Chapter 71.1 Waver

It was a long night for Su Su.

After she fell into a deep sleep, she dreamed of Changze Mountain. Back then, she’d just been born, her plume was wet and she wasn’t able to transform yet.

The green-clad immortal elder carefully brought her down the mountain by sword ¹ If you aren’t familiar with travelling by sword in Xianxia context, here’s a photo: in a hundred brocades.

“From now on, Hengyang will be your home, and dad will take good care of you.”

The little spirit bird poked its head out of the hundred brocades and curiously looked around. The gray sky was depressing while demons and monsters were rampant.

The immortal elder stroked her head and waved his sleeve, and her surroundings was instantly filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers ² 鸟语花香 (niǎoyǔ-huāxiāng) – Birds sing and flowers give forth fragrance (as on a fine spring day). (an idiom); fig. the intoxication of a beautiful spring day .

Senior brothers and martial uncles surrounded her, and they all looked at her in surprise, “Little Junior Sister has finally broken out of her shell!”

“Little Junior Sister, I’m your Senior Sister Yao Wei, this is a gift ³ 见面礼 (jiànmiànlǐ) – present/gift given to somebody when meeting them for the first time from Senior Sister to bless you with good health and well being.”

“I’m your Senior Brother Qiyue, this is a gift from Senior Brother.”

“And me and me, I’m also your Senior Brother. Little Junior Sister, this is the spiritual dew that Senior Brother went to Penglai ⁴ 蓬莱 (Pénglái) – fabled abode of immortals/fairyland to search for, I don’t know if Little Junior Sister can drink this as milk……”

The immortal sect was in its decline, but this spirited newborn life was like a clear spring poured into a lifeless mire, instantly making the Hengyang Sect become lively.

Her senior sisters would secretly go collect spiritual honey for her, and her senior brothers would sneak her out to the secret realm to play.

There were those who taught her how to ride on a sword, and there were others who taught her magical skills and techniques. Whenever she made a mistake, her Eldest Senior Brother would sigh helplessly and shield her behind him, bearing all the punishment for her.

It was a chaotic and bloody time, but she was always surrounded by clear skies.

There was also the perennial unmelting snow and spiritual spring in Buliang Mountain. 

The world was terrible, but they saved the best of everything for Su Su.

In her dreams, there were blue skies, the thrill of flying with a sword, the dripping water of the spiritual spring and the fluttering and sparkling snow……

She couldn’t help but curl her lips, revealing a faint smile.

But when she woke up——

Su Su heard the sound of dripping water and opened her eyes.

Her body hurt as if it had been crushed, and she was covered in torn clothing and  n*ked underneath.

Su Su moved her fingers and a sharp pain came from between them, the shattered finger bones made her break out in a cold sweat.

A glimmer of light came through a crack, it was dawn outside. Su Su’s intact hand tightly tugged at her clothes and she stared at that gleam of light, seemingly lost in thought.

The sound of water came from there too, it was raining outside.

There was no one to help her clean her wounds or the traces of intimacy from her body.

Her hot breath revealed that she had a fever.

Su Su struggled to sit up from the stone bed and wrapped herself in her clothes.

The weak water emitted a silver light in the pitch-black surroundings. Su Su walked under the crack and sat weakly against the base of the wall, opening her mouth to catch the rain.

Her dry lips were moistened a little and Su Su felt a lot better.

She hugged her knees, burying her cheeks in the crook of her arm.

Rarely in her life had she been so desperate and vulnerable. Not only because of last night, but also because of the three shattered Soul Extinguishing Nails.

She had watched as they’d hit the heart protecting scale and turned into dust, while the heart protecting scale had developed golden cracks.

She had failed, at the cost of both herself, and all living beings on heaven and earth.

The Soul Extinguishing Nails were gone, the young Devil God’s feelings had turned into monstrous hatred, and the situation had become a dead end. Will I just be…… locked up like this for the rest of my life?

Su Su had never been this dejected before.

She thought to herself, perhaps the sect shouldn’t have given this mission to me. How can I carry out such a mission when I’m just a little immortal who’s only just reached a hundred years old? I couldn’t even stop the Soul Extinguishing Nails from shattering!

She’d only just stepped out of the fairyland where everyone had cared for her, and was still badly bruised from falling in front of the young Devil God.

But she’d really tried her best.

It had only been less than two years in the mortal realm, but it seemed even longer than the hundred years she’d been through.

She held back her tears, having carried the weight of the world five hundred years in the future all this time. She’d been very careful, as if walking on thin ice. Even when she was controlled to kill Xiao Lin, she’d only dared to briefly cry for a moment, then wiped away her tears to guard the city for him. She hadn’t even dared to have too warm emotions for anyone, for fear of affecting the purpose of this trip.

But she was also a being of the Three Realms, she was also made of flesh and blood, she too would feel pain, be afraid, and hesitate.

Raindrops pelted her face.

The heart of Dao that she’d always held fast to was on the verge of collapsing.

A voice seemed to be saying——

“Don’t hold on anymore. That’s it, you can’t do it. He’s the Devil God, he already found out that you lied to him. If you persist, you’ll only die in five hundred years ago ⁵ Clarification: Because Su Su transmigrated to 500 years ago, so if she dies, she dies. There won’t be Su Su in the future. .”

“Go home, this was all too much for you to bear. Follow your destiny and return to your timeline. Even if you really die, it’ll be easy and comfortable.”

“You protect the Three Realms, but who will protect you?”

Su Su tightly hugged herself and gritted her teeth.

She touched the stone wall, which was as cold as ice, and even though it was summer now, it was still so cold that she shivered.

She was cornered with no way out. Curved Jade had fallen silent, and the talismans she’d drawn by biting her fingertips ⁶ using the blood from her fingertips to draw talismans had no effect at all.

——She was trapped in a muddled space.

This place was just like the cage Pian Ran used to use. People could only be imprisoned here, she couldn’t go anywhere, and even Curved Jade was forced to be dormant.

Su Su covered her eye as the World Toppling Flower began to hurt again.

Because of fear and sickness, this time, it hurt more than any other time before. She endured it for a long time, and when she opened her eyes again, she found that she couldn’t even see that glimmer of daylight clearly.

Su Su rubbed her eye, a terrible silence invaded her. For a moment, even the sound of dripping water seemed to be far away. She curled up on the stone bed, remembering what Curved Jade had told her about the consequences of using the World Toppling Flower.

A tragic fate and death without an intact corpse.

Edited by: Gaze