Every three steps he took, he had to kneel on the ground, then kowtow to the ground and rise again, and after rising, he took three steps again and continued to kneel down, and so on.
At the beginning of the journey, Su Zhifei’s body could not withstand such intense exercise, and his body suffered so much that he was already at his limit after travelling three or four kilometres a day, which was much slower than the normal believers’ speed of ten kilometres a day.
But as time went on, and as the distance got longer and longer, he gradually adapted to the pace, and slowly went from travelling three or four kilometres a day, to the current seven or eight kilometres.
In more than five months, he had already covered more than a thousand kilometres.
Originally, Su felt that he was a standard deviant, kowtowing every three steps on the road during the day and sleeping in the open at night.
But as he went further and further along the road, he gradually discovered many people who, like himself, were kowtowing long heads and making a pilgrimage to the southwest.
Unlike them, these people were people of faith, while Su Zhi Fei himself was an atheist; others were doing this for the sake of faith, while he had to do it because he had been ordered to do so by Ye Chen.
However, as he travelled further and further away, Su Zhi Fei’s mind became more and more relaxed.
During the march, he had almost reviewed his life of more than twenty years several times over.
In the process of doing so, Su Zhi Fei became more and more aware of his many mistakes and shortcomings, and over time, he felt that he was a guilty man.
The first sin was that he was arrogant and domineering and uneducated as the young master of the Su family.
The second sin was that he was saved by Ye Chen but had no gratitude.
When his father was hollowed out by his grandfather and his mother and sister were murdered by him and their lives were unknown, he went to compromise with his grandfather for the sake of his future, which was the third sin.
Over time, although Su Zhi Fei did not have any religious beliefs, he was surprised to find that this near corporal punishment that Ye Chen gave himself could calm his mind.
After his mind was calmed, the daily physical exertion was no longer a torture for him.
He was like a man who had never worked out but had become addicted to it because he kept working out, and gradually began to immerse himself in it, unable to extricate himself from it, never stopping his march as long as it was not windy and rainy.
Moreover, after he reflected on his mistakes and sins over the years, the hatred towards Ye Chen in his heart gradually disappeared, and he finally understood Ye Chen’s intention of letting him go on a pilgrimage all the way.
Before, he had been overwhelmed by profit and materialistic desires, and his kinship and humanity had been greatly affected as a result. After such trials and tribulations, his materialistic desires had long since been reduced to the extreme, and mansions, luxury cars, yachts and aeroplanes were all just a passing fog to him, and he now only needed to fill his stomach every day, and he was already living a very fulfilling life.
He began to miss his relatives and sympathise with the poor people along the way. When he saw areas that were still poor, he took them to heart, hoping that he could do something for them in the future when he was able to.
In his journey, Su Zhi Fei not only overcame the hardships of the road, but more importantly, he was purified and sublimated in his own spirituality.
As Su Zhi Fei continued to take three steps and bow, a helicopter whistled in the sky and flew quickly from afar to in front of him, then slowly landed in front of him.
After kowtowing, Su stood up from the ground and looked at the helicopter, wondering why this helicopter was blocking his way.
At that moment, the hatch of the helicopter opened and a middle-aged man jumped down from the aircraft, stepped in front of Su Zhi Fei and spoke, “Young Master Su, my young master asks you to return.”