For a moment there was silence, The Mater said nothing but smiled instead, and spread his arms his Fuchen appearing in them, then he said
"Disciple, i loved you, but you have clearly failed and horribly so in the teachings of our sect, and such we can no longer house you here"
before the Master could finish, Echo walked forward again saying,
"Master, wait, wait I can reform him, explain things to him clearly i promise just give me a chance, you'll see he'll change"
The Master looked at her, the smile still on his face as he shacked his head gently and spoke
"leave it be, disciple you cannot fix this, (his voice turned solemn as he spoke), My Dear Disicple sigh~~~
From Today, the Third Disicple SomePurifyingDude under the Daoist Sect Master of Pure Mind Sect, Aydris, is hereby stripped of his cultivation and expelled from the Temple, never to return"
Daoist Master Aydris, lightly waved his Fuchen, a clear stream of white light flowed out SomePurifyingDude, into his hands and turned into a small white ball the size of ping pong, SomePurifyingDude, hair slightly greyed as his body turned weak, but he did not say anything as he stood up shakily performing the last salute towards his master and bowed before his Elder Brother and Senior Sister.
The Bells of Pure Mind Temple tolled three times, tolls as the slightly wobbly figure of SomePurfyingDude hands empty, stripped of lineage tokens, only on him his signature blue Daoist robe and his Fuchen in his hand, as he walked away, Disciples gathered in silence, robes fluttering in the wind, they stood on opposite sides as they watched him go away, Daoist Master Aydris, Echo and Hmmmmmmmm, stood as they watched him until he walked further and further away.
Some time later, everyone had left and returned to their quarters, leaving only Echo and Hmmmmmm who stood there.
.....
"It had been days, since i was expelled from the sect, i had picked up a small booklet somewhere along the way and turned it into a journal . It had been since i had eaten, i tried my best to help those along the war, preventing conflicts and arguments, but seeing the scrawny look of the outsiders, some more thin than me, in the end i didn't ask for food, i figured that i could last a few more days, and by then find some something to hold me by, maybe some leafs or fruit"
...
Day 8
"I had passed mountains, walked hills, and yet not a single green in sight, over the course of my small journey so far i have come to realize that fertility and progress had been nerfed and instead conflict and degradation had increased, and this was just a small part of the world"
....
Day 9
I had traveled for miles by now. Passed villages, towns, cities, even small tribes.
And yet wherever I go, Death is all I see.
Burned houses. Empty fields. Rivers turned black.
I saw a child crying over a body that would not move. I had nothing to give her. Not even words. I kept walking.
Day 14
I found a village that was still standing. Barely.
The people there gave me bread. Stale. Hard. But it was food.
I asked them who was doing this. The old man at the well looked at me like I was stupid.
"The war," he said. "The war never ended. It just changed."
I asked him what he meant.
He walked away.
Day 23......
I tried to heal a wounded soldier today. A young man. No older than me.
His leg was gone. Infection had set in. He asked me to stay with him until the end.
I did.
When he stopped breathing, I realized I didn't even know his name.
Day 31
I haven't written in a week.
There's nothing to write.
Same sky. Same dust. Same silence.
I passed a temple today, not ours. Smaller. Cruder. The door was broken open. Inside, the statues had their faces smashed.
Even the gods are getting dragged into this.
Day 45
I found a river. Finally.
The water was berely a pond. No bigger than a bowl.
I drank it anyway.
My stomach that had been hurting ever since finally tasted a releif.
Day 60
Two months.
I don't recognize myself anymore. My blue robe is torn. My Fuchen has lost half its strands.
I saw a group of refugees today. They were walking the opposite direction. One of them looked at me and said:
"You're going the wrong way. There's nothing ahead but more death."
I kept walking.
Day 78
I can't remember the last time I heard a bird.
Or saw a cloud that wasn't gray.
Or felt the sun without wanting to hide from it.
The world is dying. And I am walking through its corpse.
Day 90
~~Three months.~~
~~I can't.~~
I lie on the floor of an abandoned barn now. Roof half caved in. Rats watching me from the corners.
I haven't eaten in six days. Haven't had clean water in nine.
My body feels light. Like I'm already floating.
Is this how it ends?
I haven't even fulfilled my wish yet.
Was my Master right?
Was the Dao of Pure Mind the only way?
Did I throw everything away for nothing?
Day 91
I heard footsteps outside.
Not rats. Not wind.
Footsteps.
Someone is here.
The barn door creaked open. Light flooded in, too bright. SomePurifyingDude squinted, raising a weak hand to shield his eyes.
A silhouette stood in the doorway.
White hair. Long. Flowing.
dressed in a white robe that covered him entirely.
The figure stepped forward, leaning down with hands on their knees.
"Well, well, well."
The voice was light. Almost teasing.
"What do we have here? A Pure Mind disciple? Out here? In this state?"
SomePurifyingDude tried to speak. Nothing came out.
The figure tilted their head. A strand of white hair fell across their face.
"You look terrible, by the way. Like absolute garbage. The worst I've ever seen. And I've seen some pretty bad garbage."
A pause.
Then a grin.
"Name's Supreme. You're welcome, by the way."
"For what?" SomePurifyingDude finally croaked.
Supreme, stood up straight, brushing dust off his white robe.
"For not letting you die in a barn like a complete loser.