act31side

Who ever thought it'd snow like this?

The field's ridges have been covered with a thick layer of despair-inducing white. The bits of yellow dotting it are the heads of grain that were laboriously planted only a month prior.

How many plants would still be alive after ten days? One dares not think.

A musbeast stumbles around, barging into the silent field of wheat.

Even the sparse crops in front of it are an unexpected joy. It sniffs around carefully, calculating how much it needs to tide it over and how much would be left to take back to the cave to feed its kin.

Until a thick metal hoe crashes down on its spine.

Three more heads of wheat are gone.

The angry farmer snatches the beast that has been ruining the crops, so angry that he wants to skin it to make a meal. However, the carcass is so emaciated that it hardly weighs more than a few taels.

With a long sigh, the farmer digs a hole in the ground and buries the beast's body.

Poor thing.

Hardship strikes at will. Such occurrences are common.

If the wheat dies in this freeze, how many people will perish next year?

A great many.

But there will also be many who come to their aid, and a lot of them will survive.

Life itself will not cease.

The firmament is as a veil.

The ethereal satin-silk seems to be infinitely weighty, firmly separating the two combatants and pressing towards them.

Nian, let's wrap it up.

It took a considerable amount of effort to build this heart for you. It would be a terrible shame to see it torn apart in this conflict.

You aren't in a position to be making small talk yourself. I nearly took your head off with that firecracker blast just now.

Where'd all that destructive might of yours go? Why don't you make a massive pair of scissors and cut his little fabrications to bits?

You put some effort into it too! He's about to turn your painting into papercraft!

Oh, it's my fault now?

Cut me some slack here, he just turned that big ol' firecracker I built into a pile of threads. Has he always been able to do stuff like that?

Didn't think he'd ever have the will to work on his powers over the years.

But the question is, why does he seem to have such a good grasp of what our powers are...?

Hold on, is it really just one guy we're up against?

Time's almost up...

I truly would like to stick around to chat more, as rare as our reunions are. However, the unfortunate reality is that I am short on time, and must bid you farewell.

I really wish I didn't have to use this. The next time we meet, I will have to make amends.

If we meet again, that is...

To think you'd strike down your own sister. What a disgrace.

Shu?

I didn't think you'd just go and disappear altogether, but... Are you alright?

I sincerely hope you weren't just trying to scare us on purpose...

Think of it as a much-needed rest. Sorry for worrying you.

And here I was wanting to see my little brother again, lo and behold the scene I come back to. Does he really not see this place as home anymore?

...My dear sister.

I know that look. That's the look on your face whenever you've done something wrong.

How long has it been?

...Sixty-seven years.

Then, you'll have to stay for dinner. If you have anything to say, you can say it at the table.

I'm sorry, my dear sister. I can't listen to you this time.

So, you're taking orders from someone else now, huh...?

The one who's been behind the curtain this whole time. How much longer does he plan to stay hidden?

Whatever it is, wouldn't it be better to tell me face-to-face?

A man slowly walks forth from the distance, sauntering past the threshold of time immemorial. It is as if he has been there since the very beginning.

Time and space halt with the sound of his footsteps.

You finally decide to show yourself.

There's a whole crowd... What a lively gathering.

You all... are still inclined to such excitement?

Wait, didn't he go insane?

The atmosphere of our little reunion isn't quite what I expected...

What happens in the movies when a relative on the most-wanted list suddenly shows up at your doorstep?

Is he actually the real deal, or just a shadow?

Any shenanigans the weiqi failure tried to pull wouldn't surprise me at this point. It'd be a big deal if he pulled another Sui-Xiang out of his ass though...

So, what's the plan, Shu? Are we fighting?

Shangshu, Yumen, and now here... Don't you think you've gone too far?

Small sacrifices for the greater good, each unto their own. Nothing more, nothing less.

Look at all the devastated fields out there, and all the suffering people... I can't forgive you for talking like that.

Upon careful consideration, there still remain two lines of inquiry regarding who owes this debt.

Then, you stay here so we can tally it up.

This account has been accumulating debt for over a thousand years.

You haven't been here in a long time.

There are things I must do... There is a battlefield to the north. When the troops assemble, I must stand on the front lines.

'Bleached bones exposed in the wilds, where fowls sing not for a thousand li.'

After a thousand years of war, in the end, it is still the commoners in the fields who suffer.

You care about them a great deal.

The people you take so lightly are actually our teachers, in the truest sense. We take after their form, find things that interest us, and only then do we find our place in the world.

We have nothing in common with them. Not a single thing.

What is so different about us?

Feranmuts may have lives spanning tens of thousands of years, while mayflies die as quickly as they live. But in the end, we are all lives born under Heaven. Everything that has a beginning must also have an end.

Warfare and slaughter. Why exactly did you choose this path? What value do you see in it?

Law and order.

I recently learned a game, <i>weiqi.</i> The rules are simple, but the underlying principles are quite similar to the art of war.

It has demonstrated to me a singular wisdom: as chaotic and disorderly as things may appear, master the rules, and the final outcome will fall into place.

The final outcome that we've all been so keenly focused on.

This dead silence... This is the outcome that you see.

Not just for us, but for all things living in these lands.

How ironic. If death is the <i>effect,</i> then does that not make life itself the <i>cause?</i>

Do you never get tired of standing watch here?

Everything in existence is worthy of being cherished, just as it is now.

All things have their time. People, beasts, mountains, water, grass, trees. They are all alike in this regard. That is the <i>Dao</i> the people speak of.

The grass becomes lush and green every spring. We have come, and we have existed. Is that not enough?

So, you've resigned yourself to this end.

That's not what you really think.

I was simply wondering...

Have we ever lived as our true selves?

Wait, don't tell me you...?

I've been contemplating this for a long time... Calculating.

Finally... I have seen another outcome.

Not far away, a green sapling pokes its head out from underneath the snow.

I know you can see it, Shu.

The haggard man stretches out his hand, his fingertips still covered with rough callouses.

Can you read my palm for me?

'Endless solitude; kalpas blurred, death nigh inexorable.'

I'm very much looking forward to that... I shall be waiting.

...Were you able to see her again?

You know that wouldn't be possible.

I often find myself thinking of her.