“Take my legacy, take my sword, and take my flagon,” said Han Shan. “Leave this place. If ever the day comes in which you can shake this bridge with your Cultivation base, then don’t forget to repay my kindness. If my wife and I are still here when you return, then I hope you can rescue us.” With that, Han Shan laughed. He was aged and decrepit now, but his will once again surged, a will which despised Heaven and Earth. He flicked his sleeve, causing an azure sword to appear. This sword had never left his side during the past three thousand years. But now, it turned into an azure beam of light that shot toward Meng Hao.
He flicked his sleeve again, and the alcohol flagon, seemingly filled with boundless sword will, also flew into Meng Hao’s hands. Meng Hao felt his heart stirring. He looked up at Han Shan, somewhat in a daze.
What he saw was Han Shan’s back. It looked very much the way it had when Meng Hao first saw him. Lonely, bleak, and desolate….
Han Shan waved his hand, and a cold wind sprang into being. It picked up Meng Hao and the shocked Zhixiang, and carried them off into the distance.
The cold wind was incredibly strong. Neither Meng Hao nor Zhixiang could do anything to resist the power of the wind as it began to carry them off into the distance. Despite the force of the wind, Meng Hao managed to turn his head around for one last look.
Han Shan’s gentle voice could just barely be heard.
“Three thousand years ago, it was because of you that I refused to become a Bridge Slave. Three thousand years later, it is because of you that I make the opposite choice. I will accompany you in such a life. What harm is there in that…?
“I will lose my consciousness. I will lose any chance to return. However, as long as I can be with you, neither life nor death are of any consequence….
“During these three thousand years, I thought a lot. Legacies and Cultivation bases don’t really matter. What matters, are dreams…. Without you by my side, I have no world.
“You are my everything.
“I’m willing. I am perfectly happy… to exercise faith.”
When Han Shan opened his eyes, they shone only with confusion. All of his loneliness and bleakness were gone.
His wife stood next to him. The two of them turned and made their way off into the distance. They were followed by millions of Bridge Slaves, an army of specters… moving further and further away.
“When will the Bridge of Immortality reappear like new…? Sir, on what day will we again lay eyes on you…?”
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