212: Chapter 212 Recalling Our First Encounter by the Luo River

"Let's leave together, let's leave Zhaoge."

"You promised the King that you would arrange everything that follows!"

"Besides… you are, after all, the little princess held in the palms of the Jiang State royal family."

"Even if you leave right in front of those Ji Dynasty people, they wouldn't dare do anything to you."

"Let's go back to Jiang State together..."

"After all, you have so many miraculous things there. Perhaps, perhaps you might even find a way to resurrect..."

Jiang Li finally turned her head slowly, looking straight at Su Daji.

The firelight reflected on her stunningly beautiful face.

That pair of phoenix eyes, which were always calm and accustomed to being submissive before Su Chen, were now clear as crystal.

With a hint of relief.

"These matters no longer require me."

"In other words... although the King has already arranged the script for me."

"Although in his script, he also arranged a way out for me."

"But right now, he has passed away."

"As his Queen, I naturally have the authority to slightly 'change' the ending he wrote for me in his script."

"I have already made proper arrangements for what follows."

"The contacts from Jiang State will arrive near the courtyard shortly, taking advantage of the chaos."

"You are the last remaining people of the Yin Shang Dynasty in Zhaoge; the others have already left under their guidance."

"They will lead you away through another, more secret passage."

"As for the other important documents."

"Including the roster of all soldiers and civilians in Zhaoge willing to leave, evacuation routes, and the contact point in the East Sea."

"And even the locations of the classics left behind by the King..."

"I have entrusted all the details to someone trustworthy."

She gently pushed aside Su Daji's hand that was blocking her.

"As for me..."

"I never intended to go back from the very beginning."

"Su Chen is my husband, the King of the Great Yin."

"He chose to stay here."

"To be buried with this city, with his country."

"Then, as his Queen..."

"I, naturally, should follow him."

"To share the same quilt in life and the same grave in death."

"This was... the vow we never spoke aloud on the day of our grand wedding."

"And it is my duty as a wife."

Upon hearing this, Su Daji was struck as if by lightning, standing frozen on the spot.

At this moment, despite her heaven-defying cultivation, she couldn't even muster the strength to stop Queen Jiang.

She could only watch helplessly as Queen Jiang walked past her and continued toward the burning scene.

That plain white figure was immersed in the gray-white "snow" falling all over the sky.

Like a lotus flower rushing alone toward destruction against the tide of people.

"No... this won't do."

"Jiang Li, come back!"

Su Daji snapped out of it, rushed up again, and tightly hugged Jiang Li's waist from behind.

"You cannot go."

"The King... traded his life for our survival, not for us to go and throw our lives away."

"You still have the Jiang State behind you; you still have things left unfinished."

"Besides..."

"Now that we know the true power that killed the King."

"Don't... don't you want to take revenge for the King?"

"Revenge?"

Queen Jiang let her hold her, her body pausing slightly.

Then, she laughed even more lightly.

"Revenge against whom?"

"Against Xiqi?"

"Or against those high and mighty immortals and gods who view all living beings as chess pieces?"

"Sister Su, your cultivation technique has now reached fruition; perhaps you truly possess the power to shake one side."

"But I... am just an ordinary mortal."

She slowly pried open Su Daji's tightly clasped fingers.

Turned around, and faced her.

Her fingertips lightly wiped away the stains of tears and ash on Su Daji's face.

"Sister Demon Concubine Su Daji, you must not blame the King."

"This game of chess, from the very beginning, we never had a chance of winning."

"The three of us back then—a critically injured Emperor, an ordinary mortal Queen, and a consort who could not use her cultivation."

"The King saw through it."

"So he chose the most tragic, yet most effective way."

"To fight for a path of survival for us, for you."

"As for me..."

She withdrew her hand, took a step back, and created distance.

"I am tired, Sister Su."

"These years in the deep palace, lonely and cold, every step a heart-pounding ordeal."

"Outside, immortals and gods play their games, and demons run rampant."

"Inside, there are treacherous hearts and calculated schemes."

"The only bit of warmth, the only bit of hope, has burned away with that fire..."

She paused, watching Su Daji's eyes turn instantly hollow.

Her tone suddenly carried a hint of girlish cunning and provocation.

"Sister Su, tell me... do you think people have reincarnation, that there is an afterlife?"

Seeing that Su Daji did not answer, she continued to speak to herself.

"If there really is a next life..."

"Sister Su, I won't be like this life, waiting foolishly and watching from afar."

"I will definitely meet him earlier than you, just like this life."

"Not only that... I will definitely make him fall in love with me first."

"By then..."

She leaned closer, and in a whisper that only the two of them could hear, she said softly in Su Daji's ear.

"You little enchantress who practiced the secret canon of the Hehuan Sect."

"If you are still alive."

"This sister of yours will have to properly ask you for a few pointers... on the art of managing a husband."

After speaking, she straightened up, hesitating no more.

She did not look back at Su Daji's expressive, pretty face again.

She turned and continued toward the burning scene that consumed everything.

Step by step, she walked firmly.

The night wind blew her moon-white sleeves and scattered her ink-black hair.

The flying snow, transformed from the ash covering the sky, landed on her hair and shoulders.

As if draping her in a plain white mourning garment.

As she walked.

Queen Jiang's footsteps seemed to slow down slightly.

She remembered many years ago.

The first time she came to Zhaoge.

It seemed that day was also such a dusk-laden evening.

The direction... seemed to be toward this Star-Plucking Tower as well.

At that time, she was still Queen Jiang, the most beloved little princess of Jiang State.

Following her father's orders, she rode a magnificent multi-storied boat, crossing the vast and misty Luo River.

Coming to Zhaoge to complete that marriage alliance, which was destined to be a political bargaining chip.

That was her first time leaving Jiangnan.

In the early spring of the North, it was neither warm nor cold.

The biting cold world slowly unfolded before her eyes like a painting.

The Luo River flowed mightily, and the spring sunlight scattered like broken gold on the water's surface.

She sat in the cabin, her mind in chaos, filled with confusion and resistance toward the future.

For the benefit of her motherland, she was to marry a foreign king she had never met, who was rumored to be tyrannical and incompetent.

When the boat was about to dock, she couldn't help but secretly lift a corner of the curtain.

Then, she saw him.

Banners fluttered, and armor stood like a forest.

The Yin Shang Dynasty's wedding procession spread out along the riverbank, solemn and grand.

And at the very front of that procession, surrounded like stars around the moon, stood a tall and upright figure.

It was the young King.

He wore dark robes and red skirts, standing on the high platform by the bank, his posture as straight as a pine, looking down at the river.

The spring breeze ruffled the beads on his crown, blurring his face.

Only a pair of calm and deep eyes.

Seemed to pierce through the noisy procession and the rushing river water.

Coincidentally meeting her panicked, peeping gaze.

(The description of the snow falling all over the sky... I can responsibly say it is true.)

(I have attended a family member's funeral.)

(I kept vigil all night that day, and when morning came, the funeral home staff came to take the person away.)

(I threw the remaining paper money and gold ingots from the previous night into the incinerator.)

(The fire blazed, and the high temperature distorted the air in front of me.)

(Those white paper money scraps that hadn't burned completely rose with the airflow, ascended high into the sky, and then fell, blurring my vision.)

(It was just like... snow falling all over the sky to send someone off.)

(I hope my readers will never have to experience it.)