Chapter 74#

Living or Dead#

— “Hui-er, don’t sleep.”

The hazy voice was like the wind, brushing past Su Ruhui’s ears. Su Ruhui opened his eyes. Before him, the sky was bright, and the dark distant mountains stretched across the horizon like a stroke of messy ink. The stream water was clear and blue, babbling away into the distance. Su Ruhui found himself sitting on a high hillside, a melodious flute tune spiraling around him and merging into the leisurely heavenly wind. He lowered his head in a daze and discovered that his reflection in the stream had youthful features, looking about twelve or thirteen years old. Beside him stood a person dressed in sky-blue robes, holding a simple flute, looking elegant and unrestrained. Su Ruhui turned his head and saw that familiar yet strange profile.

A dream. Su Ruhui thought silently. He seemed to have returned to the day he was twelve—the day Su Guanyu bid him farewell to travel far away, never to return.

Undeniably, Su Guanyu was a handsome man. From an upward angle, others might show their flaws, yet his features remained exquisite. His lashes were lowered, and his gaze was gentle and smiling, just as in Su Ruhui’s memory. He never grew angry, and his speech was like a trickling stream—slow and soft. Looking at his calm and serene appearance, he seemed a bit like a kind elder, yet his face possessed the bright and handsome look of a young man. Su Ruhui’s good temper was likely inherited from him.

“Am I dreaming?” Su Ruhui looked at his palms. “I remember my throat being slit. I died.”

“You did indeed die.” Su Guanyu set down his long flute.

“How could I dream of you?” Su Ruhui sighed. “I’d rather dream of my wife.”

“Hui-er,” Su Guanyu also sighed, “how can you speak to your old father who has been dead for many years like this? I thought you would throw yourself into my arms in tears and tell me how much you missed me.”

Su Guanyu lowered his head, and their eyes met.

Their gazes met. At this moment, Su Ruhui finally believed that everything before him was not an illusion. Having his throat slit by Jiang Xueya, he had actually returned to being twelve and met his father.

Su Ruhui said, “Heavens, this really doesn’t seem like a dream.”

“Of course.” Su Guanyu said kindly, “When did your father ever say this was a dream?”

“You’re not dead?” Su Ruhui stood up and looked around. “And you reversed time to let me return to Mount Zhuluo? Is this the power of the Celestial Realm?”

“No, from a worldly perspective, I am already dead.” Su Guanyu said with a smile. “I haven’t reversed time; I simply picked a familiar place to meet you. This Mount Zhuluo is a false illusion. To be more precise, it is merely a scene I extracted from your ‘snowflake.’”

Su Ruhui suddenly remembered what happened before his death. The System mentioned starting a virus removal program and then went offline. Su Ruhui was slightly shocked and called for the System in his mind. There was dead silence. The usual flat and snarky voice was gone. Su Ruhui gradually realized—could the virus the System spoke of be his father?

Su Guanyu seemed to guess his thoughts and said, “The snowflake’s disappearance was my doing. However, I can only make it disappear for a moment; it will return before long.”

“Dad…” Su Ruhui’s brain couldn’t process this for the first time, getting stuck as if in a knot, unable to think further. “Are you dead or alive?”

This question seemed to give Su Guanyu quite a headache. He said unhurriedly, “The ancients said: ‘Forget the limbs, discard the intelligence, leave the form and abandon knowledge, becoming one with the Great Pervasion.’ Hui-er, how do you define life and death? If the existence of the physical body is the boundary between life and death, then both you and I died a long time ago. You used a Super Grade-One Flesh Puppet to extend your life, while I caught a loophole in this world and, at the cost of my physical body’s demise, hid in the gaps of the snowflakes.”

“So you are a soul now?” Su Ruhui asked.

Su Guanyu shook his head. “To be precise, it’s a form of spiritual consciousness. In this form, although acting is quite inconvenient, I can avoid the judgment of the snowflakes. Hui-er, you should understand that the snowflakes cannot tolerate my existence. ‘Celestials Must Die’ is an iron law of this world. Many years ago, when I reached the summit of the Celestial Realm, I drew down heavenly punishment. I discovered the snowflakes, and at the same time, they noticed me. To survive, I had to suppress my realm and return to the Pilgrimage Realm until I crossed the wind and snow to reach the Heavenly Pole of the Snow Realm. If the snowflakes discover I am still alive, they will surely use any means necessary to erase everything about me.”

Su Ruhui couldn’t fully understand what Su Guanyu said. He thought about it for a bit. According to Su Guanyu, he let the System destroy his body but used some means to preserve his spiritual consciousness, hiding in a place unknown to the System. In this way, he became the “virus” the System mentioned.

However, the System must have discovered him now. That fellow System was mysterious, talking nonsense while erasing a Celestial Realm mystic without blinking. Su Ruhui couldn’t help but worry—could his father really contend with the System?

Su Ruhui said, “I have bad news for you. The System discovered you.”

“Yes,” Su Guanyu sighed, “but what can be done? I can’t just watch you die at someone else’s hands. I will reverse the temporal state of your wound and let the cut on your throat heal.”

“Reverse time?”

“Explaining it is a bit troublesome,” Su Guanyu said. “Did the System tell you it is your cheat code? To put it simply, this world has many laws, including general laws and core laws. For example, ‘Celestials Must Die’ is a core law of the System; even it cannot change it. But general laws can be, such as infinite money, infinite items, reversing time, or pulling the dying you into this illusory scene. I modified the temporal flow of your wound. Your injury will heal slowly. However, my power is limited, so it might recover very slowly. After you wake up, it’s best to change to a new puppet body.” Su Guanyu bent down and smiled, stroking the top of Su Ruhui’s head. “Your father is so great; aren’t you happy?”

Su Ruhui was about to say something when he saw Su Guanyu’s close-up smile. Su Ruhui could see his skin was as exquisite as fine porcelain. It was too exquisite, so much so that he didn’t look like a person but like one of the puppets Su Ruhui made. Su Ruhui gradually noticed that the man’s smile hadn’t changed from beginning to end; even the curve of his lips hadn’t altered by a fraction. Su Ruhui couldn’t help but take a step back; this guy’s smile was truly a bit eerie.

Su Ruhui suppressed the discomfort in his heart and said, “Dad, don’t overthink it; I haven’t blamed you. If it were me and my wife died at the hands of an enemy, I would also go to any lengths, chasing them for ten thousand miles, not caring even if I were smashed to pieces. Well, when I didn’t have a wife, I did blame you a little bit. But I have a wife now, I understand you.”

Su Guanyu smiled and shook his head. “Don’t love anyone, Hui-er. You are different from them. Ties with those people have no meaning for you.”

This sounded a bit strange, like the Peerless Sword Immortal in a novel having a strict and stubborn master who wants him to sever his emotions and focus solely on the Great Dao. Su Ruhui felt awkward and said, “Sorry, I’m a worldly person. Even if you don’t agree, Sang Chiyu is my wife.”

Su Guanyu sighed slightly. “You are the only person in this world who possesses the snowflake. Is that not enough for you to discover your extraordinary nature?”

To be honest, that System seemed all-powerful, but it was stingy with Su Ruhui, always talking nonsense and providing embarrassing items. It seemed very unreliable. Su Ruhui didn’t feel that having it was a good thing. Speaking of which, Su Ruhui couldn’t help but find it difficult. Although the System was unreliable, it had helped him quite a bit. The System wanted to kill his father; should he side with the System or his father? It was too hard—would he have to argue with the System in his head every day?

Just then, a slight ripple occurred in his mind.

Beep—

[System coming online… Attempting to reconnect to the neural network… Please wait.]

Su Guanyu also seemed to feel it. He looked up at the sky and said, “I must go.”

Su Ruhui was reluctant and unconsciously grabbed his sleeve.

“Old man, will we not see each other for the rest of our lives?” Su Ruhui asked.

Su Guanyu’s smile was meaningful.

“Don’t be in a hurry, Hui-er,” Su Guanyu walked step by step into the hazy mountain mist. “Before we meet again, we need to wait patiently.”

[System online successful, neural network connection successful.]

The scenery of Mount Zhuluo faded and disappeared. Su Ruhui suddenly opened his eyes and returned to the present world. His throat was in excruciating pain. Su Ruhui touched his throat and felt the uneven wound. The blood had dried, and he could feel the gash closing up. He opened his mouth to speak, but his windpipe had been slit and hadn’t fully healed; his voice was extremely raspy and low.

To think his father really brought him back to life. But in his current state, anyone would be scared to death by him.

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Everything was pitch black. He tried to get up, but his forehead hit the wooden board above with a ‘clang.’ He clutched his head and lay back in pain. He felt around and found he was lying in a rectangular box… No, this seemed like a coffin. He tapped on the coffin lid; the sound was muffled, and there seemed to be snow piled on top. Tiny snowflakes leaked into the coffin, making Su Ruhui shiver uncontrollably.

He seemed to have been locked inside a coffin.

Right, contact Sang Chiyu with the communication compass. He felt around but couldn’t find his bag or the compass; they must have been taken by Jiang Xueya. He called up the panel, but found it flickering wildly, unable to open the inventory at all.

System, System, help! he shouted repeatedly.

[System was previously attacked by a virus, functions paralyzed. Attempting self-repair… Self-repair failed, functional panel disabled.]

“No way,” Su Ruhui felt despair. “Can you at least give me a communication compass?”

[I’ll try. You have to be quick; I’m going to crash again.]

The panel popped up again, flickering. The light made Su Ruhui’s eyes ache. The System forced open the inventory, and Su Ruhui was quick, taking out the communication compass in a flash.

He really didn’t know if his father was screwing him over or saving him. Su Guanyu attacked the System, causing the warning function to fail, and he got his throat slit without any defense. Also because of Su Guanyu’s attack, the System panel malfunctioned, and he almost couldn’t get the compass. Well, even with the System’s warning, Su Ruhui might not have escaped Jiang Xueya’s clutches.

Su Ruhui opened the compass. It was blank. He belatedly realized that this new compass didn’t have Sang Chiyu’s talisman seal.

[Warning: System about to go offline.]

[Warning: System about to go offline.]

Wait, tell me Sang Chiyu’s seal! Su Ruhui roared in his mind.

The alarm stopped abruptly; the System crashed again.

It was over. Truly over this time. Su Ruhui hammered on the coffin lid, trying to push it open. Lacking strength, the heavy wooden board didn’t budge. The wound on his throat seemed to have reopened slightly from his excessive movements. Su Ruhui coughed up blood, which welled up from the gash in his throat and his mouth. He had to lie on his side to prevent the blood from blocking his windpipe and suffocating him.

Su Ruhui tapped rhythmically on the coffin lid, hoping someone would pass by and pull him out.

But it was too cold inside. The tapping became slower and slower. Su Ruhui’s mind felt like it was filled with mush, groggy and heavy. He even stopped shivering; the cold had numbed his consciousness, and his throat no longer hurt as much. He knew his time was running out. Soon his breathing would weaken, his heartbeat would gradually stop, he would lose consciousness, and he might even experience hallucinations of warmth.

Nearing death for the third time, the despair in Su Ruhui’s heart was like overflowing bitter water, and a sour feeling rose to his throat. He curled up, hugging his arms, shivering uncontrollably.

Sang Chiyu, where are you?