Chapter 986: Chapter 856: Heart of Sincerity (Part 4)
"Although he left his corpse behind as a suppression object, and seized back the Purple Qi for the human world, so that this path of Lao Junmei’s leapt from an initial thirty percent chance of success to an unimaginable seventy percent..."
"But on the road Lao Junmei left behind, this step was never part of it."
"Even when he learned that someone was secretly contacting the Netherworld Palace, and that at any time it might bring unprecedented despair upon this fragile human world, he actually had another choice."
"That would be to return to the human world, and seek out the one secretly in touch with the Netherworld Palace. As long as he found that person and stopped them, the Netherworld Palace would still be something that could be ignored, an off-board piece that could not affect the human world at all..."
"So his entering the Netherworld Palace with his own body was entirely a choice he made himself."
"..."
"But..."
Miss Red Wine’s voice was trembling: "He’s not an idiot. If he could not do it, why would he go in?"
"He was someone chosen at the same time by the Reincarnators and the Daluo Dharma Sect; he is the Main Sacrificial of the Luotian Festival!"
"Even if he did nothing at all, this massacre would still go through, the Ten Surnames would still lose to us. Whether he just sat back and reaped the results, or basked in all the glory, it was all laid out right before him..."
"What was he after, that he would actually go seek his own death?"
"..."
Tieguanyin’s voice only rose again after a long time, low and soft: "Perhaps he took this risk not for himself."
"Do you think, when Lao Junmei chose to work with the Hu Family, it was just because... the Hu Family is ruthless?"
"..."
Hearing this, Miss Red Wine was a little taken aback: wasn’t that the reason?
"Reincarnators are doomed to die."
Tieguanyin let out a quiet sigh and said: "This is something Lao Junmei, Longjing, Big Red Robe, and I understood very long ago."
"We have no way back, and no way to live, yet we refuse to bow our heads to Tai Sui, so we must act."
"Even if a civilization perishes, it will always leave behind some beautiful things. As those destined to die, our sole purpose is to leave those beautiful things in a world that still has hope of enduring."
"But when Lao Junmei proposed that path of his, he too once hesitated, struggled. After all, none of us are Saints, and we cannot demand that other Reincarnators become selfless, desireless Saints either."
"So, even if we are willing to give everything to help this world’s order resist Tai Sui, there are times when, deep in our hearts, we still harbor a tiny bit of extravagant hope..."
"He chose the Hu Family not because the Hu Family is ruthless, but because the Hu Family is kind."
"Because they know to repay kindness, they understand what we’ve given. So when we give everything for this world, he cannot bear to see us left without any way out at all..."
"..."
By the time she spoke this far, her voice was no longer so calm and steady. Only after a long while did she speak again, very softly: "He is seeking a path for us..."
"We..."
Miss Red Wine was shaken by Tieguanyin’s words: "Seeking a path for us?"
"Yes."
Tieguanyin slowly smiled and said: "If not for our sakes, why would he, when the grand trend was already set, willingly enter the Netherworld Palace and stake everything on this gamble?"
"So this is not something I calculated."
"We give everything for this world—will this world, in the end, have someone who will think of us, and in the midst of deathly despair, find for the Reincarnators that faintest sliver of hope?"
"This is what, in the depths of his heart, Lao Junmei most subtly yet unspeakably longed for back then..."
"Not something to be counted, not something to be said—only to see where the human heart falls..."
After a long silence, she finally let out a low sigh: "And this descendant of the Hu Family has not let Lao Junmei down, nor has he shamed the name of the Zhen Sui Hu Family. He truly thought of it: we spill our hot blood for this world, and he stakes his very life in a desperate gamble to seek a path of survival for us..."
"Perhaps it really will fail, but with a heart this sincere, then we..."
Only at this point did her voice gradually grow firm, filled with comfort, as if she had secretly clenched her teeth: "How could we possibly not go all out and help him one more time?"
