A master of metaphysics is farming.

Chapter 218 Destination

Xiang He happily shared her experience, and her master and fellow disciples listened attentively. From the moment she traveled through time to Longguang Temple, the whole process was quite interesting.

Getting to know your friends and falling in love with them is truly a unique journey.

She was extremely happy as she spoke, and everyone was happy for her.

Before we knew it, night had fallen. The starry sky was like a profound painting, with countless stars, like the sands of time, telling stories in silence.

And on the mountaintop under the twinkling stars, someone is telling her story.

"Isn't it strange? Isn't it novel?!" Xiang He's joy and delight remained undiminished. "I was worried I wouldn't be able to come back!"

The master smiled and nodded, "It was indeed a very interesting experience. Did you have a good time over there?"

"It's alright, at least I wasn't bullied."

"How could our thirteenth generation be bullied?"

Xiang He grinned and said, "Of course!"

Master stood up and looked up at the night sky, the stars reflected in his eyes. The smile in his eyes had faded, and he sighed softly with a sense of melancholy.

"Xiang He, you should go back now."

Xiang He, whose face was still smiling, suddenly froze. Her lips twitched a few times as she forced a smile. "Master... what are you saying? I'm already back. Where else do you want to go...?"

She turned to look at her senior brother, grabbed his wrist, and asked in a panic, "Senior brother, do you think I'm back?"

But the senior brother in front of him was full of sadness. He raised his hand and gently rubbed Xiang He's head. "You've come back, but... this is no longer a place for you to stay."

"What's the meaning……"

A sense of panic gradually enveloped her entire body. Xiang He felt her heart pounding like a drum, rapid and powerful, as if it might leap out of her chest at any moment.

She looked at her junior brother beside her, "Fourth junior brother, you..."

The fourth junior brother's eyes were already red, and he sniffed hard, "Second senior brother, you don't belong here."

"Why...why? I'm clearly a modern person, my master watched me grow up!"

She panicked. "What...what are you talking about? Why don't I belong here anymore? I clearly grew up in Shanqing Temple. My soul only left for a short while, and you don't recognize me anymore?"

Her panic intensified, and Xiang He didn't want to listen or ask any more questions. She hurriedly got up and tried to run down the mountain, but her senior brother grabbed her wrist.

"Ahe, let your master finish speaking..."

"I don't want to hear it..." Xiang He turned around, her eyes already filled with tears, "I'm back..."

She wanted to escape a certain fact, and Xiang He felt increasingly resistant. She didn't want to hear any nonsense; she had clearly already returned.

“When I found you, you were a stillborn baby.”

The words struck Xiang He like a thunderbolt, leaving him slumped to the ground, his eyes glazed over.

The master turned around and sat down cross-legged, facing Xiang He solemnly, "When I was about to bury you, you suddenly burst into tears in the mud pit, and from then on you had breath and human presence."

“From a young age, I cast a divination for you. It said that although you died, you would live on. Your fate was full of twists and turns. When I heard that you suddenly fainted by the tomb, I also thought it was just fate.”

Xiang He stood there, stunned, seemingly not having heard a word.

Looking at her like this, her master's eyes were filled with heartache. "But when I saw you were awake, I realized that the girl named Xiang He was not you. And now that I have seen the real you, I have finally realized that you never belonged here."

Xiang He remained silent. Her master raised his hand and gently stroked her head. "So you were switched when you were a baby. You are the Xiang He you are talking about."

When Xiang He was a child, their souls were swapped by some force.

Xiang He shook her head, her eyes glazed over. "I...don't want to believe it..." Tears streaming down her face, she grabbed her master's hand. "Can I stay here? I want to be with my fellow disciples, with Master..."

Her eyes were full of pleading, and her lips trembled uncontrollably. Her fellow disciples were moved and let out soft sobs.

The master's eyes also reddened, "Look at yourself..."

She stiffened her neck and lowered her head in fits and starts, her hands trembling as she raised them. She was still wearing ancient clothes. She touched her cheek, and the scar was still there.

What devastated her was that her body was already becoming ethereal...

"Why……"

“Your soul has returned, but it cannot return to your modern body, because the modern body belongs to someone else. The ancient body is yours, and you must go back.”

The facts were undeniable, and Xiang He choked back tears, "What if I don't go back..."

"Your soul will be scattered..." Her master put his arm around her shoulder, letting her lean on his shoulder, and gently patted her back. "We don't want your soul to be scattered. Why don't we send you back? It doesn't matter where you live, okay?"

Her forehead rested on her master's shoulder, tears streaming down her face from her stagnant eyes. The tears flowed uncontrollably, and her whole body trembled. Her breathing became so rapid that she felt as if she were about to faint.

“Ahe, as long as you are alive, Shanqing Temple will stay with you.”

The voice was gentle and loving, like the warm sun in winter, making Xiang He feel warm but also a little sleepy.

The soft murmur of their voices reached Xiang He's ears, sounding like a lullaby to lull her to sleep.

Her sobs subsided, her mind grew hazy and she was about to fall asleep. She mustered the last bit of her strength, sat up straight, and glanced around at her fellow disciples, her gaze finally settling on her master.

With unwavering determination in her eyes, she smiled through her tears, "Thank you, Master, for your years of guidance; thank you, fellow disciples, for your years of companionship. May Xianghe be happy in her past life, and may she live even more earnestly in her next life..."

Sadness mixed with reluctance filled her heart. She rested her forehead on her master's shoulder once more, recalling every moment she had spent here. She closed her eyes and listened to their tearful murmurs.

As the sound gradually faded into sleep, consciousness also became blurred.

Unseen by her, her master and fellow disciples watched as her figure dissipated, eventually fading into nothingness and disappearing completely from their sight.

They embraced and wept bitterly, and even though they were reluctant to part with her, they still had to see her off with their own eyes.

The bond between the two brothers, formed over so many years, will not fade; it will only grow stronger because they cannot see each other.

On the mountaintop under the night sky, the sound of weeping continued.

It seemed like a farewell, or rather, a final goodbye.

-

In the fog, all was a blur.

A colorful butterfly flew aimlessly, fluttering about but never finding its target.

Until a crack appeared in the white mist, the butterfly bravely flew across it.

The crying continued in my ears, and I was so moved that I couldn't stop crying. My heavy mind gradually regained consciousness, and my eyelids twitched a few times as I tried to open them, but I couldn't open them no matter how hard I tried.

Suddenly, she felt something touch the corner of her eye, as if a switch had been turned on, and Xiang He had the strength to flap her eyelashes.

When I first opened my eyes, everything was blurry. Gradually, a face appeared, becoming clearer as it went from blurry to clear.

A warm sensation suddenly spread across my cheeks, and the outline in front of me looked very familiar.

"you're awake."