Chapter 44

They spent the whole day preparing for the funeral . It was beyond the most agonising moment in any person's life. That much is clear from the whole situation that Yee is in. It would be a little bit of an understatement to say that he was grieving . If someone lost so many people all at once like this , it will scar them deeply if not for life. Yee was barely aware of the world around him and he seemed ,like he was a ghost. He was numb to all sense and he was no different from someone who had surrendered hope and all possibilities of ever attaining any form of peace or happiness in this lifetime . Both Mrs Yee and Baisu didn't come to the funeral . The man was all alone . however Mang came with Siwoo because Mina is still his sister .

Anyway because they were holding the funeral near a physch hospital, only Yee , Chiang and the Zhao cultivators were here for the funeral. Even today Dejang is still missing in action. It is habitual of him to disappear without a trace but when the need arises he will show up for action . Basically it's reasonable to believe that if there is a case and Dejang is absent then that case isn't too complex . 

The weather was surprisingly very calm and humid. Nonetheless , the situation was the total opposite .Watching the ashes burn down was extremely brutal , even Yufeng dropped a heavy tear and was comforted by Haoran . Meiyang was standing on guard behind Yee in case he does something like jumping into the flames. He wasn't standing too close to the fire but he could feel the heat all the way because his senses were heightened to the element of fire given that he is an elemental cultivator. And the reason that stimulated this sudden sensitivity was that he was in pedal pain. Isn't it fantastic that as an elemental cultivator , he isn't fond of elements especially water and heat . It starts off like that for all cultivators where they react to the elements that they are choosing to bend but with time they learn to adapt to it and it hurts way less . Such is the case with Meiyang . He is getting accustomed to it but he still generally hates it. And his gets worse when he falls ill or is in any other form of pain because he is unable to control his sensitivity 

 The said stature of a man watched expressionlessly as the flames engulfed his beloved ex-wife . For every piece of coal that formed, a piece died in him . For every degree that the fire rose, something shattered inside of himself. The sad words that he heard from her on that day back at the mansion were echoing in him as remembered the first day he ever saw her.At this moment he hates himself more than anything and although he is in pain, he feels like he is not even qualified to be upset because he feels like he caused all this misfortunes into his once-beloved .

Her pink shoes , pink dress, long hair , soft chuckles and gold-scent stole his heart . She came to visit Naiwen and that day she left tattoos all over his tired heart . to this day , he swears that even if angels came and they painted the magical chants of temple birds and dances of the springs of eternal purity , he will never love any sight more than that of when he first saw Minji.

The nurses waited for the body to burn and they gave him a brown urn of ashes . That small vessel felt like it weighed the whole planet that even his hands shook terribly in his fading and cooling embrace . Meiyang offered to carry it but Chiang took over from him. Although he knows that Chiang was just being hostile, he appreciates the effort since he didn't really want to have to carry someone`s remains , especiallynot when his legs feel like they were being skinned

Along with the group , they went and planted the ashes into a nearby garden . It is incredibly forbidden to keep the ashes of a passed person or to even show them to the air . The best thing to do is to grow the garden with them but a person cant plant flowers or fruit-benign plants .The reason is that flowers bloom to wilt and any kind of fruit would be a waste since it cant be eaten as it would be like cannibalism. They can grow things like grass or a simple tree .

Anyway for her, they grew white grass . It's popular for children , priests or people with special abilities (born differently e.g blind, deaf or mute ). This plant was chosen by Siwoo and Chiang because Mang and Yee were too broken to think logically .

Afterwards the whole team headed back to the estate

As per Chiang's arrangements, a funeral for two was being held for Naiwen and Enlai. Initially Chiang wanted to delay the time between the two and Minji`s but he decided that if he waits for Yee to heal , they would wait three thousand lifetimes. Besides , for this funeral he is not the main character .

Despite the unfinished love story between Yee and his wife , Enlai's life story was fifty times more tragic . It was probably hundred times more traumatic because of how many untold , undeveloped , unexplained and untold stories existed between father and son .

Mang had always wanted to see his son ,dreamed about the moments he will share with him. But when he found out that Enlai was alive ,before he could talk to him and express any form of emotion ,he died just like that .As suddenly as Enlai was born, as suddenly as Enlai feel sick as an infant , as suddenly as Madame Mang sent him away , as suddenly as he was pronounced deceased , as suddenly as Mang found out he is still alive after twenty-something years , he suddenly wasn't .

There is no explaining the pain that a parent feels having to bury their child . There isn't enough adjectives to describe how much it consumes them especially when their lives were so ridden with thorns such as this father and son . It isn't about whether Mang will ever heal or wherether he would be able to forget , it`s a matter of whether he will be able to breath without the air refusing to actually move into his lungs or whether if he drank some water , if he will be able to feel the thirst disappear. IT isn't about if he will be able to move on , it's about whether he will be able to carry on with the monstrous Grand Canyon of scars decorating his soul . And the worst part is that the chaos is copyrighted to none other than his own mother. 

Mother ! The word that carried so much weight because of what changes it can have on someone's life. After flowers the most beautiful thing are women and the most beloved things are prints they leave . She did everything for her children but it has broken them to extremes that are beyond repair. Honestly for the crime that she has committed , death feels like a slap on the wrist . but then again, would Mang really been able to master the courage to punish his mother. The woman who taught him his first words. The woman who gave him his smile, the one who shared a part of her blood with him ?

At the planting , Mang placed a type of plant that doesn't bloom and remains a wood for life .He had chosen this plant for himself during making his will but he never thought that he would be using it for his son . This form of vegetation that is not beautiful at first sight symbolizes that it was someone who was deeply special or had a unique beauty even though no one can see their impact . It is a confusing topic of why would Mang chose it for himself but then he always like things that smell good like this wood, so that was probably the reason for that .

After the funeral, Meiyang whose shanks have been burning the whole day , went to the family members and he assured them that everything will be fine. As he was doing that , Baisu was shamelessly flirting with Haoran and they were mostly speaking in so much freedom. Chiang generally doesn't like Baisu but her talking to a boy during the funerals was insensitive of her . it was almost like she couldn't care less what was going on. Her mother didn't even restrain her because she was busy playing the bereaved housewife but she's low-key glad to get rid of the extra baggage.

Chiang left and he found Liuhe and Haoran talking to some people that came with Siwoo. He walked to them and he asked what the matter was . Before he could leave, Liuhe called him back and he asked him to report anything and at anytime because they have to leave and go back 

Chiang looked at him like he was crazy because there is no way that they will ever meet. He scoffed it off and he walked in the other direction . 

Siwoo approached Liuhe and he asked him if they are going to keep coming back. He assured him that they will come back for the first few weeks . Liuhe is about a few years older that Siwoo but Siwoo is way taller than him making it seem like the situation between Yongsun and Iseul, except for the ten million liters of hate . Between Liuhe and Siwoo, it was like the lotus of the Zhao sect was transformed and was a lot more a humble duckling than a rapid viper .

Meiyang prayed the service to finish faster because standing was slowly becoming a nightmare . The breeze of the weather was not helping him in any because it was making his clothes continuously brush against his throbbing legs.

By the time they were going back to the motel , Meiyang's feet were engorged and severely edematic.He was rigged with cramps from his feet to his knees and blunt hits on his thighs to his waist. It felt like he was waxing his legs with molten metal .

He caged himself in the room and poured water and he reluctantly placed his feet inside the bowel. He couldn't think of an alternative way to cool the magma that was his blood. He massaged the cramping thighs as he felt the water gradually burn him .His reaction to the element of water prompted him to change approaches by investing son to the water. 

Just as he was doing that , Harlan knocked on the door and Meiyang instinctively pushed his legs under the table cloth. He then sent blizzards to the feet before Haoran walked in carrying a tray food and placed it by the table. these two haven't talked much and Meiyang couldn't be bothered because he was focusing on the pain for his feet . 

" I am going to study with Shangli", he awkwardly stated and Meiyang impulsively agreed .

Haoran looked at him interrogatively and he noted the small sweat on Meiyang's forehead. He walked closer and softly rubbed his forehead .

He then inspected him and he saw his hand was under the table. He reprimanded Meiyang because he knew what Meiyang was doing.

After he exposed his feet that were close to exploding with blood, he proceeded to take his legs out of the water.

Haoran sat down crosslegged, positioned Meiyang's feet on his own thighs and he radiated energy into them. The edema subsided quickly and his blood vessels relax to allow more seamless blood flow .

"you are resisting the energy !",haoran announced , raising his eyes to Meiyang 

before he could comment , Haoran did the unthinkable