224: Chapter 224 Snow Embracing a Red-Clad Lonely Immortal

Clang—!

Several beams of golden-white light shot out from the mirror's surface, clashing head-on with the chaotic lightning.

Immediately following it were the second bolt, the third...

Facing the relentless bombardment of lightning,

The light mirror trembled violently, emitting an overwhelmed wail.

But in the end, it remained firmly positioned above Su Daji.

It blocked every bit of that chaotic lightning tribulation, which was powerful enough to annihilate everything.

It was just like when Su Chen was still here,

Steadfastly shielding his Beloved Consort behind him.

Su Daji sat slumped at the edge of the Execution Platform.

She tilted her head back, her face covered in tears,

Staring blankly at the light mirror.

Slowly,

As the lightning tribulation subsided, the golden-white light from the mirror's surface also dimmed.

That signified that the last trace of Su Chen's existence was about to disappear very soon.

"Husband... Su Chen..."

"Come back... I beg of you..."

"Come back..."

Su Daji reached out, grasping futilely at the golden-white light particles drifting in the air.

But she could hold onto nothing.

Finally,

After enduring the full power of the lightning tribulation,

The durability of this divine artifact reached its limit.

It shattered with a crash,

Turning into countless crystalline fragments.

Drawn by a gentle force, these fragments transformed into a pure stream of white light.

It descended and merged into the spiritual platform at the center of Su Daji's forehead.

"Ugh..."

Su Daji's delicate body trembled.

She felt a cool, moist power surge into her sea of consciousness.

That power was both formidable and familiar.

After entering her body,

It quickly began to soothe her divine soul, which was teetering on the edge due to the slaughter.

Soon,

A heart mirror appeared within her spiritual platform.

It reflected all things, yet it was no longer easily disturbed by external matters.

At the same time, an aura of the Human Emperor belonging to Su Chen quietly swirled around the origin in her dantian.

This was an invisible veil.

It slightly separated her from the hostile will of the Heavenly Dao outside.

Under such shielding,

Today's lightning tribulation would likely never return.

In the sky, that terrifying chaotic thundercloud also seemed to sense the loss of its target.

It quietly dispersed.

The lightning punishment had ended.

But Su Daji did not get up.

She just sat there in a daze at the edge of the Execution Platform.

After a long, long time,

She slowly,

Bit by bit, braced herself against the ground and stood up.

She looked like a frail young girl with absolutely no cultivation at all.

Within her spiritual platform, the ice mirror was clear, and her aura was steady and vast.

Her cultivation had been supplemented to perfection, reaching a supreme realm unprecedented in this world.

The frantic hatred and death wish in her heart were quietly soothed by the mirror's light.

Compared to what he did for Ye Jingjun,

Su Chen had been even more decisive this time.

Every volatile emotion of Su Daji, the Saintess of the Hehuan Sect, was locked tight by him using the ice soul mirror.

They would only automatically unlock when she saw him again in reality.

And so,

Su Daji, devoid of sorrow or joy and having lost most of her emotional volatility,

Would only watch over the mortal world like the most compassionate of deities.

No trace of a death wish would arise in her heart, and her absolutely overwhelming strength ensured she would face no threat in this world.

What awaited her in the future

Was a desperate longevity.

Su Daji turned her head, looking down at the endless void.

Then she looked up at the devastated Thirty-Three Heavens.

The Celestial Emperor was dead, the Heavenly Court had collapsed, and the various immortals were either dead or had fled.

She, Su Daji,

Had become the only, and the last,

Immortal of this world.

What is the price of becoming an immortal?

She slowly raised her hand, palm facing up.

A powerful surge of spiritual energy came easily to her, appearing between her jade-like fingers.

Powerful, lonely, eternal.

Losing everything.

This was the fate of an immortal.

People of the mortal world always fantasized about attaining the Dao and becoming immortals.

But...

If they knew the price of this immortality, would they still choose to walk this path?

Longevity.

Su Daji's longevity was actually crueler than those who had died.

Because she had to carry those broken memories in her mind without sorrow or joy, walking on alone.

No one knew what lay at the end of this road.

Or if she would ever meet him again.

In her ears, his gentle, smiling words seemed to echo again.

"Live well, Demon Concubine Su Daji."

"Live for my share... as well."

She stood alone at the edge of the Execution Platform, atop the ruins of the Thirty-Three Heavens.

Standing at the end of the world she had just personally destroyed,

Yet which now required her to rebuild.

For a long time.

A single cold drop of liquid quietly slid down.

It was the last remnant of emotion before the indifference of being an immortal completely covered her.

Very, very gently, she closed her eyes.

Unable to bear looking at everything before her anymore.

Because

After the lightning tribulation, under the strong convection of the layers of thunderclouds,

Snowflakes actually began to fall.

Soon, it turned into a sky full of drifting snow.

In Su Daji's ears, the sounds of having snowball fights with her mother in Wenli during her childhood seemed to echo.

If she were allowed to choose again,

She would definitely choose to turn around and die under the butcher's knife, to be swallowed by the darkness.

If that were truly the case,

Would the Great King have lived on well?

Su Daji did not know.

"Great King..."

"It's snowing."

"Are you lying again?"

"Lies about having a special identity, about how we'll meet again."

"Unfortunately, Demon Concubine Su Daji has turned into a deity herself this time."

"This last lie you told,"

"Demon Concubine Su Daji will never, ever forgive you."

The falling snow quietly whitened her blood-red wedding dress.

From a distance, it looked like a fallen plum blossom staining the middle of a field of pure white snow.

This snow of the Celestial Realm,

Compared to that of the mortal world,

Was a bit more bone-chilling.

...

[The historical records state:]

[The Jiang State was originally a powerful vassal of the Eastern Sea.]

[After Princess Li sacrificed herself, her brother Duke Huan gathered the survivors, records, and craftsmen of the Yin Shang Dynasty and brought them back to the Eastern Sea.]

[Duke Huan and his descendants worked diligently to govern, adopting the best of the Yin Shang Dynasty's systems and supplementing them with the "otherworldly techniques" left by Di Xin.]

[They promoted education, encouraged agriculture, and refined machinery.]

[After five generations, the Jiang family's national power reached its peak. They campaigned westward to relieve the people, and the feudal lords submitted. Finally, they unified the world, replacing the Zhou Dynasty as kings, though the national title remained "Jiang." Upon gaining the country, the Jiang family took deep lessons from the failings of the Zhou Dynasty, particularly loathing the manipulation of the mortal world by immortals and gods and the wasteful sacrifices of the ignorant.]

[Thus, they issued the "Sacrifice Suppression Decree," abolishing illicit shrines, limiting sacrificial regulations, and seizing temple properties to fill the national treasury, while establishing schools to enlighten the people's minds.]

[The edict stated: "Mandates are not constant; only virtue is supported."]

["Humans are the spirit of all things and should respect and strengthen themselves. How can they spend their whole lives prostrate, praying to the void?"]

[From then on, the practice of sacrifice withered, and those who prayed to heaven for blessings became fewer by the day.]

[Eight hundred years passed since the unification by Eastern Jiang.]

[Though dynasties changed, the trend of "suppressing sacrifice" had become the national foundation, followed by every generation.]

[Consequently, wise men emerged in succession, and the Hundred Schools of Thought rose up in competition.]

[Some spoke of "the benevolent loving others" and "restraining oneself to restore the rites," emphasizing human ethical order.]

[Some advocated "universal love and non-aggression" and "frugality and honoring the worthy," seeking equality and peace.]

[Some discussed "the Dao following nature" and "governing through non-action," yearning for carefree transcendence.]

[Some championed "strict laws and harsh punishments" and "enriching the country and strengthening the military," focusing on practical achievements.]

[There were even those who explored the arts of logic, Yin and Yang, diplomacy, agriculture, and medicine.]

[The various masters established their theories, gathered disciples to teach, and engaged in debates and rebuttals, creating a magnificent spectacle.]

[History calls this the "Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought."]

[Their thoughts were deep and their considerations far-reaching, all focusing on the value, dignity, and potential of "man" himself, as well as justice, governance, and happiness in the world.]

[Their brilliant works have benefited ten thousand generations, becoming the backbone of this world's civilization and an inexhaustible source of spirit.]

[Unofficial histories say: The battle of Zhaoge years ago was not just a change of dynasties between Shang and Zhou, but actually the war of "Investiture of the Gods."]

[However, this "Investiture" did not mean conferring titles, but rather meant "sealing" and "ending."]

[The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox Su Daji, bearing her lover's blood sacrifice and with sky-toppling hatred, ascended to heaven carrying her husband's corpse, slaughtered the entire Celestial Court, and severed the connection between heaven and earth.]

[From then on, the way of the gods was annihilated, and traces of immortals were gone forever.]

[The so-called "List of Investiture of Gods" was actually a "Record of Buried Gods."]

[It also says: King Zhou, Di Xin, was no mediocre or fatuous ruler.]

[Throughout his life, he resisted the mandates of heaven and the schemes of immortals externally, and implemented benevolent policies to benefit the people internally. Though trapped by the circumstances of the time and defeated by conspiracies, his resolve never wavered.]

[In the end, he used himself as kindling, burning in the fires of the Star-Plucking Pavilion.]

[He did not just secure a way out for his wives, concubines, and subjects, but with his own death, he severed the shackles between immortals and mortals, thoroughly driving out the gods who manipulated fate and consumed the incense of worship from the human world.]

[The court historian says:]

[The firmament is lonely, and the way of the gods has receded.]

[The smoke of human fires shall henceforth burn alone.]

...

(Everyone, this arc has finally ended.)

(Next are some ramblings from the author; they won't count towards the update's word count.)

(When I finished writing this arc, I sat on the broken wooden chair without a back in my dorm, let out a long sigh of relief, and even felt a bit dazed.)

(I didn't close my computer immediately; instead, I opened the Word document and read through this hundred-thousand-word arc from beginning to end.)

(As I read, my eyes filled with tears.)

(My first reaction was that this really didn't seem like something I could write.)

(It wasn't polished through a detailed outline; it was like flowing water, written naturally.)

(It was as if this story already existed in the world, and it was just written out through my hand.)

(Although during the writing process of this arc, the book's data could be described as an avalanche—dropping non-stop from 170,000 active readers to 30,000—and bad things happened in my real life, including but not limited to failing interviews, the death of a relative, etc., my creative state sometimes wasn't that good.)

(But I still feel that this is the best and most satisfying arc I've written.)

(To be honest, although I'm considered an old author, this is the first time I've written a novel with a guaranteed 500,000 words.)

(My previous novels were all just clickbait stories with suggestive themes, often taken down by Fanqie after a hundred thousand words, and in the end, I even lost my accounts and had to start over from scratch.)

(I have already completely designed the outline for the subsequent plot, enough to support a million-word or even longer story.)

(Since the Fanqie algorithm has already sentenced my book to death and stopped recommending it, there's a high probability that no new readers will come in. How far this book can go in the end depends on the support of the two or three thousand brothers who follow the updates every day.)

(If everyone's enthusiasm is high, I will definitely finish this book completely.)

(Even if the data isn't good, I will try to speed up the pace to finish the story in the outline; I will definitely not leave it unfinished.)

(Thanks again to everyone for following the updates!! I wish you all good health!)