Chapter 2718 - 44: Always Replacing New Peachwood Charms with Old Ones (Part 3)

Back when Yue Tiannu was still far away, she had already noticed that on this brick of the city wall, someone with no sense of public decency had carved something. Now that she was closer, she could see clearly: "Ganma Mountain’s Two Pride, Xu Xiangqian, was here for a tour." The words "for a tour" had been crossed out in red, and beside it was added: "mourning."

The handwriting wasn’t ugly, but the content left one speechless.

Today was New Year’s Day of year 3922. Even though this was the battlefield of the Monster Realm, inside Wu An City every house had Peach Talismans hanging, and the festivities were in full swing.

Yu Zhen and Yue Tiannu were both people of the robe, unaccustomed to such bustle, and had spent last night’s New Year’s Eve wandering outside the city.

Officially, this city had been built to commemorate Jiang Wuan, and yet just one month after the news of Marquis Wu’an’s death, it was already bright with joy. The grief that once shrouded this city had been True at the time, and now the rare ceasefire and the delight of welcoming the new year were equally True. Such are the ways of the world: life does not halt because one person disappears.

Yue Tiannu thought for a moment, then said, "Over at Sanfen Xiangqi Tower..."

Yu Zhen cut her off before she could finish: "Let Xiang Ling’er take the Secret Realm slot. As for me right now... I can’t get away."

Yue Tiannu glanced at the sky, then said again, "Xi Yue An has not yet reached the time to fully enter the world; the Power we can move is very limited. You’ve already done all you could... the departed are gone, the living go on as they are."

Yu Zhen pressed her lips together and said, "Senior Sister, I am merely Cultivating here."

"It’s no longer possible for me to recover all of my Past memories, but bits and pieces—I’ve picked up a few. Those memories only make me more bewildered." Yue Tiannu brought her palms together, a look of compassion on her face. "Ever since I chose the puppet body completely, my emotions have gradually slipped away. Master-Patriarch said that if I walked the path with you, I might be able to grasp that single word, ’feeling’, so from then on I became innately lively. Now I feel ever more lost. Yu Zhen, you say you want both Xinxiang and sandalwood—so why are you stalled here?"

"Indeed, why?" Yu Zhen murmured.

"Is there no answer for you in Sanfen Xiangqi Tower? None in Xi Yue An? Can’t you find it in the Red Dust world, nor within the Buddha Scriptures?" Yue Tiannu pressed her with questions.

Living with her day and night, one could clearly feel that in this Senior Sister who had restarted Cultivation in a puppet body, the emotion in her voice was truly less with each passing day.

What had been True in her Past was not the True of today.

So Yu Zhen said, "Whether he is here or not, everyone has to keep living. Everyone but me."

Yue Tiannu seemed thoughtful. "So that single word, ’feeling’, is what you cannot let go of?"

"I do not know either. It can be described in the same words a thousand times over, and yet it is a one-in-ten-thousand ’self’." Yu Zhen said, "Master-Patriarch claims it is very good for us to stay together, that Senior Sister’s state will give me a kind of discernment, not suffering yet self-confusing. I very much want to know, when every strand of emotion has dispersed, what it is that Senior Sister still cannot lay down."

Divine Skills of Confusing Heart, yet still unable to escape self-confusion.

Yue Tiannu had meant to say more on the spot, but suddenly fell silent.

A shabby, travel-worn Old Monk with a sallow face and wounds still on his body stepped into view at that moment. His eyes passed over them, his expression turning sorrowful. "This Old Monk said he’d come out alone for a walk, never thought a bald head would run into a bald head... not a good omen."

"I’m Cultivating without shaving my hair," Yu Zhen said evenly.

"I’m a puppet," Yue Tiannu added.

The Old Monk Ku Jue from the Hanging Monastery and the two Female Nuns from Xi Yue An exchanged a glance like that. Then the Old Monk continued on into the city; as his figure was swallowed by the shadow of the city gate tunnel, he sighed with compassion, "Happy New Year."

Bang!

Bang bang bang!

Outside Wu An City, Female Nuns debated feeling.

Inside Wu An City, firecrackers thundered one after another.