She awoke in her bed.
Looking at the delicate embroidery on the bed curtains, she inexplicably felt a sense of being displaced in time at that moment.
Si Ming felt she had slept and forgotten many things. Various sounds in her mind kept alternately disturbing her already unclear thoughts, creating a noisy jumble until only four characters gradually stood out.
Chang Yuan Er Sheng.
Like a child’s crooked writing drawn with a finger in the sand—ugly but striking.
Si Ming rubbed her temples and thought carefully but still couldn’t grasp any threads of memory, finally giving up. She struggled to sit up, wondering why her body felt so stiff and unresponsive when her peripheral vision suddenly caught a dark figure. Startled, she looked over to see a man in a purple standing-collar robe, hands behind his back, standing before the window, carefully playing with her orchids.
Si Ming froze, then said disapprovingly: “Your Majesty, my orchids are very temperamental. They can’t be touched and fondled carelessly. After you leave, I’ll have to apologize to them.”
Hearing this, the Celestial Emperor unhurriedly withdrew his hand and turned his head, coldly examining her for a moment before saying with implicit mockery: “Finally willing to wake up?”
“Unwilling,” Si Ming replied. “The dream seems unfinished. I’ll doze a bit more.” With that, she honestly pulled up the covers and lay back down.
The corner of the Celestial Emperor’s mouth tightened as he coldly snorted: “A thousand years drunk isn’t enough for you? All the affairs of the Qin Tian Palace have been handed over to that Three-Lives Stone. If you sleep more, do you want me to dismiss you from your position as Star-Lord of Fate?”
Si Ming rolled over in her quilts, her unconcerned voice emerging from the bedding: “If Your Majesty feels dismissing me would make you happy, then dismiss me. I’ve been Star Lord of Fate my whole life and am thoroughly tired of it.”
When had he ever suffered such treatment from Si Ming? When had she ever not blushed and fawned upon seeing him? Even during occasional arguments, Si Ming would certainly pretend to be pitiful when apologizing, pestering him persistently, never showing him an unfavorable face.
Yet now after waking…
The Celestial Emperor’s eyes turned green with anger as if he wanted to give her a few sharp lashes.
“Your Majesty, this humble official wishes to sleep. Men and women should remain separate, please excuse yourself.”
The Celestial Emperor laughed in extreme anger. Before sweeping away, he coldly threw back: “Tomorrow go to Mo Xi’s mansion to find that Three-Lives Stone and quickly take back your duties. Since you’re so tired of the position of Star-Lord of Fate, you can remain tired until your life ends.”
The door was slammed shut forcefully.
Si Ming opened her eyes in the soft quilts, her gaze clear, showing no trace of sleepiness.
Si Ming had always been clever and good at making connections. From the Celestial Emperor’s words just now, she recalled the cause and effect of her falling asleep. Previously, she had confessed to the Celestial Emperor and, unsurprisingly, was rejected again. Feeling heartbroken, she goes to Qiong Chi seeking a drink but gets into an argument with Mo Xi’s wife Three-Lives. She fell into Qiong Chi, drank her fill, and then fell asleep.
Looking back now, she had slept for a thousand years.
A thousand-year dream—no wonder she felt displaced in time when first waking.
However… when she woke to see the Emperor beside her, she had expected to feel indescribable joy, yet unexpectedly felt an inexplicable weariness, not wanting to see him. The one she wanted to see was… who was it?
Another man’s silhouette hazily appeared in Si Ming’s mind. She had never seen him, yet felt incomparably familiar with him, but no matter how hard she tried to remember, she couldn’t recall his face.
Perhaps it was an illusion. Thinking this, she closed her eyes again. Would she see that man again in her dreams? If she could see him… she would sleep a while longer.
After the Celestial Emperor left Si Ming’s Qin Tian Palace, his palm turned and a soft white substance appeared in his hand. These were Si Ming’s thousand years of memories, which he had extracted completely. The thick white mist rotated gently in his palm, warm and heavy, seemingly containing an indescribable emotion, like intense longing…
Longing?
The Celestial Emperor’s expression darkened as his five fingers tightly gripped, violently squeezing that cluster of memories. He thought, that no matter how much longing there was, it was just one life’s karmic bond. One locked in the Wan Tian Void, one stripped of all memories between them—from the moment he extracted these memories from Si Ming’s mind, their fate was completely severed.
Below the cloud platform outside Qin Tian Palace, the imperial carriage was ready. His attendant He Xian bowed respectfully before asking: “Your Majesty, now that the Star Lord of Fate has awakened, will she be punished for secretly descending to the mortal realm?”
The Celestial Emperor’s steps paused as he tucked the white mist into his sleeve: “I have already punished her,” he said flatly. “The matter of Si Ming secretly descending to the mortal realm… is not to be spread.”
“Yes.”
“Let us return to the palace.”
The imperial carriage rose, the procession grandly heading toward the celestial palace. He Xian secretly glanced back at the Star Lord of Fate’s Qin Tian Palace. When had the Celestial Emperor ever shown anyone favoritism? This time… perhaps before long, the celestial palace would be hosting a grand wedding feast.
Si Ming slept again, but this time when she woke, she felt refreshed and energetic, completely lacking yesterday’s exhaustion and heaviness. Only her body still felt somewhat stiff. She got up and walked around the room, and seeing the pleasant sunlight outside the window, she felt like taking a stroll.
She had been drunk for a thousand years—surely many things outside must have changed.
Si Ming had never liked having people disturb her life. There were no servants in Qin Tian Palace; she did everything herself, planting every flower and blade of grass herself, and thus she cherished her nest more than other divine lords. After tidying herself up, she stepped out of her chambers only to find several maids cleaning the courtyard.
Seeing the person who had lain for a thousand years suddenly walk out of the room, the maids were stunned. Both parties were dumbfounded for a while before a maid bowed and said: “Star-Lord has finally awakened today. Congratulations, Star-Lord of Fate.”
“Who are you?”
“This humble immortal is a maid from the War God’s mansion. The Lady sent us to help sweep the courtyard and remove weeds. Today happens to be cleaning day. We didn’t know Star-Lord had awakened. Please forgive our offense.”
Si Ming thought that Three-Lives was still a considerate good girl, and remembering that yesterday the Celestial Emperor had also told her to go handle the transfer of duties with Three-Lives, she decided to go to the War God’s mansion today to express her thanks. She had enjoyed her drunken sleep, but it had caused Three-Lives quite some trouble—she knew better than anyone that the job of Fate was always thankless. She waved to the group: “I should be thanking you instead. I’ll go to the War God’s mansion now to express my gratitude.”
The several maids bowed respectfully before busying themselves with their work again.
The road to Chang Sheng Tian was quite far. Si Ming had just awakened and found riding clouds very taxing. After stopping and starting for half a day, she still had half the journey left. Stopping on a path of white clouds, she angrily shook her leg and said: “I’ll saw you off!”
Just then, a white cloud happened to float past overhead. Hearing this curse, the immortal on the cloud looked down and was startled enough to jump off. It was the Star Lord of Literature, who had always had a good relationship with Si Ming and was an old gossip.
“Star-Lord of Fate, long time no see! You’ve finally awakened.” Literature patted Si Ming’s shoulder with a laugh, and Si Ming very courteously smiled along. After Literature had finished laughing, he secretly moved close to Si Ming’s ear and said, “If you hadn’t awakened, I think that vixen would have hooked the Emperor.”
Si Ming froze, then smiled: “Which vixen has such great ability?”
Literature thought she was pretending to be calm and continued mysteriously: “Some days ago, a spirit fox attained immortality. When paying respects to the Celestial Emperor, she set her heart on him. These days she’s been quite persistent in pursuing him. You should pay attention.”
Si Ming calmly said: “There are many goddesses in the nine heavens who have their hearts set on the Emperor. If I paid attention to each one, wouldn’t I exhaust myself? If that fox wants to pursue the Emperor, let her pursue him. What does it have to do with me?”
These words not only stunned Literature but even Si Ming herself felt somewhat surprised.
Since when had she become so indifferent to these matters?
As they were talking, two people slowly walked over from the other end of the white cloud road. The woman was small and thin as if she hadn’t grown feet, while the man was tall and large—together they looked like a father walking with his daughter.
Just then Literature suddenly became excited, vigorously patting Si Ming’s shoulder: “That’s the fox spirit! Small as a sparrow, yet always seducing all sorts of men.”
Si Ming looked in the direction Literature pointed. The woman barely reached the man’s chest, and the two seemed to be discussing something very happily. While Literature continued grumbling beside her, Si Ming stared at the pair in a daze. Their heights were mismatched, but she seemed to see the shadows of other people in them.
A somewhat silly man and a somewhat foolish girl, gazing at each other without any words, just steadily looking at each other, yet their eyes were filled with boundless happiness.
As if they already possessed the whole world.
In that instant, Si Ming suddenly felt the urge to burst into tears.
The pair drew closer, and the man recognized the Star Lord of Literature. They both bowed to Literature, who pretentiously nodded, while Si Ming remained in a daze. Literature cleared his throat and nudged Si Ming with his elbow, bringing her back to awareness. Literature said to the pair: “This is the Star Lord of Fate. You haven’t been in the upper realm long, so you probably haven’t met her.”
When the woman heard the words “Star-Lord of Fate,” her face immediately went white. They had all heard the legends of heaven and naturally knew how Si Ming used to torment goddesses who had designs on the Celestial Emperor.
Seeing Si Ming staring at her, the little fox immortal panicked. Her knees weakened and she hurriedly knelt on the ground, making a deep bow: “This… this humble immortal pays respects to… to Star-Lord of Fate.”
Si Ming remained silent, causing everyone present to hold their breath in suspense. After a while, she finally pointed at the man beside the fox spirit and said softly: “You should stay together with him properly.”
Stay together properly…
Who should stay with whom—even Si Ming didn’t know. But saying this now had scared the little fox spirit pale. She thought this was Si Ming’s warning to her. Immediately trembling she kowtowed: “This humble immortal understands. Thank you for your guidance, Divine Lord.”
The man beside her had liked this fox spirit and now was naturally overjoyed. He quickly also knelt and said: “Thank you, Divine Lord, thank you, Divine Lord.”
Si Ming waved her hand and turned to leave, with Literature following step by step. When they had walked far enough, he secretly gave Si Ming a thumbs up: “Si Ming, your skill in dealing with women has become even more profound. A few words and you defeated a great enemy—truly as impressive as Divine Lord Mo Xi!”
Si Ming’s steps faltered slightly as she asked: “Has anything major happened in the celestial realm recently? Has Mo Xi been impressive again?”
“You don’t know, but some time ago that evil dragon sealed in the Wan Tian Void secretly escaped to the mortal realm. Divine Lord Mo Xi led hundreds of celestial soldiers to capture him. Hmph, that evil dragon was so scared when he saw Divine Lord Mo Xi’s divine majesty that he immediately groveled and begged for mercy. In the end, the Divine Lord captured the evil dragon and brought him back without moving a single soldier. Haha, the celestial realm has been peaceful for many years, but Divine Lord Mo Xi’s divine might remain undiminished! And to think that was the descendant of an ancient divine dragon—truly useless and cowardly!”
After listening, Si Ming nodded in agreement: “Indeed, a cowardly dragon.”