TAXIAN-JUN'S STATEMENT was neither a joke nor a threat. He was merely stating the truth. No one dared step back. They braced themselves and poured more spiritual energy into the spell. Those who were too afraid to watch closed their eyes.
The crest of the wave was a thousand yards away, then a hundred. It rushed closer, closer still…
There was a thunderous crash as the water beat at the barrier with a sound like a million hammers striking at once. The very sun and moon seemed to tremble in the firmament. Veins protruded on the backs of Taxian-jun's well-proportioned hands as his teeth flashed in a grimace.
Behind him, Chu Wanning had reached the boundary of the Space-Time Gate of Life and Death, where the older Xue Meng was toiling to maintain the Sigil of the Returning Billows. Chu Wanning laid a hand on his disciple's shoulder. When Xue Meng turned toward him, his expression was steady. Though crow's feet creased the corners of his eyes, when he looked at Chu Wanning, his gaze was as clear as it'd been in his youth.
"Shizun."
Chu Wanning met his eyes. "I'm here."
Jiuge materialized in a jade-green flash. Chu Wanning rose on the wind, chords ringing from the qin. The margins of the Space-Time Gate shrank back from the corners of the earth with a startling alacrity.
"Everyone, retreat," Chu Wanning called to the crowd, his fingers never stilling on the strings. "Get behind me."
Chu Wanning didn't need to repeat himself. But this time, most of the cultivators—even the most terrified among them—refrained from jostling for position. Some supported their injured comrades; others carried people who'd been complete strangers moments ago. Slowly, they made their way toward the gate.
The Space-Time Gate was anchored near Kunlun Mountain. When the crowd reached the mountain path, many could walk no further. They stood watching Chu Wanning's figure atop the pristine snow crowning the peak, his sleeves fluttering as the melody flowed without cease.
Who said the point of cultivation was to live forever, to amass enough power to annihilate heaven and earth? Some people, even if their lives were eternal, would never amount to more than a lump of unfeeling stone. Others, though they only flitted through the mortal realm, left a trail of blooming flowers in their wake. Was that not an immortal before the Space-Time Gate, using his body of flesh and blood, the sublime melody from his fingertips, to save this world of red dust? That in itself was the evidence of his immortality.
Something light and airy, snow-like, drifted from the sky onto his shoulders. A shocked gasp of recognition rose from the crowd. "Huh? That's not snow…"
In the most distant reaches of the East Sea, the Flame Emperor's sacred tree had recognized a kindred spiritual energy. The flowers of the ancient haitang tree from the dawn of the universe had a unique and exquisite fragrance. Its glistening petals floated across the mortal realm like flurries of snow from the edge of the world.
The haitang petals took to the air again. Those luxuriant, pale-pink petals sent the clouds scattering as they drifted toward the edges of the Space-Time Gate like a trail of meteors, helping stitch the rift back together.
Watching the dancing flowers, many of the cultivators suddenly remembered a legend: The last time the world nearly met its end, the god Shennong had planted the Flame Emperor's sacred tree and saved the ailing mortal realm. After millennia, Fuxi had left the earth, Nüwa had sunk into eternal repose, and the Flame Emperor was lost to the ages—but his sacred tree yet remained. It was an aged, imperfect fragment, but it still had the power to hold up the heavens over the world.
Taxian-jun cast a glance at the shrinking rift, then at the people behind him. "Go. Get out of here while the Space-Time Gate's still open."
To his shock, the crowd didn't stampede toward the gate. Some declared they could keep going; some shouted they wanted to fight till the end. After all, who didn't have a drop of hero's blood in their veins? Even if it had been drowned by time's passage and life's hardships, there might still come a day when it would strain to burst forth.
Taxian-jun barked an angry laugh. "Is it opposite day today? Are you trying to enrage this venerable one? Get the hell out!"
Only then did the stragglers begin to stream through the gate, one by one.
A quavering voice called out from the crowd. "Your Majesty… What about you?"
Taxian-jun blinked, slowly turning toward that familiar voice. A stooped old man gazed at him through the spray of water. "Liu-gong?"
Was he seeing things? There was a sorrow and compassion in the old man's eyes that Taxian-jun couldn't describe. Perhaps this was how a father would look at his son.
It was a preposterous idea. Never in a million years would the old servant dare to see the murderous Emperor Taxian-jun as a son. But at that moment, Taxian-jun remembered Old Liu had lost a son in the fighting just before he'd come into his employ. If his son hadn't died, he and Taxian-jun would probably be around the same age.
Taxian-jun closed his eyes. "My abilities are still needed here, so this venerable one will naturally be the last to leave. No need to worry."
"Your Majesty…"
"Go on." Taxian-jun looked away from the old man. "Go to the other world."
Old Liu was silent.
"Your son might still be alive there." Suddenly Taxian-jun flashed him a grin, all sharp canines and deep dimples. "Get your ass out of here, Old Liu. Find him and keep him company."
As the opening of the Space-Time Gate narrowed, the number of people supporting the Xuanwu barrier dwindled as well. With each cultivator that withdrew, Taxian-jun's contribution to the barrier increased correspondingly. As the next enormous wave began to gather on the horizon, less than a hundred people remained.
Taxian-jun narrowed his eyes. "Everyone, stop what you're doing and go through the Space-Time Gate," he ordered sharply.
By now, the rift in space-time was only as wide as an ordinary gate. Eyes on the oncoming wave, the remaining cultivators reluctantly stepped back. One by one, they slipped through the portal to another world, returning to the snowy slopes of Kunlun Mountain.
But this wave was faster than the ones before. Many cultivators were still attempting to cross as it slammed into the Xuanwu barrier. Taxian-jun was single-handedly supporting the spell—a monumental task, even for him. He groaned, his features contorting in pain.
The wave crashed over the barrier with the churning violence of a cyclone, as if mythical leviathans and dragons might come dancing through its spray. The earth and her mountains quaked with the impact.
"Mo-zongshi…" someone mumbled, looking back from the threshold of the Space-Time Gate.
Taxian-jun's temper flared. "Who the fuck is Mo-zongshi?!" he roared. "Are you done yet? Get the fuck out of here!"
The poor cultivator didn't know what he'd said to anger him. Meekly lowering his head, he stepped through the Space-Time Gate without another word. The rest of the group followed.
The rift was smaller now, only as big as a doorway. The Xuanwu barrier strained against the water's pressure, nearing its limits. Taxian-jun glanced behind him—a dozen or so cultivators still hadn't left. He cursed under his breath. His mangled hands never moved from the barrier's surface, veins bulging from their backs.
It was too much to bear. He might've been the strongest man in the mortal realm, but he was, in the end, only one man. How could he stand in the way of primordial chaos itself? Several sharp cracking noises cut through the air.
"The barrier's about to shatter!"
Taxian-jun stood before the colossal wall of water. Without turning, he roared, "I said get the fuck out of here!"
Black blood seeped from between his teeth. Lowering his inky lashes, he glanced down at his left foot. It was slowly disintegrating, crumbling to ash. He snorted. The sight didn't frighten him in the slightest. He was a revenant made by Shi Mei. Now that Shi Mei was dead, his body wouldn't last long; very soon, it would return to dust. If he could challenge fate one more time before it was all over, that would be enough. Except…
He looked over his shoulder. Chu Wanning's silhouette was a blur on the other side of the Space-Time Gate. The rift was still shrinking; the last handful of people were squeezing through. Beside Taxian-jun and Chu Wanning, only the past lifetime's Xue Meng and the Mei twins stood apart.
The members of Sisheng Peak started forward. "Young master!" they called out, distraught.
Xue Meng cleared his throat and pointed at the younger version of himself. "He's your young master—not me."
The younger Xue Meng stared at him, dumbstruck.
"There's no room for two tigers on one mountain. How could there be two Xue Mengs in a single universe? It would be a disaster." Xue Meng laughed, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I never belonged to your world; I'd just feel awkward if you made me stay. You gave me the chance to fight for both these worlds one last time—I couldn't wish for anything more. But I'm tired. I've been so tired for so long. It's time for me to rest."
He turned away from the crowd and walked back through the gate, toward the Xuanwu barrier, spiderwebbed with fractures from the waves. When he reached Taxian-jun's side, he considered him with a complicated expression. His mouth opened, but in the end, he couldn't get the words out.
"Young master!"
"Young Master Xue!"
The cultivators of Sisheng Peak cried out from the other side of the Space-Time Gate to no avail. Even in that other world, his father and mother were gone. Besides, he'd never belonged in that universe anyway. He wouldn't know where to go, or what to do, if he were made to live there.
Xue Meng sighed and raised a hand to rub at the back of his neck, where the veins pulsed and throbbed. Suddenly, he broke into a grin. It was inevitable, with age, that the world would sometimes spin before one's eyes, that one's mind would fog over with memory. But growing old had its perks too. When the world spun, it never went dark—often, he saw Xue Zhengyong's silhouette or Madam Wang's smile. Sometimes he even saw three gangly youngsters, flocking to a white-robed cultivator and calling Shizun, Shizun. These were all things that belonged to him alone; no one could take them away.
"Greeting old friends, half but ghosts…" Xue Meng raised his voice in song, casting the last of his cares to the wind.
Before anyone could react, he stepped through the barrier. As though throwing himself into the arms of those people he'd cherished for a lifetime, he dove into the white-capped sea.
He belonged to this world. No matter how hopeless and broken it was, he wanted to return to it. He felt hardly any pain. It was like falling into a drunken slumber.
I'd give what remains of my life to the God of Dreams, if only to call you back, cup after cup.
What a relief. He'd toiled and suffered for more than a dozen long years. Now he, Xue Ziming, was free at last.
For a moment, the crowd was silent. Sisheng Peak's disciples sank to their knees, overcome with sorrow. The group from Taxue Palace seemed to come to a realization. They turned, stricken, toward the Mei brothers.
"Da-shixiong! Come over here, please, don't stay on that side!"
"Come back with us. Both of you, please come back…"
"Aiyo, we won't be coming back." Mei Hanxue flashed a brilliant smile and waved at everyone on the other side of the Gate. "One Mei Hanxue is enough to bring half the cultivation realm's beauties to ruin. Two of me in the world would be nothing but trouble. Out of kindness to the ladies, I'll be taking my leave, my friends. Until our paths cross again."
Mei Hänxue stood beside his brother, gazing upon the nostalgic sight of Kunlun Mountain's white mantle of snow and the magnificent buildings of Taxue Palace through the rift. He bowed deeply to his sect leader, Ming Yuelou, who'd died years ago in his own timeline. "Today, the disciple Mei Hänxue bids his sect farewell."
The twins looked relaxed, but everyone could tell their minds were made up. Ming Yuelou closed her eyes, her sigh floating away on the breeze.
The twins leaned against the Xuanwu barrier, watching the very last defense cultivators squeeze through the crevice that was all that was left of the Space-Time Gate. The younger brother grinned; the elder nodded. They'd discharged all their responsibilities. Not once had they left the kindness and friendship of others unrepaid; not once had they let down their world. They faced the maelstrom with an overwhelming sense of peace.
Closing their eyes, they leapt into that vast ocean. A wave crashed over them, and they vanished like plum-blossom petals on the water.
Everyone had either passed through the Space-Time Gate or cast themselves into the frigid, boundless sea. The qin's melody abruptly came to a halt. Chu Wanning looked up as Jiuge disappeared in a flash of golden light.
He turned his back on the crowd, white robes rippling against the snow of Kunlun Mountain. Everyone watched him, unsure what he would do.
"This small rip is all that remains," said Chu Wanning. He tilted his face slightly, the wind billowing through his soft sleeves and the black hair framing his face. "After I go, please close it up to keep this world safe."
After a stunned silence, someone cried out from the crowd: "Zongshi!"
"Chu-zongshi!"
Xue Meng felt all the hair stand up on the back of his neck. Lurching forward, he rushed toward Chu Wanning. "Shizun! Shizun!"
But the snow was slippery; he stumbled and fell. A pair of glistening black eyes, like those of a tiny cub, gazed up at Chu Wanning in mounting horror. "Shizun…"
Chu Wanning looked over his shoulder at Xue Meng. His pitch-dark eyes were far away. "I'm sorry," he said at last.
Sorry for what? Xue Meng's pupils contracted to pinpricks. It felt like someone had drilled his head open and dumped ice into his skull. What was his shizun sorry for? For his relationship with Mo Ran? For keeping Xue Meng in the dark? Or was it because…
Xue Meng's throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. Was it because—
"No! Don't go!" Xue Meng fell apart, wailing as he knelt upon the pure-white snow. "Don't go! Why do you all do this… Why do all of you have to leave me behind… Why must I be the only one left?!"
Tears streamed down his begrimed, blood-spattered face, leaving pale streaks. Those piteous sobs were raw as though torn bloody from his throat, as though they rent his flesh, his heart, his lungs. "Don't abandon me… Come back! All of you, come back to me!"
He howled like a beast, slumped and prostrating in the snow, flurries drifting soundlessly around him. Those soft flakes seemed to crush him, as if he'd never stand again. "I'm begging… Please come back…"
Haven't I lost everything? My dad, my mom, my brother, my friend. Even Longcheng is shattered. So please come back. Don't take away the last thing I have. Shizun…please…
But he didn't know—he couldn't know—that Chu Wanning was already dead. In his life, his strength had led people to raise him up on a holy altar. The burdens he'd shouldered were so heavy they'd suffocated him beneath their weight. He'd watched his beloved close his eyes forever in his arms. He'd ripped his lover to pieces with his own hands. He'd been forced to draw his sword again and again against the man he'd loved and lost. Any one of these things was enough to hollow out his heart, yet he'd suffered them all. He couldn't turn back.
I've done everything so the rest of you can live. So now, could you please let me be selfish for once? Let me die with him.
Chu Wanning strode through the Space-Time Gate. His foot left snowy Kunlun on the cusp of dawn and stepped down into that broken, drowned world. Here, heaven and earth were devoid of color. What had once been ripples of mountains and rivers was a blank expanse of water. There was no sun or moon, no dusk or dawn. Only one person remained.
White robes trailing behind him, Chu Wanning walked over to Taxian-jun and embraced him from behind. He raised elegant fingers to cover the back of Taxian-jun's mutilated hand.
Taxian-jun whipped around in shock. "Why did you—?!"
Chu Wanning laughed, phoenix eyes soft beneath his lashes. "Don't you remember what I said?"
Silence.
"Hell is too cold. I'm coming to the grave with you."
A warm body embraced an ice-cold corpse. Taxian-jun was disintegrating; his left leg was almost completely gone. Expression terribly conflicted, he pressed his lips together and turned his face away. "You're so annoying. Who said this venerable one wanted you here?"
But his heart felt like it would explode, welling with warmth and tenderness. He was a corpse and nothing more, but he suddenly felt like he was burning up. A moment later, Taxian-jun jerked around. "Right. Actually, there's something this venerable one should tell you."
"What is it?"
Taxian-jun looked up. He took a weary breath, then asked, resolute, "Before this venerable one tells you, will you tell me the truth?" Chu Wanning watched him, waiting for him to continue. Taxian-jun blurted, "Do you really hate this version of me? Is it only Mo-zongshi, the one who died in your arms, who you can't bear to give up?"
The rims of his eyes had gone red with humiliation. If the world hadn't been ending, he'd never have asked such a mortifying question. Speaking the words out loud was so shameful his hands balled into fists—or tried to. He realized his left fingers were slowly starting to disintegrate as well.
A long moment passed in silence. Taxian-jun's blazing heart gradually cooled and crumbled, as if the throbbing organ in his chest had been pinched into dust. "Forget it," Taxian-jun said at last, turning away. "This venerable one already knows the answer. It's fine. At any rate, this venerable one also—"
A pair of warm hands cupped his cheeks. As Chu Wanning gazed at his destroyed features, at his face that was once handsome, now no longer, his eyes shone with more sincerity and passion than Taxian-jun had ever seen. "Are you stupid?"
Taxian-jun blinked.
"They're both you." Chu Wanning wrapped his arms around him.
The Xuanwu barrier flickered, then winked out. Darkness was all that was left in the world. A final wave rushed toward them, rearing triumphantly from the black waters. Its roar seemed to mock their human frailty—who were these mortals to think they could vie with fate?
"I told him the same thing," said Chu Wanning. He embraced his disappearing lover as the flood rushed toward them. On the edge of the apocalypse, his eyes were serene. "It doesn't matter if it's Mo-zongshi or Taxian-jun. You're both you."
Taxian-jun's arm had eroded completely now; his chest began to disintegrate. Black eyes met black eyes.
"I'll always belong to you," said Chu Wanning. "No regrets. Ever."
Taxian-jun stiffened. He squeezed his eyes shut, wetness gathering beneath his long lashes. At long last, he dropped his ice-cold mask, his features slowly relaxing. He wrapped his remaining arm around Chu Wanning, pressing his beloved to his chest. Leaning down, he kissed Chu Wanning's hair, then nuzzled his cheek against Chu Wanning's forehead. "You're right." Taxian-jun sighed. "I really am stupid. Wanning, I'm sorry," he muttered.
All those years of entangled love and hatred, those lifetimes of debts and grudges, fell away with a single sigh. Taxian-jun's voice was a murmur at his ear, mellow and slow and filled with a rare tranquility. "All right, there isn't much time left. I have to tell you a secret."
"What secret?"
Taxian-jun lowered his lashes. "It's about Mo-zongshi."
Chu Wanning's eyes flew wide.
"Actually, I could tell from the moment his heart fused with mine." Taxian-jun hesitated. "Mo-zongshi's souls are inside me."
Chu Wanning froze, then his head whipped up. He stared at Taxian-jun's smiling face in disbelief.
"His fragmented souls…have been in my body all along. But I was too stubborn—even if I'm just a corpse and a wisp of cognizance soul, I wanted to be in charge. I wasn't willing to let his souls merge with mine. But seeing as it's come to this, it would be unfair if I was the only one who got to tell you how I feel."
Chu Wanning looked at him in stunned silence.
"Wanning…" Taxian-jun closed his eyes. His faint smile subsided and turned solemn. "Don't be sad. He's been here all along."
Beneath Chu Wanning's astonished stare, Taxian-jun opened his eyes again. They were the exact same pair of eyes, yet somehow, they no longer seemed so dark they gleamed purple. Instead, they were clear and gentle.
"Mo Ran?!"
Another wave crashed down on the Xuanwu barrier, which finally splintered completely. In the rolling surf, Mo Ran didn't say a word. He gathered Chu Wanning tightly into his arms, plunging with him into the deluge.
As translucent bubbles shimmied up through the green sea, Mo Ran opened his eyes, filled with affection as deep as the fathomless waters. His lips opened and closed as he mouthed soundlessly to Chu Wanning: Shizun, don't worry. It's me. I've been with you all along. And I won't be leaving. So…go back, okay? Don't stay here. Trust me, I'll be fine. I'll do everything in my power to see you again, to be by your side.
I'll be waiting for you in another world.
At last, he mouthed the incantation to summon Jiangui. The vine wrapped around Chu Wanning, head to toe, and carried him toward the last tiny gap in the Space-Time Gate.
"Mo Ran… Mo Ran! What do you mean? You asshole! What do you mean?!"
Mo Ran bobbed in the water, smiling peacefully. Even his face had started to disintegrate along with his ruined body. Once, those features had been animated by madness and sweetness, sincerity and savagery alike. Now, his smile crumbled, vanishing bit by bit, leaving the world forever.
Go back, Wanning. You have to believe me. I'll be fine. I'll be by your side, always—until the end of time.