Finally seeing Xie Zhuo again, I was filled with gratitude toward fate, but this gratitude… quickly turned into melancholy.

Looking at the tiny Xie Zhuo before me, I wanted to sigh, but I had no mouth, nor any breath…

I, Fu Jiuxia, a mere soul, had been here for three years!

Three years! Time passes swiftly like a galloping colt. The infant Xie Zhuo had grown into a small child. Though still tiny, he was much bigger than when I first saw him.

Back then, three years ago, just after seeing infant Xie Zhuo, I immediately tried to find someone in the Snow Wolf tribe whose soul was compatible with mine, someone whose body I could enter. Though I didn’t know what to say to such a young Xie Zhuo, at least… I could have held him, touched him, even that would have been enough.

But!

I searched the entire Snow Wolf tribe and couldn’t find a single person compatible with my soul!

So I had to go to more distant places.

But as merely a soul without physical form, unable to use magic, I could only try my best to ride the wind, floating unsteadily forward.

When I floated out from the forest of the Snow Wolf tribe, I drifted to the Northern Wilderness, where the City of Immortals had not yet been built. After floating around the Northern Wilderness, trying every person I encountered, still without success, I felt I couldn’t waste any more time. Not knowing what was happening with Xie Zhuo, I was worried and indeed missed seeing him terribly…

So I floated back to the forest of the Snow Wolf tribe.

Seeing Xie Zhuo again, he had grown much larger.

The Snow Wolf tribe used their soul power to nurture him day and night, so he grew faster than ordinary children, and his mind matured earlier.

He seemed… already aware that he was different from others.

After my return, I floated beside him every day. He couldn’t sense my existence, nor could any member of the Snow Wolf tribe.

Little Xie Zhuo, after receiving the daily offerings, liked to leave his tent. He would walk from the east side of the Snow Wolf tribe’s settlement to the west side, and then back again from west to east.

I accompanied him, floating from east to west and back again, so I could see him every day.

Wherever Xie Zhuo went, no one stopped him, nor did anyone speak to him. Only occasionally would children whisper behind his back after he passed by. Then, these children would be taken back by their parents.

Little Xie Zhuo would turn around to look at those people.

His large eyes, characteristic of children, would gaze at those who avoided him, but those people wouldn’t even make eye contact with him.

At such times, little Xie Zhuo would silently blink twice, then reach out to grab something—perhaps a stone on the ground, or perhaps the snow-white trunk of a nearby tree. He would tap his foot with the stone or gently bump his head against the tree trunk.

He seemed to be trying to confirm something—

That he truly existed, right?

That they could see him, right?

They could see him.

Only they chose not to see him.

Although they came to offer their soul power to him every day, everyone treated him more like an idol they were forced to worship.

Fearful, guarded, and afraid that the power behind the idol might, at some unknown time, bring punishment upon them.

Little Xie Zhuo didn’t understand why. He only knew that he seemed different from others, and among all these people, only one person was also different from the rest…

Xie Zhuo’s mother—Xie Ling.

By the chief’s order, every adult member of the Snow Wolf tribe had to offer soul power to Xie Zhuo daily, including Xie Ling.

But soul power was precious, and the evil god had killed her blood-oath partner. Moreover, Zhu Lian, the child Xie Ling had with her original partner, had fallen ill since the day his father was killed, confined to his bed, never leaving his tent.

Xie Ling needed to use soul power to nurture Zhu Lian and also offer a portion to Xie Zhuo. She couldn’t be like other Snow Wolf tribe members who could leave one person at home to care for a sick child. She had to go out and, by some means, find soul power, barely maintaining her own life.

She hated Xie Zhuo…

So, she was different from others.

Whenever she returned, Xie Zhuo would “happen” to be walking at the place of her return.

Xie Ling wouldn’t ignore Xie Zhuo. She would look at him with hatred, then walk quickly toward the tent where Zhu Lian was.

After meeting Xie Ling’s gaze, Xie Zhuo would freeze for a moment, then, with laboring steps, follow in Xie Ling’s footsteps, trying to catch up.

Just before reaching Zhu Lian’s tent, Xie Ling would stop, turn around, and glare at Xie Zhuo.

“Get lost. This is not a place you deserve to be.”

Then Xie Zhuo would stop, watching as Xie Ling walked inside.

He would stand outside the tent for a long time, not saying a word, his thoughts unknown. After a certain time, he would obediently leave on his own.

Then he would walk to the frozen lake where no one else would go.

Looking at his reflection in the icy lake, he would say softly, “Today, she saw me again.”

Watching little Xie Zhuo, my heart was always in turmoil, unable to find peace: “I’ve always been watching you,” I recited in my heart.

In the sky, snowflakes began to fall gently.

Little Xie Zhuo didn’t look up, still gazing at the ice beneath his feet: “I can be seen.”

“Of course you can be seen. You’re not alone. You’ve always been watched.”

How I wished to answer him, how I hoped he could hear me.

At that moment, snowflakes continuously passed through my soul, and I suddenly had an idea.

I floated up into the air, searching and moving among countless snowflakes. Following the wind, I collided with hundreds of snowflakes…

Finally!

My soul touched a snowflake, no longer met with an empty response. I felt the coldness of snow. My soul had successfully entered a snowflake!

Using the snowflake as a vessel, I descended from the sky.

Having been without an actual physical presence for so long, I found it somewhat difficult to control myself.

But perhaps ice and snow were meant to come with the wind, unrestrained.

I could only follow the arrangement of fate, letting an invisible force carry me, swaying as I brushed against little Xie Zhuo’s head, then swinging past his eyes, finally landing on his chest.

His gaze seemed to fall on “me.” I used all my strength to make the snowflake sway in the air, creating an arc different from the ordinary.

I didn’t know if he saw it or if he would even notice. I just wanted to use all the strength I had at that moment to tell him—

Xie Zhuo, I am here.

As if heaven took pity, he seemed to hear my voice.

He raised his hand…

I fell into his palm.

His small palm was much warmer than I was.

The snow began to melt in his palm.

In the gradually melting snowflake, I gazed into Xie Zhuo’s eyes.

His black pupils were clear, not yet mixed with the depth and obscurity they would later contain.

He blinked, watching me melt in his palm.

How I wanted to tell him, I’ve seen you, Xie Zhuo. One day, you will meet someone whose heart and eyes are filled only with you.

She will change, but she will also return.

But I couldn’t say anything until the snowflake completely melted and my soul flew out.

Little Xie Zhuo was still staring at his palm. The water from the completely melted snowflake pooled in his tiny palm. He looked at the water droplet for a long time, his small head filled with thoughts unknown.

A moment later, he stood up, carefully holding the water droplet in his palm, then tucked it into his pocket.

The water droplet in his pocket would surely be quickly absorbed by his clothes… I thought, but then I heard little Xie Zhuo muttering: “Little snowflake, floating and floating.”

He walked back, “Little snowflake, floating and floating…”

He seemed somewhat happier than when he had arrived.

Perhaps catching an unusual snowflake was enough to make a child happy.

So, even if my complex feelings hadn’t been fully conveyed, at that moment, I felt much more content.

After all, he was happy.

“Little snowflake, floating and floating, little snowflake, floating and floating…”

This phrase became Xie Zhuo’s idle mantra in the days that followed. He seemed to have truly felt the “preference” and “attention” that the strange snowflake had given him!

Inspired by this, I began searching for anything around me that my soul could attach to.

I suddenly realized that perhaps earlier, it wasn’t that I couldn’t find a person compatible with my soul, but that I hadn’t yet mastered how to connect with another’s soul!

I had left in a hurry, and Master Ji hadn’t had time to teach me. It’s also possible that for a deity, finding a person whose soul is compatible and then entering it might be as easy as eating or drinking.

But I was not a deity, I was just a senior immortal!

My soul… wasn’t strong enough.

Those three years of my fruitless wandering had been wasted!

After discovering this, I began training my soul, from snowflakes to stones to wooden posts, from light and small objects to large and heavy ones. I tried everything in the Snow Wolf tribe’s territory.

During my training process, I also tried my best to get close to Xie Zhuo.

When Xie Zhuo was receiving soul power offerings from the tribe members, the atmosphere was quiet yet oppressive. He sat on the formation in the main tent, not allowed to move, while the tribe members never looked up at him, always hastily offering their soul power and immediately leaving.

In the small tent, people came and went, but no one spoke a word to him.

I learned to control my soul and lit a burning candle nearby.

As the wick burned, I could feel a searing pain throughout my body, as if my blood was being dried up, but I still made my flame.

At unexpected moments, I would make the flame burst into strange shapes—sometimes a heart shape, sometimes an arrow, sometimes a crescent moon.

Little Xie Zhuo, with nothing to do, quickly had his attention drawn to the candlelight. He blinked, watching me. Enduring the intense pain in my body, I danced with fire for him to see.

The flames reflected light in his eyes. He didn’t speak, but his head always tilted following the flame’s movements.

Seeing him like this, I felt only satisfaction in my heart, not fearing the pain at all.

But soon, the tent full of Snow Wolf tribe members thought I was a bad candle with a poor wick, the flame crackling and hurting people’s eyes. Someone came over and snuffed me out.

My soul could no longer endure and floated out with the smoke as the candle was extinguished.

After I floated out, little Xie Zhuo’s gaze still followed the curling smoke for quite a while.

Then in the following days, little Xie Zhuo’s mantra became: “Little flame, dance and dance, little flame, dance and dance.”

With these two experiences of bringing him joy, I became even more motivated.

I would become the stones he passed, the wooden posts he touched, and I would also entwine myself with the wind that blew past him, or the rain that dripped on his cheeks.

One day, warm breezes from outside blew into the Snow Wolf tribe’s forest. Counting the days, it should have been midsummer, but this forest was still covered in winter’s white.

The summer flowers outside, with their enchanting colors, were blown into the forest by the warm breeze.

Summer flowers danced among the trees.

I managed to enter the largest and most beautiful flower. I had learned to control myself. Riding the wind, I passed through countless Snow Wolf tribe members, avoiding many hands that wanted to catch me.

I found where little Xie Zhuo was. He was sitting cross-legged by the frozen lake, watching the Snow Wolf tribe members in the distance playing with the summer flowers from outside.

I swept past his eyes and plunged straight into his lap.

I was large, vibrant, and substantial—a heavy, full bloom. When I fell into his lap, there was even a soft “poof” sound.

Little Xie Zhuo looked at me, somewhat stunned.

He held me, examining me from all sides.

Several Snow Wolf tribe children who had been chasing me stopped in their tracks when they saw Xie Zhuo.

They whispered among themselves: “Ah, it floated to him.”

“He got the most beautiful flower of the year.”

“He’s the luckiest person this year.”

“But my mother told me that Xie Zhuo is the most unfortunate child here!”

Hearing this, Xie Zhuo turned to look at the children who appeared to be about his age. As soon as the children met his gaze, they ran away like the wind.

Xie Zhuo lowered his head and looked at me again. He gently touched my petals, somewhat in disbelief, somewhat cautiously.

From within the summer flower, I gazed up at him.

I thought: Xie Zhuo, will what I’m doing make you feel a little better?

If no one treats you kindly for now, then at least I can give you the gentleness of summer flowers and warm breezes.