"If you really can't hold on anymore, you can hand everything over to me. You don't need to think about those overly heavy things…" Guyun's words seemed like temptation, but in the current situation, they sounded more like a better choice.
"Alright. If I truly can't endure it, I'll hand my body over for you to control." The swordsman arduously propped up his own body. "But now isn't the time yet."
"With your pitifully low skill, can you really resist an entire army of Borisin? What exactly are you holding on for?"
"I've been trapped here, but this Borisin hunting pack should have encountered the same predicament…" The swordsman looked toward the Borisin corpse nearby. "By the way, Guyun, do you know about 'seeds'? A seed is something as insignificant as a speck of dust. But with careful cultivation and the passage of time, it can grow into an unshakable towering tree.
You said 'Xianzhou people's remaining lifespan is too long'… That's right. I plan to spend the coming years nurturing a seed—a seed named 'resistance.' I want to teach the people of this land to take up arms and fight back against those monsters.
I've already… seen that seed in these people's eyes."
Guyun gave a mocking laugh. "Heh heh, can you really do it? Why not just hand your body over to me? Kill one and break even, kill two and make a profit."
[A single spark can start a prairie fire.]
[Damn, why are my eyes wet?]
[The essence of The Hunt is resistance!]
[What's going on? Why does this Star Rail web drama feel more and more based the more I watch?]
— —
"What was that memory just now?" Yunli's attitude toward Guyun had softened considerably.
"That was a memory of me and a Cloud Knight stranded on an alien planet. The two of us crashed on a world occupied by Borisin. Only… us."
Yunli pressed a hand to her chest. "I can feel it—this was a lonely war."
She continued following Guyun's trail, arriving at the next memory.
— —
The swordsman slammed the ground hard. "I'm still alive, but the young people in the village…"
"They died—for you, for the 'good days without Borisin' you promised them. I tasted their despair in their final moments. They never got to see those days arrive. Neither did you."
The swordsman ignored Guyun's sarcasm. He extinguished the campfire and stood to leave. "We… can't stay here any longer. To the next village."
"Why? What are you still holding on to?! You and your pathetic ragtag army have been fighting for over thirty years. You've never won once. What you've been sowing isn't 'resistance' at all—it's just 'despair.'
This world is beyond saving! It's been infected by the Borisin hunting packs!
You've seen their numbers. You know their methods… And those savages you placed your hopes in? They only know how to grovel on the ground and reverently call the monsters that devoured their children and loved ones 'Beastmasters'!
You chopped off the Beastmaster's head for them, yet they feared retaliation and turned you in. You remember all of that, don't you!"
"I… remember!" The swordsman let out a heavy sigh. "I remember my first death. The Borisin… cut off my head.
But I also remember—if a young man hadn't risked everything to sew it back on so I could be properly buried, I would have been completely extinguished."
[Holy shit, Abundance power!]
[Are long-life species this broken?]
[Long-life species have incredibly strong vitality. Dan Shu mentioned before—even if a person's eyes are blinded and the eyeballs removed, replaced with prosthetics, the body will eventually push out new ones.]
[Abundance's blessing is OP, but too bad it's paired with Mara!]
— —
"I remember everything those people did for me: the food left at the cave entrance, the patched leather coat, and the oaths they swore before joining me. Xianzhou people's remaining lifespan is still very long. New young people will stand up and fight alongside me! Time is on our side."
After hearing the nameless swordsman's reply, Guyun fell silent and quietly returned to the swordsman's hand.
— —
"You said earlier that this was a lonely war. No, this war isn't lonely—it's just filled with despair. So much that I no longer want to taste the flavor of despair."
After Yunli finished viewing this segment of memory, Guyun spoke again.
As before, Yunli stood silently in place, unsure how to respond. She could only continue following Guyun forward.
— —
Who knows how many more years passed.
"I'm leaving." The swordsman stood at the village entrance.
At that moment, quite a few people came chasing after him.
"Where are you going, sir?"
The swordsman looked up at the sky. "I'm… going back to my homeland. To a place very, very far above the sky. I won't be coming back."
"But… if you leave, what will we do? What if those wolf monsters appear again…"
The swordsman slowly turned back. "They're all dead, child. You've wiped them out completely…"
In the next instant, a flash of resolve passed through his eyes. "Before I leave, I want you to do one thing for me. The wolf monsters are gone, but monsters will still exist in this world.
It won't be long before demons wrapped in golden branches, knowing only slaughter, wander here. But you don't need to be afraid.
I'm leaving this sword that has followed me through countless battles to you. With the methods I've taught you over these years, you will surely be able to slay the last monster in this world.
However, I want you to build a stone monument for me. It must be big enough, sturdy enough, and firmly press down on that monster's remains for all eternity, immovable through the ages. This is the debt you owe me—you must do it. Understand?"
With those words, his figure slowly faded away.
[Wrapped in golden branches? No way!]
[MiHoYo, are you even human?]
[It might not necessarily be the Mara-struck swordsman, right?]
[Mara doesn't have a fixed timeframe to trigger, and loneliness, despair, constant battles against Borisin, and witnessing so many deaths would definitely accelerate it.]
[Don't forget—the swordsmanship itself isn't strong; it's all carried by Guyun.]
[Still, at least before his Mara fully took over, he liberated this planet.]
[Is it possible the swordsman should have succumbed to Mara long ago, but he kept holding on just to eliminate the last Borisin?]
[Big bro, stop talking. Please, I beg you, stop.]
[I'm actually tearing up. I never thought this would be the swordsman's final lesson to the people of this planet.]
[Sigh… the final lesson, huh?]
[Reading to this point, I'm really tearing up. The last monster… was himself!]
— —
"You lied to them. And you lied to me."
Guyun roared furiously at the swordsman.
The swordsman replied lightly with an "Oh."
"You promised that when you despaired, you'd hand your body over to me."
"Old friend, this Xianzhou person's remaining lifespan has now reached its end. So I'll give you a chance for revenge—see me off on my final journey, will you?"
With that, the swordsman thrust Guyun into the soil before him, then vanished into a field of snow.
— —