“More accurately, I am his clone. Countless years ago, I was able to evade the pursuit of the Ji Ancestor. I lived in the world of mortals for countless generations until I finally understood it.” His seventh sword descended and the mountains peak began to shatter into pieces. The old man was shaking, and his eyes filled with dread.
It was at this moment, when the mountaintop shattered, that two butterfly Demon Spirits flew out from within, seemingly birthed from the destruction of the mountain. They fluttered in the air as they shot off into the distance.
No one paid any attention to the butterfly Demon Spirits. Han Shan didn’t, the old man didn’t. Not even Meng Hao paid them any attention. Only Zhixiang noticed, but she was locked in ice, and could do nothing but watch as they sped off into the distance.
“I don’t care what your goal is. I only want my wife back.” An eighth sword descended, chopping into the mountain, slashing toward the old man’s body.
The old man seemed to have no inclination to block or fight back against the sword. However, as the sword neared him, the space in front of him suddenly began to grow blurry, and a woman appeared to stand in front of him. She looked up at the sword, and then at Han Shan.
Han Shan suddenly stopped in his tracks. The sword ceased moving. Everything seemed to disappear; the only thing he was looking at was this woman.
She was not consummately beautiful, but rather, exceedingly gentle. She gazed down at Han Shan.
“I won’t go with you,” she said softly. “Nor can I go. I am a Bridge Slave. Starting that year, I became a Bridge Slave for all eternity….” She looked somewhat confused.
“When will the Bridge of Immortality reappear like new…? Sir, on what day will we again lay eyes on you…?” As the woman’s murmuring voice echoed out, the old man began to vanish. As he did, he looked calmly at Han Shan.
“I am the soul of the Bridge of Immortality,” he said. “All of the Bridge Slaves are a part of me. If I give up my memories of this time, then when I die, your wife will become the new Bridge Soul.
“There is no enmity between me and you. All of this was part of our mission, to restore the Bridge of Immortal Treading. Originally, you should have been the Bridge Soul. That is why the esteemed Demon Emperor hid you all those years ago. Now, however, the task will fall to your wife.
“My mission is complete, although not perfectly. My task was to find you and bring you back. This was the final command of the esteemed Demon Emperor before his death: find you, and make you a Bridge Slave.” With that, he faded away.
The instant he disappeared, the confusion in the woman’s eyes faded away. Her eyes were now clear. She saw Han Shan, and recalled her old memories. This was perhaps the first time since she had chosen to become a Bridge Slave, the first time in her everlasting life, that she suddenly saw everything clearly.
With a bitter smile, she looked at Han Shan.
“Kill me, allow me to be released….”
Her words echoed out. When Meng Hao heard them, and saw what was happening, he sighed.
The clearness only lasted a moment. In the moment when a Bridge Slave becomes the Bridge Soul, the Bridge Slave would have one moment of clearness. After that moment, the Bridge Slave would be awake and conscious, but would no longer be the same person they were before.
That person would be the new soul of the Bridge of Immortal Treading.