We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?

Chapter 496: No One Knows Where That Lovely Face Has Gone; the Peach Blossoms Still Smile in the Spring Breeze

Inside the bamboo courtyard.

The resonance of the Way around Xiao Mo grew ever thicker, ever deeper. The long river of dao resonance winding around him, half visible and half hidden, kept circling and flowing as though it would never end.

Fish formed from that resonance leaped more and more merrily within the river, now springing high into the air, now plunging back beneath the surface, brimming with living spirit.

Beneath Xiao Mo, the shape of a Bagua diagram emerged of its own accord.

Above his head, patch after patch of white cloud gathered into spirals, layered upon layered, as though some invisible hand between heaven and earth were stirring them.

At last, that river of dao resonance wrapped around Xiao Mo like a chrysalis, gradually turning black and white. The two colors twisted together, growing darker and denser, until his figure could no longer be seen at all.

And within that “chrysalis,” Xiao Mo’s eyelashes trembled lightly—

Then he slowly opened his eyes.

The instant his eyes opened, the river of dao resonance enclosing him burst apart in every direction. Rings of ripples condensed from spiritual power spread out again and again from the bamboo courtyard, rolling ceaselessly toward the surrounding lands.

Wherever that spiritual power reached, the breath of spring grew richer and more vivid. Flowers bloomed one after another, in a riot of crimson and violet, carpeting the forest paths and spilling across the mountain slopes.

Xiao Mo’s expression was calm, touched with a hint of detachment, yet in those abyss-deep eyes, it seemed as though countless stars were rising and falling into being.

Because the entire bamboo courtyard was covered by the terrifying restrictions Xiao Mo had laid down, the outside world still appeared to be a realm of towering frozen peaks, a winter scene of unbroken snow. It was as if spring had been snapped in half like a brush broken across the middle, able only to remain trapped helplessly within the courtyard.

A breeze drifted past. The sea of blossoms swayed faintly, releasing a subtle fragrance that refreshed the heart, as though even that scent had been adorned with resonance of the Way.

When are these strange dreams ever going to end?

Xiao Mo lowered his head to look at everything before him, and could not help murmuring to himself inwardly.

Yet amid that exquisite, beautiful spiritual atmosphere, though he had felt clear-headed and utterly at peace only a moment before, the scene before his eyes suddenly blurred for an instant, turning dreamlike and unreal.

In that moment, Xiao Mo felt as if he were no longer standing in the bamboo courtyard at all. His whole mind seemed to slip into a daze.

“Mo, what’s wrong? At a moment like this, you’re still standing there in a trance?”

A lively young woman’s voice sounded by his ear, crisp and bright.

He had never heard a voice so lovely.

He turned toward the sound, and the emptiness in Xiao Mo’s eyes began to tremble the instant a slender figure in white came into view.

“Look. Spring is as beautiful as a painting, and the flowers are blooming in the woods.”

The person before him wore an exceedingly simple beige homespun dress and little vest.

The young girl’s figure was graceful and well-proportioned. Though she was dressed in coarse cloth, it did nothing to conceal her long, fair legs. She was a girl in the full bloom of youth, as clean as a newly opened bud, as fine and flawless as white jade, and full of supple life. Her large eyes were bright and lively, full of spirit.

“I... what am I seeing?” Xiao Mo breathed out softly.

“Why are you staring at me like that, Mo? What, don’t you recognize your Qiao’er anymore?”

The girl skipped toward him, her eyes curving into crescents, her smile sweet and full of youthful vitality. In the sunlight, she looked impossibly bright and pure.

Like a spirit born from the mountains and woods—one glance was enough to make a person lose themself. That clear, spotless radiance was enough to stir the heart at once.

But when her skipping figure came to a stop in front of him, all that remained in his sight was the pale line of her neck and the elegant curve of her collarbone.

“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you saying anything?” Ding Qiao’er lifted her fair, slender leg and paced back and forth in front of him.

“Stop swaying around. You were like this when you were little... and you’re still just as mischievous now.”

“You’re the mischievous one. How dare you call me that? We grew up together.”

But Xiao Mo only shook his head. Most of the sound seemed to scrape out from his throat. More than an answer to the girl, it sounded like something he was saying to himself.

“I’ve wondered when you’d come with the betrothal gifts.”

“When I pass the examinations, I’ll come back home and marry you, Qiao’er.”

But when Xiao Mo looked again, the person before him had changed into another bearing, another dress.

A woman’s slender jade finger was stroking his temple.

They seemed to be standing amid a sky full of drifting peach blossoms. The blossoms danced in the wind, white as snow, cascading like a waterfall, their fragrance sweet and intoxicating. Next month, the betrothal gifts were to be sent, and he was to take the woman before him as his wife. Yet in that instant, something in the scene seemed to be missing from his mind.

Because the scene had vanished once, and then vanished again. Because it kept changing. And those feelings that had once already drained away now seemed to come flooding back all at once.

“When you come back with your degree, you’ll definitely marry me, won’t you, Mo?” The woman before him looked at him, and her lovely face made Xiao Mo go still.

“Of course. In this lifetime, I’m definitely going to marry Qiao’er.” Xiao Mo lifted a hand and instinctively reached out to touch her.

But just as his fingers were about to brush her cheek, the entire scene shattered. The image before him changed again, and it was no longer the same person.

A stern, imposing old man sat there, flipping through scrolls, his eyes bright as he glared at Xiao Mo and scolded him.

“Mo’er, you must not slack off in your studies for the examinations. You’ve been in that village school for so many years and still haven’t earned even the most basic degree. Even your classmates have passed already. At this rate, forget the higher examinations—you won’t have a chance at all. And if you still can’t pass, then come home and inherit what little family property we have. Do you understand?”

“Don’t worry, Father. I’ll work hard and win rank and honor.”

The old man gave an angry snort, casually picked up a few scrolls, then sat down again in dejection. That expression, that moment—it all seemed to shift.

“I did pass one once. I passed it before.”

Xiao Mo let out a bitter laugh. The spiritual energy in his palm dispersed soundlessly at high speed, and at the same time the old man’s figure slowly faded from illusion into blank white.

Until at last it vanished completely, and the whole world became a vast whiteness.

“Last year, on this day, within this very gate,

Face and peach blossoms glowed alike in red.”

With that single couplet, the woman’s figure abruptly disappeared.

The scene changed again. Now it was a corner of some mountain forest, bleak and desolate to the eye.

Only a lone mountain estate remained, sitting upon that barren slope.

Wasn’t that the very bamboo courtyard he had once lived in?

The people gone, the place left empty...

All those beautiful scenes from life seemed to be swallowed whole in an instant by this one image. But where was this place?

What was even stranger was that, at that moment, Xiao Mo suddenly discovered a hidden, ancient pavilion at his feet.

“Qiao’er, what’s wrong? Your eyes are so red. Did someone bully you?” Seeing that the woman’s expression was wrong, he could not help feeling anxious and concerned.

The woman lowered her head. To keep him from seeing the tears running down her face, she bit down hard on her lower lip.

Then the scene shifted once more, and only he remained.

Alone, he wandered across the land where that old mountain estate had once stood, stepping onto a long-abandoned stone stairway. In its middle were scattered patches of damp, the place where he had once played as a child.

“Last year, on this day, within this very gate,

Face and peach blossoms glowed alike in red.”

A white figure appeared faintly in the distance. Xiao Mo’s gaze tightened, and in a stern voice he called out the answering lines:

“No one knows where that lovely face has gone;

The peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze.”