In a stone cave on the rear mountain, Chong Zhao sat with his eyes tightly closed, surrounded by a pure white spiritual energy. Inside the cave, stones on the ground lifted into a formation, stirring fierce winds in the air.
Er Yun, standing outside the cave, saw the brilliant white light at the entrance and couldn’t help but smile with joy.
“Such powerful spiritual energy… Could it be that Junior Brother has advanced another level?”
Inside the cave, as spiritual energy swirled around him, Chong Zhao’s face suddenly changed. In his mind’s eye, a scene appeared.
His entire family knelt in the execution ground, the executioners showing no mercy as they raised their blades over the kneeling figures.
“Father! Mother!”
At the critical moment of refining a high-grade spiritual pill, Chong Zhao’s mind conjured the image of his family’s massacre. His eyes flew open, blood-red, and his spiritual energy turned chaotic.
“Kill! Kill!” Chong Zhao muttered unconsciously, his gaze descending into madness.
Outside, his chaotic spiritual energy cut grooves and marks into the stone at the cave entrance. Er Yun was forced to step back, his expression darkening.
“This is bad! Junior Brother is going mad!” Without hesitation, Er Yun tried to rush into the cave, but the chaotic energy forced him back.
Inside, just as the swirling stones hurtled toward Chong Zhao under the chaotic spiritual energy, a figure suddenly appeared. With a wave of her hand, the stones froze mid-air. She extended a finger to Chong Zhao’s forehead, bringing clarity back to his eyes.
Seeing who it was, he looked astonished.
“Are you trying to die? Concentrate. Clear your mind,” Fu Ling said coldly.
Chong Zhao stiffened, focusing again as he re-centered his spiritual energy, closing his eyes and restoring his spirit under Fu Ling’s protection.
Moments later, his face returned to normal, and his spiritual energy grew even stronger.
Fu Ling withdrew her hand, a slight smirk on her lips. “To withstand demonic power and remain steady… Chong Zhao, are you blessed with profound destiny in the immortal realm, or is it that you are fated to be connected with us demons?”
* * *
“A-Shuo! A-Shuo!” Bai Shuo was suddenly shaken awake, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Bai Xi’s large, worried eyes staring back at her. Startled, she scrambled out of bed.
“What’s going on?”
“Father and Mother have gone out. Today is the Lantern Festival. Let’s sneak out and have some fun!”
“Sneak out? How?”
“Don’t you remember? There’s a dog hole you dug by the back gate.”
Bai Shuo stared blankly at Bai Xi’s glowing face, feeling slightly dazed. Bai Xi was always the rule-abiding one, so wasn’t sneaking around usually her own specialty?
“Well, are you coming? If not, I’m going on my own.”
“Let’s go, let’s go! Hey, wait for me!” Bai Shuo scrambled out of bed, hurriedly throwing on her clothes.
The two of them, familiar with the route, slipped out through the dog hole, where Chong Zhao was already waiting at the back gate with a cheerful smile.
Seeing his warm and gentle smile, Bai Shuo was momentarily dazed. “A-Zhao?”
“Hurry up! The temple fair is about to start.” Chong Zhao quickly pulled the two sisters along, leaving Bai Shuo with an odd feeling, sensing that something was off. But before she could think more, she was dragged away by the young man.
The streets of the capital were bustling and vibrant. The three of them walked, eating snacks, visiting the temple fair, and watching street performances. By sunset, they stood by the crowded riverbank, where Bai Shuo was happily munching on a candied hawthorn stick. Chong Zhao reached over to wipe the sticky syrup from the corner of her mouth.
Bai Xi, who was setting a river lantern afloat, turned and caught sight of this, smiling to herself.
As Bai Shuo looked up, fireworks filled the sky, but a sudden chill swept over her, making her shiver involuntarily.
“A-Shuo, what’s wrong?” Chong Zhao asked.
“It’s… cold…”
“Cold?”
“Really cold…”
Bai Shuo began to tremble uncontrollably, sinking to her knees as frost slowly spread over her body. The images of Chong Zhao and Bai Xi blurred in her vision, and the entire world seemed to turn into frozen stone.
“So this is what you and he often did together.”
“What are you saving it for? The New Year?” A figure in a fiery red ancient robe approached from afar, laughing wildly.
“Shhh,” murmured the person lying drunk, bringing a finger to their lips with a sly smile, eyes narrowed like a fox. “For a dowry.”
“Ha! The old-fashioned type, finally coming around, are you? If you don’t make a move soon, you won’t be able to stop that one from slipping down to the mortal realm whenever he gets restless. And if he catches someone’s eye down there, you’ll have plenty to worry about.”
“Let’s see who would dare.” The person in the white robe sat up abruptly, his expression filled with intensity.
“Who ruffled your feathers? Drunk as you are, you still manage to get angry?” A man in a purple robe approached from the distance, twirling a small flask in his hand. He nudged the red-robed girl beside him. “Did you provoke our esteemed ancestor?”
“I wouldn’t dare. She might tear down my Moonlight Pavilion if I did.” The red-robed woman’s eyes sparkled with joy at the sight of the man in purple, though she looked a bit surprised. “Wasn’t Zhi Yang supposed to have you enlightening the demon clans in the Demon Realm? How come you’re back in just two or three days?”
“The place is a wasteland, filled with uncivilized brutes. There was only one little tiger demon worth my attention. He has potential, though, and needs some training. After a few days, I was so bored my mouth nearly went numb from disuse. If I stayed any longer, never mind enlightening the demon clans—I'd probably succumb to boredom and fade away.”
“But you’re the Demon God. If you don’t enlighten them, who will?”
“Let that frosty icicle do it. Isn’t he the one who loves preaching and explaining the Way?”
“You think Zhi Yang will agree?”
“I told him I need to go reinforce the Four Wildernesses Barrier in the lower realms—busy work, you know.” The purple-robed man winked, lowering his voice, “Thirty thousand years ago, Pu Hua secretly stashed a few jars of fine wine behind Kunlun Mountain. I reckon it’s about time for it to be ready…”
“It’s been hidden for thirty thousand years! Aren’t you afraid that old man will lose his temper with you?”
“We’ll sneak in, take it quietly. With my skills, would he even notice?” The purple-robed man snorted lightly. “Coming or not?”
“I’m in.” The red-robed woman answered without hesitation, her voice swift and sure.
“Oh no, Zhi Yang is coming! I need to leave. You hurry up and take our little ancestor back. I’ll wait for you at the Bronze Bridge.” Glancing skyward, the purple-robed man activated his divine power and vanished by the stream.
The red-robed woman looked at the half-drunken figure, sighing softly. “Pu Hua’s wine… he took it for you, didn’t he?”
A bitter smile crossed her face, a hint of self-mockery evident. Suddenly, she glanced toward a spot in the void—right where Bai Shuo was standing.
For some reason, her eyes, previously full of lightheartedness, now held a deep sorrow and longing. A tear fell from the corner of her eye.
Seeing those eyes, Bai Shuo felt her heart ache as if her breath had been taken away. She couldn’t help but reach out to the red-robed goddess…
Don’t cry…
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t touch the goddess’s face.
Before her, the goddess slowly faded away, and Bai Shuo closed her eyes as well.
In the Mysterious Ice Cave, a tear slipped down Bai Shuo’s sleeping face. Her brows knitted tightly as she huddled close to the dying embers of the fire, shivering from the cold.
A wave of demonic energy, origin unknown, crept in from the cave entrance. The temperature of the ice around her dropped further, and in an instant, the flickering flame was snuffed out, frost slowly covering Bai Shuo’s feet.
Just as Bai Shuo was about to collapse, a young man in simple robes caught her, holding her tightly in his arms.
Outside the cave, the dawn light was faint, and Chang Xu sneezed, rubbing his hands and looking suspiciously at the rising sun. “Senior Brother, don’t you feel it’s even colder?”
Yi Fan frowned. “Stop being superstitious. If it’s not cold here, where would it be?”
Chang Xu, feeling rebuffed, glanced worriedly toward the cave.
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