"Senior Sister, a decision must be made," Yue Fuyai said. "If you cannot bear to do it, let me make the choice."
Su Su didn’t need Yue Fuyai to say anything more—she knew he would choose Gongye Jiewu.
The bonds of brotherhood in the Hengyang Sect ran deep, and Gongye Jiewu had mentored Yue Fuyai. People naturally favor those with whom they share a connection.
"No need. I know what to choose," Su Su murmured softly.
The one who made the decision would inevitably shoulder the guilt. Compared to Yue Fuyai, she was more suited to bear this burden.
A ragged young boy clung tightly to the hem of her robe. She gazed at him for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry."
She gently pried his fingers from her skirt. His hands were icy, cracked with frostbite from the harsh climate of the mortal realm, some parts split from years of gathering herbs.
Though the boy couldn’t see, he could feel it.
He vaguely understood that the person who had shown him kindness would not save him. He withdrew his hand and took a step back, curling into a corner of the hillside.
The tree behind him had withered, a few scattered leaves lying around him.
On this moonless winter night, Yue Fuyai, with his immortal vision, could still see clearly.
Once Su Su made her choice, she never looked back at the boy again. She helped Gongye Jiewu up and placed the Life Gathering Pearl in his palm.
A faint green glow, like the smallest flicker of life, flowed into Gongye Jiewu’s body.
At the other end, the boy, like the withered tree behind him, felt his vitality ebbing away.
Gongye Jiewu’s body was now that of a mortal. Su Su set up a soul-summoning array meant for ordinary humans. As the array activated, the Life Gathering Pearl shone brightly. Su Su’s lashes trembled. For a moment, she wanted to turn back and look at the boy in the corner.
He sat quietly in his spot. If not for his labored breathing, it would have been easy to overlook his presence.
Yue Fuyai, focused on Gongye Jiewu’s condition, said, "Senior Brother’s Soul is almost restored."
But dawn was approaching.
Once Gongye Jiewu’s Soul returned to his body, the other boy’s Soul would inevitably dissipate, unable to coalesce in time.
A mortal without a Soul could only meet death.
In the Demon Realm, the black-clad Demon Lord watched this scene in silence.
The Demonic Energy of the Resting Gate and the Startling Gate howled as it surged into his body. Tantai Jin’s gaze shifted from Gongye Jiewu to Su Su.
She had returned to her usual attire—a moon-white dress embroidered with pale cherry blossoms at the hem. He had never told her, but he loved seeing her in white.
It was the color that suited her best.
No matter how many years passed, he would always remember that morning in the woods, the first rays of sunlight casting golden flecks on her skirt as she walked ahead of him, arms crossed, solitary and proud.
Only a few steps apart, he watched her.
It took Tantai Jin many years to realize that moment was eternity.
No matter how close they were, the distance between them remained insurmountable.
The Divine Seal between Su Su’s brows flickered faintly. Just before the first light of dawn, Gongye Jiewu’s Soul returned to his body.
Yue Fuyai hurried over. "Senior Brother, wake up."
Gongye Jiewu was covered in wounds, evidence of the hardships he had endured in the mortal realm.
"Senior Sister, where are you going?"
Su Su walked toward the boy on the other side of the hill. Without turning, she said, "Fuyai, take care of Senior Brother. There’s something I must do."
The boy hadn’t expected her to return. He seemed at a loss.
Su Su took his hand, and this time, he didn’t resist.
"Let’s go," she whispered. "I’ll take you to see the Flower of Rebirth."
With divine speed, they arrived at a cliff in the next instant.
At the mention of the "Flower of Rebirth," the boy became docile.
Su Su led him to the very edge of the cliff. Below them, the wind howled fiercely. White mist enveloped them, and within it, a red flower was about to bloom.
This was the legendary "Flower of Rebirth," growing only at the highest peaks, living for mere hours—blooming at dawn and withering when the sun fully rose.
It lived and died facing the sun, as if greeting the dawn.
The boy didn’t have that long to wait.
Su Su nicked her finger and pressed it to his lips. Her blood flowed into his mouth.
The boy’s muddled thoughts cleared.
By the time the first light appeared, the fragment of his Soul he had lost had already dissipated. The Life Gathering Pearl couldn’t save him, but with the blood of a Demigod, he could linger in the mortal realm a little longer.
His face lit with anticipation. "Is the Flower of Rebirth beside me?" he asked hoarsely.
Su Su smiled faintly. "Yes."
She took his hand and guided it toward the miraculous flower.
"When I was little, a fortune-telling Taoist came to our village. Everyone went to him for divination, and so did I that day. I had nothing to give him, but he didn’t mind." The boy paused, catching his breath, then continued sheepishly, "I begged him to tell my fortune. He said my life would be hard. If I wanted to be accepted and live like an ordinary person, I had to see the Flower of Rebirth bloom with my own eyes."
"But the Flower of Rebirth is just a legend, growing on cliffs. I tried climbing up many times while gathering herbs. Once, I even reached the top, but there was no flower there."
Su Su said softly, "I know." She had seen it all in his memories.
The boy smiled bitterly. "So the Flower of Rebirth really exists. It’s a pity I can’t see it."
His eyes had been gouged out by a Monster Exterminator. He would never see the flower bloom.
"No, you can see it."
Su Su’s gaze shifted from the Flower of Rebirth to another flower beside it.
The Flower of Eternal Life.
Rebirth and eternity.
Rebirth sought another life. The Taoist had foreseen the boy’s tragic fate, destined to die young, and told him he needed to see the Flower of Rebirth bloom.
Unable to bear it, the Taoist had gently hinted that the boy’s life would be one of loneliness, with only the hope of a next life.
The Flower of Rebirth bloomed for but a moment, while its companion, the Flower of Eternal Life, endured.
Rebirth and eternity—twin flowers with entirely different destinies.
Once, in the darkness, Su Su had begged Tantai Jin for the Flower of Eternal Life to restore her sight. But in the end, it had been used on Ye Bingshang.
Until the day she died, she had never seen the mortal world one last time.
The boy in her arms was so much like her.
She saw her past self in him. Su Su knew his appearance and his presence beside Gongye Jiewu couldn’t be a coincidence.
She should have left him behind after saving her Senior Brother, never looking back.
But she couldn’t. It wasn’t out of pity or sympathy—she knew, with painful clarity, that she was saving her past self.
Ye Xiwu had reached out to her. Even if it was a trap, she would have taken that hand.
No one had saved her back then. Today, she would save the girl she once was.
Su Su formed a seal with her fingers and plucked the Flower of Eternal Life from the air. A drop of her golden heart’s blood fell onto the flower.
The closed bud burst into bloom.
Chongyu gasped in shock. "Su Su, what are you doing?"
It couldn’t understand why Su Su would sacrifice her divine blood to restore the sight of a stranger. As a Demigod, she should have known the truth—that the heavens were impartial, treating all beings as straw dogs. The boy’s death was as natural as the withering of the tree beside him.
Yet she had granted his dying wish, using her divine blood to fuse the Flower of Eternal Life into his body.
As the flower merged with the boy, Su Su coughed lightly but smiled, radiant. She nudged him gently. "Look, the Flower of Rebirth has bloomed."
Xiwu, look. The Flower of Eternal Life has bloomed too.
You’ll never have to die in darkness and despair again.
The boy beside her opened his eyes.
The bloodstains at the corners remained, but his lost eyes had regrown.
They were beautiful eyes, with a faint ring of gold around the pupils. Following Su Su’s gaze, he saw the red Flower of Rebirth blooming in the dawn light.
"Yes, it’s beautiful," he said, lips curving into a smile.
In the forbidden lands of the Demon Realm, Tantai Jin, who had been watching coldly, closed his eyes.
No one in this world understood Su Su better than he did. Knowing her fear of darkness, he had known that even if she saw through everything, there was one thing she would still do.
Tantai Jin hadn’t saved Ye Xiwu back then. Now, she wanted to save her past self.
She had returned home, but Ye Xiwu’s sorrow remained trapped five hundred years in the past. Every person had one thing they were destined to do in their lifetime. For Su Su, this was it.
On the cliff, the boy’s smile twisted strangely. He licked his lips. "Thank you, Goddess, for granting my wish. Your blood is truly delicious."
Chongyu panicked. "Su Su! We have to leave now!"
"Too late," the boy laughed. Without her divine heart’s blood, Su Su wouldn’t recover in time.
From afar in the Demon Realm, Tantai Jin gave a calm command. "Kill."
The boy struck Su Su with his palm. The heart’s blood was the source of her power. Having taken it, he used her own strength to forcibly extract the Life Gathering Pearl from her.
Chongyu cried out, "This can’t be!"
How could anyone steal another’s power for their own use?
With the emerald pearl in hand, the boy clasped his fists. "Lord Jing, Lord Jingmie, my mission is complete. She’s yours to deal with now."
Two figures materialized in the air. Jing raised a red hand, and the very air around them grew scorching hot.
"Su Su, get up! We have to go!"
Su Su struggled to her feet and grasped Chongyu, only to find she could no longer wield the qin.
Jing sneered. "Don’t struggle. The Demon Lord has planned this for too long to let you escape now."
Jing found it bizarre. Li Susu was a Demigod—even she couldn’t defeat her. Yet Su Su had willingly given her heart’s blood to a mere puppet.
They hadn’t defeated her. She had lost to herself.
Su Su caught her words and looked up. "The Demon Lord… Tantai Jin set this up?"
Jingmie grinned. "Naturally!"
"I see." Su Su smiled, her expression icy.
He had used her past pain and wounds to lure her into this trap. Only he could have known every detail of their shared history so intimately.
The gray-clad boy walked to Jing’s side.
"We have the Life Gathering Pearl," Jing said, her eyes gleaming with malice. "Now, it’s time for you to die."
Chongyu transformed into a sword. "Su Su, get on!"
Su Su knew that without her divine blood, she was weaker than ever. She had no intention of fighting—escape was the priority.
Jing laughed mockingly. "After all, you’re just a Demigod, not a true ancient God."
Her red umbrella shot toward Su Su like a blade.
"Jingmie, if you keep spectating, you’ll regret it when we return."
Jingmie leaped into the fray.
Su Su was already struggling against Jing alone. With Jingmie joining, she was overwhelmed.
She knew she had to escape today, no matter the cost. The lost blood could be replenished, but with the War of Immortals and Demons imminent, she couldn’t afford to be trapped here.
Just as Su Su prepared to make a desperate bid to flee, the sky churned with Demonic Energy. Purple lightning crackled, forming the vague shape of a Taotie.
A black arrow shot through the air, aimed straight at Su Su.
At that moment, Su Su was pinned down by Jing and Jingmie. In her clear black-and-white eyes, the arrow loomed larger, closer—until it pierced her heart.
—In all the Six Realms, only one person could wield the God Slaying Crossbow from a thousand miles away.
Like a butterfly with broken wings, she plummeted from the sky.
The last thing Su Su saw was the gray-clad boy below, staring coldly up at her.
Every scene the boy witnessed, Tantai Jin saw as well.
That was how the arrow had found her heart so precisely, the pain making her tremble.
She had been wrong. She should have known long ago—how could a fallen demon still possess emotions?
How foolish had she been, wanting to take him away from the Demon Realm?
How pathetic was she, still secretly planning to rescue him before the War of Immortals and Demons began?
Chongyu had said that Gods loved all beings. No—Gods should never love demons.
Because after all these years, that demon’s heart would always prioritize something else over her.
Ye Xiwu had been no exception. Neither was she.
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