White String: The Future And The Past
Chapter 11
Chapter 11: The Tribulation
Author: Hin Alfa
Editor: Hin Alfa
In the vast land piles of corpses and human organs into mountains, blood flows like rivers, and a foul smell pierces the nose.
On the other side, there was an infinite abyss. The abyss was deep, dark, and terrifying.
While on the other hand, there was a dominating nine-headed snake figure. Every human who saw it would feel so small and weak.
A small piece of despair appeared in White String's heart. In this place, there was like no place to escape.
But White String quickly calmed down. To him, there was no absolute despair. There is always hope in every situation.
Ignoring the nine-headed snake's gaze that was focused on him, as the only living creature in the place, White String ran towards the abyss. With the determination he gathered, he jumped into the abyss.
“At least falling into the abyss still has hope of survival, rather than surely dying if it goes into the belly of that snake,” thought White String as his body began to descend into the depths of the abyss.
Space began to distort, and White String landed safely on the flat spot. “What else now?” White String wondered as great characters began to appear in the sky.
“There has been a test of desire, pain, aging, lies, failure, and despair. Should be the last one is death, right?”
Sure enough, the characters in the sky formed the word death. The space around him also began to change.
A black aura shot out from within the ground towards the bright red sky above the White String's head. The screams of the hungry ghost echoed in White String's ears.
Desire, pain, aging, lies, failure, despair, and death symbolize the seven tribulations that humans experience while living.
These seven tribulations are also what bind the soul of man. If anyone could break away from all of this, then that person could rise to a higher peak of the Divine Qi Realm. Which no one has achieved in the last thousand years.
Desire. When a person has a will greater than that of his own, he can let go of one misery.
The pain. When injured, people will feel pain. But the limits of pain that can be borne by every human being vary. Man can pass from the misery of pain if he can bear the pain that no one else has ever felt. Or have pain that no one else will ever understand.
Aging. Tribulations connected to the Heavenly Dao. No one can fight this aging. Even if it could restore the face to a young age, their bodies would still be old.
White String had yet to have the strength to fight the Heavenly Dao, so he let the aging tribulation befall him. Fortunately, he had gone through the tribulation of desire first. So he can get through this misery.
Falsehoods. No one always tells the truth in their life. Though buddhist. But no one can lie to themselves. If one were to be honest with oneself, he would have already passed this tribulation.
A failure. Because no one is always perfect, failure is bound to happen. The saying goes, failure is delayed success. If you can make that failure as a climb to success, this misery is also passed.
Despondence. This is actually the easiest test. As long as it could grasp a glimmer of hope to the end, this tribulation would be passed.
Deaths. Something that will befall all living beings. Including the most difficult misery to pass. But if a person is afraid of death, that person's life is meaningless.
A dagger floated in front of the White String. Besides, there's no other choice.
Since it made no difference to die someday or this time, White String took out a dagger and stabbed himself.
The space began to change again. The ghostly scream disappeared. And his wounds disappeared.
“That's all an illusion, a very real illusion. I wonder who did it.”
Everything he had experienced before was an illusion, but it was also real. But nothing is really illusory or real. It depends on everyone's perception of it.
Now a beautiful landscape with meadows and flower fields filled the vision of the White String. Obviously he entered the cave earlier, how is there a savannah here?
“Could the illusion not be finished?” thought. Then he thought of another possibility, the folded space!
Folded space is an independent world that has its own laws. Although, it still could not escape the Heavenly Dao.
The simplest technological form of folded space is the space ring and other storage space.
As his mask shattered in one of the tribulations, White String could feel a gentle breeze hitting his face. “This folded space is amazing. Should be able to enter the middle class,” he praised.
The folded space has three levels, namely low class, middle class, and advanced class. Due to the formation experts and grandmaster Inscription Masters being able to make the space fold, each class was extremely rare and became the grab of sects in the Moon Land Continent.
“Only middle class? It hurt my heart so much.”
White String searched for the source of the voice and found a young man who was crouching while picking flowers. White String was somewhat surprised as he did not detect the person nearby until he made a sound.
“Only? What makes this space get qualified for advanced classes?” white String asked the young man.
The young man turned his head towards the White String. Putting away the hair covering his face, he looked straight into the eyes of the White String.
If truth be told, he looks like a learned scholar with a blue robe and a brush hanging on his waist. But his eyes were empty, like ghosts. White String involuntarily goosebumps as the young man looked at him.
“Look at the illusion of the Seven Tribulations just now, isn't it very extraordinary? It was not something found in the folded space of the middle class.”
The young man continued to nag about how great the space they were occupying right now was. Until he finally asked, “Do you know why despite having the illusion of Seven Tribulations, this space is middle class?”
White String was quite surprised as he was suddenly asked a question. He thought the young man would continue speaking for some time.
After thinking for a while, he replied, “There are many factors. But the most likely is this space is not complete.”
“Fright!” exclaim the young man. Then he asked, “Then how to complete it?”
“If the formation is lacking, a new inscription needs to be written on top of the formation to complete the old inscription. If the space itself is incomplete because it was taken or broken, all that needs to be done is complete the part,” White String replied almost without thinking.
The young man clapped his hands and exclaimed in amazement at his reply. But I don't know why those empty eyes are still scary.
“True, and you are needed by this space!” said the young man.
“Eh? Me?” White String pointed at himself.
“Of course. Don't you remember, wait.. You don't remember anything?” The young man looked panicked when he found out White String had lost his memory.
“How did you know? I haven't even said anything about it.” White String was slightly astonished by this figure in front of him.
Although he looked panicked, he quickly calmed down. Then he answered White String's question, “There are too many things you don't know and shouldn't know. Better take advantage of what you know right now than to do the no-no.”
“Then, why am I the one who complements this space?”
“Oh, yes. Maybe we should retreat to your childhood to find out.”
✾✾✾
“...In the future, your path will be very difficult. You may find happiness very difficult to achieve. But if you think again, your happiness is not from defeating the enemy or becoming the king of the world, but seeing the people around you can live without worry.
...
The man stroked the head of the White String. He also smiled with a meaning that was hard to guess. But other than that smile, White String could not remember what her face looked like.
After those memories disappeared, various other memories flowed into the White String's head like a flood. Memories such as the faces of family members, childhood memories, and experiences began to emerge.
But after recalling his sixteenth birthday, he could not recall any further. Worse, some of his memories are blocked and he has yet to remember his name and clan.
“Do you remember why you're here?”
The young man's face again. The same young man who was in the Star Cave. His eyes no longer had empty eyes. But it sparkles like a person who has experienced a long life.
“Kitab Jalan Langit,” replied White String briefly.
Between his eyebrows, the crimson red line shook and a book floated out and began to suck out the surrounding environment like a black hole.
After absorbing the folded space, the Book of Heaven's Path fused into a ball between the dragon's mouth printed on his left wrist.
Everything happened so fast. Without him noticing, White String was already standing not far from the entrance of the Star Cave.
His brain started to turn on the danger signal as he sensed a strange thing with his body. His body feels smaller. Not only that, his strength had also descended to the 10th Heavenly Qi Realm realm.
“Hei explain what happened!”
A young man emerged from thin air while laughing awkwardly. “Sorry sorry. I don't know the time jump to reverse body age. But isn't that good? Can you start your foundation again?”
“Good frommanya! Why can't I use the transformation technique?” White String furiously mixed in surprise as his body was now.
“It looks like transformation cannot be used in this condition. Ahahaha, you've got the folded space, isn't the result worth it?”
Like your mother! Sacrificing the hard work of cultivation for a folded space that will make you hunted the entire Moon Land Continent? White String wishes this was all a dream.
“If this is a dream? What about the memories you got today?”
“Eh?”
“If you believe this is just a dream because you still can't remember your name, please be patient, 'yes? You will definitely know everything someday.”
“Easy to say. Did you experience it?” White String snorted in annoyance.
“Hahaha, destiny is a joke. For example I, DiaoFei, somehow I was stuck in this place for thousands of years.”
“Nobody asked you! Not even readers!”
After expelling DiaoFei, the young man, to the folded space now located on his wrist, White String massaged his forehead.
There would be a lot of trouble waiting for him when he stepped out of this place later.
White String hardly knew what he was going to do. But after recalling the ones he had experienced for sixteen years of his life, he could at least estimate what he was up against.
“Houh... All right, I'm ready.”
After taking a deep breath, he finally pushed the stone door before him.
“Eh? Why is Patriarch here?”
White String was surprised to see Ji Changkong sitting between Jing Yanjing and Huo Zong while conversing.
“Oh, haha... Who are you?”
A red crossroad appeared on White String's forehead. “Don't joke! You act like you never saw my face. Although my face changed a little, it was not like it was easily forgotten.”
Ji Changkong laughed guiltlessly. “Good. Then explain how you ended up in this condition.”
After a long pause, White String finally made a sound, “So I helped a witch carrying a poisonous apple across the bamboo bridge. But all of a sudden I ended up like this.”
He used the same excuse that he often used to avoid some trouble for the past sixteen years.
“Amazing reason!” Jing Yanjing and Huo Zong quietly gave a thumbs up. Ji Changkong was also seen nodding at the thought of White String's reply.
After various boring scenes that were forced to be cut by the writer to save words, it did not feel like the time had passed by several weeks.
Although it feels strange at first, they get used to it. Nothing has changed too much anyway.
“Laoshi, what does this twelfth line mean?”
“It means..”.
“Then this fourth line?”
“Fourth line only you don't know, learn again! See your friends who have reached the tenth line.”
(*Laoshi: teacher/sensei)
White String was also quickly familiar with his students. Each of them were geniuses from their clans, it didn't take long for them to learn all that White String taught them.
✾✾✾
In recent times, White String had never once examined the folded space he had obtained from the Star Cave. Even if he can enter it whenever he wants.
On this dull night, he finally had the time to check on her.
As soon as he entered, DiaoFei was still in the meadow, picking flowers with such a blank look as when they first met.
Realizing that someone was coming, DiaoFei shifted his gaze. That blank gaze still made White String slightly goosebumps.
“Finally you came. What's that scarf for? You sick?” ejek DiaoFei's.
Ever since exiting the Star Cave, White String had preferred to wear a scarf instead of a mask to cover his face. After all, the red mark on his forehead was gone, there was no need to be covered anymore.
“Not your business.” White String answered it briefly, densely, and clearly.
“Alright, it's none of my business. But since you are the owner of this space, I may interfere in your affairs a little.”
DiaoFei's words made White String a little uncomfortable. Meddle? Is he going to be the third?
Realizing what White String was thinking, DiaoFei hurriedly explained, “If there is anything to do with the safety of mankind, I have just interfered. Besides I can't get out of here without your permission, so I can only know the state of the outside world from you.”
“Mankind's security, huh? I remember a while ago there was a sect called Blood Bat Sect that could destroy a middle-class sect without a trace in one night.”
“Oh? Describe more.”