Half an hour had passed since Qingnu asked that question.
The palace was deathly quiet.
Between Hongluan and Qingnu, only the crackling of the fire broke the silence, keeping the atmosphere from becoming utterly void of sound. Yet, this oppressive tension made Sun Huowang and Jingang afraid to move. They stood stiffly in the corner, trying their best to shrink their presence.
Help!
Why did Chunyu Tiying have to go down the mountain at a time like this!
"Aren't you going to explain things to me?"
Finally, it was Qingnu who broke the silence. She reached out with a stick to poke the fire, watching sparks drift upward and reflect in her reddening face.
Fires were not usually lit inside the palace, but since the snake girl enjoyed roasting herself by the flames, it had become a habit.
Now, however, the warmth of the fire only made Hongluan feel cold. She huddled into herself.
"I am the Qingniao..."
Hongluan replied.
Qingnu nodded slightly. "I know. But... I never told you about the gods and buddhas. I never spoke to you of sutras or Zhang Daoling, yet you knew all about them!"
She looked at Hongluan, a cold glint flashing in her brownish-green slit pupils. She asked, "Hongluan, who told you to wait for me on the Kunlun Mountains?"
Hongluan opened her mouth but did not answer.
Qingnu continued, "Back then, when I asked you, you said you didn't know. But... you clearly know so much."
"Tell me. What exactly do you know, and what have you been hiding from me?"
As she spoke, Qingnu raised her hand. Wind and snow gathered in her palm, and flakes began to fall at a steady rhythm. "Silence counts as time, Hongluan."
Watching the snowflakes fall, Hongluan took a deep breath.
"Fine! I was following the orders of the Queen Mother of the West to wait for you on the Kunlun Mountains!"
"But do not misunderstand. I am not anyone's dharmakaya. That day truly was the day of my birth."
These few sentences caused a complicated mix of emotions to stir in Qingnu's eyes.
After a long while, she nodded softly.
"Fine... and what else?"
Qingnu looked at Hongluan and asked, "Besides this, is there anything else you are hiding from me?"
Hongluan's lips parted before she finally nodded. "Yes..."
Qingnu's hand trembled. Hongluan continued, "The Queen Mother's mission for me was to watch over you and ensure you gathered enough providence to become a dragon of providence. But your old method of only taking heart-blood would never have succeeded. So—"
At this point, Hongluan took a sharp breath and said, "I had the King of Qin build a temple for you."
As soon as Hongluan said this, the snow in Qingnu's hand vanished.
Her pupils constricted as she stared at Hongluan.
"You were the one who schemed against me?"
Hearing the shift in her tone, Hongluan hurriedly said, "I didn't know Qin's fate would become tied to yours because of it! It must have been those people from the Yin Yang School working behind the scenes!"
"Silly snake... you have to believe me! I—"
"What else? Tell me everything! Tell me everything else!"
Qingnu refused to listen to her explanations and shouted in a low, angry voice.
Hongluan froze, her spirits sinking. She continued, "And... at the end of the Qin dynasty, I was the one who stopped Fusu from changing the laws. I ensured the Han court—no, the Qin court—continued to conscript labor from all under heaven."
"So that's why you disappeared for months."
Qingnu murmured to herself.
She had thought Hongluan was away to complete her transformation, but it turned out she was busy doing that.
"Haha..."
Qingnu began to laugh. She stood up, walked to the palace gates, and looked at the sunset on the horizon.
The sky was covered in fiery clouds, and her slit pupils reflected the orange-red sun, but her expression was one of indescribable sorrow.
"Tell me everything you know. Everything about me!"
Hongluan stood up and followed her, stopping behind her back. After a long hesitation, she said, "You are the dragon seed selected over many years by Huangdi. You are the dragon of providence that the gods and buddhas have all been waiting for. One could say this entire great world was prepared for you."
"So even my transmigration to this ancient world—so similar yet so different from the one in my memories—was also part of the plan?"
Qingnu sneered as she asked the question.
Even Huangdi was just another one of the many masters behind the curtain?
Hongluan remained silent, offering no answer.
"Twenty years as a human, two thousand years as a snake. I can barely remember my earliest memories anymore."
"But I remember the days I spent drifting aimlessly in the Wei River. I remember Huangdi fishing me out. I remember waking up in human form within the Youxiong tribe."
"I can accept that the heavens follow a path and that everything has its destiny, but I cannot accept that even my very existence was part of someone's plan!"
By the end, Qingnu's tone had become intense.
She turned around to face Hongluan, her black hair swaying though there was no wind, her slit pupils overflowing with emotion.
Qingnu spoke slowly, "Do you know how happy I was when I woke up from hibernation and saw you waiting for me? In two thousand years, that was the first time anyone had ever waited for me to wake up!"
Hongluan was about to speak, but Qingnu let out a self-mocking laugh. "In the end, it was just my own wishful thinking. No wonder you call me a stupid snake. To you, I must truly be a stupid snake who couldn't even see through such a shallow play, right?"
"That's not it..."
Just as Hongluan started to protest, Qingnu interrupted, "Then what is it?"
Hearing this interrogation, Hongluan opened her mouth but found no words. she didn't know how to explain.
Qingnu continued her questioning, "Hongluan, am I just a toy for the gods and buddhas? A long worm they keep for their amusement? A distraction to pass their leisure time?"
"No, you are the dragon of providence that the gods and buddhas all anticipate!"
Hongluan shook her head frantically.
Qingnu roared, "Has anyone ever asked the snake's opinion? By what right do you high and mighty gods and buddhas get to decide everything, while I am forced to follow the path you've written? Even if I stray just a little, I am punished by heaven!"
"But heaven has been lenient enough with you!"
Hongluan argued.
However, the moment she spoke those words, the dim yellow sun suddenly dropped below the horizon.
In the fading light, Qingnu stood with her back to the world, staring at Hongluan through the shadows. The light in her eyes had dimmed.
"...So?"
Qingnu let out a cold laugh. "Should I be grateful?"
"I... I didn't mean it like that."
Hongluan grew flustered, but Qingnu no longer wanted to talk. She raised a hand to silence her.
"Jingang, you smelly monkey!"
Qingnu called out, and the two in the corner rushed over.
The two stood obediently before her. Qingnu said, "I am going out for a while. I don't know when I will be back. When Tiying returns, listen to her."
Sun Huowang wanted to say something, but Jingang pressed his hand down on the monkey's head. "My lady, please come back early."
"Mm. Take care of yourselves."
Qingnu nodded slightly. She took the bamboo hat from the jiao-snake pearl and put it on, then turned to walk out.
Hongluan took a few steps forward. "Where are you going?"
Qingnu's footsteps paused. Wind and snow began to swirl, and in the moment the flakes fell, her figure vanished from the Jade Emperor Peak.
Regardless of everything else, Qingnu had been worshipped as the Jade Maiden of the Azure Heavens by the people of Guanzhong for over three hundred years. If she did not want Hongluan to find her, even as the Qingniao, Hongluan could not track her.
Across the vast world, the threads of fate were chaotic and disordered.
More than ten days later, when Chunyu Tiying returned, she found Hongluan bedridden, looking dejected and drained of spirit. Sun Huowang and Jingang were both pacing with anxiety.
"What happened... I was only gone for a few days. Why does Sister Hongluan look so haggard?"
Hearing her question, Sun Huowang and Jingang pulled her into a corner and told her everything that had happened.
Chunyu Tiying was stunned by the story.
She almost cried out in shock but, worried about upsetting Hongluan further, she lowered her voice. "You two aren't lying to me, are you?"
"How would we dare!"
The two had helpless expressions.
Chunyu Tiying fell silent. She had stayed with Qingnu and Hongluan longer than the wolf and the monkey, yet she had never seen them have such a fierce argument. Hongluan had even become this gaunt!
After sending the two off to their chores, Chunyu Tiying pushed open the door to Hongluan's room.
She looked at Hongluan, who lay silently on the bed, and whispered, "Sister Hongluan, I have a question."
"Do you blame me too?"
Seeing her enter, Hongluan asked with downcast eyes.
Chunyu Tiying shook her head. She set down her medicine box, took out some calming incense and lit it, then gently massaged Hongluan's arm. "I don't know much about the matters of gods and buddhas. But I know that Sister Hongluan is not a bad person. I can see how well you treat my lady."
"But I lied to her after all..."
Hongluan sighed.
Chunyu Tiying comforted her, "Even sages make mistakes. Can't you just make amends?"
Hongluan pursed her lips, saying nothing more.
It took many days of gentle persuasion, but Chunyu Tiying finally managed to lift Hongluan's spirits. However, facing the days without knowing when Qingnu would return, Hongluan remained lost.
Seeing this, Chunyu Tiying said helplessly, "Why just wait here? Why not go out and look for her!"
"My lady is extraordinary; there's bound to be news of her somewhere!"
When Chunyu Tiying said this, Hongluan finally took a deep breath and nodded heavily. "You're right!"
...
In the late Han dynasty, the world was shifting unpredictably.
The Disasters of Partisan Prohibitions poisoned the land. The emperor sold offices and titles, leaving the people in misery.
As years passed, the number of suffering refugees grew immeasurable.
The imperial officials were more terrifying than bandits, and the people gradually sought survival in the ephemeral gods and buddhas, using faith as their spiritual support.
And among the thirteen provinces of the world, the one developing most rapidly was the Way of Peace!
Yecheng.
On the desolate plains, countless refugees huddled together. In their center was a wooden platform. Atop the platform stood a middle-aged man performing so-called magic, preparing talisman water to save the commoners.
This talisman water was free. The man offered it to anyone in need. By the end of the day, the refugees were all overflowing with gratitude toward him.
"I told you before, Zhang Jiao, that talisman water is useless."
As dusk fell and Zhang Jiao was instructing his followers to pack their bags, he heard a voice from behind him.
He turned and saw Qingnu standing in the distance, wearing her bamboo hat. His face lit up with joy, and he quickly ran forward, bowing with his hands clasped. "Greetings, Master!"
Many years ago, when his family was in dire straits, Qingnu had suddenly appeared and given them food and water, allowing the brothers to survive their hardest days.
Although Qingnu said she was merely repaying a bowl of water his ancestor had given her while she was seeking refuge at Mount Tai, Zhang Jiao did not care. From then on, he honored her as his master.
Qingnu nodded slightly. Zhang Jiao then said, "I know the talisman water is useless. I only do it to give them peace of mind!"
No...
Perhaps the talisman water did have some use.
At the very least, the talismans of this era were made of paper and herbs. Once burned and mixed with clean water, it inadvertently stopped the refugees from drinking sewage, giving them a bit more health and strength.
Qingnu stared at him and said, "Just doing this is not enough. There are so many people in the world; can you really save them all like this?"
"Then what should I do?"
Zhang Jiao frowned and asked.
Qingnu paused, then said to him, "The azure heaven is dead, the yellow heaven shall rise! In the year of Jiazi, there shall be great prosperity under heaven."
"What do you think should be done?"
Zhang Jiao was silent for a moment before replying, "I shall seek redress for the world!"
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