Chapter 38 The Suffering Traveler – Dongfang Jingyun
Dongfang Jingyun's resoluteness and madness sent chills down the spines of the middle-aged people present.
Looking at the blood-covered boy before them, they felt he had completely gone mad.
Not just him, everyone in this room has gone mad.
"Good! Good! Good!"
Suddenly, a round of applause broke the eerie atmosphere.
They are those patients with pneumoconiosis.
They applauded and cheered for Dongfang Jingyun with all their might.
Long-lost smiles appeared on their faces, smiles that came from the bottom of their hearts, smiles of joy and appreciation.
"Well said! Jingyun, you're really great!"
"We didn't raise you for nothing! You've finally grown up!"
"Hahaha, those guys are going to be dumbfounded now!"
The pneumoconiosis patients spoke with a tone full of relief and pride.
In their view, Dongfang Jingyun's words not only expressed his own feelings, but also the feelings of all the descendants of Yu Gong.
They had long been fed up with the endless digging, the dreary life, and the torment that was worse than death.
But they lacked the courage to resist and the ability to change their fate.
But Dongfang Jingyun, the child they watched grow up, did all of this for them.
He used the most extreme and tragic method to cry out to this absurd world and challenge those high-ranking rulers.
"You...you're all crazy! A bunch of lunatics!"
Faced with the cheers of these pneumoconiosis patients, the middle-aged men from the Dongfang family could no longer bear it.
They looked at these usually quiet and hardworking members of the collateral branch of the clan in horror, feeling as if they had become completely different people, strange and frightening.
They couldn't understand why these people would support Dongfang Jingyun's crazy behavior of refusing to have children and violating the ancestral teachings of the Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains, or why they would hate the family that gave birth to and raised them so much.
"Let's go!"
The middle-aged man in the lead said he didn't want to stay in this godforsaken place for another second.
He led the others, stumbling and falling as they fled the place, as if some ferocious beast was chasing them.
After everyone left, the pneumoconiosis patients stopped clapping.
They looked at Dongfang Jingyun with concern and worry in their eyes.
"Jingyun, are you...are you alright?"
An old man asked, his voice hoarse and weak, as if he might die at any moment.
"I'm fine."
Dongfang Jingyun shook his head, his face as pale as paper, his forehead covered in cold sweat, but he forced himself to speak:
"I just did what I was supposed to do."
"But you..." Dongfang Jingyun looked at these pneumoconiosis patients and asked, "You live in such pain, and breathing is so difficult every day, why do you still insist on living?"
"Don't you want to be free sooner?"
Upon hearing Dongfang Jingyun's question, the pneumoconiosis patients were taken aback at first, and then burst into laughter.
Their laughter was hoarse and unpleasant, like a broken bellows being pulled, but it was full of joy and exhilaration.
"You ask us why we still live?" an old man said with a smile. "Do you know, child, that in order to win people's hearts, the Dongfang family once promised that every member of the family would be cared for in their youth and supported in their old age?"
"Although they have never truly kept their promise, at least in name, we are still the 'role model' they have set for us, and they can't just stand by and watch us die."
Another middle-aged man calmly added, "Yes, we pneumoconiosis patients can receive a subsidy of 180 yuan per month."
The old man's eyes flashed with hatred as he gritted his teeth and said, "So... for every extra month we live, we can waste an extra 180 yuan of the Dongfang family's money."
Dongfang Jingyun stared blankly at them, then suddenly burst into laughter along with them: "Hahahaha, good, good, I understand, I understand, this is life, this is existence!"
Just as Dongfang Jingyun was comprehending the Dao, a powerful force suddenly descended from the sky and enveloped him.
Bai Zhe sensed all of this through his divine sense and observed Dongfang Jingyun's changes with great interest.
After a moment, Dongfang Jingyun calmly said:
"I am the crown of suffering, the embodiment of pain, the redeemer of despair."
"I will walk through the world, bear the suffering of all living beings, and with my body, open a path to happiness for all people."
As Dongfang Jingyun narrates, his abilities gradually unfold—
The Suffering Traveler, Dongfang Jingyun, can absorb the pain of any being in suffering (whether human, animal, or even plant) into his own body through contact. Pain can take the form of physical injury, illness, mental torment, despair, or repressed memories.
The absorbed person will enter a peaceful and tranquil state of health, and all pain and suffering will disappear without a trace. Theoretically speaking, Dongfang Jingyun can cure all suffering, but he cannot cure himself.
After absorbing the symptoms and painful memories of all the pneumoconiosis patients, Dongfang Jingyun truly empathized with them. He also realized the limits of his own abilities as a mortal—his body would begin to fester and deteriorate every time he endured too much pain. However, he would still choose to continue absorbing more pain without seeking relief.
This is the path of suffering for the wanderer Dongfang Jingyun.
"I will bear the pain, and let everyone enjoy the laughter."
Dongfang Jingyun said this.