Chapter 26: 127 Lives
382 Words
It was an ocean.
Boundless ocean, black water, waves frozen still. Floating on the surface were 127 points of light, and in each point of light was a human figure.
Shen Moyan approached one.
A Taoist, in Song Dynasty robes, head bowed, face unclear.
"Who are you?"
The Taoist looked up at him.
"I am Lu Jiuyuan."
Shen Moyan froze.
He kept walking, approached the second point of light. Another Taoist, in Ming Dynasty robes.
"Who are you?"
"I am Lu Jiuyuan."
Third, fourth, fifth... 127 points of light, 127 Taoists, each face different, but each one said: I am Lu Jiuyuan.
Shen Moyan stood on that frozen ocean, looking at the 127 points of light, and suddenly understood.
"They're all Lu Jiuyuan." Hu Sanniang's voice sounded. "Each one, a past life. 127 lifetimes, 127 times killed by the Taoist community. The 128th lifetime, the Taoist community wiped his memories clean and implanted the memories of the demons he'd killed, turned him into a weapon for killing demons."
Shen Moyan was silent.
He remembered the look in Lu Jiuyuan's eyes when they first met—that sharpness, that coldness, that insight that could see through anything. That wasn't the look of someone in his twenties. That was the look of someone who'd lived 127 lifetimes.
"He doesn't know who he is." Hu Sanniang said. "Because he's never been one person. He's the sum of 127 people. But he doesn't know it."
Shen Moyan stood on that ocean, looking at the 127 points of light, silent for a long time.
Then he spoke:
"All of you, listen."
The points of light stirred.
"I'm Shen Moyan. The one outside—he's your 128th lifetime. He's not your enemy, not your vessel. He's all of you. The debts you owe, he's repaying. The suffering you endured, he's enduring. The freedom you wanted, he's seeking too."
He paused.
"So stop arguing. Help him. That's helping yourselves."
The ocean was still for a long moment.
Then the first point of light brightened. The second, the third, the 127th. All the points of light brightened, illuminating that frozen ocean.
Shen Moyan opened his eyes and looked at Lu Jiuyuan before him.
In Lu Jiuyuan's eyes, there were tears.
"They said," Shen Moyan spoke slowly, "thank you for living."
- Writer
