Chapter 25
THE EARTH’S VIOLENT CONVULSIONS were even stronger down below the Huangquan.
Fourth Uncle kept Zhu Hong close, shielding her. His iron-hard scales flickered in and out of view beneath his skin as he protected her from the debris falling around them.
After a while, things finally calmed down underground. The heavy black mist, too thick for anyone to hope to find their way through, slowly and miraculously started to dissipate. The disheveled lucky survivors peeked out from various nooks and crannies, warily assessing their surroundings.
“Fourth Uncle, what is it?” Zhu Hong asked quietly.
Shushing her, Fourth Uncle cautiously extended his senses outward, only to hear her make a sudden sound of surprise. Turning back, Fourth Uncle saw the branch of the Great Divine Tree with its three tiny buds float slowly out of her hand. As it moved away, Zhu Hong immediately began to follow it.
Fourth Uncle pulled her back. “Wait! What are you doing?”
“Shen Wei saved me! I promised him I’d find a place to plant it properly. I can’t be the one to lose a branch of the Great Divine Tree!” Beside herself with worry, Zhu Hong shook off Fourth Uncle’s hand and ran after the branch like a newborn calf that didn’t know enough to fear a tiger.
Zhu Hong was only a few hundred years old. She didn’t know the ways of the world, and she’d never even heard of the Great Houtu Seal, so she didn’t feel a sliver of fear. Fourth Uncle, on the other hand, could hardly just let her run off on her own. Transforming his tail into legs, he headed after her.
The branch flew until it was above the Wangchuan River. The black mist that had shrouded the river’s surface was completely gone now, revealing the deep, cold water below. The branch hovered there and then plunged downward.
Zhu Hong instinctively feared the Wangchuan River, but she remembered the promise she’d made. Gritting her teeth, she became a snake and dove after the branch, slipping through Fourth Uncle’s grasp. He had no choice but to follow.
As far as those watching were concerned, the two snakes were basically committing suicide. No one knew why the Chaos had temporarily retreated, never mind what the Great Seal’s current condition might be. It was possible that the Chaos was just regrouping for another round of attacks. Anyone jumping into the Wangchuan right now was clearly courting death.
Following the branch of the Great Divine Tree, Zhu Hong and Fourth Uncle swam downward. Fourth Uncle, who was wise in the ways of the world, immediately recognized that the branch was headed toward the legendary Ancient Merit Tree—and as expected, the tall, withered tree soon came into view.
The Ancient Merit Tree had remained unchanged for tens of thousands of years, but now it extended a wizened branch. It waved gently up and down in the Wangchuan waters, stirring up the gentlest of waves as though welcoming something.
The branch of the Great Divine Tree came to rest beside the Ancient Merit Tree, sinking into the deepest dirt.
With incredible speed, it started to grow roots, then branches, and then leaves. Within only a few moments, it stood tall and lush, complementing the splendor of the Ancient Merit Tree at its side. Next, it reached out with its slim, tender tendrils, twining around the Ancient Merit Tree, which had been dead for tens of millennia. Zhu Hong’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of tiny buds growing from the Ancient Merit Tree’s dead bark.
The two giant trees kept growing thicker and taller by the moment. In no time, they were thousands of zhang tall, their tips breaking the surface of the Wangchuan River. Their flourishing green canopies spread over what was left of the Yanluo Courts and then spread further still. From afar, the trees were furiously green, and so thick and dense that nothing was visible beyond them.
Back at the foot of the tree, Fourth Uncle’s injuries had all miraculously healed. His gaze fell on the empty clearing behind the Ancient Merit Tree where the Sealing Rock of the Great Houtu Seal had once stood.
The Great Houtu Seal had fractured and disintegrated. Flames raged on the ground, shrouded in black mist and the cries of the gui. The Four Pillars had been restored to their original positions, and the new Seal was about to fall into place…
Aboveground, Wang Zheng suddenly murmured, “What’s that sound…?”
“Must be the mountains.” Shennong’s mortar listened for a moment. “All ten thousand mountains crying together.”
Wang Zheng’s eyes widened. “Mountains can cry?”
“Yes,” Shennong’s mortar said gently. “Legend has it that the only time the ten thousand mountains cried out in one voice was when Pangu fell. They didn’t make this kind of noise even when Kunlun-jun’s body turned into the Soul-Guarding Lamp—perhaps because at that point, the Mountain God hadn’t truly and fully died.”
For a long moment, Wang Zheng stood rooted to the spot before his meaning sank in. She’d never interacted all that much with Shen Wei or the Soul-Executing Emissary, so the wave of emotion she felt caught her off guard. Tears were streaming down her cheeks by the time she caught herself. For ghosts, weeping came at a cost, but she couldn’t keep the tears from falling.
Sangzan sighed and pulled her into his arms.
And then, softly, a familiar voice said, “Silly girl, what are you crying about?”
Wang Zheng froze and looked down. At some point, Zhao Yunlan had opened his eyes, and now he was slowly getting to his feet.
Meeting his gaze, Wang Zheng had the sudden sense that something was…off. At a quick glance, he was the Zhao Yunlan she worked with every day, but when she looked more closely, he was somehow…different.
Her heart gave a sudden twinge. Had Shen Wei really taken away all of his memories?
But Shennong’s mortar, after a few moments of observing Zhao Yunlan uncertainly, took three steps back and solemnly knelt in an elaborate formal bow. “Greetings to the Mountain God.”
Zhao Yunlan—or rather, Kunlun-jun—folded his hands behind his back at first but then gave him a casual wave.
There was a swirl of light before Wang Zheng’s eyes. The man who had just been wearing a rumpled trench coat was suddenly in a long green robe instead, exactly like the ephemeral figure who had once walked the Great Wild thousands of years ago.
“Back when my master forcefully suppressed the Mountain God’s primordial spirit and sent you into the Reincarnation Cycle, he and the Lord Emissary agreed that the Emissary would live and die with the Great Seal,” said Shennong’s mortar. “Now another calamitous trial has come upon the Mortal Realm, the Great Houtu Seal has been broken, and the Soul-Executing Emissary has sacrificed himself for the Seal. All actions and consequences have fallen into place.”
The blazing flames settled into a gentler orange that reflected warmly in Kunlun-jun’s eyes. After a moment of silence, he quietly said, “I know.”
“The Emissary became a god as a King of the Gui,” continued the mortar. “He got what he wished for, and in the end, erased your…”
“Enough.” Kunlun-jun didn’t so much as look back. “I know all that too.”
Shennong’s mortar lowered his head respectfully. “When my master left this world, he tasked me with watching over the vow between him and the Emissary. Now… Now that the Mountain God has returned, this humble god has fulfilled his duties and can depart.”
Kunlun-jun remained silent. He spread his hands, in which lay the scale Nüwa had left behind. It had once contained a small cycle of eleven years.
Shennong, what exactly did you want to tell me?
A faint noise from below startled everyone as if they were birds spooked by the sound of a bow. But it was only the ground underfoot stirring as a giant tree burst forth, bountifully crowned with lush green leaves. The leaves dripped with dew that seemed to have come from another world. As the dew drops fell, the cracks left by the breaking of the Great Seal slowly started to close over.
What was eternal?
Why did good and evil, right and wrong, have to exist at all?
What was life?
And what was death?
Kunlun-jun reached out, happening to catch a leaf falling from one of the branches. Abruptly, he asked, “Was it you who sent Guo Changcheng to the SID?”
Still with the utmost respect, Shennong’s mortar said, “Yes. When my master was alive, he tasked me with finding someone whose third eye wasn’t open, yet who could see through to the truth; someone quiet and unassuming, but blessed with great heaven-given merits.”
“I see,” Kunlun-jun said, quiet as a sigh. “I understand now. Thank you.”
In that instant, Nüwa’s scale turned into dust in his palm.