They Who Hold Each Other Tightly
Chen Ling grabbed Sun Bumian's hand that had broken out of the ground, and a portion of memories belonging to Sun Bumian surged into his mind like a tide!
Chen Ling saw it;
In Sun Bumian's memory, this seemed to be his first slumber.
In that original memory, after a decade, Sun Bumian broke out of the barren earth, and all that remained was the whistling wind and sand, and the broken walls and ruins standing among the rubble.
Sun Bumian was stunned.
His impression of that city was still stuck in the Universal Celebration of ten years ago, but now, this place was already desolate without a trace of human habitation... This was an indescribable feeling. The former familiarity and sense of security had completely left, leaving only endless bewilderment and unease...
It was as if he had been forgotten by the whole world.
"Master..."
Perhaps because he had slumbered for too long, Sun Bumian's footsteps were slightly stumbling. He stumbled through every corner of the ruins, but couldn't find the slightest trace of the past...
Sun Bumian was like a homeless child, standing blankly in the ruins for a whole day. Only when the midnight cold wind cut his cheeks so much that they hurt did he recover his senses, and muddle-headedly walked out of the city.
He walked in the desert for three days without a drop of water, before finally finding an inhabited city.
Only after inquiring did he find out that ten years had passed since he fell asleep. Now dynasties had changed, the dynasty's territory had changed beyond recognition, and an unknown number of cities had been forgotten in the vast desert.
Ten years of time was like a heavy punch, causing Sun Bumian, who was slumbering for the first time, to nearly collapse. Sun Bumian was very clear in his heart that with his Master's physical condition, he couldn't survive for ten years... Those things and people he had cherished basically disappeared amidst the ruthless torrent of history.
Everything was all because he slept for too long.
Sun Bumian cried for a long time. He didn't know how to make up for all this, and could only attribute all the faults to himself. As if to punish himself, he started to fast from food and water, trapping himself in the desert for ten days.
Perhaps favored by the air of auspiciousness, when Sun Bumian was unconscious and near death, a merchant caravan happened to pass by and saved him, then set off towards a distant city...
Sun Bumian survived, but the guilt and pain in his heart didn't disappear. Instead, they trapped him for a full twenty years in that lifetime, before the wounds gradually smoothed out.
Time returned to the present.
Chen Ling seemed to have experienced this past together with Sun Bumian, his eyes incomparably complex...
Rustle——
That section of the palm extending from the dirt was still struggling hard, seemingly about to break out of the ground very soon.
Chen Ling seemed to have realized something and turned to look behind. In the barrenness far away, a white-haired figure seemed to be quietly looking at this place...
"You asked me to wait for him... Is it to make up for all this?" Chen Ling muttered to himself.
Jiang Xiaohua nodded slightly in the distance.
Chen Ling's gaze fell back to the palm that was about to break out of the ground. After hesitating for a long time, he still gritted his teeth, and his palm abruptly exerted force!
Bang!
A figure was pulled out of the soil by him, and under inertia, staggered and nearly fell to the ground.
"You..." The newly awakened Sun Bumian gasped for the surrounding air in big mouthfuls. Catching a glimpse of Chen Ling beside him from the corner of his eye, there was some surprise in his eyes. "Who are you?"
Chen Ling stared into his eyes. After a moment of silence, he still didn't answer with a name, but spoke directly:
"Your Master asked me to bring you a message."
"Master?"
Sun Bumian looked around. Seeing the surrounding barren earth and the city with only remnants left in the distance, his whole person froze in place... As if having a bad premonition, he immediately asked, "Where is my Master?"
"You slumbered for ten years, he has already passed away."
Hearing these words, Sun Bumian's heart was shaken. Before he could ask anything, Chen Ling spoke again,
"However, he lived very happily in these few years... Although you were not by his side to accompany him, perhaps favored by your air of auspiciousness, his later years were free from disasters and calamities... He was very grateful to you. Having a disciple like you was his honor."
Sun Bumian froze in place.
What Chen Ling said was not unfounded. Six years ago, when that Old Man appeared for the last time, he spoke to Sun Bumian's grave alone for a long time. He heard every single word without missing anything...
Chen Ling even suspected that the gaze that Old Man gave him at the end was so that he could relay it for him... He said it specifically for him to hear.
Just who exactly was that Old Man?
"Master..." Sun Bumian's eyes immediately turned red, seeming unable to accept it for a moment.
"Your Master also said that it wasn't your fault that you didn't meet again, but the will of heaven... If you feel guilty and waste your life because of this, he would be very angry." Chen Ling patted Sun Bumian's shoulder,
"Do you still remember? Master asked you to take good care of yourself no matter what happens..."
"I..."
Sun Bumian was still doubtful of Chen Ling's words just now, but after hearing the latter half of the sentence, he believed it... He was like a child who had lost everything, standing there helplessly, tears sliding down his cheeks.
Chen Ling didn't speak again. After all, those last few sentences were all blindly made up by himself;
He just watched Sun Bumian wailing in the barrenness like this, submerged in the endless wind and sand...
When the sun set behind the western mountains, the evening sun at dusk was like red satin draped over Sun Bumian's body. The latter finally slowly recovered his emotions. With red eyes, he looked back at the city ruins amidst the wind and sand. There was no longer the original bewilderment and guilt in his eyes, but instead a trace of determination.
"I made you laugh." Sun Bumian looked at Chen Ling, seeming somewhat embarrassed.
"It's okay."
Anyway, I've already seen you cry loudly several times in the memories, Chen Ling thought to himself.
"... What is your name?"
"Chen Ling."
"Chen Ling..." Sun Bumian murmured, as if to keep this name in his heart. "No matter what, thank you for coming to find me... You're right, the last thing Master told me was to take good care of myself. If I can't even do this, it would be unfilial..."
"It's good that you can look past it."
"..."
Seeing Sun Bumian continuously staring at him, Chen Ling's brows furrowed slightly, somewhat confused.
"Have we met?" Sun Bumian couldn't help but say, "I don't know why... Since just now, I've felt like I've forgotten something..."
As he spoke, in the nothingness above Sun Bumian's head, a memory thread as thin as a hair was pulled out of thin air, and the other end was stuffed into Chen Ling's hand. An aura of Curse crazily spread in the air...
Chen Ling was taken aback. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, the surrounding yellow sand shattered inch by inch!
At the end of the barren horizon,
The corners of Jiang Xiaohua's eyes gently curled up, and a smile surfaced on his face.
...
"Chen Ling...?"
In front of the gates of the Stars Chamber of Commerce, Sun Bumian suddenly stopped his footsteps.
Sun Bumian suddenly felt that a segment of his memory had been overwritten by someone. At the same time, all of his memories were returning to their places. It was like someone was holding the end of the thread, giving it a forceful tug, and those memories that had been forgotten by him surged into his mind continuously like a tide!