Guarding the River of Time
Chapter 548 - 538: The Little Mound at the End of Time—Why Did I Cry?
He still remembered that on the way to the cemetery, fog arose.
Back then, Su Mu was also very weak, and coupled with his low affinity for the Long River, he easily lost direction in the fog, which could severely damage his physical body.
So, he made markings on the stones along the road.
He remembered clearly that he made the markings by carving them with a dagger.
He still remembered this huge stone, but the markings on it had completely disappeared, not weathered with time, but rather as if they never existed.
According to logic, this huge stone was not an ordinary stone, not a treasure either, but its hardness equaled that of Ten Thousand Year Profound Iron. Furthermore, the markings he carved were so deep that even after several years, let alone decades or centuries, they wouldn’t have weathered and disappeared.
Even if they were weathered and eroded away, it would not be to the extent of leaving no trace or breath at all?
Su Mu walked on the narrow path, which he was very familiar with, but at the same time, felt very strange.
He had once left various traces and markings on this road, but now they had all disappeared, and it had been less than seven years; it’s impossible to detect no trace at all.
Walking on the path, looking at everything along the way, Su Mu felt familiar, yet at the same time, inexplicably strange.
Why?
Why is it like this?
Did someone erase all the traces of his presence?
Why would someone do that?
Why does he feel a sense of unfamiliarity?
.....
Walking and walking, the narrow path gradually widened, and his vision broadened.
Eventually, he arrived at a dense forest in his memory.
Staring blankly at the "forest" before him, he was dumbfounded.
He remembered that seven years ago, the trees in this forest were over ten meters tall, with the shortest still being five or six meters.
But the "forest" before him, how could it even be associated with a "forest"?
It was completely a bunch of shrubs, with only a few scattered saplings, merely half a meter tall.
The location was correct, but the trees had changed.
Seven years later, although time was passing, even if the trees didn’t grow taller, they couldn’t have reversed their growth, right?
It was as if time had flowed backward.
This puzzled Su Mu greatly.
Could it be that someone had cut down all the trees here and replanted new saplings?
Even if that’s possible.
But he couldn’t find any trace of replanting after cutting down!
Too strange, too bizarre.....
....
After passing through this patch of shrubs, he parted the vines before him, and his view suddenly broadened.
Looking ahead, his eyes widened, and he stood still like a petrified sculpture.
What lay before him was a green meadow, with purple and red butterflies fluttering above, and the air was filled with the fragrance of the soil, an abundantly green and vibrant scenery.
He couldn’t connect the scene before him with the cemetery graveyard in his memory.
In his memory, when he first came here....
The sky was gray, the earth barren, tombstones stood tall, and an eerie black mist shrouded the cemetery.
Deathly stillness, grayness, despair, haze...
...
Suddenly, a breeze stirred the fresh grass and Su Mu’s clothing.
It also pulled his thoughts back to reality.
Coming to his senses, he stepped onto the soft soil and walked forward step by step.
Gazing at everything around, the tombstones in his memory were all gone.
...
Wandering aimlessly, Su Mu stood on the meadow, overwhelmed by countless thoughts.
What on earth happened here.....
Where have the tombstones gone.....
Why has it become like this...
......
Suddenly, as if sensing something, he turned around sharply.
Glancing around, he saw, in the most conspicuous place on the meadow, a mound of earth was raised.
He walked step by step toward the small mound.
...
Upon approaching, he found this small mound seemed like a gravestone.
A small stone tablet stood before the mound, but there were no inscriptions on it.
In front of the stone tablet lay a neatly placed, already withered flower.
Su Mu recognized this flower.
This was a Lycoris Radiata, known in ancient texts by another name, "Other Shore Flower".
However, this Lycoris Radiata had long since withered, the scattered petals having lost their vibrant red color, telling a mournful tale of this place.
Staring at the small mound before him, Su Mu inexplicably felt a surge of unexplained sorrow, growing and spreading in his heart...
Uncontrollably....
....
Yet, he had no memory of this nameless grave.
Why did he feel such emotions?
The next moment, Su Mu felt a coolness on his cheeks, and reaching up, he found it was tears; he was crying....
This was the first time Su Mu cried, involuntarily, inexplicably.
Suddenly, his heart was wrenched with pain.
He clutched his chest, leaning against the nameless stone tablet, and sat down.
This wrenching pain, surpassing the physical body, pierced his soul; Su Mu felt this "suffocating pain" for the first time.
He leaned against the dirt mound, his body trembling uncontrollably.
He clutched his chest, gasping, greedily inhaling the surrounding air.
Why is he like this?
Why does he feel sad?
Why does he feel this suffocating pain?
Why..... are tears flowing uncontrollably?
At this moment, Su Mu was confused, never more so.
Gradually, he felt a chill, an extreme cold piercing his body and soul.
His vision began to blur.
At this moment, he seemed to feel himself falling into an endless abyss.
This abyss, dark, cold, terrifying, helpless, lonely, silent....
....
Suddenly.
A warm breeze blew across the meadow, brushing over Su Mu, dispelling all the cold from his body, and his body ceased to tremble.
A wave of drowsiness overcame him, and although usually cautious, he unknowingly lowered all his defenses, leaning against the small mound, and fell asleep....
This sleep, he found satisfying, sound, and comfortable.
In a daze, he seemed to have a very long dream...
When he finally awoke, he found himself leaning against the small mound, not knowing how long he had slept.
The moment he woke, he completely forgot the long dream he had just had....
Standing before the nameless gravestone, his eyes were red, dried tear stains still on his cheeks.
"What on earth is happening to me..."
The vacant meadow echoed with Su Mu’s murmurs.
But no one could answer his murmurs, only the sound of the wind responded.