The old man’s face was filled with boundless ancientness and time. However, when Meng Hao looked at it, his heart and mind trembled. The man’s body was actually not material, but rather, faint and translucent.
Except, Meng Hao clearly remembered that the old man wasn’t like this before.
After a moment of thought, he slowly reached up his right hand and attempted to touch the old man. His hand passed directly through him as if through empty space, and when he tried it a second time, the same thing happened. Finally, he stepped forward, and ended up walking directly through him. He turned his head to look back, and his eyes were filled with a complex expression.
“Was I simply mistaken before? Was he always like this? Is his existence tied into the meaning of the ship’s name? Underworld Ship…. Ship of the Underworld Specter?” Meng Hao laughed bitterly as he began to look around. The ship was broken down, dilapidated, filled with an aura of rot.
Several days later, he finished exploring the ship in its entirety, and never found anything out of the ordinary. Everything he saw and touched was ancient and archaic.
He stood at the prow and looked out as the Underworld Ship slid noiselessly across the water. Everything was quiet; the sea rose and fell, although there were no waves. They never encountered any other living things.
It seemed that wherever this ship went, everything became completely quiet.
“Well, this is fine, too….
“I can spend the last years of my life on an empty ship, all alone.
“I bet nobody knows that I’m about to perish,” he murmured. “At least that way, Master won’t be sad, nor will Xu Qing feel too much grief. Fatty, Elder Brother, and all my other friends… none of them will know.” He sat down cross-legged in the place where he had woken up earlier and looked off into the distance.
As he did, his heart slowly became peaceful. He no longer burned with resentment, nor did he ponder any more mysteries. He was left with only a bit of ruefulness. He regretted not being able to visit his Master ever again. He regretted not holding Xu Qing in his embrace just once. He regretted not returning to the Southern Domain and gathering with the friends of long ago.
Even more so, he regretted never being able to visit the Great Tang in the Eastern Lands. He regretted not being able to see his father and mother again.
“Old turtle Reliance, from here on out, you’re free….
“Ancestors of the Demon Sealing Sect, it seems that from now, there will be no more League of Demon Sealers.” Meng Hao sighed. He was now slowly growing calmer and feeling less restrained.
Death was something that could not be avoided, so he would not take it to heart too much.
“It’s too bad I have so many Spirit Stones in my bag of holding…. What a pity that I never got to spend them.
“And then there are all those debts people owe. Those people have gotten really lucky…. After the creditor dies, they won’t have to pay back their debts.
“Hmmm, I guess I really don’t have to pay those three silver pieces back to Steward Zhou after all.
“It’s such a pity I still have so many treasures. Well, some little bastard in the future is sure going to get lucky.” When he thought of this, he could only sigh.
“Perhaps my death will spare the world a bit of calamity. To all of you who would have been conned by me in the future, you don’t know how lucky you are!
“So, so lucky!” Meng Hao thought back through his life, to his youth spent studying and participating in the Imperial examinations. Then he ran into Xu Qing and joined the Reliance Sect. He stole Wang Tengfei’s good fortune and became an Inner Sect disciple. Patriarch Reliance conned him, so he conned back. Eventually, he made it to the Southern Domain, where he joined the Violet Fate Sect and then rose to prominence.
“Poor Xu Qing…. She loves me, and I love her. What a pity we won’t be able to get married now…. I’ve never actually even been with a woman….” When he thought of this, Meng Hao suddenly felt especially sad.
“And then there’s Chu Yuyan. She was definitely interested in me….”
Meng Hao continued to sigh and sigh.
He thought of how he had killed the Chosen from the Ji Clan, then escaped to the Western Desert. He recalled everything that happened with the Crow Divinity Tribes, and then couldn’t help think of Han Shan, Demoness Zhixiang, and everything that happened in the Demon Immortal Sect.