Chapter 1608: Winter Scenery (Side Story)

Reader's Guide (By Author):

1. Contains angst, heartbreak, deep character introspection that may alter readers' perceptions of characters, and multiple perspectives. Proceed with caution if these are not to your taste.

2. The characterization in this side story can be viewed separately from the main story, and is best treated as such. Please do not carry the emotions or developments from this side story into the main narrative.

3. This side story is over eight thousand words long and was completed in two days. In the past, I would spend one or two weeks revising stories like this. There may be imperfections or omissions, and I likely will not revise it further. Thank you for your understanding.

Winter Scenery (!)

[Early Winter]

The land of Mount Yue was always damp and clammy. Rain pattered noisily against the leaves and branches, yet not a single drop touched his robes. Their surface reflected a faint halo of light.

Chen Donghe moved through the forest for some time before finding the cave he remembered. Then, he found the flat stone as well. Lowering his eyes, he stood quietly and thought, Back then, the king was sitting here. Brother Qiuyang was keeping watch... Uncle Yesheng was there too. They all heard it.

The king asked whether I wanted to marry Jingtian.

Now, he was a renowned great cultivator throughout the Li Family's nineteen peaks and one hundred nineteen towns. He oversaw the various formations on Mount Yuting, and traveled frequently between the region and the central island.

He had experienced more than most people could imagine. He had survived the lands of Mount Yue without dying in battle, remained unfazed before Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, and never yielded even to savage juniors covered in scales. Through it all, he had remained steadfast, loyal, and composed.

Yet Chen Donghe sat down in the little corner that had once belonged to him. His immaculate robes settled onto mud and weeds as he stared into the darkness, into the lonely, rain-soaked night where only the sound of dripping water remained.

I believed it.

————

I.

Chen Donghe vaguely remembered meeting Li Chejing once. It had been the year Li Chejing returned home to visit his family. Clad in a white-feathered robe and carrying a celestial sword adorned with green tassels, he had seemed extraordinary. Looking back now, Chen Donghe still felt he had been a truly exceptional figure.

At the time, Chen Donghe had been sharpening a discarded arrowhead he had picked up near the village entrance. The sight of the young man left him staring in a daze. He wore a gentle smile, spoke with a bright, clear voice, and moved with effortless grace in his white robes. He looked like an immortal descended from the heavens.

The young man asked, "What relation are you to Chen Erniu?"

Chen Donghe hastily cupped his fists in greeting. "He's my father!"

He almost instinctively led him inside. Outwardly, he remained respectful and courteous, but inside, his emotions churned like mountains and seas in turmoil. He had never seen someone like this before, and he could not help feeling envious.

That was the first time the people of the Li Family left an impression on him. He walked home quietly along the riverbank, carrying an indescribable feeling in his heart. From that day onward, he became noticeably more reserved and never dared to wear white robes again.

As the years passed, his father eventually sent him up the mountain. The old man had grown noticeably older by then, and before Chen Donghe left, he said, "Xiangping is the foremost figure among the Li Family. Treat him as you would your own father. As for how to conduct yourself, learn from Li Tongya. If you can learn even eighty percent of what he is, you'll have something worth boasting about."

Chen Donghe remembered those words well. When he entered the room atop the mountain, he found it dimly lit. A man sat quietly beside a desk with the light behind him, half his face hidden in shadow. Draped in a wolf-fur cloak, he cut an imposing figure. Then those sharp eyes flicked toward him.

The young Chen Donghe was thoroughly intimidated.

Li Xuanfeng possessed the same kind of eyes. Years later, when Li Xuanfeng learned that Jingtian was to marry him, he had grabbed Chen Donghe by the collar and lifted him with one hand. Suspicion filled those eyes as well, yet they felt fundamentally different.

Li Xiangping's ferocity was the kind that smothered all thoughts of resistance. It inspired a fear so profound that one instinctively obeyed him, and strangely, found reassurance in that obedience. Li Xuanfeng, on the other hand, was like a blade. His sharpness felt capable of piercing straight through a person, yet it lacked that overwhelming authority that compelled submission.

Chen Donghe had often thought that Li Xiangping was born to be a ruler. He sat high above others, his face half-concealed by shadow, impossible to fully fathom. Li Xuanfeng was more like a great general beneath him, leading armies across thousands of kilometers, crushing enemies, and returning in triumph beneath the command banner. Even with blood still dripping from his sword, he would kneel before his father and respectfully make his report.

Unable to resist that influence, Chen Donghe soon began serving Li Xiangping just as he had served his own father. He handled various daily tasks, and occasionally encountered Li Tongya. By then, Li Tongya was already married. He carried himself with calm dignity and generosity, though at first glance there seemed nothing especially extraordinary about him.

Before long, Chen Donghe began cultivating and was assigned to military duties. One day, while wearing armor and heading up the mountain, he saw a young woman.

She sat by the window with a cat in her arms. Her beauty was crisp and unadorned, clean as a clear autumn sky. Her lips were pressed together in a slight line, and somehow that simple expression lodged itself deep in his heart. Chen Donghe did not realize it at the time.

He calmly finished his business and merely thought to himself, They each possess their own unique grace.

Only after leaving the room did he notice that his legs felt weak, as though he were walking on cotton. When he closed his eyes, all he could see was that slight press of her lips, bright and vivid in his mind. The image followed him all the way from the mountain to the town below.

His father called his name five times in succession before he finally came back to himself and thought blankly, This is bad. This is really bad.

II.

When Chen Donghe returned home from Mount Yue, his waist and shoulders had broadened, and his face bore the marks of war. There was a new hardness and courage to him. His cultivation and physique had both grown stronger, yet his spirit had been left battered and broken.

Li Xiangping was dead. How could he possibly be dead...

Chen Donghe was lost and helpless beyond words. After hearing the news, Li Yesheng poisoned himself right in front of him. His body lay there silently at Chen Donghe's feet, without so much as a final sound.

It felt wrong. Li Qiuyang felt the same. The illegitimate cultivator had even said to him, "It just doesn't make sense... I always thought we'd all die before the King ever did. How could this happen... How could this happen..."

Yet clan affairs allowed no time for grief. Before he could make sense of his confusion, he was forced back into his duties. Li Tongya took charge of matters, and placed Li Xuanxuan in the seat of authority.

Chen Donghe hurried over to pay his respects. The new family head, who was close to him in age, sat in Li Xiangping's former seat. Yet he possessed none of his predecessor's calm ruthlessness. His back was ramrod straight, and he perched on the very edge of the chair as though afraid to settle into it fully.

After the meetings ended and everyone dispersed, Chen Donghe would often notice Li Xuanxuan rising from the seat almost immediately. He would move to the side to handle affairs, leaving the lofty chair empty, as though someone still occupied it, silently watching and urging him onward.

Li Xuanxuan had secretly tried to imitate Li Xiangping a few times. Unfortunately, the same gestures that seemed natural on Li Xiangping only made him appear condescending. In the end, he gave up. After waiting a long time, Chen Donghe finally heard some good news. Li Xuanxuan intended to marry his younger sister to him.

Chen Donghe felt a fire spread from his heart to his stomach, then surge upward into his cheeks. His face burned hot while his forehead felt strangely cold. Deliberately, Li Xuanxuan sent him to invite her himself.

He hurried over and found her writing something. Her head tilted slightly as she thought, revealing the graceful line of her neck.

After hesitating twice, he finally asked, "I... you... ah! The family head asked me whether I'd like to... to be... a pair with you..."

Her eyes slowly widened. Those lovely almond-shaped eyes stared directly at him, plainly startled. From her slightly parted lips came a single word, "Huh?"

As Chen Donghe watched her expression change, the fire inside him instantly died. The longing and beautiful hopes reflected in his eyes were extinguished like a fire pit drenched by rain, leaving behind nothing but a heap of cold, muddied ash.

Afterward, he sought her out again and again. She was always gentle and polite, never too close and never too distant. Chen Donghe spent a long time trying to please her, only to gradually feel that he stood beneath her. No matter what he did, the young woman before him remained calm and unmoved.

Occasionally, she even seemed annoyed. When displeasure appeared in her eyes, it was terrifying enough to leave him trembling.

Damn that calmness.

The thought consumed him completely.

III.

In the end, Li Jingtian still married him.

The reason was simple. He was reasonably handsome, unwaveringly loyal, and possessed a cultivation that was both stable and more than sufficient. Across all the towns, it would have been difficult to find a better man than him.

Li Jingtian sought him out and awkwardly made conversation, asking him all sorts of questions simply to keep the discussion going. Chen Donghe was naturally delighted, yet he could vaguely sense her discomfort.

Eventually, he asked, "Are you willing to marry me? If you're not, I'll speak to the family head."

Li Jingtian lightly pressed her lips together. "Of course I am."

The sight sent waves through his heart. Chen Donghe had rarely, if ever, acted selfishly in his life, yet this overwhelming desire clouded his judgment. Almost as though he were deceiving himself, he thought, She's willing.

So he extinguished the wedding candles and, at last, removed her outer garments. Beneath the bridal robes was the same white dress that had dazzled him when they first met. Now, at last, that white dress disappeared into the darkness beneath the bed.

All her usual composure and gentleness vanished. She sat there, shrinking into herself, vulnerable and exposed. Her pale skin seemed carved from jade in the candlelight.

A strange sense of compensation filled Chen Donghe's heart, and his lips trembled as he said, "Good... Good... So you can lose your composure too... Good... So you can be afraid as well. I thought nothing could ever touch you."

His emotions surged. Whenever he kissed her, Li Jingtian would press her lips together. That was fine, exactly fine. Yet throughout it all, she said nothing at all, silent as a corpse. Before long, Chen Donghe's eyes filled with tears. Li Jingtian's face had turned pale, yet it was he who wept. He stopped midway and broke down into uncontrollable sobs.

Li Jingtian picked up a piece of clothing and gently wiped away his tears. Her lips trembled from pain, yet she carefully dried his face. After a moment's hesitation, she leaned forward and kissed his forehead.

Clear moonlight spilled into the room. The woman's lips were pale, and her eyes were calm.

For the first time, Chen Donghe found that he could not understand her at all. He sat there motionless while Li Jingtian remained beside him with her knees drawn to her chest until dawn.

She put her white robe back on, her almond eyes resting quietly on him. Her lips were drained of color. After gathering the bloodstained bedsheets, she quietly slipped out of the room.

Many years later, whenever Chen Donghe thought back to that night, he still felt ashamed enough to wish he could cut his own throat.

IV.

After that, everything seemed normal. Li Jingtian fulfilled every duty expected of a wife, while Chen Donghe did everything he could to cherish her. He spoiled her to the point of indulgence. Their conversations soon resembled those of allies facing the world together.

Then Li Qingxiao was born, and life seemed to improve. The girl was intelligent and thoughtful, and Chen Donghe treasured her like a priceless jewel. In front of their daughter, Li Jingtian would even exchange a few playful, affectionate remarks with him.

When she was in a good mood and moved by his constant devotion, she once smiled and said, "If I truly loved someone, I should die at thirty. I'm only a mortal. I can't preserve my beauty or dignity forever. The years that follow would only reveal all my ugliness. I wouldn't want the person I loved to see that."

Sometimes she would also smile and say, "Why go to such lengths... With your cultivation and abilities, why would you ever lack for women?"

At moments like these, Chen Donghe would feel completely at ease. Yet once their daughter left the room and his wife's smile gradually faded, the familiar heaviness would settle back onto his heart.

Neither of them ever spoke of the wound that lay between them.

Chen Donghe remained as devoted as ever, and Li Jingtian never deliberately rejected his affection. In this way, they passed several seemingly happy years. Eventually, Xiao Xian married Qingxiao. When Li Jingtian asked for his opinion, she remarked only that Xiao Xian would never amount to much.

Chen Donghe replied, "As long as he can live honestly, that's enough. Why insist that he become some great figure? The hawks and eagles that soar highest are often the first to be shot down by hunters. Then my daughter would be left alone."

His wife replied, "Who's to say? Just because someone doesn't soar high doesn't mean they'll avoid suffering."

More than ten years later, Xiao Xian was killed during the devil plague. By then, the two of them had traveled to the great desert. Upon hearing the news, neither said a word. They sat in silence, as though once again confronting the wound neither of them dared acknowledge.

Only after the messenger departed awkwardly did Chen Donghe suddenly realize, in the glow of the lamplight, that she was no longer beautiful. Calculating the years, he realized his wife was already over fifty.

Li Jingtian seemed to sense the turmoil hidden in his eyes and turned her head away. Chen Donghe extinguished the lamp, unwilling to let his wife see the expression on his face.

V.

Two more years passed, and Li Jingtian's health began to fail. Chen Donghe, meanwhile, became increasingly attentive and meticulous in caring for her. He insisted on handling everything personally, and even neglected his own cultivation to tend to her condition.

His wife often watched him with a quiet, unreadable gaze. Chen Donghe never met her eyes. Somehow, he drew immense comfort from this arrangement, though it also felt like a punishment they shared.

He never spoke the words aloud, yet every action seemed to ask, Look closely... Look at yourself now! You were so proud, so untouchable, yet in the end, I'm the only one left. I'm the one cleaning you, dressing you, and caring for you. I'm the only one who still cares...

And now? What about now? You're left with nothing but a decaying, withered body! What right do you have left to judge me?

The only thing Li Jingtian ever asked of him was to take her to Mount Xiping and let her sit beside the stone seat shrouded in drifting mist. Chen Donghe watched her closely every time, afraid she might throw herself from the cliff, but his fears proved unnecessary.

Li Jingtian remained the same as ever. Her face had long since lost its beauty, yet that calmness that made his lips tremble still lingered. It was then that he suddenly understood something. Those sweet smiles women wore for the men they loved... He had never once seen such an expression on her face.

Sometimes he would see Li Jingtian clench her fists and struggle to sit up from the bed on her own. The sight filled him with pity and heartache, yet beneath those feelings lurked a faint sense of security.

You can't live without me.

One night, he found her on the floor again after she had fallen from the bed. She remained cold and silent, refusing to ask for help. A rush of anger surged into his head.

Barely restraining himself, he demanded, "Li Jingtian! What exactly is wrong with me? How have I ever failed you?! All these years... All these years! Say something! Just tell me! Tell me..."

His anger lasted only a moment. Wiping away tears, he hurriedly lifted her back onto the bed. Then, in a trembling voice, he asked only, "What you said when you were young... That was just a joke, wasn't it?"

Li Jingtian's lips had already turned pale, yet a trace of stubbornness rose in her eyes as though it were consuming the last of her life.

In a quiet voice, she replied, "As true as iron."

VI.

As true as iron!

He gently laid her back down and tucked the blanket around her. In a soft voice, he said, "Fine... Fine... But why? It was my fault. You never had to marry me. In the end, things turned out like this."

Though he said those words, he still carefully checked her condition, then made sure the brazier in the courtyard was burning warmly. After that, he rode the wind out in one swift breath. The main family had entrusted him with a task, and he still had to gather qi beneath the setting sun.

Yet for the first time, he did not rush back as he usually did. Instead, he wandered alone through the desert for the entire night before returning, his body covered in dew.

When he looked at the bed again, the old woman was already dead.

A look of understanding crossed Chen Donghe's face. Her withered fingers, thin and twisted like a chicken's claws, were still hooked tightly around the edge of the bed. As he always had, he lay down beside her and remained there with his eyes open until dawn.

Then he carried her to Mount Xiping and sat there with her one last time. The old man wept uncontrollably.

The truth was, he understood. Though she had been a mortal, though she had been as fragile in his hands as a piece of tofu, she had resisted everything she did not love with a stubbornness that bordered on cruelty.

Leaning against the table, he drifted back to that day so many years ago. His hands had still been fair and youthful then. Li Jingtian sat quietly by the window in her white robes, gently pressing her lips together.

Chen Donghe had stared at her in a daze. Even now, after all these years, he still felt he had never looked enough. He thought, If I had another chance, I'm sure I could make her love me!

Suddenly, a cold wind struck his face. The old man opened his eyes with a start. Rain dripped steadily through the forests of Mount Yue, and the flat stone lay cold before him. Chen Donghe sat there blankly and lowered his gaze to his hands.

A pair of old hands covered in scars.

Winter Scenery (II)

[Desert Scenery]

A lonely plume of smoke drifted across the vast desert. Riding an aging Xiping mare, she wandered slowly through a world of golden sand and stone.

Twisting a few strands of white hair between her fingers, she said, "Chen Donghe, I've grown old."

The middle-aged man descended on the wind. His face was no longer young either, yet he remained as patient and gentle as ever.

Gathering her hair into his hand, Chen Donghe looked at the white strands fluttering in the air and said softly, "I'll pluck them out for you."

"No need. I'm afraid of pain."

Li Jingtian's pale fingers tightened around the reins while Chen Donghe led the aging horse onward. She sat lost in thought as the desert winds swept across the sands, reducing the two of them to a pair of black dots, one large and one small, against the endless world.

I.

When Li Jingtian was young, she often had a dream. In it, she was extraordinary. She walked through water and fire, commanded thunder and lightning, and flew above storm clouds with her hands clasped behind her back. The dream filled her with hope until it was shattered when she was six years old.

"Without a spiritual orifice."

Only later did Li Jingtian understand that those words were more devastating than any criticism of character or talent. Impossible meant impossible. She would never even be given the chance to prove herself. After that, she rarely slept deeply, afraid of returning to that impossible dream.

As it happened, the dream never came again.

Later, Li Jingtian's father died, and her brother Li Xuanxuan took over the family's affairs. It was only when Li Xuanxuan asked whether she could marry Chen Donghe that she was reminded that such a person even existed.

At the time, Li Jingtian had been standing by a window one morning, dressed in her favorite white dress and wearing a bright, radiant smile. Of course she knew how charming she was.

She was no longer a little girl. Every clever beauty eventually reached an age when she discovered her own power through the astonished gazes of others. Perhaps the first few attempts at relying on her looks would fail, but after learning from those mistakes, she would only grow more adept.

Perhaps those boys would come to their senses someday, but during those teenage years, she was the one in control. Li Jingtian possessed an exceptional talent in this regard. She knew that as long as she remained calm and composed, her natural beauty and those lovely almond-shaped eyes would conquer her opponents on their own, even a respectful young man approaching her with utmost courtesy.

If he's intimidated by my family's power, all the better.

The young man's gaze darted away whenever it met hers, yet always returned, unable to look away for long. It was Li Jingtian's first time consciously wielding this sort of power, yet it came as naturally as if she had been born with it.

He was not unattractive. In fact, there was something even dignified about him. Any young woman would feel a touch of vanity when a boy looked at her with such undisguised admiration. Wanting attention was only natural. What came afterward was another matter entirely.

Chen Donghe.

The name stirred her thoughts for only a moment. He was a nobody, and she casually cast him from her mind.

II.

The desert evenings were made for dreaming. Streams of spiritual qi painted the sky in brilliant colors, and cultivators crossed the heavens overhead. She lay quietly upon the warm sand.

Chen Donghe.

After their father's death, her eldest brother became the family head, just as everyone expected. Yet Li Jingtian found him strangely unfamiliar. Once Li Xuanxuan sat in that seat, he seemed to grow cold overnight. His old smiles vanished, replaced by a gaze filled only with worry and chill restraint.

He still called her 'little sister' as he always had, but Li Jingtian could hear the difference. "He doesn't care about anything anymore... He doesn't even care about himself... How could he still care about a sister like me?"

Through the haze, the scene before her gradually sharpened. Her second brother, Li Xuanfeng, appeared with a fierce expression, lifting that young man off the ground with one hand. Veins bulged along his powerful arm as though he might tear him apart in the next instant.

Unwilling to dwell on the memory, Li Jingtian turned over. The dream blurred, then grew clear again. This time it was her younger brother, Li Xuanling.

Li Xuanling held a scroll in his hands. His face, so similar to Li Tongya's, carried an air of unusual composure. Dressed in white, he sat quietly among the trees, reading through the text before him as though carefully considering every word.

Li Jingtian called out to him, but another figure emerged from the woods behind her. The child looked only seven or eight years old, yet his expression was unnaturally mature. He seized her hand tightly.

Lowering her head, she heard the child say fiercely, "If it ever comes to that, I'll kill you first and then myself!"

A suffocating pressure settled over Li Jingtian's chest. Both figures vanished at once, replaced by a dead snake dropping onto her body. Cold and slimy, it landed across her chest, startling her awake with horror.

She woke quickly, her throat burning with pain. She felt dizzy and unbearably thirsty. Nearby, Chen Donghe sat cross-legged in silent cultivation.

Only then did Li Jingtian realize, My life... is almost over.

III.

The desert wind howled endlessly. Li Jingtian often asked Chen Donghe to take her traveling, yet she had little interest in the scenery. More often than not, she simply dozed atop the camel's back.

She remembered carrying the bloodstained bedsheet to see her mother. She had deliberately chosen the time, and just as intended, she ran into her elder brother Li Xuanxuan. The sheet in her arms seemed almost vindictive, exposing a corner stained with blood.

Li Xuanxuan did not dare meet her eyes. He froze where he stood, looking as though he might jump out of his skin. Feeling a trace of guilt herself, she quickly tucked the bedsheet away and hurried inside with her head lowered.

At times, Li Jingtian resented him. Yet there was nothing she could do. She knew that her brother Xuanxuan and her younger brother Xuanling were fundamentally different people. In some matters, she had often needed to compensate for Xuanxuan's shortcomings herself.

But after seeing Li Xuanxuan sit in the family head's seat night after night without sleep, consumed by anxiety and responsibility, she found herself unable to hold onto those feelings. Eventually, even that small desire for revenge disappeared, leaving only pity.

Besides, Yuanxiu is there... Elder brother is still the better choice. Let little brother devote himself to cultivation.

That was what she thought at the time. Back then, she had watched Yuanyun closely. Like her, the child lacked a spiritual orifice, and like her, he was proud. Qinghong would use a bamboo pole with him to knock dates from the tree, and the siblings would sit beneath it, laughing together. Qinghong stayed quietly at his side, and the sight felt warm and peaceful.

Before long, Qinghong was commanding thunder itself through Thunder Summoning and Lightning Control and had become one of the family's pillars. Yuanyun, meanwhile, lived under the watchful scrutiny of the clan elders. Terrified of making even the slightest mistake, he gradually lost his smile.

A heaviness settled in Li Jingtian's chest. Then she heard the vow that had astonished the entire clan, spoken by Li Qinghong, "I have no heart for love, nor any desire to become another man's wife or concubine... Though I was not born a man, I possess the same ambition to refine the Six Wheels and master divine abilities. I wish to pursue immortality, slay demons, defend our lands, and bring peace to the people..."

Later, she turned those words over in her mind again and again, and the more she thought about them, the more uneasy she became.

IV.

As for Chen Donghe?

Li Jingtian searched through her dreams for a long time before finally finding him at the edge of her vision. There were cold stares, a white robe discarded on the floor, and a lingering sense of irritation.

Inwardly, she thought coldly, Why bother?

She had never believed she was the sort of woman from a story who would fall deeply in love simply because someone had taken something from her. She knew how stubborn she was. She would never bargain over something that had already been taken.

She was intelligent, and unwilling to surrender herself to another person. His one-sided devotion was ultimately futile. She understood exactly what he wanted, but she had no interest whatsoever in this game of conquest and submission.

Yet the more she ignored him, the more keenly she sensed his growing loss of control. Gradually, his desire became something she could manipulate almost at will. Li Jingtian had once genuinely tried to accept him. The result had been cold and lifeless.

In the end, she could only admit to herself, "I'm sorry... I simply can't."

But Chen Donghe was powerful. He could crush her completely with only the slightest effort. That imbalance only made her calmer, and at the same time, made her reject him even more. Proud people often walked farther and farther down their chosen path, and she was no exception.

Besides...

The truth was that she felt nothing at all for his bearing or his appearance. If anything, she found them awkward. The steadiness he had painstakingly cultivated seemed pale beside that of his elders. In fact, his head was slightly too large, giving him a clumsy appearance in a woman's eyes.

His features were acceptable enough, but they lacked a certain boldness. When his expression was calm, he was reasonably handsome. The moment he became animated, however, something fell apart. Qingxiao inherited the same face. It looked pleasant enough when composed and dignified, but less attractive once relaxed.

Perhaps this man and this body would seem desirable to other women. Yet when it comes to me, I simply feel nothing.

In truth, she preferred men who were more balanced in appearance and brighter in spirit.

If someone is at fault... it probably isn't me.

V.

But she grew old quickly, far more quickly than she had imagined. The beauty that had once been hers without effort now felt like clouds hanging at the edge of the sky, forever beyond reach.

Those beautiful almond-shaped eyes quickly lost their firmness. Her hair thinned, her skin wrinkled, and the bones beneath became more pronounced. Her complexion deteriorated, and the desert winds only made her appear more haggard.

Chen Donghe remained much the same. His cultivation had even advanced further. Time lent a mature dignity to his features, and an almost imperceptible reversal seemed to occur between them. The things Li Jingtian had once relied upon as shields had quietly passed into someone else's hands.

Yet she did not care. As she aged, she gradually lost her attachment to such things. What remained, however, was that same barrier of indifference, fixed permanently within her heart.

The things Chen Donghe believed had finally given him confidence were, in her eyes, utterly worthless. He never said it aloud, and neither did she.

She watched coldly as the two of them tormented one another. Chen Donghe's self-punishing behavior struck her as childish. More than that, she had grown somewhat tired of it. The word 'immature' lingered constantly at the back of her throat as she looked on in silence.

VI.

That night, she kept dreaming of the dead snake, cold and slimy as it coiled around her neck. Chen Donghe's face appeared before her again and again. At last, the man could no longer restrain himself. He kept asking, searching desperately for an answer.

Li Jingtian did not explain herself fully. She knew the truth would leave a scar on the man, whether deep or shallow. By now, however, there was no remedy left.

All she heard was Chen Donghe asking, "What you said when you were young... That was just a joke, wasn't it?"

A vision suddenly surfaced before her eyes. She was walking through water and fire, commanding thunder and lightning, and soaring above storm clouds with her hands clasped behind her back. She wanted to laugh, but sensation was already slipping away from her.

She understood what the man before her was asking. If she had truly loved him, she would never have spent her life locked in mutual torment with him. Yet on this matter, she could never yield.

So she answered coldly, "As true as iron."

As true as iron!

Through her fading vision, the man before her seemed distorted, his face breaking apart, and his eyes slipping beneath his mouth. Bright tears fell from him, and before long she sank completely into her dream.

Within the endless darkness, she vaguely saw a patch of white. She was dressed once more in white robes, standing quietly by a window with a white cat nestled in her arms.

Footsteps sounded outside the door. The young man had not yet entered.

Li Jingtian slowly rose to her feet and said gently, "Father, I'll take my leave first."

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