Chapter 5
Edward Quan ·
Gold light and black vapor flashed across his body in turn.
“Wife... run...”
He used all his strength to shout it.
How could I leave him?
I helped him up, trying to get him inside.
Too late.
A dark figure appeared silently before us.
A man in black royal robes, his beauty sinister, his blood-red eyes studying us with interest.
He was the source of the resentment.
“How touching.” The Ghost King chuckled, his voice mocking. “A broken god and a delectable sacrifice. A perfect match.”
He looked at Shen Shuyan’s suffering with undisguised contempt.
“Zhenyuan. Centuries apart, and this is what you’ve become? For a mortal woman? Was she worth it?”
Zhenyuan?
Was that Shen Shuyan’s name?
Shen Shuyan—or rather, Zhenyuan—raised his head. His golden eyes fixed on the Ghost King.
“Xuansha...”
“You remember me. Good.” The Ghost King smiled. “You sealed me here and condemned me to a century of solitude. You never expected this, did you? Your soul shattered to create that seal. Meanwhile, I fed on the resentment in these mountains and became stronger than ever.”
He approached, step by step. Plants withered beneath his feet.
“I’ve searched for you for so long. Who would have thought you were hiding in a fool’s body? No matter. Today I’ll devour you both. Your divinity will carry me beyond the realm of a Ghost King!”
He dissolved into black mist and rushed at us.
Shen Shuyan shoved me away. Forcing out what divine power he had left, he formed a curtain of golden light against the mist.
Boom!
The forces collided with a thunderous crash.
He groaned. A thread of golden blood spilled from his mouth.
With his divine soul incomplete, he was no match for Xuansha at the height of his power.
“Useless,” Xuansha said, taking shape again. “Your power can barely keep your own mind intact. You still mean to protect her?”
He looked at me, licking his lips, his eyes greedy.
“What a perfect sacrifice. Devour her, and my cultivation will rise another level. Zhenyuan, I should thank you for keeping her alive all these years.”
He attacked again, more fiercely.
Cracks spread across the golden barrier.
Shen Shuyan swayed.
Watching him risk everything to shield me, I felt my heart being crushed.
Grandmother’s letter said his soul was shattered, his mind childlike.
It hadn’t said how to restore him.
Wait.
She had used her remaining lifespan to mend his soul.
Her lifespan...
Could my life do the same?
A desperate idea took shape.
I looked at the failing barrier, at Xuansha’s triumphant smile beyond it, and made up my mind.
I took out the sharp piece of the lock I had kept after breaking open the chest. Without hesitation, I cut my wrist.
Blood welled up.
I stepped in front of Shen Shuyan and, under his astonished gaze, pressed my bleeding wrist to his lips.
“Drink.”
He stared, then shook his head fiercely.
“No... won’t drink... wife... hurt...”
“Drink!” I shouted through my tears. “Shen Shuyan, you’re not a fool! You’re Zhenyuan! You’re the god of this mountain! Remember!”
My blood trickled over his lips and into his mouth.
The instant it touched him, a dazzling golden light burst from his body.
It was so brilliant it drove away the darkness, turning night to day.
Xuansha staggered backward, screaming under its force.
“Impossible! This is... a divine soul restored to its rightful place!”
Within the light, Shen Shuyan slowly straightened.
His guilelessness vanished, replaced by boundless majesty and coldness.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
What eyes they were.
Pure gold. Without a trace of emotion.
Like a god in the highest heavens, looking down upon all creation.
He was no longer the foolish Shen Shuyan who trailed after me, calling me his wife.
He was Zhenyuan.
The true god of this mountain.
10
Zhenyuan raised his hand.
The wound on my wrist closed at once, leaving no scar.
He looked at me. His golden eyes were still, as though regarding a stranger.
An emptiness opened inside me, as though I had lost something precious.
“Thank you.”
His voice was cold and distant.
Then he turned toward Xuansha.
The Ghost King’s triumph had vanished. Horror and disbelief had taken its place.
“How... how could your soul recover so quickly?”
Zhenyuan did not answer.
He slowly raised a hand toward Xuansha and lightly closed it.
“Noisy.”
Space seemed to freeze.
Xuansha let out an agonized scream.
The body he had been so proud of broke apart under Zhenyuan’s absolute power, crumbling into black dust that scattered on the wind.
The once-unrivaled Ghost King was erased with effortless ease.
Zhenyuan lowered his hand as though he had merely crushed an ant.
Then he turned and walked toward me.
Instinctively, I stepped back.
The man before me felt unfamiliar.
And frightening.
He was no longer my Shen Shuyan.
He stopped in front of me. A head taller, he looked down with an indifferent expression.
“Your bloodline made a covenant with me. Today, with your blood, you restored me. The debt between us is settled. Tell me what reward you desire.”
A reward?
Pain pricked my heart.
Of course.
He was an exalted god. I was only mortal.
All that remained between us was obligation and a bargain.
I looked at that familiar, unfamiliar face. Tears slipped out despite me.
I had never wanted a reward.
I wanted Shen Shuyan, following at my heels, foolishly calling me his wife.
The man who brought me a ghost’s head as a trophy and plaintively said he was hungry.
The man who shielded me with his body in the ancestral hall and declared before everyone, “She is mine.”
But he was gone.
I took a deep breath and stubbornly wiped my tears away.
“I don’t want anything.”
Zhenyuan seemed slightly surprised. Something stirred in his golden eyes.
“You saved me. You deserve recompense.”
“Then grant me one request.”
I looked at him, speaking each word clearly.
“I want to leave.”
Leave this village.
Leave him.
If my life had been preserved, our covenant had been fulfilled.
From now on, the god could return to his divine place, the mortal to the human world.
Our lives would no longer meet.
Zhenyuan fell silent.
He watched me for so long that I thought he would refuse.
At last, he nodded.
“Very well.”
Early the next morning, I packed a small bundle and stepped out of the wooden cottage where Shen Shuyan and I had spent several months together.
Zhenyuan stood outside.
He had changed out of the old clothes. His robes were white as moonlight, untouched by worldly dust, like an immortal descended from heaven.
He did not look at me.
He looked toward the distant mountains.
I went to him and bowed.
“Thank you.”
For protecting me all this time.
Then I turned and walked toward the village entrance without looking back.
I dared not.
If I did, I feared I would never leave.
There was no sound behind me.
He didn’t even say goodbye.
My empty heart ached.
I don’t know how long I walked before reaching the great pagoda tree at the village entrance.
Beyond it, I would be out of Qingshui.
I stopped.
In the end, I couldn’t help looking back once.
Mountain mist drifted around the little village, veiling it from sight.
I seemed to see that foolish young man again, chasing a butterfly in the courtyard. He turned toward me with a bright, innocent smile.
“Wife.”
Tears blurred my vision again.
Goodbye, Shen Shuyan.
I turned to go.
Just then, a familiar voice sounded behind me, a little hurt, a little urgent.
“Wife. Don’t go.”
I froze and spun around.
The white-robed god stood behind me. I had no idea when he had arrived.
The cold divinity was gone from his face.
In its place were the guilelessness and dependence I knew so well.
He ran up and tugged at my sleeve like a child who had done something wrong.
“Wife. Don’t leave me.”
I stared.
“Aren’t you... Zhenyuan?”
“Zhenyuan... not good.”
He shook his head, pointed at his chest, and said earnestly, “Shen Shuyan... good. Shen Shuyan... belongs to wife.”
I looked into his clear eyes and saw my stunned face reflected there.
Had he suppressed his own divinity for me?
Chosen to become foolish Shen Shuyan again?
“You...”
I couldn’t find the words.
My silence made him more anxious. He spread his arms and pulled me tightly against him.
His embrace was warm. He smelled of sunshine.
“Wife. Go home.”
At my ear, he repeated it softly, stubbornly.
“Let’s go home.”
I leaned against him and listened to his strong heartbeat.
At last, my tears broke free.
I held him just as tightly.
“All right. Let’s go home.”
Epilogue
In the end, Shen Shuyan and I stayed in Qingshui Village.
The ghosts were gone. The villagers regarded us with the reverence and fear they gave to gods. None dared harbor any malice.
Zhou Decai lost his mind. He ran through the village every day, saying he had seen an immortal.
Shen Shuyan remained Shen Shuyan.
Most of the time, he was still foolish, following me everywhere, calling me his wife.
Only on certain occasions—if I nicked my hand while cooking, or some reckless spirit tried to approach me—would his dark eyes turn gold, revealing the absolute majesty of Lord Zhenyuan.
A moment later, he would be himself again, anxiously lifting my hand and blowing on it.
“Wife... hurt.”
I knew he wasn’t a fool.
He had simply chosen the way he thought best to stay with me.
God or fool, it didn’t matter.
He was my husband.
That was enough.
One day, in the lovely sunshine, I sat warming myself in the courtyard.
Shen Shuyan came running down from the mountain. Like someone presenting a treasure, he offered me a bunch of ripe red wild berries.
“Wife. Eat.”
I took them and bit into one.
Very sweet.
He watched me and smiled.
A clean, innocent smile, like a clear mountain stream reflecting an entire sky of stars.
THE END