Chapter 17 Reincarnation
The moment the Wangchuan waters completely engulfed A Meng, the world was left with nothing but boundless cold and stickiness.
She felt her body slowly being torn apart and dissolved, like a piece of rotten flesh soaked for years, finally melting completely in the black water, turning into countless blood-tinged fine particles drifting with the current.
Pain.
It was not the tearing of skin, but the torment of her soul being unraveled thread by thread.
She saw all the erased pains of her life, like countless barbed knives stabbing into every inch of her divine soul at once.
The hollow gaze of the Song dynasty mother as she boiled her child into soup, the surging bloodlust in Qi Qiao’s eyes, Su Wanning’s twelve years of youth spent in vain, and a thousand years ago, herself still called A Shu, kneeling by the dark river, madly searching for her family……
The clearest image was of Yanluo.
No, it was Xuanming.
When he first appeared before her, those cold eyes softened slightly under the moonlight. He reached out to wipe the tears from her face, his voice low and hoarse: “Don’t be afraid, I’ll help you find them.”
At that moment, she knew she could no longer escape.
She had thought herself a victim deceived and imprisoned.
But as her body gradually became part of the Wangchuan, she finally understood……
She had been willing.
She loved him so much that she was willing to take everyone’s pain into her empty belly, so much that she would rather vanish into ashes than let him lose his divine soul for her again.
“Xuanming……”
She whispered softly in the depths of the Wangchuan,
“I have never resented you.”
By the Wangchuan shore, Yanluo knelt on the ground like a statue drained of its soul.
His hand still held the final posture of grasping her, fingertips cold and stiff, yet his palm seemed to retain her last warmth.
“A Shu……”
He called her true name again and again, his voice so hoarse it was almost inaudible, tears mixed with blood streaking down his cheeks.
Tiansi stood behind him, voice as cold as the deepest water of the Wangchuan: “Yanluo, you have violated the heavenly laws too many times.”
Judge Cui also appeared, looking at Yanluo with an expression of near pain for the first time: “Your Highness…… enough.”
Black and White Impermanence stood in the distance, silent.
Yanluo did not turn back, only smiled faintly.
That smile carried endless desolation and resolve.
“I know.”
He said, “From the moment I left her by the Styx, I knew.”
He slowly stood up and turned to face Tiansi.
“I am willing to sacrifice my final divine soul.”
His voice was terrifyingly calm,
“As long as it lets her…… reincarnate, forget everything, and live a life truly her own.”
Tiansi frowned: “Do you know what this means? After the sacrifice, you will never be reborn, forever guarding the Wangchuan shore, becoming part of the Wangchuan itself.”
Yanluo smiled, yet tears kept falling.
“What of it?” he whispered, “She once willingly stayed for me, now…… I only want her to be free.”
Tiansi was silent for a long time, then finally nodded slowly.
“Very well.”
At that moment, Yanluo felt his divine soul slowly being drawn away, like a thread of fate being torn apart alive.
Pain.
Agonizing, bone-deep pain.
He collapsed to his knees, body trembling violently, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, yet he kept looking toward the Wangchuan.
“A Shu……”
He shouted with his last strength,
“I’m sorry…… and thank you.”
His figure began to turn transparent, like a wisp of smoke about to dissipate.
And on the surface of the Wangchuan, a faint golden ripple finally appeared.
At the end of the Wangchuan lay an extremely soft yet dazzling light.
A Meng floated there, like a soul about to fade.
She saw a small, warm entrance ahead—the Gate of Reincarnation.
Once she stepped through, she would forget everything: forget the love imprisoned for a thousand years, forget the pains she had erased, and forget her own willing choice to stay for him.
She raised her hand and gently touched the light.
At that moment, an extremely faint blood-tinged golden light emerged from her chest.
It was the final divine soul Xuanming had sacrificed.
It turned into an extremely light voice, echoing in her ears:
“A Shu…… I’m sorry.”
“This time, you must live well.”
A Meng’s tears finally fell.
She whispered: “Xuanming…… I love you.”
Then, without the slightest hesitation, she stepped into the Gate of Reincarnation.
The light instantly engulfed her.
-----------------
Many years later, in the mortal world.
A quiet little Chinese medicine shop.
A twenty-five or twenty-six-year-old girl stood behind the counter, wearing a simple blue qipao, her hair casually pinned up with a hairpin. She was lowering her head to prepare medicine for a customer, her movements gentle, a soft smile on her lips.
Her name was A Shu.
She did not remember she had once been Granny Meng, nor that she had loved a man named Xuanming.
She only knew that she was happy now.
Every day she prepared medicine for people, chatted, and watched the sunset.
Occasionally, on lonely nights, she would suddenly feel a sharp pain in her chest, as if something had once taken deep root there, only to quietly leave.
She would gently press her chest, then smile and shake her head.
“Probably an old ailment.”
And in the depths of the underworld, where sunlight never reached.
A man with no divine soul left knelt forever by the Wangchuan.
He gazed at the dark water, a faint, almost satisfied smile on his lips.
“A Shu……”
“This time, you must be happy.”
The Wangchuan waters flowed quietly.
As if no one had ever come, nor ever left.
Only the wind gently blew across the red spider lilies, carrying away the last unspoken trace of love.
(The End)
#NovelCreation#OriginalNovel#Romance
Afterword:
I feel like I should have written more, but my mind went blank,
Seems like three stories in a row all related to hellish souls.
I probably don’t have much interest in mortal life, hahahaha
Alright, next time I’ll write a mortal love story, but only when I think of one.