Yusang turned her head to look at Huayi and blinked, then cast her gaze back to Dajing City, which was faintly visible in the morning light. Her face bore a smile, but her eyes were filled with helplessness and sorrow as she said, “I am very sad, truly, truly sad. This is a painful sadness I have never experienced before, but I have no way to retreat. Perhaps I will spend the next thousands of years, tens of thousands of years, even hundreds of thousands of years—all the time until the end of my life—missing Yan Qige. I will hate myself and blame myself. But I have no choice. From the day the Fengjian Clan was destroyed and I alone survived, I have had no choice. I have no way to retreat, do you understand?”

Huayi turned her head to look at Yusang’s profile. Her face was pale in the morning sun, and the tears she held back in her eyes combined with the smile she forced made it unbearable to look directly at her. Huayi had to quickly turn her eyes away and said, “I understand.”

The two said nothing more, both staring blankly at the line of pale light at the horizon. Before the sun was about to emerge, Yusang carried the Soul Collector down toward the palace below.

Carrying the lantern through layers of palace halls, in the corridors where sunlight did not reach, it was quiet and heavy. Yusang seemed to hear the voices of her clan members—crying, wailing, the various struggles before death. All of this had once occurred in this palace city, and the axe and blade marks on the walls were witnesses to everything that had happened.

When passing by a great hall, Yusang stopped. This was the place where she and Yan Qige had sat when she first brought him to Dajing City. The words Yan Qige had spoken then seemed to still echo in her ears, and all the memories were now clear to the point of cruel frankness.

Before sunrise, Yusang arrived at Taiye Lake and stood beneath the Fengjian Divine Tree. Looking up at those branches, she reached out to touch the trunk, then began to establish a barrier beneath the tree.

She arranged the collected soul artifacts one by one beneath the tree, cut open her palm, and watched as her blood gradually stained the soul artifacts red. The Soul Keeper Elders within the soul artifacts appeared one by one, standing in mid-air beneath the Fengjian Divine Tree with gentle smiles as they looked at Yusang.

“Princess Yuwen, congratulations on bringing us all back home.” The Soul Keeper Elders spoke in unison, as if with one voice.

“The four elders have wandered outside for two thousand years—it has been hard on you. Now that the elders have returned, please guard the divine tree once more and protect the Fengjian Clan for eternity.”

“This is natural.” The elders smiled gently, elegantly, and mysteriously.

…

“Then, please take your positions, four elders.” Yusang stepped back and respectfully bowed to the elders beneath the tree.

The four elders smiled and nodded, then looked at each other before turning to Yusang and saying, “Princess Yuwen, we are Soul Keeper Elders who have always possessed the power to fulfill people’s heartfelt wishes. Is there anything you need our help with?”

Yusang raised her head to look at the elders with their elegant smiles. She opened her lips but swallowed her words, lowering her head as if to give up. But finally, she raised her head again and said, “Then please fulfill one thing for me.”

The Soul Keeper Elders returned to the Fengjian Divine Tree. In no time, the withered great tree began to gradually show green. The dry bark began to soften and grow azure bark, the veins on the trunk became clear bit by bit, and the tangled roots beneath the tree gradually became full. The tree also sprouted fine azure-green leaves.

Seeing that the sun had already emerged from the horizon, Yusang raised the Soul Collector high, curved her fingers beside her lips to chant an incantation, and began summoning the departed souls in the lantern. As pink soul spirits flew out from the lantern bit by bit, flower buds bloomed on the branches. Each departed soul of the Fengjian Clan occupied one bud—they only needed to wait quietly for them to awaken within, and then, guided by the Soul Collector, they could pass to the netherworld to rest in peace.

“Princess Yuwen, we will open the Netherworld Gate before the next sunrise.” The voice of the Soul Keeper Elders came from the divine tree.

“I understand.”

Yusang nodded, then carried the lantern and left.

Yusang went to Jiwu Mountain, to Yusang Pavilion. The Jiwu Mountain, which never snowed, was now covered in heavy snow. Outside Yusang Pavilion lay thick accumulated snow, burying all the carefully planted dragon claw chrysanthemums beneath it. Yusang stood in the wind and snow, watching from afar for a long time before stepping through the snow to approach step by step. Standing before the door, Yusang covered her face, brought a smile to the corners of her mouth, and then pushed open the door.

Inside the room was still as before—the tables and chairs she liked, familiar furnishings, everything seemed tailor-made for her. A man dressed in white robes was leaning against a soft couch with a warming brazier beside him. Yusang walked over and sat beside him, looking at his face. In just two days, he had become much paler and thinner, even seeming aged, his hair turned gray and white, his skin wrinkled. When she reached out to touch his hand, she discovered it was bone-chillingly cold upon contact.

The door was pushed open, and a cold wind rushed in. Yusang turned her head to see Bai Zhi in a dark cloak standing at the doorway. Seeing Yusang sitting there staring blankly at an empty wall showed no surprise.

“This was originally his room. Later, when I said I liked it here, I moved in. Because I was used to it, I took his preferences as my own. I remember there was originally a painting on the wall—one he painted for me. Until one day when I learned his identity, I ambushed him, captured his soul and placed it in the mortal imperial palace, then pretended not to know him, helped him reincarnate according to my plan, collected soul artifacts step by step, and used him…” Yusang rambled on, unable to help but laugh bitterly, her eyes misting over.

Bai Zhi made no response. After pausing at the doorway, she turned and went back out. Yusang turned to follow, and after leaving, gently closed the room door.

The two stood side by side in the corridor, looking at the vast snow before them. After a while, Bai Zhi finally spoke: “That battle back then was not something he intentionally provoked. The destruction of the Fengjian Clan was a heavenly mandate given to him. During the great battle, it’s not that he didn’t discover you hidden in the barrier, but he became soft-hearted at the end. He asked me to take you away and care for you. Precisely because he was soft-hearted toward you, the Fengjian Clan did not completely perish, and Heaven imposed a curse as punishment, making him become half a Fengjian Clan member who must guard this lantern. If the Fengjian Clan’s soul artifacts were to gather again in the future and the Netherworld Gate reopened, he would become a soul ferryman in the crossing, forever wandering lonely and lost in the netherworld passage.”

“Is there no other way?” Yusang asked, reaching out to catch some snowflakes between her fingers.

“There is.”

“What?”

Bai Zhi did not answer directly but turned her head to look at Yusang. When Yusang met her gaze, she paused for a moment and seemed to understand her meaning, moving her lips slightly but not speaking.

“That’s right, it’s you. As long as your soul is collected into the lantern as the core, he will have completed that year’s heavenly mandate and can break the curse. When you conceived the idea of collecting soul artifacts for their return and captured his soul while he was off guard, placing it in the mortal world and helping him break the seal to reincarnate, his curse began to manifest from that moment. You gave him the Soul Collector and the Azure Dragon Sword, using him to collect soul artifacts in the mortal world. Little did you know, with each soul artifact you completed, the curse power on him grew stronger and his cultivation decreased by one portion, until all soul artifacts were in place and the Netherworld Gate opened—his soul would also gradually scatter.”