After entering, Cang Lingyue finally understood Luo Yingbai’s previous hesitation. Inside the door stood a woman wearing blue, with subtle traces of time at the corners of her eyes. She looked like she wasn’t very young, but her beautiful features and elegant temperament made her age easy to overlook—her face was six parts similar to Luo Yingbai’s.
The moment he saw her, Luo Yingbai felt his throat was choked by an invisible hand. He could hear his own violent heartbeat and heavy breathing. He thought he could no longer speak, but the voice seemed to come from an extremely distant place: “Mom.” He pressed his hand to his chest, as if afraid his heart would suddenly burst from his chest: “I… I’m here.”
Jiang Yugai didn’t speak. Luo Yingbai knew it was because her soul had been in this place for too long, rarely communicating with others. Luo Yingbai picked up Jiang Yugai, and Cang Lingyue shrank back to finger-length, stuffed into his pocket. He took a deep breath to calm himself and stepped onto the first extreme staircase.
As he walked up, phantoms began to gradually appear on the stairs. Some images were blurry, some clear, with light and shadow intertwining. Countless familiar figures rushed up and down, passing by on the stairs. These were all people Luo Yingbai knew from the real world, here with only a fleeting connection.
Fleeting light and shadows, life like a dream—this is actually what life is: gathering and parting, chance encounters. If one becomes lost in the joy of “encountering” and forgets that life involves separation, one will either fall into obsession because of “unwillingness to let go” or feel pain because of “having to let go”.
Luo Yingbai looked straight ahead, carrying Jiang Yugai forward. Though the building looked high, it wasn’t without an end. As long as he climbed to the top, the other side would directly lead to the main hall of the King of Hell.
While it was good that Jiang Yugai was brought before Luo Yingbai, he hadn’t forgotten that this was actually a trap set by the Demon Realm to make him stay. By choosing to take Jiang Yugai away, he was essentially unable to abandon his obsession, which would correspondingly intensify the demon qi’s influence on him.
With each step up the stairs, Luo Yingbai could clearly feel the suction on the ground, as if something was sticking to the soles of his shoes on the clean marble tiles. His shoulders felt as heavy as if a small mountain was pressing down.
Unable to use his magical powers, Luo Yingbai found each step arduous.
Luo Yingbai tripped and fell to the ground, his face hitting the stair’s edge. It hurt a bit, but beyond the pain, there was more a sense of relief.
Climbing the stairs was so exhausting. Lying comfortably on the ground like this, not needing to expend any energy, not having to think about so many messy things…
Luo Yingbai half-closed his eyes, really wanting to rest, but at that moment, a pair of hands reached over his shoulders, supporting themselves on either side of his body, seeming to want to reduce the weight on his back, or to pull their bodies forward.
His eyes, not fully closed, suddenly widened. Luo Yingbai said hoarsely: “…Mom?”
The person behind made no sound, but their hands remained supporting in front of him. Luo Yingbai wanted to turn and look clearly, but he had no strength, so he placed his hand on that hand and called out: “Mom? It’s you, right? You’re back, right? Mom! Mom! Mom!”
After a while, that hand wiped across his face, with a familiar fragrance at the wrist. Luo Yingbai then realized that without knowing it, tears had already flowed down his face.
A voice behind him softly said: “Little Treasure, don’t cry.”
“Little Treasure” – no one had called Luo Yingbai by this nickname for a long time.
Later, as the child grew, Luo Xiao started calling him by his given name. In Luo Yingbai’s memory, though Jiang Yugai was cold towards him, she was the only one who continued to call him this way until he was in his twenties.
Later, they were separated by life and death.
Luo Yingbai felt a fire in his heart, burning his internal organs. His throat choked, unable to respond to this call. He pressed his hands on the stair’s edge and forcefully moved up one step.
Jiang Yugai, still lacking strength, said: “Put me down. Carrying me… will make it very difficult for you to get out.”
Luo Yingbai said hatefully: “Why do you care if I can get out or not? Didn’t you dislike me? Haven’t you been unwilling to pay attention to me since I was small?”
“Little Treasure…”
Luo Yingbai suddenly erupted: “If you didn’t like me, why did you give birth to me? Did you just give birth to me to throw me aside and ignore me? After your accident, I thought every day, why were you willing to sacrifice yourself to save me? Did you ever truly love me? Are you really my biological mother!”
Luo Yingbai believed that as a man, he shouldn’t dwell on past grievances. He always told himself to face life with a smile.
At this moment, it was more like fear and worry, rather than complaints and grievances.
Some things cannot be forgotten just by hiding them in one’s heart, even if he has been reborn.
Luo Yingbai climbed up the stairs level by level, venting his frustration as he spoke, his voice hoarse: “How can you treat me like this? What have I done to displease you? You gave birth to me but don’t like me; you don’t care about me yet risk your life to save me, you… why?!”
Jiang Yugai remained silent for a long time. The stairs before him seemed endless. After venting, his emotions had calmed considerably, but he also belatedly felt exhausted.
So Luo Yingbai finally fell silent – he could shout no more.
No matter how hysterical he appeared, he could never truly abandon himself and his mother here, or else his father and Xian Ning would become widowers… Xian Ning would essentially be a widow, which would be too pitiful!
Luo Yingbai gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to collapse, inching forward bit by bit. His knees and palms were scraped raw, each movement causing excruciating pain. Jiang Yugai tried to get off Luo Yingbai’s back, but he blocked her.
After several attempts, Jiang Yugai understood that Luo Yingbai would not let her go, and struggling would only burden her son. So she stopped trying to get off his back, and like Luo Yingbai, she used her hands to grip the stair edges, moving forward together.
Luo Yingbai said: “I’ll do it myself.”
This was a long story, and for a moment, Jiang Yugai didn’t know where to begin explaining. She said: “Little treasure… I’m sorry. Mommy loves you.”
The last words she told Luo Yingbai in her previous life were “Mommy loves you.”
Luo Yingbai’s face was wet, whether from sweat or something else, he said nothing, gritting his teeth and struggling forward. A long blood trail now stained the stairs behind him.
The suction beneath seemed to grow stronger. Various past images continued to flicker inside the building.
What frightened Luo Yingbai was that these fleeting scenes were becoming increasingly clear compared to before.
This meant he was being influenced by the demonic energy more deeply. If he completely fell into it, he would be doomed!
What puzzled Luo Yingbai was that among these images, besides the memories he recognized, there were also many figures of ancient people. Their appearances were indistinct, but they wore long robes with wide sleeves, moving elegantly in a manner he had never seen before.
Vaguely, someone bowed to him, calling: “Yuan Jun, Yuan Jun…”
Luo Yingbai was momentarily dazed, when Jiang Yugai suddenly said: “Your father and I married late. I was twenty-nine when I gave birth to you.”
This was the first time Luo Yingbai had heard her speak about his childhood, and the images before him instantly vanished.
