Chapter 16 A Flower

The withered walls of Shenci Mountain were still shrouded in gloom, and a lantern was needed to pierce through the miasma.

This time, Gu Shen came alone, without Li Qingsui to guide him.

Carrying the lantern, he stood amidst the waterfall spring halfway up the mountain, using the Blazing Fire to sweep away the mist, and clearly saw the distant, gaunt figure of the woman.

"Mr. Gu Shen, you've come again."

Li Qingci stood with her back to Gu Shen, holding a small wooden pot.

She seemed to be watering flowers.

Completely different from the flowers of broken order that bloomed all over Shenci Mountain.

Between the mountain walls, a very small, snow-white flower grew. This small white flower...formed a sharp contrast with the dark, demonic flowers all around.

"I didn't expect...your talent to be so good."

Li Qingci turned around, fixing her gaze on Gu Shen... She stared deeply at the wisp of flickering flame between his brows.

After a moment, she couldn't help but sigh, "It's only been a few days, and you've actually absorbed all those extraordinary source materials?"

Gu Shen put down the lantern.

He simply smiled, not telling Li Qingci about the existence of the wilderness of seasons in his mind.

In fact, the consumption rate of the Blazing Fire's conversion of source material was limited, at least for now... Most of the source material absorbed this time was used to nurture the "spiritual world." After filling the pit, the seed that was buried disappeared without a trace, as if it had never been planted.

Tie Wu worked very hard.

Gu Shen... also worked very hard.

However, it seemed that it would take a long, long time to germinate.

"I came to eat some flowers... and by the way, brought some things."

Before Gu Shen could speak.

Li Qingci immediately smiled and said, "Are they the goods at the entrance of Shenci Mountain?"

Gu Shen was taken aback.

"After all, I am the protector of Shenci Mountain... I can't just sit here idly." Li Qingci said softly, "Every movement and every word within this mystic realm cannot escape my perception."

So that was it.

Gu Shen smiled... That saved him some trouble. With these goods placed here and Li Qingci able to see them, he felt more at ease.

However, his expression suddenly became a little subtle.

Did that mean that the last time, his conversation with Li Qingsui in the car was also heard?

At that time, he hadn't yet restored his mental connection, meaning he hadn't left the Shenci Mountain mystic realm...

"Mr. Gu, are you worried?" Li Qingci still smiled gently, "You can rest assured about placing these things in Shenci Mountain. People don't usually come and go here, and I will take care of them for you."

"Thank you then."

Gu Shen bowed.

He gazed at the small white flower on the mountain wall and asked seriously, "I have a question... In the territory of Shenci Mountain, where order is broken and all things are dying, how can life be born?"

Li Qingci crouched down, gently stroking the fragile little white flower with her finger.

Her voice echoed in the quiet mountain breeze.

"Mr. Gu is right..."

"Order is broken, black flowers cover the mountains, and Shenci Mountain no longer has vitality. There is no spring, summer, autumn, or winter here, only six hundred years of darkness, eternal silence."

"But, where there is shadow, there is light, isn't there?"

Gu Shen fell into deep thought.

He always felt that... Li Qingci's words were reversed.

The sentence should be: Where there is light, there is shadow.

"You must think... my words are reversed." Li Qingci smiled, "Actually, they are not. These are the original words from the Li Clan's Prayer Codex. In the world, there is black, there is white, all things have life and death. Shenci Mountain is shrouded in billions of shadows, and it always needs a little bit of light to cast such a huge shadow."

If they had never seen hope.

Then people would not feel despair.

It was precisely because they saw a little bit of light.

That people felt that the darkness before them was too vast, too oppressive, making them unable to cope, powerless to resist.

"So this flower... is the only light?"

Gu Shen only felt a little bit of thought, but still didn't fully understand, frowning and said, "But the last time I came... I didn't see this flower."

"Because the last time you came, it hadn't been born yet."

A faint sadness flowed in Li Qingci's eyes.

She stroked the petals and said softly, "And soon, it will wither again."

"The task of the protector is actually very tedious."

Li Qingci stretched her body, looked into the distance, and smiled softly, "Because 'the collapse of order' is unstoppable, every day... the protector must use the 'Prayer Art' to guide the growth of the black flowers, to extend the life of Shenci Mountain. We are like the pruners of Shenci Mountain, trying to keep this mountain alive for as long as possible. And in this process, we occasionally see such white flowers."

"No one knows why these flowers grow and sprout in Shenci Mountain, and no one knows... how long these flowers can live."

Li Qingci raised her head and asked with a smile, "The long ones can live for three or four days, and the short ones will probably wither overnight. Perhaps it is something left by the ancestors, but I am very curious, can such flowers... really be considered light?"

"Actually, if you think about it, all the protectors of the Li Clan for the past six hundred years are like these flowers."

"Coming here to guard Shenci, living with black flowers all day long, they are destined to have short lives. Even if some of them are outstanding and can live longer, it is only thirty or forty years, less than half a Jiazi (30 years)."

"When the protector passes away, the peers outside Shenci Mountain still have black hair and are still in their prime."

Li Qingci slowly said, "However, for us, it makes no difference whether we bloom for one night or three days in Shenci Mountain. It's all the same... short."

Gu Shen was silent.

This white flower bloomed between the cliffs of the mountain, which should have become a ray of hope.

But this place was full of "black spots," disordered extraordinary source material, sucking up the nutrients in the mountain walls... It was very difficult for the white flower to live even one day.

"Miss Qingci, do you yearn for the light outside the mountain?" Gu Shen took a deep breath and asked seriously.

Li Qingsui had told him that her greatest wish was to realize the Prayer Art, restore Shenci Mountain, and then take her sister to see the outside world.

"Of course."

Li Qingci's answer was beyond Gu Shen's expectations.

She said calmly, "But... I would rather be a white flower that blooms for only one night in Shenci Mountain."

"My father once said..."

"Black symbolizes destruction, death, evil thoughts, disorder."

"White symbolizes dawn, life, hope, peace."

Li Qingci shook her head and smiled brightly, "If such fleeting splendor in Shenci Mountain can also be considered a ray of light... then I am willing to become a ray of light, only hoping that one day, these white flowers can bloom more, bloom longer, bloom all over the mountains and plains. On that day, they will be able to illuminate the six hundred years of unchanging gloom, and be able to illuminate Shenci Mountain as if it were daytime."

In this world, there are people who live in endless night.

But their hearts are filled with boundless light.

At this moment, Gu Shen was very sure... Li Qingci was such a person. She came here, volunteering to be the protector of Shenci Mountain, and had already made the determination to dedicate everything.

She didn't need anyone to save her.

She herself was the savior.