Yan Qige pulled Yusang’s hand over, leading her toward the warming stove and having her sit down. His tone was calm as he said, “The divine tree of the Fengjian Clan should have revived by now. I just felt those departed souls awakening. Before sunrise tomorrow, the Underworld Crossing Gate should open, and you’ll be able to ferry them all to the underworld.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? You knew everything from the very beginning—you knew my purpose in following you, knew that I had planned from the start to use your life for revenge and soul ferrying, and you should even know that the Soul Collector and that Azure Dragon Sword were things I placed by your side from the beginning. You deliberately didn’t say anything, even lied to me, saying you didn’t remember. You had many chances to strike first—killing me would have freed you. Why didn’t you act?”
Yan Qige looked at Yusang, rarely showing a teasing smile. He helped brush away the damp hair strands by her face that had been wetted by snow water, saying, “I wasn’t being soft-hearted, it’s just… just that you’re quite clever. You’re the cleverest and most formidable little demon I know. Being defeated by your hands, you should be proud and happy. You should know you’re the only one who could beat me…”
Yusang raised her hand, fiercely pushing away Yan Qige’s hand to interrupt him, her voice choked as she shouted, “I’m not clever, and I’m not formidable! With my cultivation level, attacking you, I couldn’t even touch the corner of your clothes. You liar, you schemed against me, set up a trap, and had everyone help you deceive me.”
“Alright, don’t be angry. It’s my fault for deceiving you.” For the first time, Yan Qige showed Yusang an apologetic smile, wanting to grab her wrist, but Yusang fiercely knocked his hand away again. With reddened eyes, she glared at Yan Qige once, then got up and ran outside.
Outside, the wind was strong and snow was falling heavily. Yusang walked quickly ahead with unsteady steps, stumbling through the knee-deep snow. She had only walked a short distance before falling several times. Yan Qige kept following behind Yusang, but remained silent, letting her fall in front and get back up, then continue forward while holding back her anger.
She fell again. Yusang’s face and arms were covered with snow. Gritting her teeth, she raised her head, climbed out of the snow, and after patting the snow particles off her body, finally couldn’t hold back anymore. She turned around fiercely to look at Yan Qige, saying, “I’m falling and you won’t even help me up once.”
Yan Qige’s eyebrows moved slightly, seeming to show amusement, as he said, “If I helped you up, you would push me away fiercely, then say you don’t need it.”
“You…” Yusang’s words caught in her throat. She pointed at Yan Qige, biting her teeth until her gums hurt, but couldn’t say a word for a long time.
“Your little thoughts are written all over your face—you just want to vent and throw a tantrum.” Yan Qige said with a laugh as he stepped forward, reaching out to brush the snow off Yusang’s arms and pull her up.
“Yan Qige, you’re just so annoying, never knowing how to make me happy, never knowing how to be gentle.” Yusang shook some snow particles from her hands toward Yan Qige, then bent down to grab another handful of snow and threw it at him. Yan Qige didn’t dodge, but instead smiled as he reached out and pulled her, holding Yusang tightly in his embrace.
Yusang raised her hands to beat Yan Qige’s shoulders, struggling to push him away, but Yan Qige held her even tighter, as if using all his strength, making Yusang’s shoulder blades ache from the pressure.
“It’s not that I don’t want to be good to you, it’s just… just that I’m afraid you’ll get used to me being good to you. If one day I’m not here anymore, you’ll be sad and unable to adapt.”
Yusang’s raised hands suddenly stopped, her struggling movements freezing in place. The snow in her hands fell through her fingers. She became unusually quiet, trembling slightly as she gently placed her hands on Yan Qige’s back, carefully and slowly embracing him, no longer willfully resisting.
“Seeing you get hurt from falling makes my heart ache even more, but I can’t pull you up. You need to learn to get back up on your own. Your life is just beginning—there are still many roads ahead for you to walk, you’ll still meet many people and encounter many things. What if next time you fall and no one is there to pull you up? Wouldn’t you be very sad then?”
“Take good care of yourself in the future. Even if no one is by your side, you must be strong. You are Yusang, the most formidable little demon I’ve ever seen. There’s nothing you can’t accomplish.”
Yusang’s chin rested on Yan Qige’s shoulder as she looked up at the grayish sky, feeling the slight tremor of his body when he spoke. She blinked hard and smiled, saying, “I will, definitely will.”
“Yusang, from now on, forget everything about the Fengjian Clan. It’s all over. Don’t live for your clansmen and revenge anymore—live for yourself. Go do what you want to do, go where you want to go. You’re free now.”
“I know.” Yusang gazed at the boundless snowy landscape, nodding against Yan Qige’s shoulder and neck.
“If you’re sad, you can cry it out. I said I wouldn’t laugh at you.”
Yusang closed her eyes and shook her head.
Yan Qige said nothing more, just held Yusang tightly. Heavy snow continued to fall, quickly accumulating a thick layer on both their bodies. Yusang felt the person in her embrace growing colder and colder, until she could no longer feel any warmth from in front of her. She slowly pulled back, only to discover her arms were empty.
Yan Qige had just vanished from her embrace like that. Yusang stood bewildered in the snow, her hands dropping down as the snow accumulated on her arms and shoulders, falling rustling to the ground. She reached out to catch those snowflakes, wanting to hold onto them, but found they melted into vapor and disappeared without a trace the moment they touched her palms.
Dajing City, Taiye Lake.
Yusang stood on the shore, looking at the increasingly lush divine tree. When the first ray of morning sun reflected on Taiye Lake’s waters, the divine tree emitted a blinding light. A white gate opened between the light and water, with wind rushing out from inside, bringing life once again to Dajing City, which had been quiet for thousands of years. Sounds of wind blowing came from all around, and in the distance, golden bells rang from Dajing City’s towers, like a pleasant folk melody.
Yusang carried the Soul Collector and walked through that gate, raising the lantern high. Those flower buds that had originally grown on the divine tree, carrying the departed souls of the Fengjian Clan, slowly opened. Soul after soul flew out from within, flying toward the lantern.
As Yusang entered the Underworld Crossing Gate, those souls followed her in. The flowers on the divine tree fell one by one, until only a tree full of azure leaves remained.
One by one, the souls of the Fengjian Clan passed by Yusang’s side. After all the departed souls of the Fengjian Clan had entered that gate, she turned to look at the Fengjian divine tree beside her, raising her hand to toss the Soul Collector up and hang it under the tree. After a swirl of radiant light, the sleeping Yan Qige appeared beneath the divine tree.
“Yusang…” A calling voice came from the shore—Zi Feng had finally awakened. He hurried over, but was still too late.
“Yusang, what are you doing?” Zi Feng called loudly to Yusang.
Yusang looked toward the shore, smiling at Zi Feng as she said, “Zi Feng both Yan Qige and I live by relying on this Soul Collector lantern. Our souls have the same fate—he can enter the lamp as a sacrifice to keep the lamp flame burning, and so can I.”
“Don’t you know that once you become the soul sacrifice of the Soul Collector, you’ll be forever lost in the vast Underworld Crossing, and you’ll forget everything?”
“I know, so… I left the difficult task to Yan Qige, letting him live on. I only need to forget—that’s easy.”
The sun began to emerge from the east, sunlight shining toward the Underworld Crossing Gate. The gate began to close bit by bit. Zi Feng was still calling Yusang’s name, but Yusang didn’t respond. She only turned her head to look one last time at Yan Qige lying with closed eyes beneath the divine tree, until the Underworld Crossing Gate closed and everything was replaced by darkness.
“Yan Qige, you said you wanted to set me free, but you didn’t know—only by forgetting you can I be free.”
Epilogue
A very, very long time later, I suddenly awakened from a dream, not knowing what year or month it was, not knowing what time it was. I seemed to be waiting for someone, but perhaps I had waited too long—I had already forgotten whom I was waiting for, and had even stopped remembering who I was.
This was a chaotic world. Here there was no day or night, no sunrise or moonset—only endless confusion. Thick fog covered this bamboo grove. I lay on my side on a bamboo branch, and when the breeze passed, bamboo leaves that seemed like scattered rain rustled down through the white mist like rain.
A few strands of silver-white hair fell from my forehead to my eyelashes. I brushed away the silver hair with slight annoyance, and the moment I looked up, I saw a white-robed man carrying a lantern in the thick fog in the distance.
He walked slowly over, stopping beneath the purple bamboo several zhang away from me. He looked at me for a long time with eyes that were somewhere between clear and indifferent, then slowly curved his lips in a smile.
Ding! I heard the sound of thin porcelain cracking. I thought it was the bamboo beneath me, only to discover it was an inch of skin beneath my eye corner flaking off. The snow-white skin fragments brushed past my eye and flew toward the man’s face, but turned to smoke and scattered in the mist when they touched the light of that lantern.
Then, thread-like cracks appeared on my face, spreading inch by inch, flaking off inch by inch. Only then did I realize that such a beautiful smile contained a curse, a curse that would cost me my life.
But fortunately, I wasn’t an ordinary soul. Even though I shattered and flaked away, I was still here. My fragments gathered and reformed beneath the bamboo without any pain.
He extended his hand toward me, with a flower-like mark in his palm. I looked down at the back of my hand and found an identical one. In this gray and dark world, this bit of crimson flower color was exceptionally striking. It was by this that he had found me among the countless souls like me dwelling here.
“I’ve come to take you back.”
I hesitantly reached out my hand and asked, “Where to?”
That man took my hand and walked toward the thick mist, saying, “To a place called Yunsui City, then to a place called Hongzhu Village, and many, many other places.”
“Why?”
“Because we need to meet again.”
“Were we very familiar before?”
“Not really—we both had our secrets before.”
“Then let’s get to know each other again. What’s your name?”
“Yan Qige.”
The two voices gradually grew distant, their figures disappearing into the thick mist. Everything returned to quiet, with only that lantern left in the bamboo grove, flickering faintly in the mist.
Memory: Beneath the Divine Tree
“Princess Yuwen, we are Soul Keeper Elders. We have always had the power to help people fulfill their hearts’ desires. Is there anything you need our help with?”
“Then please, Elder, fulfill one thing for me. Let me enter the lamp as a sacrifice in the future, keeping the Soul Collector burning and letting Yan Qige live.”
“Do you know that after Yan Qige seized the soul artifact, he had no intention of destroying us? He only wanted us to agree to one thing—to keep you safe. Since you both so wish for the other to live, let’s make a wager. You enter the Underworld Crossing. If Yan Qige can find you, we will combine our power to create a core for the Soul Collector. But if he gives up, or fails to find you, you will remain in the Underworld Crossing forever.”
“I will win.”
[End of Story]