When Qingmu heard the name "Children of Gaia" from Selina, he had a sense of familiarity, as if he had heard it somewhere before and that it was related to him, but he just couldn't remember where.
Ronald's words exploded in his mind like a bomb, shattering long-buried memories into fragments that danced wildly in his consciousness along with the smoke, and black smoke enveloped the entire world.
He saw himself dressed in a black youth's outfit, walking through a battlefield filled with smoke. Bullets whizzed past him, and the chaotic gunfire was like firecrackers exploding during the New Year.
It was the Xia Tian of 1937, the most beautiful time in the Mulberry Garden. The lush green mulberry trees were dotted with plump purple mulberries, and groups of children played among the trees, picking mulberries and getting themselves covered in mulberry juice, looking like porcelain dolls painted with oil paint.
However, fate is often cruel; in that beautiful season, the shadow of war loomed over the entire East China.
When the gunfire erupted on the Songhu battlefield, at the command of Old Master Hua, all the able-bodied men of the Hua Family followed the army to the battlefield, leaving only a group of old, weak, women and children behind in the vast Mulberry Garden.
Before leaving, Huasheng Sang was summoned to the old man's study for a long talk that lasted all night. It was from then on that he truly understood the family's mission and the significance of the huge mulberry tree in the courtyard.
"Your mission is not to kill the enemy, much less to die a heroic death. Remember your own mission," Old Master Hua said in closing.
Huasheng Sang left the Mulberry Garden under the faint light of dawn. Looking back at the ferry, he could still see the hazy shadow of the tall mulberry tree canopy through the misty white fog. But he never imagined that this would be the last time he looked back at the Mulberry Garden, the last time he would see that fruitful oriental Divine Tree that guarded this land.
Although the war shattered the enemy's boast of conquering China in three months at the cost of hundreds of thousands of casualties, it was ultimately a defeat. When Huasheng Sang followed the army westward, he discovered that there were Japan Awakened mixed in among them, who were using their minds to disrupt order, causing the morale of the army to fall into chaos, and the retreat turned into a rout.
He killed several waves of Awakened in succession, and suddenly learned from them that Kitano Masatake had already crossed the defense line and headed Wusong River, which was in the direction of Wuzhong.
Huasheng Sang was worried about the state of the Mulberry Garden and was eager to go home, but he was swept away by the fleeing army and circled around Jiangbei. When he returned to Wuzhong, the Mulberry Garden had long been reduced to ashes. Following the old man's last wishes, the steward, Old Bi, transplanted the only surviving willow tree in the back garden to the original location of the old mulberry tree.
Huasheng Sang was heartbroken, yet not a single tear fell. He knelt under the willow tree all night, his mind slowly becoming hazy. National and personal hatred filled his heart, clouding his vision and hearing. He heard a voice calling:
Want revenge? Come on! Follow me!
His spirit descended along the bark of the withered old willow tree, penetrating deep into the scorched earth. He touched the roots of the old mulberry tree, as if touching the soul of the earth. Those winding, gnarled roots, like snakes and worms from hell, densely covered the ground for miles around, twisting and turning in the scorched soil.
He felt a subtle, almost imperceptible, feminine aura gathering around him, flowing along the neural pathways of his limbs to his lower abdomen and the ends of his vertebrae, then ascending along the vagus nerve and spinal nerve bundles, finally coalescing into a dark shadow in his brain.
The sound of Guagua came from the sky, and a flock of Crow circled above the scorched earth for a long time.
The next day, as dawn broke, he left the Mulberry Garden once more. This time, he did not linger at the ferry crossing or look back; he departed as resolutely as the river itself.
He traveled across most of China and finally tracked down Kitano Masatake, but he was no match for Kitano. After killing dozens of Japan samurai with psychic abilities, he was also seriously injured and unable to fight Kitano again.
Kitano Masatake, dressed in a loose kimono, didn't even bother to glance at Huasheng Sang, who was lying on the ground panting. He tapped his fingers to the beat and leisurely sang a cherry blossom song, while two geishas with white makeup and folding fans danced gracefully to the rhythm beside him.
Huasheng Sang shouted at Kitano Masatake, "Kill me, you executioner!"
Only after the entire piece ended did Kitano Masatake slowly rise, walk past Huasheng Sang, and leave with only one sentence. "Apart from Nanke, there is no one worth my time."
Huasheng Sang survived, but felt insulted. He spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted. While unconscious, he saw the dark figure again.
The shadowy figure said, "Want revenge? Come on, come on, follow me! You are the chosen one, you are the Children of Gaia! You not only want revenge, you also want to save this chaotic world!"
A vast, unknown Mental Power took over his body. He felt himself become a tree, the very tree that had been reduced to ashes in the fire. Crows cawed within his body, and his blood condensed into seeds of hatred, hanging crimson on his skin.
He embarked on his path of revenge once more, finally killing Kitano Masatake on the Southern Xinjiang frontier and sealing off a vast Group Dream Realm created by Kitano.
Strangely, Kitano didn't seem particularly shocked by his abilities; in fact, he showed a hint of relief as he died. He said:
Do you know why I didn't kill you back then?
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to prove something, an ancient legend. Now it seems it was true. Nanke was right, and I was wrong."
The fragments of memory pieced together, slowly healing like a wound, revealing the original appearance.
Ronald looked at Qingmu with some delight. "Are you finally waking up? You've sealed away your memories for too long!"
Qingmu let out a long sigh, snapping out of his reverie, and said, "I've woken up. What's there to be happy about? Now that I remember everything, I naturally won't be Gaia's puppet anymore."
Ronald laughed, "That's probably not up to you. Gaia is the source of consciousness, and we are all descendants of Gaia. Once you awaken Gaia's consciousness, it's not a matter of whether you want to or not. You can shatter invading consciousness and seal your memories, but you can never erase the imprint of Gaia that is inherent in your consciousness. Just as you can change your name, nationality, and beliefs, and even your appearance, you cannot change the ancestral information etched into your bloodline and genes."
Returning to one's spiritual origins and achieving true liberation is like a wanderer returning home—isn't that wonderful?
Qingmu narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then said, "Once a hen hatches chicks, she should be prepared for them to grow up and fly away. Since Gaia created life, she should have let life develop freely, not taken away its right to life. No one can take away the right to life, not even God! Not even Gaia!"
Selina's impassioned voice rang out again from the television. "Mortals are free!"