Winter arrived and quietly passed, so subtly that A Cheng barely noticed any significant change in temperature on the island, once making him wonder if his memory was playing tricks on him.
Meaningless activities, paradoxically, became the best form of recreation here.
A Cheng taught Bi Li how to read and write, and how to play tic-tac-toe. Bi Li, in turn, introduced him to various wild animals in the forest. Resources on the island were not abundant, so these animals were relatively small. A Cheng discovered a type of wild boar, with adults weighing no more than a hundred catties, whose tender meat was perfect for cooking.
A Cheng's hunting made Bi Li somewhat unhappy.
Because some of the animals were friends of the Mountain Ghost Girl, and they even had names.
Names are truly strange things, like a proof of value. Once something is given a unique name, it is perceived by people as having intelligence and personality.
A Cheng slaughtered what Bi Li called "Fufu," "Pangwa," and "Lingzai." They became greasy dishes that filled human stomachs. The feeling of satiety suppressed the guilt, and after a period of sadness, the Mountain Ghost Girl finally understood what cruelty meant.
Cruelty is an emotion only higher beings can possess. For those struggling to survive, cruelty is a dark, humorous joke.
Father was going to hold a wedding for A Cheng and Bi Li as the New Year approached.
Bi Li had no objections, but A Cheng was terrified and utterly flustered.
Father's words were beyond question.
A Cheng resisted all of this, even though he was actually willing.
He felt himself truly being assimilated, assimilated by Father's terrifying logic, slowly losing his pursuit of civilized order and becoming immersed in the mundane.
The grand wedding was set for New Year's Day.
Father prepared everything: tables, chairs, the banquet, and the bridal chamber. The red cloth was woven and dyed by him, the ingredients were caught and hunted, and the candles were also handmade. Father spent two months preparing, and finally, all the work was done.
It was incredible.
In such a desolate place, one could still witness a civilized contractual ceremony.
A Cheng witnessed all of this, from nothing to everything, Father did it all alone, not allowing him to help, nor wanting his help in the slightest.
Once again, A Cheng couldn't fathom his Father.
Looking at his busy back, the doubts in A Cheng's heart never dissipated.
His biggest question was why Father had met Bi Li.
This shouldn't have happened. Bi Li said she had never seen Father, only that Father suddenly rushed out and saved her from the Heretics.
Having lived for over ten years, A Cheng had never truly understood his Father. There was a deep chasm between them. If not for the Pure Land, Father might not have spoken more than three sentences to A Cheng in an entire year.
A new year began.
For A Cheng, it was also a new life.
He became a man who gazed at the sea.
As dusk fell, he lit a bonfire, sat by it, and watched the moon slowly rise from the sea horizon, like a lonely star.
...
On the star-and-moon-lit night of March fourteenth, A Cheng gazed at the sea. This time, in the hazy sea fog, countless ships rose, with lanterns hanging from the tops of their tall masts, like burning migratory birds, a vast expanse, flickering, undulating, and drawing ever closer.
A Cheng roared, "Someone's coming!"
His voice was hoarse, as if unleashing a thunderclap.
"Someone's coming!"
He sprinted down the cliff to the small harbor on the coast. Father had already started the boat, and Bi Li stood at the stern, waving to him.
A Cheng leaped into the water, like a swimming fish, reaching the side of the boat and climbing onto the deck via the rope ladder.
"Hoist the sails!"
The night sea was stormy. A small boat headed southeast, while hundreds of massive warships slowly approached from the west. Endless lights adorned these large fish on the sea, and their boat, like a sampan, dared not light a lamp. Everything proceeded in dim light, anxious like grass flying in the wind.
It was impossible to escape.
The target of these ships might not be their small boat, but being discovered was inevitable. They could not escape.
Whether the pursuers were the Virtuous Path or the Evil Taoist Heretics, they could not escape.
A Cheng and his two companions' boat was overtaken by two light warships, and then they were brought aboard a larger ship.
However, fortunately, they were captured by people of the Virtuous Path. The three of them were questioned about their origins, but the other party only asked a few perfunctory questions.
Father said that the three of them had lived in seclusion on the island for generations and never knew the outside world.
Their attire indeed confirmed this.
What was unexpected next was that they were not troubled but conscripted.
The three were separated and sent to different cabins.
A Cheng was assigned to a cabin in the middle of the lower deck, where seven men already resided.
After much commotion, it was already dawn, and all seven roommates had woken up.
Exhausted, A Cheng still mustered his spirits and chatted with them for a few moments.
The seven of them came from six different sects.
All major cities on land had fallen, and apart from a few scattered resistances, everyone else had surrendered.
Among the Heretics, there were supreme experts, favored by Duanye Evil Buddha, invincible across the world. Ten of the fourteen sect masters had died in battle, and two had defected. Now, only Master Xin Ji of Emei and Sect Master Wang Daxuan of Jie Qing Sect remained.
Those drifting at sea were the few remaining resistance forces.
A Cheng was utterly disheartened.
...
The Heretics pursued relentlessly.
Their number of warships was several times that of the Righteous Path.
A Cheng heard cries of anguish every day.
Every day, people jumped into the sea to commit suicide.
Through the small window of his cabin, he could see the Heretics' warships dozens of miles away. They moved unhurriedly, like lazy sharks, merely herding the fish, waiting for a good day to feast.
There was a battle every few weeks. A Cheng saw that peerless expert among the Heretics. He exchanged palm strikes with Master Xin Ji from a distance, and the dissipated energy stirred up waves dozens of feet high.
One day, Father suddenly appeared before A Cheng.
Having not seen his Father for three months, A Cheng suddenly saw his familiar, ashen face and felt an inexplicable, profound fear.
Father carried an ominous scent, a feeling A Cheng had only experienced twice in his childhood: once on the day his Mother died, when he was just old enough to remember, and once when their old yellow dog, which they had kept for many years, passed away.
"Bi Li is going to be beheaded."
A Cheng's vision went black; he felt his blood surge uncontrollably to his brain, his blood vessels almost bursting, bringing intense pain and frantic hallucinations.
"What should we do?"
Father still looked at him coldly. "We jump into the sea." After saying this, he took the lead and leaped into the icy water.
A Cheng did not go.
A Cheng was held down by several rushing martial artists; he was arrested.
...
A noose was around A Cheng's neck, just like Bi Li's next to him.
"Cheng, are we going to die?" the Mountain Ghost Girl asked.
A man was loudly proclaiming their crimes.
Bringing the Heretics of the Black Heaven Outer World into the Righteous Path World, causing devastation to living beings, unforgivable.
A Cheng said faintly, "Yes."
"Cheng, don't be afraid. Even though there are no dreams after death, I'll be with you."
"Okay."
The stool beneath their feet was kicked away, and the two fell, the nooses tightening.
The next instant, the nooses snapped.
-------------------------------
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