Chapter 2029: Dim Lantern Light; Heart Dies, Then Forget (First Update)

Inside the curtain of rain, amidst the sound of the rain, this gentle voice spread around like a soft whisper, seemingly merging with the splattering sound of the rainwater, forming a strand of dream music from a previous life.

The butterfly beside Qing Hong landed in her palm, where she gently held it, shielding it from the wind and rain. It was as if she were that butterfly, yet she wondered who in this world could shield her from the same wind and rain.

She turned around and saw a stranger wearing white clothes beneath an oiled-paper umbrella.

"Hong Die… that name is very beautiful." Qing Hong smiled faintly as she looked at the white-haired youth. Her blossoming smile made her appear like an aloof rose, blooming freely.

"If you like it, you can become Hong Die." Wang Lin looked at the beautiful woman before him, and scenes from the past on the Vermilion Bird Star of the Immortal Cave Realm surfaced in his eyes.

The woman smiled slightly but did not speak. She gazed at Wang Lin, and their eyes met in the wind and rain, lingering for a long time.

"I saw you, in a dream, when I achieved the Third Step. I saw you." Qing Hong looked at Wang Lin and spoke softly.

"Do you believe in Reincarnation?" Wang Lin shifted his gaze from the woman and looked at the curtain of rain at the edge of the sky.

"Do you believe in it?" the woman countered.

"I…" Wang Lin paused, and after a long time, he nodded.

"I believe."

"If even Bai Fa Yue Tianzun believes, then I believe too." The woman turned around, also looking at the curtain of rain, and said softly.

"I always felt like I was waiting for someone to give me an answer… When I achieved the Third Step, I knew that the person I was waiting for was you.

Reincarnation… I kept wondering if I had a previous life. Otherwise, why would I love the color red, and why would I love butterflies? I also kept thinking that liking something couldn't happen out of nowhere; there must be a reason. If it wasn't a cause in this life, then it must be from a previous existence.

My previous existence was called Hong Die, wasn't it?" The woman did not look back, her voice calm.

"But in my dream, it seems there was another life before my previous life… and in that life, I also saw you."

Wang Lin was stunned.

"In that life, I remember you asked me a question—a question for which I only received the answer now. Do you want to hear it?" Qing Hong looked toward the horizon and said softly.

"What question did I ask you?" Wang Lin remained silent for a moment before speaking slowly.

"Are you willing to keep the memories of this life, or recover the memories of your previous life?" Qing Hong turned around and looked at Wang Lin. In her beautiful eyes, there was a glimmer of light that Wang Lin could not decipher.

"The previous life and this life can coexist, but once the memories of the previous life are recovered, this life will gain many more burdens. If you don't recover them, you won't know; if you know them, they become unforgettable. That is my understanding." Qing Hong's voice was somewhat melancholic as she murmured softly.

"How did you answer me back then?" Wang Lin asked, his eyes filled with confusion as he looked at the woman before him.

"To forget the past and only retain this life. If one persists, Reincarnation after Reincarnation becomes a form of pain and confusion." Qing Hong murmured, her eyes showing complexity.

"I understand." Wang Lin sighed softly. He knew that Hong Die had remembered some things, but what she called the life before her previous life caused a tremor in Wang Lin's mind. He thought of the Dream Dao on the Vermilion Bird Star, where, in a pavilion also under a curtain of rain, he had seen a woman holding a baby girl approach him.

There was a red butterfly seeking shelter under a leaf in the rain. When the woman asked him to name the baby girl, he uttered the two words: Hong Die.

Wang Lin remained silent, then turned and walked into the distance, having learned Hong Die's choice.

"I have forgotten much of the memory of that life. I only remember you, that question, and… one other person… He said one sentence to you.

I still remember that sentence." Qing Hong closed her eyes, her voice gentle.

"What was the sentence?" Wang Lin did not stop, walking into the curtain of rain.

"Heart dies, then forget…"

Wang Lin, inside the curtain of rain, shuddered abruptly. He turned around violently, his eyes filled with shock. This shock originated from his Soul, causing him to stand silent in the rain. The oiled-paper umbrella he held unconsciously slipped from his grasp, falling downward and becoming soaked by the rain.

"Mo Zhi." Before Wang Lin's eyes, the scene surfaced: on the Vermilion Bird Star, when he was still a low-level Cultivator, also on a rainy night, inside a temple, a bald, burly man had looked at him with confusion in his eyes and spoken that phrase.

"This rain is born in the sky, dies on the earth, and the process in between is life…"

"Heart dies, then forget…"

Those sentences echoed in Wang Lin's mind. The gaze of the bald, burly man clearly resurfaced—a gaze that Wang Lin couldn't understand back then, but which, upon reflection now, contained clear pain and pity.

Wang Lin left, departing from the place, carrying confusion and an answer he did not wish to contemplate.

Qing Hong watched the direction where Wang Lin disappeared, standing there for a very long time, until the rain between heaven and earth dispersed. She opened her hand; the butterfly in her palm flapped its wings, circled her a few times, and flew away into the distance.

"When will you forget… Perhaps, you will never choose to do so." Qing Hong lowered her head, carrying a sense of decline and loneliness, and turned to enter the Immortal Cave.

Wang Lin remained silent throughout his journey between heaven and earth.

"Reincarnation. When I help others unlock the memories of their past lives after Reincarnation, I never considered whether I, too, am within a cycle of Reincarnation… If I truly am in this Reincarnation, then who will unlock the memories of my previous life?" As Wang Lin thought, he suddenly burst into laughter directed at the sky, and tears streamed from his eyes amid the laughter.

"Reincarnation! This is Reincarnation!! But even if I am truly within this Reincarnation, I will absolutely never choose to forget! Never! Never ever!!!" Amidst his laughter, Wang Lin suddenly recalled the figure he had seen roaring miserably toward the sky while undergoing the Ancient Dao Divided Soul within the Ancestral Temple of the Primeval Imperial City.

The figure's words seemed to echo in his ears once more.

"Heaven and Earth!!"

"What use is reaching the peak of Heaven and Earth!!!"

"What use is being worshipped by all living beings!!!"

"What use is the Boundless Tribulation Sutra!!!"

"Since Heaven and Earth are like this, why not destroy them!!!"

"Since all living beings are like this, why not let them vanish!!!"

"Since this Sutra is like this, why not break its transmission!!!"

"If this is the case, I shall use my own methods to make the Azure Heaven close its eyes, the Great Earth fall asleep, the Yellow Springs flow backward, Reincarnation cease, and the Firmament henceforth be… devoid of thought!!!"

Wang Lin muttered, repeating the voice echoing in his ears. The voice gradually grew louder, eventually shaking heaven and earth, causing the sky curtain to churn, the earth to rumble, and seeming to stir up a storm across the entire Immortal Astral Continent.

In the southwestern direction of Linhua Prefecture, Eastern State, on the Immortal Clan Continent, there was a Mortal city. The city was vast, looking like a giant beast crouching from afar, giving a sense of grandeur.

Inside the city, in a secluded corner, there was a blacksmith shop. The business was quite good, allowing the family to live comfortably. This was mainly because the male owner of the blacksmith shop treated every piece of ironware with extreme seriousness and responsibility, earning a good reputation here over many years.

The male owner was a burly man, appearing to be in his thirties, with a rather robust physique. He was currently in the shop, shirtless, continuously hammering iron, and the clanging sound constantly echoed from the shop.

The back courtyard of the shop was where the family lived. The burly man had a beautiful and virtuous wife and an eight-year-old daughter. The little girl was currently inside the shop, not minding the heat, watching her father, and occasionally running off to fetch a towel to wipe his sweat.

Whenever this happened, the burly man would flash a happy smile.

He was very content with his current life. Although simple, having a lovely daughter and a wife who loved him was enough for him. He wanted to do his utmost to protect this family, to make his own life better, and to ensure a better future for his daughter.

To achieve this goal, he worked diligently and earnestly at the blacksmith shop, putting great effort into every task.

His life was simple, yet this simplicity contained a warmth that he cherished greatly. He was born in this city and still had many childhood playmates who had since started their own families. They would still often gather to drink, laugh together, and reminisce about the amusing incidents of their youth.

Under the cover of night, he would occasionally have a dream while sleeping. In the dream, he commanded the winds and clouds, appearing to be an Immortal Emperor, leading his followers to battle against enemies.

That dream contained partings, passion, and sorrow. In the dream, he also had a daughter, seemingly named Shuang… the same name as his current daughter.

However, the dream was ultimately unreal. Whenever he woke up from the dream, he would feel confused, staring blankly at the night sky outside the window. His heart seemed to hold a yearning for everything in that dream, but whenever this happened, he would look down at his sleeping wife beside him, and at his eight-year-old daughter nestled in his wife's arms, who still dared not sleep alone. With a smile, he would forget everything in the dream.

If given the choice, he would choose his family, not the life in that dream.

He did not know that as he gazed at his family, someone else was gazing at him from the night sky.

Wang Lin looked at the blacksmith's family in the city below. He could feel Qing Lin's happiness and contentment. This former Immortal Emperor of the Immortal Cave Realm had now become a Mortal, yet he had found joy and warmth.

Wang Lin felt envy. He watched Qing Lin for a long time, then turned and departed.

"Like Hong Die, his choice was also to forget… Forgetting the past, forgetting the previous life, immersing his entire being in this current life. Within Reincarnation, forgetting again and again, cherishing again and again.

Their choice is correct… and my choice is also correct!" Wang Lin murmured.

First Update!