In the seventh month, torrential rain poured down like notes upon the Heavenly Palace immortal realm.

Xue Yu stepped out from Qingyuan Hall with a cold expression, heading westward, her dress hem rippling in layers of pleated flowers with each movement. Wherever she passed, the smiles on the immortal attendants’ faces immediately vanished, and they knelt in long rows along both sides of the path, shrouded in clusters of misty, moon-bright lamp glow.

Through the pelting rain curtain, those immortal attendants looked at her with eyes filled with both reverence and fear.

Xue Yu seemed oblivious to it all, striding directly into Yunxiao Hall.

The chief eunuch guarding the entrance silently bowed to her, as if he had already received some command and dared not obstruct her.

The rain had formed a water curtain, its pattering sound echoing in her ears. Xue Yu crossed the threshold, her gaze sweeping once around the cool interior of the hall. Her steps paused for an instant as she extended her palm, saying, “All of you wait outside.” As her words fell, she entered the inner hall alone, her slender silhouette quickly concealed by the pearl curtain.

Inside the inner hall, a warm fragrance floated in the air. Beside the Eight Immortals cabinet, one person sat while another stood. The standing man had not yet removed the armor from his body, a sword hanging at his waist, exhaustion visible on his face, though his eyes and brows appeared gentle. The seated one supported his head with his hand, eyes half-open and half-closed, sighing countless times in just a few breaths.

“Enough. I’ll go speak to Xue Yu about this matter.” Lu Chengze opened his eyes, scanning Song Heng a few times before saying, “You’re no good with words – the more you say, the more mistakes you’ll make.”

“Say what?” Behind them, Xue Yu picked up his words, her voice so cold it seemed frozen, each word and sentence carrying a chill: “I’m right here. Whatever you want to say, come, speak directly to me.”

Song Heng and Lu Chengze both turned to look at her simultaneously.

The woman with long, loose hair wore a floor-length gown. With willow-leaf eyebrows, an oval face, and almond eyes, she was exquisitely and meticulously beautiful, like a delicate white porcelain ornament that had settled with ancient charm over the years. Though her appearance was gentle and graceful, when she frowned and spoke coldly, she naturally carried the noble bearing of someone in a position of authority.

This was the treasured pearl that the Luo Huang lineage of Yedu had carefully cultivated and nurtured. If she hadn’t followed Song Heng all the way to level mountains and seas and expand territories, by now she would have long since ascended to the throne as Empress of Yedu.

Song Heng took a step forward, looking at her with eyes that held a complexity different from usual days. When he spoke, his voice was lower than normal: “Zhu Yun said you went to the mulberry lands last month to capture the Heavenly Wolf King and were injured during the fight. How is your body feeling now?”

Xue Yu looked at the handsome face of the man before her, her fingers pinching the edge of her sleeve. She lowered her eyes and called him by his full name: “Song Heng, you and I have known each other for a thousand years. Today, give me one truthful answer.”

“When I went to the mulberry lands to capture the Heavenly Wolf, where were you and what were you doing?”

Seeing the situation turning bad, Lu Chengze quickly spoke up: “Xue Yu, calm down. This matter isn’t what you’ve heard or think it is. There are reasons behind it – Song Heng also had his difficulties.”

“Can’t you speak for yourself?” Xue Yu turned her head sideways, looking at Song Heng standing ten steps away, her voice carrying several notes of mockery, strangely cold: “A thousand years ago, when you were a prisoner, it was like this, and today as Celestial Lord, it’s still like this. In this lifetime of yours, will you only ever hide behind others?”

Song Heng had that typical noble young master appearance. Without needing gold and jade for adornment, with just a casual stance, he possessed an indescribable spring breeze elegance like jade trees that moved hearts. From the embarrassed youth who had been framed by old enemies and pressed onto the Six Realms’ Judgment Platform, to now being the most beloved Celestial Lord of the Heavenly Palace, that passionate spirit in his heart seemed to have never changed.

Xue Yu had said more than once that Song Heng was a stubborn old good person, sometimes like a pedantic and inflexible ancient monk who didn’t know how to adapt.

People trapped in water and fire – if he could save them, he absolutely would. Matters beneficial to all living beings – even if the road ahead was filled with difficulties, he would tirelessly push them forward. He was a thoroughly good person, a kind person, while those young people cultivated by the various Sacred Lands, like Xue Yu and Lu Chengze, found it extremely difficult to achieve this point.

But just two days ago, this universally acknowledged good person, leading his invincible soldiers and generals, had leveled the entire Yedu. Except for the Sacred Lands and the original residents living in the city, the hundreds of thousands of vengeful spirits and demon beasts in Yedu’s central city – except for a few with powerful demon abilities who had the strength to protect themselves and escape – all the rest were suppressed and sealed to death by the great formation.

If not for the snowflake-like messages fluttering in from the communication jade tokens, if not for the life lamps representing those powerful beings that were placed beside her, dimming one by one, Xue Yu would never have dared to believe that the one who did such things would be Song Heng.

It was Song Heng.

Outside the window, rain was swift and wind fierce, flowing clouds like spilled ink. Inside the hall, a small barrier had been set up, isolating all sounds from outside. In the complete silence, Song Heng raised his eyes. Facing those clear, cold pupils that seemed adorned with snow, he tightened his palm and called to her: “Ah Yu.”

Just one call, saying nothing else, yet admitting to everything.

Xue Yu closed her eyes, instead becoming calmer. “What about my father?” she asked.

“The Lord of Ye harbored great righteousness, using his body to form the formation, completely isolating Yedu’s central city from the outside world.” Song Heng gently exhaled a breath, saying, “Ah Yu, I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop him.”

“Harbored great righteousness.” Xue Yu slowly recited these four words, her delicate and exquisite finger bones gradually falling in mid-air, as if controlling some kind of marionette, revealing a pale and shattered sharp feeling. She looked at the familiar face before her, her lips slowly climbing into a bewitching crimson smile: “Everything you’ve done – was it for your so-called righteousness of all living beings, or for that Tea Immortal?”

Song Heng stood in place, neither saying yes nor no. After a long while, he finally said: “This matter was not my wish, but something I had no choice but to do.”

Xue Yu couldn’t stand hearing such empty grand words most of all.

She gently blinked once, and magnificent, vast spiritual power rippled outward in silent waves with her as the center. Song Heng seemed to sense something and looked sideways, discovering that the rain outside the window had stopped at some unknown time, replaced by goose-feather-like falling snow. In just a moment, heaven and earth had already become a vast expanse of white.

Flying snow in the seventh month – the people in the hall had unknowingly entered a formation.

“You have injuries on your body; it’s not suitable to fight,” he said.

Look, Song Heng was just such a person. Even before moving, he would give kind reminders because his opponent was injured. He held the world in his heart, was good to everyone, and everyone liked and supported him. Even the most ferocious demon beasts and evil ghosts would try to get close to him.

It was hard to imagine that such a person would also have moments of flying into a rage over a beauty.

The ridiculous part was that after accompanying each other for a thousand years, the beauty wasn’t hers, yet for that beauty’s sake, he had mercilessly destroyed Yedu’s generations of steadfast守.

And her thousand years of rushing about, the efforts and sacrifices she made for the balance of the three lands, had all become a joke.

Xue Yu’s long sleeves moved without wind, the finely sewn trailing flower patterns rippling like water patterns around her wrists. Countless points of spiritual power light gathered into a huge prison formation, expanding inch by inch in the three people’s vision, enveloping the entire Yunxiao Hall, carved with runes.

“Formations can be created and can also be dissolved.” White water patterns seeped from the corners of her eyes, quickly winding into two frost marks like swaying long tail feathers. “Since it’s like this, I’ll just capture you back to Yedu and break open the seal.”

Seeing her insistence on fighting, Song Heng’s pupils slightly condensed. Then he cast aside the life-bound sword in his hand, and spiritual light began to seep from around his body as well.

“—No.” Lu Chengze finally couldn’t watch anymore and steeled himself to squeeze between the two, “Where exactly did you two learn this habit of fighting after three sentences don’t match up? Can’t you sit down and talk things through properly?”

“If you fight like this, half the Heavenly Palace will collapse.”

After speaking, he turned his head to look at Song Heng and the spirit sword he had cast aside, his face full of “is there something wrong with your brain, this is Xue Yu” absurdity and comedy.

Xue Yu was not some gentle, kind-hearted woman who would act coquettish when encountering problems. In her hands, who knew how many great demons and evil ghosts had been suppressed? A thousand years ago, she was already the famous ice-cold beauty among the Six Sacred Lands, a rose with thorns.

In this stimulated state, even going all out might not necessarily gain any advantage against her, yet Song Heng was still learning from others to hold back.

Song Heng knew Xue Yu would be angry. She was someone who saw everything in black and white, couldn’t tolerate even half a grain of sand in her eyes. And his actions, no matter which point, in her eyes, all belonged to complete betrayal.

Betrayers should be killed.

Silent storms arose, spiritual power waves so rich they were almost impossible to dissolve, rampaging through the domain.

As if both sides were determined on a quick battle and quick resolution, soon, two figures separated after clashing. At this moment, Song Heng’s index finger landed half an inch away from Xue Yu’s forehead center, while at his neck side, a small and delicate dagger condensed from ice jade pressed coldly against him, sharp pain hitting his face.

If someone unknowing were to see this, it would look like mortal enemies meeting, about to mutually destroy each other.

Lu Chengze dodged left and right around the barrier for a moment. Seeing this situation, he immediately sucked in a cold breath and had to step forward again to mediate. Calling it mediation, he was only one-sidedly trying to persuade Xue Yu: “The Luo Huang lineage, whether direct descendants or collateral branches, were all properly settled without a hair harmed.”

“What was suppressed were only evil ghosts and demon spirits – those things should have been suppressed to begin with.”

Xue Yu seemed not to hear, her clear, cold pupils seeming covered with a layer of ice and snow. The dagger in her hand slowly penetrated Song Heng’s skin and flesh, pressing out a line of dark red, bewitching blood. Lu Chengze’s expression became grave. His palm fell on Xue Yu’s thin wrist with blocking force: “Xue Yu, what Song Heng did was certainly improper, but for you to want his life because of those things – that doesn’t make sense.”

“He forcibly entered Yedu because of a mere Tea Immortal, bypassing the royal city to directly attack – does that make sense?” Xue Yu finally raised her eyes, her gaze sweeping around his now-serious face as she asked: “Tomorrow, if I go to your Chi Shui and set down a Great Sealing Formation, would you also think this is a small matter not worth making a big fuss over?”

Lu Chengze smacked his lips and dared not speak anymore.

Xue Yu was truly someone who could do such things – she wasn’t a pushover.

“Song Heng.” Xue Yu paid no more attention to Lu Chengze. She turned her gaze back, settling it on Song Heng’s face. Her eyes were very beautiful, her voice, though cold, was also clear and crisp. Only those hands, pampered and well-cared for, were nevertheless hands that killed. At this moment, as she pressed the dagger sliding across the Celestial Lord’s neck, they didn’t tremble even half a bit. “I have ten thousand methods to break formations. If ordinary methods don’t work, then blood sacrifice, spirit sacrifice. If that still doesn’t work, then use the one who set the formation as a living sacrifice.”

By the end, she was already demanding Song Heng’s life to break the formation.

If these words came from someone else’s mouth, they would be considered wild boasting. The spiritual formations under heaven, large and small, were as numerous as stars. Some were unheard of and unseen – forget breaking formations, even the most basic formation recognition was problematic. Yet the person claiming to have “ten thousand methods to break formations” was precisely Xue Yu.

In this world where spiritual cultivators walked everywhere, there was one type of person particularly special. They didn’t cultivate the physical body, didn’t specialize in spiritual breath. They looked frail but still possessed heaven-reaching, earth-penetrating abilities. With one thought, they could create formations, they could dissolve formations. Xue Yu was the most gifted among them.

“Ancient formations have no solution.” Song Heng looked at her profile, ignoring Lu Chengze’s eye signals that were almost cramping from hinting, and said in a low voice: “Those evil ghosts and demon creatures can never come out again.”

“You’ve made up your mind and insist on this?” Xue Yu looked at him as if seeing him for the first time, a pair of eyes earnestly examining him, her voice cold like mountain wind carrying snow in the depths of winter.

“Ah Yu.” Song Heng replied to her word by word: “Today’s events are my broken promise.”

“But I had no choice but to do this.”

One sentence of “had no choice but to do this” – even with Xue Yu’s nature, she almost uncontrollably lowered her lashes and closed her eyes. Over a thousand years, she had watched the man before her eyes transform step by step from his initial dying weakness. Through flowing time, changing seasons, she always felt he still looked like that youth from back then, only forgetting the most important point.

—In the alternation of power, what changed most easily was the human heart.

That youth from years past who seemed to have all his thoughts transparent to her at a glance had long since gained heaven-reaching abilities and skills, to the extent that he could steal the sky and switch the sun right under her nose, stirring the entire human realm’s situation into chaos.

The dagger was heavily slashed at Song Heng’s neck. As hot blood spurted forth, her forehead center was simultaneously pierced by the spiritual power finger that followed. Indescribable severe pain spread through her limbs and bone crevices. Facing Song Heng and Lu Chengze’s shocked, incredulous gazes, Xue Yu only tightened her jaw and showed no fear or panic.

She knew she wouldn’t die.

Though she was ruthless at heart, fundamentally, she wasn’t someone who liked using her own life to exchange for others’ lives.

The Yedu supreme treasure, Qiankun Pearl, was hidden in her sleeve. From the moment she stepped into the inner hall, it had begun to emanate a moonlight glow. So without another word, she set up formations, using an almost mutually destructive method to achieve a situation where both sides were injured in the shortest time. What she relied on was nothing more than the Qiankun Pearl blocking half the damage for her.

Her thinking was simple – Song Heng was the Celestial Lord, his cultivation no less than hers; he wouldn’t die so easily. Considering the face and consequences of both clans, she didn’t want his life either. She only wanted him to cooperate with her in breaking open the central city’s sealing formation, by any means necessary.

After breaking the formation, she would go kill that Tea Immortal who was supposedly so kind-hearted that once freed, could instigate Song Heng to raise troops against Yedu – that frail Tea Immortal. Thus, those overwhelming sighs and rumors outside would come to an abrupt halt.

No one could make Yedu a laughingstock. No one.

But when Xue Yu was coldly glancing at Lu Chengze while simultaneously imprisoning Song Heng, just as she was about to bring someone into the spatial formation to head to Yedu, the entire Yunxiao Hall began to tremble, as if some giant creature sensed some kind of summons and boldly rose from the ground in an instant.

Xue Yu’s formation began inexplicably collapsing and disintegrating. Countless silver radiances fell off like old and mottled rust. The unseasonably goose-feather snow came to an abrupt halt at a certain moment.

Immediately after, the Qiankun Pearl from Xue Yu’s sleeve rolled out, rolling into the small pool of blood at Song Heng’s feet, coincidentally making contact with Lu Chengze’s vast spiritual power as he couldn’t bear it anymore and intervened to stop them. A silver-gray whirlwind appeared without warning before the three people.

Xue Yu felt as if her eyes had been pricked by needle points. She retreated three steps consecutively, her body leaning against a desk. Before her consciousness and vision both dimmed, she squinted her eyes and hazily saw the scene from a thousand years ago.

—It was a day when dripping water turned to ice with heavy snow falling. The weather was extremely cold. Dozens of bloodstained, ashen-faced youths were forcibly pressed to kneel on the Judgment Platform.

The young Song Heng was prominently among them.