su Dao

"The Heaven and Earth are the inns of all things… Time is the passing guest of a hundred generations… And life is but a dream, how much joy is there to be had… and for what joy is it to be had…"

Su City in June, having passed the season of revival, entered the month of blossoming flowers and vibrant colors. The willow catkins dancing across the sky seemed to be using their last bit of strength to blow away the remaining time.

The sky full of willow catkins looked like snow. This scene was beautiful, like summer snowflakes drifting in the sky. If the wind grew stronger, the catkins would dance more densely, swaying precariously, resembling rootless lives that, despite their beauty, exuded an indescribable sorrow.

They seemed homeless, yet also like wanderers who had left their hometown, only able to move with the wind, ultimately unaware of their destiny, or where the wind would carry them—perhaps onto the river surface, becoming part of the water-and-sky scenery for travelers, or perhaps falling to the ground, merging with the dust, rolling into balls, and being swept along densely by the wind.

Their destiny was the wind; different winds gave them different lives.

A wisp of willow catkin, white and fluffy, danced lightly in mid-air and landed on the raised right palm of a white-robed youth standing at the bow of a small Painted Boat.

The youth held a wine flask in his left hand, took a large gulp, and recited the magnificent poem. His voice was not loud, yet it conveyed a sense of unrestrained freedom, as if seeking the ends of Heaven and Earth.

Behind the youth followed a middle-aged man dressed as a Bookboy. The man wore a pained expression, revealing reluctance. Almost every sip the youth took caused the middle-aged man a pang of heartache.

"A flask of Osmanthus Wine costs seven silver coins. It's expensive, truly too expensive! One sip is nearly half a silver coin…"

The catkin that had landed on the youth's palm paused briefly, as if it hadn't reached its destination, and a faint sigh seemed to echo. It flew up from the youth's hand again, drifted past his eyes, and soared blankly into the distance, conveying a hint of madness, as though it knew its end and was rushing toward the Gui Xu where it would know no more fatigue.

Beside the riverbank was a peach blossom forest. Amidst the dancing catkins, peach blossoms dotted the scene, and scattered petals, after a gust of wind, fell into the river, floating on the surface and drifting with the current.

"Mad willow catkins dance with the wind, frivolous peach blossoms chase the water's flow." Wang Lin drained the wine in his hand, his laughter echoing.

Besides the Boatman and the master and servant, there were three women on the Painted Boat dressed in exquisite clothes. One of the three played the zither, and two sang and danced, allowing the Painted Boat to drift along the river channel, accompanied by the sky full of catkins, passing beneath the stone bridges spanning the waterway, and slowly sailing into the distance.

"Da Fu, bring the wine!" Wang Lin turned and looked at the middle-aged man behind him, his laughter fading.

Da Fu pulled a long face, sighing repeatedly as he reluctantly picked up a flask of wine nearby and handed it to Wang Lin, speaking almost tearfully.

"Young Master, we really don't have much silver left this time… We're renting a Painted Boat, buying wine, and having these three young ladies accompany us. The daily expenses are too high… How about… how about we go ashore? We could save some money by finding a cheap inn."

"What's the rush? The person I'm waiting for hasn't arrived yet." Wang Lin shook his head and smiled, took the wine flask, drank another sip, and sat down nearby, listening to the rather attractive woman pluck the strings, producing gentle zither music. The music conveyed a hint of joy, but when it reached Wang Lin's ears, he couldn't fully immerse himself in it.

"Young Master, I've taken out everything I secretly saved this time, you, you… Damn it, I calculated it! If we keep spending like this, in seven more days, we'll be begging for food!!

It's been over a month now, over a month! Who exactly are you waiting for? Why haven't they arrived?" Da Fu was heartbroken, nagging Wang Lin incessantly like a concerned elder.

Perhaps his appearance was amusing, causing one of the women who had stopped dancing to rest nearby to cover her mouth and giggle.

Da Fu glared, shot a look at the woman, muttered a few words, and simply picked up a flask of wine himself and took several big gulps.

"I need to drink more. This is good wine, half a coin per sip…"

"The zither music is still wrong." Wang Lin leaned against the side of the boat and gently shook his head. After a long time, having drunk a bit too much, he felt tipsy and got up, walked over to the woman playing the zither, and placed his right hand on the Ancient Zither. The woman's pretty face flushed, and she quickly took her hands away.

"I remember a tune, unknown, but I heard it in a dream. It should be played like this…" Wang Lin murmured, closing his eyes, and slowly began to play the Ancient Zither with his right hand.

At first, it was clumsy, the intermittent zither sounds failing to form a melody. But gradually, as Wang Lin immersed his entire mind into it, the music slowly connected.

An indescribable sorrowful melody softly soared out within the Painted Boat, spreading in all directions.

The two women resting on the boat now looked blankly at Wang Lin. The sadness conveyed by the music was subtle, yet it pierced directly into their Souls, causing their minds to involuntarily tremble upon hearing it.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Wang Lin was now sitting where the zither was played. The woman who had been playing before was standing nearby, her beautiful eyes showing an indescribable brilliance, as if she were completely lost in the soft, sigh-like melody.

Even Da Fu sat there dumbfounded for a moment, drinking wine sip by sip, forgetting his heartache, staring blankly at his right wrist, lost in thought.

This zither music was what Li Muwan had played back then—a different tune, but the same profound resonance, which had also appeared in the hands of the Blind Girl in the Demon Spirit Land.

At this moment, tears slowly streamed down Wang Lin's closed eyes. The tears dripped onto the zither strings, seeming to melt into the music and dissipate with it.

His dreams came to him every night. In those dreams, he saw many things, but not everyone was clear. A few people who appeared in the dream remained consistently blurry. Yet, despite the blurriness, the feeling of profound sorrow they evoked was deep, very deep.

Under the sound of this music, the Painted Boat drifted along the river, passing beneath one stone bridge after another, until dusk fell and another night arrived.

Wang Lin had been waiting for over a month, but the person who should have appeared in his dream never showed up.

As the Painted Boat drifted beneath a stone bridge, two people were standing there, silently watching the boat, the sad melody echoing in their ears.

Both of these individuals were white-haired old men. One of them wore a Green Robe. Although he simply stood there calmly, his posture was ramrod straight, like a green pine.

His expression carried a sense of vicissitude, and his eyes revealed wisdom. Standing there, the aura of a Great Literary Scholar of the current age surged forth.

He was Su Dao.

"What a sorrowful Soul melody. An ordinary person could never play such music in a lifetime… Furthermore, within that sorrow, it reveals the vicissitudes of eternity, as if, after experiencing countless years, one looks back and finds a certain sorrowful scene perpetually lingering in the heart. Su San, this trip, this old man did not come in vain." Su Dao spoke slowly, his eyes filled with emotion as he looked at Wang Lin, who was playing the zither on the Painted Boat drifting away beneath the bridge.

The old man behind Su Dao also sighed softly. If Wang Lin saw him now, he would immediately recognize him: this was the Supervising Official who had continuously watched his examination paper in the Testing Hall until the very end.

"This student did not expect him to also play the zither. However, after seeing his exam paper initially, I felt this youth was extraordinary, and a few days ago, when I came to pay my respects to Teacher, I saw this youth on a pleasure boat, so I asked Teacher to come and observe him." The old man spoke softly, bowing respectfully.

The Painted Boat drifted further away, and the music slowly faded. Just then, the green-robed old man, Su Dao, smiled slightly, stepped forward, leaned on the bridge railing, and shouted toward the Painted Boat on the river below.

"Young man, tell this old man, what do you think Karma is?"

Wang Lin's hands paused, and the music stopped. He opened his eyes and looked back with confusion, seeing the green-robed old man on the bridge. From his vantage point, he could only see the old man alone, not the second old man behind him on the other side of the bridge.

Night covered the scene. A bright moon hung in the sky. In the darkness, the old man's figure seemed slightly blurry, and even the area around the bridge appeared hazy, hidden beneath the moonlight.

"Karma…" Even Wang Lin's gaze seemed to blur at this moment. He stared blankly at the old man, at the bridge, and at the surrounding haziness, murmuring to himself.

"It shouldn't be like this… If all of this is the reversal of time, if all of this is a Reincarnation, if all of this is a dream, then the person I should meet is the me from that dream… But why is it that now, the person I meet is this old man… Why is it like this…"

Wang Lin had waited for over a month. He was waiting for the scene he had witnessed in a dream—a scene that had left him confused and drinking all day after waking up. In that scene, he saw another version of himself appear on the Su City river and on that stone bridge.

But now, instead of meeting the self from his dream, he met this old man.

"This doesn't make sense… I know about the Soul Refining Sect, and I can faintly guess that the person who appears hundreds of years later in the Soul Refining Sect is the me from the dream… But I had already grasped all of this, so why haven't I seen him here?" Deep confusion appeared in Wang Lin's eyes. He couldn't understand it, and even his own presence seemed to be growing hazy at this moment.

As Wang Lin grew confused, the Painted Boat drifted further and further away.

Seeing Wang Lin didn't reply, the old man on the stone bridge smiled and shouted again.

"Young man, tell this old man, what do you believe Karma is?"

"Karma… I am the Cause, and I, am the Effect…" Wang Lin's voice gradually drifted back, slowly fading away as the Painted Boat moved into the distance.

The green-robed old man Su Dao smiled, watched the Painted Boat disappear from view, and glanced back at the student behind him.

"What is his name?"

The next chapter will be a bit slower. Today is the Dragon Boat Festival; happy holidays, everyone.