章 21: Dead, but not gone.
A somewhat somber atmosphere hung over the area around the wagons, the smell of blood and fire filling the air. No one said anything, the crackling of the fire the only thing that broke the silence. Yi Huang swept the area with his eyes, his expression somewhat gloomy when he looked at the three dead guards. He let out a slight sigh, waving towards the dead bandits.
"Search the bodies, grab anything that might be of value."
The remaining guards gave out a low shout in affirmation, starting to search the bodies of the bandits, tearing their clothing to inspect every inch of them. While they did that, Yi Huang walked over to the bodies of the three dead guards, dragging them to a spot a bit away from the wagons. He searched through the clothing of the bodies for a bit, picking up a few things.
He then raised his hand, the fire that was burning in the forest turned into a vortex, gathering in Yi Huang's hand. He then directed the flames towards the three bodies, engulfing them and turning them to ash, his eyes closed as he uttered a silent prayer for their souls. Once the bodies had turned to ash, he called out to the other guards.
"Everyone ready?"
The guards let out a loud sound in confirmation, moving the corpses away from the wagons. Several of the guards held some jewelry in their hands, so it was clear that some of the bandits had been carrying valuables. Yi Huang gave a slight nod of his head, pointing his palm at the overturned tree that was still blocking their path. A stream of fire shot from his palm, hitting the tree and turning it to ash. He then climbed onto one of the wagons, letting out a low shout and giving a wave of his hand.
"Good, then let us continue the journey."
The sun had already set, but they could not set up camp at their current location, as there was a chance they would get attacked during the night if they did that. Liang Chen silently joined the guards that were resting in the rearmost wagon, the caravan quickly starting to move again. The horses were extremely well trained, so despite the large battle, none of them had escaped.
The caravan continued to move for another two hours, only stopping when it reached a wide open area, a vast plain filled with tall grass spreading out as far as the eye could see. Yi Huang quickly had the wagons form a circle, ordering a few people to stand guard and a few slaves to start a fire for cooking.
The guards quickly started working, acting so efficient that Liang Chen felt it was somewhat strange. Had they not just lost three people? Weren't the people working as guards a tightly knit group, how could they act so calm right now?
The fire was quickly set up, the smell of soup spreading through the caravan. The soup was quickly finished, but few people actually ate, most going to sleep for the night. As the night deepened, Liang Chen sat in front of the fire, staring into it with a somewhat vacant gaze. While he was in a slight daze, the voice of Yi Huang rang out from the opposite of the fire.
"So you've got your first taste of killing, huh? What did you think about it?"
Liang Chen snapped out of his daze, raising his head and casting his gaze towards Yi Huang. Yi Huang sat in front of the fire, a somewhat lonesome smile on his face as he fiddled with a bracelet made out of colorful beads. Liang Chen did not respond immediately, looking at his own hands for a short moment as he remembered the sensation he felt while killing the two bandits. He raised his hand, making a small stroke with his finger as he responded.
"It was discomforting how easy it was. It was so easy, just a single stroke of the sword. A single move and all their dreams and hopes turned null and void, gone forever."
He didn't feel much about the killing, as he had to do it to survive. But when he remembered how easy it was to reap a life, to shatter all their effort up until that point, he found that it felt bad. Yi Huang gave a slight nod of his head, gazing into the fire.
"Aye, it truly is easy to take a life, sometimes you don't even have to move to do it. But you're wrong about one thing."
Liang Chen slightly raised an eyebrow when he heard Yi Huang's words. Yi Huang took his eyes away from the fire, using his empty hand to dig into the pockets of his leather armor, pulling out two more items. As Yi Huang gazed at the three items he was now holding, the smile on his face grew a bit brighter. He turned towards Liang Chen, showing him the three items.
"You see these? This one is from Luo Xinyu, it was given to him by his little sister. She works as a librarian in Wind's Whisper city, at the publicly accessible library. He dreamed of allowing her to live a life free of worries, so he always donated half his paycheck to the library, so that she could keep working there."
Yi Huang held up the bracelet made out of colorful beads as he spoke, making sure that Liang Chen could see it properly. Liang Chen was uncertain if the little sister Yi Huang was talking about was the girl he had seen, but Yi Huang did not give him the chance to ask, lowering the bracelet and raising a different item.
"This one belonged to Huo Yantian, it was the knife he bought after getting his first paycheck. His family used to own a butcher shop in Eternal Stream city, but they were forced to sell it so that they could afford to send Yantian to a military academy. He dreamed of saving up enough money to buy back the butcher shop, as he knew that his father loved it."
Yi Huang held a somewhat rusty knife, a small piece of the tip missing, the blade somewhat chipped, it was clear that it had been used quite a bit over the years. Liang Chen continued to watch on in silence as Yi Huang lowered the knife, raising a small golden tooth. As he showed Liang Chen the tooth, a cheerful laughter escaped from Yi Huang's lips.
"And this tooth? After Bai Changwu completed his first mission with us, we all went out to celebrate that we made it back safely. Bastard got so drunk he was knocked out by a single punch from another drinker, his tooth falling right out. He looked so goofy without that tooth that we all pitched in to buy him this golden tooth."
Yi Huang closed his eyes for a short moment after he spoke, countless memories flashing past his mind. After he opened his eyes again, there was a happy light within them. He was sad that they had died, but he was happy that he had gotten to spend so much time with them. They were practically mercenaries, always living their lives on the edge of death, so he had long since learned to appreciate the good times as much as he could. He put the tooth and the other items back into his pockets, continuing the story.
"Bai Changwu didn't have a good relationship with his parents, them throwing him out of their home when he turned 12, saying he was getting too lazy. But he wasn't angry at them for throwing him out, saying that he would never have met his wife, never would have seen the world, if they hadn't thrown him out. His dream was to save up enough money to care for his parents once they got too old to work."
When Yi Huang finished talking, he silently looked at Liang Chen. Liang Chen tilted his head slightly, trying to figure out what Yi Huang was trying to imply by telling him all this. But in the end, he was unable to guess at what Yi Huang was thinking, so he could only shake his head and turn his gaze towards Yi Huang, who proceeded to let out a slight laughter.
"The look on your face tells me that you don't understand what I am trying to imply here. It's simple really, they have died, but their hopes and dreams have been passed on to us. That's how hopes and dreams work, they just get passed along, waiting for us to complete them. They are dead, but not gone. What about you, what dreams do you have?"
Dead but not gone, that was a phrase his teacher had always been fond of, a phrase that had rubbed off onto him. As long as their dreams and memories were passed on, no one would ever be truly gone. Liang Chen felt into a short silence after hearing Yi Huang's question. When he closed his eyes, he could see himself back in that small three-room house, the smell of vegetable soup spreading through the house as the light of the morning sun shone in through the window. He quickly opened his eyes again, a hollow laughter ringing out as he spoke.
"It doesn't matter, it is impossible to achieve. It will never be more than an illusory dream."
His parents were dead, there was nothing he could do to change that, nothing he could do to revert that. The dead could not be revived. His dream would forever stay illusory, like the reflection of the moon on the lake, the moment he tried to touch it, it would dissipate. But Yi Huang responded by shaking his head, his voice tinged with a hint of pride.
"That's not true. You only think that right now because you are still too weak to achieve it. When I was your age, I dreamed of starting a mercenary company, to bring together a band of brothers that would live and die together. At that time, I also thought that it was just an impossible dream, yet here I am now, surrounded by friends who will fight and die for me. I don't know what you of the future will achieve, but I know that if you keep thinking that your dream is impossible to achieve, you will truly never be able to achieve it."
This was the attitude Yi Huang had adopted over the years he spent working as a mixture of a guard and a mercenary. Some would call him a hopeless optimist, but he preferred to refer to himself as cheerful. Liang Chen did not respond to Yi Huang, but his eyes lit up slightly.
Could it be done? Was it possible to revive his parents if he became strong enough? How strong would he have to become, strong enough to crush even people referred to as gods, strong enough to stand at the very peak of the universe? He did not know the answer to these questions, but he found solace in the fact that he at least had found something to cling onto, something to aim for after he killed Qing Lan Yong. Yi Huang swept the area around them for a short moment before he stood up. He walked past Liang Chen, patting him on the shoulder as he spoke up.
"Alright, get some sleep. We have lost 3 brothers, so we need you to cover for them, you will be responsible for standing guard just before dawn."
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