Chapter 201: Life 70, Age 39, Martial Emperor Peak
The path out of Heaven City was steep and treacherous. Rocks wanted to slip from beneath my feet, and there were rarely handholds that I could use to steady myself. As an earth qi cultivator, this shouldn’t have been a problem for me, but for whatever reason, my techniques had no effect on the stone of this mountain.
As I climbed, I had time to reflect on my decisions. I felt… lonely. In this life, this was the first time I was ascending the mountain without someone beside me. I had entered the sect with Yan, JiaQi, LiTing, and LuYao. JiaQi and I had walked the paths to Yellow City and Profound City together. Then, our entire group had reunited and walked the path to Earth City together. On the way to Heaven City, ZiHan and XiaoYu joined us as we ascended the mountain together.
Now, I was leaving them all behind to walk alone.
Making the plan to do this had been easy, but doing it was more difficult than I had expected.
This separation was only temporary. I would see them all again in the future. But I knew my plans. Once this life was over, I would be returning to the Wastes, and they wouldn’t be joining me. I was leaving them behind, and I might not see any of them again for centuries.
Was that what I wanted? Was that really what I wanted? I had spent decades with them, and now, I was leaving them to walk alone into an unknown future.
A part of me wanted to repay my debts in the Wastes, yes, but alone on that mountain, I had to question if there was any meaning in doing so. What was the point of repaying debts that no one remembered? Why was I letting events from hundreds of years ago dictate my actions? Wouldn’t it be better to chart a new course forward with my friends and leave the past behind me?
There were people I had connections to in the Wastes. People who had helped me. People I wanted to see again. But those connections were… old. Those memories were starting to be covered over by the long march of time. Did I really want to go back and unearth them? Was it worth the pain?
Halfway to my destination, I paused and looked back to Heaven City. Part of me wanted to return to the Wastes. Part of me also wanted to walk back down the mountain and rejoin those I had left behind.