Chapter Ninety-Three: Bound Together in Life and Death

I was running with all my strength beneath the Thirty-Third Heaven, along the banks of the Heavenly River and at the foot of Mount Sumeru. On this mountain, all things were at rest. Here, immortal arts had no place to work; here, everything sank into silence.

The hundred and eight steps of the celestial stair felt like five hundred years of running.

Panting hard, I reached the summit of Mount Sumeru, and the woman who had guarded him for five hundred years still looked as lovely as ever. When she saw me, she started, then froze, and then burst into laughter. The expression on her face as she laughed was even madder than it had been in those days.

"So you never jumped into the Heavenly River after all! You were only pretending to be devoted! What right do you have to come here!"

In my haste, I had even forgotten my guise as an old woman.

I paid her no mind and threw myself toward the crystal coffin, desperate to look at my master’s hand.

But Lu Xue shoved me aside at once, clawing and tearing at me as she fought to keep me from approaching the coffin. I clung tightly to one side of it, staring at my master’s hand. Beneath the wide sleeves of his robe, his right hand was clenched, and from within it showed the tiniest sliver of black feather.

It was my soul-binding feather.

What that storyteller immortal had said was true.

So it was all true. All of it. He had not felt only pity for me. He loved me. He truly loved me.

I tried to take his hand, but the crystal coffin blocked me, and Lu Xue kicked and beat me as she dragged me away. Without immortal power, my slight frame was no match at all for her brute strength.

I sprawled on the ground, gazing toward the crystal coffin and crying out to him, "Fei'er was foolish! Fei'er understands now!"

"What do you understand? Get out! This place belongs to Han Qing and me alone!" Lu Xue was furious beyond measure.

I struggled to my feet, only to be struck hard across the face and knocked down again.

I could not reach my master. I could not reach him, not even if his body were nothing more than a cold shell without a soul.

Lu Xue’s fists and feet rained down on me. "Wretch! At last you’ve changed back into women’s clothes! But in only five hundred years you’ve turned into a gray-haired hag! I’m already more than sixty thousand years old, and I’m still young and beautiful. What right do you have to steal my Han Qing? Even if you died and stood before him, in this ugly state, he still wouldn’t recognize you!"

Yes. What right did I have to take his hand? He had held my soul-binding feather until his spirit scattered to the winds, and I had married the underworld lord who killed him, and borne Little Little White. I closed my eyes and let her beat me, tears streaming down my face and falling upon the summit of Mount Sumeru.

Suddenly, Lu Xue sat down hard on the ground, as though someone had dealt her a vicious shove. Startled, she looked around in panic, but there was no one there. Then the entire mountain began to shake violently. Mount Sumeru trembled to its core, and the whole Heavenly River surged and roared. Primordial spirits scattered through the Thirty-Third Heaven gathered from all directions; primordial spirits from the lower realms ascended layer by layer as well, converging above the Heavenly River and becoming great clouds of spiritual light, then falling like snow into its rushing waters. The greatest spiritual snowfall in history began to descend upon the Heavenly River.

These primordial spirits, gathered by fate, would be carried by the Heavenly River’s waters down to the lower realms and become many new primal souls. This heavenly realm would be remade anew.

Spring Wind appeared in an instant, holding Little Little White in his arms, and caught my tears in a jade dew bottle.

"Little ancestor, stop crying! If you cry any more, you’ll wake up every dead thing on this mountain!" Spring Wind said. Then his eyes suddenly lit up, and he hurried to the crystal coffin to look, only for hope to turn to disappointment.

Little Little White held the jade bottle and helped catch my tears, his eyes swollen red from crying like two peaches. The story of the Great God of the Clouds had truly wounded him.

"Spring Wind, there’s no need to look. My tears can’t do anything for a soul shattered to dust, and besides, there’s a time limit," I said softly as I slowly got up from the ground.

"Little Crow, what happened to your face?" Spring Wind noticed the red marks on me, seized my arm, and rolled up my sleeve, finding several bruises.

"Wretch!" Lu Xue got up and rushed over, but Spring Wind froze her in place. Then a series of sharp slaps landed on her face from afar. Astonishingly, Spring Wind’s power was not affected by Mount Sumeru.

"Vile woman! Have you gone mad from keeping watch over a tomb? Where on earth do you still resemble Lu Xue? This lord never wished to strike a woman, but if you dare touch Little Crow again, I’ll make you taste the Palm of Dawn and Spring." Spring Wind’s voice rang out cold and stern.

"You little temptress! You’re quite the one, seducing the younger brother and then the elder brother too. And who fathered this little beast?" Lu Xue mocked me with vulgar, filthy words.

Little Little White shoved the bottle into my hands. With a flick of his fingers at Lu Xue, she cried out twice, and two fresh wounds appeared on her body.

"This little divine lord never strikes women either, except for women like you! Father’s two slaps were too light!" Little Little White fixed Lu Xue with a cold stare.

At times, his fierce gaze and domineering manner even made me afraid. When he turned ruthless, he looked far too much like the underworld lord.

Spring Wind lifted me up and carried Little Little White, descending Mount Sumeru in an instant.

"Be good, Little Little White. Don’t hit her again in the future. She’s your second aunt. Give your second uncle a little face," Spring Wind coaxed him at once.

"She isn’t! Father said he would protect Mother, so why are you going soft again? You’re wrong!" Little Little White scolded Spring Wind.

"I..." Spring Wind was left speechless by his son’s reprimand.

"Nonsense! How can you speak to your father like that? Apologize to him!" I snapped at Little Little White.

"But Father is the one who’s wrong," Little Little White argued.

"Get down on your knees. Apologize!" I shouted.

"Father, I should not have spoken to you that way. But you really are wrong." Little Little White knelt to Spring Wind, yet still held to his own opinion.

"Good. Father was wrong. I failed to protect your mother. I was wrong then, and I’m wrong now," Spring Wind said, lifting Little Little White into his arms, full of self-reproach.

"Spring Wind! You aren’t wrong!" I turned and walked away.

"Little Crow, don’t be angry with the child. Little Little White is right. I didn’t protect you," Spring Wind said as he flew to my side with Little Little White in his arms, walking as he spoke.

"It has nothing to do with you. It’s my own fault. Take him and go. I don’t want to see him," I said coldly.

"The child is wrong. He shouldn’t have been disrespectful to Father. Mother, don’t be angry anymore," Little Little White tugged at my sleeve.

I coldly withdrew my sleeve and quickened my pace.

"For five hundred years you never truly looked at this child! Who do you think he resembles? I’ll tell you: I brought this child into the world! He resembles Little White!" Spring Wind said.

I ignored him. Heaven knows which Little White he meant.

"Little White is your master’s childhood nickname!" Spring Wind said.

I froze. Little White. Little Little White. I stopped and stared at Spring Wind, asking each word separately, "Spring Wind, did you give him that name to humiliate him?"

"You underestimate his heart far too much!" Spring Wind snapped at me.

Tears in my eyes, teeth clenched, the black crystal bracelet on my wrist trembled. My heart seethed with hatred: Underworld lord! You tore apart two people who loved each other yet never had the chance to speak, and you even gave me this Little Little White to mock me and him! Heavenly Virtue! You were the hand behind all of this! I will never spare you!

Little Little White lay on Spring Wind’s shoulder without making a sound.

"Be good. Your mother isn’t angry with you. She’s just unhappy today," Spring Wind soothed him.

"I know. Second Uncle died, and Mother is very sad," Little Little White said.

I flew to the bank of the Heavenly River.

"Little Crow! What are you doing?" Spring Wind arrived in an instant and blocked my path.

"I won’t jump. That Lu Xue up on the mountain won’t let me see him. I only want to look at him here. His hand really held my soul-binding feather. He loved me."

Spring Wind moved aside, looking disappointed.

I stood quietly gazing at the surging waters of the Heavenly River, where countless primordial spirits, gathered by fate, converged into clumps like snowflakes falling into the river. At this moment, was snow falling over the Kunlun ruins? On the Climbing-Immortality Cliff, would there still be a figure mending the sky’s broken wound? What need was there to speak of master-disciple bonds, or pitiful care? Love is love. Yun Xiao held Yu Fei’s soul-binding feather until death parted them not at all; Yu Fei’s heart belonged to Yun Xiao and to no one else.

"This disciple greets Uncle-Master." Behind me came the voice of the Eleventh Senior Brother.

The Eleventh Senior Brother had actually come to Mount Sumeru at a time like this. We had not seen each other in five hundred years, and I did not dare turn around. I did not dare face him.

"So it’s Little Dingmao! What brings you here?" Spring Wind asked.

"Today is Little Junior Brother’s memorial day. We come every year, don’t we? Didn’t Uncle-Master come too? Everyone sent me to check on Little Junior Brother and bring some pears from the Valley of Remembering Immortals. They were planted by his own hand back then, and now they’ve borne fruit! They’re very sweet!"

Yes. Yu Fei’s memorial day. Five hundred years ago, she was taken from here by Heavenly Virtue’s men and sent to the Netherworld.

"Oh, the memorial day... well, never mind the rest, give me the pears," Spring Wind said.

"No! These are for Little Junior Brother!" The Eleventh Senior Brother hugged the pears tightly.

"If you give them to me, you’re giving them to Little Crow!" Spring Wind reached out to snatch them.

"No, Uncle-Master, if you want some, go to the Jade Purity Realm another day," the Eleventh Senior Brother said urgently.

"You stubborn fool! Burn them all! Keep your distance, don’t let them fall into the river!" Spring Wind said in exasperation.

"As long as Uncle-Master doesn’t kick me in, I won’t fall in," the Eleventh Senior Brother answered, still finding room to banter with him.

"Ma’am, step back a little. It’s dangerous this close to the Heavenly River. If you fall in, your soul will scatter," the Eleventh Senior Brother kindly reminded me from behind.

He really didn’t recognize me anymore. I stepped aside.

"Does Uncle-Master know what happened just now? Even the heavenly palace shook. This year’s spiritual snowfall is really something else," the Eleventh Senior Brother said.

"I don’t know. Maybe Little Crow is unhappy today," Spring Wind replied.

The Eleventh Senior Brother lit a fire.

Spring Wind watched curiously from the side. "Little Bunny, why are you burning so much aphrodisiac medicine?"

"Does Uncle-Master not know that Little Junior Brother has a hidden ailment?" the Eleventh Senior Brother said.

I was both miserable and amused. Even if I had a hidden ailment, you, Divine Lord Dingmao, had already made it a matter of public knowledge.

Spring Wind burst out laughing. "Hidden ailment... what is that?"

"Isn’t it just that his body is weak? Back then Great God Wuxiang said it wasn’t suitable for marriage," the Eleventh Senior Brother said quietly to Spring Wind.

"Why burn aphrodisiacs and then women’s clothes too?" Spring Wind asked.

"In case Little Junior Brother wants to catch a thief or something again, it’ll be more convenient. And besides, they look pretty nice when worn," the Eleventh Senior Brother replied.

Spring Wind covered his mouth, amused.

"Little Junior Brother, as for the liquor, everyone said not to let me bring you any. They said if you drink too much, you’ll only make things harder for Master. I secretly brought a little, but don’t you dare drink too much and then spill it on Master. I don’t know whether you can still speak now, but remember to act spoiled with Master and drag him back to the Jade Purity Realm to see everyone," the Eleventh Senior Brother advised me.

"All right, all right, stop making it so sentimental. It’s giving me a knot in my chest," Spring Wind said with a frown.

"Uncle-Master now has a wife and a son and wants every blessing in the world. I thought that with the two people he cares about most gone, Uncle-Master would be heartbroken. So this is how happy you are!" the Eleventh Senior Brother said unhappily.

Spring Wind glared at him. "If this lord isn’t happy, must I be miserable instead? If I were miserable to death, who would come each year to mend the sky with you? Who would stand up for you? If you keep talking back, I’ll kick you in! Ma’am, let’s go! Dingmao, mourn by yourself here."

I knew Spring Wind was afraid I would keep listening and feel worse, and that he also feared I would linger too long in this dangerous place.

"Little Junior Brother, did you receive it? Everyone is already missing the pastries you used to make. Come back and see everyone," the Eleventh Senior Brother murmured as he tended the fire, wiping away a tear.

"I received it, Eleventh Senior Brother," I said, sending my voice to his ear with divine power.

The Eleventh Senior Brother froze, thinking he had imagined it. Hastily, he looked around, but in the distance there were only three departing figures: the Great God Spring Wind, his son Little Little White, and that gray-haired old woman.