Lying for a while, amidst the howling wind, he involuntarily heard a call echoing from the depths of his consciousness, repeating incessantly for a long time.
Binh An suddenly leaped up, as if being pursued by someone, he placed his hand on his temple, wondering whether that was the other person's call. Curiosity erupted in him, burrowing through his garments like swarms of ants, making him unable to sit still.
But after a moment of thought, Binh An waived his hand away, what he did to that person, he knew better than anyone, now that he's dead, that person would be more than happy, how could he let out such voice, not to mention with his noble demeanor, such behavior would be unthinkable, let alone that this was the most agonizing and sorrowful voice Binh An has ever heard, this must be his imagination, or these were the wishes in his heart that he most desired to hear.
Ignored it.
Ignored it.
He lay back on the ground, the corner of his lips curled up, he kept on humming some melodies as if he had not been deported to the harsh underworld, but was instead traveling around it.
“Flap!”
Suddenly, his face came into contact with something, he was startled and immediately got up, thinking that some monsters were ambushing him, Binh An picked up the object, peered attentively, and discovered it was actually a normal paper doll, quite a common cultivator's magical possession.
Binh An: “???”
How did it get through here?
He flipped this paper doll over and over; it was nothing out of the ordinary; had it truly just fallen from the sky from some cultivators who had dropped it by accident while going to the underworld?
Looking at this paper doll reminded him of that person, he used this type of magical possession quite frequently. Binh An couldn't help but to do mischief, sometimes grabbing that person's dolls and surreptitiously drawing faces for them. It was unbelievably hilarious recalling that person's unsightly face when he received his doll back.
After a few moments of having a good laugh, he sat back on the beach and raised the thin doll paper to shield the light from his face. He's thinking something, but no one knows exactly what it was. Suddenly, he ripped open the hem of his shirt to uncover the skin of his chest, and sure enough, there were the ink strokes that had practically faded but were still readable on his chest. He recognized the owner of the brush strokes and definitely can tell what this ink stain was.
In the end, that person remained generous toward him, he certainly lived up to his saintly reputation.
Binh An laughed like a crazy lunatic, his heart's overflowing with joy. His laughter boomed across the land before returning to where he lay, leaving only a void and an unnerving silence.
He lowered his face, that person had once counseled him to return to the correct road and not stray too far from it, now that voice of his kept echoing in his head. But at that time, thinking back, had Binh An really had other choices? He had pierced the javelin, he had to follow the javelin. He had climbed onto the tiger's back so how could he get off easily? Who will offer him the opportunity to start over? It was all too late.
He had put a stop to his previous life. Now that he is dead, that life is now officially over. He chuckled, it seemed that opportunity had come. He finally had the chance to redo everything, he would reform and correct himself, remove all attachments, shake off all hatred, and willingly accept all punishments, considering it as Binh An’s atonement for that person.
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He took that idea as a motivation, stuffed the paper doll into his shirt, patted it to rest in peace, and softly muttered to it, "It's all up to you to help me now!" before trying to stand up and finally taking his first steps on this scorching, sweltering dry sand. He simply went in and followed the direction his heart told him to.
When he was a true cultivator, he used to study in a good environment, it seemed that he had read somewhere about this place and how to deal with it.
It said that, in fact, when someone's lost in the void, it's not impossible to find their way back to the Path Of Life.
Lost people were mentally unstable, the further they went, the more lost they became, the more terror and emptiness filled their minds, they didn't know what they want, who they once were, or what they were doing, as a result, they ended up surrendering to fate. But how wonderful, the more Binh An walked, the stronger his longing became, every step he took, his eyes ignited fire, glowing in the dreadful blackness of hell.
Over a period of time, not that he knew precisely how much time has passed as there were no methods of telling time, he began to mark time with the events he encountered. The first moment he noticed was when he encountered the first monster, which took the appearance of a large creature with the shape of an earthworm and a huge snout full of teeth, suddenly jumped out from the hot dry sand shack, intending to devour its prey whole.
The element of surprise was its advantage, allowing it to have a meal in the shortest amount of time and with the least amount of work, but its prey was not mediocre, in comparison to the magic that Binh An possessed, a monster of this magnitude was a trifle, which swiftly got cleaned up right away.
Another length of time passed, to the second event that Binh An had to face, a swarm of raptors flocked to him, desiring to consume his flesh, the end result was not better, they got to taste some of his fists and ended up dead, some damage was done, but, it was still considered bearable for Binh An.
Another period of time passed to the third occasion, and a swarm of snakes arrived, this time with the speed of light and a tremendous army, Binh An was in a little bit of a situation, however, in the end, he still managed to escape. His soul was also damaged quite a bit, his palm was ripped, and hot drops of blood gushed out, pouring onto the scorching dry lifeless sand.
The fourth occurrence came when a swarm of black wolves attacked him, these wolves was being so skilled that they almost shredded his soul. He grew tired after finishing the wolves, so he elected to rest for a little, regain his spirit, and then continued.
His journey became repetitive with walking, fighting, and resting, he couldn't count how many events he's been through, and he had no idea how much time has passed, the only thing he knew was that the road behind him had been long but the road ahead of him would be significantly longer, yet the only thing that hasn't changed was the hot quicksand beneath his feet.
He eventually reached the point where he felt like he had hammered every portion of his body with nails. Sweat ran down from his brow and nose, his legs ached as his muscles spasmed intensely, he couldn't stand up straight, and his mind was no longer alert.
He lay down panting, the underworld was not a place to stay for long, not only because it was packed with deadly beasts but also because the air here was equally toxic, progressively corroding the mind of a person. No wonder many people can't make it.
He hesitated for a while, then forced himself to get up again, and continued to wander for an endless amount of time until he thought he could no longer walk, and fell down again.
Heaven and earth were swirling around him like a whirlwind, his ears were buzzing with the howls of the wind, every muscle in his body was screaming, and even then, he was constantly attacked by monsters, his body was limp.
One person looked at it and thought, with this pathetic state, he would surely die in this endless desolate desert, but, as soon as he had enough rest, he forced himself to stand up, with no intention of giving up. He had suffered far more than this in his past life, this journey really could not irritate him that easily.
He had hardly advanced more than a few paces when he felt a sudden powerful tug inside his shirt, causing him to become unbalanced. He tripped over his own feet and rolled around in the sand for a few rounds. It didn’t hurt at all, rather was quite a soft landing, thus, what distracted him from getting up properly was not the pain, but a rumble in the air the moment he opened his eyes.
Unexpectedly, he recognized the Path Of Life, proving that his efforts had not been in vain this entire time. The paper doll figure inside of his shirt started to fade away and disappear at the same time, but due to his overwhelming excitement, he wasn't aware of it and eventually forgot all about its existence.