Chapter 191: Snowfield Dawn

The Blood Feather Lord spread its wings, its monstrous black feathers blending seamlessly with the night sky. The white robe on its back flapped wildly in the wind, as the boy's words, like a curse, echoed down, causing Siming's ice-sculpted eyes to gleam brightly.

The temporal domain she had established swiftly dissolved upon Yechu's arrival.

The Blood Feather Lord ascended, and once it had flown beyond Siming's domain, Ning Changjiu's spirit finally broke free completely.

The gate to his Purple Mansion then swung wide open. The bound Golden Crow, as if called, transformed into countless golden threads that streamed towards Ning Changjiu's body. In the night sky, it resembled a long, slender golden waterfall.

Siming attempted to seize it, but was powerless.

The golden cascade gradually thinned and dried up, fully retracting into Ning Changjiu's body. The sound of the Blood Feather Lord's wings beating echoed from above, like a wild, mocking laugh.

Both the white-robed figure and the red-skirted figure vanished into the night sky, flying off to a more distant point beyond the Snow Canyon.

Siming's knee-length, snow-white cotton dress danced incessantly against her slender legs. Beneath her smooth ankles, her jade-like feet, pressed into the snow, had taken on a faint reddish hue.

She spun around abruptly, her wild silver hair swirling like tangled ice filaments. The domain surrounding her, along with the wind and snow, suddenly dispersed and then began to continuously melt. The entire canyon, fueled by her fury, seemed to transform into a pair of sharp blades.

Yechu trudged laboriously through the snow, his puppet-like limbs appearing rusted and moving with difficulty and stiffness.

He had no face; tonight, he hadn't even had time to paint one, so he displayed no expression at all.

“Siming, death,” Yechu uttered flatly.

In the ethereal realm, a celestial compass of fate seemed to unfurl, locking onto Siming with eternal astrological precision, making her the sole target of its decree.

Beyond the valley, the roars of colossal beasts echoed. Many powerful, fierce creatures, long dormant in the deep mountains and ancient forests, began to awaken, perhaps summoned by something or drawn by the scent of blood.

Siming merely smiled faintly, completely undaunted. She activated her own authority, and time immediately rewound to several breaths earlier.

Moments before, Yechu's fate command had not yet been issued, so naturally, it could not take effect.

The roars of the colossal beasts quickly fell silent.

“You know perfectly well this is useless against me, yet you squander the power you painstakingly accumulated, hmm? Is this to buy them time?” Siming’s smile turned even colder.

Yechu coughed a few times, then turned his stiff body and continued, “We’ve been battling for over seven hundred years; what difference will a little more time make?”

Siming replied, “Your body is failing. Even with all the time you’ve purchased, it can’t counteract your expenditure. In just a few years, I won’t need to kill you; you’ll simply die on your own.”

Yechu seemed to smile, his expressionless face and voice like the wind whistling through the Snow Canyon.

“When I first encountered you, you were merely a little girl crawling out of the Abyss of Fetal Spirits, your body as frail as a bamboo skewer that would snap with a single bend. At that time, only I perceived the great destiny you bore, yet I never envisioned this day,” Yechu suddenly reminisced.

Siming nodded, “I was born as destiny decreed.”

Yechu stated, “Back then, you couldn’t bear such a weighty destiny. Had I not secretly aided you, you would never have had the chance to become the Vice Scribe under that Divine Official, much less ascend effortlessly to become the next Great Divine Official.”

Siming, cold and arrogant, replied, “That, too, was my destiny.”

Yechu laughed, his voice trembling, “Ultimately, you were just a small porcelain figure back then, even the most perfect one among the Fetal Spirits, easily shattered.”

As if her true nature had been revealed, her skin gradually lost its human hue, becoming as white as porcelain, yet her features appeared even more delicate and serene.

Siming stated, “You needn’t say all this. If the Divine Kingdom still existed now, I would honor you for that past kindness. But that was seven hundred years ago. We waited for two centuries with a hopeful heart, and what did we ultimately find but the headless bones of Lord God-Sovereign?”

Yechu sighed, “I never conceived that anyone could kill Lord God-Sovereign.”

Siming fell silent for a moment, then spoke, “You saw the boy named Ning Changjiu, didn’t you? You must have already guessed something about his origins.”

Yechu hummed in acknowledgment. This was precisely why he had initially been reluctant to come out and save him. The death of Lord God-Sovereign was vaguely connected to a monumental cold case from over two millennia ago.

And this boy was very likely the reincarnation of a god from that ancient era, perhaps even a former enemy.

Siming said, “You’ve studied destiny your entire life. Now, the greatest destiny stands before you. Why are you unwilling to open your eyes and see?”

Yechu sank into silence. He was never a madman; on the contrary, he preferred to follow rules and adhere strictly to convention.

He was willing to proceed step by step, spending a century to devise and build a model, and content to seclude himself in the desolate Snow Canyon for centuries without complaint. He had originally expected to die peacefully, then become the vessel for Siming’s authority.

He simply hadn’t expected this boy to appear so abruptly before him.

Furthermore, his appearance was connected to the fact that he had bought decades of time from the young girl named Shao Xiaoli.

Such coincidences were more than mere chance.

“Even if you return to the Divine Kingdom, what would it accomplish? Seven hundred years of decay have erased the past. Even if you ascended to the throne, you’d merely be another headless god,” Yechu sighed softly, as wind and snow began to fill his joints.

A puppet, a porcelain figure.

Most divine envoys and officials within the Divine Kingdom were self-birthed by the kingdom itself. They were spiritual entities that emerged from the Abyss of Fetal Spirits, cultivating within the Divine Kingdom like ordinary people. Failed creations withered away, while successful ones gradually developed human forms, then ascended step by step to the pinnacle.

Siming gently shook her head, stating firmly, “I am different from you. Rather than merely surviving here, I would exhaust all means, shatter the heavens, and carve a path to life! Even if I die then, it will be glorious.”

Yechu said, “You are the most beautiful being I have ever seen. It’s only a pity that you are arrogant and foolish, through and through.”

Siming made no attempt to conceal her rage; it had been a long time since she felt so discomfited. She spoke with a chilling tone, “If I were unharmed right now, you would already be dead.”

Yechu slowly raised his hand, drawing silver threads from his body. “I know you wish to pursue them,” he said, “but I am equally weak right now. You may try to kill me.”

In truth, Siming had been observing him throughout their conversation.

She was like a tigress, always waiting with immense patience before revealing her claws.

Before acting against Ning Changjiu, she had secretly investigated him for three full months, employing both subtle and forceful methods. She only made her move after being certain she had uncovered all his secrets and assessed his full value.

And now, with Yechu appearing before her in the night, she, too, was facing a profound temptation.

However, she couldn't be certain at this moment whether Yechu’s appearance was an empty fort strategy or a genuine trap.

Yechu glanced in the direction Ning Changjiu had vanished, and deeming the time right, he fell silent and slowly retreated deeper into the canyon.

Siming would no longer tolerate this.

She raised her hand, and snow condensed into a sword between her fingers. Her figure shot forward, sweeping swiftly into the canyon.

“Soul-Severing Gorge, earthquake,” Yechu declared.

Beneath the earth’s veins, the molten earthfire seemed unable to contain itself, beginning to surge frantically upwards. Simultaneously, the entire canyon trembled uneasily.

Siming likewise activated her authority, rewinding time. Yechu’s power failed, and the trembling ceased.

They were currently limited by their cultivation realm, able to alter only immediate fate and the very recent past. In bygone eras, when their divine essences and realms were complete, Yechu could subtly orchestrate outcomes many years in advance, imperceptibly changing individuals. Siming, similarly, could rewind chosen people or objects to several years prior.

In those days, they were true unseen demigods, more potent than many ancient demon gods from primordial times.

However, now, their realm below the Purple Court greatly restricted them, yet it also meant their battles could decide victory or death in an instant.

With their authorities mutually restrained, the only true method of killing lay in the weapons they wielded.

This was also a microcosm of ancient struggles for authority.

Within the Snow Canyon, their two shadows, one gray and one white, darted back and forth between the stone walls at high speed. The spiritual energy they dispersed left countless linear scratches on the canyon walls.

“You’re growing weaker,” Siming pressed relentlessly, her silver hair swept back to reveal her entirely flawless, luminous white face. Her snow sword shattered and reformed, and after seizing the initiative several times, it left deep wounds on Yechu’s decaying, wood-like body.

Yechu did not retort. The wounds on his body did not faze him in the slightest; he continuously ensnared Siming with threads from his fingers.

He was like a spider erratically scuttling against the strong wind in the canyon, while Siming resembled a bird preying on snakes. One after the other, they moved at speeds unimaginable to others. In the occasional flashes of sword light, Yechu’s threads were severed like strands of hair.

“Yet you still cannot win,” Yechu stated flatly, then quickly scaled the stone wall with his threads, swinging high like a pendulum.

Siming ascended with her sword, her white gown trailing a series of afterimages, like a white serpent gliding up the stone wall.

During their exchanges, their respective authorities canceled each other out multiple times.

Siming asked, “Who precisely gave you this confidence? Could it be Chong Sui?”

Yechu smiled faintly, “Have you managed to find Chong Sui yet?”

Siming's expression was impassive; this was one of her lingering concerns.

She knew of Chong Sui’s existence and that an intricate connection surely lay between Chong Sui and Yechu, yet she could never locate Chong Sui.

Siming said coldly, “What kind of demonic beast is Chong Sui, exactly?”

“Why must Chong Sui be a demonic beast?”

“How could it possibly be a person? No one in Fracture City lives for hundreds of years!”

“That is why I call you foolish,” Yechu laughed. “Has it never occurred to you that for these past few centuries, Chong Sui might not have been a single individual at all?”

“What did you say?!” Siming’s eyes narrowed, frost and snow seemingly trapped within her icy-white eyelids.

Yechu’s words were like a basin of ice water drenching her.

She understood Yechu’s meaning: Chong Sui was merely a codename, his operative planted within Fracture City, and over the years, countless identities had been used under that designation!

She didn't know if Yechu was telling the truth or if this was merely another smokescreen, making Chong Sui’s already elusive identity even more ambiguous.

She wouldn’t speculate for now.

“What power do you possess to make someone utterly devoted to you?” Siming sneered coldly. “By your so-called immortality? You yourself are on the verge of death; who would believe in your eternal life?”

Yechu’s figure darted like a nightingale sweeping over a cliff. He swooped down again, smiling, “Thus, no matter how beautiful you are, you are not a true woman. You simply do not comprehend genuine emotions and desires. One day, should you ever become utterly devoted to someone, you will understand.”

Siming was a Divine Official of the Divine Kingdom, a lofty goddess. She was pure and flawless, unfamiliar with passion and desire. Even her attempt to seduce Ning Changjiu was merely a simple imitation of courtesans.

She had never truly felt emotion or desire, nor had she ever given them a thought.

Divine Officials of the Divine Kingdom had to be perfect, and emotions were considered a flaw, a defilement. She would not permit her perfect body and soul to be tainted by even the slightest impurity.

This was also why, when Ning Changjiu left moments ago, his words had filled her with towering rage.

To her, this was already the utmost blasphemy.

Within the Snow Canyon, the battle raged on. Each time Yechu wielded his authority, he weakened slightly, while Siming fought with increasing ferocity, her sword inflicting hundreds of wounds on him.

This was the cost of his risky nocturnal venture out of the canyon to save Ning Changjiu.

Ultimately, Siming struck Yechu with a sword, sending him plummeting into the deep canyon. The conspicuous sword mark in the center of his puppet