In a snow-filled tent in Feng Prefecture.

On the journey back to the capital, Cui Xun had barely managed to hold on for ten days. He felt his life rapidly slipping away. By the tenth day of the third month, he could no longer move even a step. He spent more time unconscious than awake. Knowing his end was near, he summoned He Shisan and the others to his tent to make his final arrangements.

Of the ten Tianwei Army family members who had followed him from Chang’an to the northern campaign, five had died in battle. These five were all boys who had just turned fourteen, but they did not regret their choice. Being able to die on the battlefield like their elder brothers was a glory to them.

He Shisan’s eyes were red. Beside Cui Xun was a box of grasshoppers, with the last one just completed in his hand. His fingers were no longer nimble, and this grasshopper was crooked and quite unsightly. He handed the grasshopper to He Shisan, gesturing for him to place it in the wooden box. He had finally completed the one thousandth grasshopper.

He instructed He Shisan to send the box of grasshoppers to the Cui residence in Chang’an after his death. He Shisan suppressed his grief and asked, “Elder Brother, what about you? Aren’t you returning to Chang’an?”

Cui Xun shook his head and said softly, “Bury me at Luoyan Ridge, with your elder brothers.”

When He Shisan heard this, he could no longer hold back and began to wail in grief. Cui Xun smiled gently and said, “Why cry? This body is but a passing guest in the world. From now on, my soul returns to the azure sky, with no lingering attachments.”

Clutching Li Ying’s lotus sachet in his hand, he murmured, “The only one I can’t bear to leave is Mingyue Pearl.”

After saying these words, all strength left his body. With longing and remorse for Li Ying, he slowly closed his eyes.

The hand clutching the lotus sachet also fell heavily, without strength.

He Shisan and the other four staggered to their knees, their cries shaking the heavens: “Elder Brother!”

He had once been the person He Shisan and the others hated the most, but at this moment, these youths were genuinely kneeling on the ground, weeping bitterly and calling him “Elder Brother.”

They had truly accepted him, truly admired him as they would their elder brothers.

Because he deserved their recognition, and deserved their admiration.

In the pitch darkness, Cui Xun opened his eyes.

At first, he thought his soul had dispersed with no future life, and this darkness was the eternal void that trapped him. But in the darkness, he saw a beam of light. Confused, he followed the light forward and finally stepped into a dense fog.

Through the fog, he could vaguely see a dark river ahead of him. The river was very wide, with the opposite shore completely invisible. He was utterly puzzled. What place was this?

Was it the Nai River? Was it the netherworld? But he should have no soul left; he shouldn’t have come to the netherworld.

Just as Cui Xun was wondering, he suddenly heard a voice:

“Seventeen Lang!”

Looking toward the sound, he saw the fog gradually dispersing, revealing the fifty thousand soldiers of the Tianwei Army standing before him.

At their head was Guo Qinwei.

And there were also Cao Wulang and Sheng Yunting.

Cui Xun was stunned. Cao Wulang had already stepped forward quickly and embraced him: “Seventeen Lang!”

After releasing Cui Xun, Cui Xun finally came to his senses: “Why are you all here?”

“This is the netherworld, the bank of the Nai River. After those who harmed us received their retribution, we should have left the City of Wrongful Deaths to be reincarnated. But we were worried about you, so we waited for you here before being reborn.”

“Waited for me…” Cui Xun murmured. “But I…”

He wanted to say that his soul had already dispersed, so why had they bothered to wait for him? But he didn’t speak these words. Since he could appear in the netherworld, perhaps he had received some sort of opportunity. Looking at Cao Wulang and the other Tianwei Army brothers, tears filled his eyes: “If you hadn’t found me, would you have just kept waiting without being reborn?”

Cao Wulang nodded with absolute certainty: “Of course!”

He pulled Cui Xun to stand before Guo Qinwei: “General Guo is also waiting for you.”

Looking at Guo Qinwei, Cui Xun suddenly felt somewhat ashamed. He lowered his head, not daring to look at Guo Qinwei: “I… I failed to live up to General Guo’s teachings. General Guo always told me to be an upright and honorable person, but I didn’t manage it… In these six years, I’ve done many wrong things…”

“Seventeen Lang,” Guo Qinwei patted his shoulder, saying with guilt, “If anyone is to blame, it’s me. I placed the burden of clearing our names on your shoulders, making you suffer greatly. That’s why you couldn’t become the person I hoped you would be. But you still fulfilled your promise to me. You are the benefactor of all of us.”

Cui Xun’s eyes reddened. He wasn’t used to being treated as their benefactor, and he didn’t believe that all the hardships he had endured were Guo Qinwei’s fault. On the contrary, he felt he had done what he should have done. To change the subject, he asked Guo Qinwei, “By the way, General Guo, didn’t Mingyue Pearl say your soul was imprisoned in the Ghost Judgment Hall and couldn’t be released until your natural lifespan ended? How did General Guo leave the Ghost Judgment Hall?”

“The people of the Great Zhou built many shrines for me, offering incense and worship. As merit accumulated, when the Tianwei Army soldiers left the City of Wrongful Deaths, King Qinguang also released me, allowing me to be reincarnated with them.”

Cui Xun murmured, “So that’s how it is.”

“One good deed offsets one wrong. Including you, Seventeen Lang. Even knowing you would die, you volunteered for the northern expedition, reclaimed the six provinces, saved the people, and forced the Turks to retreat three thousand miles. You achieved extraordinary merit, and your merit has offset your wrongs,” Guo Qinwei said. “You went on the northern expedition with the certainty of death and the dissolution of your soul, but this saved you from that fate. Seventeen Lang, you saved yourself.”

No wonder he could come to the netherworld; he had saved himself.

Cui Xun suddenly understood. Sheng Yunting asked, “Seventeen Lang, we’re going to be reincarnated now. Will you come with us?”

Cui Xun hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: “No, I still need to wait for someone.”

Guo Qinwei understood. After a pause, he said, “Seventeen Lang, we’re leaving. Take care of yourself.”

With these words, the fifty thousand Tianwei Army soldiers knelt on one knee before Cui Xun, who was astonished. As he was about to kneel himself, Guo Qinwei stopped him: “Seventeen Lang.”

He said, “You deserve this honor.”

Cui Xun looked at the kneeling Tianwei Army soldiers thanking him, his eyes filled with hot tears. Everyone saluted with clasped hands, and then the fifty thousand heroic spirits, reluctant to part with Cui Xun, transformed into green points of light, floating onto the ferryman’s boat that had been waiting. Like a long river of stars formed from emerald blood, they illuminated the black Nai River brilliantly. The river monsters also stayed quiet, resting at the bottom without moving. As the small boat disappeared on the other side of the Nai River, the emerald river of stars gradually vanished completely.

Cui Xun watched as everyone crossed the Nai River to the other shore. Afterward, he turned around and looked towards the direction of the path of life and death.

He was waiting for someone.

He didn’t know how long he would have to wait, but he knew that no matter how long it took, he would continue to wait.

The small boat finally returned, and with it came the ferryman wearing a bamboo hat.

The ferryman adjusted his hat and called out, “Cui Xun.”

Cui Xun turned around.

The ferryman said, “Are you waiting for Mingyue Pearl?”

Cui Xun was surprised that he knew, but nodded and said, “Yes.”

“She has gone back.”

“Back where?”

“Thirty years ago.”

Cui Xun was shocked. He studied the ferryman, then stepped forward and made a respectful bow: “May I ask, ferryman, when you say thirty years ago, do you mean…?”

The ferryman nodded: “Exactly what you’re thinking.” He said, “She has returned to the sixth day of the tenth month in the twentieth year of Taichang, and on that day, she killed herself.”

Cui Xun was stunned. Mingyue Pearl had killed herself? Was this the truth about her death?

He instinctively asked, “But how could her soul return to thirty years ago?”

“Why not?” the ferryman said. “Everyone has a cycle of rebirth—from life to death, after death, reincarnation, then life again, then death again. But Mingyue Pearl’s cycle is not into the next life, but a continuous cycle within her lifetime.”

Cui Xun thought carefully and understood. Just as in this world, there are so-called “living immortals” and fortune-tellers who can make accurate predictions, even knowing events that will happen decades later—the most famous being Yuan Tiangong and Li Chunfeng.

And perhaps some of these living immortals were like Li Ying, souls from decades later returning to the past, occupying their bodies. This way, they would naturally know what would happen afterward.

For example, people often speak of “opening the celestial eye,” saying that a fortune-teller at a certain moment—perhaps while drinking or playing—suddenly collapses, and after waking, possesses the ability to foretell the future. But perhaps they haven’t opened any celestial eye; rather, the person in that body is no longer their current self, but their self from decades later.

Cui Xun asked, “So the Li Ying on the sixth day of the tenth month was no longer Li Ying?”

The ferryman nodded: “She returned from the present to the past.”

The Li Ying on the sixth day of the tenth month was, in a sense, like those fortune-tellers—at a certain moment, she gained the ability to foretell the future.

Cui Xun also finally understood why the Empress Dowager had repeatedly tried to kill him, but always said she had promised someone and therefore would not kill him. This someone must have been her beloved daughter Li Ying.

From the very beginning, it was Li Ying who had saved him.

Cui Xun had been wondering where Li Ying’s soul from thirty years later had come from, but then he realized that the soul from thirty years later came from Li Ying of thirty years ago.

In the previous dynasty, the Wendi Emperor’s Empress once woke from a dream in panic and told the Emperor, “Don’t go to the western suburbs; there will be a great disaster.”

The Wendi Emperor, who was quarreling with the Empress at the time, changed his hunting plans from the eastern suburbs to the western suburbs precisely because of the Empress’s words. As a result, he was startled by a black bear, fell from his horse, and died from severe injuries. The Wendi Emperor’s Empress was then forced to commit suicide by the Empress Dowager.

Perhaps the Wendi Emperor’s Empress was like Li Ying, reborn back to the past. She wanted to save the Wendi Emperor, but never imagined that the Emperor would die because of her words, and she couldn’t escape being forced to commit suicide.

This was probably the cause and effect—the effect was the cause, and the cause was the effect.

Cui Xun was silent for a moment. The ferryman asked, “Will you still wait for her?”

Perhaps she would be trapped in her cycle forever, and he would never see her again.

Cui Xun nodded: “Yes.”

“Even though she chose death herself? Even though she was the instigator of the Taichang Blood Incident? Is she still the Mingyue Pearl with a heart of crystal in your eyes?”

“Yes,” Cui Xun looked steadily at the ferryman with his bamboo hat. The conditions thirty years ago can be seen in the history books. The noble families were powerful, with the Five Surnames and Seven Clans even ranking before the imperial Li clan in the ‘Clan Records.’ The new policies harmed the interests of the noble families and could not be implemented. The Turks were strong, and their Khan ambitious. If things had continued that way, within fifty years, the Turkish iron hooves would have crossed the borders just as in the previous dynasty. The Great Zhou would only be able to cede territory to make peace. How many common people would have become slaves to the barbarians? It was precisely for this reason that the late Emperor reluctantly agreed to kill his daughter.”

He continued, “Killing one to save many, though creating sin, also has merit. When Mingyue Pearl returned to the past, she could certainly choose to live, and she could use everything she knew to change her fate and even the fates of others. But one action affects everything. She could not bear the unknown possibilities this change might bring. What if that possibility meant the failure of the new policies, the Turks marching south, and a repeat of the tragedy of the Five Barbarians’ disorder? She would die of guilt. So she preferred to choose the known outcome, even if this choice would cause her immense pain and trap her in an endless cycle. Still, she would make this choice. Why is such a person not worthy of being described as having a heart of crystal?”

The ferryman seemed moved and nodded slightly. He pointed behind him and said, “Mingyue Pearl is coming.”

Cui Xun was startled. He turned around and indeed saw Li Ying.

Li Ying only remembered falling into the Lotus Pond, but didn’t know why she appeared in the netherworld, with Cui Xun standing before her. She stood there in a daze until Cui Xun came to his senses, quickly walked over, and embraced her. Only then did she react, murmuring, “What is happening?”

Wasn’t she supposed to be trapped in an endless cycle? Why was she here?

She tremblingly extended her arms to embrace Cui Xun, hardly believing: “Am I… dreaming?”

“No, you’re not dreaming.” Cui Xun held her like a treasured possession lost and found again, his eyes reddening. He held Li Ying tightly, unwilling to let go. After a while, he suddenly seemed to remember something and released Li Ying. Li Ying still felt as if she were in a dream. She said, “Didn’t you make a vow before the Buddha’s crown relic? Why…?”

“It’s a long story,” Cui Xun said. “Mingyue Pearl, come and meet your father first.”

Li Ying was stunned: “Father?”

The ferryman slowly removed his bamboo hat, revealing a face extremely familiar to Li Ying.

Li Ying exclaimed in surprise: “Father?”

The Taichang Emperor’s eyes glistened with tears. This was the first time Li Ying had seen him cry. His expression seemed full of remorse, and he didn’t dare step forward to embrace Li Ying. Li Ying pressed her lips together, then quickly stepped forward and threw herself into his arms: “Father.”

The Taichang Emperor’s fingertips trembled slightly, and finally, just as when Li Ying was a child, he stroked her hair and held her in his arms.

He murmured, “Mingyue Pearl, forgive your father.”

Li Ying’s eyes were blurred with tears. She looked up and said, “Father, I forgave you long ago.”

Hearing this, the Taichang Emperor was overwhelmed with emotion and choked up.

Li Ying asked, “Father, why are you here?”

Cui Xun, standing to the side, said, “Mingyue Pearl, your father is here because of you.”

The Taichang Emperor nodded slightly. In his narration, Li Ying learned that after the Taichang Emperor died and came to the netherworld, the Ten Kings of Hell told him that during his reign, he had worked diligently to govern well and had done great deeds for the people. He should have ascended to the heavenly court as an immortal, but because he had instigated the Taichang Blood Incident with too much killing, he could only be a minor immortal in the netherworld. But the Taichang Emperor had already learned the cause of Li Ying’s death from Ji Qingyang. He first asked the Ten Kings of Hell where his daughter was. When he learned that Li Ying was trapped in an endless cycle, the Taichang Emperor preferred not to be an immortal but instead became a ferryman on the Nai River, transporting departed souls across the river to accumulate merit, to eliminate Li Ying’s sins, and help her escape the cycle earlier.

And now, the Taichang Emperor, once a ruler of a country, had been a ferryman for exactly twenty years, transporting no fewer than a million departed souls. He had accumulated merit for Li Ying for twenty years. Today was the day when Li Ying’s merits and sins balanced out, which was why she could escape the cycle and come to the netherworld.

Li Ying was crying uncontrollably: “Father…”

The Taichang Emperor shook his head: “Mingyue Pearl, don’t be sad for your father. This is what your father should do.”

He looked at Cui Xun: “Cui Xun.”

Cui Xun respectfully said, “Yes.”

He took Li Ying’s hand and handed it to Cui Xun: “Cui Xun, I entrust my daughter to you. Go and be reincarnated together.”

But Li Ying looked at Cui Xun with attachment, biting her lip, her eyes misty with tears: “Father, I don’t want to be reincarnated. After reincarnation, I won’t be me anymore.”

And Cui Xun wouldn’t be Cui Xun anymore.

The Taichang Emperor smiled slightly: “What if you could still be you, and Cui Xun could still be Cui Xun?”

Li Ying was stunned; she didn’t understand. Neither did Cui Xun.

The Taichang Emperor sighed: “Your mother has made it possible for you to still be yourself.”

On the day Li Ying’s soul dissipated at Cui Xun’s grave, the eternal lamps in forty thousand Buddhist temples across the Great Zhou were extinguished forever, and the Empress Dowager knew that her daughter was gone from this point on.

She recalled three years earlier in Penglai Hall, when a eunuch reported that the Tianwei Army’s son of the Cui clan of Boling was in the Dali Temple, refusing to confess to surrendering to the Turks, and was about to die from torture. She was impatient—she had never liked the Cui clan of Boling, and this man had surrendered to the Turks, making him even more detestable. She said, “Wasn’t it said that this person’s affairs should not be reported to me?”

The eunuch complied: “It was this slave’s loose tongue.”

But the eunuch had previously received favors from Cui Songqing, so he still wanted to help Cui Songqing’s nephew. He carefully probed: “Empress Dowager, that Cui Xun, perhaps…”

Before he could finish, the Empress Dowager suddenly stood up: “What did you say that person is called?”

“Cui… Cui Xun…”

“What is his courtesy name?”

“I believe it’s… Wangshu…”

Cui Xun… Cui Wangshu… The Empress Dowager remembered the words her beloved daughter had spoken to her, lying on her lap on the day of her death.

But how would Mingyue Pearl know about Cui Xun?

She was full of doubts, and these doubts were only resolved when Li Ying appeared before her.

So the person she had seen thirty years ago was Mingyue Pearl, who had returned from the future. She hadn’t been killed by the Taichang Emperor but had drowned herself in the Lotus Pond.

She was deeply grieved. She knew that her current position and the Great Zhou’s current prosperity had all been triggered by her beloved daughter’s death. Mingyue Pearl had sacrificed her life for all of this. How could she continue to shield her son?

She killed Emperor Longxing, but then Cui Xun came to ask her permission to lead the northern expedition. She knew he wouldn’t return, but Cui Xun had experienced the war six years earlier. He was familiar with the six provinces and the Turks. No one was more suitable to lead the campaign than he.

She finally granted his request, and because of this, she lost Mingyue Pearl again.

Tears streamed down her face. She didn’t know where Li Ying’s soul had gone, nor where Cui Xun’s soul had gone. She could only make a wish before Buddha. She had governed for many years, with achievements worthy of historical record. After death, she could have ascended to immortality, but she was willing to use her lifetime’s achievements to enter the cycle of rebirth like common people after death, in exchange for Cui Xun and Li Ying continuing their bond life after life.

Li Ying’s eyes moistened. She murmured, “Mother…”

Cui Xun also hadn’t expected the Empress Dowager would do this. His emotions were very complex at that moment. The Empress Dowager had once disliked him, but in the end, she had unexpectedly paid such a great price to bring him and Li Ying together.

Holding Li Ying’s hand, both of them had gone from the darkest moment to seeing light at the end of the tunnel. At this moment, they felt as if they had been through different worlds.

The Taichang Emperor said to Li Ying, “If you continue your bond life after life, you need not drink Meng Po’s soup of forgetfulness. In the future, you will still be you, and Cui Xun will still be Cui Xun.”

He said, “Go now. I’ll send you across the Nai River.”

Li Ying nodded with tears. She asked the Taichang Emperor, “Father, aren’t you coming with us?”

She no longer had to be trapped in an endless cycle, and the Taichang Emperor no longer had to be a ferryman.

The Taichang Emperor shook his head: “Your father still needs to wait for your mother.”

Li Ying bit her lip. In a daze, she held Cui Xun’s hand as they boarded the small boat. The Taichang Emperor pushed the pole, and the boat drifted gently towards the middle of the Nai River.

The white mist on the other side of the Nai River gradually dispersed. She and Cui Xun held hands tightly. From now on, they would hold hands until old age, never to part again.