As the voice fell, the arrow body flew forth. One arrow transformed into sixty-four lots, sealing the fortune of heaven and earth. Finally, from all directions, it violently pierced through Song Wulan’s entire body.

The moment Song Wulan was pierced through, he was completely shocked. After a long while, he looked down in disbelief at the lot-swords piercing through his body, murmuring, “I… am fate…”

With that, a cold wind blew from the distance. His entire being crumbled into ashes and was swept away by the wind.

That wind took Song Wulan away and also took away all sound. Jiang Zhaoxue stood on the Heart-Questioning Platform. She felt the faint spiritual power of the person behind her. She wanted to ask something but didn’t dare speak. Only when the other party tried to let go did she grip back instead. Her hands trembled uncontrollably, yet she made no sound.

“Female Lord.”

Pei Zichen’s voice was very soft, as if carrying a smile. “Why won’t you turn around?”

Jiang Zhaoxue didn’t speak. She didn’t know what to say. The moment this person appeared, she had clearly sensed that the one who came was Pei Zichen.

Yet it also seemed not to be Pei Zichen.

Almost at that moment, she inexplicably confirmed the other party’s identity.

She had seen him—seen him again and again. His voice, his scent, his movements…

In the past, she always felt he was familiar, yet also felt it wasn’t quite right.

However, at this moment, she clearly knew—Pei Zichen was Senior.

But how could he be Senior? Why become the Senior who saved her again and again? How did he return to such a distant past? He had clearly already become a god—why was his spiritual power so faint? What price did he pay to return to the past?

She was a Fate Master. She had seen countless methods of changing people’s fates. She clearly knew that everything in this world required a price to be paid.

She couldn’t help thinking—why had she become a seventh realm Fate Master?

Why had she suddenly seen the future?

Why did she encounter more life-and-death tribulations than Pei Zichen? Was her luck not good enough? Or… or…

Was she the one destined to die?

Realizing this, her entire being trembled. Yet the person behind her was extraordinarily calm, saying softly, “Female Lord, turn around and look at me.”

Hearing his voice, she tremblingly turned around to see the young man standing before her.

His body was already nearly transparent, like a shattered porcelain statue, his face covered in cracks.

He gazed at her tenderly. They had been apart only one day, yet he seemed to have already lived a thousand years. His eyes carried the composure precipitated by the passage of time.

She didn’t dare speak. She didn’t even dare use force, afraid that with any force, the person before her would shatter.

They only gazed quietly. After what seemed like a very long time, he finally said softly, “Yaoyao, I’ve seen you at seventeen.”

At these words, tears poured down Jiang Zhaoxue’s face like rain. He continued, “I’m very happy. When I was seventeen, I was also the kind of person you like.”

“Then why…” Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t help but speak. “Why didn’t you appear?”

If he had seen her at seventeen, why not appear? Why let her meet Shen Yuqing? Why let her fall in love with Shen Yuqing?

When this question was asked, Pei Zichen smiled, yet his eyes held sorrow. “Because I had to wait for you. Yaoyao, from the very beginning, I’ve been waiting for you at the end.”

“What do you mean by ‘the end’?”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t help saying, “We’re just beginning—what do you mean by end?! Didn’t you become a god? Gods are omnipotent—how can you have an end?!”

Pei Zichen didn’t speak. His body grew fainter and fainter. He turned his gaze to Jiang Zhaoxue’s waist. With a lift of his finger, a small glass orb floated out from Jiang Zhaoxue’s sleeve.

“What is this?”

Jiang Zhaoxue knew that what Pei Zichen took out at this moment was absolutely not ordinary. She gripped his hand tightly and said urgently, “What are you trying to do?!”

“Yaoyao,” Pei Zichen gazed at her. “This is the last thing I can do for you.”

The moment his voice fell, Pei Zichen’s fingers tightened. The glass orb instantly shattered. Countless souls flew out from the orb.

Jiang Pingsheng, Jiang Zhaoyue, Qingye, Ye Tianjiao…

Every single person before the great battle—he had actually taken one spirit from each and placed them in the glass orb.

As long as one soul or one spirit remained, the other souls and spirits could be summoned back and restored, though the price was extraordinary.

Jiang Zhaoxue watched in shock as those souls scattered out one by one. Looking at the gentle eyes of the person opposite, she suddenly realized.

He had prepared this long ago. He had prepared long ago to use himself to revive these people. So he had preserved their spirits, waiting for himself to become a god and use divine power to revive them.

“Pei Zichen!!”

The moment she realized this, Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t help but scream and lunge forward!

However, the moment her hand touched his body, it shattered just like that crushed glass orb.

Her hands passed through empty air. Only his aura surrounded her, accompanied by his voice.

“Heaven’s Way has its own cause and effect. Yaoyao, save me, one last time.”

Save him.

Save him thousands upon thousands of times.

Save him one last time.

But how to save him? What could she use to save him?

Even as a god, he couldn’t save himself—what could she use to save him?!

“Pei Zichen…”

Jiang Zhaoxue looked at the vast heaven and earth. Watching his aura depart like spring wind. Watching withered mountains turn green. Watching a hundred kinds of grass compete for spring. Watching the heavens resound for him. Watching ten thousand zhang of radiance pour down upon the three realms. Hearing the Eastern Emperor Bell that only tolled for gods ring out from afar.

People on the ground opened their eyes one by one in confusion. Only she cried out helplessly in search.

“Pei Zichen… Pei Zichen…”

“Pei Zichen!!”

She knelt crying on the ground. Her Heaven and Earth Lots had long since all broken. Her Yin-Yang Fortune Coins had also shattered to ash. She had only herself, continuously roaring with spirit speech, “Come out! Come back to life! Come out!”

“You said you’d be good to me. You said you liked me. How can you do this to me again and again…”

Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t help but curl up her body. “How do I save you? How should I save you? I… I…”

She suddenly realized something and raised her eyes to look at the Book of Fate in the distance.

The Book of Fate had long since lost its color, but fortune still surrounded it.

Fortune.

Song Wulan was dead. Fortune wouldn’t disappear into thin air. Where had his thirty thousand years of fortune gone?

“Jiang Zhaoxue.”

As her thoughts stirred, she heard a voice calling from behind in the distance.

Jiang Zhaoxue paused. She felt a power almost like the rules of the world pressing down. Jiang Zhaoxue looked back with cold eyes to see her surroundings darken. A path seemed to appear beneath her feet. At the end of the path, a woman in white robes with golden hairpins walked toward her from afar.

Her gauze dress moved without wind. Her flying ribbons spread out as if in water.

With each step she took, the world seemed to shake. Jiang Zhaoxue stared intently at her, watching her arrive before her eyes.

This woman before her had no features. The fortune surrounding her was so thick there seemed no end to it. Only fortune pervaded the surroundings. Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t help saying, “Who are you?”

“Me?”

The woman tilted her head slightly with a light laugh. “I am the Heavenly Way.”

“Heavenly Way?”

“Heavenly Way begins with living beings and arises from all things.”

With a lift of the woman’s hand, the surroundings suddenly transformed into an endless plain. Mountains became seas. Grass and trees withered and flourished. Everything changed rapidly. The woman said softly, “Thirty thousand years ago, after Haocang Shenjun created the world, he awaited my appearance. When the world has enough people and enough events to form a set of rules, it will possess me. And at that time, the Book of Fate should logically leave.”

“But he didn’t.”

Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t help but speak with anger. “And you? Where were you?”

“I was watching you all.”

The woman said calmly, “Heaven and earth regard all things as straw dogs. You and the Book of Fate are no different. I am decided by you, yet cannot decide you.”

“So what?”

Jiang Zhaoxue stared at her. “So what are you here for now? If you don’t interfere with anything, what are you doing before me?”

“I don’t interfere with anything, but when it concerns me, I must come ask you.”

The woman leaned slightly forward. “Do you want to become a god?”

Jiang Zhaoxue was stunned. The woman spoke softly, “In the Su Guangji, you saved a million common people. Now you’ve saved the three realms from fire and water. Everything you’ve done is great virtue and merit. Your fortune is extraordinary. And the Book of Fate was destroyed by you. You will inherit all his power. As long as you inherit it, you can achieve complete merit and ascend to godhood. Then you’ll govern the world’s living beings and all things—the four seasons, time and space—everything will be decided by you.”

“Then can I save Pei Zichen?!” Jiang Zhaoxue immediately spoke urgently. “If I become a god, I can save him, right?”

The woman didn’t speak.

Jiang Zhaoxue’s heart panicked. She couldn’t help saying, “Didn’t I become a god? Can’t I make him live?!”

“Gods are not omnipotent either.”

“But he’s the one who saved people!” Jiang Zhaoxue became agitated. “He’s the one who did good! In terms of fortune, in terms of repayment, it should be given to him! His fate should be to become lord of these three realms. I’m the one who changed him. I’m the one who caused his death! Why can I become a god while he has to die?!”

“Because he is destined to die.”

The Heavenly Way said calmly, “In any timeline, he will die.”

“Impossible!” Jiang Zhaoxue immediately interrupted. “If it weren’t for me, he would have become lord of the three realms…”

“And then, bearing the guilt of countless sins, he would die from heavenly punishment.”

The Heavenly Way spoke with certainty. Jiang Zhaoxue froze. She stared blankly and raised her eyes to see the other party lower them. “In that world you saw, he didn’t survive either. From the very beginning, he was the Book of Fate’s prey. His fortune was truly extraordinary—so extraordinary that just obtaining the power of this one person would allow the Book of Fate to become a god. So from start to finish, the Book of Fate’s goal was to have Pei Zichen commit evil all along the way while growing stronger. This way, in the end, when Pei Zichen became a heaven-defying evildoer, the Book of Fate could truly move against him. The Book of Fate would use heavenly punishment to kill Pei Zichen. After Pei Zichen’s death, the stronger he was, the more power the Book of Fate would obtain.”

“So…” Jiang Zhaoxue completely understood. “The Book of Fate was always cultivating him to obtain divine artifacts, but also had to tempt him to commit evil.”

“Correct,” the Heavenly Way nodded. “Actually, I’ve deduced it many times. But every time, he was forced by the Book of Fate to bear the guilt of countless sins. But Jiang Zhaoxue, in this world, rules are fate.”

Jiang Zhaoxue listened in confusion as the Heavenly Way said, “He violated cause and effect, so he was destined to die. And in that other world, he ultimately realized this too, but he could no longer save himself. So he wanted to save you.”

“Save me?” Jiang Zhaoxue didn’t understand. “He killed me—how is that saving me?”

“Everyone who uses spiritual power will be tracked and controlled by the Book of Fate,” the Heavenly Way explained patiently. “He killed you to sever the Book of Fate’s control over you, secretly sending you into reincarnation. Afterward, he fought to the death with the Book of Fate, ultimately dying together with it under heavenly punishment.”

“I’ve deduced countless times. All the key nodes are largely similar. Li Xiuji always falls into demonic ways. Pei Zichen always becomes the true Jiuyou Xuanming Emperor. They’re always covered in slaughter and debts of life.” A chair appeared from nowhere in the darkness. The Heavenly Way flicked her sleeve and sat down elegantly. “His only chance of survival lies in this one timeline, because in this timeline, he met you.”

The Heavenly Way turned to look at her, her tone becoming gentle. “No matter when, he never committed evil. He doesn’t need to endure heavenly punishment, so it’s not absolutely a dead end. And now for him to live isn’t difficult. As long as you’re willing to give up the Book of Fate’s power, you can use that power to revive him who has never done wrong.”

“So,” hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue confirmed, “I can save him?”

“You’ve always been saving him.”

The Heavenly Way affirmed, “Jiang Zhaoxue, actually he used the Time Mirror to return to the past. He went back a thousand years. And for twelve hundred years, he has always upheld his dao heart and never fallen into the demonic path—all because of you.”

Water vapor appeared in Jiang Zhaoxue’s eyes. The Heavenly Way’s tone was extraordinarily gentle. “Long ago in endless years, you’ve saved him, thousands upon thousands, ten thousands upon ten thousands of times.”

Every time blocking his evil thoughts was salvation for him.

So he came again and again, telling her again and again to save him.

Only by maintaining his good thoughts could she truly save him.

Save him thousands upon thousands of times. Save him when reining in at the cliff’s edge.

And this time was the last time.

“So,” Jiang Zhaoxue clenched her fists, “so what should I do?”

“Mm,” the Heavenly Way seemed to hesitate, “do you really not want to become a god?”

“Heavenly Way,” hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue’s pale face smiled. “This world doesn’t need gods. It only needs itself. Everyone is their own god. If I become a god, what difference is there from the Book of Fate?”

Hearing this, the Heavenly Way seemed to understand yet not understand.

After thinking for a moment, she nodded. “Very well. These are all your own decisions. Right now is when you’re closest to becoming a god, and also the only time you can converse with me. Is there anything else you want to ask me?”

“I want to ask…”

The moment Jiang Zhaoxue began speaking, many things flashed through her mind in an instant. However, after a long while, she finally said, “Nothing.”

“Oh?”

The Heavenly Way was curious. “You won’t ask me about the future?”

“I won’t ask.”

Jiang Zhaoxue shook her head and said seriously, “The future you see is only the future you see—seeing through a tube. Who can confirm that what they see is the final result? Fate,” Jiang Zhaoxue smiled, “is only in my and his own hands.”

“True.”

The Heavenly Way nodded seriously, then stood up. “Then wait a moment. Go see Pei Zichen yourself. I’ll leave first. He did many things in this past thousand years. You can chat slowly.”

With that, Jiang Zhaoxue felt her surroundings slowly brighten. When Jiang Zhaoxue opened her eyes, the first thing that entered her vision was Qingye wiping her face.

Qingye stared at her blankly. She looked quietly at Qingye. After a moment, Qingye suddenly reacted and said excitedly, “Female Lord! Female Lord, you’re awake?!”

After shouting, before Jiang Zhaoxue could react, she rushed out in a panic. Standing at the door, she shouted with a voice that resonated throughout all of Penglai Island, “The Female Lord is awake! Quickly notify everyone! The Female Lord is awake!”

With that, Qingye rushed back in, looking Jiang Zhaoxue up and down with surprise and joy. “Female Lord, are you alright? How do you feel? Do you feel anything wrong? That day you cried and cried and then fainted. When we woke up, we were all confused.”

“Where is Pei Zichen?”

Jiang Zhaoxue immediately asked. Qingye paused, somewhat hesitant. “The prince consort… he’s also been unconscious all this time. He’s still at Taiping Courtyard…”

Before she finished speaking, Jiang Zhaoxue immediately stood up.

Her spiritual power hadn’t yet recovered. She didn’t even have time to put on shoes before rushing all the way toward Taiping Courtyard.

Taiping Courtyard was Penglai’s place specifically for treating severe patients. It wasn’t far from her room, yet that path seemed so long to her.

She ran under blue stone tiles warmed by sunlight, ran in the warm sun of spring, letting the breeze brush past her face and gauze robes, raising the pink and white ribbons binding her hair. The ribbons and peach blossoms became one color. She seemed to return to her seventeen-year-old youth, running all the way without hesitation, with no more obstacles, running toward her beloved.

Amidst bird songs, she stepped on green grass and rushed into the courtyard.

Seeing her enter, everyone froze. Seeing she wore no shoes, they said urgently, “Female Lord? Why did you come without shoes?”

“Female Lord, shoes!”

Qingye, leading Diewu and Dielan, chased in after her, saying hurriedly, “Put your shoes on first! The prince consort is fine!”

“Where is Pei Zichen?”

But Jiang Zhaoxue didn’t care. She only lifted her skirt and walked rapidly inward, gasping, saying urgently, “Don’t lie to me. Where is Pei Zichen? What exactly happened to him? He…”

“Yaoyao.”

A soft call came from not far away. Jiang Zhaoxue’s movements stiffened.

Everything around quieted. Jiang Zhaoxue was both afraid and anxious. She restrained her fear and slowly turned around to see a young man in black robes embroidered with gold, long hair flowing loose, pearl and jade ornaments hanging from his forehead, adding a touch of beauty to his handsome face.

His complexion was still very pale, but clearly nothing was seriously wrong. His entire attire had obviously been dressed up, but hastily—perhaps he had only hurriedly begun this fuss upon hearing her voice.

He just stood beneath the tree, so real, so gentle, so calmly gazing at her.

As if he had stood watch through countless times across the years.

He met her at the starting point of time and reunited with her at the end of time.

Save him thousands upon thousands of times.

Wait for her thousands upon thousands of years.

So she crossed a thousand years of time. In warm spring and bright sun, she suddenly rushed toward him, violently crashing into his embrace.

Pei Zichen was knocked back by her impact, pressed against the peach blossom tree. Peach blossoms fell one after another. Pei Zichen coughed lightly.

“Yaoyao…” he spoke in a muffled voice. “Gentler.”

Jiang Zhaoxue didn’t speak. She only buried her head in his chest. After a long while, she began to laugh lowly.

That laughter started with her shoulders trembling lightly, then grew increasingly unrestrained.

Drifting across the courtyard, drifting across the island, drifting across mountains and rivers.

Drifting and drifting.

Ah, even time heard it.