Chapter 97 - 86: Then So What If I Spend a Lifetime Searching For Him?

By the time Xiao Mo returned to the Imperial Palace, it was already evening.

A short while ago, Yan Shanao had sought him out for a chat.

The Empress’s enthronement ceremony had been postponed to four months later.

The reason was that Elder Huang of the Wanjian Sect had arrived a few days late, causing them to miss the auspicious date two days prior.

And the next auspicious date wasn’t for another four months.

Although delaying for four months did invite the risk of unforeseen complications—and Yan Shanao and Empress Dowager Yan wished they could send a woman from their clan to Xiao Mo’s bedchambers immediately—

they didn’t dare be careless with something as important as an Empress’s enthronement ceremony.

An auspicious date was said to promote harmony between husband and wife, bless them with abundant offspring, and, more importantly, ensure the stability of the kingdom.

So even if it meant a long wait, they had to hold out for a good day.

Xiao Mo, however, was indifferent. Whether he got married or not, it was all the same to him.

Besides, a later marriage wasn’t a bad thing.

Otherwise, he would have to spend time keeping the Empress company.

Once Yan Ruxue became the master of the imperial harem, she could even follow him around with perfect justification.

His every move could be monitored by her.

After bathing in Qingquan Palace, Xiao Mo returned to his bedchambers and immediately entered the Hundred Generations Book.

[The Third Life of the Hundred Generations Book (Second Life of "Bai Ruxue’s Life") is not yet ready. Does the Host wish to enter the River of Time as an observer to watch the events that occurred after the Host’s passing?]

"Yes."

Without a hint of hesitation, Xiao Mo once again became an observer and stepped into the Hundred Generations Book’s River of Time.

Arriving at Shiqiao Village, Xiao Mo stood outside a courtyard, watching the woman inside sweeping.

Her hair had turned a sheet of silver-white, and her body exuded an incredibly powerful draconic might.

But her golden eyes were utterly devoid of life.

It was as if the woman’s heart was about to die, held in place by a single, fragile thread.

"Sigh..."

Xiao Mo let out a soft sigh.

’How could I not know the reason?’

But as an observer, there was nothing he could do. He could only watch quietly, hoping that time would fade his memory from her heart.

"It seems your internal injuries have fully healed."

Fuchen arrived at the courtyard, quietly looking at the white-haired woman before him.

"Yes."

Bai Ruxue nodded.

The woman’s exquisitely beautiful face revealed a chill as cold as ice and snow.

The girl who used to love smiling, it seemed, hadn’t smiled for a very long time.

"Is this your last day here?" Fuchen asked, noticing the bundle on the table.

Bai Ruxue looked up, gazing at the courtyard she had lived in for so long. "My injuries are healed. It’s time to go. He’s waiting for me."

"Ruxue..."

Fuchen sighed.

"Before he left this courtyard, he told me that after he died, he hoped to be buried under the rock on the small path south of She Mountain. Xiao Mo may have dissipated in the North Sea, but the Human Race believes in laying the dead to rest. You should bury his clothes there."

As if she hadn’t heard Fuchen’s words, Bai Ruxue called out to Xiao Qing, "Xiao Qing, it’s time to leave."

"Okay, Sister..."

Xiao Qing, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation between her master and sister from her room, answered and walked out.

Bai Ruxue walked past Fuchen. "Daoist Master Fuchen, only the dead need to be laid to rest. Xiao Mo... is not dead!"

The woman’s long, silver-white hair was lifted by the gentle breeze, lightly brushing against Fuchen’s shoulder.

By the time Fuchen turned around, Bai Ruxue and her sister had already vanished over the horizon.

For the next several years, Bai Ruxue and Xiao Qing continued their search for Xiao Mo’s reincarnation.

Bai Ruxue took her sister all across the Qi Kingdom, from its great rivers to its northern and southern borders.

In most of the Qi Kingdom’s prefectures and counties, especially near dikes and riverbanks, there were usually ancestral shrines dedicated to Xiao Mo.

Whenever she saw the statue of the scholar in the green robes inside a shrine, Bai Ruxue would stand there for a long time.

"Sir, why are most of Prime Minister Xiao’s shrines built near the water?" Xiao Qing once asked an old man who had come to pay his respects.

"You’re not from around here, are you, little lady?"

The old man chuckled.

"This Prime Minister Xiao, during his lifetime, he built waterworks and dredged rivers. There’s no telling how many common folk he saved, or how much fertile land he created. Wherever Prime Minister Xiao was, no flood was too great to fear.

So, the Prime Minister’s shrines are built here to suppress river disasters and bless us.

And let me tell you something most people don’t know."

The old man grinned, revealing his yellowed teeth. "When I was a boy, there was a great flood, and Prime Minister Xiao came to lead the relief efforts himself. I was lucky enough to see him and even speak with him.

I asked Prime Minister Xiao—’Grandpa Xiao, why aren’t you like the other lords, lounging in your mansion and eating delicacies? Why come here to suffer?’

And what do you think Prime Minister Xiao said?"

The old man’s eyes were filled with nostalgia.

"Prime Minister Xiao said that he wasn’t used to eating delicacies, and that they couldn’t compare to the coarse rice and wild vegetables from his hometown. He said that dredging rivers and building waterworks was for the sake of all the people under heaven, but also for a small, selfish reason of his own.

I asked again—’Then, Grandpa Xiao, what’s your selfish reason?’

The old Prime Minister said—’My selfish reason is for a woman I love.’"

After the old man finished his story, Xiao Qing glanced at her sister.

Bai Ruxue didn’t say much, only gazed deeply at the statue of the scholar holding a scroll.

An unknown number of years passed.

Bai Ruxue left the Qi Kingdom and traveled to other nations of the Human Race, searching for Xiao Mo’s reincarnation.

She crossed snowy mountains, traversed deserts, and walked across plains.

At the same time, Bai Ruxue was also collecting Techniques that could locate a reincarnated person.

Several times, these Techniques actually reacted.

But each time, when Bai Ruxue ran with soaring hope toward the location the Technique indicated, the person she found was never him.

During her travels, Bai Ruxue also practiced medicine, saved those in need, and helped vanquish demons and devils.

Once, a great plague struck Pingchang County in the Wei Kingdom. Bai Ruxue stayed there for three years, solely to treat the common people.

Xiao Qing watched her sister’s busy figure.

She realized something.

Her sister... was slowly becoming the very image of Brother Xiao.

A thousand years passed just like that.

Bai Ruxue stepped into the Immortal Realm.

In the North Sea, Bai Ruxue established a Dragon Palace.

Many people thought it was normal for a Demon Emperor at the Immortal Realm to establish a Dragon Palace and expand her power.

But Xiao Qing knew that her sister had established the Dragon Palace so that more people could help her search for Brother Xiao.

Another hundred years passed.

One day, the Tianxuan Sect sent a letter.

Inside was the diagram for an Array that Fuchen had for Bai Ruxue.

The Array was called the "Three Lives Array," which Fuchen had found in the Desolate Land.

Once this Array was established, it might be possible to sense Xiao Mo’s location if he ever reincarnated.

However, building this Array required an immense amount of Heavenly and Earthly Treasures.

But Bai Ruxue was not afraid.

After another seven hundred years, Bai Ruxue completed the Array.

But the Array still showed no reaction.

All Xiao Qing could see was her sister sitting within the Array every day, waiting quietly.

"Sister..." One day, Xiao Qing approached her.

"Xiao Qing, what is it?" Bai Ruxue looked up at her younger sister.

Xiao Qing clenched her fists, her expression hesitant. But in the end, she mustered her courage and said, "Sister, let it go..."

Bai Ruxue tilted her head. "Let what go?"

"Sister, stop looking for Brother Xiao..." Xiao Qing pressed her small hand tightly against her chest. "You’ve been searching for twenty-three hundred years. If Brother Xiao could have been reincarnated, he would have been by now. After twenty-three hundred years... Brother Xiao’s Divine Soul might have already..."

Xiao Qing couldn’t bring herself to say the last words.

She lowered her head, her expression downcast.

’I miss Brother Xiao, too.’

’But after so many years, all hope is long gone.’

’I don’t want to see my sister like this for the rest of her life.’

Hearing her sister’s words, Bai Ruxue hugged her knees and looked up at the Three Lives Array floating above the Dragon Palace. "Xiao Qing... I know what you mean, but I can feel it. Xiao Mo isn’t ’dead.’ His Divine Soul is still out there..."

"But Sister, even if Brother Xiao’s Divine Soul is still out there, how can you find him in this vast world?" Xiao Qing looked up, meeting her sister’s gaze directly. "You’ve already searched for over two thousand years. Are you going to spend your entire life looking for Brother Xiao?"

Xiao Qing’s voice echoed softly through the palace.

As her voice faded, the palace fell silent once more.

The Three Lives Array continued to operate above the palace. Below it were rows of Spirit Pillars, and at their center was a Spirit Gathering Array, which worked in tandem to maintain the Three Lives Array.

After a long while, the corners of the woman’s mouth curled up slightly.

Seeing her sister’s smile, Xiao Qing was stunned.

’It’s been over twenty-three hundred years... This is the first time I’ve seen her smile.’

"Xiao Qing, he waited a lifetime for me."

Her sister stood up, walked over to her, and gently caressed her cheek, her gentle words like a spring sunbeam upon the sea.

"So what if I spend a lifetime looking for him?"