Book 4: Chapter 11: Separation From The Loved
After walking through the mist hand in hand, Tang Ruowei and Li Jinyao found that they had appeared together on the steep cliff before.
The two girls didn’t have Bai Qiuran’s ability to walk like flying on the nearly vertical steep cliffs, but they quickly called out their swords, stepped on them, and floated in mid-air.
At this time, since the trial has been pa.s.sed, the two girls were surrounded by a layer of cloud and mist, and could only vaguely see the top and the foot of the mountain.
Li Jinyao looked up and down, then suddenly asked:
“Sister Ruowei, at this moment, how far do you think it is from the top of the mountain?”
When Tang Ruowei heard the words, she narrowed her eyes and looked towards the top of the mountain. Using the experience acc.u.mulated in surveying and mapping, she almost measured the approximate distance at a glance.
“The vertical distance is about 350 feet.”
“As expected.”
Li Jinyao looked up for a moment and said:
“From my point of view, it is about 750 feet. In this way, after every trial, crossing a fog area was equivalent to crossing a distance of about 350 feet. Between the fog areas, there is a gap of fifteen feet in height.”
“But you said it’s 750 feet…”
“Yes, although we are standing next to each other now, we are standing in a dislocation s.p.a.ce again, because I have pa.s.sed one trial more than you.”
Li Jinyao nodded.
“How do the Land Immortals manipulate this kind of spatial dislocation? I’m very curious…”
“Now curiosity has no results.”
Tang Ruowei looked down at the misty area.
“In any case, let’s move on, Sister Li, maybe in the next trial, you and I will be able to meet familiar characters.”
“Let’s go.”
Li Jinyao nodded.
Arm in arm, the two girls went deep into the next misty area. After a sense of spatial dislocation, the two came to an expanse of plain.
They were surrounded by faintly fragrant gra.s.s growing everywhere, and above their heads, the beautiful night sky dotted with stars. This s.p.a.ce did not look like a crisis-ridden trial scene, but rather like a cla.s.sic place for lovers’ confession depicted in a novel.
“What trial is here?”
Tang Ruowei looked left and right in curious.
“I don’t know… but it doesn’t seem like a trial of cultivation level or physical strength.”
Li Jinyao looked around curiously, and said at the same time:
“Before I meet you, I had experienced [the suffering of death]. That trial sent me to the Underworld. In there I encountered a worm-like behemoth made of bones, which has the power equal to a Deity Transformation stage. It took me a lot of effort to successfully kill it.”
Tang Ruowei smacked secretly.
“I speculate that the first four sufferings are aimed at the body and strength, and the last four sufferings are aimed at the mental state. This should be one of the last four sufferings.”
Li Jinyao replied:
“Because we have already pa.s.sed [not getting what is wanted], [five clinging-aggregates] is very subtle, so this is probably either [a.s.sociation with the unbeloved] or [separation from the loved].”
“Anyway, find the stele first.”
Tang Ruowei suggested.
Because of the flat terrain, the two girls easily found the trial stele in a corner of the plain, but more importantly, under the stele, they also saw a handsome young man with white hair and white eyebrows, who just stepped out of the ripples of s.p.a.ce leisurely.
When the two parties met, they were shocked. Tang Ruowei blinked and subconsciously wanted to call Master, but Li Jinyao suddenly slammed in front of her and asked the white-haired senior who had a good opinion in front of her:
“Senior! Please use three seconds to propose a line of the poem to describe junior sister Ruowei’s chest!”
When hearing the question, Bai Qiuran was taken aback for a moment. He glanced at the surrounding plains subconsciously, and then said without hesitation:
“The stars are shining on the vast flat field…”
“I’m not flat!”
Tang Ruowei roared, kicked at Bai Qiuran’s leg, and then squatted down as she hurt her own leg.
“All right.”
Li Jinyao completely relaxed this time.
“He is the real Sword Patriarch.”
“Why are you here?”
Bai Qiuran touched the small head of Tang Ruowei who was squatting on the ground in pain and asked:
“I thought the manipulator behind this Immortal Mansion would not let us huddle together… Anyway, I wouldn’t if I were him.”
“Maybe his control over the situation in this Immortal Mansion is much lower than we thought?”
Li Jinyao blinked, then smiled and explained the whole story and some of her speculations.
“So, the trick is multiple s.p.a.ces misplaced?”
Bai Qiuran thought for a moment.
“I always feel that someone who can achieve this level of power will not be someone who has the low-level taste of possessing other’s body.”
“I think too, but we are not easy to guess at the moment.”
Li Jinyao said:
“For example, after many years, a person who was brilliant and talented back then might become an old man who is afraid of death. After all, people will change.”
“Maybe.”
Bai Qiuran looked at the stele.
“Anyway, we’ll understand after we reach the end… Solve this trial first.”
He pulled up Tang Ruowei, who was rubbing her legs, and the three came to the stele together. Sensing the arrival of the three, the text composed of blue light quickly appeared on the surface of the stele.
【Be happy when meeting new acquaintances, not be sad when parting. 】
The text disappeared, and then six large characters appeared.
【The fifth (third) (second) suffering: the suffering of separation from the loved. 】
“Wow–”
Seeing the name of this trial, Bai Qiuran stretched the tone and sighed:
“This trial is beyond my knowledge… Ruowei, Miss Li, let me do this trial first.”
Seeing him deliberately wanting to test the danger for herself and Tang Ruowei, Li Jinyao was taken aback for a while, and then said:
“With Sword Patriarch’s strength, we naturally rest a.s.sured.”
After some contact, whether it’s wisdom, talent, strength, experience, or mentality, in all aspects except for cultivation level, Li Jinyao was willing to admit Bai Qiuran was her superior.
She herself knew that even if she was born in the same era as Bai Qiuran, she would definitely be pushed to the fore by Bai Qiuran in all aspects. So for Bai Qiuran, she was more at ease than herself. If even Bai Qiuran couldn’t pa.s.s the hurdle, then she and Tang Ruowei would definitely not be able to pa.s.s.
Seeing Bai Qiuran was going to take the trial, Tang Ruowei, who had been sulking on the ground, also said in a soft voice.
“Be careful, Master.”
Her words were like mosquitoes’ sound, but Bai Qiuran heard them clearly. He smiled and patted Tang Ruowei on the head, and then walked forward without hesitation.
The so-called “separation from the loved” among the eight great sufferings refers to the pain of parting from relatives and friends. Bai Qiuran was actually looking forward to it, whether he can rely on this trial to see some old acquaintances in his memory.
However, when he walked into the trial area on the plain behind the stele, nothing happened.