The Hidden Past

"Do you want to shoot down the suns?"

Da Yi fell silent.

Du Yu had thought Da Yi would agree without hesitation, but now it seemed he still had reservations.

"If I shoot down the suns, Heng'e will leave me, won't she?"

Du Yu choked up, unable to give an answer.

Everyone praised the heroic tale of Da Yi shooting down the suns, but had anyone ever asked whether he actually wanted to shoot down those nine suns?

"Brother Pang Meng, let's get going. We can talk along the way."

Du Yu nodded with a heavy heart. They buried Uncle Tan and said goodbye to Heng'e. Da Yi took a bow and arrows, while Du Yu carried his transmigration gift pack, and together they set out beneath the scorching sunlight.

To their surprise, they had barely reached the village entrance when a little boy blocked their path.

"Youqiong?"

Youqiong glared at Du Yu and asked, "Who exactly are you? Why do you insist on taking Brother Yi to fight Nine-Infant?"

"I..." Du Yu had never considered how to answer that question, so he could only make something up. "Brother Yi is an incredible archer. I've actually come to learn from him after hearing of his reputation."

"Learn archery?"

Youqiong was a child, after all. Suddenly, he felt that Du Yu wasn't such a bad person.

"So you're Brother Yi's... disciple?" Youqiong asked again.

"Yes, his disciple." Du Yu nodded firmly.

"Brother Pang Meng, isn't that rather inappropriate...?" Da Yi said quietly. "How could I dare become an immortal's master?"

"It's fine, it's fine." Du Yu waved a hand. "Having an established identity will make it easier for me to act."

Youqiong lowered his head, a little confused.

"All right, Youqiong, you can stop worrying now." Da Yi patted his head. "Remember to help me look after Sister-in-law Heng'e."

Watching the two men walk away, Youqiong did not return to the village. Instead, he jogged over to an enormous locust tree. The heat had stripped it of all its leaves, leaving it standing there alone.

"Little Ba, Little Ba!" Youqiong shouted several times.

All the earth around the locust tree began to shift, as though something enormous lay underground.

A moment later, a giant snake dozens of yards long emerged from the earth, its body pitch-black and its belly dusky yellow. When it reared up, it seemed to blot out the entire sky.

The giant snake lowered its head to look at Youqiong and asked:

"Master, were you calling me?"

The enormous voice was deafening, but Youqiong did not seem afraid. He walked beneath the giant snake and gently leaned against its body. His tiny frame looked like a single scale on the snake.

"Little Ba... I want you to help me with something. It might be very dangerous..."

"Master, you and Da Yi saved this life of mine. If you need it, you may take it back at any time."

"No... Little Ba..." Youqiong shook his head, crying. "I want you to live a good life, and I want Brother Yi to live a good life too. But Brother Yi might be in danger..."

"Brother Da Yi, let's pick up where we left off," Du Yu said as they walked.

Da Yi nodded, thought for a moment, then said, "Brother Pang Meng, there are many things I've only ever told my wife and Brother Zhan. But for some reason, meeting you feels like meeting an old friend. Perhaps it's because you're so much like Brother Zhan. You both give me the feeling that you know everything that's going to happen in the future."

Well, isn't that a given? Du Yu thought.

I'm still carrying those dozens of scripts on me.

"I'll tell you the secret I've kept hidden all this time. If, after hearing it, you still think I can shoot down the suns as I am now, I'm willing to try."

Eleven years earlier.

Ten-year-old Da Yi had followed his parents into the mountains to hunt, then waited beneath a tree.

When dusk fell and the sun set, his parents came to take him home, only for every cicada in the tree to start shrieking wildly. The sound rang through the entire valley, preventing his parents from approaching for some time.

His parents believed the child was an ill omen. They actually abandoned Da Yi, leaving him deep in the mountains.

Young Da Yi could only survive alone in the mountains. Imitating his parents, he made a bow from branches and vines. Whether his gift for archery was extraordinary or Heaven watched over the fortunate, Da Yi survived in those mountains teeming with venomous insects and Demon Beasts.

About half a year later, Da Yi saw another person on the mountain for the first time.

Halfway up the mountainside, Da Yi found a girl around his own age. She had been bitten by a venomous insect and was already unconscious. Yet she wore fine clothes and was exceptionally beautiful. At a glance, she was clearly no young lady from an ordinary family.

Only after using many medicinal herbs and caring for her attentively for seven days did Da Yi save the girl.

But the girl refused to speak of her past, no matter what. She only said she would repay Da Yi's kindness by giving herself to him in marriage.

Da Yi knew he was merely a rustic mountain fellow. How could he possibly be a match for a girl as radiant and flawless as the moon?

No matter what Da Yi said, the girl refused to leave. With no other choice, he took her in, and the two began living together.

Another half year passed, and Da Yi met a second person on the mountain.

How could that man be described?

He wore a blue-green robe with black-patterned sleeves and a sash patterned in dark purple around his waist. His ink-black hair was tied in a high topknot, his figure tall and elegant, and his eyes unfathomably deep.

In Da Yi's words, he was the kind of person one knew at first glance was "absolutely no mortal."

"Young brother, is your name Da Yi?"

The moment the man spoke, he exuded authority without a trace of anger.

It was the first time in his ten-odd years that Da Yi had seen an immortal, and for a while, he did not dare speak.

"There's no need to be afraid. I've come to help you."

"To help me...? Help me hunt?"

"Hahaha!" The man threw back his head and laughed. "No, what I intend to help you with is far more important than hunting. What I'm about to say is extremely important. Listen carefully, and do not speak of it to outsiders."

"Oh... all right..."

"At this very time tomorrow, you will encounter an old man on the mountain. Help him however you can. In return, he will give you an immortal treasure."

Da Yi had never imagined such a wonderful thing could happen: he could obtain an immortal treasure simply by helping an old man.

"But I must give you a choice," the man said. "That old man will offer you a Nine-Turn Primordial Spirit Pill and a Magic Treasure. You may choose only one, and your choice will directly affect your fate."

"If you choose the Nine-Turn Primordial Spirit Pill, it will cleanse your marrow and transform your bones, gradually giving you the body of a half-immortal. In the year you turn twenty-one, a great calamity will strike heaven and earth. With your half-immortal body, you must turn back the raging tide and save all living beings. But once you choose this path to immortality, you will inevitably grow distant from your wife, eventually lose the one you love, and spend your life alone."

Da Yi froze after hearing this, as though he had truly seen the future the man described.

Vague images surfaced in Da Yi's memory of himself with a half-immortal body. He no longer needed food or sleep, and his daily life was utterly incompatible with his wife's. Gradually, they had nothing left to say to each other and became like strangers. And the wife in those images was none other than Heng'e, with whom Da Yi had recently grown ever closer.

Da Yi was puzzled. Why did these memories feel so real, as though he had truly lived through them?

The man continued, "If you choose the Magic Treasure, you will remain a mortal for your entire life. The Magic Treasure can only rescue you from danger at critical moments and keep you safe. You will also be destined never to save all living beings beneath heaven, but you can grow old with the one you love. As for all those living beings, let whoever wants to save them do it."

Da Yi pondered for a while.

All living beings beneath heaven?

Who did that mean?

His parents, who had abandoned him on the mountain to fend for himself?

The villains who had driven Heng'e into the mountains to die from a venomous insect's bite?

Da Yi did not understand.

Why should he abandon Heng'e, who depended on him as he depended on her, for the sake of those people?

Strangely, however, unlike before, no matter how Da Yi imagined it, he could not see the future of "growing old together" that the man described, as though it would never happen.

But what did that matter?

"It seems you have your answer." Looking at Da Yi's expression, the man smiled faintly. "This is only fair. Everyone should have the right to choose their own life."

With that, the man flicked his sleeve and vanished on the spot.

Knowing he had encountered a true immortal, Da Yi excitedly returned home and told Heng'e everything, completely forgetting the man's warning not to speak of it to outsiders.

A faint blush rose on Heng'e's face as she listened. She cared nothing about immortals. Biting her lip, she asked, "Da Yi, do you want to grow old with me?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, are you willing to marry me and make me your wife?"

Heng'e's fair face had flushed crimson. She lowered her head slightly, twisting her clothes between two fingers, her beauty breathtaking.

"I... I'm willing."

Da Yi answered shakily.

Heng'e shed tears of joy, and the two embraced.

At that moment, was there anything in the world more important to Da Yi than Heng'e?

The next day, Da Yi indeed encountered an old man halfway up the mountainside. White-haired yet youthful-faced, the old man wore a spotless white robe and was wielding some unknown divine ability. His eyes were half-closed as he sat cross-legged on a large rock, his palms, soles, and the crown of his head facing heaven. A black cauldron spun in the air before him. Sweat covered his forehead as he drove a crimson flame to burn beneath it.

He said to help this old man, but how can I help him? Da Yi watched from hiding. This old man was clearly no mortal either.

The flames beneath the black cauldron grew fiercer, and the entire vessel began shaking continuously. It seemed the divine ability had reached a critical moment.

Just then, something stirred the grass, slowly emerging behind the old man.

Da Yi looked closely. The approaching creatures resembled two wolves, but one had exceptionally short forelegs. Apparently unable to walk, it could only lie on the other's back. Despite its disability, its eyes were unusually cunning. Clearly, they had waited a long time, intending to strike the old man at this critical moment.

That's... a bei?! Da Yi knew trouble was brewing. When he was little, his parents had told him of a kind of wolf born without usable forelegs, unable to walk and forced to ride on other wolves' backs. Exceptionally intelligent, they were called "bei." A wolf pack might not produce a single bei in a hundred years, but once one appeared, it would surely use its extraordinary intelligence to lead the pack in wreaking havoc upon the human world.

Da Yi acted decisively. He swiftly drew an arrow, bent his bow, and shot the wolf dead. Deprived of its mount, the bei tumbled to the ground. Before it could react, Da Yi immediately fired two more arrows at it.

One pierced its throat; the other struck its heart and lungs.

The bei lay on the ground, barely breathing, clearly beyond saving.

Da Yi looked back at the old man, who seemed utterly unaware of what had happened. His eyes remained half-closed as he drove the flames.

Suddenly, a muffled boom sounded inside the black cauldron. Its lid flew off, and a streak of golden light shot straight into the clouds.

The old man's half-closed eyes finally opened, and he barked softly, "Trying to escape?"

The old man pointed, and a Purple-Gold Red Gourd flew from his sleeve, heading straight for the golden light. The two seemed to grapple, but the golden light was clearly no match for the Purple-Gold Red Gourd. With a display of its divine ability, the gourd sucked the golden light into its belly, then slowly flew back into the old man's hand.

The old man examined the gourd in his hand, pulled out its stopper, and tipped it. A golden pill fell into his palm.

"I never imagined this pill would be so formidable. It developed intelligence the moment it left the cauldron. Fortunately, I didn't let it escape."

The old man slowly turned and said to Da Yi, "Young brother, thank you for your help just now. Had that bei attacked me and obtained this pill, the world might have fallen into great chaos."

"Sir... you knew everything?"

The old man smiled and said, "Of course I knew. But had I rashly acted under those circumstances, not only would the pill in this cauldron have turned to ashes, my heart meridians would have reversed their flow, gravely damaging my vital energy."

Da Yi nodded, wondering whether this place was an immortal mountain. Why did so many immortals appear here?

"Young brother, you saved my life. This was my destined trial, and your good fortune."

The old man held out the pill, then produced a wooden box. "I came in haste this time and brought only these two things: a pill that can grant you fleshly sainthood, and a Magic Treasure I often use. Choose one, and from then on, we shall have no further connection."

Da Yi stared at the scene before him. It was exactly as the man had described yesterday.

"No further connection?" Da Yi asked. "Why do you say that, sir?"

"It isn't that I'm displeased with you, young brother. It's simply that, as an immortal, I must sever all connections to the mortal world whenever I descend here," the old man said with a smile. "Don't let it trouble you. Just choose one."

Da Yi asked no more questions. Since he had already made his choice in his heart, all he needed to do now was follow through.

Without even looking at the pill, he reached out and grasped the little box brimming with spiritual energy.

"Oh?" The old man seemed somewhat surprised, but his expression quickly returned to normal.

"Since you have made your choice, young brother, there shall be no further ties between us. Farewell."

Da Yi said to Du Yu, "Just as Brother Zhan said, I've remained safe all this time, and Heng'e and I have been deeply in love. Only the people beneath heaven have suffered. Brother Pang Meng, have I been too selfish?"

Du Yu let out a deep sigh.

Da Yi simply did not want to leave Heng'e. But who had decreed that he must sacrifice everything he had now to save all living beings?

Du Yu wanted to say more, but Dong Qianqiu suddenly spoke. "Du Yu, be careful. It seems something enormous has been following you two."