*
Within the sect, Fu Shen set eighty-one records all by himself, which were carved into the cliffs of Jiuyou Mountain. He once declared that if any of the younger generation could break all eighty-one records, he would grant them one wish, no matter what it was.
Unfortunately, the younger generation was a disappointment. In the past hundred years, not one person had managed it. The best anyone had done was reach seventy-one.
Gradually, everyone lost interest and forgot all about it, until Pei Xuanli climbed Jiuyou Mountain beneath eighty-one golden beams of light.
Fu Shen glanced at the boy and couldn't help smiling. "So, what do you want?"
The boy looked at him, his gaze dark and intense. "Uncle-Master, would you hold me?"
It was a very strange request. Fu Shen told him to think it over carefully. After some consideration, he said, "Then, Uncle-Master, kiss me."
"You..." Fu Shen pondered for a long while. "Are you sick or something?"
"Yes."
He really was sick. Only being close to his Uncle-Master could cure him.
*
None of the many immortal sects liked Fu Shen. Whenever they spoke of him, it was either to sigh or curse.
Fu Shen knew he wasn't popular, but he never expected that when he gave his life to rebuild the Demon-Sealing Array, no one would come to his aid except Pei Xuanli.
But an elder couldn't just watch a younger disciple share his fate and have their soul scattered to the winds, so he kicked his nephew away.
The world was at peace, and he alone vanished from it.
Three hundred years later, Fu Shen miraculously came back to life as the revered Immortal Zun Huaiguang.
The immortal sects praised his selflessness and admired his fearlessness. They erected monuments and statues in his honor, wrote books and biographies, and spread his good name, as if things had always been this way.
But one person grabbed him by the collar and gritted out, "I hate you."
I hate that your heart was set on saving the world, and that you cherished your master's kindness, yet you never spared a thought for me.
When did I ever ask you to push me away? I'd rather have been reduced to ashes with you.
Theme: Do not commit even the smallest evil.
