When Lian Ruxin read this part of the memory, he was squatting by the stream, playing with the water, his heart feeling empty.

He thought, perhaps his predecessors simply hadn't done enough good deeds.

So, over the next three years, he diligently performed good deeds, spreading good karma. He even deliberately stimulated his spiritual power to make the statue in the Stone God Temple emit a glow, creating the illusion that the god had descended to the world.

During this period, he encountered a small sika deer.

The sika deer liked to come to him, licking him with its soft tongue.

Although Lian Ruxin had no emotions, he didn't dislike this kind of warmth, and simply let this little creature come to play with him every day.

However, one day, the little deer didn't come.

It had been shot in the leg by a passing hunter. Although it escaped, by the time Lian Ruxin found it, it was severely injured beyond saving.

Lian Ruxin tried to use his power to revive it.

However, saving a life was no less than reversing the universe; only the power of a god could accomplish it.

He was not a god, just a human-shaped stone with a lifespan of fifty years and some spiritual power.

It lay on Lian Ruxin's lap, convulsing in pain for a while, its eyes covered with a layer of mist slowly closing, its breath ceasing.

Lian Ruxin buried the little deer's body with leaves and went to see it every day until it began to emit a foul odor and was dragged away by wild dogs, leaving no trace.

Lian Ruxin looked at the fallen deer hair covered in blood and vaguely understood why his predecessors didn't want him to interact with living things.

When the day of the sacrificial ceremony arrived, Lian Ruxin, who had been doing good deeds every day, had actually gathered three believers willing to sacrifice themselves.

He waited on the mountain path, breaking the barrier that usually guarded the mountain, waiting to receive them.

When the three elderly people arrived and saw Lian Ruxin, they were as if seeing a celestial being. Their legs trembled as they knelt down in unison, calling him an immortal.

Lian Ruxin had never spoken to anyone before. His usually cold face flushed red without him realizing it.

He didn't know what to say, so he simply said nothing and led the three towards the divine stone.

Two of the three old men kept their heads down and silently chanted scriptures, while only one chattered incessantly, begging the stone god to guide him and help him ascend to the Western Paradise.

Lian Ruxin walked with his head down, focused on climbing the mountain.

He couldn't say that there was no Western Paradise, that they could only merge with the stone, standing on the mountaintop, enduring the wind and rain year after year.

Sacrificing them would bring three years of peace, favorable weather, and prosperity to the people of the ancient city below.

Lian Ruxin brought them to the mountain stone and calmly said, "Please state your wishes. As long as they conform to the principles of heaven and human relations, the divine stone will do its utmost to fulfill them for you."

This was what all Stone People said before beginning the sacrifice.

The divine stone focused on cultivating and gathering energy, rarely responding to the wishes of those who prayed. Therefore, the fulfillment of wishes mostly fell to the Stone People.

They couldn't bring the dead back to life, but taking care of the families of the sacrificed, blessing their descendants for three generations with peace and prosperity, and other such matters were all things the Stone People would strive to accomplish.

The three also stated their wishes one by one.

They were advanced in years, so they mostly spoke of things like protecting their offspring. They repeatedly thanked Lian Ruxin as if they had received some great favor from him.

Then, one after another, they stepped into the spiritual stone and vanished.

Lian Ruxin stood blankly before the empty mountain stone and looked down at his hands.

In a daze, he felt as if his palms were covered in bloody deer hair.

When he looked again, they were still hands.

...But his heart was no longer the same heart.

The second year, Lian Ruxin went mad doing good deeds. The accumulated merits of some people's entire lives likely couldn't compare to what he did in that one year.

The families of the sacrificed thrived, and rumors spread in the city that the stone god had become very efficacious of late.

The incense for the stone god flourished once more.

At the next triennial sacrificial ceremony, Lian Ruxin waited on the stone path, watching the believers merge with the stone, feeling neither sorrow nor joy, just like a proper stone.

Living this way for a long time, he began to feel lonely.

Even a stone could feel lonely, let alone him who had been tainted with too many worldly things in order to do good deeds.

Sometimes, in the depths of night, he would go to the border between the ancient city and the outside world, wanting to try venturing into the world beyond.

However, as soon as he reached his hand out, his arm would immediately turn into flying stone dust.

It didn't hurt, but it looked very frightening.

Once, he jumped down from the city wall. His whole body instantly turned to flying ash, but when he opened his eyes again, he had returned to the divine stone.

Later, it was twelve years ago.

A plague suddenly broke out in the city, with many dead and injured.

The ancient city had been blessed by the divine stone for many years and had deep good fortune. Even if misfortune occurred, it would always turn from bad to good. It was a rare treasure in terms of feng shui within a thousand miles. Therefore, Lian Ruxin was caught off guard by this disaster.

The source of the calamity was not within the city, so his first thought was to save everyone's lives first.

Thus, he exhausted his cultivation to sustain the lives of the city's people, greatly reducing the number of casualties. But he could not eliminate suffering. People were still dying, the plague filled the city, and the disaster did not cease.

In just two days and one night, Lian Ruxin had lost six or seven years of his lifespan. But in just one night, the evil-ridden ancient city returned to normal.

Lian Ruxin exhausted his power, his face pale. He lowered his hand from the seal, and before he could think of anything, he fell asleep against a beech tree.

He was awakened by a drop of morning dew hitting the tip of his nose.

He got up, wanting to go to the stream to wash up, but when he passed by the southeast cliff, he spotted a figure in the distance.

It was a young man with long hair tied in a high ponytail, wearing colorful robes. He sat quietly on the cliff edge, holding a string of transparent cicada shells in one hand. One leg was bent with his elbow resting on the knee, while the other hand held a wine flask as he gazed into the gray horizon.

Lian Ruxin stopped in his tracks out of curiosity, observing him.

The young man seemed to be waiting for something, drinking as he waited.

Soon, what the young man was waiting for arrived.

A red sun leaped out from the horizon, rising straight to the east. Thin mist surged slowly from the crack in the sky, swirling above like a light robe.

...He waited here for a full fifteen minutes just to catch a glimpse of the sunrise?