Book 8: Chapter 35: Heartmend Spell
“Don’t cry, Da Tong. When you cry like this, you don’t look as heroic and mighty as I did when I was young.” Uncle Bao chuckled and tried to comfort his son, but to Xiao Xia, it sounded particularly desolate. “Both your Uncle Ruan and I have gotten what we wanted, so there’s no need for reluctance. Regardless of anything, you should send your old man off with a smile. It seems that I am more fortunate than your Uncle Ruan. I have a son to see me off at the end.”
Bao Da Tong instinctively rushed over to hug his father, but he embraced only air and fell directly to the ground. He didn’t get up, and cried with abandon while on the ground.
“Oh, silly child, silly child, why can’t you accept it?” Uncle Bao felt a deep sorrow in his heart. Although he was a practitioner of Daoism, he thought of the tenets of Buddhism on “suffering”. As expected, separation between life and death was the most painful thing in life!
“What kind of unfilial son are you? Do you want your father to leave this world with regrets?” His voice turned stern, but his eyes were bright and gentle, “Get up quickly. Be a man, there are still friends waiting for you to save them!”
Bao Da Tong cried for a while before getting up, “You must visit me in my dreams often.” He said reluctantly.
“If your daddy wants to see you, I’ll come directly. Why would I bother going through dreams? If you’re capable, live a long life, a couple centuries. Lets see if your daddy can outlast you while in hell!” Uncle Bao tried his best to comfort his son, even though he knew that the paths of humans and ghosts are different and the future is bleak. How could he bear to see his son so heartbroken? Da Tong was naturally warm-hearted and passionate, an emotional person. Because he valued emotions, parting was the hardest thing for him.
He turned to look at Xiao Xia and saw that the girl was in pain and at a loss. Her beloved is dead, and the path to resurrection unclear; her best friend is in a coma. Even if they told her he was fine, how could she feel at ease? Her other friend grieved at losing his father. She wanted to comfort him, but didn’t know how. At that moment, this child was under more pressure than Da Tong!
Uncle Bao walked over, wanting to comfort Xiao Xia with a few words, when he suddenly caught a glimpse of the necklace hanging on Xiao Xia’s chest. Because Xiaoxia gave the amulet of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva to Ruan Zhan, what she wore around her neck was the bone necklace he had given her and another strange necklace: green rope wrapped around a small stone. Silver wreathed the corners of the stone and the green rope wrapped tightly around it, almost packaging it inside. Despite this, a hint of beautiful red still shone through the green.
This stone was extremely beautiful and full of spiritual energy, but that wasn’t the point. The most important thing was that the stone looked like a human heart, and faintly seemed to be beating.