Chapter 35: A Night of Radiant Snow

Midnight. Hanzhou.

The goose-feather snowflakes fell thicker and faster. Everything was cloaked in a vast, silvery expanse.

In this deep, pristine snow, the ground had been completely erased. Even the familiar, winding paths that once existed were now impossible to discern. This whiteness emanated a sense of suffocating stillness, leaving one unsure of where to turn.

Is life not much the same?

It does not require the heavens to crumble or the earth to split. All it takes is one blizzard to leave even the most confident, purpose-driven soul suddenly bewildered, losing all sense of direction—and perhaps, losing oneself entirely.

The impermanence of the world makes it impossible to foresee when such a storm might arrive. It never allows you to be truly prepared. The only thing you can do is arm yourself with one thing to face it.

That thing is called courage.

Ten miles outside Panxian Cave.

There were no paths, no lights, no direction.

A beautiful young woman in iridescent robes was running desperately across snow that reached above her knees. She gasped for breath, the mist from her lips instantly dissipated by the mountain wind. Her right hand pressed firmly against a piercing wound on her shoulder. The intensity of the pain beaded her forehead with sweat, the droplets sliding past her temples and down to the snow, where they instantly froze.

Exhausted to the point of collapse, she nevertheless pressed on. In her left arm, she cradled a red oil-paper umbrella. She ran as if fleeing from something unspeakably terrifying, or perhaps as if protecting something precious. She herself did not know where she was headed.

Suddenly, she stumbled and fell into the snow. The oil-paper umbrella flew from her arms, rolling into the snowdrift ahead and becoming half-buried.

"I..."

The girl wiped the tears from her face with her right hand, the blood from her wound smearing the faint rouge on her cheeks. She remained sitting in the snow, not rising, and muttered dejectedly:

"I fell."

It was as if she had a heart full of grievances she needed to pour out to someone. But the empty woods were blanketed in snow, with not a soul in sight. She was speaking only to herself.

Then, a strange sight unfolded: the oil-paper umbrella before her suddenly stood up as if possessed of a soul. The umbrella transformed into a youth, who quickly flipped himself up from the snow and hurried to help the girl.

"Mieying, Mieying, are you alright?" the youth asked anxiously.

The girl, called Mieying, shook off the youth’s helpful hand and sat in the snow, sobbing.

"Hua Sheng, you blockhead! You idiot! You fool! I trusted you so much—don't you dare be a demon! And don't you dare be a villain!"

Seeing this, Hua Sheng felt a sharp pain in his heart. He had never seen the proud and stubborn Mieying so aggrieved. He could only whisper, "Perhaps the memory shown by Panxian Cave was wrong. It might have been distorted."

"Yes!" Mieying said immediately. "It must be wrong! If I say it's wrong, then it’s wrong!"

Watching her, Hua Sheng did not know how to console her. He, too, was filled with astonishment at what he had just seen. The wound she had sustained shielding him from a sword was still bleeding, and their situation was...

Hua Sheng wanted to say something, but the words would not come.

Mieying looked up at his face and slowly reached out to take his hand. Hua Sheng’s hand was ice-cold, just like her own, yet when their hands clasped together, they felt a sliver of warmth. They sat there in the snow, hand in hand, saying nothing.

"Mieying, look at what we've faced today," Hua Sheng said, breaking the silence. "Leizhenzi, Erlang Shen, the Howling Celestial Dog, Tianjizi, Lu Dongbin—which of them is a pushover?"

He forced a smile. "Yet we are still here. It means that as long as I am with you, I need not fear fighting any god."

Mieying pulled her hand from his, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and checked her tears. "The way you talk makes me sound like a man-eating ogress or a female demon."

Hua Sheng took a deep breath. "It is fortunate that Taishang Xiaojun foresaw this and insisted on turning into an umbrella to follow us. If not for his foresight, I surely would not have escaped Lu Dongbin’s grasp."

"That is why I told you from the start to remember the pattern on this umbrella, so you could transform accurately without being exposed."

"Yes, yes! It is all thanks to you, my lady."

Thinking of the incident, Mieying said, "Just now, Lu Dongbin said you were a Phoenix Demon. There must be a reason for that."

At this, Hua Sheng’s mood darkened. "I don't even know what a Phoenix Demon is. Lan Caihe also called me a demon. When I first came to Shengpingning, I heard that demons had long since vanished from this world."

"Indeed, they should not exist. The world today is different from ancient times; all demons were wiped out by the Immortal Realm long ago. And I have never heard of a 'Phoenix Demon,' though I once heard of a race called the Phoenix Spirits from long ago. I wonder if there is a connection."

Hua Sheng pondered, "I've heard legends of humans or spirits turning into demons. Could the Phoenix race have been spirits who later harbored evil thoughts and transformed?"

Mieying shook her head. "If we are talking about ancient stories of turning into demons, a single individual might, but I have never heard of an entire race becoming demons at once!"

"Then why?"

"I don't know. But Lu Dongbin must have seen you subconsciously perform that technique that absorbs Lingxiao-level spells—that 'Spirit Essence Absorption' method. I suspect that is a unique ability of the Phoenix Demons. That is why he drew that conclusion."

"It feels as though spirits and demons are becoming more indistinguishable the more we talk about them."

"Spirits and demons may have similarities, but a spirit is definitely not a demon. I am a spirit. If you are a demon, then I am one too!" Mieying laughed suddenly. "That would actually be quite a fitting match."

Her laughter triggered the pain in her shoulder, and she groaned. Pressing her hand to the wound, she added, "If that is the case, it at least proves you are no mere mortal. I wonder who your parents truly are."

Hua Sheng nodded repeatedly. But then he thought: never mind his origins—Lu Dongbin and Tianjizi were surely hunting him now. If they were caught, given the look in Tianjizi's eyes, he might truly be run through with a sword. Though there was reason for it, Hua Sheng could not simply let his life be taken. He wasn't even sure if he could survive this calamity; what leisure did he have to think about his heritage?

"By the way, that purple-gold thread..." Mieying suddenly remembered.

Reminded of this, Hua Sheng felt a headache coming on. One wave after another. He had hoped to clear his name regarding the theft of the Star Thread by finding Lan Caihe, but who would have thought it would only make things look worse, leading to this dead end?

Hua Sheng felt a pang of bitterness. "The matter of the purple-gold thread is even more hopeless now. I don't know what to do. Lu Dongbin is one of the Seven Sages of the Realm; with his power, I fear I will no longer be able to stay in Shengpingning."

He looked at the snow covering him and sighed. "Now, it is truly misfortune piled upon misfortune."

Mieying seemed to regain some spirit, comforting him, "What is there to fear? In my eyes, all of this is just an auspicious sign of a bountiful year!"

Hua Sheng laughed, too, and used his sleeve to wipe the remaining tear tracks from her cheeks. "You are truly optimistic. Now even I am starting to feel it."

"You have such a good heart. Believe in yourself—you are certainly no demon! I forbid you from being discouraged. Listen to me! Be positive!" Mieying seized the opportunity to grab his Daoist robe and blow her nose.

"Thank you for the snot. With this blessing, I shall surely be impervious to blades and fire."

Both of them laughed, as if the cold snow had retreated, and they were stepping into the sunlight of early spring.

"What do we do now?" Hua Sheng asked. "Should we hide far away?"

"The five provinces of Shengpingning are one, and I fear we cannot stay in this immortal realm anymore."

"You mean go to the mortal world?"

"I will go with you," Mieying replied. "We'll lay low for a while, and we will find a solution."

"That works," Hua Sheng said. "I have friends in the mortal world. Finding a place to hide for a while shouldn't be difficult."

"Don't forget, you met Lan Caihe in the mortal world. Occasionally, immortals roam the mortal realm, disguised as ordinary people. We might still be caught."

"Then where should we go?"

Mieying pondered. "We might as well go to the Klin Magic School. Since the purple-gold thread appeared there, it is necessary to go to the site. We are bound to find clues to prove your innocence."

Hua Sheng asked in surprise, "You mean go to France? Paris?"

"Have you been there before?"

Hua Sheng shook his head. "You are right. It is indeed necessary to go to the magic school, but the problem is we must leave Shengpingning first. To leave, we have to pass through the Hunyuan Path. That place will surely be guarded by immortals; we may not be able to pass through smoothly."

Mieying lowered her head in thought. "I have a 'brother' I am close with who knows the Hunyuan Path very well. If I beg him, he will certainly help us!"

"A brother? Is he also of the Mieying family?"

Mieying shook her head. "No. We spirits have different levels of kinship. Beasts keep company with beasts because they are similar, and we bird-spirits have better relationships with other winged spirits."

"Where does he live? Shengpingning is so vast. If we don't use immortal arts and just walk, it's impossible. But if we use immortal arts, we might be tracked."

Mieying waved her hand. "He lives in Hanzhou. It shouldn't be too far from here; I think we can walk there in an hour or two."

"Then shall we go now?"

But Mieying suddenly looked helpless. "It's snowing so heavily, and the scenery looks the same everywhere. I can't tell the direction. If we walk blindly, it's easy to get lost. Taishang Xiaojun’s transformation into you can only deceive them for so long; they may have already seen through it. They must be searching for us everywhere right now."

Hua Sheng suddenly slapped his thigh and pointed to a nearby hill. "I have it! When I first returned to Shengpingning, I stayed at the Dachan Temple, which is very close to Panxian Cave. I know the abbot. We can go ask him where your brother lives and have him show us the way!"

Mieying nodded repeatedly.

"Good! Let us set off at once!"