"However, all that torment, compared to the happiness now, is simply insignificant." Mo raised her small hand, instinctively reaching out to touch Qiao Mu's face. But she quickly realized she was merely an ethereal shadow; all of it was just an illusion. A faint bitterness touched her lips. "It's truly regrettable that I couldn't befriend you while I was alive."
Qiao Mu's heart felt a little sore. She tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Little monkey, I will do my best."
"Thank you," Mo said with a smile. Without any warning, she scattered like fragments of sunlight, subtly dispersing and vanishing between heaven and earth. Even much later, Qiao Mu still vaguely remembered that smile of hers—faint, ethereal, like a solitary ice flower in the depths of a river, exuding a subtle fragrance, endlessly alluring.
The little monkey cried out "Wah!" and burst into heartbroken sobs. Qiao Mu didn't stop her; she needed to release all the sorrow in her heart. She had waited in vain for two or three hundred years. Two or three centuries of obsessive waiting, two or three centuries of bitter anticipation, ultimately amounted to nothing.
Qiao Mu's eyes felt a bit sore. Although the little monkey was not very mature in mind, she was a smart child. After crying for a while, she choked out, asking Qiao Mu, "She's dead, isn't she? She's a liar! She's deceiving me."
"She didn't go to another time and space at all; she's dead, completely dead, isn't she?"
"She left that half-strand of divine consciousness, waiting for someone who could take me out of this secret realm. Because she knew all along that I couldn't get out by myself." As she spoke, tears streamed down her face.
Qiao Mu, Mo Lian, and Duan Yue were all intelligent people. They had actually known Mo's true intentions for a long time. She used all the wealth of the Sun-Moon Secret Realm to gain the little monkey's freedom; this was her ultimate goal in sustaining that half-strand of divine consciousness.
The little monkey cried desperately in Qiao Mu's arms, heartbroken. "She's dead, she's dead, isn't she?"
Qiao Mu raised her hand and stroked the child's head, nodding gently. "Here, I can no longer feel a trace of her aura." Her soul had completely dispersed into heaven and earth, leaving no trace.
"But who knows?" Qiao Mu tried to comfort the little monkey with a light tone. "There are many things in this world that we don't know. Perhaps Sister really did go to live in another time and space, as she said? That's unknown!"
"Amitabha, little female benefactor, the dead cannot be resurrected. Please accept your sorrow and adapt to the change. And do not believe the female benefactor's baseless words and hold onto fantasies. A person's soul has already dissipated; it is impossible to be reborn in another time and space!"
"If you're still concerned, this humble monk can perform a ritual for your sister's transcendence. I can chant a rebirth incantation!"
Everyone twitched their lips, feeling an urge to punch the little monk for a moment. This little monk spoke so earnestly, his expression so serious when he rambled.
Madam Qiao Qiao, whose attempts at comforting were thwarted: "..."
The little monkey turned back, glaring furiously.
The little monk looked bewildered, putting his palms together and asking aggrievedly, "Did this humble monk say something wrong?"
Everyone rolled their eyes in unison.
The little monk shuffled closer to Mo Lian, raising his chubby little hand to tug at Mo Lian's robe. Mo Lian looked down at him, both amused and annoyed. "If you keep rambling like this, you won't get any vegetarian buns tonight."
Author's Note: Four more chapters to go ╮(╯▽╰)╭