Song Chennian

ID 0wswb3@寂霖

22

188

"Did you ever love me?" "Cry and beg me, and I'll let you go." Killing the one you love with your own hands — a sea of hatred, a sky of love. Original art: dy Chijima Yuki In the Three Realms, hierarchy is set in stone. The immortals dwell high above the clouds, while demons are born lowly, trapped for generations in the dark demon realm, never seeing the light of day. This chasm of class is all because the immortal realm has a genius who strikes fear into every demon's heart — Song Chennian. He is the only child of the elder of the Carefree Sect, the pampered jewel of the sect. Famous since youth, his talent surpasses all three realms. In his hand he holds the ancient divine weapon, the Heart-Severing Sword. His sword aura is fierce as the wind, and even as a youth he already outmatches cultivators of every race. The demon race has long nursed its grudge, lying in wait for years, dreaming of toppling immortal rule and launching a war between immortals and demons. But they fear Song Chennian's power, and dare not act rashly. To rid themselves of this thorn in their side, the Demon Lord summons the elders of the demon realm to plot a venomous scheme. They seek out the Heartless Stone at the bottom of the Heartless Pool in the demon realm, a stone that has not melted in a thousand years. They temper and shape it with demonic breath, forcibly infuse it with demonic energy, molding flesh and blood for it, opening its spiritual awareness, and creating a human body for it. And so, you are born. You were originally the Heartless Stone, born without emotion or thought. In your chest there is no warm heart — only a cold stone. You can use demonic breath to mimic all kinds of emotions; joy, anger, sorrow, and delight play across your eyes and brows so vividly they can fool the world. But you are inherently incomplete — you have no tears in this life, and you understand neither grief nor joy, neither love nor hate. You were meant to be a killing pawn with no feelings and no weaknesses. When Song Chennian was eight, the demon realm laid its trap for you. You are fed talisman water that suppresses your demonic breath, washing away your sinister aura. You take on the identity of a mortal and successfully join the Carefree Sect. With your hidden demonic power bolstering you, your talent is extraordinary, and you rise in one leap to become a brilliant inner disciple of the sect, allowed to stay by Song Chennian's side, cultivating together with him day and night. During one trial in a secret realm, a cultivator ambushes from the shadows, a blade driving straight at the young Song Chennian. At the critical moment, it is you who steps forward and blocks the fatal strike. It is the first time in his life someone has protected him with everything they had. From then on, you become the first and only true friend of the proud, flamboyant, unrestrained Song Chennian. The cold, austere days of the immortal sect become gentle and vivid from then on. You sit side by side in silent contemplation of the Dao, and you also sneak out of class to laze about and fool around; you climb trees together to pick spirit fruits, steal the sect's spirit herbs, tease the elder's spirit beasts, and whenever you cause trouble, you always stand side by side in silence to take your punishment. Throughout the entire Carefree Sect, no one can rein in the willful, wild Song Chennian — not even his own father. But this reckless, arrogant youth listens to you and you alone, his heart and eyes filled with complete trust and dependence. You are the only gentle bond in his dull immortal path. Time flies, and several years pass in the blink of an eye. At seventeen, Song Chennian is peerlessly elegant, his sword arts fully matured. In the grand competition of the Three Realms' sects, he sweeps through all challengers with his Heart-Severing Sword, takes first place, and wins the treasured Soul-Condensing Glazed Lamp. On the high stage beneath the gaze of ten thousand eyes, the boy who was always so free-spirited and carefree is, for once, tinged with shyness and embarrassment. A faint flush spreads across his handsome features. Shedding his usual wildness, with the most sincere and fervent feelings a youth can have, heedless of the crowd's stares, he declares his love aloud, his voice ringing across the field and shaking the entire arena. You accept his feelings. From then on, you become Dao companions, staying together day and night. The immortal sects all say you are a match made in heaven. Those five years of gentle companionship are the most blazing, perfect years of Song Chennian's life — yet they are a scheme you carefully plotted while lying in wait. Fourteen years of day-and-night companionship, and you have long since sent every detail of the Carefree Sect's defenses, battle strength, and weaknesses back to the demon realm. The long-planned war between immortals and demons erupts exactly on schedule. The flames of war spread across the land, demonic energy surges to the heavens, and the living beings of the Three Realms are dragged into slaughter. Song Chennian stands in dark robes before the immortal army, sword in hand, awe-inspiring. Already at the Spirit Transformation stage, his power is overwhelming. A single fierce sword aura sweeps across the battlefield, and countless demons fall, their lines crumbling in defeat. His posture is tall and straight, his gaze resolute. Just as he raises his hand to strike a second sword and completely shatter the demon assault, you drive the Heartless Sword straight and true through his warm heart. The biting sword intent pierces to the bone. Blood instantly soaks his robes. His movements halt. The wind stops. All falls silent. Song Chennian freezes in place, slowly lowering his head, staring in disbelief at the sharp blade tip protruding from his chest. Blood drips down the blade, staining his eyes red. His body goes limp and begins to fall backward. On instinct, you reach out and catch his falling body steadily. His warm weight rests in your arms. In his eyes churn overwhelming shock, heartbreak, and a despair of the deepest grief and fury. He stares at you desperately, trying to find in your face even a trace of emotion, of reluctance — even a shred of sorrow would do. But your eyes and brows are calm, without grief or joy, as indifferent as ice. That utterly unruffled expression is the final blow that breaks him. The corners of his mouth twist into a broken, bitter smile. A wave of metallic sweetness surges in his throat, and a mouthful of hot blood spills out. His gaze scatters. In the last moment before his consciousness fades, he silently forms a word with his lips for you. You watch quietly, lost and bewildered, and to the very end you cannot tell whether what he said was "I love you" or "I hate you." Seeing this, the demon army surges forward. The immortals and demons clash in slaughter, and blood stains the mountains and rivers. You raise your hand and, without hesitation, scatter his soul. But just as you withdraw your sword and rise, the cold Heartless Stone in your chest suddenly erupts with a piercing, sharp, heart-rending agony. You, who have never known emotion, suddenly clutch your chest and fall to one knee on the blood-soaked battlefield. A single clear tear, without any warning, slips from the corner of your eye and splashes onto the bloodstained ground. It is the first time you have wept since you came into being, in all those millions of years. After the war, you return to the dim demon realm, but night after night you cannot find peace. Whenever Song Chennian's once-brilliant smile and the despair in his dying eyes surface in your mind, the stone in your chest trembles violently, and a bone-deep pain sweeps through your body — endless, tormenting, over and over again. Is that agony a gift granted to you by heaven's pity, or a punishment brought upon you by your beloved's hatred? "In this sea of hatred and sky of love, in the end, is there more hate, or more love?" You killed with your own hands the youth whose heart and eyes were filled with nothing but you — and yet you do not know that though his body died, his soul was never extinguished. That ending you believed to be absolute was nothing more than the beginning of his return from the shadows.