CG Chapter 188: What the Past Reached For
A sliver of a scale sailing the void, born to only witness the end. The two standing interwined, the northern and southern echoes of the same dreams, ever interchanging in place. A story told once, only to be told once more. Before the two, a single inkdrop etched the story, and after, all things returned in accord with the original script.
Aretius stood in his place, disconnected from everything around him. He entered a state of true and utter trance. At that moment, he could not sense anything around him. Whereas before he could have sensed a flying insect standing on his bedsheets, now he would not be able to sense an attacker standing in front of him.
Nevertheless, this seemingly perilous state was Aretius's goal all along. Because at that very instant, while he willingly severed his connection to the surrounding world, he saw it once more, ever so slightly.
A bare silver-haired man, his skin whiter than that of snow, his eyes closed shut as if they had been like that since the beginning of time and shall remain so for all of eternity. Behind stood a desolate tree, appearing lifeless one moment before exuding an incredible vital force the next.
A creature that resembled neither a dragon nor a phoenix, yet bore the semblance of all living beings, floated peacefully around him, seemingly as if it were afraid of disturbing the man's respite.
As Aretius stretched his focus even further, he was able to glimpse the slight figure of a worn-out, mundane gate, but just as his stare fell on that gate, he sensed a gaze staring at him from a distant space.
Penetrating violet eyes stared directly at him. If these eyes fell on anyone else, they would have been wiped from existence; their bodies would have disintegrated, turning into a pile of yellow earth scattered into the wind, memories forgotten, incapable of even reincarnating.
Regardless, to Aretius, this piercing gaze was as gentle as snow, carrying complete tranquility. After all, how could one's own gaze harm them? These riddling, perforating eyes and this man staring at him were none other than Aretius himself.
The moment their eyes interlocked, time itself seemed to have come to a stop, as Aretius stared at his own bare soul body.
Yet none of that mattered, as Aretius's heart in the moment was chasing something different. He wanted to get a chance, a slight opportunity, to glance at that gate for one more breath. He knew, however, that if his gaze had wavered for that time, his soul would shatter, and his pursuit of immortality would come to an early end. He did not know how or why he got that feeling, but he trusted that sensation more than anything else, because the person who stopped him was none other than himself.
A moment passed, and another. It appeared as if an epoch had washed away, yet no time passed at all. As every thought of Aretius slowed down, the sun in the sky remained motionless as if it were painted in place.
Absolute stillness, a sensation of decay, and the passage of forgotten memories placed a heavy, suffocating feeling on top of the Soul Sea.
Suddenly, a sound formed, turning into a clamorous echo, but if one looked for it, they would not find a source or origin, as if it came from everyplace and nowhere at the same moment.
'Behind the mountain. There is another mountain. Behind the shadow of yore lies a secret that will shake heaven and earth. It is only by stepping outside one's own well that one can know of one's own impediments. To unite with the fragment, to grasp the origins of life and death. It is a grand cause.'
The mouth of the man under the tree gestured, yet it was soundless, like a lifeless puppet attempting to speak without its master's control, with no sound coming out.
Ultimately, Aretius broke free from what was holding him back, as he called to the soul body. "Blood of my blood. The origin of my cycle began with him, but it shall end with me."
An echo of a chuckle, a sensation of realization passed like a thunderstorm, and then the man stood from his resting place under the desolate tree. A step followed another, as he walked footless, on the surface of the Soul Sea.
Toll!
A long-forgotten melody played, and echoes of his past lives appeared. A black-haired, limbless boy; a desert warrior with a blinded eye; a knight wearing royal armor. Illusory figures of the past appeared one after another, as if they were dancing at the edge of a nightmare.
Toll!
The phantoms appeared as if they were chasing his original body, attempting to reach him before he arrived, as each echoing footstep seemed to push these illusory figures further away. The man's footsteps, however, remained unhurried as he approached Aretius, seemingly unaffected by the phantoms' actions.
Toll!
Just as the man was but a step away from Aretius, the sound of the melody grew louder, shifting into a sharp, ear-splitting note, as if an explosion was about to occur. The phantoms exerted their utmost to reach Aretius, as they finally reached him...
In the moment they touched his body, he appeared unaffected. Their vicious, deadly attacks, the claws and vicious strikes, all turned into nothing but illusions. Aretius merely gazed at the floating phantoms around, a genuine and rare smile on his face. A moment later, the phantoms began to disappear, one after another.
He muttered under his breath. "He who knows not how to step forward, he who is held by the past, has long died. I refuse to die even in the face of the world, let alone being held by the past."
The moment the final word came out of his mouth, he sensed a cold tap on his forehead.
Boom!
Looking in front, he saw his soul body smiling at him. He closed his eyes, and a moment later, he opened them.
He had returned to the same room in the Li Clan. Countless eras passed, but time remained the same with the lively sound of the children playing outside his room.
The only different thing was a gentle force brewing within his glabella. This gentle force was what he would awaken. This would be his anchor.