In the chaos, a woman stood before the black dragon and asked: “Chang Yuan, why don’t you sleep?”
“With my level of cultivation, I no longer need sleep. Si Ming, you don’t need to sleep either.”
“You’re wrong about two things. First, heaven and earth have their natural order. Though we’ve cultivated to become immortals and broken free from ordinary constraints, we should still hold reverence for and conform to heaven and earth. The following nature is the foundation of being a god or immortal. Second, that archaic and domineering way of referring to yourself as ‘I’—the immortals outside stopped using that ages ago. Chang Yuan, one day I will rescue you, so you need to catch up with current trends and present a bright, modern image to win over the other gods.”
“Your words are wise.”
“So, come, let me take a nap on your dragon horn first.”
The black dragon didn’t ask her to explain the connection between changing his image and her taking a nap. He simply lowered his head obediently, allowing Si Ming to easily climb up: “I’m going to sleep now, don’t move.”
The dragon’s swaying tail suddenly froze. Indeed, he didn’t move. Dragon and woman floated quietly in the darkness, and soon came the sound of steady breathing.
She seemed to be sleeping sweetly. His heart tickled at the rhythm of her breathing. His golden eyes rolled upward, but he still couldn’t see her sleeping face. Growing anxious, he tilted his head slightly. At that moment, Si Ming rolled over and tumbled down from his head.
Chang Yuan’s heart jumped. He wanted to catch her, but his claws were too short, so he could only lower his head to nudge her up.
A sharp scream rang out as Si Ming jumped three zhang high. She clutched her bottom where the dragon horn had pierced her, glaring furiously at Chang Yuan: “You! Have your horns sawn off for this divine lord!” Using such a formal self-address showed how angry she truly was.
Chang Yuan stared fixedly at Si Ming’s bottom where blood was soaking through her clothes. His heart raced with worry, but being awkward with words, he didn’t know how to comfort her. He could only stammer: “Si Ming… you’re bleeding.”
“This divine lord knows!” Si Ming was furious. She charged forward and bit down on Chang Yuan’s dragon horn, mumbling, “You’ve grown too bold, attempting to violate this divine lord! If I hadn’t dodged quickly… Today I must have these sawn off! Sawn off!”
“Should stop the bleeding first…”
“Why do you care about this divine lord’s blood!”
“I… I don’t know what this feeling is. It’s strange.”
The roaring Si Ming suddenly froze. She looked at Chang Yuan in surprise. In the endless darkness, only their soft breathing could be heard. Si Ming suddenly cleared her throat and said: “This is called pure friendship between kindred spirits. Chang Yuan, you are Si Ming’s closest friend.”
“Closest friend?”
“Closest friend!”
The dragon and woman in the chaos gradually faded away as the world slowly brightened.
Si Ming opened her eyes hazily. Sunlight was already streaming through the window, where the orchid bathed in its rays, its pure white flowers in full bloom. Si Ming covered her eyes and let out a bitter laugh: Closest friend? Oh Si Ming, why do you always have to deceive people so?
She got out of bed and retrieved the blue-covered Book of Fate from the hidden compartment in her bookshelf. As she flipped through it, she thought about how the dark place she had repeatedly dreamed of must be the legendary Void of Ten Thousand Heavens. Previously, after drinking the wine from the Jade Pool and passing out, her divine consciousness must have drifted out and by some coincidence entered the Void, where she met the imprisoned Chang Yuan. She had wanted to save him but failed, returning to the heavenly realm. Afterward, she wrote this “Dragon’s Return to Heaven and Earth” Book of Fate, using destiny itself to achieve the goal of the dragon’s return.
But now Chang Yuan was imprisoned in the Void again—did that mean even destiny couldn’t achieve the dragon’s return? Or perhaps…
Si Ming turned to the last page with writing. After the final words she had seen before, a new sentence had somehow appeared: “Si Ming secretly prepared, intending to break the Void of Ten Thousand Heavens.”
Si Ming understood—this Book of Fate wasn’t finished at all!
Er Sheng’s death was merely one step toward achieving the dragon’s return.
Si Ming glanced at the outer chamber. The cloud brocade wedding clothes no longer needed measurements, and Zhao Yun and Wan Xia had learned enough about her preferences. They didn’t visit as often as before. The people the Heavenly Emperor had sent to watch her had grown lax, seeing how well-behaved she’d been these two and a half months. As the wedding approached and Si Ming remained so proper, surely the Emperor’s suspicions had largely dissipated.
Si Ming thought it was time to act.
Once again having the orchid take her appearance, Si Ming stroked her head and said: “This time I might be gone for a long while. Hold out as long as you can, and if you really can’t take it anymore, run to the War God’s mansion. Mo Xi and San Sheng are good people. With their protection, even if the Heavenly Emperor finds out… at least he won’t kill you.”
The orchid became anxious: “Master, where are you going? Aren’t you coming back?”
Si Ming smiled without answering. She knew she probably would never return to the heavenly realm, nor did she want to.
She had prepared everything over these past two months and descended to the mortal realm with perfect composure.
In the mortal world, she headed straight for the Formless Immortal Mountain without hesitation. Without her memories, it took her a long time to find the forbidden area behind the mountain. But there she encountered an unexpected person.
Chang An.
A thousand years ago, this person needed to undergo tribulation to become immortal. She had observed him in the heavenly realm, intending to arrange an easy trial for him. But while writing his fate, she had argued with San Sheng, falling into the Jade Pool with his fate paper, and his destined immortal trial had been forcibly changed by heaven’s will.
After awakening, Si Ming specifically checked Chang An’s records and felt quite regretful. Now that he had fallen from immortal to demon, his life must be full of suffering. Si Ming felt she had truly wronged him.
But who could control heaven’s will…
As she was thinking, Chang An’s gaze suddenly swept over to her. Si Ming smiled at him. Chang An froze, his eyes immediately filling with killing intent: “Si Ming?”
“Indeed…” Before she could finish speaking, Chang An struck with his sword without warning. Si Ming drew the Lin Sword to block this fierce attack. Divine power clashed violently with demonic energy, murderous intent surging outward across the valley, startling countless birds into flight.
Si Ming’s expression darkened. She wasn’t afraid of fighting, but she had more important things to do now. Fighting would only waste her precious time.
“I know you must resent me, but I truly didn’t write your fate. It was an accident—your fate was heaven’s decree.”
“Heaven’s decree?” Chang An laughed coldly. “Who gave heaven that right?”
Si Ming frowned: “The heavenly tribulation is difficult to pass because crossing it depends entirely on one’s understanding and transcendence. Every choice is made by oneself, and every difficulty is created by one’s heart. If you can overcome your own heart, you can overcome heaven. True, heaven’s will is unpredictable, but in the end, choosing to become a demon was your own decision. Now you hate me and hate heaven’s heartlessness, but why not think about who made those choices? You’d rather spend tenfold effort hating others than let go of the past and yourself. Unable to overcome the barrier in your heart, naturally you couldn’t ascend.”
Chang An sneered: “If it were just my fate, so be it. But why involve others? Those who died because of me died unjustly. Heaven is heartless, so I shall defy it.”
“If you defy heaven, can you recover what and who you’ve lost?” Si Ming said coldly. “You’re only seeking peace for your own heart, shifting blame to others.”
Chang An froze. Si Ming didn’t want to continue fighting. Taking advantage of this opportunity, she dove into the lake, made a hand seal to ward off the water, and headed straight for the stone tablet inscribed with “Limitless Desolate City” at the bottom. Reaching it, Si Ming placed Er Sheng’s finger bone that hung from the Lin Sword onto the tablet. Er Sheng had committed too many killings in life, and killing energy still lingered in the bone. Soon, the lake bottom began to shake violently.
The lake water gradually formed a whirlpool, spiraling away to who knows where. Si Ming stood by the tablet, looking up to see the great gates of the Desolate City opening above. A woman in red robes, filled with resentment, stood quietly at the gates. It was the City Lord’s duty to welcome every visitor to the Desolate City.
Si Ming didn’t hesitate, flying up to enter the city directly.
Chang An followed closely behind Si Ming, also trying to force his way in, but was blocked by a water-red sleeve that pushed him back with fierce yin energy.
“Since you drove me from the city, I’ve waited here. If you won’t let me in for a day, I’ll wait for a day. If you won’t let me in for a lifetime, I’ll wait a lifetime. A Wu, can you be so heartless…”
The resentful woman withdrew her sleeve expressionlessly, without a word in reply. The city gates closed with a boom, separating the outside and inside into two worlds again.
Si Ming swept her gaze across the sand-filled sky, her eyes falling on the resentful woman who was also studying her. Si Ming smiled and said: “Actually, showing occasional favoritism isn’t necessarily wrong. This place exists outside the three realms. As City Lord, you could follow your heart here…”
“In his heart, I shouldn’t be like this.” The resentful woman cut off Si Ming’s words mercilessly. Her gaze lingered briefly on the Lin Sword. “Who are you? Why have you come here?”
Si Ming was slightly stunned by her earlier words. Refusing Chang An entry, driving him away so decisively—not out of hatred, but because she didn’t want to break the beautiful image in his memory? Si Ming sighed silently; this woman was too devoted. No wonder she had fallen into obsession, drawing in the resentment of women throughout the world. Hatred born of love, obsession leading to resentment. But on second thought, Si Ming realized this might be the harshest punishment for Chang An.
Si Ming gathered her thoughts and met the woman’s ghostly eyes: “I am Si Ming, also known as Er Sheng. I’ve come to discuss something with you.”
“What matter?” The resentful woman didn’t care who she was. The Limitless Desolate City had remained unchanged for ten thousand years, and in her hundreds of years here, she had seen countless people come and go. Her personality had been ground down to indifference, even numbness.
Si Ming smiled slightly: “Let’s destroy the Limitless Desolate City.”
She spoke casually as if discussing nice weather rather than destroying a self-contained sealed realm.
The resentful woman considered briefly: “Alright.”
Her easy agreement surprised even Si Ming.
“In this desolate place, neither truly living nor dead, watching people gradually become walking corpses…” the resentful woman said coolly, “I’ve been fucking tired of it for ages.”
Si Ming smiled with narrowed eyes. She thought that after being imprisoned for so long in the Limitless Desolate City, any crime must have been atoned for. Let the mortal world deal with its so-called criminals—the ancient deterrent was no longer so necessary for today’s peaceful mortal realm.
But what Si Ming didn’t know was that the resentful woman’s fate had long since merged with the city’s.
Her casual statement about being tired of it masked a heavier truth—she was tired of living…