Chapter 579 Half Completed
After everyone had finished reading the book, Paimeng carefully closed it, raised his head, scanned everyone present, and said slowly, "According to what is said in this book, if I understand it correctly, as long as we reach the center of the lake in the southern part of Tianheng Mountain at dusk, we should be able to find the mysterious secret stone." As soon as he finished speaking, Paimeng turned his head and looked in the direction of the village entrance, and then added, "Well, let's go back and tell Shen He the good news."
Everyone slowly approached Shen He and Ming Jun, and the ground beneath their feet raised fine dust, which fluttered in the afterglow of the setting sun, as if adding a hazy and nostalgic filter to the scene of this reunion. As the distance shortened, Ming Jun's emotional voice gradually became clear and echoed in the air.
"I remember one year when I came back here, I accidentally heard the legend of the 'white-haired fairy' from a passing merchant. It was a sunny afternoon that was a little dazzling, with no clouds in the sky, and the blue sky was pure without a trace of impurities. The sound of the caravan's bells came from far away, crisp and pleasant, like a string of lively notes, breaking the long silence of the village. I was sitting under the old tree at the entrance of the village to rest, and the mottled shadows of the tree fell on me, like a natural ink painting. The merchant stopped, untied the water bag at his waist, raised his head to drink a sip of water to moisten his dry throat, and then told the legend with great interest.
He said that in the distant mountains and forests, where the mountains are high and the forests are dense, and there are clouds and mists all year round, there is a fairy with white hair like snow. Her white hair shimmers softly under the sunlight, as pure as the first snow in winter. She has great magical powers, and can trigger wonderful spells with her gestures. Her figure is as graceful as the breeze in the forest, and she often appears and disappears in the clouds and mists, as if she is integrated with nature. She guards the peace of one side and protects the nearby villages from disasters. She is the patron saint in people's hearts. At that time, I never thought that the protagonist of this legend would be you! Back then, your father and I were close friends. At that time, we were young, full of endless vitality and passion, full of passion and dreams, and full of infinite longing for the future, as if the whole world was at our feet, allowing us to gallop.
At that time, we often walked together on this familiar land, with laughter echoing in the open fields for a long time. We talked about life freely, looking forward to a better future together, imagining what kind of people we would become and what kind of wonderful life we would create.
However, fate always likes to play tricks on people... Once upon a time, we had a great opportunity to stop him from holding that horrific and terrifying ritual. It was a cloudy night, and the sky was as dark as a huge curtain, weighing heavily on the top of our heads. There was no starlight, no moonlight, and the whole world seemed to be swallowed by darkness. I accidentally discovered that he was secretly preparing something, and I felt vaguely uneasy. An inexplicable intuition told me that what he was doing was definitely not ordinary.
When I approached quietly and saw those mysterious runes and strange offerings in the weak light of the fire, I was stunned. Those runes were twisted and hideous, exuding a creepy atmosphere; the offerings were placed in a disorderly manner, revealing an indescribable weirdness. I realized that he was performing an extremely dangerous ritual, which might bring unpredictable consequences and even break the tranquility and peace of this land.
I tried to dissuade him, anxiously holding his arm and telling him that doing so could lead to a terrible disaster and cause countless people to suffer. However, he was blinded by his love for his wife, and there was only endless madness and persistence in his eyes. He simply could not listen to me, but was immersed in his own world, firmly believing that this ceremony would bring his wife back to him.
But in the end, I was soft-hearted and chose to let it go. I watched him immersed in pain and obsession. Although I was full of worry, I didn't have enough courage to stop him. I naively thought that he might be able to find a compromise that would not cause too much harm, but I was wrong, very wrong. My weakness and hesitation made this tragedy inevitable.
Since then, every year I would bring back some bright and beautiful flowers. But in this desolate and bleak village, they seemed so lonely and no one appreciated them. The once bustling village is now only left with broken walls and overgrown streets, a dead silence. I put the flowers in every corner of the village, on the dilapidated windowsills, collapsed thresholds, and deserted courtyards... as if this could alleviate some of the guilt in my heart.
So many years have passed, and the wheel of time has run over me mercilessly. Deep in my heart, I always feel that I owe you too much, and I have always wanted to say sorry to you in person! "Mingjun whispered these past events while looking up into the distance, his eyes gradually moistened, filled with endless guilt and deep self-blame. His eyes were full of pain and regret, as if he had returned to that fateful night, seeing his cowardice and incompetence, and the tragedy caused by his inaction.
On his weathered face, the already deep wrinkles seemed to deepen several more at this moment, as if the years had mercilessly left marks of regret on it with a chisel. The years had made his face look haggard, his skin rough and cracked, like dry land; his hair was sparse and gray, flying messily in the wind; his eyes were full of fatigue and helplessness.
After listening to these words quietly, Shen He showed a helpless expression on her face. She shook her head gently, and then spoke slowly in a tone as calm as a lake.
"Why bother to apologize to me? Even if you succeeded in stopping him, with his obsession and madness for love, he would definitely try every possible way to achieve his goal. He loved my mother so much, and her passing was like losing the whole world to him. In his world, mother was everything to him, and the only motivation for him to live."