Seeing Gu Wish who stood aside, the girl was slightly angry, “you insolent tramp, who gave you permission to enter?”
Gu Wish acted like a swain, “is that so there is a sign outside saying only woman allowed but no hero like me?”
The girl sneered, “Are you kidding me? You, a hero?”
Gu Wish held his head up high, “said so by Your Majesty”.
Her eyes glimmered and held the sword up, “then, hero, do you dare take my challenge!”
“Why not!”
They fought with excitement in the yard. At last, the girl was defeated. Tried to break Gu Wish’s constrain but failed, she sighed, “really? You are just like what was said by my father – having nothing but strength and having no idea how to behave yourself!”
Three years later, Gu Wish married the general’s only daughter – Ying Niang.
The emperor himself even gave them a blessing.
They had their first child in the second year of their marriage, and had three boys within five years. When the time reached the tenth year, Ying Niang refused to give birth to another one. Gu Wish couldn’t do anything about it, so he put all his energy into teaching his six sons martial arts.
When Gu Wish was thirty, Ying Niang’s father – the old general – was killed in the war. Followed the new emperor’s order, Gu Wish went to the battlefield. Wherever he went, death and demolish followed. They wined the war with no doubt. He beheaded the general of their enemy and brought the head back home. He held his wife tight and comforted her gently.
When Gu Wish was fifty years old, he held great power in his hands. His six sons all became famous generals.
When Gu Wish was sixty years old, the suspicious emperor beckoned him to the palace. It was a party, but Gu Wish’s last one.
The emperor gave him a death sentence along with a glass of poisoned wine.
Gu Wish laughed instead, and asked, “there’s only one thing I want to know – what did I do wrong?”
The emperor sighed, “General Gu, that is your mistake – you did nothing wrong”.
Gu Wish drank the wine and stroke the glass on the ground. He rode the horse rushing towards General Palace, but life was slipping away. He died half-way home. The horse took him all the way home as if it knew what his owner was determined.
Under the moonlight, when Ying Niang came out of the General Palace, she saw his hero still wearing the army attire, sitting on the horseback, and eyes wide open.
Ying Niang was shivering. , Kneeling on the ground, their six sons swore to revenge.
However, Ying Niang said, “Your father was the hero of this country. He owed nothing to the country, the emperor, or the citizens. The former emperor gave him the title of ‘Hero’. How can you guys discredit his honor?”
“Mother!”
“Take your father off from the horseback and bring him to my room. I still have a lot of words……hadn’t had a chance to tell him.”
That night, the General Palace didn’t turn off light for the whole night. The old lady sat beside the bed and held her husband’s hand, mumbling, “Honestly, I knew who you were when we first met each other, Gu Wish. My father told me that he found someone who would achieve greatness in the future. He wished me to marry that guy but I hated that.
“How could he decide whom I will marry? Me, Ying Niang, was famous in the capital city. I was not like the other girls who will obey their parents’ arrangement.
“The day you entered the yard, you were wearing the same white attire.
“You held my hands. I could feel my heartbeat. It was like ‘boom, boom, boom’. The beat went on and on.
“You tramp. Rather to die as a hero instead of to live as a traitor. You were everyone’s hero, but my tramp.”
……
She kept talking until the sunrise. The old lady got out of the room and took out her sword. She started practicing the sword just like forty years ago. She was still beautiful and powerful as if nothing had changed – she was playing her sword in the middle of the yard and he was watching her in the darkness, they got to know each other and then fell in love.
The sword was dropped on the ground. What following it was the body of Ying Niang.
The General Palace hung up white curtains.
Ying Niang died on the same day with Gu Willow. This was what was called – no need for the same date of birth but beg for the same date of death.
The six generals were in wrath and planned to overthrow the emperor, but were defeated by the well-prepared Majesty who destroyed the whole General Palace with no mercy.
Several years after this, the once magnificent General Palace was now shabby and poor. No one ever remembered once there was a teenager from a common village step by step became a great hero of the country.
Again, forty-one years ago, Gu Qi and his wife had a child. They named him Gu Zhen. Gu Zhen chose business as his work field but lost a tremendous amount of money in the end. Even his old wife hung herself and committed suicide. They left nothing but an idiotic son.
Another forty-one years ago, this time his name was Gu Cheng. He was a hardworking farmer and very good at agricultural tactic. He married Gu Sixteen at the right time. They had a wonderful life together.
……
The ninth forty-one years ago, Gu Qi and his wife named their child Gu Niansheng.
Gu Niansheng was handsome and very clever. When he was seven, an immortal came to the Gu Village to find himself an apprentice. That immortal in white robe fixed his eyes on Gu Niansheng, “What is your name?”
“My……my name is Gu Niansheng.”
“Why ‘Niansheng’?”
He shook his head, “I have no idea.”
Didn’t care much on his answer, the immortal waved his hand, “I’m Xuan Lingzi. You come with me to the Tai Hua Mountain. You can follow me and be my disciple.”
Knowing nothing, Gu Niansheng followed his parents and kneeled before the immortal. When he was about to leave, his parents held his hands and kept telling him to be a good student.
“Dad, mom, can I still come back and visit?”
Before his parents could answer, Xuan Lingzi said, “to be an immortal, you have to leave no bond in the common world. Now, you are given the chance to break the bond between your parents and yourself. After this, you will have the freedom the commoners never have a chance to enjoy, and then, you could step on the journey to learn how to be an immortal.”
“No!” Said Gu Niansheng, “why do I have to abandon my parents?”
Xuan Lingzi gazed at him, “do you want to be an immortal?”
The wrath slowly disappeared. Gu Niansheng looked up and smiled, “Master, I want to be immortal, but I don’t want to be a creature with no love, no hate, nor sympathy. I won’t break the bond linking my parents and I, nor which linking you and me. If it is true that only indifference can lead a person to the road of immortal, then why, can you tell me, that forty-one years ago you came to the Luo River, rescued me, and made me your first disciple?”
Suddenly, everything around Gu Niansheng – including Xuan Lingzi – froze like statues.
Step by step, Gu Niansheng made his way up to the sky, while his figure slowly transformed into Luo Jianqing.
Nine phantasms. Every single one of them was diminishing Luo Jianqing’s determination.
There was a saying: ‘all the relationships and bonds bring only agony, then why keep them? There is only one way – put them into demolition!’
Luo Jianqing gently touched Xuan Lingzi’s face and showed him a smile with indulgence, “you came to the Gu Village just for me; you prolonged my parents’ lives in order to create a chance for me to break the bond. Wu Yin, do you really want me to be an immortal with……no love, no hate, no anything? Then, given that you’ve spat blood for me, who am I to you?”
