Li Shixue knelt beside Chu Yuan.
The dark clouds had completely dispersed, and the sun shone brightly, casting its light upon the ground that was as riddled with cracks as her Dao Heart.
Her trembling, jade-like hand brushed over her Junior Brother’s increasingly cold body, her voice hoarse. “Junior Brother… why… were you so foolish???”
In contrast, Chu Yuan had already heard the system prompt.
[Congratulations, Host, on completing all plotlines. You can now return to the past while retaining your peak cultivation and Dharma treasures.]
‘Yes!’
‘Finally, I can stop being a pathetic lapdog!!!’
Chu Yuan could hardly hide his smile. At the moment of his passing, he glanced at the Senior Sister beside him and struggled to open his thin lips. “Senior Sister… let me tell you a secret…”
Li Shixue held her breath and leaned in to listen.
Using the last of his strength, Chu Yuan said, “Actually… I never liked you. It was all an act.”
With that simple sentence, scenes from the past flashed before Li Shixue’s eyes. She froze completely, refusing to believe her Junior Brother’s “insincere words.” She assumed he was merely lying before his death because he didn’t want to tarnish her Dao Heart.
Crash!
Precisely this final “kindness” became a sharp sword, delivering the killing blow to her already fragmented Dao Heart. The foundation of her Great Dao — 300 years of bitter cultivation built upon the rejection of emotions and the freezing of her self — shattered instantly.
Those frozen emotions erupted from the breach like a volcanic explosion. Myriad thoughts, suppressed for 300 years, turned into an unprecedented torrent of power that swept through Li Shixue’s entire body.
As she drowned in it, she realized that what she felt for her Junior Brother was more than just guilt. It was an affection that had long been deeply planted without her knowing; it was the moved heart from being silently protected by him for 300 years; it was the piercing pain of realizing everything only when it was too late.
Pain!
Too much pain!!!
The guilt overflowing in her heart turned into scalding tears, streaming from her eyes for the first time in centuries. Li Shixue’s white hair was a mess as she sobbed silently, completely unaware of the sword glowing with a dark purple demonic light that was creeping up to her pale neck.
“Lady Li, you’ve worked hard!”
Hearing this, Li Shixue slowly turned her head and saw the cold expression of Chu Yunlan. Her face, still stained with tears, first showed bewilderment and then flared with indignation. “Holy Lord, what is the meaning of this?”
Chu Yunlan declared loudly, “Ha! You ask me what I mean? Everyone has seen it! You have a deep relationship with the demon Chu Yuan, and your Dao Heart shattered because of him. This is a sign of falling to the Demonic Path!!!”
“Now that the Black Dragon Emperor has been executed, according to the rules of the Demonic Path, you, who have already fallen, are the most qualified to succeed him! For the sake of the world’s righteousness, I must carry out justice on behalf of Heaven!!!”
He spoke righteously, but his heart was anxious. He recalled his bet with the Immortal Empress, Ji Xuanyuan: he had to personally slay the Black Dragon Emperor before he could marry her.
Just a moment ago, Chu Yunlan had intended to steal the killing blow, but he hadn’t expected Li Shixue’s single strike to kill the Black Dragon instantly. To fulfill the agreement, he had no choice but to frame Li Shixue — whose Dao foundation was now destroyed — as a member of the Demonic Path and kill her on the spot to twist the facts and seize the credit.
“Heh! Your Majesty has certainly gone to great lengths!” Li Shixue’s voice was unusually calm. “Do you want to marry Empress Xuanyuan that badly, using the power of the Immortal Dynasty to stabilize your position as the Holy Lord?”
Chu Yunlan frowned slightly. “Oh? Lady Li… how do you know about the bet???”
Li Shixue gave a miserable smile, as tragic and beautiful as the sunset.
In the next moment, her disheveled snow-white hair was dyed back into a breathtaking crimson. Her dull skin regained its jade-like luster and golden glow, and the icy layers of her cold, rigid features melted away, revealing a stunningly beautiful and heroic face beneath.
Staring at this peerless face with its imperial aura, Chu Yunlan’s hand holding the sword trembled violently. “Ji… Xuanyuan? You are actually the Empress of the Immortal Dynasty?”
After his initial shock, a wild joy grew in his heart like a poisonous vine.
Chu Yunlan burst into laughter. “Aha! Heaven is truly helping me! Since Your Majesty’s Dao foundation is destroyed, you can obediently serve your husband in bed from now on. I will take the helm of your Immortal Dynasty for you! Hahaha!!!”
With such heavenly help, he could suppress the branch of the Supreme Guardian within his clan and make that old fox, who had lived for 1,000 years, yield to him. Chu Yunlan became more complacent the more he thought about it, as if he already held the world in his hands.
Swish!
At that moment, a green sword qi flashed past, and Chu Yunlan’s right arm was severed at the wrist. Blood spurted out, and the demonic sword fell to the ground.
Simultaneously, an old roar containing boundless sword intent echoed through the world. “Who dares to bully my beloved disciple?!!!”
Chu Yunlan looked up to see the heavily armored Xuanyuan Immortal Army descending like divine soldiers, suddenly surrounding him. An old woman in grey robes with a bamboo staff led them, stepping through the air; she was the Extinction Sword Venerable. Her gaze was as sharp as a sword, locking coldly onto Chu Yunlan.
Chu Yunlan’s face turned pale as fear gripped his throat.
The Sword Venerable tapped her bamboo staff lightly. He shrieked, fleeing in panic with his confidants like stray dogs, not daring to look back.
The clamor faded, leaving only desolation. Extinction Sword Venerable walked toward Li Shixue — or rather, Ji Xuanyuan. Seeing the aura of decay emanating from her beloved disciple, the Sword Venerable felt a pang of pity.
“I have seen everything that happened here. I didn’t expect your Junior Brother to enter the fray as a pawn, deceiving even me. And I didn’t expect you would…” She did not continue, instead looking up and letting out a long sigh. “Alas! I originally wanted to use this unprecedented merit to recommend you to lead the Heavenly Sword Sect, so that the Immortal Dynasty and the Sword Sect could support each other. Your future would have been limitless. I never expected to lose two of my favorite disciples at once. Fate is truly unpredictable!”
—
After this battle, a new legend began to circulate in the Realm of True Emotions. Two true disciples under the Extinction Sword Venerable had coordinated from within and without, designing a plan to infiltrate the enemy. Ultimately, at the cost of their lives, they joined hands to slay the Black Dragon Emperor. Both fell together, writing a tragic and heroic legend.
During the same period, Empress Ji Xuanyuan regained control of the Immortal Dynasty, using thunderous methods to reorganize the government and balance various factions.
She issued the Spirit Equalization Decree, shifting resources toward commoner families. She promoted the Abyss Suppression Covenant, uniting with the Heavenly Sword Sect to firmly seal the rifts of the Demon Abyss. By winning the bet, she seized nearly half of the resources of the Taixu Sacred Domain. Because of this, Chu Yunlan was removed from his position as Holy Lord by the Supreme Guardian and was executed by a thousand cuts.
However, after the Demon Path Alliance Battle, the Empress was often distracted. It was as if her soul remained forever on that rainy day.
She often stroked the cracked Warm Sun Jade Pendant, reminiscing about the past.
If she had only tasted even one bite of the Osmanthus Cake that her Junior Brother had carefully protected in his arms back then, or even just nodded slightly…
If she had thanked him and accepted the clumsy Warm Sun Jade when he had nervously handed it over…
If she hadn’t viewed every instance of his awkward care as a nuisance…
Would the ending have been different?
Would that Junior Brother, whose heart was set on the righteous path, have refrained from throwing himself into the fray… and ultimately dying?
In her memory, a plate of Osmanthus Cake always sat on Ji Xuanyuan’s desk, though it was not made by an imperial chef. Once, a new maid who didn’t know the rules tried to replace the cakes, only to be sternly stopped by her in a rare display of anger. From then on, no one dared to touch that plate of long-dried Osmanthus Cake.
And as her lifespan neared its end, she made a bold decision.