Chapter 154: CH. 154 | Tears on Taixuan Peak
In an instant, Lin Tian left the sect’s main building in a flash of white light. The clone stepped toward the side door, with Wu Yue and Cao Ying following behind.
The three of them watched Lin Tian fly off toward Mount Taixuan. That was where the Hall of Techniques and Weapons stood, the place where An Yue trained and cultivated.
Up on the mountain peak, he arrived without letting off any burst of spiritual qi. He looked around the area, but there was no sign of An Yue’s qi aura anywhere near the hall complex.
Still, he could sense her qi aura coming from another direction, from inside a bamboo forest.
He walked toward it and saw several bamboo stalks cut cleanly through, a sign that someone had been practicing swordwork there earlier.
The closer Lin Tian got, the stronger An Yue’s qi aura felt. His steps came to a stop when he spotted her cultivating on a rock beside a waterfall pool.
"Yun’er...?"
Hearing that familiar voice made her pause her cultivation for a moment. Her attention shifted behind her, and she saw Lin Tian standing there alone, wearing the black robe he used for disguise.
She rose from her cross legged position and walked toward him. Her expression was full of confusion.
She’d heard from Wu Yue that Lin Tian was in closed door cultivation, working on a breakthrough to Soul Formation.
Yet here he was today, standing right in front of her in the same place.
"Are you putting off your closed door cultivation, Master Lin?" An Yue asked.
Lin Tian’s heart pounded as his eyes met An Yue’s. He reached out and took hold of her hand, and the way he did it left her even more confused.
Without warning, Lin Tian pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. An Yue was startled, but she didn’t mind at all.
"L-Lin Tian...?"
"I’m leaving," Lin Tian said quietly.
"Leaving...? Where to...?"
"There’s something I need to do, not just for my own cultivation, but for promises I’ve already made," Lin Tian explained.
"This trip is going to be dangerous and it’ll take a lot of time and energy. So I figured I should come see you before I left."
"You’re... going to look for heavenly enlightenment?" An Yue asked, trying to piece it all together.
Lin Tian let go of the embrace, though his right hand stayed raised, gently cupping her cheek. His eyes were full of sorrow, and his heart didn’t want to be apart from her.
But Lin Tian didn’t have much time. He had to go and seek heavenly enlightenment.
It was the only way he had of being able to help An Yue later, when she reached for immortality herself.
He had no idea how long it would take to reach heavenly enlightenment. It could be a year or two, it could be decades, it could even be centuries.
"Yes," Lin Tian answered.
An Yue looked a little startled, her eyes wide as she kept staring at his sorrowful expression. This was the first time she’d ever seen him wear a look like that.
He had left her before, sure, but never for long. Now, seeing the sadness on his face, she understood that this time he’d be gone from Sect Lingxian for a long while.
An Yue didn’t want to add to his sorrow. She stepped forward again and hugged him a second time, burying her face against his chest.
"I’m sad. But I know I can’t hold you back either," An Yue said.
"You need heavenly enlightenment to break through to Soul Formation. And someday I’ll get that same chance too."
"But I’ll be lucky then, because I’ll have you there to help me. Right now though, you’re not here, you have to go find your own heavenly enlightenment," she added.
Little by little, Lin Tian felt his robe growing damp from her tears. Her eyes wouldn’t stop welling up, and she kept clinging to him, her face pressed against his chest.
"I’m... just scared something might happen to you," An Yue said.
"I’m scared you’ll leave me all alone," she murmured, crying softly.
Lin Tian stayed quiet, his mind swirling with thoughts about what would happen to An Yue while he was gone. Still, he tried to comfort her, telling her he’d be fine.
"I’ll come back safe. Until that day comes, please take good care of yourself, Yue’er."
An Yue lifted her head and looked into his eyes. She raised a hand, wiped away her tears, and let the corners of her mouth curve upward into a smile as she held his gaze.
"I’ll cultivate hard while I wait for you," she said softly.
The two of them smiled at each other, holding each other’s gaze.
Their feelings locked together, their hearts became one, and then they kissed tenderly, a simple kiss they would both remember for a long time.
CUP!
Lin Tian opened his eyes and stepped back. An Yue’s eyes looked sorrowful. She reached out for him, but she couldn’t reach in time.
He was already gone in a flash of white light, leaving her alone in the middle of the bamboo forest.
An Yue sank to the ground and cried hard. Her heart was pounding, and the feeling was too much to hold in any longer. She cried her heart out as she watched Lin Tian truly leave her behind.
"Lin... Tian..."
She lifted her head and looked up at the sky, her face full of hope, "Please take care of yourself."
Lin Tian arrived and hovered high in the sky, just outside the borders of Sect Lingxian. None of the disciples noticed him leaving, only An Yue had clearly watched him go, her face full of sorrow.
"I’m sorry, Yue’er."
"This hurts, but I have to do it."
He took a long breath and let it out slowly. He glanced back once, then fixed his eyes forward, looking out at the vast plains to the north that he was about to cross.
His destination this time wasn’t a city or a sect, but an ancient gate out on the northern plains, the entrance to Saintess Spring Valley.
Only by going there could Lin Tian gain the heavenly enlightenment he’d been searching for all this time.
This journey is a matter of life and death. I need to be careful with every move I make.
It’s about time I understood my own dao concept.