Chapter 78.1 Heartless Dao

It was evening when she awoke.

Changze Immortal Mountain was quiet and desolate, rarely frequented. For the past hundred years, very few people had set foot here, and the snow that never melted all year round fell on her eyelashes.

In Heavenly Lake, the mist was curling upwards, and golden Chinese parasol tree ¹ 梧桐 (wútóng) – wutong (Firmiana platanifolia)

How it looks like: leaves had been made into a beautiful bed using spiritual power.

Coming to her senses, she moved her fingers, and her eyelashes trembled. What came into her vision was a world dense with mist. She felt a little pain and subconsciously pressed the source of it—— it was her heart.

Tears fell into the water of the Heavenly Lake, creating shallow waves.

At this moment, all the devastating ² 铺天盖地 (pūtiān-gàidì) – lit. hiding the sky and covering the earth (idiom); fig. earth-shattering; omnipotent emotions of grievance and sadness finally washed over her.

Su Su had never expected to wake up again.

That day, she had jumped down from the city tower with the determination to die, burning out her immortal soul and injecting it into the Curved Jade of Ninth Heavens. The heavenly thunder had entered Curved Jade too, creating a raging karmic fire that burned her to the core.

She’d heard Curved Jade shattering and reforming ³ 熔 (róng) – melt; smelt; fuse; mold , so she’d thought that she too had dispersed into the world like Curved Jade. 

In the midst of the karmic fire, Su Su saw a person below rushing towards the city tower.

He ran so fast. Did he come to pick up Ye Bing Shang because he grew a String of Affection? 

The snow in the mortal realm was heavy, her eyes were blurred, and she’d wanted to grip Curved Jade, but it turned into ashes before her.

At that moment, Su Su thought, if there’s the chance to survive, who would want to painfully die in karmic fire? 

Every inch of her skin had hurt. Her immortal soul felt like it was being crushed alive, and she’d collapsed in the karmic fire.

Never looking at him again.

More than seven hundred days and nights were spent in the mortal realm, back then, she’d realized that even if she didn’t want to think about Tantai Jin again, he was in almost all her memories.

The life of a mortal was too bitter.

He’d embroidered the sincerest feelings into the veil, but killed her brother, abandoned her grandmother, controlled her to kill, and gave her endless darkness.

She couldn’t save her brother, never saw her grandmother again, and Xiao Lin’s warm blood had splashed her hands, becoming pain she couldn’t walk away from. She hadn’t let all living creatures of the Three Realms down, but she’d still let herself and Ye Xi Wu down.

Su Su was born as a spiritual fetus and had never dreamed.

But during that time, for the first time, she longed so badly for the past seven hundred days and nights to be just a nightmare. Once the bad dream was over, she’d be back at Changze Mountain, surrounded by countless familiar faces.

Life would be how it used to be. Even if the Three Realms were rampant with demons and monsters, she was trapped on the immortal mountain with her eyes tinged with longing, watching the mortal realm from high above ⁴ 眺望 (tiàowàng) – look into the distance from a high vantage point; to survey the scene from an elevated position with Curved Jade.

But Curved Jade had died.

Her tears blurred the sight of Curved Jade dissipating away. Like any insignificant wisp of green smoke, it gently brushed her hair and became silent forever.

Curved Jade had once said that it was only a useless stone back in ancient times, and countless great gods who’d existed at the same time had all died.

Only it had endured the primeval times, the change of mountains and rivers, the mortal realm’s vast oceans of loneliness, and in the end, followed her mother, and accompanied her growing up.

It always used to say that it knew nothing except striving to survive with all its might. But in the end, because of her, it was dragged down and lost.

“Ji Ze, Eldest Brother, Grandmother, Xiao Lin, Curved Jade……”

Inch by inch, her immortal soul had become transparent in the karmic fire. this nightmare… was truly cold.

.…..

Back then, all she wanted was to pray to the Heavenly Dao, that for all time, even until the end of darkness, she never wanted to meet Tantai Jin again.

Or, could she…… have one last look at Changze Mountain?

Now, snowflakes were fluttering in Changze, so beautiful that they could become a picture scroll.

Su Su’s black pupils had a trace of tears—— Am I…… home?

An Immortal Lord in white strolled through the wutong ⁵ 梧桐 (wútóng) – Chinese parasol (tree); phoenix tree (a beautiful tree which figures prominently in literature, and whose euphonious Chinese name is often left untranslated) forest, a transparent and lustrous jade was hanging on his waistband, tied with green tassels ⁶ 穗子 (suìzi) – fringe; ear of grain; spike;

Example of how it looks like: .

His black hair was tied up with a jade crown, and he looked calm.

He was followed by a stern-faced teenager.

“Fuya, when you see her again, you mustn’t ask Junior Sister about the relationship between her and the Li Susu you knew in the past, she’ll get angry,” Gongye Jiwu instructed.

Seeing the teenager stay silent, he laughed and said, “She says she’s not every time, and she gets angry that you always see her as someone else. Last time, when she  competed with you, you even scratched her favorite garment. She was sad for a long time beside the Heavenly Lake. She told the spirit fishes in the lake that she wanted to complain to Shizun ⁷ 师尊 (shīzūn) – teacher/master , but she hasn’t said anything until now. This time, Junior Sister was in seclusion for a long time. When she comes out, she probably won’t hold a grudge, so don’t make her sad.”

The teenager pursed his lips and said, “Alright.”

Remembering something, Gongye Jiwu’s eyes were filled with a hint of helplessness and warmth.

“Junior Sister is still young, be more tolerant.”

Their voices traveled to her from far away. Su Su, who was in the Heavenly Lake, looked over in a daze, only to see a snow-white immortal mountain. Behind the spiraling mist and towering wutong trees, in the blazing world, two familiar faces inadvertently came into view.

She was suddenly awakened from the nightmare of five hundred years past, and looked at Gongye Jiwu and Yue Fuya, who were walking over from a distance, in shock.

A slight wind blew past his ears, and before Gongye Jiwu could react, a warm and soft body ran into his arms.

Gongye Jiwu froze, the tips of his ears turned slightly red, and he lightly coughed, “Junior Sister?”

Beside him, Yue Fuya was also stunned, and looked at his Senior Sister who had come out from seclusion.

Men and women should keep their distance, and remembering that Li Su Su was no longer the little girl with the fairy bun ⁸ Might look something like this: from when she was a child, Gongye Jiwu gently pushed her away.

However, the young girl in the pale blue flowing dress tightly hugged his waist, her tears flowing into his lapel.

“How wonderful…… you’re still alive……”

Although Gongye Jiwu didn’t know what had happened, his lively and quick-witted Junior Sister rarely cried before him, so he gently lowered his raised hand and patted her back. He was tolerant and gently said, “Mmm, Junior Sister, don’t cry.”

Seeing his delicate Senior Sister’s eyes as red as a wronged rabbit, Yue Fuya was silent for a moment, then hesitatingly took out a flowing purple dress from his qiankun ⁹ 乾坤 (qiánkūn) – heaven and earth; yin and yang; the universe; cosmos pouch ¹⁰ 乾坤袋 (qiánkūn dài) – Basically, in xianxia context, it’s a storage pouch with an unlimited capacity. How it might look like: .

“Senior Sister, it’s my fault. Last time I scratched your dress, I found an identical one as an apology, do you want to have a look?”

Su Su turned her head and saw the Fuya of her memory.

Clear and bright, clean and neat, his brilliant eyes were looking at her with a hint of concern.

Just like the Little Junior Brother from her memory.

Gongye Jiwu’s heartbeat echoed in her ears, and the sorrow and despair from five hundred years ago disappeared. Everything in front of her was bright, warm, and colorful.

It was difficult for Su Su to describe how she felt at this moment. She’d originally thought that everything would turn into nothingness, and there would be no trace of her left in the world. But when she opened her eyes from the karmic fire, she found that she was home.

Senior Brother is still alive. Does it mean that everyone I care about is still alive?

Does this mean that my trip to the mortal realm five hundred years ago, to extract Tantai Jin’s evil bone, was successful?

Su Su raised her head, the sky was clean, as if it had washed away any depressing colors.

The person who had passed away was still alive, standing in front of her.

She’d changed everything from five hundred years ago, and all the tragedies hadn’t happened.

She had returned home.

She’d awoken in a warm spring full of blooming flowers.

Edited by: Gaze