Chapter 454: People in the Play and the Tomb

"Mingzheng has disappeared?" Siming gazed at Ning Changjiu and asked in a cold voice.

The dishes on the wooden table were still steaming, and the sound of fireworks exploding outside still echoed, but the air between them had gradually solidified. The women all sensed an ominous implication in Ning Changjiu's eyes.

Ning Changjiu confirmed repeatedly, saying, "Of the sixty-four peaks, not a single one sent a signal."

Everyone exchanged glances.

Liu Xiwuan asked, "Could we have missed a peak?"

Liu Junzhuo immediately said, "No, we've already compared maps from all over the world. The Seventy-Two Grotto-Heavens also have the ability to observe mountains and rivers. Mountains aren't people; they can't hide out of thin air."

Lu Jiajia pondered their words and asked, "Could it be that Mingzheng's Divine Kingdom isn't on a high mountain at all?"

Ning Changjiu also denied it: "Mingzheng's Divine Kingdom is in the high mountains. Both Master and the Evil One have said this, so there shouldn't be any mistake."

Lu Jiajia asked again, "Isn't the Evil One omniscient? Doesn't it know the final location of Mingzheng's Divine Kingdom?"

Ning Changjiu replied, "The Evil One has been trapped on the Heaven List for too long, and its body is gradually withering. Its omniscience primarily stems from its vast age, not true omniscience."

Lu Jiajia held her sword, silent.

Everyone knew that Mingzheng's Divine Kingdom had opened.

Mingzheng was the strongest among the existing domain lords. Now, with the domain lords being killed one after another, it must know it was at the end of its rope. Even the Dark Lord couldn't dictate what decision it would make.

Failing to find it in time and contain everything, the hidden Divine Kingdom of Mingzheng was undoubtedly a huge hidden danger. If it suddenly erupted in chaos, before they could stop it, the people of the world would be crushed in vast numbers, like flowers beneath a wheel, without any resistance.

In fact, all of this might already be happening.

Ye Changong, seated high in the Unobservable Realm, was still fully dedicated to repairing the world. She trusted Ning Changjiu and believed they could find and kill the domain lords one by one, so she hadn't focused on the details.

The change had come, and what they feared had finally happened.

The collective, chilling silence couldn't freeze time. Time continued to flow relentlessly, and the longer it dragged on, the more disadvantageous it became for them.

Ning Changjiu closed his eyes, searching his spiritual sea for all possible clues.

Scenes of his battles with the domain lords flashed through his mind.

For some reason, the image finally froze on the strange eyes of the Sin Lord.

The devil, symbolizing sin, spread its wings and overlooked the earth. Ancient words resounded in the void, and the mountains and seas below undulated with the demon's whispers.

Ning Changjiu suddenly remembered a small detail—the Sin Lord hated seawater.

This small detail instantly illuminated his spiritual sea.

He suddenly opened his eyes, looked at the others who were also watching him, and said:

"Do mountains always have to be on land?"

Time rewound two hours.

Night had already enveloped the lands of the Northern Kingdom. Midnight had not yet arrived, and the New Year's Eve lanterns flickered in the cold air.

Shao Xiaoli, dressed in cotton clothes, lay in the snow, her consciousness blurred. Pain radiated from her bone marrow, overwhelming her mind. Snow seeped through the gaps in her clothing, grinding like needles over her defenseless body, and shivers coursed through her increasingly numb frame.

Her chest still rose and fell slightly, but the starry sky in her eyes grew increasingly blurry. She vaguely saw the brightest star... Was that the Luoshen Star?

Shao Xiaoli didn't know, she just felt utterly drained of strength. She wished this expanse of white snow was a cotton quilt in the Underworld Hall, where she could just lie down and sleep.

A hand reached out.

The fourth senior sister, with her short hair, extended her hand to her.

Shao Xiaoli responded with difficulty.

The fourth senior sister pulled her up from the snow. Shao Xiaoli swayed for a long time before she could stand steadily.

"Senior Sister..." Shao Xiaoli softly called out.

"Hmm." The fourth senior sister simply replied.

Shao Xiaoli quietly asked, "Are you disappointed in me, Senior Sister?"

Sili asked, "Why would I be disappointed?"

Shao Xiaoli said, "You've trained with me for so long, Senior Sister, but my strength is still like this. I get hit but don't learn..."

Sili wanted to comfort her, but her calm tone remained unchanged: "You've done very well. Your divine soul weakened at the end of your first life; reaching this level of cultivation now has exceeded expectations."

Shao Xiaoli pressed her lips together. Her small boots crunched in the snow, and her cotton skirt swayed in the wind.

Shao Xiaoli whispered, "But I'm very disappointed in myself."

Sili watched her quietly for a moment. This young girl, who usually seemed clever and obedient, had never begged for mercy during the past two or three months of competitions, even when her body was so numb she couldn't move. And because she was currently cultivating her physique, she couldn't use spiritual energy to heal her injuries, no matter how severe, only endure until the intense pain passed.

Sili wasn't good at comforting people; she just asked, "Do you want Senior Sister to carry you on her back?"

Shao Xiaoli looked at the weapon box at her waist and asked, "Where would the weapon box go then?"

Sili thought for a moment and offered a perfect solution: "I'll carry you, and you carry the weapon box."

Shao Xiaoli looked at the large weapon box, her throat tightening slightly, and politely declined her senior sister's offer, "No need to trouble you, Senior Sister, I can walk by myself."

Sili supported her as they walked towards their small cabin.

Shao Xiaoli trudged through the snow, with goose-feather heavy snow still falling continuously.

Every time Shao Xiaoli looked up at the sky, she felt a deep loneliness. She had been pursuing loneliness recently, but it hadn't given her true strength; instead, it allowed countless negative emotions to grow within her. She could only rely on pain to suppress them.

Back in the wooden cabin, Shao Xiaoli lay flat on the bed, and Sili applied medicine to her simple injuries.

"Today is New Year's Eve," Sili said.

"Hmm," Shao Xiaoli responded.

"Little Junior Brother didn't come to see you. Are you sad?" Sili asked.

"Of course, I'm sad," Shao Xiaoli said, gritting her teeth and enduring the pain. "But Master must have more important things to do. After he kills Mingzheng tonight, he'll definitely come to see Xiaoli."

Sili hummed in acknowledgment.

The atmosphere in the wooden cabin was a bit quiet. Sili wasn't usually talkative, but she felt that they should discuss something on this special day.

"For many people, New Year's Eve is also their birthday," Sili said.

Shao Xiaoli tilted her head in confusion, looking at her fourth senior sister's backlit silhouette, and asked, "Why is that?"

Sili explained, "Because in this world, many people don't know when they were born, like me... So when do we turn a year older? It's after New Year's Eve. So after today, Senior Sister will be another year older."

Shao Xiaoli nodded slightly, "I see..."

Xiaoli's curious heart couldn't be restrained, and she cautiously asked, "I heard that the fourth senior sister and fifth senior brother were originally siblings?"

Sili's movements paused slightly, then after a moment, she said, "Our souls were collected and restored by Master using the authority of life. Those that could be fully restored were taken as inner disciples, while those that couldn't fully recover lived in Dahe Town, also contributing to the construction of the Unobservable Realm. And at that time..."

Sili recalled for a moment and said, "According to Master, my soul and Fifth Junior Brother's soul were connected, like a twin embryo, and Junior Brother woke up earlier, so we were considered siblings."

Shao Xiaoli asked curiously, "Were you and Senior Brother lovers in your previous lives?"

Sili shook her head and said, "No, we were mortal enemies. Junior Brother's wife in his previous life was one of the deities who managed the sea. She died in the divine war between me and Gonggong, and in the end... perhaps he and I perished together."

Shao Xiaoli pressed her lips together, realizing she had asked an inappropriate question again on New Year's Eve.

Sili sensed her emotions and, unusually, smiled, saying, "It's fine, it was many years ago. We are no longer who we were, so what's the point of dwelling on past events? However... at the time, after awakening my memories, I did hold a grudge, so when I became a disciple, I knelt very quickly and became the senior sister."

Shao Xiaoli struggled to give a thumbs-up and said, "Senior Sister is really flexible!"

Sili put away the medicine and spread a white cloth, wrung out from hot water, on Shao Xiaoli's beautiful back. The pretty girl bit her lips tightly, feeling a mixed sensation of pain and pleasure from the warmth, her arms slightly shielding her sides.

Sili finished putting away the medicine and sat back down by Shao Xiaoli's bed.

Sili looked at the girl's slender back, gently gathered her spread black hair, and said, "I think Xiaoli now is very good, better than Luoshen was back then."

Shao Xiaoli said, "Senior Sister has never told me the story of Luoshen."

Sili said, "If you want to hear stories, ask Master. Once Master has finished restoring the world, he should have plenty of free time."

Shao Xiaoli puffed out her cheeks, not wanting to ask.

She looked at her senior sister and said, "Oh, right, Senior Sister, since you're teaching me to use a whip, when can I hold a whip?"

Sili said, "Of course, when you are able to hold a whip."

Shao Xiaoli asked again, "Then when will I be able to hold a whip?"

Sili said, "That's Master's statement; I'm just repeating it. Perhaps... when you feel you can, then you can."

This was clearly a redundant statement, but Shao Xiaoli still nodded thoughtfully.

Heavy snow fell outside, and the flimsy doors and windows rattled. The flame hidden in the lamp shade burned steadily. Shao Xiaoli lay on the hard bedboard, watching snowflakes drift through the gap in the door, lost in thought.

"Xiaoli will definitely become very powerful," Sili said stiffly but sincerely.

"Mhm!" Shao Xiaoli no longer denied herself, nodding bravely.

She climbed off the bed, grabbing the quilt to cover her chest, then dressed beneath the cover of the quilt.

Sili asked, "What are you doing? Your injuries aren't healed; don't move around too much."

Shao Xiaoli suggested, "It's New Year's Eve today, let's go to the city."

"The city?"

Sili, accustomed to ascetic cultivation in the Unobservable Realm, had no particular interest in this, but seeing the flickering lights in Shao Xiaoli's eyes, she nodded.

"But I don't have any money," Sili said, a rare hint of embarrassment in her voice.

Shao Xiaoli said earnestly, "It's fine, Xiaoli has money!"

Sili was a little curious: "Where did Xiaoli get money from?"

Shao Xiaoli replied, "Because my old job paid very well..."

"What did Xiaoli do before?"

"Hmm... a queen." Shao Xiaoli barely managed to adopt some of her queenly demeanor, stating her professionalism: "I earned it through diligent governance, it wasn't embezzlement!"

Hearing this, Sili actually smiled, saying, "Then wouldn't Senior Sister become the National Preceptor?"

Shao Xiaoli stared for a moment at the smile that appeared on Sili's usually cold face.

Sili frowned, touched her cheek, and asked, "Is my smile fake? I... I learned it from Master."

Shao Xiaoli quickly shook her head and said, "Senior Sister, you surpass your teacher, like indigo comes from blue but is bluer!"

The most prosperous city in the Northern Kingdom was near the Luo River ferry, which was the junction between the Northern Kingdom and the Central Lands, where many merchant ships docked.

Shao Xiaoli and Sili arrived in the city.

The snow on the streets had been swept once, mostly piled on the sides. The cross-sections of the houses and streets were clear, and the surfaces facing the sky were uniformly white with snow.

The two girls' small boots stepped over the thin layer of snow, their delicate footprints extending into the myriad lights of the city.

Shao Xiaoli chatted with her senior sister, telling stories of the Ning family compound: about the sometimes smart, sometimes silly Lu Jiajia; about Sister Siming, who was clearly powerful but often persecuted; about Ning Xiaoling, whom she considered her lifelong rival; and also about Ning Changjiu, who seemed easygoing and unassuming but actually had a firm Taoist heart.

Shao Xiaoli hoped to exchange these little stories for gossip about her other senior and junior brothers and sisters from Sili.

But Sili seemed even dumber than Jiajia, and after thinking for a long time, she couldn't come up with anything.

Shao Xiaoli expressed understanding, after all, in her eyes, the Eldest Senior Sister was a low-key person who didn't covet vanity...

Eldest Senior Sister...

Mentioning the Eldest Senior Sister, Shao Xiaoli always felt as if she had forgotten something.

The two strolled along the snowy streets, observing the performances like watching a lantern parade. Shao Xiaoli bought some small ornaments for her senior sister. Sili said she didn't like them, only accepting a tassel that could hang on a sword.

At a street corner, they stopped, and simultaneously gazed at the stars.

A bustling city and the stars in the sky merging into one picture always created a unique kind of beauty.

There were also cultivators in the Northern Kingdom. Two seemingly handsome disciples in white robes noticed them gazing at the stars. Believing their status as cultivators was noble, they pretended to casually discuss sword techniques, then summoned flying swords and flew back and forth above them, hoping to attract their attention and admiration.

Sili looked at Shao Xiaoli and asked, "Are they performing acrobatics?"

Shao Xiaoli hesitated, "Doesn't seem like it."

Sili then decisively raised her hand, and the two swords in the air instantly shattered into tens of thousands of pieces with her movement.

The two disciples nearby stood frozen, dumbfounded.

Sili looked at them and asked, "Should I compensate you?"

The two disciples felt as if they had encountered a ghost and fled in panic.

After the brief interlude, Shao Xiaoli linked arms with Sili and invited her to watch a play indoors.

"What's the point of watching a play?" Sili asked, confused. "To watch them cry and recite scripts on stage?"

Shao Xiaoli smiled and said, "Don't worry, it's New Year's today! How could they perform a tearful play? The story will definitely have a happy ending, don't worry!"

Sili said, "Whether the ending is good or bad, it's all fake. What's the point?"

Shao Xiaoli struggled to explain, "The play depicts other people's lives. Watching others' lives might give us some inspiration for ourselves."

Sili reluctantly agreed.

Going upstairs, the hall was already packed with people. The two used spiritual energy to conceal their figures and sat together on a beam, looking down at the stage.

The play had already started for a while, but they could still understand the plot.

Tonight's play was indeed a beautiful story.

It was roughly about a down-and-out scholar who went to the capital for the imperial examination but failed due to corruption in the official circles, where his paper was swapped. With no one to appeal to, and bullied by ruffians in the capital who stole all his travel money, he was about to commit suicide in a dilapidated temple when a woman suddenly appeared in it and saved him.

The woman was graceful and beautiful, a typical young lady from a prestigious family. She comforted the scholar and then used divine means to send dreams to the corrupt high officials, making them anxious night after night. Finally, they were compelled to recall the scholar according to the dreams' instructions, find another channel for his promotion, and grant him an official position.

The scholar was overjoyed and wanted to marry her. She said she needed to meet his parents first, so he hurriedly took the woman back to his hometown. There was a severe drought in the village; the rice fields had withered, and the entire village was starving. The woman then went to the Dragon King to make it rain. When the harvest was poor, she sought the Grain God to bestow blessings. When a large mountain blocked the village, the woman told him to close his eyes, then with overwhelming strength, she moved the mountain. By the time the scholar opened his eyes, she was again the picture of a modest young lady.

Later, the scholar asked her if she was a demon. The woman also asked if he would still marry her if she were. The scholar nodded and said that she had saved him, saved his village, and was compassionate; no matter what she was, she was a true immortal in his heart.

So the woman also revealed her identity; it turned out she was one of the Jade Emperor's daughters. All ended happily, and the two lived together joyfully.

By the time the play ended, it was almost midnight.

Most people left with smiles on their faces; perhaps many would dream of a fairy tonight.

Shao Xiaoli looked at Sili and found no expression on her face. She asked curiously, "What's wrong, Senior Sister? Is the story too cliché? It's just meant to be entertaining; it doesn't need to be too rigorous."

Sili quietly said, "The story clearly hasn't ended, why did everyone leave?"

Shao Xiaoli asked, "What do you mean it hasn't ended? It's over."

Sili said, "Isn't the real ending the scholar waking up from his dream and then hanging himself in the temple?"

Looking at her senior sister's calm, bright eyes, Shao Xiaoli suddenly felt a chill. She asked, "Why do you say that?"

"Because this was just the scholar's dream..." Sili slowly said, "Look, that immortal woman is the Jade Emperor's daughter. She can find the Dragon King for drought, the Grain God for poor harvests, and move mountains. But when she faces corrupt officials, she can only resort to scaring them through dreams. What kind of immortal is that?"

Shao Xiaoli listened in silence, her eyes flickering.

Sili sat on the beam, swinging her legs, and sighed softly, "That scholar still held a glimmer of hope just before he died, hoping a fairy would save him. But what fairy would save someone they'd never met? The scholar witnessed the corruption of the capital's officials, a deeply rooted behemoth he was powerless against and couldn't find a way to fight. So even the fairy he imagined, capable of moving mountains and seas, was so powerless when facing wicked people."

Shao Xiaoli followed her words in thought, realizing she was right. Everything that had unfolded seemed like an illusion. After waking from the dream, there would still be the dilapidated temple amidst the wind and snow, and the next day, whoever opened the temple door would find the scholar's corpse hanging from a beam.

"So that's how it is..." Shao Xiaoli whispered.

Sili covered her lips and asked, "Did I ruin the mood?"

"No," Shao Xiaoli forced a smile, "Master says we should embrace reality."

Sili looked at her face and said, "Your smile... did you learn it from Master?"

The smile on Shao Xiaoli's face froze, and she said indignantly, "Senior Sister, why don't you respect Master either!"

Sili looked even more innocent and quietly defended herself, "I... I didn't."

Shao Xiaoli looked at her somewhat embarrassed expression and said, "Alright, Senior Sister. Hmm... Happy Birthday, Senior Sister."

Sili looked up at the girl's pretty face and also said, "Happy New Year's Eve, Junior Sister."

The two exchanged smiles and returned to the street together.

Time was drawing closer to midnight.

As they walked along the street, Shao Xiaoli suddenly asked, "Senior Sister, do you have a way to contact Master now?"

Sili shook her head and said, "Master is observing the world, and his divine thoughts are undisturbed. Unless it's a great karmic bond like Little Junior Brother's, it's impossible to communicate with Master in the human world."

"I see..." Shao Xiaoli replied.

"What's wrong? Why did you suddenly ask that?" Sili asked.

Shao Xiaoli shook her head, "Nothing."

Sili didn't believe her and said, "Xiaoli, why do you look so downcast?"

Shao Xiaoli touched her cheek and asked, "Do I?"

Sili said, "Although you don't show it, I can sense it."

Shao Xiaoli hesitated for a moment, then truthfully said, "I've been thinking about the play we just watched."

Sili felt a little guilty: "That ending was just my own conjecture; the playwright might not have meant that. Xiaoli, you don't need to be too sad about a play."

Shao Xiaoli paused, gently shook her head, and said, "No, I was just thinking if we might also be characters in a play."

Sili stopped, frowning, "Xiaoli, what kind of wild thoughts are you having?"

Shao Xiaoli, however, looked up at the starry sky, and following her own train of thought, she spoke her worries little by little:

"If we are characters in a play, then each of us is actually slowly moving towards oblivion... Every grand, momentous point is a drain on us. We gradually disintegrate as the story progresses. Just like that scholar, whether he married the immortal woman or hanged himself in the dilapidated temple, there's actually no difference. People below the stage rejoice at happy endings and shed tears at sad ones, and after they've cried and laughed, they go back to their own lives. But the script never has another page. The story will forever stop at that seemingly perfect point, but the characters within it will have no future. Having no future is the greatest tragedy."

Sili looked at Shao Xiaoli's calm eyes; the starry sky in them flattened, resembling swirling eddies.

"But we're not characters in a play. We still have a long future," Sili said.

"Hmm... I just like to imagine myself as someone in a story." Shao Xiaoli lowered her head, no longer looking at the starry sky. She looked at the tips of her boots occasionally peeking out from under her skirt and whispered, "If I were a character in a story, then even if we defeated the Dark Lord, we'd eventually return to ordinariness, wouldn't we? Returning to ordinariness is the ultimate demise for a story and its characters."

"Ordinariness... is good too," Sili didn't know how to comfort her.

Shao Xiaoli, however, shook her head and said, "But compared to Xueci, Jiajia, and Sister Xiang'er, I'm just too ordinary. If life really is a story, then perhaps I can only find a grand, momentous point to be my grave, so that I can seem a little less ordinary."

Sili had an ominous premonition and asked, "Xiaoli, are you hiding something from Senior Sister?"

As her words fell, it was already midnight.

Shao Xiaoli closed her eyes, her divine sense connecting with the Luo River, sensing the distant Northern Abyss, and finally confirming her conjecture.

She nodded gently and said, "I sense Mingzheng's presence."

Sili's pupils contracted slightly: "Where?"

"In the Northern Abyss," Shao Xiaoli said. "The enemy is in the sea!"

"In the sea..." Sili knew Mingzheng liked high mountains, but it was only then that she realized... the world's highest mountains had already sunk to the bottom of the sea!

They were essentially trapped in the Northern Kingdom. Whether it was going to the Unobservable Realm to find Master or to Ning Changjiu, it would take at least a day. There was no time to do anything.

Shao Xiaoli closed her eyes, reading the information transmitted by the Luo River, and said, "I can still sense Mingzheng's authority..."

"What?" Sili asked.

"Disaster!" Shao Xiaoli answered. "It's going to unleash disaster."

As the final syllable of 'disaster' faded, the ground began to tremble.

Shao Xiaoli looked into the distance. Unfortunately, her premonition came only as midnight approached and the Divine Kingdom was about to open; there was no time to convey it to anyone.

She involuntarily thought of her previous life.

At the end of her previous life, she stood on the corpse of a demon god, leaning on her battle saber, the waters of the Luo River stained red with blood. Even as she faced the setting sun and died, he never came.

In this life, a similar scene seemed about to unfold again...

Would she be able to wait for him this time? Or would history repeat itself once more?

Shao Xiaoli didn't have an ounce of confidence.

But the tide was about to rise; that was her grand, momentous point, and it could also be her grave. In any case, it was a foreseeable, irreversible future.

"Senior Sister!" Shao Xiaoli looked at Sili and said, "I possess the authority of the Luo River; perhaps I can delay the disaster!"

Sili also came to her senses. She was definitely not one for idle talk. With a wave of her hand, her weapon box flew from a distance, eighteen types of weapons neatly arranged within it.

She looked at Shao Xiaoli and said, "Then let's go. We'll save the world."

"Okay, we'll save the world!" Shao Xiaoli clenched her fist.

Their figures vanished from the street, rushing towards the Northern Abyss. As they passed their wooden cabin, Shao Xiaoli paused, darted inside, and very quickly changed into a red dress she hadn't worn in a long time.

The red dress fluttered vividly against the white snow.