Chapter Eighty-Eight: An Unexpected Reunion with an Old Acquaintance, Unaware of the Truth Behind It All (Finale)

“The familiar face of the one in my dreams, you are the gentle warmth I have waited for. Even if tears flood the earth and sky, I will not let go. Every moment of lonely endurance is because I once made a promise. The familiar emotion between you and me, love is about to awaken. Through ages of turmoil, only love remains an eternal myth; tides rise and fall, never regretting the promise of true love. After repeated suffering and struggles through countless dark nights, holding your hands tightly so we may never part again. Snow on the pillow, love frozen in ice, only a sincere embrace can melt it. Flickering flames on the hearth in the wind, never extinguished, never ceasing. Waiting for flowers to bloom—spring leaves, spring returns—merciless years laugh at my madness. My heart is like steel in a desolate world, longing follows eternally. Through ages of turmoil, only love remains an eternal myth; tides rise and fall, never regretting the promise of true love. After repeated suffering and struggles through countless dark nights, holding your hands tightly so we may never part again. In times of joy and sorrow, only love remains an eternal myth; no one has forgotten those ancient, ancient vows. Your tears transform into butterflies dancing across the sky; love is the wind beneath their wings, two hearts soaring freely together. In times of joy and sorrow, only love remains an eternal myth; no one has forgotten those ancient, ancient vows. Your tears transform into butterflies dancing across the sky; love is the wind beneath their wings, two hearts soaring freely together. You are the only beautiful myth in my heart.”

“A tale of joy and sorrow beneath heaven and earth, a lonely destiny of love. The past is like a dream, endless illusions, longing becomes a knot, every knot tugs at the heartstrings! Many nights tangled in confusion, cold winds alone disarray, all blossoms wither. The restless heart, the rain of yearning, the intoxicated dream-chasing soul. The passionate lover of a thousand years, lovesickness for a millennium, fate ends and begins again, who knows when destiny will arrive? A thousand years of obsession unresolved, turning into tears of longing. Through endless ages and lifetimes, where does the soul dwell? Without seeing the beloved, vows remain unbroken!”

“........!”

Each line, like poetry, dances gracefully as if painting a scene. In the Seven Star Pavilion of Yudu, a beauty sings with emotion, her voice enchanting. Below, the crowded corridors are filled with citizens humming the tune, unaware whom these exquisite verses praise—why do they sound so sorrowful, so lonely?

“Ten thousand fathoms of mortal dust, parted never to unite, gentle waters accompany for eternity,

After a thousand years, empty yearning in a single life, may I stand for her beneath the nine heavens.”

........

In a blink, a hundred years passed since the Shang dynasty, and the world enjoyed peace and prosperity. Another five centuries passed, and at the end of Shang, the great battle of gods began because of King Zhou. Shang fell, Zhou rose, and the legacy of Tang was destroyed in a moment. Disciples of the Celestial and the Intercepted Teachings clashed, and the Celestial Teaching prevailed. Yet for the people of Shang, these events mattered little. The legend of the Eastern Emperor Taiyi continued to circulate. Had the great battle of gods not changed the structure of the Nine Provinces, who knows how future generations would have judged it? Even now, a folk song survives in some region of the Nine Provinces:

‘In Shangqiu, a mortal child, King Tang sent to Mount Song,’

‘Transformed into a deity to save all beings, but none knew the Eastern Emperor was Haodan.’

Though these folk songs lack rhyme, they capture the essence of mortal life, expressing reverence for gods and immortals, moving even the Heavenly Way.

.......

After the battle of gods, the world entered a brief era of peace and prosperity. In mortal affairs, division and unity alternate as time passes. Countless heroes emerged, lamenting the fate of all great men, disregarding boundaries, stepping forth to aid the people in times of trouble.

No one knows how many years passed, until one day, a thunderous sound echoed across the divine land: “Boom!~~~~” In the Eastern Victory Divine Continent, atop a mountain, a massive rock exploded, and a stone monkey burst forth, shaking the heavens. This monkey, unnamed, born with divine strength, led the monkeys in pride. Later, the lone monkey crossed the sea, journeyed west, visited the Spiritual Platform Mountain in Western Ox-Head Continent, and apprenticed under Patriarch Bodhi. He mastered seventy-seven transformations, seized the Sea-Stabilizing Divine Needle from the Eastern Sea, tampered with the Book of Life and Death in the Netherworlds, angered both heaven and earth, and overturned the Eastern Celestial Court.

For a time, the Jade Emperor summoned the Western Buddhist Tathagata to subdue the monkey, trapping him beneath Five Finger Mountain for over five hundred years.

......

Afterwards, in the blink of an eye, a thousand years passed.

One day, at Xiakou in Yunmeng Marsh.

Over a thousand years ago, the Eastern Emperor Taiyi had withdrawn from the world, living in seclusion. At that time, he hid in the Water Curtain Cave of Flower Fruit Mountain, leaving behind a mysterious couplet for the stone monkey Sun Wukong who would later wreak havoc in the heavenly palace five hundred years hence.

Today, a mysterious man named Li, feeling inspired, spoke at length about worldly affairs. He first recounted the great battle of gods, then unexpectedly brought up the tale of the Monkey King, but the Eastern Emperor Taiyi remained uninterested. The green fox resting on his shoulder had never left, even after a thousand years. Li knew this fox was once the empress of the Nine Yi, Su Su, whose soul had been sacrificed by her tribe, her memories long vanished into the past.

Li deeply lamented her fate, especially the tragic and pointless death of her brother Su Moran. Alas, the dead cannot return; if Su Su regained her memories, would the past not torment her anew? ‘The past clings so tightly, if torn away, it would take flesh and bone.’ Fortunately, losing her memories was, in a sense, a kind of happiness.

Li called, “Emperor Fusang?” but received no reply.

It is a long story; in the past, the Jade Emperor of the Eastern Celestial Court decreed that the Eastern Emperor Taiyi be honored as the Emperor of Fusang in Northern Chu Yunmeng. Taiyi, or Haodan, cared little for the title. Since the world lost the laughter of Bai Ling, no one had seen him smile again. Thereafter, another Emperor of Fusang appeared, living in seclusion among mortals.

Suddenly, Emperor Fusang gazed into the distance and departed, leaving Li astonished. Li watched, muttering, “This lovesick emperor is truly on the brink of madness!”

Unbeknownst to him, Fusang had sensed a disturbance and followed it.

In the city of Xiakou in Northern Chu, by a riverside, a petite and graceful young woman strolled. She wore white, holding an oil-paper umbrella, exuding a refined aroma of lilac. Her smile lingered at her lips, her white dress flowing, her delicate steps elegant and captivating. She seemed like the daughter of a noble family.

The man and his fox stood afar, the man staring intently at her slender form, unable to approach. Unconsciously, he admired her figure, sighed for a lifetime of mortal dust, as if destiny was rekindled, never extinguished. Whatever storms battered the world outside, it mattered little. His heart followed hers, every glance and smile, frost and snow at the ends of the earth, the cold moon's pale halo. From now on, she was etched into his heartstrings.

Fusang embraced the fox from his shoulder, gently stroking its fur. He appeared extremely nervous and confused, uncertain whether to approach or how to proceed.

The green fox in his arms asked innocently, “Emperor Fusang, aren’t you immortal? Why do I suddenly feel you’ve become so much older?”

“I have never grown old!~”

“It’s just that my heart has long been riddled with wounds, aged by the passage of time!”

Fusang took steps forward, his face still handsome despite the weariness, silver hair drifting, as if thousands or tens of thousands of years had passed, filled with the sense of ages.

He gently called the figure ahead, “Bai Ling?~”

“Is~ it~~ you~~?” His voice betrayed a hint of trembling.

Suddenly, another figure appeared—a man, handsome and elegant, younger and brighter than Fusang.

At that moment, the young woman turned at the sound. She heard someone calling her name—his voice and eyes seemed familiar, yet strangely foreign.

Her brief glance, like a startled swan, seemed to freeze time for ten thousand years, as if life were only as it was at first sight.

It felt as though they had known each other a thousand years ago, yet she could not explain the sensation. She gazed at Fusang, her beautiful eyes deep with endless thought and uncertainty.

The man beside her also looked toward Fusang, unsettled, his gaze revealing an ineffable awe.

A silent, cold wind lifted Fusang’s sleeve, and a faded yellow talisman slipped out, mischievously evading his grasp no matter how he tried. It drifted on the wind, landing before the flawless beauty. She extended her fair, slender hand and caught it. On the slightly yellowed paper, the words ‘I like you’ were faintly visible.

Though the writing was blurred, it could still be discerned.

Holding the talisman, the maiden blushed, the man beside her simmered with anger, and Fusang muttered.

“Bai~~ Ling~~?”......

Fusang’s hoarse voice called her name again. The woman raised her head in response; her beauty unparalleled, her presence stunning, instantly recalling for Fusang the heart-wrenching scene of her sacrificing herself a thousand years ago, a farewell so exquisite it transcended the heavens.

Before Fusang’s eyes, the myriad forms of her—playful, quirky, genuine, steadfast, daring in love and hate, independent and fearless—all overlapped with the one he once knew. Yet he could not tell if the woman before him was still the same as the one from the past.

In the awkwardness of the moment, a melodious song suddenly echoed around them, drifting into their ears, each lyric touching their hearts and perfectly fitting the scene.

“Where will you be a thousand years from now? What scenery will surround you? Our story is not beautiful, yet so hard to forget!” In this moment, far off, the immortal Jinsha sang with a clear voice.

“The most beautiful scene of my life was meeting you! Gazing quietly at you among the vast sea of people, strange yet familiar! Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah~!~~~~”

“Though we breathe the same air under the sky, I cannot embrace you!”

“If time and identity and names changed, I hope I would still recognize your eyes!”

“Where will you be a thousand years from now? What scenery will surround you?”

“Our story is not beautiful, yet so hard to forget!”

“If only we had been brave enough to stay together at the start, would the outcome be different?”

“Do you also have countless words buried in the silent dreams?”

The End!~