Edited by Zaki
Winter was a monotonous season.
As soon as the snow fell, all the colors were replaced by pure white. Looking up, the vast expanse between heaven and earth felt blurred.
In ancient times, winter was the season people feared the most.
Because the cold winter represented silence and death, no plants, no animals, everything was in slumber, only cold and hunger.
Unlike the vibrant spring, the hot and lively summer, and the fruitful autumn, winter was a season to be feared and revered.
The Winter God had always known this and accepted everything calmly.
“Tell me why they are afraid of you.” The naughty Spring God held his chin and looked at his friend with a gentle smile, “You obviously have the best temper among us.”
The Winter God smiled and said maybe it was because everyone was afraid of the cold.
Spring God: “Then why aren’t they afraid of summer? Zhu Rong is obviously the one with the worst temper.”
The Winter God said nothing, but looked up. At this time, the ice and snow were melting, and the Human World was bustling. People took off their heavy winter clothes, came out of their warm houses, and began to cultivate and reproduce, restoring vitality once again.
Ignoring Spring God’s calls, Winter God stood up and left, his back looked a bit lonely, and Spring God could only sigh softly when he saw this.
After the separation of the two worlds, the aura in the Human World faded day by day, and the traces of non-human beings became less and less.
But despite this, the crack left when the two worlds were separated was still a huge problem. There were ten cracks at that time, and those who guarded the cracks were the Yinglong Clan and Goddess Nuwa’s descendants. Later, the cracks gradually merged, and the remaining passages became fewer and fewer, and finally only one remained.
As a result, this passage had become the focus of attention from both worlds, and was the Zhulong’s last chance.
The Zhulong were also a Dragon Clan, but unlike the Yinglong, they were in charge of the affairs of the Netherworld. What Zhulongs liked to eat was strong food. They would swallow what they liked the most as well as what they liked the least, which was somewhat similar to Yinglongs. But the biggest difference between Yinglongs and them was that Yinglongs could control their desire, just like Ao Run and his lover. He obviously wanted her all for himself but even though he endured the pain, he was never willing to hurt her. If it had been a Zhulong, he would have swallowed all the bones and dregs long ago.
The Winter God didn’t like bustling places, he preferred to be alone, which was somewhat similar to the silent winter.
His friends were probably afraid that he would be lonely, so they often came to talk to him, and the days passed like this.
The Gods of Four Seasons were entrusted by Nuwa to maintain the passage between the two worlds. Nowadays, the bloodline of the Guardian was getting weaker and weaker, and the Zhulongs were eyeing the passage causing a headache to everyone involved in protecting the passage.
Fortunately, there was still some hope at that time. All the Four Seasons Gods were not too worried, but the affliction that threatened the Dragon Clan was a disease called corruption, so the Winter God found a gap and entered the Other World to find out where the pollution was. As far as the Dragon Clan was concerned, what exactly it was.
In the Other World, the Yinglong Clan was almost extinct as they were extremely picky in choosing partners, so the breeding situation was very bad. The Zhulongs were just the opposite of them. There was only one requirement for choosing a partner: to be alive. Therefore, their quantity was many, but although the quantity had gone up, the quality had gone down. The dragon veins of the Zhulongs had become weaker and weaker, and even began to totally disappear.
The Winter God had once seen Ao Run kill five Zhulongs easily.
The Other World was colossal, more than a hundred times larger than the Human World. In this world with so many powerful people, he was just a weak God of the Four Seasons, so he acted with extra caution. But the more he probed, the more confused he became. He found that there was no difference between Zhulong and Yinglong to a certain extent. If it must be said, the only difference was the Zhulongs couldn’t control their desires.
They ate what they wanted, got angry when they wanted, and killed when they wanted, without thinking about the consequences. They were like newborn children, with only the purest part of their nature. Neither morality nor emotion could restrain them, only strong force could make them surrender.
In Zhulong’s body, the Winter God vaguely understood the nature of corruption – uncontrolled instinct.
This reminded him of the Human World.
The Human World was very attractive to Zhulongs. Ever since the two worlds were separated, they had been trying to come through the passage, and they even organized several waves of powerful offensives, which made the Gods of the Human World miserable. The Winter God never understood why they were so obsessed with the Human World at first, but later he finally understood that it was the flesh that attracted the Zhulongs.
Unlike non-human beings who were simply respected for their strength, humans are weaker and more complex. They gathered very close together and were numerous in number, but the ** in each human being was astonishing. These ** may be good or bad, but they were all Zhulong’s favorite foods.
In particular, humans had no power to fight back. Those latest powerful weapons were like plastic toys in front of the Zhulong’s hard armor.
Therefore, the Zhulongs were eager to enter the Human World, and now, their last chance was in front of them. If the last passage in the Shuifu Village disappeared again, it meant that the two worlds would no longer have any chance to merge. This made the Zhulongs become restless and they were secretly planning something.
The Winter God felt the turbulent undercurrent beneath the calm waves.
But this was not the worst thing. The worst thing was the hexagram he got after placing the Elders of the Tree Clan in the Other World.
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.
Ktf Kgff Jijc tjv j nfgs rqfmlji lctfglajcmf wfatbv, atja lr, jii atf wfwbglfr jcv xcbkifvuf ujlcfv klii yf rtjgfv jwbcu atf wfwyfgr bo atf mijc. Ktf wfwbglfr jcv lctfglajcmf ujlcfv ys batfg Jijcr wjs yf ibra, yea cba ys atf Kgff Jijc. Ktlr jirb wjvf atf Sivfgr bo atf Kgff Jijc erejiis oeii bo klrvbw. Ktlr kjr atf gfreia bo atf mbiifmalnf ragfcuat bo atf Jijc. Ktf wbra qbkfgoei atlcu jybea atf Kgff Jijc kjr cba atflg wfwbgs, yea atflg vlnlcjalbc jylilalfr.
Tree people rarely told fortunes, but every hexagram would be accurate.
The Tree that the Winter God found was the Leader of the Tree Clan, and he offered to make a divination for the matter that the Winter God was most worried about.
“The hexagram is not very good.” Old Tree spoke in a slow and steady voice, somewhat like an old man. “No… to be precise, it is very bad.”
The Winter God sat on the branch, frowning slightly: “What’s the explanation?”
The Old Tree said: “Their bloodline will be cut off.”
The Winter God was stunned.
The Old Tree continued, “At most, it will continue for two more generations… This is already the best result.”
If anyone else had said such words, the Winter God would definitely question it, but it was the Old Tree who spoke.
“Is there any way to solve it?” After a long silence, Winter God could only ask.
“No solution, no solution…” The Old Tree’s words made the Winter God feel cold. It said, “Xuan Ming, this matter… has no solution.”
The Winter God jumped off the tree trunk and circled around the Old Tree. He frowned and didn’t speak for a long time.
Seeing this, the Old Tree could only comfort him, saying that there was karmic law between heaven and earth, and there were some things that could not be obtained by forcing. Besides, the integration of the Other World and the Human World might not be a bad thing, but might be an opportunity for human beings.
“Opportunity?” Winter God said, “The human body is already so weak now. If the two worlds really merge, they will just be a dish in the mouth of the monsters.” Human beings were a very resilient race, and what the Old Tree said did make sense and there might be a way of life in it, but the prerequisite for discovering life was to fall into an irreversible dead end. The Winter God didn’t even dare to think about how many people would have to die by then.
The Old Tree sighed, but said that there was really nothing that could be done about the Guardian’s bloodline. Judging from the hexagram, the Guardians would disappear completely. As for how they would disappear, the hexagram was not so specific.
The Winter God was silent for a long time, then suddenly raised his head and touched the Old Tree: “Then you can help me calculate another hexagram.”
The Old Tree said: “What else do you want to know?”
The Winter God spat out a sentence from his mouth.
When the Old Tree heard this, his expression changed greatly: “You…”
Winter God said: “I just want to know if there is any way to crack it.”
The Old Tree sighed, and then made another prediction for the Winter God. However, as this prediction continued, the lush branches and leaves on his body began to wither and turn yellow rapidly, until it spread to the entire crown of the tree. Upon seeing this, the Winter God quickly told the Old Tree to stop calculating, but the Old Tree didn’t speak again until it had finished calculating.
“There is a way.” He said, “Prying into the secrets of heaven is really going to kill me. The hexagram this time is very simple, just four words.”
Winter God: “What are the four words?”
The Old Tree responded: “Broken and then established.”
The Winter God was stunned: “What does it mean to break and then to establish? Does it mean that the two realms must be merged?”
The Old Tree didn’t understand the meaning either.
Winter God thought for a long time, but suddenly recalled something. He was shocked and said: “I suddenly remembered that there was also a passage that was broken…”
The Old Tree asked doubtfully: “Huh?”
Winter God: “The passage was broken by the Zhulongs, but the two realms did not merge.”
The Old Tree questioned: “How could it be?”
Winter God: “It’s because the Guardian repaired the broken part at that time, and then the passage disappeared…” He laughed, “It was indeed broken and then rebuilt.”
When the Old Tree heard this, he was a little confused: “Do you want to…”
The Winter God rubbed his cheek against the Old Tree and said, old man, I may have to leave for a long time. Don’t miss me. I will come back to chat with you after I finish all these matters.
The Old Tree said go ahead. The decades of human race were just a fleeting moment for him. After a nap, maybe the Winter God would have settled his affairs and come back to chat with him.
The Winter God returned to the Human World. At this time, he already knew what he needed to do. He found Ao Run’s lover and told her that their family’s bloodline would be cut off.
It’s just that the Winter God said it more implicitly, and said that only by leaving here could the accident be prevented.
“Is this true? Will something really happen to them?” Fang Ruhui looked anxious. She had known the Winter God for several years and knew that although this God was in charge of severe winter, he was the one with the best temper and would not use this kind of thing to joke, “What should we do?”
“Leave here before you get pregnant.” Winter God said, “Only by doing this can you save your child.”
Fang Ruhui believed the words of the Winter God, and she began to try to express her desire to leave Shuifu Village to Ao Run. At that time, Ao Run and Fang Ruhui were in love, and they were inseparable. Fang Ruhui vaguely felt something, and naturally she would not want anything to happen to her and Ao Run’s children.
This was just the beginning. Later, some accidents occurred at Fang Ruhui’s home, which further strengthened her desire to leave. But she didn’t realize that whenever she said she wanted to leave, Ao Run’s temper would become violent and he would even be unable to control himself. This irritability became more and more intense until Ao Run was sure that he was corrupted.
It was a sunny afternoon and Fang Ruhui was lying in the yard when she heard familiar footsteps. She opened her eyes and saw a face with a completely different expression from Ao Run’s usual expression. Her lover’s black hair had turned red and there seemed to be a flame burning in his eyes.
“Do you really want to leave me?” Her lover gave his usual smile but this time showing his mouth full of sharp teeth and said, “If I eat you, will you not want to leave?”
Fang Ruhui was frightened. She knew Ao Run very well and knew that he was not joking at this time.
“Why do you always want to leave me?” Ao Run said, “Wouldn’t it be better to just stay here forever?”
Before Fang Ruhui had time to answer, there was a sound of breaking through the sky outside the house, but the Winter God arrived and drove Ao Run away after a fight.
Fortunately, Ao Run was still somewhat conscious at this time, and instead of fighting to the death with the Winter God, he left in a sorry state.
“What’s wrong with him?” Fang Ruhui asked blankly.
“He has been contaminated.” Winter God said, “There is something wrong with your condition. I found a doctor for you…”
Only then did Fang Ruhui know that she was pregnant.
Although she knew the word corruption at that time, she didn’t know that a contaminated Dragon looked like this. She never understood why Ao Run was contaminated from the beginning to the end. Everyone was confused, but only the Winter God knew the reason.
It turned out that Dragons who fell in love with humans were really easily corrupted. The Winter God sat on a branch and thought. He looked at the humans running and chasing in the grass under the tree, and suddenly understood why they didn’t like winter. Snow was soft, but when frozen together, it turned into hard ice, just like the God who controls winter. He should be compassionate to the world like the Gods of the Four Seasons, but after learning about the tragedy he caused, there was no compassion in his mind, instead he even started planning what to do next.
Such a God deserved to be disliked.
The Winter God laughed.
After the accident in Ao Run, the Winter God disappeared. The other Four Seasons Gods could not find him, but at least they were relieved to know that he was still alive.
Fang Ruhui gave birth to a daughter as she wished, but when her daughter grew older, she forcefully sent her out of Shuifu Village, unwilling to let her stay here any longer.
Along with the Winter God, there was also Ao Run who disappeared, and he came back once, on the day when Fang Ruhui gave birth.
There were dark clouds in the sky that day, and Fang Ruhui heard the beast’s roar in mid-air. She held her child weakly, thinking that Ao Run was coming back to visit her, but she did not expect that what she would receive was his ruthless attack. If the God of Four Seasons hadn’t been watching over her, she and the child might have been eaten by Ao Run that day.
At this point, Fang Ruhui completely gave up on Ao Run.
However, despite this, life still had to go on. The child grew up day by day, but she had never seen her Father. Fang Ruhui was used to living like this. She finally vaguely understood that the reason why Ao Run became like this was because she had always wanted to leave Shuifu Village.
As a tenant, Ao Run couldn’t leave. So he felt that Fang Ruhui also wanted to leave him. Day by day, year by year, his feelings gradually accumulated and finally broke out.
After Fang Ruhui figured it out, she felt it was ridiculous at first. She didn’t expect that the Dragons were such fragile creatures and that it was so difficult for them to control their bodies. Later, she only felt pain because she couldn’t think about how much self-control Ao Run had to exert when he was with her, so as not to show such strong and frightening possessiveness towards her.
But fortunately, she at least understood and never stepped out of Shuifu Village again.
Fang Ruhui still remembered the words of the Winter God, and of course sometimes she would have some doubts about it, but the Winter God had no reason to harm her. And this prophecy was only forgotten by Fang Ruhui until her children grew up, got married and had children, and a Grandson was born. But she didn’t expect that the prophecy would actually come true.
It was a sunny summer, and Fang Ruhui’s daughter returned to Shuifu Village to visit her. Although the daughter had always wanted to take her mother out of this remote mountain village, she had always been rejected by her mother, and thus could only helplessly choose to come back to visit her mother every year.
Fang Ruhui received a call a few days ago and learned that her daughter would be back today. She was very happy and prepared sumptuous food as usual, waiting for their return.
But in the end, she only heard a loud sound of landslide and ground cracking, and waited in vain.
Her daughter died in the mouth of her lover, who swallowed the fruit of their love.
When Zhu Rong said these things, he always chose his words very carefully, and at the same time he was still observing the expression on Fang Ruhui’s face, as if he was afraid of stimulating her too much, but Fang Ruhui was calm from beginning to end, and in the end, she simply replied: “I understand, thank you.”
“You… don’t be too sad.” Zhu Rong said.
Fang Ruhui smiled, stroking her hair by her ears and said, “En, I’m not sad.”
Zhu Rong was speechless.
But while she was not sad, Fang Ruhui’s body began to weaken rapidly. From the incident to her death, it was only two short years.
Her grandson Lu Qingjiu returned to Shuifu Village to help her host the funeral. He didn’t know that there was someone watching him secretly while the funeral was going on.
“Are you still leaving?” His friend Yin Xun asked cautiously.
“Hmmm, I have to finish my studies.” Lu Qingjiu said, “I don’t know what happens after that…”
“Oh.” Yin Xun tried his best to comfort his friend, “Then you must work hard and take care of yourself, otherwise Grandma will be sad if she knows.”
Lu Qingjiu smiled tiredly when he heard this. For some reason, his Grandma never wanted to leave the Shuifu Village. Even when she was seriously ill, she was unwilling to go elsewhere for treatment. At that time, when his parents had an accident, he had thought of returning here to stay with his Grandma, but she forcefully refused on the basis of his studies.
“You have to at least finish college.” Grandma stroked her grandson’s hair, her tone full of love, “What’s the point of following me around, an old bone, in a small mountain village, wouldn’t that be a waste of your Mother’s and Father’s efforts?”
After his Grandma said this, Lu Qingjiu could only say that after he finished college, he would come back to stay with his Grandma. It didn’t matter if he didn’t leave Shuifu Village. We would spend our whole lives here.
Grandma smiled when she heard this, “Isn’t it good outside? What do you want to do when you come back? If you make a difference, Grandma will be happy. As for whether you can get out or not…that doesn’t matter.”
When Lu Qingjiu heard this, he thought in his heart that he must come back. Later, he graduated from college and wanted to come back, but his Grandma disagreed. Lu Qingjiu originally wanted to make his Grandma leave Shuifu Village, but he didn’t expect that his Grandma had already left before his persuasion came to a result.
Not accompanying his Grandma, Lu Qingjiu regretted most in his life, and this regret lasted until he returned to Shuifu Village.
The Winter God waited quietly for all this to happen. He watched as Ao Run was corrupted, Fang Ruhui’s daughter died tragically, Fang Ruhui died of illness, and Lu Qingjiu returned to Shuifu Village. This was like a strange reincarnation. He said to the person next to him: “If I hadn’t done this at the beginning, would all this have happened?”
The child beside him didn’t seem to understand the meaning of his words, and his expression was a little confused. Winter God… no, Xuan Yu to be precise, laughed: “Okay, you don’t understand yet, but it doesn’t matter. You’ll understand soon enough.”
He didn’t know when it started, but the Winter God was also corrupted. He didn’t even realize when he was contaminated or why. He was a God with weak emotions. Only his strong love for humans drove him to do all this.
Could it be that this kind of emotion was too passionate, causing his soul to be contaminated? Xuan Yu couldn’t understand, so he simply didn’t think about it.
Fortunately, he quickly found a solution to the contamination. He split his soul in two, allowing the part controlled by evil to exist as the real Winter God, while he was stripped of his power, but retained his memory.
As long as the two realms were fused, humans would rely on him even more, and he could protect them so that they would no longer be afraid of him – as for such things as not being able to be resurrected if he didn’t believe in being killed when the time came, that was never in the Winter God’s mind.
Unsurprisingly, the soul that was completely occupied by corruption did what Xuan Yu expected. He left Xuan Yu and chose to cooperate with the Zhulongs.
Xuan Yu lost his strength and his body began to become weak, and could only appear in the coldest times. But he found it a little ridiculous. It turned out that not only the Dragons, but also the Gods were full of desire. This desire was the source of contamination. Even a small amount of unwillingness would be full of destructive power after infinite amplification.
Fortunately, everything was developing according to Xuan Yu’s plan, and Lu Qingjiu came back, as fate would have it– to the Shuifu Village.
At this time, Xuan Yu also understood the meaning of the Old Tree’s hexagram and why the Guardians were extinct after Lu Qingjiu’s generation.
Lu Qingjiu actually fell in love with Yinglong Ao Yue. They were both male, so naturally there was no possibility of having offspring. Even if Lu Qingjiu wanted to, with Ao Yue’s nature of exclusivity, as long as there was the slightest possibility, it would be ruthlessly obliterated. Ao Yue would not be reasonable enough to consider human inheritance.
“Ah, it’s so interesting.” Xuan Yu walked in the wind and snow, enjoying the feeling of cold snowflakes hitting his cheeks. There was a gentle and compassionate smile on his lips, “Lu Qingjiu, what will you choose in the end.”
He had always been a tolerant person and would not force people to make choices. Lu Qingjiu could choose to save the world, or he could choose to leave with Bai Yuehu. Of course, Lu Qingjiu’s final choice would also determine the fate of mankind.
There seemed to be golden light flashing on the horizon, and a red dragon was peering into it. Xuan Yu stood in the snow and saw a blue ice butterfly dancing towards him.
He closed his eyes, and the smile on his lips became even brighter.
Ela ~~ Wow! This explains so much – the full circle of things!
What the- i have a whole newfound hate for Xuan Yu. What a hypocrite and a b—— LQJ’s whole family tragedy was because of him… no excuses can redeem this
He is actually the most ruthless and full of fake compassion for people..