Edited by Yummers
Upon the descending of Asura, the world was bound to be in chaos.
On the night of Da Zhao’s seventeenth spring, strange patterns of weather befell. Dark clouds hovered over the Capital and there was no sunlight to be seen for three days straight. Within the same month, Emperor Zhao’s youngest son, Prince Jin died of fulminant disease.
Emperor Zhao saw this as an ominous sign and went to seek answers from Kunlun Mountain. Then he forbade anyone in the country to kill any livestock for three months.
By the end of summer that year, Emperor Zhao passed away without an appointed heir. All the princes competed for the spot and soon the country was split into fifths. The country was invaded by outsiders one year later, worsening the central plains’ situation. Tens of millions of lives were lost and there were countless refugees.
The turmoil lasted fifty years——
Fifty years later, one day during winter, at the Pu River of An Ling.
The little population of citizens lived there and the river was sealed by ice. Though An Ling was still under the rule of King Yue, this was a unique place that had peace since it was managed by a justified official, causing many refugees to gather around here. Every day at noon, Yamen would give out rations. Under the ruined city gate, government officials were giving out supplies. Even though everyone only received two steamed buns that were hardened and a bowl of watery porridge, it was still considered a lavish meal during this chaotic period.
The River Lord’s temple on the river pier was left deserted and empty. From the city gate located far far away, an old man led his young grandson to here. He was wearing the old uniform of a Yamen constable and his young grandson was starved and tiny, he was sucking his thumb as he stared at the wotou the Elder held in his hand.
The Elder stopped in his tracks in front of the temple, then put down the item as an offering. He caressed the kid’s hairline empathetically, he said, “Be good. This is an offering for the River Goddess, Grandpa’s got a big ol’ flatbread here for you instead.”
The young grandson took it and gulped in greed, yet he still knew to split it into halves and left the larger piece for the Elder.
“Grandpa doesn’t have the teeth to bite through it. Er Dan, you can eat it yourself.”
Next, the Elder faced the River Lord’s temple. The temple’s small door let out creaking noises from the wind swinging it. The River Lord’s spiritual tablet was already coated by a thin layer of dust. The Elder clasped his hands together before bowing sincerely.
As the kid messily ate the bread, he asked childishly, “Grandpa, why are you the only one who worships the River Goddess. Is there really a River Goddess?”
The Elder merely smiled without an answer. He caressed the kid’s thin and short hair affectionately, “Of course there is, grandpa’s Da Shige even took the Goddess in as his wife!”
The Elder was reminded of those sealed away memories of his and the face covered in wrinkles smiled, seemingly making him look more youthful.
He thought back to that year. Red lights covered the shore of Pu River bustlingly. Fishermen had successful catches each day and hundreds of citizens lived in peace and bliss. But no one expected the pleasant life would be gone so soon. In just a few years, the war began. From then on, citizens were destitute. If not for Official Zhang’s student, who later came to manage An Ling, they probably wouldn’t have lasted to this day either.
“Then can I plead to the River Goddess to stop Daddy from going to war and come back to stay with Er Dan and Grandpa?”
“Do not plead for such a ridiculous request Er Dan, or else it might offend the River God…”
The kid felt something and instantly turned his head around. He looked to a spot not too far away then pulled his grandpa’s hand, “Gramps, there’s a person there!”
He saw a figure in plain white stepping over the snow while carrying an oil-paper umbrella. His nails were ink black and his wrist exposed to the eyes had a lifeless ash white color to them.
The two dark eyes gazed over and from that look, his eyes were calm with no ripples at all.
The Elder’s eyes widened, he couldn’t help but raise his hand to rub his eyes…this complexion of a descended deity, how did he manage to forget about it back then? Wasn’t this the person who stayed at Shi Da’ge’s house that year? He remembered himself speaking of how stunning the other looked, but once he brought it up to the other brothers at Yamen, he could not remember the other’s look for the life of him. Now that he was viewing it again, the Elder felt a slight difference. The one in front of him…was probably not a human being.
Weirdly, that mysterious presence seemed to have also recognized him. It walked over, step by step in silence. At last, he stopped at a ten-step distance.
The Elder lowered his head and lightly pushed the kid before telling him to go to play in the snow on the side. The kid was physically fragile so he didn’t want him to be affected by the ghost energy.
Then, he smiled at the being with closed lips that were curled a bit. As if they were old friends who had known each other for years, he said, “You came too late. Shi Da’ge…has been gone for a long time.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The Elder was in his seventies and his son had gone to the front line of the battlefield. His son’s wife died early and only the small child was left behind. Most of his Yamen brothers had passed away, now that he thought about it, the saying of “things remain but people don’t”, was certainly true. Especially his Da Shixiong who spoiled him the most. He went missing one night back then, and after several months, someone fished up a great red saber from the river. Everyone knew that it was Shi Tou’s beloved weapon. He would never let it leave his side so easily. Following, someone stated that it must’ve been the River Goddess who finally decided to drag Da Shixiong down to the river so they could live together happily.
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Dozens of years passed since then, and now he was lost without knowing where to go.
Suddenly, a sorrowful, loud cry noise broke the silence. He looked up. It was a group of refugees that had attacked the Elder. They wanted to steal some food from him but accidentally killed him. Leaving only the child there in the snow, crying painfully, and helplessly.
That Elder was Shi Tou’s little Shidi and just like his Shixiong, he was an idiot who decided to be a good person his whole life.
Just look, good people never receive a good ending. Most of those refugees had all been treated generously by him, yet they went and bit the hand that fed them. He waved his sleeve and those ruffians who killed the Elder were caught. Instantly, all of them died from their seven apertures, bleeding to death.
However, the unexpected event right after their death was played out. The sight of a few kids and their mothers coming out of hiding from the broken temple was unforeseen. While holding onto the corpses and shedding tears of grief, one furiously cried out, saying the Heavens were blind…
Certainly, very certainly, the Heavens were blind.
Someone as benevolent as Little Rock died from unfortunate events and yet, when someone as sinister as him died, he was able to transform into a malicious ghost. In the end, he even became an Asura under the Heavens’ design, a being that couldn’t be erased for all eternity.
Was it, was it really the Heavens who were blind, or was it fate playing with lives?
There were thousands and millions of resentful souls in this chaotic world, and he had been fulfilling his responsibilities as an Asura. He delivered disasters to this place and had traveled through the entire central plain. Seeing that the one who was fated to rule this land was about to be born, ready to help to piece the country back together again, he knew his duty was done. But he had nowhere to go, he came to An Ling without a clear reason. Unbeknownst to him, the house of his and Little Rock’s was already gone…
At that moment, Ah-Jiang’s chest stung painstakingly and he lowered his eyes, He trembled as he moved his hand to press onto his chest. Inside there was the golden pill made from the Blessed Star from years ago. He embedded the golden pill into his primordial spirit to finally, at least save the last bit of Shi Tou’s soul. For the past few years, the golden pill kept its dull and hopeless state. It seemed like the last bit of his soul was going to dissipate from this world sooner or later. However, upon seeing the wretched condition of the current An Ling, the golden pill did some little dumb wriggles as it was filled with sorrow.
Ah-Jiang quickly realized as he held onto his chest to gently comfort it. “Little Rock, I understand.”
“No one can go against the Heavens’ fate. But, An Ling is different, this is our home.”
“Since it was ruined by me, I shall restart from here…”
The next day, piles of snow melted and the river water was flowing again. One could see groups of fish swimming playfully as trees blossomed with flowers.
During the same year, the new Emperor of the Southern Dynasty rose to power and took control in five years. He deported the invaders and built a new dynasty, renaming the reigning dynasty to Zhou.
Fishermen of An Ling had great catches during the past few years since the river had been flowing so smoothly and peacefully. There was even a child who fell into the river carelessly and showed up on the river shore the next day without any scratches. He was unaware of what occurred and had only said that a big fish from the river bottom pushed him up to the shore.
The citizens chattered about it and soon the news was everywhere. They were now all saying that the Lord of the River was real. They rebuilt the River Lord’s temple and for hundreds of years, incense sticks burned continuously.
After hundreds of years, a monk in a gray kasaya robe traveled by. He was at the height of nine chi, he had a remarkable board back and six gold dots on his head. Once he arrived at the river shore, the river water spread apart to open a path for him.
The monk reached the river ghost’s palace and the Asura in white clothing spoke coldly, “What does the East God need? For coming to visit this cold palace of mine.”
The East God of the Rising Sun was the ruler of the Eastern Sky, he was a figure that even the Gods from the realm up above would pay respect to. Only this Asura didn’t give him any face. The East God smiled mercifully, not minding it.
The East God traveled thousands of miles on foot, when he passed by An Ling, he saw the healthy and blissful lives the citizens here had. It was truly more admiring than the Capital. He pinched his finger to calculate and to his surprise, the one protecting this place was the Ghost God—Asura—a being responsible for world destruction. An Asura was usually very sinister; but even though their duty was to bring destruction, they often went against the Heavens’ Wills. So in the end, the upper realm had to send troops and generals down to punish them. Unexpectedly, Jiang Yanyun didn’t commit any sinful deeds in the human realm. In contrast, he returned to the Pu River and settled down there peacefully. This sure was a sight to the upper realm.
The East God of the Rising Sun possessed remarkable abilities, so of course, he could see the reasoning behind his doings. He smiled kindly, “Back then, you didn’t perform good deeds with sincere intents. You only did so to not go against the Heavens’ Will, causing you to end up as an Asura. But now you’ve let loose your desires to kill and are doing goods from the bottom of your heart. It was not a waste of the Blessed Star’s descending, he’d resolved a major disaster that could’ve befallen.”
The Asura snorted coldly, his eyes were bright red, “All of you Gods spout out words of mercy and compassion, yet also use the Heavens’ Wills to play with the lives of humans. The Blessed Star had already sacrificed his life for this world, why did you guys have to cause his soul to be dispersed too?!”
The East God smiled gently and spoke, “Bring out the gold pill of the Blessed Star.”
“Don’t even think about it!”
The Asura exhibited a ferocious look, he won’t let anyone steal his Little Rock from him again!
The East God smiled pitifully, “If you don’t give me the gold pill, then how can I help the Blessed Star restore its primordial spirit?”
“…” Ah-Jiang stayed silent as looked at the stupidass East God that Little Rock once spoke of. He couldn’t tell if what he said was true or not. After a little hesitation, he put his palm over his chest. Inserting his five fingers into his chest, he pulled the gold pill out.
The gold pill’s color was dimmed and dull, but it shined weakly for a moment when it saw Ah-Jiang. Ah-Jiang smiled sourly and held it in his two hands tenderly before cautiously taking it up to the East God.
The East God lowered his head to look at the gold pill. He cast a rare expression of kindness that had not been seen for millions of years. His palm smoothed over the gold pill benevolently as if it was his own child.
“How is it?” Ah-Jiang could not hold his composure at all since the matter concerned Shi Tou.
The East God of the Rising Sun sighed, “His soul has been exceedingly damaged. With only these last bits of soul scraps left, it will be hard for it to last on for another hundred years.”
Upon hearing those words, Ah-Jiang was shaken greatly. His complexion turned mournful as if he’d just experienced the most drastic change of events. Then he kneeled with a fist bow, bowing at the East God sincerely.
Asuras were always rebellious and hard to tame. They could never agree with Gods of the righteous side. In the past million years, there were as many beings as the hairs on a cow that have kneeled in front of the East God. But there had been only one Asura.
“I, Jiang Yanyun, am willing to use my primordial spirit as sacrifice. I plead for the East God to save him!”
Shockingly, once he spoke those words, the gold pill acted up again. Its weak lights blinked on and off, then it managed to move and crash into the East God’s palm.
The gold pill’s yuan soul had already dispersed but deep down, it still had an attachment to Jiang Yanyun. It was as if love was engraved into the last bit of his soul. Though he did not have memories of events from his life, he still didn’t want anyone to harm Ah-Jiang nevertheless.
The East God looked at him then looked at the gold pill in his palm again, he let out a long sigh inside and thought, ‘Fools, both are fools…’
“You can get up.” The East God of the Rising Sun supported Ah-Jiang as he rose and then wrapped the gold pill inside his palms. The gold pill that was originally the size of a palm became smaller and smaller. However, its light gradually grew stronger. At last, it shrunk down to the size of a rice pellet.
“The remains of his soul had already been scattered, it won’t be an easy task to gather them all. I’ve planted a Soul Sealing Thread on him so when he enters the mortal realm again, he’ll be able to assemble the rest of his soul back into his primordial spirit. This will be a strenuous journey, if lucky enough, they could be all gathered back after only a few lives. If not…” The East God looked towards the Asura, “It will all depend on nature.”
Ah-Jiang was alarmed and speechless. He knew that if one were to enter the mortal realm without their soul completed, that person would be born mentally disabled. In each life, they will suffer from endless struggles, how could he bear to let Little Rock go through such horrible conditions? But if he doesn’t do as said, the last bit of Little Rock’s soul wouldn’t be able to last for even another hundred years.
“Is there no other way?”
“There is no other way.”
Ah-Jiang closed his eyes and sighed…he kneeled once more and kowtowed firmly. “I, Jiang Yanyun, am willing to use all my cultivation in exchange to be by the Blessed Star’s side to help him restore all of his souls as fast as possible.”
The East God already suspected that he would do this so he didn’t add on. White light concentrated in his hand as it gradually wrapped up both Jiang Yanyun and the gold pill of the Blessed Star in the white light.
At the dock of Pu River, vivid lights suddenly appeared across the water surface before flying towards the clouds.
Someone pointed and yelled, “It’s the River Lord!”
An Ling citizens kneeled promptly and bowed with clasped hands. In the future, people would spread the legend that the River Lord was actually a jiao dragon from the realm above. He was punished to descend to the mortal realm because of a mistake made when he was younger. Then, with the blessings he brought to many citizens, the Gods above were moved and summoned him back to the Heavens.
Aside from this folklore regarding the River Lord, another tale was passed down as well. The story was one of the River Lord of Pu River transforming into a woman and meeting a human. They had married but violated the Heavens’ rule. It became a romance story of the couple dying for love.
There were so many versions of the story that it was hard to tell what was the original story anymore.
But it was known that a thousand years later, the River Lord’s temple was taken down and was replaced by something else. Then that was taken down as well to be replaced by something new, the process repeating several times. The River Lord’s spiritual tablet had been lost long ago from numbers of floods. Though people who came to this place usually found out that the river was originally called the Pu River and that there was originally a river lord who resided here. Yet, it was a mystery whether the lord was male or female. Well, who let the legends say that the River Lord had once married a male human?
Anyways, a thousand years after, those who knew the truth from back then only had a bit of yellow dirt left behind in this world.
As the river water rippled, a youngster’s face reflected on the surface of the water. The child had a pair of natural bright eyes and white shining teeth. On his right cheek was a deeply indented dimple while both his face and clothes were covered by dirt stains, but he didn’t care. He simply reached his hand into the water to splash the water around gently, he titled his head as he smiled.
“Ah-Jiang——” Another figure appeared on the water reflection and the youngster called out with a wide-opened mouth to the person behind him, who was pushing a bike.
The person named Ah-Jiang looked to be the same age as him, though his delicate look differed from the other. He sighed when he looked at the youngster, then he kneeled on one knee as he took out a handkerchief that he always kept on him. He lifted the youngster’s chin and wiped the specks of dirt delicately. A soft and affectionate sigh that didn’t agree with his age came out. “Didn’t I tell you to wait for me to pick you up? How did you get like this? So dirty…” Ah-Jiang’s voice gradually faded out, he had found a bloody cut on the corner of the youngster’s forehead, which was dried by now.
“Who did this?” Ah-Jiang clenched onto the youngster’s wrist and asked with a pair of furious eyes.
“Ah?” The youngster tilted his head but due to the pain from Ah-Jiang’s tight grasp, he pouted like a sad puppy, “Hurts, hurts…”
Ah-Jiang was so enraged, his chest heaved up and down. Yet, he couldn’t do anything else. He could only roll up the other’s sleeve to see if there are any other wounds. Good thing that aside from the few old wounds that had been there, he didn’t witness any other. Ah-Jiang let out a breath, however, he saw a strange bluish-black mark on the youngster’s shoulder. He closed into it and couldn’t help but reach out a hand to touch it…was it a birthmark? Though, it looked more like a bite mark…
“Little Rock, will you make me pig trotters every day in the future?”
“Yeah…”
“For our entire life?”
“For our entire life.”
“What about our next, next next, and next next next life?”
What about them…
“Ah-Jiang, Ah-Jiang——” The youngster named Shi Tou shouted, finally bringing Ah-Jiang back to his senses. He rubbed the corner of his eye before helping the other off the ground, “Get on the bike, I’ll take you home.”
“Mn!” Shi Tou jumped onto the bike’s backseat swiftly. After Ah-Jiang got on as well, Shi Tou’s arms wrapped around him from behind, hugging him tightly.
Ah-Jiang smiled softly, as he grabbed the bike handle with one hand, the other hand slowly went on top of the youngster’s hand; he held onto it tightly in silence.
To be married to a ghost, even if this life comes to an end, a mark will still follow him to the next life. Waiting for his other half to come to find him. The two shall continue their marriage from the previous life…
The water rippled slightly and as the youngster spoke,
“Little Rock, I’ll only ever give you rides in the future, sounds good?”
“Good…”
“For our entire life?”
“For our entire life.”
“What about our next, next next, and next next next life?”
The other youngster who was puzzled by all the confusing words swayed his head to the sides lightly, then he looked at Ah-Jiang.
Ah-Jiang was very beautiful and Little Rock’s face couldn’t help but grow red.
This time, he nodded his head and finally replied, “Yeah.”
——The End——
T/N: That’s the end of the first arc! (not the entire story please, this doesn’t have a bad ending, I would never pick up a novel with bad ending either, come back QAQ) Starting the next chapter (14-23) will be the modern arc with the reincarnation of the main characters that relate back to this timeline. I’m excited because I favor that arc more than the first! So I hope y’all enjoy it too~
Тhanks!! It looks very interesting !!
DUREN 💖💖💖💖😭😭
Thanks for chapter!!
I cried😭 , okay
Mannn, i can’t wait for the update
It was so damm bittersweet😢
Thx for the chappy
Huhuhu cried a river….somehow this reminds me of Xie Lian.Love story that spans for hundreds of years with tragedy and heaven’s play.
My God. I’ve been blindsided by the ending. How many arcs are there and do I need to prepare for more tissues?
I cried so much! I’m ready for the happy ending now T^T
yay coz they’ll continue in modern era!!!! i’ve cried a buckets when i read the beginning ah!! sigh thank u for the chapter~
thank u so much for the translation❤️, crying tears coz of the 1st arc 😭. Looking forward for a happy arc next 🥺
Thanks for the translation. I didn’t think this would make me cry, but it did. 😢
Oh gosh!!!! I bawled.
Awwww! So happy!
Thanks for the chapter! ♥️
My angel!!!! “I would never pick up a novel with bad ending” did immortals sent you? 😍
My my heart!💔💔❤️🩹❤️🩹 thank you for the chapter.
So short, but so painful. My heart. 🥲
i hate bad ending too 😭
thank you for the translations!