Volume One: The Eight Coffin Corpse Field, Chapter 87: Reduced to Ashes

Wanshi, you are still as beautiful, still so young, while I have already grown old...

Yang Huanzhi's voice was ethereal as well, but unlike Wanshi's, it sounded clear, youthful, and it was not the voice we had heard in the cave. It must have been his voice from his younger days.

Wanshi grew even more agitated. Touching her own face, shy and tender, she said timidly, "Huanzhi, no matter what you become, I will always like you. In my heart, you will forever be my husband. In truth, being able to see you once more is enough for me. Only now do I understand that all hatred and resentment are but passing clouds, empty in the end. I should have let them go long ago."

The moment Wanshi finished speaking, the image of Yang Huanzhi, the old monk, suddenly changed into a graceful young man. Though dressed in coarse cloth, his features were handsome, and he looked extraordinarily spirited.

Yang Huanzhi and Wanshi gazed at one another for a long while. Then he gave a bitter smile and asked, "Wanshi, can you forgive me?"

Tears fell from Wanshi's eyes in the mirror, but to us, those two clear lines of tears appeared as two trails of blood.

Wanshi murmured, "You fool. I stopped blaming you long ago. Why did you never come to see me?"

Yang Huanzhi smiled wryly. "Because I never truly let go. It seems that even after a hundred years facing the wall, I still failed to grasp the human meanings of love and resentment. Only when I was Yang Huanzhi did I dare think of you, remember you. When I was Jueming, I restrained my feelings and upheld the Buddhist precepts. That was wrong. At last I understand it, at last I do... I am myself, whether I am Yang Huanzhi or Jueming. I no longer need to cling to an identity, but I understood too late..."

The image of Yang Huanzhi above the Lamp of the Five Emperors gradually faded.

Wanshi reached out toward him, calling his name again and again.

In the end, the light on the Buddha's head dimmed, and Yang Huanzhi's figure vanished completely into the air.

Wanshi's eyes were terrifyingly empty, yet she kept smiling, and that smile was so tragically lovely.

Crack...

Suddenly, a split opened through the center of the dressing mirror.

Immediately afterward, fine fractures spread from that crack in all directions.

"Bad. The mirror's going to shatter..." Third Uncle shouted.

At the same time, Wanshi's image in the mirror also began to fade.

"Third Uncle, what's going on?"

By then, I no longer felt the least fear toward Wanshi. Instead, I was deeply shaken by the love story they had shared for a hundred years. I was also worried about the ending for Wanshi and Yang Huanzhi.

"Wanshi's soul has long since passed into rebirth. What remains now is only a wisp of remnant spirit. Her wish has been fulfilled, and I fear she is about to scatter into dust and smoke," Third Uncle said, staring at the already cracked mirror.

"Oh?" I was startled by this and quickly shouted at the mirror, "Senior Wanshi, through reincarnation and many lifetimes, let your bond continue!"

Those were Jueming's words, words I had never had the chance to say to her.

After I cried out, Wanshi's image brightened again. She smiled and said to us, "I understand now. Thank you..."

As soon as she finished speaking, the mirror let out a thunderous crash.

The glass shattered into pieces, scattering all over the floor.

At the same time, the photograph pressed beneath the dressing table suddenly burst into blue flame. The paper ash, carried by a thread of pale smoke, dispersed into the air.

The two of us stood there, witnessing it all, saying nothing, and waited a full five minutes.

I asked first, "Third Uncle, is Wanshi gone like this?"

"She's gone."

"And Yang Huanzhi? Will he remain within this Lamp of the Five Emperors?"

"Of course not. He only borrowed the lamp as a temporary refuge. I think he'll go on to be reborn. Nephew, tell me, do you think he'll come back as a cat in his next life?"

I laughed. "How could that be? In his next life, he'll surely be with Wanshi."

As soon as I said that, I realized that Wanshi's later incarnation was none other than Fei Yao. So I added, "Didn't they have to go through several lives? In any case, in one of them, they will surely be together."

Third Uncle nodded. "Let's hope so. Nephew, things here are more or less settled."

"Mm." That was all I said.

Third Uncle touched my forehead in surprise. "Are you all right? I mean, we've successfully broken the evil formation."

"I know."

He sighed in exasperation. "Damn it all. At least cheer once or twice, will you? That reaction is way too flat."

I smiled. Breaking the evil formation should indeed have made me happy, but clearly I still had not recovered from the story of Yang Huanzhi and Wanshi.

Third Uncle had me carry the Lamp of the Five Emperors and leave the attic first.

Once we were outside and the cool night wind brushed over us, I finally felt as though I had emerged from another world. I looked back. The evil formation in the attic had been broken; did that mean we could make money now? Half a million.

Only when I thought of the money did excitement return to me, and Third Uncle kept mocking me for my slow reaction.

We walked all the way out of the old street before hailing a taxi back to the hotel where we were staying.

The more we thought about it, the more excited we became, until there was no chance of sleep. So each of us brewed a cup of instant coffee and sat by the window, looking out at the night view, chatting.

After taking a sip, I said, "Third Uncle, I kept meaning to ask you. When you got hold of this Lamp of the Five Emperors, you were thrilled. Isn't this lamp just something Yang Huanzhi asked us to bring so he could have a place to stay? Does it serve some other purpose?"

Third Uncle nodded. "Of course. Nephew, do you know? The appearance of this Lamp of the Five Emperors was simply a gift from heaven. Let me show you..."

With that, Third Uncle pulled out the Record of Fierce Houses, flipped through a few pages, and pointed me to the illustrations and text.

I held the sheepskin scroll beneath the desk lamp and found that page also depicted a lamp, very much like the Lamp of the Five Emperors we had in our hands.

I was startled. "How could the Lamp of the Five Emperors be in here?"

Third Uncle nodded. "Not strange at all. This Record of Fierce Houses is truly a miraculous book. It says that when breaking an evil formation, the one who breaks it often mishandles things and damages his own vital yang fire. If it isn't recovered quickly, it can affect one's lifespan or harm the body. So the book specifically introduces this magical implement, the Lamp of the Five Emperors. By using the yang fire within one's own body, the lamp can be used to replicate a new flame of yang fire. Then the extinguished lamp of yang fire can be relit and restored perfectly."

I was stunned. "So that means the yang fire I lost can be saved?"

Third Uncle smiled. "Naturally. After you lost that yang fire, I kept searching for a way to fix it. It wasn't until I saw this sheepskin scroll and discovered this kind of lamp. But there was only the illustration here; I had no idea where to obtain one. Then, on that day, Dharma Zen actually delivered this lamp right to our doorstep. Tell me, wasn't that a pie falling from the sky, landing straight on our heads?"

I was astonished as well. "No way. Could it really be that coincidental? Is this lamp the same thing the book describes?"

End of chapter

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