Chapter 191 Netherworld "Forget the past, live well."...

The capital city of Xidu was destined to be anything but peaceful that night.

On extremely cold nights, families lacking coal and firewood dared not sleep, wearing only their clothes and thin quilts as they waited for dawn.

Dawn broke very quickly, a sudden and intense light that illuminated the entire room.

But after that moment of intense light, the whole world went dark again in an instant. Along with the light, sound also disappeared, and the world seemed to fall into a deathly silence.

Someone came out of the room, wanting to see what was happening outside.

A deafening rumble echoed through the pitch-black night. After the tremor subsided, those standing outside looked around but could see nothing. The cultivators with spiritual power, however, gazed intently at the night sky, staring at the rift invisible to mortals.

The waters of the River Styx and the moon of the underworld hung high above the Western Capital City through that crack.

Someone has broken through the netherworld...

The capital fell silent again. No one saw anything unusual and prepared to go back to their house, but suddenly they heard a dog bark, followed by a pack of dogs barking.

For some unknown reason, all the dogs in the entire Western Capital City began barking incessantly at that moment, almost to the point of boiling over.

The cultivator stopped and looked up, watching countless pale white shadows emerge like a tide, drifting across every street and alley in the city.

That is a soul.

So many souls, so many that they almost drowned the city in the darkness.

The cultivator watched the fleeting soul shadow, his gaze turning from sorrow to pity. He saw countless faces of men, women, and children, each one a dead person.

The war between the two countries hadn't even started yet, so where could so many people have died?

The steam rising from the flames finally condensed in the cold night, and something fluttered down from the night sky.

The mortals who stepped out of their rooms also saw the white figure, and trembling, they reached out their hands to catch the falling snowflakes.

The snow fell; it was the first snow of the year in Xidu City.

"It's snowing!" someone shouted from the doorway.

More people came out, exclaiming, "It really is snowing! It's snowing!"

Such cheers caused even passing souls to pause and take one last look at the last snowy night on earth.

The city of Xidu was filled with the sounds of barking dogs and people, but the imperial palace was completely silent.

The cultivators by the Bishui Pool looked up at the night sky, searching through the countless soul shadows for that sharp and composed woman.

But she didn't know what was wrong with her; she just stared blankly at the soul in the void, as if she had lost her own soul.

The spirit on her sword had cunningly escaped the moment she lost her focus, but she didn't pursue it. The fierce battle that had been fought to the death seemed to have suddenly lost its meaning for her at this moment.

Jiang Yuhuo stood at the entrance to the Netherworld, sword in hand, with countless soul shadows flitting by like snowflakes around him.

There are too many souls; new souls are constantly emerging on the surface of the water.

That sword strike destroyed all the spirit-summoning trees at the bottom of the Jade Pool, and the soul that had been absorbed and refined by Jia Qianyang within the spirit-summoning trees was finally freed at that moment.

This, of course, includes all the Li-Yue villagers who died that night.

Within the shadowy figures are clear and familiar faces, joyfully heading towards the underworld, finally able to return to silence after many years of death.

Suddenly, Jiang Yuhuo's gaze froze.

Not far away, a group of spirits of varying heights approached together. Several younger children followed beside a tall girl, so captivated by the snow falling continuously from the night sky that they forgot to hurry. The girl urged them on, yet couldn't resist reaching out to catch the snowflakes. In her distant hometown, it never snowed.

But the snow, as light as a feather, still passed through her body; it was something she could never touch.

Jiang Yuhuo stared blankly at Qingdai and her group of childhood friends. They looked just like they did back then, and time seemed to stand still at this moment.

Seemingly sensing her prolonged gaze, the bright young girl turned her head and looked at her curiously.

Jiang Yuhuo wanted to smile at her, but his lips wouldn't move; he couldn't manage a smile.

Wu Hu also saw this person. He floated over, curious and mischievous, wanting to poke the snow that had accumulated on her sleeve. However, when Qing Dai saw the sharp and frosty sword, she pulled Wu Hu away. She grabbed the fat soul's ear and looked at the person standing at the entrance to the underworld with wary eyes.

What a strange person.

A group of spirits, no longer lingering, passed by Jiang Yuhuo, heading towards the Netherworld without a backward glance. Only the young girl looked back at this strange person before stepping into the River of Oblivion, unable to understand why his eyes held such sorrow. Unable to comprehend it, she stopped thinking about it and, together with her people, stepped into the dark marshland.

Jiang Yuhuo didn't say a word, only sniffed, and grabbed the snow from his sleeves into his palm, feeling the cold temperature for those who had gone home.

But her palms were burning hot, and the tighter she gripped them, the faster the snow melted, soon turning into water that flowed through her fingers, dripping like tears.

They didn't recognize her...

Who is she?

She was a stranger to the Liyue Village.

From the moment she abandoned her body, Xiao Jiang ceased to exist. It was she who personally severed the last connection with Liyue Village.

Tears slid silently and swiftly down her face, glistening in the night before melting away with the snowflakes between her fingers into the boundless darkness.

That fleeting tear did not escape the eyes of those below. Even from such a distance, Li Mengbai shouldn't have been able to see her expression. Yet, for some reason, watching that figure recede into the distance, he felt an overwhelming urge to see her again.

What is she thinking, and what will she do next?

Why was she crying...?

When his spirit saw those eyes calmly weeping, he couldn't explain why, but he felt as if his heart was being suffocated by a tattered rag, an unbearable ache. The ache was so intense that he had to release the little girl from his arms and gasp for breath. He was in so much pain that he didn't even notice the people around him running far away.

Shouldn't someone like him feel pleasure and excitement when he sees other people's tears and pain?

Could it be true, as they say, that he... loves this woman?

Jiang Yuhuo stood in front of the crevice for a long time, watching each familiar soul leave. She also searched among those faces, trying to find the person she most wanted to see.

She searched for a long time, until almost all the souls in the sky had left, leaving only a lonely procession slowly drifting towards the underworld. Finally, she saw Jiang Liuyun at the end of the procession.

The pale figure wandered around like her, looking at each face in the snow-covered ranks until all the souls had been found, before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

Jiang Liuyun smiled with relief. His child wasn't inside; perhaps his little Jiang was still alive.

So he calmly followed behind the group, no longer looking around, focused on returning to the resting place of his soul, and did not see a person standing not far ahead, with tears streaming down his face, staring blankly at him.

Seeing the man's relieved expression, Jiang Yuhuo's tears were completely out of control, rolling down her cheeks uncontrollably.

She wiped away the tears that were blurring her vision, trying to see Jiang Liuyun's face clearly, but the more she wiped, the more turbulent the tears became, as if she wanted to shed all the tears she had shed over the years in one go.

She just wanted to see him properly, without wanting to hold him back. But after all these years, she's still so useless... She can only watch helplessly as Jiang Liuyun's image becomes increasingly blurry.

The last wisp of his soul cast a curious glance at the man who was crying uncontrollably. His silent yet turbulent weeping reminded him of his daughter. If she were still alive, she would be this age by now.

Jiang Liuyun looked at the person who resembled his daughter so much, and wanted to pat her on the back as usual and tell her not to be sad. But in the end, he held back. He was just a ghost, and anything he did would only add to the sadness of the living.

The white blur in his vision grew farther and farther away, and the gap between heaven and earth began to close gradually. Jiang Yuhuo suddenly felt a sense of panic.

Father was leaving, and she hadn't done anything, hadn't told him anything, she was right in front of him... she hadn't even had a proper look at him...

She could no longer care about anything else and ran towards the white figure. "Father! Father...it's me...Xiao Jiang, it's me..." she cried out, "Don't go..."

Don't disown her, don't abandon her and leave her alone...

But then she saw the white figure standing before the dark marsh, suddenly turn around, and wave at her with a smile.

That was a farewell... He had already recognized her...

Jiang Yuhuo stood there blankly. They were so close, yet there was a distance between them that seemed to be between life and death.

The entrance to the underworld was closing. Jiang Yuhuo looked at the people and Shuiyue inside and unconsciously took a few steps forward.

She should go too...

She should have left long ago. That peaceful and tranquil place would be free of suffering. She can finally reunite with them…

She closed her eyes, ready to surrender to the darkness.

Suddenly, a pair of slender arms hugged her from behind and pulled her back tightly.

"Don't go in! Don't go... Auntie... If you go in, you won't be able to come back..."

The tiny person unleashed tremendous power in an instant, preventing Jiang Yuhuo from advancing even an inch. Her cries were even louder than Jiang Yuhuo's.

“You still have me, and you still have Senior Brother Wen, Master Zhang…” Hot tears fell onto Jiang Yuhuo’s back as Xiao Jing cried out, “I’m your family too…”

The faces of those people flashed through her mind, but in that instant, the allure of the underworld began to fade. Jiang Yuhuo opened her eyes. The entrance was now only half a person's height. Her father was still standing there watching her, his loving eyes filled with relief, seemingly happy that she now had someone by her side.

Jiang Liuyun smiled and shook his head at her. The moment the gap completely closed, she saw him speaking.

He said, "Forget the past, and live well."

The torn night sky completely healed, the barking of dogs that had echoed throughout the city ceased, all the souls that had emerged from the seal vanished, and the entire Western Capital was as calm as if nothing had ever happened.

Only the heavy snow continues to fall...

Pinghai County, a thousand miles away.

The demon was driven out of Wen Yizhan's body, and the merman's arrow, imbued with powerful magic, pierced the demon's vital point, pinning it to the ground.

The demonic energy dissipated, revealing its original bat-like body.

The two people in the cave recognized it as a nightmare demon that specializes in killing people through dreams, feeding on people's emotions in dreams, whether joy, anger, sorrow or happiness.

But the dying nightmare demon let out a sinister laugh at the merman, "You don't want the beautiful dream I wove for you? Then go and immerse yourself in pain!"

A surge of demonic energy lurking in the darkness shot towards the last glass pillar like lightning. Before Jia Yue could stop it, the glass pillar shattered, and the water and body inside collapsed in an instant. He quickly caught the wet body and carefully held her in his arms.

Before dissipating, the Nightmare Demon let out a sharp howl, "Go and see, go and see what she went through?" He smacked his lips as if savoring the memory, "Her dream was delicious."

-----------------------

Author's Note: Just to clarify: In this world, there is no reincarnation. Once you die, you're dead. There's no next life. Going to the Netherworld means you'll never see the living again.