How long is the hallway of time?
People say “I hate you” a lot with their teeth clenching. However, people seldom remember that love usually foreshadows hate.
Lin Luoran feels like returning to the year when she was eighteen. She is a freshman at the university. Her roommates are chatting with each other and laughing, while she sits on her bed and listens without saying a word.
Her roommates are talking about the welcome party for the freshmen which happens tonight. The most outgoing and energetic girl in the dorm will be the presenter of the party only a few weeks after entering this school.
The girl is in the center of the crowd. She is tall and slim and she wears her hair as a ponytail. She smiles a lot. She is perfect to be the “presenter” of her happy life.
“Lin Luoran, are you really not going to join the show of our class?” The girl is smart. She has noticed that Lin is left out and she takes the initiative to talk to her.
Everybody looks at Lin Luoran. Lin is wearing simple clothes which are out of fashion. Her clothes don’t match her pretty face. Most people will have the same feeling when they see Lin Luoran. In fact, the girl who will be the presenter of the party sounds a bit jealous when she talks to Lin.
“I really have no talent…” Lin Luoran answers nervously because she is not used to be the center of the crowd. Before she says more to explain that she can’t dance or sing, the “presenter” girl changes the topic. Lin never gets a chance to explain herself and nobody cares about this.
…
“This is for you.”
“What?!”
Lin Luoran gets flustered when a man expresses his love for her. Her roommates start to make a fuss.
“Say yes!”
“Right, say yes! Li seems to be a good guy!”
In the noise, Lin Luoran feels that she finally becomes the main character of her life for the first time. The roses Li Anping picks aren’t expensive, but they do show his sincerity. Lin Luoran is not sure whether she is happy or just surprised and she hesitates about taking the roses or not.
They are at the backstage of the welcome party. Lin Luoran works as an assistant. The presenter girl is fixing her make-up. She notices the noise here and she almost snaps the eyebrow pencil in her hand.
“You’re Li Anping, from the Department of Public Administration?” The presenter girl smiles and asks, pretending to be curious, “Why did you give Lin Luoran the roses?”
Li Anping scratches his head and smiles shyly,
“I don’t know. I just want to do that.”
What kind of answer is this?
All of the bystanders smile kindly. This is the night Lin Luoran will never forget.
…
More and more scenes from the past drag Lin deeper into the dream.
At first, she could remember that she was only the bystander, but she gradually gets lost.
In this long and endless dream, she is “Lin Luoran” and “Lin Luoran” is her.
Li Anping’s body is drying and aging fast, but he is still alive. His face wrinkles because of the loss of blood. Li Anping is smiling, which is so creepy.
Under this situation, even as an ordinary person, Rong Donglin guesses that if Li Anping dies, Lin Luoran will be doomed.
However, what can he do to help her?
Obviously, Rong is not the only person who is thinking about this. In the space, the silver fish swings its tail, cocks its head, and asks the fire phoenix, “Why don’t you help her?”
The fire phoenix is immersed in the smell of the spirit wine. It ignores the silver fish’s question.
Not until the silver fish becomes angry does the phoenix answer, “Being seal doesn’t equal death. If she can’t get through this on her own, how can she be qualified to own the space later?”
The silver fish doesn’t know what to say. It came to the space later than the fire phoenix and it only has limited knowledge about the space where they live in. In its view, Lin Luoran is the only human who has free access to the space. Doesn’t this make her the owner of the space?
The fire phoenix stops explaining and changes the topic, “Besides, this is what she needs to bear on the path of cultivation. She needs a strong state of mind when she enters the next level later… Cultivation is hard. This is just the beginning.”
…
If this is the beginning, when can it end?
In the dream, Lin Luoran is reliving the time when she found out that Li Anping was cheating on her. Lin always thinks that she never cares about this so much. However, while reliving this, she can’t imagine how she went through this before.
She and Li Anping have spent over seven years together. Even though, he leaves her for Elly, the rich girl, without hesitating.
For the moment, she doesn’t know what she should live for. A voice keeps haunting her and says, “Die. Kill yourself. It will be over soon.”
Is death the solution to every problem?
Lin is in a different state of mind now. All of the cultivation she has done makes her more tough and forgiving. Why did she think about death? This is so strange.
As soon as Lin has the doubt, the dream starts to change. She begins to relive it from the beginning once and once again.
Both happiness and sadness can be accumulated.
After experiencing the good time, the sad ending will be amplified into desperation.
This is the real power of the Love Threads. It leads people to their death step by step!
Outside of Lin’s dream, Li Anping only has one breath left. Lin Luoran smiles and cries… At this moment, she doesn’t seem to have any chance of winning.
*******
One day ago.
No matter how chaotic the Dragon Palace is, other people in the world have to continue their lives.
Although the world has known of the mysterious world of cultivation, common people can’t tell the distinction between the Taoist and the Buddhist cultivators.
Zhongshan Mausoleum in Jinling City has been shut down for three days. Lots of people feel pity for the loss of tourism income. Some with insights know that a “spell conference” is being held there. The conference is initiated by the central department of the capital and the city committee actively cooperates. It is said that the spell conference is held to transcend the souls of the innocent victims of the massacre years ago. The citizens are all moved and they feel grateful for the intention of the conference, so they never complain about the shutdown of the Zhongshan Mausoleum.
The ruling party of the State of Huaxia, which has always been a party of science, also agrees to the conference. So many innocent people died in that massacre. The victims are never forgotten by their loved ones. As time passes, their death has been elevated to a national affair. Some old people even cry after hearing this low-key “spell conference” — their parents had died in the massacre.
The Xiantong Temple from Mount Wutai is the main host of the conference. Temples on Mount Putuo and Jiuhua join. As the senior Buddhist cultivator from Xiantong Temple, Puji is elected as the host of the spell conference. During the break, a few officials and rich people who know about this come to ask for some Buddhist items. If it were not for the smart monk, Zhixiu, Master Puji might have given his kasaya away.
The coming out of the Buddhist cultivators is an important event. Cultivators from Mount Emei never received the invitation. They had to condescend to ask for permission to join the conference and they were welcomed.
Qingcheng Taoist Temple, which is familiar with the school on Mount Emei, got the news soon. Superior Huizhu, who is old and sophisticated, notices immediately that the time of the spell conference is so coincidental. Before suspecting Lin Luoran, he knows that An’s trip to the Dragon Palace will not be so smooth.
Huizhu has never walked out of Mount Qingcheng for years. However, he can’t sit and wait. He leaves the temple and heads to Dongting Lake.
He can’t find the entrance of the Dragon Palace. Also, a Taoist in rags is talking nonsense to the sculptures in the Xiangfei Temple. Huizhu can’t help but starting to act respectfully.
The man in front of him is a cultivator in the level of Bearing Essence. Huizhu finally believes in the rumor about Lin Luoran’s master.
A young man follows the Taoist as his servant. He is carefully dusting the table. He acts so patiently, which makes Huizhu wonder whether the man is patient himself or the Taoist thinks highly of the Xiangfei Temple.
“You want to go to the Dragon Palace, don’t you?” The Taoist takes a stick of incense and tells the young man to serve it as the tribute to the “fairy”. The Taoist doesn’t even seem to be ashamed of the dirty Taoist robe he is wearing.
Huizhu has been the most powerful cultivators in the world for so many years and he certainly is arrogant and proud. However, he is sure that the Taoist is much stronger than himself. Huizhu has to make a bow and says, “Yes. I’m afraid I have to go to the Dragon Palace to look for my fellow apprentice.”
With a corn kernel stuck to his teeth, the crazy Taoist laughs and says,
“You are the only person who is aware of your real intention… Nevertheless, the Dragon Palace is already locked down. Even I can’t get in until the new owner of it is elected. How about you stay here and keep me company?”
Would you stay with a crazy Taoist in the level of Bearing Essence?
Huizhu doesn’t have other options but to say yes.
The view of Dongting Lake at night is amazing. The young man lights the incense up and he is in a daze. He hasn’t seen the person for three years. He can’t even remember her face clearly.
