Ze Tian Ji

Edited by: Michyrr

Madam Mu was quiet for a very long time, not answering the White Emperor’s questions.

She did not know how to answer.

No matter how harsh and derisive the White Emperor’s words were, no matter how much they displeased her, upon careful thought, she truly found it impossible to respond to them.

This fact made her recall all the many facts from the last few years.

Suddenly, she felt like these last few years and all these matters were somewhat absurd.

The distant figure of a lonely sail on the Western Sea... How could she bear to turn and look at her mother country?

But starting from many years ago, she had grown used to thinking about problems in this way, doing things in this way.

It truly had been many years.

She sighed. "You’ve probably been holding these words for many years."

The White Emperor thought this over, then answered, "It’s fine, because you weren’t so obvious before, and our daughter was only ten-some years old."

"So that’s how it was."

A hint of loneliness appeared in Madam Mu’s eyes.

There were still many things that had been left unsaid, and though there was still time to say them, there was not much meaning in it.

Home was where the heart found peace, so why had her heart never been able to find peace? Why had she not left just now but instead waited to have this conversation with the White Emperor?

Countless clouds rushed toward that blue gown in the sky.

In a very short time, they formed an extremely thick sea of clouds in which white waves were born and died.

It was like all the clouds in the world had gathered over White Emperor City.

’All’ truly did mean ’all’.

There were the cold clouds that had hung over the snowcapped peaks of the Starfall Mountains, and there were rain clouds from the Western Sea.

There was also the fog that lingered by the streams, and the icy wisps over the snowy plains. Even clouds from the distant Cloud Grave in the east began to drift toward her.

The sea of clouds grew thicker and thicker, wider and wider, eventually engulfing a part of the sky a hundred-some li in radius.

The clouds had originally been white, but as they increased in number, light could no longer penetrate them. They became gray, then black.

Looking up from the ground, the sea of clouds in the sky became a sea of ink.

The sun was obscured by the clouds, causing the world below to get dimmer and dimmer, until finally, it became impossible to see anything clearly.

The dark night had come early.

Frightened shouts rose from all over White Emperor City.

The demi-human populace either fled in all directions or stood dazed on the streets, staring at the inky sea of clouds.

Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong glanced at each other and then up to the sky.

Tang Thirty-Six looked up to the sky.

Xiaode, the Shi clan leader, and the other great demi-humans all looked up to the sky.

Had this battle between Saints begun?

In the fractured street, Shang Xingzhou also looked up at the sky, an indifferent expression on his face, his thoughts inscrutable.

Crack!

A massive bolt of lightning, as thick as a Celestial Tree, tore open the sea of clouds, illuminating the entire world before vanishing in midair.

In that instant, a several-li radius of clouds in that inky sea was painted white.

Many more bolts of lightning followed. The majority were extinguished before breaking through the clouds, and the occasional ones that could were unable to reach the ground.

This lightning came from above. One could imagine how mighty they were from how they were able to tear through the layer of clouds, which was several dozen li thick.

Massive booms of thunder reached the ground, bringing with them fierce gales that began to devastate the city.

The seal of the Red River sensed this and activated on its own, forming a massive dome of blue light that covered the Imperial City, Heavensguard Pavilion, and all of the upper city within it. However, it could not stop those gales from toppling the crude residences of the lower city, leading to injuries among many of its denizens.

Massive waves emerged from the sea of clouds as the lightning tore away at it. Occasionally, in a spectacular sight, a wisp of cloud like a tongue of flame would spit down.

Those lightning bolts would occasionally illuminate the world below the clouds, but they could not bring any real warmth.

The sun, shut out by the thick layer of clouds, could not spread its warmth to the earth, and so White Emperor City’s temperature rapidly dropped.

The moisture in the clouds had no time to condense into water drops. It turned straight into snowflakes that dropped down from the sky.

Those wisps torn out of the sea by the lightning bolts were like scattered dandelions, shedding unimaginable amounts of snow.

This was an extremely rare blizzard.

Those people who had fled in fear or had homes to hide in had already left.

Those who remained on the streets naturally would not leave now.

They stood in the blizzard, gazing up at the sky.

Unfortunately, though their gazes could see through the snow, they could not see through the thick clouds to find out what was going on.

There was a fwoosh as Chen Changsheng opened the Yellow Paper Umbrella.

Tang Thirty-Six was prepared to walk under it, but then he realized that Chen Changsheng had walked to Xu Yourong’s side.

The cosmetic-buying young girl called out to her young master and raised an umbrella over his head.

An Lin was in the process of treating the wounds of Linghai Zhiwang and the others. She would occasionally raise her head to glance at the sky.

All was quiet around the courtyard.

White Emperor City was also very quiet.

The only sound was the turmoil in the sea of clouds, the tearing that spilled snow over the earth.

The entire world shifted between black and white, but not once did it turn gray.

The heavens and earth seemed to have become one.

An extremely thick lightning bolt descended far in the west.

The peak of some obscure mountain had been leveled.

The stream outside the courtyard was frozen and ceased to gurgle.

The thunder did not stop, the snow did not cease.

......

......

After some time, a fracture finally appeared in the middle of the sea of clouds, and the clouds began to scatter.

Sunlight peeked in through that crack, which grew wider and wider, eventually enveloping all of White Emperor City.

The sea of clouds began to disperse, shedding countless wispy snow-carrying clouds.

Those cold clouds descended on the Imperial City, on Heavensguard Pavilion. They flowed down the Stairway to Heaven like a waterfall.

The cloudfall reached the lower city, then exited the city gate, ultimately entering the Red River and leaving nothing behind.

Not a single trace, not in the blue sky above or in White Emperor City below.

Not a single wisp of a cloud was left.

In the stone hall at the highest part of the Imperial City...

Luoluo stood by the window, tears rolling down her face as she gazed at the snow.

The White Emperor returned to that street.

He gazed up at the sky.

There were no more clouds.

But snow was still coming down.

This snow seemed to come from the void.

It had all been so empty.

Shang Xingzhou walked to his side and asked, "How many years have we been friends?"

The White Emperor answered, "Several hundred years."

Shang Xingzhou said, "Back when you chose her, your father objected, I objected, and all the ministers objected."

The White Emperor jeered at himself, "Jin Yulu said the same thing today."

Shang Xingzhou looked at him and asked, "So then what do you think now?"

"Are you asking if I regret it?"

The White Emperor said nothing for a very long time. Finally, he said, "Only you humans and the demons will have such a boring way of thinking."

If it really was such a boring way of thinking, why had he said nothing for so long? Why had he needed to think for so long?

’Only if the mountain is without its peak, and the rivers come to a stop.

’Only if the winter thunders and snow falls like rain.

’Only if the heavens and earth become one.

’Only then would I dare to break with my lord1.’

This was the final parting.

Only parting can bring one overwhelming grief2.

And this was the final parting.

But had everything truly come to an end here?

Those dispersing clouds, this still-falling snow, was all her: cold, wet, and soft, making one feel a little angry.

The White Emperor abruptly lowered his head and began to cough.

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1. The above four lines are from a folk song from the Han Dynasty called 上邪. The singer of the song is a woman who is swearing an oath to the heavens that her love to her husband will remain true. Not unless the seemingly impossible events mentioned above happen will she dare to be parted from her husband.↩

2. This is the first line in the ’Fu on Parting’, the Fu being a type of poetic prose, by Jiang Yan, a poet who lived in the Southern Dynasty. As can be expected from the title of the Fu, it describes the various sorrowful circumstances of parting.