Chapter 14

The shattering of one’s life essence is akin to self-destruction. In that instant, one’s cultivation can be pushed to its peak, allowing one to surpass their own limits to harm others or to travel anywhere across the Eight Wilderness.

Mi Chu’s situation was different at the time. She initially wanted to use the Transcendent Mirror to escape to another place, not intending to pay the price of shattering her life essence. However, during her escape, she was discovered by Feng Fuming, who extracted her life-bonding bamboo. She had no choice but to grit her teeth and shatter them. Taking advantage of Feng Fuming’s momentary hesitation, she managed to escape.

Despite this, Mi Chu couldn’t bear to completely destroy her life essence and only created cracks to temporarily borrow its power, hoping to repair the bamboo and restore it within her body someday.

For Liu Shuang to leave, a few cracks wouldn’t suffice. Her cultivation was far inferior to that of Mi Chu, who was thousands of years old. She would have to shatter her entire heart to break free.

Liu Shuang didn’t know what would become of her if she truly lost her heart. Would she die, or would her soul dissipate? She knew she didn’t have the luck of Mi Chu, the Heavenly Consort. If she paid the price of shattering her life essence to leave, Yan Chaosheng wouldn’t save her or use all the treasures of heaven and earth to nurture her soul as he did for Mi Chu.

Even the Mingxi pearl that Shao You left for Liu Shuang ended up in Mi Chu’s hands.

Without this heart, there would be no more Liu Shuang in the world. Her eyes dimmed.

The heavenly maids, unaware of Liu Shuang’s distracted state, brought her a set of luxurious white clothes after grooming her.

“What is this?”

Most of the heavenly maids here knew the whole story and dared not meddle in the Heavenly Lord’s affairs, so they didn’t say much. One replied, “This is the bridal dress for the heavenly maiden.”

Liu Shuang’s fingers brushed over the embroidery on the white bridal dress, and she whispered, “I don’t like this color. Could you bring me a red one instead?”

The heavenly maids exchanged glances. Her calm and cooperative demeanor, without any outbursts of anger or distress, made them reluctant to disappoint her.

Finally, one said, “I will go ask for permission.”

Before long, the heavenly maid returned and said, “You are in luck; the Heavenly Lord has agreed.”

Liu Shuang merely smiled. She felt no such luck. The respectful attitude of the heavenly maids made her vaguely guess that Feng Fuming was just trying to scare her. Most likely, Feng Fuming wanted to marry her to spite Yan Chaosheng.

If she had been afraid and angry before, she now knew what to do and was no longer afraid.

Wearing the bridal dress for the second time, to Liu Shuang, was akin to dressing up beautifully to face death.

She would no longer return to Yan Chaosheng’s side, nor would she be anyone’s plaything again, including Feng Fuming. They were all the same—these high and mighty beings who wouldn’t save Canglan or truly love her. Was Feng Fuming trying to make her a substitute for someone else, for Mi Chu?

Liu Shuang didn’t need them to help her; she put on the clothes herself. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled slightly, as if she saw her innocent and lively self from a hundred years ago.

She looked beautiful, she thought.

When the heavenly maids tried to help her with makeup, she gently pushed them away, saying, “No need; I can do it myself.”

The heavenly maids bowed their heads, waiting. None of them dared to untie the Immortal Binding Rope on her. Seeing her restrained movements, they loosened it a bit for her.

Liu Shuang said, “Thank you.”

Liu Shuang applied a little rouge, only touching her lips lightly. She was already extremely beautiful, but the recent events had left her pale. With this bit of color, she looked more festive.

Liu Shuang clumsily mimicked the hairstyle she remembered from a hundred years ago. She recalled that a hundred years ago, when she first wore the red bridal dress, it was Shao You who had styled her hair.

He should have said many auspicious words, but looking at the joyous little immortal grass in the mirror, Shao You’s voice turned hoarse, “Going to the demon realm, I hope he loves and cherishes you.”

“Thank you, Shao You.”

Liu Shuang was born without parents, accompanied only by the little immortals of Canglan Lake. She was pure and naive, as were the immortals of Canglan Lake.

When she left on the golden-winged bird’s cloud chariot, she looked back at Shao You and Canglan Lake, feeling an inexplicable anxiety about the future.

Shao You stood by the celestial pool, his brows and eyes picturesque, smiling at her. It seemed he was comforting her with his gaze, telling her not to be afraid.

Strangely, she wasn’t afraid anymore. She waved and smiled at him.

“Shao You, goodbye.”

At that time, Liu Shuang didn’t understand that the wedding dresses in the heavenly realm were white, the demon realm wedding dresses were purple, and only in the human world were the wedding dresses the joyous red.

Before the grand wedding, she seriously asked Yan Chaosheng for a dowry of ten miles of red bridal offerings, just as her mother had instructed. Yan Chaosheng merely smiled and said, “Hmm, what else?”

Liu Shuang counted on her fingers and earnestly recalled, “We need to match our birth charts, have red dates, peanuts, longan, lotus seeds, and a bright red bridal gown.”

Yan Chaosheng raised an eyebrow and said, “I’ve noted it.”

Later, he went so far as to capture the divination lord to match their birth charts.

The Divination Lord, trembling, glanced at the demon lord, Yan Chaosheng, who was half-smiling. The divination lord immediately declared that their birth charts were a perfect match, as if made in heaven, making Liu Shuang beam with joy and repeatedly say, “Thank you, divination lord.”

The dowry sent by Yan Chaosheng’s guards filled almost a third of the small immortal land of Canglan, far more than ten miles.

On the day of Liu Shuang’s wedding a hundred years ago, the vegetation was lush, and the immortals cheered. At that time, Shao You was also present. Liu Shuang had family, friends, and a lover.

Yan Chaosheng stood on the back of a red bird, dressed in red, to greet her, his eyes smiling. On their wedding night, he peeled a lotus seed and asked her, “Do you know what these things mean?”

(T/N: Lotus seeds and flowers are symbols of prosperity and represent having a big family.The word for lotus seed is 莲子 liánzǐ, with the second character zǐ meaning sons. Because of this and the seeds being numerous, it is symbolic of having many children.)

Liu Shuang shook her head.

Her mother had insisted they were essential, so they must be indispensable.

Yan Chaosheng glanced at her and chuckled, “Shameless.”

Much later, when Liu Shuang looked back, she could vaguely recall the feelings of that time.

She had married Yan Chaosheng with endless joy and hope, once believing that he truly loved her and was willing to follow her through human customs, taking off his dark clothes and donning red.

A hundred years later, she finally understood.

It wasn’t because he indulged her that Yan Chaosheng married her in red, but because in Yan Chaosheng’s heart, that wedding was like a child’s play, and his purple wedding dress was reserved for another person.

Liu Shuang smiled. This was fine; it was for the best. At least after a century of muddling through, she could finally wake up.

The heavenly maids who came to serve Liu Shuang had never had such an easy task. They didn’t need to do anything but stand by and watch as the maiden, who bore a striking resemblance to Heavenly Consort Mi Chu, dressed and adorned herself before following them onto the cloud chariot drawn by nine divine birds.

Amidst the gauze curtains, a striking red was vividly bright. Liu Shuang sat with her hands folded on her lap, her entire demeanor serene and calm.

The heavenly maids couldn’t help but watch her. It was strange; despite her striking resemblance to Heavenly Consort Mi Chu, no one would ever mistake them.

Besides their looks, they were entirely different.

Heavenly Consort Mi Chu was always eager to assert her presence, ruling over the heavenly maidens with an iron fist. In contrast, this maiden was as quiet as a painting, her smile pure and charming.

There was no sense of oppression, but people couldn’t help but look at her.

The moment the divine birds took flight, their golden wings were extraordinarily beautiful. They carried Liu Shuang through the vast, beautiful Heavenly realm.

Liu Shuang didn’t know how long Lord Su Lun had been gone or if Yan Chaosheng had already obtained Mi Chu’s life-binding bamboo at this moment.

Liu Shuang’s eyelids drooped slightly. The heavenly realm was truly beautiful. No wonder Yan Chaosheng had fought so many battles to find new territories for his people, who had long been forced to live in shadows.

As a ruler, Yan Chaosheng was destined to become the most magnificent legend in the Eight Wilderness.

Liu Shuang placed her hand over her heart, feeling its steady and powerful beat.

Her life essence seemed to sense something, feeling immense sorrow and pleading with her not to do it. She wanted to say, “Don’t be afraid,” not knowing if she was comforting the purple jade or the part of herself curled up inside.

Her hand glowed with green light as she forcibly extracted her heart.

In that instant, the divine birds screeched and halted their flight. The heavenly maids and guards sensed something was wrong, but they couldn’t see what was happening inside the cloud chariot’s gauze curtains.

They could only see Liu Shuang in red with her black hair and a faint purple light inadvertently leaking out.

The pale purple light reflected in Liu Shuang’s eyes. Her face was ashen as she loosened her grip, revealing the beautiful stone.

It was pure and warm, rivaling all the colors of the world, with a bright radiance flowing within. To be loved by such a heart was something no one should be able to refuse.

Liu Shuang closed her hands.

The pale purple glow scattered across the sky; now the stars fell to the ground, and the white light was no longer visible.

In the hall, Feng Fuming suddenly opened his eyes and swiftly flew outside, reaching the cloud chariot in an instant. He saw that all the guards and maids around were unconscious, with countless purple glows drifting like flowing feathers, scattered everywhere.

Countless immortal lords who rushed over next were all amazed by the beautiful sight.

Feng Fuming lifted the gauze curtain on the cloud chariot, finding it empty except for a lingering fragrance.

A purple glow fell into Feng Fuming’s palm, and he stood there dazed for a long time, not knowing what expression to make for the first time in his life.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Su Lun had just handed the life-bonding bamboo to Yan Chaosheng. He saw the demon lord, dressed in black, suddenly change his expression.

Su Lun had followed Yan Chaosheng for hundreds of years and had never seen such an expression on his face—a moment of bewilderment, followed by a blank look.

Almost instantly, Yan Chaosheng turned into a streak of dark light and disappeared from his sight.