"Good children, you've all grown up. Don't cry, don't cry..."
"Father, Mother, I've missed you so much..."
Watching Hai Qing and Hai Dong throw themselves onto the grave and wail, Mu Bai's eyes brimmed with hot tears, his heart cut as if by a knife. How could he not long for it too? How could he not long to weep in his parents' arms?
"The children have all grown up. I, Hai Zhan, have brought them back. My Chen'er will come back too, and so will Ling'er and our Clan Patriarch. We're reunited!"
Hai Zhan staggered to his knees and collapsed onto the grave, clutching the yellow earth tightly in his hands as he sobbed and murmured, "We're reunited, we're reunited..."
In the end, Mu Bai never drank the strong liquor in the jar. He knelt quietly all the while, watching the three of them prostrate themselves and weep, hot tears dripping ceaselessly from his eyes.
That night, the breeze was gentle, the full moon shone clear and bright, the shadows of the trees stood still, and the birds made no sound. Only waves of choking sobs could be heard, only words filled with warmth. The night was long, yet it passed in an instant.
The red sun rose in the east, staining the entire Dao Sea. A resounding cry pierced the sky, and a Divine Crow stood with its head held high atop the tribe's ancestral house, radiating light, as though seeking to awaken the sleeping world.
Hai Zhan and the other two abruptly roused and looked up at the ancestral house. Deeply shaken by the Divine Crow's manifestation, they felt the blood throughout their bodies boil. Mu Bai's expression was also utterly grave. He knew this was the Ancestral Spirit manifesting, and that a change was taking place