Little Alpaca – Chapter 207
by Little PandaVolume 6: Bound by the Life Soul
The Story’s Ending.
Yi Qiu could see that although the formation was vast, all the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within it was converging on Jiang Yuyao, Chao Yun, and Yusu.
The formation had been cast in silence. From beginning to end, Chao Yun and Yusu had not exchanged a single word; they had not even held each other’s gaze for more than a few brief moments. This could not have been a spur-of-the-moment decision. They must have planned it long ago, and there was no telling how long they had prepared for this day.
Some techniques were called Forbidden Arts by the people of the Three Realms precisely because they often required one to defy fate, demanding flesh, blood, and soul as sacrifices. Their effects were mostly insidious to the extreme, and they were very likely to cause a severe Backlash to the user. To avoid or mitigate this Backlash, one had to find others to suffer in their stead, or continuously use Forbidden Arts to acquire more power, then use that power to suppress the Backlashβuntil it became so severe that no amount of power could hold it back, and one died a miserable death.
In truth, legends of Forbidden Arts circulated in every realm and clan. Many were not hard to find, and numerous yao, demons, and even humans had dabbled in their casting methods. They simply didn’t dare use them lightly, keeping them as a last resort, never to be mentioned unless they were at a dead end.
After all, such arts were disdained even in the Yao and Demon Realms. The price they demanded, and the Backlash they inflicted, were more than most could bear.
Gazing at the scene before her, Yi Qiu couldn’t help but frown, her eyes filled with confusion.
The System seemed to sense her bewilderment and once again took on the role of a little encyclopedia.
γThe Spirit-Gathering Formation, in the world of γThin, Withered Branchesγ, is a high-level Forbidden Art of the Yao Realm. It can seize another’s entire life’s cultivation base for one’s own use without the slightest loss. It is stored in the Yao Realm’s royal palace along with many other precious secret manuals, under heavy guard and inaccessible to ordinary yao.γ
“Then how did they get it? Through the Yao God?”
γThis side quest has been missed. It cannot be explored again.γ
Fuck! This was a side quest? There wasn’t any notification before!
So while she was spending the better part of a year in the Mortal Realm, she’d missed an entire side quest? She could truly, always believe that this System’s uselessness knew no bounds.
Whatever, what’s missed is missed. It’s not like I had any intention of making You Yan run around and get into some unknown danger for the sake of others anyway. No matter what, our efforts these past days have at least stopped the bleeding in the Mortal Realm. If we had gone straight back to the Earthly Realm to do this side quest, the Mortal Realm might have really ended up like it was written in the original novel.
But with this, some things did make sense.
Yi Qiu had long been puzzled by something. Although the Yao Capital was in the Earthly Realm, most of the Yao Clan lived in the Mortal Realm. If the Mortal Realm was in trouble, the Yao God shouldn’t have remained indifferent. Looking at it now, she realized that some things had already been mostly handled by others in places she couldn’t see. All that was missing was the final step.
The Wood God was born without freedom. Her innate and irreplaceable power was tied to the lives of countless beings, so her life had never belonged to her.
The living beings of the Mortal Realm bound her freedom. Her emotions and desires had always been shackled by incredibly heavy chains. If she had remained quietly in her original place, as she had for millennia, there would have been no pain, no exhaustion. But as she had said, she was not an inanimate object. How could she be without feelings or desires, letting her life and death be decided by others?
She could not watch the person she loved commit an irredeemable, monstrous mistake because of her own past cowardice, so she made a decision that was difficult for anyone to accept.
Before she left the Mortal Realm, she offered not a single word of defense for herself. Everyone thought she was abandoning all of creation for Yusu’s sake, but only today did they learn that no matter how much she wanted to break her chains, she had never dared to cast off her responsibilities.
At least, before she purified Yusu’s Demon Heart, before she learned that there was a Forbidden Art in this world that could offer a “best of both worlds” solution, no matter how afraid she was, her thoughts had always been to go backβback to that place that denied her freedom, and with the courage she once lacked, to firmly face everything that was to come with Yusu.
It wasn’t until they learned of this Forbidden Art’s existence that they made up their minds to seek out the only way to pursue freedom without sacrificing the world’s living beings.
So, perhaps it was because Chao Yun and Yusu had truly convinced the Yao God and obtained the method to cultivate and cast this Forbidden Art from her that the Yao God had been so slow to respond to the Heavenly Realm’s call for aid.
“By performing this Forbidden Art in reverse, are they really going to transfer their entire cultivation base to Jiang Yuyao?” Yi Qiu frowned, asking the System in her mind. “And what happens to them after?”
γA Forbidden Art is inherently an extreme method to gain much from little, a shortcut of crooked and heretical paths. But performing one in reverse is different. Being a reversal, it requires an even greater power and price. In truth, Host, you already have the answer in your heart, don’t you?γ
Yi Qiu couldn’t help but take a deep breath.
She did. But she didn’t know what state of mind to adopt to face it.
Yi Qiu was no longer the human who had been clueless about formations and techniques. Through cultivation, she had gained a certain ability to distinguish and perceive spiritual power.
This formation was clearly being driven by Yusu’s power, shattering every inch of Chao Yun’s divine bones, scattering every bit of Chao Yun’s divine power, and then sending it all into Jiang Yuyao’s body.
After falling into demonhood, Yusu had indeed gained the power of a Demon Heart. Her cultivation base was immeasurably higher than before, and she certainly had the ability to drive such a technique, ensuring that Chao Yun’s power flowed into Jiang Yuyao’s body without a single trace being lost.
But in doing so, the Backlash she would suffer would not be one bit less than Chao Yun’s. The best-case scenario was perhaps that her Spiritual Veins would be destroyed, and she would never be able to cultivate normally again.
After today, there would be no Wood God or Yi Bird in the Three Realms.
Perhaps they would become two ordinary yao spirits, relying on and accompanying each other until the end of their lives.
Because they had lost their cultivation base and their Spiritual Veins were destroyed, they would never be able to cultivate into human form again. Their lifespans would be much shorter than most yao spirits. They would even be unable to protect themselves if they encountered danger, and could die together on any given day in this world where the weak are meat, the strong eat.
But this was their choice, made together. Whether for freedom or for atonement, they would likely not regret the decision they made today.
The one who was a god fulfilled the demon’s sole desire to be unique; the one who was a demon, in turn, fulfilled the god’s unwillingness to abandon the mortal world.
The moment they broke their shackles, they embraced each other like a moth flying into a flame,1 embracing a freedom that perhaps deserved no one’s blessing.
On that day, within the Forbidden Art’s formation where plants grew with vigorous life, Yi Qiu tilted her head back and stared blankly at the resolute act she could not fully comprehend.
She had only learned a few days ago that the Fusang was originally a divine tree that could reach the Nine Heavens and connect to the Three Springs, yet after the separation of the Three Realms, it was trapped for ages on that lonely island in the Jade Sea, not even deserving of freedom.
But today, the Fusang grew wildly here, finally bursting out of the formation’s barrier, shattering the existence that separated the two realms in that part of the world, and tearing a massive rift in the sky. Just like the people who had given it this power, it no longer suppressed itself in the slightest, single-mindedly craving the freedom it had never possessed.
For the first time in ten thousand years, the light of the Mortal Realm’s sky suddenly poured in through that rift. It was distant, yet incredibly gentle, filtering through the layers of Fusang’s leaves and branches, scattering into the darkness and illuminating a small corner of the world.
From all directions, countless demons arrived. They gazed from afar at the specks of heavenly light dancing with the wind-blown leaves, a light of an unidentifiable source glinting in their eyes. It seemed to be longing, yet they did not dare to approach.
And what happened after that was the true ending of this story.
Luo Mingyuan and Jiang Yuyao left the Earthly Realm. In the end, they did not take the two bird yao, who had lost all ability to resist, back to the Heavenly Realm for punishment. They simply made a decision and told a lie to the Three Realms: the Wood God, Goumang, had her soul scattered in the Earthly Realm. All past matters were not to be pursued.
Before they left, Yi Qiu couldn’t resist asking Luo Mingyuan if, by letting the Yi Bird go, he had also let go of his past hatred.
The once-youthful boy now looked like an adult. He was silent for a long time before he said in a heavy voice, “The answer to that question is meaningless now.”
After that came a farewell, with no knowing if they would ever meet again in this life.
For some reason, Yi Qiu couldn’t seem to let go of the question she never got an answer to from Luo Mingyuan.
She couldn’t help but ask You Yan, who enlightened her with a single sentence.
You Yan said that back then at Kunlun, so many gods from the Heavenly Realm were present, and Luo Mingyuan’s father was there too. She would never forget how her own father died. But what could hate or no-hate, letting go or not, possibly change? She had the power to take revenge, but if she wanted to retaliate against the Heavenly Realm, she was destined to destroy many people and things that Yi Qiu cared about. And the dead could never come back.
Yi Qiu couldn’t help but think that Luo Mingyuan must still hate. At least, until this life was over and he completely shed this human identity, it would be difficult for him to find peace with it. But at this point, his hatred was meaningless.
Even if he personally killed that bird, who no longer had any strength to resist, all he would get was the pain and despair of an old friend’s passing after tens of thousands of yearsβnot even a single shred of pleasure from revenge.
The hole torn in the sky of the Earthly Realm finally began to be repaired by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, bit by bit, closing up over half a month after Jiang Yuyao’s departure.
Before the light completely vanished, the place was like a tourist attraction, drawing in countless demons who had heard the news.
Except for the demons living in Buhuo City, most of the others had long resided in darkness, yet they had never stopped yearning for the lightβeven if they themselves might have forgotten that such a yearning ever existed in their hearts.
A month later, the Fuzhu and the Huodou came to the Earthly Realm, making their way to Buhuo City. They nearly got into a major conflict with the city gate guards, all to bring news of the Mortal Realm to the Demon Realm for Jiang Yuyao and Luo Mingyuan.
When Yi Qiu learned of this, she hurried to welcome them personally, leading them into the Demon Emperor’s Palace.
The Fuzhu and Huodou said that the power that could make all things grow had already spread throughout the Mortal Realm with the scattered Fusang branches. The Mortal Realm had now basically returned to normal. And from this year’s Winter Solstice to next year’s autumn harvest, the imperial court would open the granaries across the land to help the common people through this difficult year.
The Heavenly Court wanted to install Jiang Yuyao as the new Wood God. It was an honor countless people could only dream of, but Jiang Yuyao refused the divine position. Instead, she separated every inch of the Wood God’s power from her own body and returned it to the world through the Fusang branches.
She remembered what Goumang had said before she left: if the peace of the Three Realms could truly be decided so easily by one person’s will, then the so-called guardian could just as easily become a destroyer one day.
The Three Realms should not be like that.
No wonder Chao Yun had chosen her. In this world, no one but her could have done this.
The arrival of the Fuzhu and Huodou also brought with them many Fusang Spiritual Seeds.
Yi Qiu held the cloth bag of seeds, a trace of surprise flashing in her eyes. “The Earthly Realm is harsh and cold, with little light. It’s very difficult for plants from the Mortal Realm to grow here⦔
“The Mortal Realm doesn’t only have plants that love light and warmth. What the Wood God can give to the Heavenly and Mortal Realms, she can also give to the Earthly Realm. Otherwiseβ¦ why would the Yao God have agreed to her request?” Jian Li said, her brows curving into a smile.
Yi Qiu was stunned for a moment, then the corners of her lips lifted slightly. “Jian Li, those weren’t your words, were they?”
Yue Zhuo nodded from the side, chiming in, “Yeah, the Goddess said that!”
As expected. The Fusang understood Goumang. And the Wood God’s millennia of guardianship over the Fusang tree would not end in a single day.
The Wood God gave up everything to pursue her own freedom, and the power she left behind would forever protect the Fusang, and protect the entire Three Realmsβthe Three Realms in the truest sense.
Yi Qiu didn’t know if this was the story Little Bird Coo Coo Fly truly wanted to write, but the System did give her its final evaluation after the Fuzhu and Huodou left.
γCongratulations, Host, on completing the mission objective, completely altering the world-line of γThin, Withered Branchesγ, and successfully repairing the collapsed world.γ
γThe System is now calculating the Host’s points. All points will be paid to the Host in the real world as legal monetary transactions at a ratio of 1:10000. Please wait a moment, Host.γ
γBased on the completion rate of main and side quests, the Host’s score is determined to be 873 points.γ
γThe Gate to the Real World has been opened. Please prepare for your return, Host!γ
What is it saying? Blah, blah, blah.
So noisy, so annoying.
Yi Qiu said, “Iβ¦ I said I wasn’t going back.”
If she suddenly left, You Yan would go mad.
γIn order not to affect the normal operation of each novel’s world, after every transmigrator leaves, a high-intelligence AI will be left to continue living in the Host’s place. The Host need not worry about this.γ
A moment of heartbreak surged into her heart like a bursting dam.
What did it mean, a high-intelligence AI would take her place? The future she and You Yan had promised each other could be so easily replaced by something that wasn’t even a living being? Then what did this whole journey even count for?
You Yan wouldn’t be fooled.
“You can’t fool her,” Yi Qiu argued.
γThe high-intelligence AI has already undergone sufficient learning while the Host was performing the mission. It has been used in various worlds and will certainly be able to imitate you flawlesslyβ¦γ
“You can’t fool her!”
Yi Qiu’s emotional outburst cut off the System’s words. She seemed to be trying desperately to prove something, yet she couldn’t help but feel afraid.
She gradually felt something pulling at her, relentlessly. The sensation was just like being sucked into the Floating Dream Pearl long ago, leaving her with no idea how to resist.
But what it was pulling wasn’t her body, but her three hun and seven po souls.2 So everything had been predetermined. Life and death, leaving and stayingβnone of it was up to her.
Yi Qiu suddenly spun around and ran with all her might toward the place where You Yan was resting, but her steps grew uncontrollably heavy.
She didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to leave without a sound. She didn’t want to be replaced by anything, with You Yan completely unaware.
She finally reached You Yan. The moment she pushed open the door, You Yan turned to look at her. Seeing her red-rimmed eyes, a trace of surprise seemed to flash in You Yan’s own.
Yi Qiu could feel her consciousness and vision growing blurry. She opened her mouth slightly, wanting to say something, but in the end, she didn’t have the courage.
Ifβ¦ if that AI thing really could fool You Yan for a lifetimeβ¦
Why should she, for a moment of her own fear, shatter the hard-won happiness that rightfully belonged to You Yan?
“What’s wrong?”
“⦔ She stretched out a hand, tightly clutching the bag of Fusang Spiritual Seeds. She wanted to pretend that nothing was wrong, but her clenched knuckles betrayed her completely.
“Yi Qiu?”
The pain of her soul being torn from her body robbed her of her last bit of strength.
The moment all consciousness faded, Yi Qiu saw You Yan reach out to her. She fell into her arms, but she could no longer see her expression or hear her voice.
I promised I would die here. I once thought that when it came to life and death, I at least had a choice, but in the endβ¦
She still had to break her promise.
Footnotes
- A classic Chinese idiom (fΔiβΓ© pΕ« huΗ) describing a person who knowingly rushes toward their own destruction out of love or passion.
- In traditional Chinese belief, the soul is composed of multiple parts. The βsΔnhΓΊnqΔ«pΓ²β (three hun and seven po) are the ethereal (hΓΊn) and corporeal (pΓ²) aspects of the soul that govern consciousness and bodily functions.
Almost the end.. Thanks for the translation…