Perhaps it's been too long since I've flown against the wind. In this wild storm, my flying isn't going smoothly. The rain lashed at me like a whip, and the fallen leaves swept up in it struck my eyes from time to time, which was cold and painful.
Above me, black clouds churned in the night, concealing any hint of their intentions. The constant rumble of thunder and the bright flashes of lightning posed a constant threat of splitting the sky. I crossed the fields and chased into the mountains, searching for the person I'm looking for.
Before long, countless beautiful lights suddenly danced before my eyes, exactly like the scene I saw when I gazed into the distance in the evening.
The rain and trees obstructing my view seemed to be suddenly pulled away, and my field of vision suddenly opened up - that familiar yet distant Duan Lake was not far from me, its turquoise water rippling, each gentle wave embedded with star-like specks of light. At a glance, it was as if someone had poured the entire universe's starlight into the lake.
Duan Lake, Duan Lake…
One day many years ago, the little tree demon who was too puny to protect herself was here, hiding behind that slender and extraordinary figure, watching as he controlled the waters of the lake in the palm of his hand, watching him use a breath of my true essence and a strand of hair to create a verdant forest...
My mind was momentarily distracted, then snapped back in an instant—
It would be great if the starlight in the lake at this moment didn't sprinkle down from the fierce battle between the two people in mid-air.
Above the lake, two figures—one red, one silver—were entangled in a relentless and aggressive combat. Their movements were too fast for me to clearly make out their faces or moves. I could only see dazzling sparks and dots of light flying out from their fierce clashes and falling into the lake.
I quietly landed in a sheltered spot by the lake, crouched low, and moved stealthily forward.
A lukewarm hand covered my mouth, and the other hand wrapped around my waist, halting my progress.
An indiscernible breath penetrated my blood, my entire body, and heard in the depths of my soul from the two hands restraining me.
The even breathing of the person behind me fell on me, and my back rested on a broad chest. This crackling moment dragged me back to that summer night thousands of years ago, when someone leaned against me just like this, exuding an aura that was extraordinary but not threatening with every breath. Under the clear moonlight, I used to chase that cold, deep, yet soft warmth curiously and greedily.
Eyes can deceive, but feelings cannot, especially for a tree demon like me.
A voice said, don't look back! If you turn around, you'll turn into a pillar of salt!
I looked back, but I didn't turn into a pillar of salt.
I'm no longer the little demon from years past who cried at the drop of a hat and wore my heart on my sleeve. Millennia of trials and tribulations and the changing tides of time have spurred my growth. Or perhaps, I've been buried by time, buried so deep it's immeasurable. It's just that the heart of this tree demon will never again be shown to others casually.
Long black hair, moon-white clothes, the swaying lake lights secretively illuminating a remarkable face, eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth. The contours and lines extending across his face make one instinctively want to reach out and discern whether it's real or illusion.
Shouldn't we have never met again?
That year's drought, that year's rain, that year's tears and parting forever, weren't they already written on the irrevocable fate?
There was no surprise or joy in my eyes, I just looked at him quietly. The name that has been buried for a long, long time, circled in my heart, but it refused to escape my lips.
The person I was looking at was also gazing at me in silence, and slowly, a hint of pleasant surprise dawned in their eyes.
"Shaluo? How could it be you..." His gaze roamed over me, and there was no entanglement, only the joy of reuniting with an old friend.
He never flies into a rage or beams with joy; he's always as calm as a still pond. Even if there's a ripple occasionally, it fades away in an instant, leaving no trace.
"I..."
And? I what? I couldn't utter anything but this word.
What should I say?! Tell me how can it be you? Aren't you dead? Aren't you gone from this world forever? Didn't you abandon me in the Sea of Despair?
There are too many questions that I want to ask, but I find myself unable to ask anything at all. It's a flaw many humans have, and unfortunately, I've caught it.
"Shh! Don't talk." He pressed my shoulder, and the two of us crouched down together. He watched the people fighting fiercely. "Don't disturb them yet."
The pouring rain hadn't ceased, yet not a single drop fell on him or me. An invisible barrier kept the storm at bay.
Such a thing only happens with him, and nobody can copy it.
Rivers, lakes, seas, rain, dew, frost, and snow—all the water sources in the world—are under his command, obedient to his control. Even his clothes dare not be casually dampened.
On the summit of Mount Fulong thousands of years ago, a man and a woman conversed—
Do you have a name?
No.
Then I'll call you Shaluo from now on.
Who are you?
Serving the Emperor of Heaven, Water God of the Four Directions, Zimiao.
Water God of the Four Directions, Zimiao.
Zimiao...
I know he wasn't conjured by illusion, nor transformed from any other supernatural being. I may misidentify the "scent" of many people, but I will not misidentify him. Even if someone used illusions or monsters to conjure thousands of him, I can still pick out the real one at a glance.
He gave me my second life and is etched in my memory. How can I misidentify him?
Crouching next to him, I dared not speak, let alone move, afraid that any word uttered too heavily or any movement too big would shatter everything before me into pieces which I couldn't recover or mend.
At that moment, the silver figure suddenly leaped high into the air, somehow summoning a massive lightning bolt from the sky, striking toward the enemy.
With a loud rumbling noise, nearly all the water of Duan Lake was shaken out. Towering waves surged up, then violently crashed back into the lake.
I heard a woman scream.
After the spray settled, the surface of the lake was strangely calm.
The fight had stopped and the scene became clear.
On the rippling water, a woman in red lay dying, like a weightless fallen leaf.
In front of her, a man radiating silver brilliance all over his body, wielding a curved blade, aimed at the woman's head.
"Give it back to me!"
I heard the man snarl in a deep and low voice.
Suddenly, Zimiao spoke: "Hide behind me and don't come out."
He always said such things to me, when he deemed it dangerous—Shaluo, hide behind me.
Yes, I was too weak at that time, and any random attack could have taken my life.
But that's in the past. Do you still see me as that little demon who needs you to stand in front and shield me from danger?
When a person from the past treats the present you in the same way as in the past, a misplaced force will always shake your direction. To move forward is to resist, to step back is to comply.
Should I move forward or step back?
Before I could make a choice, he had already flown out, a faint green light emanating from his right palm, transforming into the bow and arrow made of water that belonged exclusively to him.
Whoosh! The sharp arrow shot from the bowstring, leaving a slender trail of light in the air, heading straight for the man's shoulder.
Direct hit!
For such a gentle and refined man like him to display such skill with bow and arrow, exuding an unstoppable momentum with just one shot, even a troublesome "evil creature" like Ao Chi from back then was severely injured and fled in disgrace because of his arrow.
This time, I didn't stand behind him.
I landed beside him, hovering in mid-air, standing shoulder to shoulder with him.
He glanced at me, words hidden in his eyes, yet ultimately formless.
The sharp arrowhead turned into clear water upon touching that strong body, but it didn't hinder it from piercing through any obstacles.
In this world, it's not necessarily only sharp and angular things that can hurt people.
I saw that strand of clear water used as a weapon penetrate from the man's back. At this time, it no longer retained its original color but turned into a brilliant blue flower blooming in the air.
The man covered his shoulder and retreated several steps. The curved blade released from his hand was like a bunch of dying flames, leaving a faint arc in the air before disappearing.
"She's a girl after all. Being so heavy-handed is uncalled for." He looked coldly at the man.
It was only then I could see clearly that the silver brilliance on the man's body all came from the silver scales covering him entirely. Even his thoroughly valiant face was covered with fine scales. Looking down, what supported his body wasn't legs, but a strong snake tail.
There was no demon aura, nor was he a ghost. I had never seen anything like this before.
The scaled man glanced at Zimiao, his long eyes filled with a blood-like red.
"Hehe, it's the Water God." He smiled strangely, then shifted his gaze to the woman again, "What you owe me must be returned."
With that, he suddenly breathed in hard, and the black clouds in the sky fell like a deluge from a sluice gate, enveloping him and turning into a black tornado, which then spiraled up and disappeared into the night.
Another thunderbolt struck, and a fireball rolled down.
Zimiao gave a low cry: "Be careful!"
Without raising my head, he had already pulled me aside, his large sleeves wrapping around me entirely.
My world suddenly fell silent, except for the familiar heartbeat that was close to my ears.
Several trees on the shore were ignited by the lightning fireballs, flames raging.
I stuck my head out, but before I could say anything, a huge fist rushed between Zimiao and me without any explanation, then veered sharply towards his cheek. Behind the fist came Ao Chi's cold and furious voice, "Courting death?! How dare you touch my woman!"
I guess this reckless evil dragon must not have seen his face clearly, otherwise, he wouldn't have struck, absolutely not.
I was right. He easily dodged Ao Chi's fist and did not retaliate. With a subtle flick of his flying sleeves, a string of icy water splashes leaped up from Duan Lake, splashing onto Ao Chi's enraged face without giving face.
Nobody dares to throw water on his face in public, not even I have enjoyed such an "honor" before.
When Ao Chi's enraged gaze pierced through the water, which served as a clear announcement of punishment and warning, his expression changed in an instant. Even I can't accurately describe the sudden shift in his eyes - it was really a kind of, a kind of unexpected extinguishing of all flames by a ruthless splash of cold water mixed with silence and even inconcealable dejection.
"Zimiao?!"
Ao Chi did not hesitate, loudly and wonderingly calling out his name. He was much smoother than me. His usual loud voice caused ripples to spread across the otherwise tranquil lake.
"You really haven't changed at all." His smile, as light as clear water, rippled through the darkness. "Evil dragon, Ao Chi."
Ao Chi stood stupefied for what seemed like an eternity, then rushed to my side, firmly whispering, "This guy must be an impostor[1]! Watch me roast this evildoer with the Hainan True Fire!"
He really wanted to do just that. Ao Chi was using his own method to verify his incredulity.
I grabbed him, shaking my head, "He's real."
I stopped and took a deep breath, as if I wanted to store all the oxygen in my body just to have the confidence[2] to say these words—
"He is Zimiao. I recognize him."
I distinctly saw something light up and then extinguish in Ao Chi's eyes.
"But wasn't he... wasn't he utterly destroyed?! At the time of that drought." Ao Chi was asking me, and also asking himself.
That severe drought, that sweet rain, that sandstorm and rain intertwined eternal parting thousands of years ago rose up from the soil of deliberately buried memories, challenging the reason and calmness of both me and Ao Chi.
No one else will ever hold such deep and subtle significance for both me and Ao Chi as Zimiao did.
Me and Ao Chi, two old fools totaling innumerable years, stood before him timidly, even foolishly, on this night that came without the slightest warning.
Back then, the three of us fought inextricably in this lake and forged an indissoluble karma. And now, the three of us are standing in the same place again.
Duan Lake is as before, but the faces reflected in the lake are not even familiar to ourselves anymore.
"I... I woke up and found you gone, so I came looking for you. You don't sleep in the middle of the night and go wandering around, is that what a married woman does!" Ao Chi, probably not used to the silence among the three of us, intentionally shouted at me.
"With all the commotion outside, only a pig like you could sleep through it! If there's an earthquake, you'll be the first to be crushed to death!" I ruthlessly paid him back.
Zimiao lowered his eyes and chuckled, then headed towards the injured woman in red.
"You..." Ao Chi seethed.
I left him and went to check on the woman's injuries.
Zimiao helped the woman lying on the water stand up.
As that breathtakingly beautiful young face was fully exposed in the moonlight just breaking through, her weak gaze looked past me and Zimiao, hesitantly falling on Ao Chi behind me. Her voice, so fragile it could break at any moment, softly called out, "Brother Ao Chi..."
"Dong'er?!" Ao Chi reacted as if his tail had been stepped on, rushing forward to push Zimiao aside, rudely grabbing the woman's wrist. "What are you doing out here!!"
An acquaintance?
Regardless of their relationship, the scene of him grabbing the woman was undoubtedly a real-life version of a bully harassing a girl. I know his brute strength best. The girl screamed when he gripped her, her eyes instantly glistening with tears.
"Ao Chi! Do you want to pinch her to death? Can't you see she's already injured!" I pulled at his hand.
"Speak up, what the hell are you doing out here!" Ao Chi didn't listen to me at all.
"I... I..." the woman stammered.
"I ordered you not to leave the East China Sea!" Ao Chi gritted his teeth, his voice low, each word like an explosive he wanted to detonate but couldn't.
"I didn't go against your will, but... I've been waiting for too long..." The woman was a little incoherent, even her embarrassment and fear evident, yet her beautiful eyes kept looking straight at the furious Ao Chi.
He shook off the woman's hand.
"Brother Ao Chi..." The woman forced herself to stand up, as if afraid Ao Chi would leave her, and grabbed his hand in turn. "I... I..."
Before she could finish her sentence, she grew weak and passed out.
"What's going on?" I asked him.
"What can it be! Just a relative from the East China Sea!" he snapped at me, lifting the woman onto his back. "Let's talk about it when we go back." He walked away while cursing, "What a lousy day, bringing people who shouldn't have come!"
The moonlight suddenly brightened, washing away the previous turmoil. The genuine shining brilliance of Duan Lake was like a deep eye, watching the backs of the figures that suddenly came and left.
Footnotes:
[1] Ao Chi uses 货 which means goods or product. It's a derogatory way of referring to a person. Literal translation: This product must be a knockoff.
[2] A small wordplay here. 底气 means confidence and also lung power.
No comments:
Post a Comment