In the cave of sleep, in the silver light, Maxwell appeared next to the sublimation ceremony at some unknown time. He glanced at Hermes beside him and asked softly:
"Should we start?"
Hermes nodded, and the wings of light floated silently behind him, illuminating Maxwell's eyes and making him couldn't help but smile:
"I haven't seen you like this for many years. Lord Merlin."
Hermes glanced at him, "Call me Hermes. Merlin is just a title you gave me. I have never accepted it."
"After you showed your true colors, you lost a lot of popularity. I still like your careless look. At least it makes me feel that we are the same kind."
"Don't come to me looking for a sense of identity, Maxwell, no one is the same as you." Hermes said disdainfully: "No one."
Maxwell smiled, "That's why we are the same, isn't it?"
"hehe."
Hermes smiled too.
Maxwell didn't feel dissatisfied. He just squatted down and stared at the evaporating mercury on the ground. His eyes became clear: "You chose a classical-style sublimation ceremony, and the danger has increased a lot."
"This is the true nature of the sublimation ceremony, and only in this way can its ability be maximized." Hermes sneered, "And what you like and value is the enhanced musician and ether The feeling between each other is just a side effect of it. Over the years, you have constantly changed it, and you have even forgotten its original appearance."
"As expected of the fallen snake and the oldest alchemist."
Maxwell said, "Want to hear the details."
"The original purpose of the sublimation ceremony is to enhance the connection between humans and the great source, so that humans can be given the right to truly mobilize the ether. Human beings call it 'celestial connection', which is the connection between man and heaven. You see When you reach heaven, heaven can also see you. But before that, you made a mistake."
Hermes said lightly: "The purpose of the sublimation ceremony is not the induction of heaven and man, but the preparation before completing the induction of heaven and man."
"What preparation?"
"'Dayuan' never needs to prepare. What needs to be prepared is yourself." Hermes said, "You must understand your true face and what your true self is. If you don't know where you are and what you are, If you don't understand it, how can you sense the great source? Therefore, you can only do what you are doing now, like walking on a long night, blind men touching the elephant, or relying on illusory luck and experience to feel blindly, or relying on day and night training to endure hardships. . Although it is feasible, it has already entered the wrong path. How can it be so difficult and troublesome to walk on the true right path?"
"right way?"
Maxwell was silent for a long time, and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Perhaps, for human beings, knowing their own 'right path' is the most difficult thing? After all, what human beings are best at is 'overestimating their own capabilities.'"
"That's why there's an 'ascension ceremony', isn't it?"
Hermes stared at the young man in the ritual, looking at his painful expression: "Burning spices, crushing gems, pouring mercury... The ether will enter his body, and he will see himself and his true soul. .”
…
…
It was like an instant, everything became thinner and moved away quickly.
Ye Qingxuan forgot what year and month it was, where he was, and what the occasion was. He just lowered his head in astonishment and looked at the test paper in front of him.
All that is left in the world is a test paper and a pen.
"Start answering the questions."
It was as if someone put the pen in his palm, curled up his fingers one by one, and asked him to hold it tightly: "You only have one chance, and you will never come back if you lose it."
But he didn't know why, but he felt a little scared.
On the test paper, the first question had already caught his eye.
…
Question:
Xiao Ming has a happy family, with a father who loves him and a mother who loves him. Xiao Ming's father made a mistake and disappeared when Xiao Ming was very young. Xiao Ming and his mother were exiled to other places because they were implicated by their father.
That winter, Xiao Ming's mother passed away. Xiao Ming became a lonely person.
Please describe Xiao Ming’s mood.
"Xiao Ming?"
Ye Qingxuan murmured in a low voice.
Xiao Ming, why the hell is it Xiao Ming again
Why has it always been you since childhood
Xiao Ming went to buy groceries, Xiao Ming went to take a ride, Xiao Ming went to play with friends... and then something went wrong in the middle. You need to help him figure out how much a pound of cabbage costs, how long it will take for the bus to arrive at the station, how four people can cut three cuts and divide a cake...
He knew that this was Xiao Ming's story.
So, relax, it's just Xiao Ming's story.
It's just that something happened to him now, and you need to help him, just like you help yourself. He is such an unlucky guy, he will get into trouble no matter what he does, but he doesn't know anything. If no one helps him, he can't even buy a piece of fruit. If you don't even help him, he won't survive.
But Ye Qingxuan didn't understand how Xiao Ming would feel when encountering such a thing.
"Xiao Ming".
Ye Qingxuan wrote two words, stopped again, hesitated, and after a long time wrote in the blank: "Xiao Ming is very sad."
Question 2: What should Xiao Ming do
Ye Qingxuan was silent for a long time and wrote the answer below:
"Xiao Ming doesn't know either."
Question 3: Xiao Ming was sitting on a carriage and saw a child playing on the road. The child was about to be hit and killed. Xiao Ming can adjust his direction and choose to hit and kill another innocent elderly couple. What should Xiao Ming do
Ye Qingxuan thought for a while and replied: "Kill the child."
Why
Ye Qingxuan wrote down the answer without hesitation: Because Xiao Ming hates children dying.
Question 4: There are two boats. The one on the left holds fifty people, and the one on the right holds one hundred people. There is a ship that must be bombed and sunk. Which ship should Xiao Ming choose
Answer: Left.
If there are five hundred people sitting on the boat on the left, but only her mother is sitting on the boat on the right, which boat should Xiao Ming choose
Ye Qingxuan said without hesitation: "On the left."
If there are 10,000 people sitting on the boat on the left...
Still without thinking, left.
If there were 100,000 people...
Still on the left.
If there were a million people...
enough! Where the hell is there a boat that can hold a million people? Moreover, even if there are 10 million people, 100 million people, or a billion people, all of them are sitting on that ship.
Still on the left!
As long as she can survive, even if everyone in the world is sitting on the left boat, Xiao Ming will sink it without hesitation!
The answer sheet was silent.
After a long time, a new line of writing appeared on it:
What would happen to Xiao Ming if a gangster uncle Wang with many big eyes told Xiao Ming that as long as Xiao Ming became his little brother, he could resurrect Xiao Ming's mother
Ye Qingxuan wrote his answer expressionlessly:
"Xiao Ming will let him eat shit."
If Xiao Ming's father had joined the underworld, Xiao Ming would...
Xiao Ming will let him eat shit too.
What if Xiao Ming's father is actually an undercover agent...
Xiao Ming will still let him eat shit.
If a virus appeared... If a meteorite fell from the sky... If there was a big ball of light... If Jade Perry had an old grandfather...
There are so many fucking ifs in the world!
Why don't you ask me, what would it be like if none of this happened? If she had not died, if their father had not abandoned them, how happy and beautiful would their life have been
Even if you have nothing, even if you are wandering around the world.
Even if the whole world abandons me.
Until the end, the answer sheet was turned over page by page, leaving only the last big question, causing Ye Qingxuan to fall into a long silence:
[Do you think Xiao Ming’s father abandoned his mother and Xiao Ming on purpose, or did he have some unavoidable reasons?]
Is it intentional or is there a reason
Xiao Ming didn’t know, and neither did Ye Qingxuan.
His pen came to a standstill, letting time pass by bit by bit. The clock on the wall was ticking. Everyone handed in their exam papers one by one, and he was the only one left in the examination room.
The lonely light illuminated the boy's white hair, and the countdown began.
In the last few seconds, he wrote down his answers and put the exam paper into the teacher's hands.
Xiao Ming's story ends here.
The lights went out and the classroom fell into darkness and silence.
He sat in his seat, leaning against the table behind him, closing his eyes in the darkness, and let out a long breath, as if he was about to spit out the pain and annoyance in his lungs.
A wave of sleepiness hit him, and he lowered his head and fell into a deep sleep.
The night is long.
…
…
In the deepest part of the darkness, a light slowly turned on.
The grading teacher made a cup of hot tea, looked at the only test paper that needed to be graded on the table, and sat on his chair.
The middle-aged teacher opened the window and let the moonlight outside the window shine on himself and his white hair.
He also shines like the moonlight.
Behind him, there was a knock on the door.
"Is Teacher Ye here?"
Outside the door, someone asked softly, but without waiting for his answer, he pushed the door open and entered. The light illuminated his fine clothes, blond hair, and face that looked as feminine and handsome as a boy's.
He stared at the middle-aged man in front of the window with complicated eyes, and after a long time he sighed softly:
"It's not easy to meet you, Ye Lanzhou."
In front of the window, the middle-aged man on the chair shook his head slightly: "Mr. Hermes, you have found the wrong person. I am not Ye Lanzhou."
"The moon in the mirror."
Hermes expressed its true face without expression: "I know that you have hidden part of your own memory in Ye Qingxuan's heart. You now are just the reflection of that part of memory that has been given a personality. That’s it. Even though it’s not, it’s not bad.”
Ye Lanzhou shrugged slightly, as if he agreed with his statement.
The moon in the mirror, the flowers in the water, the phantom in the fire, the mirage. At this moment, Ye Lanzhou does not exist here. He is just a phantom that only responds mechanically according to preset instructions.
"You really think about the long term."
Hermes unceremoniously pulled a chair and sat down, looking at him coldly: "First the seeds in the Nine Heavens Ring, and then all the guidance along the way... In order for my son to inherit his mantle, I really took a lot of pains. .”
"Ye Zi is not me. He has his own ideas and choices."
Ye Lanzhou shook his head: "From the beginning, I never asked him to inherit the things and curses of the Ye family. He would go his own way. That's why I never taught him any of the power or music scores inherited by the Ye family. "
"But what about you?"
Hermes asked back: "Do you think you will get rid of the cause and effect you created? I don't need to repeat what you did back then, right?"
Ye Lanzhou responded calmly, "Whether I suffer the consequences myself or whether I am destined by fate, whether I am dead or alive now, and to what extent I have fallen, is my own choice. It has nothing to do with other people."
"I didn't put in so much effort to come here just to talk to you about my illusory fate. I only have one question to ask you, Ye Lanzhou, one question."
Hermes raised a finger and looked at him with a solemn expression. His voice was like the fiery sound made when the gray iron in the cauldron is transformed into gold:
"—What exactly was the thing you brought out from the Shadow of Avalon back then?"
Ye Lanzhou did not answer, but just shook his head: "Hermes, this has nothing to do with you."
"Of course it's relevant!"
Hermes stood up and took three steps forward. In three steps, he transformed from a delicate and thin nobleman into a majestic god with wings on his back. His voice made the whole world roar and made this dream tremble:
"Ye Lanzhou, tell me, what you took away...is it the art of ascension to the gods engraved on the Sword in the Stone?"
Ye Lanzhou smiled. He stared at the pair of eyes that contained endless power and said softly:
"It's time for you to go."
"Wait..." Hermes' expression changed drastically, but Ye Lanzhou waved his hand and his figure disappeared: he was expelled from here.
In the silence, the room returned to its original deserted state.
Ye Lanzhou picked up a pair of glasses from the table and put them on his face, took off the cap of the pen, and began to judge the examination paper with a vermilion color.
However, when he saw the last question, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Did Xiao Ming's father abandon Xiao Ming and his mother on purpose, or did he have other reasons
Under that question, the boy wrote his answer in decisive handwriting: "No matter what the purpose is, the result cannot be changed."
Yes, even if you have difficulties, what can you change? The consequences have been done, and the woman who was the most important to the two of them died because of this.
Everything is irreversible.
Ye Lanzhou was silent for a long time and slowly took off his glasses.
It was like being able to see the young man sleeping in the dark, his eyes full of complexity and exhaustion.
"After so many years, Ye Zi, you seem to have become so realistic. But after all, you are still living in your own dream." He murmured softly, "Maybe this is fate, the future you choose for yourself."
"Ye's blood has been inherited for thousands of years, and the curse and prophecy that he has been carrying will be fulfilled in your hands."
Ye Lanzhou picked up his pen and wrote his own comments at the end of the examination paper, the ancient name that traveled between reality and dreams, brewed from the minds and dreams of all living beings:
"—Dream Weaver."