Realms In The Firmament

’Everybody says the martial world is good, but where is it, please tell me if you could?’

’In the mountains, in the forests, in the waters, where to find the martial world that is good?’

’Youngsters say the martial world is good. How many of them are really mature?’

’It is said one can carry and strike a sword. How many know about the sin and blood buried in the sword?’

’Young men say the martial world is good. A hero always has a beautiful girl.’

’When he steps in the martial world, how does he know who’s the witch and who’s the girl?’

’Who’s a lady and who’s a whore?’

’People say the martial world is good, how much love and hatred do they know?’

’They heard the legends from young to old, who heard about the heroes and beauties buried in the wild?’

’On the side of the road in the martial world, lots of bones and tombs.’

’How many youngster’s dreams were buried?’

’Martial world is good. Martial world is wonderful. Youngsters should leave before they are old.’

’Easy to get in, difficult to get out. Do you know how many people were showing their fake smiles while feeling extremely sad in it?’

’Only when you are old do you know how much better your family is than the stupid martial world dream.’

’You won’t want to spend a life among swords and blood if you know about it…’

’Martial world is good. Martial world is wonderful. Martial world is also evil.’

’Martial world is good for the man who has climbed to the peak alone.’

’Don’t ever say the martial world is good.’

’You say it is good. I say it is good. We both wish we have left when we still could…’

…

There were mountains. Lots of continuous mountains

It was in the wild.

There was an old path.

In the sunset, Ye Xiao was riding a black pony with white hooves. He casually traveled on the path alone.

The breeze brushed past against his face. His blue robe was fluttering, his hair was floating, and he felt so comfortable as if he was leaving all the mortal chaos behind.

After he left Cold Moon Palace, completely got rid of Zhan Yunfei and Zhu Jiutian, he changed his clothes right away. He even changed his hairstyle to the one he used in the Land of Han-Yang. He was having fun traveling along the way to the south. In the end, he commanded Erhuo to get him a wild pony. He rode on the pony and casually walked on the road.

He was like a decent and beautiful young lord walking among the mountains and rivers!

That was so… f*cking enjoyable, casual… and enviable!

He forced himself to temporarily free his head, not to think about anything serious.

The grudge from the previous life, the gratitude in the present life, the hatred from the past, and the love in the present time. He kept telling himself, ’hatred is hatred, gratitude is gratitude’. However, the reality had made a dead knot in his heart.

It wasn’t that difficult to sort it out though. He just couldn’t make up his mind to do it!

He was troubled and entangled. He decided to put away all that entangled him and enjoy the leisure time.

When he walked to the road near a forest and saw the lonely tombs on the roadside, he was touched. It reminded him of a song that had been sung in Qing-Yun Realm for decades, Martial World Is Good. He started to sing gently.

It was a song, well, not exactly a song. It only had a short single strain. It was a vagrant cultivator who sang it thoughtlessly. Ye Xiao still remembered that day when he met that vagrant cultivator. Now as he thought of it, it seemed happening before his eyes...

A ragged, white-haired, sad-faced, and travel-stained man, holding an Erhu [1], sang in a lonely rhythm.

He never knew this song he thoughtlessly played would be resounding in the world forever.

The martial world contained too many beautiful dreams of youngsters. Heroes, love stories, songs, beauties, courage, fame, legends... but all were buried in history…

A sword came and left, with hatred and gratitude…

A song killed and moaned, the rhythm of the sword art…

It was a dream

It could only be a dream.

A dream, especially a sweet dream, one was easy to wake up from! Reality was the only eternity!

Only those ignorant youngsters, in their most impulsive ages, thought the martial world was wonderful. However, when they were old enough, they eventually saw the truth. There was no dream in the martial world. What they could do was to make a long sigh.

It was simply a world of sin, filth, blood, betrayal, slaughter, and death!

It aroused everybody’s negative emotion, status, and feelings!

A man sometimes had no choice while living in the martial world. The tiredness and the helplessness would keep filling his heart.

Ye Xiao loved this song. It told the solitariness and helplessness of the life in the martial world.

Whenever he was free, he would sing it gently on the top of a mountain, or in a silent valley. The sadness, grief, the helplessness, and despair in the song were only experienced by cultivators who had been through a lot in the martial world.

Every time when he sang it, he had some strange feeling and got a new enlightenment. It was like a liquor to him, which contained both the spiciness of the new liquor and the richness of the old. The two tastes worked together in his heart, making a complex emotion. It could only be sensed but not described.

”The martial world is good for the man who has climbed to the peak alone…” Ye Xiao sighed. ”However, even when one is on top of the world, the loneliness… Is it truly good? The man who wrote this song… I don’t think he understands it thoroughly… Ah… One can only get the most distant view when he is in the highest position. He has never been on top of the world… so he surely have no idea how it feels to stand on top of the world…”

The pony was making clopping sound. Ye Xiao was moving on the road in a casual way. It fitted the image of a lonely hero in the youngsters’ mind, though.

However, somebody laughed and then sang loudly, ”Good. Martial world is good. Martial world is great. Men are beheaded every day. Martial world is good. Martial world is great. Heroes die in the same way. Martial world is good. Martial world is great. Beauties grow old and ugly day by day. Martial world is good. Martial world is great. Lives are wasted in different ways. Martial world is good. Martial world is great. Who the f*ck says the martial world is great? …”

Ye Xiao was shocked. The man who sang sounded so energetic. In his voice, there was a sense of unruliness, unconstraint, and wildness. Apparently, he had something powerful to support him on being outspoken like this.

What the man sang wasn’t the original song. However, it was the same rhythm. Apparently, he added the lyric into the original song. However, Ye Xiao felt like it sounded exactly the same as the vagrant cultivator’s. However, it was more wild and unruly.

The man’s voice was heavy and broad. Hearing the voice, Ye Xiao started to picture the image of the man.

It might be a man who was tall and overweight with a big beard.

”May I ask who sang the song that impressed me that much? Since we are both fans of it, why not just show yourself to me?” Ye Xiao looked at the forest and spoke loudly.

…