Second Round of the Family Hierarch Evaluation, part 25 (after battle)
Haah...
Jia Huan lets out a frustrated sigh.
This is unbearable. What an utterly vain exchange.
As I said earlier, what Hongyuan needs is a realist at its helm who knows how to pursue the practical interests. How do none of you understand that there is nothing more, nothing less to it than that?
Those who are so busy living and dying need their immediate and tangible interests to be fulfilled.
It doesn't matter if they're just delusions or fantasies. All they need is for someone or something to enable them to visualize and witness their desires and dreams. That is all there is to it.
…….
That is...
... Not incorrect.
Yet Jia Huan, while your Way is sound in reason, it is hollow.
…….
Then, brother Qiu, would you say that you...
... walk the Way of humanity and righteousness?
What did you see? What shape did my 'Way' take in your eyes?
... I saw fervor. Burning.
Like fire, melting many things away with its warmth.
Fire that melts.
So that is what you see.
If you indeed walk the Way of humanity and righteousness... then what does it mean to be virtuous?
You have said it yourself.
Years of fell deeds have shaped the valleys that devoured men; people have accepted the broken, iniquitous establishment as reason, as part of immutable nature.
And in this malformed existence, the hearts of men were cooled and hardened. But benevolence - the true humanity, and righteousness, is what softens the calcified heart.
…….
Daguanyuan demanded me silence.
Do not ask about that day, do not try to learn more of that day.
It was but the consequences of the forbidden avarice, pitiful yet deserved.
…….
You weren't the only one who was forced to let everything float away, Jia Baoyu.
The difference is... that I never did let go.
... But there was nothing.
…….
There was nothing but an infinite, bottomless darkness.
All I could think of was that I wanted someone to hold me and tell me that it was all going to be okay.
The elders could be stern from time to time, but...
... they cared for me more so than anyone else in Daguanyuan did.
Enter now, little Baoyu.
The revered Xianren await.
I wanted to let it all out. All of it.
Everything that I witnessed, but never should have been made to.
The ecstatic screeching of the eldritch things, the echoing hatred of the dying and the dead... the wailing universe.
Laughter. Shouting. Screaming. Then nothing.
After today, nothing good will ever happen to me again.
This is the moment that will wrest me from slumber every morning.
And every night, it's going to drag me from sleep.
So please... please comfort me.
Tell me that everything's going to be okay. Tell me I don't have to be scared anymore.
…….
Welcome, little Baoyu.
I have not watched anything as exhilarating as that sight in centuries.
The beginning was the most enjoyable part. The one that pathetically clung to her life, scrambling away from the chaos in spite of that twisted ankle - oh, it truly is fascinating how a mere crawling human could be so engaging to watch.
The entity from the Outskirts, conceived and born from the Kong mother's womb certainly reached adulthood swiftly - truly, it was a most magnificent sight. I'll not soon forget the glint of hunger in its eyes when the reproductive instincts kicked in.
Did you see the contortion of the mother's face when she saw the creature burst from her womb? Madness took her swiftly.
Indeed, and what a dramatic finale it was! To watch the Claws arrive just in time... They have exceeded our expectations indeed, leaving quite literally nothing behind. It was just as we had heard.
A most heavenly offering, it was. We shall reminisce it to sustain our amusement for months to come with this rare gift of yours.
Baoyu, oh dear little Baoyu... You...
... are our family's peerless jade. Its shine is like a mirror and a window that reflects to us what lies beyond the iron threshold of the Tiekan Temple.
Do persevere to cleanse and shine your light - ensure that its glint is unmarred by cloudiness.
…….
What are you doing, big brother?
Come on, your kite's flying away, go catch it!
... And do what?
Let it float away to wherever the wind takes it.
Over yonder, on a small field, I made a burial of flower-petals.
I collected the petals and blossoms in my flower pouch and gave them a pretty burial.
That way, even when they return to dust... they'll still be clean like they were never ever here... right?
And now that I've buried them...
... I found myself freed from this suffocating, endless flood of colors.
Only then could I...
smile.
Jia Baoyu. You have abandoned your Way in Daguanyuan.
But this Way of mine, learned beyond Daguanyuan's hedges...
... it taught me patience, gave me peace.
Desire bereft of humanity and righteousness begets only self-immolation.
Yet desire guided by adherence to the Way maintains its embers.
If fire does not rise to meet the darkness upon its descent, all roads shall converge on a path with nothing but nihility at its culmination.
…….
So what lies within, Jia Baoyu?
What has slumbered, nestled within you all those years?
I buried it all, brother...
On the same day the peach blossoms whirled like in a gale.
…….
In the end, only I alone enter the crater.
Thus, I am the only one who may lift myself out of its depths.
…….
What Hongyuan needs...
Little Baoyu, you cannot save everyone.
I know I can't save everyone. But...
At least this one person who's about to fall, please...
... is kindness.
To be kind is to care about one another, to embrace those who suffer.
It is to cry alongside a grieving friend. It is to join in laughter when they are elated with joy.
It needs the warmth of kindness and gentleness.
…….
Your words...
... flow like a vast, winding river that wishes to bring all of existence into its gentle embrace.
Yet kindness alone, while it may illuminate those who surround you, will never be enough to embrace all those who need it.
Not to mention how unbecoming of the lord of Hongyuan it would be for him to weep and guffaw at such little, insignificant things.
That's not true.
Hong Lu continues, his voice carrying more confidence than it did a moment ago.
If people can see, feel, and share the same sorrow and joy they see in others...
And if that moves them to hold one another, even if it's just one other person...
... everyone can be moved to embrace someone, to share the warmth of a fellow human... even if I can't hope to hold them all by myself.
…….
That was quite the lacking answer, given all the time I have granted you.
But...
It suffices.
In nihility, everything becomes consumed by the monotonous, gray meaninglessness; but an empty canvas can be painted anew.
Jia Qiu, you've been waiting and prodding this whole time for these... wishy-washy platitudes?
I just don't understand.
That idiot's drivel could not be further from what it means to rule.
Kindness can't give people the satisfaction they desire. No kindness has ever saved any lives, nor did it ever fill a starving stomach.
You can't change Hongyuan with such foolish flights of fancy.
Jia Huan, you need only walk the path of your own choosing.
But in this room, I shall pursue my own idea of true humanity with clarity, without a moment's hesitation.
... What are you doing?
It means that I...
... will forfeit the Family Hierarch Evaluation.
…!
<Wha-what?!>
There was a shocked, hushed gasp from the speakers.
…….
Now, only Jia Baoyu and his clan must remain.
Should you choose to forgo the same choice that I am about to make, then prepare to spill much blood.
But it is not the throne of the Family Hierarch you have come here to seek, is it?
... Hah!
You know me well. My goal lies far beyond this insignificant squabble surrounding who becomes the next Hierarch of Hongyuan.
But I don't appreciate being told what to do by someone who presumes he has some sort of control over me.
Beneath your mask of unscrupulousness and temperamentality, you are someone who pursues nothing but the extremes of reason and logic.
... And I believe your reason would lead you to forfeit here as well.
You know something...?
You're all disgusting hypocrites, the both of you! This stench of hypocrisy follows you both and haunts every meaninglessly convoluted word born from your deceit.
... Gubo, we are leaving.
I will forfeit the game as well.
I've already collected more than enough of these stupid coins.
... Brother Qiu?
You are like a tuft of cloud, floating high up in the heavens.
Yes, clouds do not bring suffering to trees, to earth, or to anything - it is not a force that tramples.
How bizarre.
Jia Qiu walks past us, making his way toward the exit of this room of his own accord.
But clouds cannot do more than that. To embrace a fellow human, as defined by the shape of humanity and righteousness you spoke of, you must walk the earth with your own two feet as a human yourself, not float by as a lofty tuft of cloud.
Mind this as you open your own path.
With that, Jia Qiu unfastened the rope from his waist and handed it over to Hong Lu.
A huge bundle of coins, several times greater than the sum of every coin we've collected so far, jangled heavily.
Wai-wait...! But why...?
…….
Jia Qiu left the room without saying another word.
…….
Jia Qiu and Jia Huan of the Jia family have both been simultaneously eliminated from the game via forfeiture!
... H-hold on, doesn't that put us in first place...?
What's wrong with that? I'd much rather come in first than second.
That's not the problem! We're here to pick up that Golden Bough from the treasury, not seat Hong Lu in the throne of the Family Hierarch...!
As the Sinners were chaotically scrambling from this unthinkable turn of events...
Wait, there's someone out there who's still trying her damnedest to become the Family Hierarch.
And she still hasn't given up.
Looks like we all have a pretty good picture of who's going to be our next Hierarch, huh? There's only ten minutes to go 'till the Evaluation is complete!
<…….>
<Hey, guys...>
<... Are you thinking what I'm thinking?>
Some time later...
Thus the Family Hierarch Evaluation has come to an end. I extend my admiration and congratulations to every candidate and their clan for their exemplar participation in this event.
So... uhm... this is actually happening, right? Someone, tell me how this is actually happening.
I implore upon all those present to accept this sacred outcome with grace.
The victor will first descend to the Tiekan Temple and pay their respects to our revered elders. Then, upon returning to the surface, they will march to the first floor of Daguanyuan, and assume the seat of the Family Hierarch of Hongyuan.
I'll be honest, we're all still trying to understand how we actually got here...
The following are the final results of this Family Hierarch Evaluation.
Third place: Huan of the Jia family.
My lady, please compose yourself... there are many eyes... you have a certain dignity to uphold -
Second place: Baoyu of the Jia family.
... Have you an inkling of why he has done such a thing... Hong Lu?
Um... no.
I don't know.
What the hell are you guys all talking about...?
Well... All's well that ends well, right...?
No, that's not... I don't... But why me - why would I...?
And first place, our next venerable Hierarch, and the final victor of the Family Hierarch Evaluation...
I'm...
Xichun of the Jia family.
I'm really the... next Hierarch?
The games ended with a hush, devoid of even the perfunctory applause to mark its closing.
Jia Xichun stood dumbfounded, still processing the situation.
And I still had no idea what Hong Lu was looking at.
That's how the Family Hierarch war... came to a close.