Under Ling Xiaoxiao’s rather hostile gaze, Young Master Yu could only offer an awkward smile.
Snow Fairy Ji had once made a pact with Young Master Yu.
His life was to be forfeit to Snow Ji’s clansmen the next time they met.
Because of this agreement, Young Master Yu now stood quietly, waiting for that moment to arrive.
“So, Fellow Cultivator Snow. You’ve remembered everything now, haven’t you?”
“More or less.” Snow Ji’s tone was indifferent—or perhaps it was a state of letting go.
She turned back and gave Ling Xiaoxiao a gentle smile. Her white hair swayed in the wind, and her bright eyes and pearly teeth left Ling Xiaoxiao momentarily dazed.
“Xiaoxiao, come here for a moment.”
Snow Ji beckoned to Ling Xiaoxiao. Unbeknownst to them, the initiative between the two had quietly shifted.
Ling Xiaoxiao leaned close to Snow Ji, shedding her tough facade, her eyes unable to hide their tenderness.
Wrapped in such gentle affection, Snow Ji couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt in her heart.
“If you hadn’t met me back then, at least you wouldn’t have had to keep hiding your true self all this time.” Snow Ji’s heart ached at the thought.
“Silly. If it weren’t for you, how would I even have had the chance to survive?”
Ling Xiaoxiao and Snow Ji were now of one heart and mind, and she felt that the person before her was more endearing than ever.
“Xiaoxiao… I’d like to let him go. Is that alright?” Snow Ji leaned close to her ear and whispered softly.
“Why are you asking me?” Ling Xiaoxiao was puzzled, but she felt happy about it.
“His plan and mine—though we couldn’t think everything through in that crisis—you were the one who bore the brunt of it.”
“So, I think you should have the final say on how this chapter of the past ends.”
After hearing the whole story, Ling Xiaoxiao didn’t respond right away. Instead, with a helpless look, she cupped Snow Ji’s face and kissed her.
“Mmm…”
This time, Snow Ji didn’t resist—nor was it a reckless surrender to desire.
No one knew how long passed until Snow Ji’s eyes grew hazy from the dizziness of breathlessness, and only then did Ling Xiaoxiao let her go.
“I don’t care about any of that. All I care about is you—and it’s always been that way.”
“From the moment you held me in your arms when I was still a fledgling, my eyes have been on you alone.”
This sincere confession spanned a thousand years, and Ling Xiaoxiao could finally speak it aloud.
“Once everything is over, let’s travel the mortal world together, just like we did back then.”
Snow Ji made the promise once more, then walked over to Young Master Yu, who had already turned his back to gaze at the scenery alone.
“Sir, you are truly a man of your word. Since the great matter is done and you’ve stayed behind, are you really planning to give me your life?” Snow Ji asked in a teasing tone.
“I never make promises lightly in my life. Since I’ve given my word, I won’t go back on it.”
“In that case, then close your eyes.” Snow Ji raised her hand, and the Crimson Sorrow Sword flew from Ling Xiaoxiao’s grasp.
She caught it with effortless grace, and for a moment, she even carried a hint of a sword immortal’s air—though in the end, she was no longer her former self. It was merely a flicker of familiarity in Ling Xiaoxiao’s eyes.
Upon seeing the sword, Young Master Yu closed his eyes in resignation, waiting for the final moment.
But that feeling was soon broken by Snow Ji herself. Arcane runes coiled around the blade, and she merely swung it down gently.
“All that came before is as if dead with yesterday; all that comes after is as if born today.”
The sword struck Young Master Yu’s shoulder, and in the next instant, he vanished without a trace.
It was actually just a teleportation spell cast through the sword.
“Xiao Ji, where did you send him?” Ling Xiaoxiao came over and asked.
“To the Azure Dragon. I’ve caught you a new laborer. What do you think?” Snow Ji poked her cheek with a grin.
“Haha, you’re such a tease. And you even made a point of scaring him.”
The two chatted and laughed as they made their way back to the resort island.
Shaya stood alone by the seaside, waiting. She waved at the black sun in the sky, hoping Lillith would come down and keep her company.
But Lillith completely ignored her, so she had no choice but to pull out her phone, log into Lillith’s Dou Di Zhu account, and proceed to lose ten million Happy Beans in spectacular fashion.
Yet Lillith’s retaliation never came. The black sun slowly faded, and the sky returned to normal.
“What’s going on…” Shaya felt a strange tightness in her chest, her thoughts tangled.
The ceaseless roar of the waves left her restless.
Even though Snow Ji had tried to comfort her a few times, the gap in reality still wounded the pride of a queen.
She left her phone behind, formed ice beneath her feet, and crossed the sea alone, leaving the island behind.
By the time Eva reached the shore, Shaya was already long gone.
The group that had been playing together just moments ago was now reduced to just Eva, standing alone by the sea.
But before Snow Ji and the others returned, an unexpected incident occurred.
Eva realized that her connection to the high-speed world had been severed.
“?!”
After a brief moment of confusion, a powerful sense of danger washed over her.
The seawater had somehow risen past her ankles, and she found she could no longer move her feet.
A blurry figure, made entirely of seawater, slowly approached from the surface.
It wielded a golden trident, piercing Eva’s right arm with brutal precision, and then a water prison that could block all forms of detection enveloped her.
“Who are you?! Let her go!”
Shen Dai and Xia Jin rushed to the scene. They tried to use their abilities, but the figure subdued them both with a single gesture.
“Snow Ji, come back quickly!”
“Miss… where did you go…”
In just one encounter, the two lost consciousness.
——-
On the way back, Snow Ji felt a vague unease in her heart.
A discomforting sensation—as if countless eyes were watching her—engulfed her.
“Xiaoxiao, did you feel that?”
“Yeah. There’s something down below.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than the sea transformed into a ferocious beast, opening its gaping maw.
A colossal tidal wave surged straight toward them.
Snow Ji summoned her staff, but her hand trembled, and a sharp pain shot through her head.
“I’ve used too much power… dammit.”
Ling Xiaoxiao formed hand seals and chanted, shielding Snow Ji within a golden light.
“Let me handle this.”
With that, her aura surged dramatically. Having crossed the heavenly tribulation, her power was now fully revealed—like an immortal descended to the mortal realm.
With a mere press of her aura, she suppressed the towering wave. Her two fingers formed a sword, and with a single slash, she parted the sea itself.
Beneath the surface lay a colossal teleportation gate, exuding an ancient aura that even Ling Xiaoxiao had never encountered.
But there was no time to ponder. Endless, towering sea monsters came charging in an unceasing tide.
“Xiao Ji, head back to the island. I’ll take care of things here.”
As she had done long ago, she infused Snow Ji’s body with a Firebird Soul Feather, replenishing her depleted mana and spiritual power.
Seeing this, Snow Ji was reminded of what she saw on the Shore of Fate—a sea shrouded in shadow.
“Be careful. The enemy might be the sea itself!”
Snow Ji warned, as her teleportation spell was already complete.
“Is that so? Understood.”
A purple arcane radiance flickered, and Snow Ji teleported away.
Ling Xiaoxiao restrained her aura, and golden light swirled around her. The bloodline power of the Chongming Bird was fully unleashed for the first time in the modern era.
Blazing, sacred spiritual energy surged forth endlessly. The sky became her domain—a gilded celestial palace transformed.
One person alone stood in opposition to the entire corrupted, demonized ocean.
At the exact same moment, alarms sounded in supernatural countermeasure organizations worldwide. A global crisis had begun, with no warning whatsoever.
