You Are Free Too

Xiaoyun comforted Tuoba Feng, continuing, "Xiaoyun is just so tired."

"Those black spots crawling on my body... it hurt so much."

"Xiaoyun didn't dare tell Daddy."

"If I told you, Daddy would be even sadder."

Tuoba Feng finally couldn't hold it back anymore.

He pulled his daughter into his arms, hugging her tightly.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

His voice was hoarse and broken.

"Daddy is useless..."

"Daddy couldn't save you..."

"Daddy..."

He couldn't go on.

He simply buried his face in his daughter's thin shoulder, weeping in collapse.

Xiaoyun leaned quietly in his arms.

She raised her hand, gently and rhythmically patting his back.

"Daddy, don't cry."

"Xiaoyun doesn't hurt anymore."

"It really doesn't hurt."

"Xiaoyun can't remember many things from when I was alive. Can Daddy slowly tell them to Xiaoyun?"

Tuoba Feng nodded through his tears.

Xiaoyun spoke again.

"Daddy, can Xiaoyun not leave?"

"Xiaoyun wants to be with Daddy."

"Just for a little longer."

"Xiaoyun won't cause trouble."

"Xiaoyun will be very good."

Her voice was so light and cautious, as if she were afraid of being rejected.

Tuoba Feng nodded vigorously.

"Okay."

"Don't leave."

"Daddy won't leave either."

"Daddy will stay with you."

Xiaoyun smiled again.

She leaned in her father's arms, as quiet as a weary fledgling.

...

Meanwhile, the mummified corpse knelt by the threshold of the god's tomb. As she watched Chen Zhou pardon the sinful souls one by one and saw Tuoba Feng and Xiaoyun embracing, tears of blood suddenly surged from her eyes.

"Exalted One..."

"Thank you..."

"Thank you..."

She didn't know what else to say.

She could only repeat those two words over and over.

Chen Zhou withdrew the divine technique, and the golden dragon faded into his body.

He crouched outside the threshold, meeting the eyes of the mummified corpse kneeling inside.

"No need for thanks."

"The Grave-keepers are free."

"You are free too."

The mummified corpse trembled all over.

Free?

Did she deserve such a thing?

She was a monster who had usurped the divine remains, the culprit who had brought a thousand years of calamity to the Western Region, and an evil spirit who had caused the deaths of countless members of the Grave-keeper clan.

Did she deserve to speak of freedom?

"Exalted One... I..."

The mummified corpse's voice grew even lower, faint as the hum of a mosquito.

"I don't deserve it..."

Chen Zhou looked at her.

"There is no deserve or not deserve. You only need to remember my words."

The mummified corpse was stunned.

Chen Zhou did not linger on the topic. He wasn't very good at comforting people, let alone a corpse.

So, changing the subject was the best choice.

"There are some things I need to ask you."

"Do you still have memories of what happened a thousand years ago?"

"Regarding the divine remains' life, how much do you know?"

The mummified corpse shook her head blankly.

"I don't know..."

"I don't know anything..."

She curled herself up even tighter. "I only gained consciousness a thousand years ago."

"At that time, my eyes had already been gouged out, and my mouth had been sewn shut. I lay in the coffin, unable to move or see."

"I could only listen."

"I listened to the Grave-keepers talk, listened to their sacrifices, and listened to them die."

"I don't know who this body was in life, what she did, or why she was suppressed here."

"But I feel that she must have been a magnificent deity in life, with countless believers who admired her, so much so that even after death, an entire clan guarded her tomb."

Her voice grew lower and lower.

"She must have been very powerful, just like the Exalted One."

"But I can't help with anything..."

"I'm too useless..."

She began to kowtow again.

Her forehead struck the stone tiles with a thumping sound.

Chen Zhou reached out his hand and gave a slight lift.

A gentle force supported her forehead, preventing her from kowtowing further.

"Stop kowtowing."

Chen Zhou said.

"I am not asking these things to blame you."

The mummified corpse froze there, not daring to move.

Chen Zhou looked at her, thought for a moment, and slowly spoke.

"The imperial family of the provincial capital once recorded an event."

"Tens of thousands of years ago, Gloomlight Province was favored by a goddess."

The mummified corpse's hollow eye sockets faced him, listening intently.

"She could bring sweet rain and fertile soil, creating oases in parched, dead lands."

"There are even legends mentioning that she held a handful of living soil that never dried out. Wherever she went, life would take root and sprout."

As Chen Zhou spoke, he observed the mummified corpse's reaction.

She was listening with rapt attention.

She even leaned forward slightly, as if afraid to miss a single word.

"That goddess... was so amazing..."

She murmured.

"To turn a desert into an oasis... what kind of ability must that be?"

"If the Western Region had such a goddess... that would be wonderful..."

Her tone was filled with envy.

Chen Zhou looked at her.

"I have discovered something."

The mummified corpse was taken aback.

"That isn't just a legend."

Chen Zhou said.

"The Oasis Goddess recorded by the imperial family of the provincial capital is very likely you."

The mummified corpse was completely stunned.

Her mouth hung open, her sewn lips tearing, but she couldn't make a sound.

It took a long time before she found her voice.

"Me...?"

"Exalted One, you must be joking."

"I am just a corpse, a monster, the source of the black spots and disasters..."

"How could I... how could I be a goddess?"

Her voice became increasingly hurried and panicked.

"It's impossible, impossible, impossible..."

She shook her head desperately, her withered hair falling loose to cover her terrifying face.

"Exalted One, you must have made a mistake..."

"How could I be that kind of... that kind of noble existence..."

Chen Zhou didn't speak; he just watched her quietly.

As the mummified corpse shook her head, her movements gradually slowed down.

She felt that gaze.

Calm and certain, without any other emotions mixed in.

Her voice caught in her throat, unable to utter a single word.

Then, she lowered her head.

She curled herself up even smaller.

"But..."

"But I can't do anything..."

"I only bring black spots and disasters..."

"Even if it really is... that goddess..."

"I am not worthy of her body..."

Chen Zhou stood up and glanced back.

"Su Xue."

Su Xue was busy over by the flowerbeds. Hearing the summons, she quickly put down the flower hoe in her hand and walked over briskly.

"Exalted One?"

Chen Zhou pointed at the mummified corpse.

"Give her a seed."

Su Xue was stunned for a moment, then took a small cloth bag from her sleeve. She opened it and pinched out a tiny seed the size of a grain of rice.

It was brown, shriveled, and unremarkable, just like the mummified corpse.

She crouched down and held the seed out to the mummified corpse.

"Here."

The mummified corpse took it blankly.

The seed lay in her palm, tiny and light.

"This is..."

"An ordinary grass seed." Su Xue explained gently. "The kind that is everywhere in the Southern Region."

The mummified corpse held the seed, at a loss.