Snow in the Mortal World.
Falling upon his head.
Su Ming’an opened his eyes wide, his throat choked with sorrow.
That person’s gaze was indifferent, but paused upon seeing him.
"...Wensheng?" the person spoke.
Su Ming’an heard this na. Perhaps the farewell of death is always the most ingrained, even knowing the sight in front might be wrong, he still walked forward.
"Godfather?" As he spoke, he realized his voice was terrifyingly hoarse.
Having long been accustod to parting and loss, he always recalled those people, those events, those nas engraved in his heart. He lived like a silent and solemn tombstone, cautiously gathering mories little by little, reminiscing endlessly.
There were too many nas, sotis he would forget a bit, but he forced himself to recall those traumatic scenes again and again to rember them.
Occasionally, in the intervals after battles, before falling asleep, while talking to people... he would uncontrollably rember the deceased. Even a slight déjà vu would make him feel as though he had seen those people again.
They seed to be bones fused within him, rging with his flesh, living in every glance, every gesture, every breath. The pain and mories are long, grief and ti are equal.
Pioneers who passed early, upright knights, proud young girls, one-minute friends...
—He never walked out of the nightmares of those farewells.
At this mont, a skipping girl approached, her hair bun swaying, her long dress like fluttering butterflies and brilliant clouds: "Master, the World Master wants you to go for a divination."
With her arrival, it seed as if spring wind had co. The white-haired person nodded: "Divination for what?"
"It’s about this strange outsider..." Tao’er glanced at Su Ming’an, showing a look of surprise: "Huh? Master never allowed anyone besides the World Master to be so close to you, but you’re actually this close."
"...Is it true?" Su Ming’an suddenly asked.
There was no subject, but the intent was clear—Godfather, are you real?
The scene before him seed like a dream that would shatter once touched, he never luxuriously imagined the deceased could return.
Let alone... the Godfather had completely disappeared.
Su Wensheng didn’t rember him, the children of the church didn’t rember him, even his true friend Xia Jiawen had forgotten him. Only Su Ming’an rembered.
"Hold my hand." At this mont, the white-haired person reached out a hand to him.
Su Ming’an instinctively held it, and then a white light appeared in front of his eyes—
...
He saw on the street, standing there was a man with white hair and white eyes—Li Mingyue.
After Li Mingyue died, for so reason he appeared in this world.
Coinciding with Luowasha’s heavy snow, white and fluttering, Li Mingyue raised his head, covered in wind and snow. Everything before his eyes was unprecedented—races with pointed ears, groups with wide wings, three-headed canine-like creatures.
Snowflakes dampened his white hair, he silently watched, as if becoming a cold statue. People ca and went, seeing him, none spoke to him, he seed to have suddenly fallen into an unfamiliar pit, not knowing where to go.
He never asked to ascend to Paradise, but he didn’t expect to end up in such a place.
"...Ming’an? Wensheng? Shaoqing?"
Then, he began to call out.
He called once, walked a few steps, called again, the white heels of his shoes falling into the thick snow, leaving light and long footprints.
Snow water fell on his hair tips, eyes, shoulders, he had long been accustod to the cold, warm breath exhaled from his mouth, entangled with those three distant nas, only at this mont did he realize he was truly alive.
This body was his, yet subtly different, pupils tinged with pink, a petal of peach blossom by his ear, pale green branches and leaves encircling his temples and forehead. He guessed that his race should be Peach Blossom Immortal, the legendary Demigod-level race, similar to Kunpeng, Qilin, Phoenix, all venerated land immortals.
However, none of this mattered to him now.
He had an impulse to drink peach blossom juice, perhaps this body urgently needed energy, but he couldn’t attend to hunger, as he walked along, he called out, calling those he knew among the incomprehensible creatures.
"Shaoqing."
"Wensheng."
"Ming’an."
Alternating calls, none more, none less. He had wronged Wensheng and Shaoqing, but later repaid everything with interest to Ming’an, that can’t be considered settled, nor clearly accounted.
Amidst the endless snow, he was like a wandering ghost lost between origin and destination.
With the few Var Currency in his pocket, he bought a bowl of glutinous rice balls, sat down to fill his stomach. This food couldn’t relieve an Immortal’s hunger, but he rembered the festival fireworks in Louyue Palace, at that ti Shaoqing on the High Tower yearned most for a hot bowl of glutinous rice balls.
Passing a bakery, he bought a bag of plastic-sealed bread, the opening pre-cut, easy to tear. But he thought of a certain morning, the fountain where white doves fluttered, Su Wensheng had accompanied him ti and again to distribute bread, the youth back then was also at a loss.
Then he looked up, saw the eerie moon in the sky. It was like that day when his form shattered, filled with moonlight, yet he urged Su Ming’an to "smile more."
...Smile more.
Yet the children on the High Tower bled profusely, the child by the fountain drowned, only the child under the moonlight remained peaceful... He could sense the death in the child’s eyes, life seemingly not much longer than the previous two.
Truthfully, if he let himself go, he would live with ease, after all, those were two destined deaths, even if he didn’t act, things would happen. But precisely his high moral standard left him without peace.
Whenever he relaxed a bit, he would rember the shadows of the past, like ghosts gnawing at his bones.
Old towns, attics, lake sides, candied hawthorn shops, kite shops, schools, churches... he lingered outside these similar yet different scenes, like a lost soul with nowhere to hide, burdened with two other lost souls, endlessly trapped in the past.
From sunrise, walked to sunset.
From Morning Glow, walked to dusk.
From early spring, walked to late winter.
From the Second Epoch of Luowasha, walked to the Third Epoch.
The lifespan of an Immortal is long, the body uncorrupted, he kept walking, kept calling, traversing centuries and millennia of frost and snow. No one walked alongside him, no one responded, even if soone wanted to walk a while with him, they would soon reach the end of their life.
He was neither a State Preceptor nor a Godfather, just continued walking, it made him feel ntally peaceful at least.
All along, the frost and snow were long, the deep and shallow footsteps left a trail. He was like ice condensed for a thousand years, unable to lt or transcend, always calm, always alone.
Until,
"...Were you calling ?"
—One day, finally, soone responded to him.
The voice was cold, seemingly surprised.
Countless calls fell into emptiness, this mont finally caught by soone.
He turned around, saw a figure. Purple long hair, golden eyes, face hidden behind a cold silver mask. He imdiately saw that this person was stained with murder and hands full of blood.
In the past he would only avoid it, but at this mont he stopped his millennia-long quest.
"Who are you?" Li Mingyue asked.
The World Master seed to have just completed a war, retreating from the frontlines, with a lingering aura of blood, but paused with restraint in his steps.
"My na is Wen...Lord." The World Master adjusted the mask, his gaze gradually softening: "I rember you, just one look, and I feel like I rember you. Did we... know each other before?"
Did we... know each other?
Li Mingyue slightly employed divination techniques, peering into the secrets of heaven, indeed the World Master had connections with Su Wensheng in a thousand ways, but the positional rank of Luowasha was too high, even as an Immortal, he couldn’t discern what these connections truly ant, whether it was the person himself, or sothing else.
But as long as there is a connection, it is enough.
He had no desires, no ambitions to conquer the world, only wanted to find traces of ho or old acquaintances, now he had finally found it.
"Peach Blossom Immortal, I have heard of your ability to see the secrets of the heavens, born a Demigod. I am the overlord of the surface plane, willing to embrace you as a State Preceptor. Would you be willing to return with ?" the World Master extended an invitation.
"What do I need to do," Li Mingyue said.
The World Master was overjoyed. Having a Celestial Clan mber would attract a large number of believers wherever placed, benefiting his rule: "You only need to occasionally perform divination for ."
Li Mingyue could see the World Master’s greed and ambition at a glance; he was a qualified ruler—wise yet cruel, brilliant yet oppressive.
"No need," Li Mingyue said blandly.
"Hmm?"
"No need to be the State Preceptor," Li Mingyue shook his head, "Just give a place of refuge, that’s enough."
How could he be so wise, yet not foresee—he might not actually be the real Li Mingyue.
Causal sacrifice was irreversible, he had been truly erased from existence, why could he appear in Luowasha unhard?
A plausible reason was that he too was a type of creation, one he was most familiar with... similar to an Artificial Origin creation. Perhaps he might be used in the future to hinder Su Ming’an’s path. Because this Luowasha seed like a world Su Ming’an would co to.
Is it laughable?
He was originally the greatest proponent of the Artificial Origin, personally burying a child’s death, and now it was his turn to be the victim. Only, his luck was better; he didn’t need to die to welco the Savior.
So, the best solution was—
"...never eting again," he murmured.
From beginning to end, not seeing Su Ming’an.
As long as he did not et Su Ming’an, no tragedy would occur.
As long as he did not et Su Ming’an, regardless of his rebirth, it wouldn’t cause trouble for Su Ming’an, and those behind the scenes could only lant.
But at the sa ti, a tiny desire lingered in his heart.
——Is there even a slight possibility that he truly is Li Mingyue? Maybe sothing incomprehensible did happen; he didn’t die, he reincarnated in Luowasha. After all, those touches, those apologies and pains felt so real,
If he were Li Mingyue, he could confidently approach Su Ming’an. He was an Immortal, he could once again be Su Ming’an’s safe haven, as he was in the past.
Then, he lifted his eyes and saw the World Master’s gaze.
A strange, cold, kingly gaze.
If Wensheng honestly survived by chance and beca such a person, it was also indirectly his doing. Does he have to create a new tragedy?
He should not et Su Ming’an, he did not dare to gamble.
So, he retreated. Morality tightly constricted his throat, transforming him from a high-standing Immortal to a self-bound Prisoner.
Faced with the World Master’s promised plenty of benefits, the calm Immortal rely clasped his hands, his voice clear and cool:
"World Master, wealth and honor, I want none. I only have one request."
"——Please build a shield, create a curtain, erect a high wall for ."
"——Please build a High Tower for , lock the door, leaving only a small window, to see the moon outside."
"——Please construct palace walls for . Let those outside the walls remain palace walls, so outsiders cannot enter, nor can they see ."
"——Please create a paradise beyond this world for , leaving behind peach blossoms and wine, forbidding anyone from contacting ."
He placed himself in Su Shaoqing’s position.
Just so Su Ming’an couldn’t find him.
He confined himself for decades, drinking alone all day, occasionally divining for the World Master, browsing ancient texts. Aside from Tao’er, whom he adopted due to idle boredom, no one else could approach him. The lting ice and snow once again covered his body.
But he didn’t know why,
...
"...Godfather..."
...
At that mont, that voice responded to his countless calls.
...
The whole garden stirred with wind.
The fragrance of wine perated, peach blossoms hung from branches, beneath the hexagonal White Jade Pavilion, the Immortal turned around in astonishnt.
Just like the first encounter, countless glittering peach flowers rustled, like embroidered brocade.
Moonlight spilled, pouring all over.
The young man leaned against the tree trunk, staring dumbfounded at him, sohow passing through the shield he erected, appearing before him. Clear and familiar eyes, resting upon his own.
——Su Ming’an found him after all, as if it were destined.
The World Master was the bridge between him and the mortal realm, granting with a word, bringing his floating cloud existence back to the mortal world, from Immortal to self-bound Prisoner. Years spent not chasing wealth, not coveting peace, not pursuing happiness, wandering endlessly in past pains, never letting go for a mont. But in this mont, he felt the tranquility within his heart.
The sound of such a mighty wind... moving flowers, moving snow, moving banners.
Mortal world snow.
Snow fell upon the head.
...
"You were gone so long, I almost thought I’d never see you again."
"Godfather."
...
Su Ming’an knew even better than Li Mingyue; the person in front of him might just be a reflection in water, the past cannot be chased, the deceased cannot return. But having witnessed Kasadia’s rebirth, knowing Luowasha’s card-drawing chanism could call back old acquaintances, maybe there really was that "what-if."
Although, the most unlikely possibility was indeed Li Mingyue.
Tao’er peeked at the two beside her, poking her head around Su Ming’an. She had lived for fourteen years and finally t such a peculiar person—the World Master made concessions for him, her master allowed him near, as if all taboos lost effect in his presence.
The early spring moonlight was tainted with warmth, the sight of peach blossoms, passionately magnificent.
Then, Tao’er smilingly called out to Su Ming’an:
"You call him Godfather? I don’t quite understand the aning of this term but since it is ’father,’ then you’d also be our master’s child."
"Um, I should call you..."
"Senior brother...?" the girl deduced, laughingly calling out repeatedly:
"Senior brother, senior brother, senior brother!"
"Master said, being apprenticed makes us family. I finally have another family mber. Master, you also have another family mber now!"
Then, she leaned closer to him, raising two fingers:
"Senior brother, senior brother, you have two more family mbers now!"
...Family.
Su Ming’an widened his eyes in surprise, feeling bewildered and helpless at this term. He had almost forgotten it, as it had long not been bestowed upon him.
He felt a strong... conflict. Yet, there was also a secret touch, a seeming yearning within him.
But Li Mingyue nodded, not changing the term, softly saying:
"Let’s go, since you’re back."
"I will take you to... et the real Yuanyuan."
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