Soon, happiness faded away, turning into a dim, yellow world. A face that looked very similar to her own appeared; Ling Rong knew that this person was her mother.
Mother was dressed in clothes that matched those worn by the old person she had seen that day, also splendid. She was running through the countryside, followed by a string of silvery laughter like cascading bells.
Latter on, a man appeared in the scene. This man was very kind to Mother, and Ling Rong knew that he was her father. His smile was gentle, as if one could wring tenderness out of it.
The two of them romped through the fields, their faces fraught with carefree smiles. Then, in a corner, Ling Rong saw that old person, still in the same attire, her face still so young, looking lovingly at her child with a kindly expression.
Ling Rong could almost feel that happiness, seemingly within reach, yet she felt like an onlooker, not knowing where she actually was.
"Is this okay?" one clad in white asked another.
Under the light, it was just that man who couldn’t be more ordinary.
"Yes." The man smiled, a smile of triumph from a successful conspiracy.
Not all pasts can be forgotten. Since it’s Buddha’s wick, I’ll let her turn the entire world to ashes.
The man’s wicked smile spread like a spider’s vast web, slowly tightening, waiting for some insects to blunder into it.
The man and woman got married, surrounded by red. Red filled the sky, dazzling someone’s eyes, but Ling Rong only felt her eyes moist and warm...
And then they had a child, and after that, the whole family perished in flames.
Ling Rong opened her eyes, filled with fresh redness and anger.
Who is it? Who exactly destroyed my home?!
"How about it? Are you angry now?" the man asked.
"Who exactly are you? How do you know about my parents?" Ling Rong asked warily.
"As long as one is determined, anything can be uncovered."
"Speak! Who exactly caused the death of my parents?" Ling Rong grabbed the man’s collar in a fierce grip, demanding.
"Aren’t you afraid to know? Didn’t you say you didn’t want to know? Why ask now?"
"I..." Ling Rong’s spirit deflated immediately.
"Well then, if I ask you about your origin being related to your grandfather, would you still want to know?"
Ling Rong really didn’t know. Could it be that her grandfather destroyed her home? That was impossible! He was so good to her; how could he hurt her? No, it could also be that he was only kind to her out of guilt.
These two speculations almost turned into a tug-of-war in Ling Rong’s mind. She really didn’t know what to do. Her parents were gone, and if she lost her grandfather as well, then she would truly become an orphan.
But if she continued living in ignorance, how would she face her parents?
"Confused, aren’t you? Don’t forget, your grandmother can be said to have died at your hands!"
"No, it was Ye Tian who killed her, not me!" Ling Rong argued desperately.
"Don’t forget, you were an accomplice!"
"I... it was her who wanted to kill me first!"
"She knew you were her granddaughter; how could she possibly wish to kill you? She had only one target, yet you insisted on protecting that person! Think about it; how lonely she must be down there alone!"
"No one helped collect her body; you don’t even know where it lies. Maybe some interested party has taken it, and now they might be experimenting on it."
The man’s words were eerie, making one feel a chill seeping out from the bones.
"It’s unknown what bad deeds she had done, to be implicated by her own daughter, and then in the end, dragged down by her own granddaughter. Even if she did bad deeds, should she just be left outside to wander as a lonely, wild ghost forever?"
"No!" Tears slid down Ling Rong’s face.
Ye Tian in the Illusion Realm was oblivious to the outside affairs, still lying leisurely and comfortably, and finally, under the warm sunlight, he fell asleep.
Dreams and illusions are not the same; the clarity here is different, everything seems veiled by a sheer fabric — you cannot see clearly, yet your heart feels even clearer.
Ye Tian thought he had forgotten every bit of the past. After all, no one would want to remember such a painful experience; one just needed to remember the hatred.
Blood, blood everywhere; that inhuman power had slaughtered his brothers one by one.
"This time I return, I must find a wife!"
"I can go see my grandfather now!"
"Oh come on, look at you guys!"
The people were all dreaming of their futures, and yet such beauty was cut short.
But it is precisely such a movie-replay-like dream that, while causing Ye Tian heartache, also revealed many things he hadn’t noticed at the time.
Events had unfolded too suddenly at the time; everyone was scrambling to save their lives, and he was no different. But ever since he found the old man’s diary in the snowy mountains, he was even more certain it was a conspiracy. The only thing that puzzled him was, could there not be a traitor involved?
This idea, Ye Tian was reluctant to accept as true, but after a calm reflection, one would realize that the best scenario for such events is an inside job along with outside help.