Chapter 361
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Chapter 361: You Rest in the Underworld, I Remain in the World Covered in Snow
The sky darkened, flashes of lightning split the heavens as thunder rumbled, and heavy rain poured down relentlessly.
Raindrops fell like tears, and three umbrellas were opened, forming a small shelter from the deluge.
“And the monk had no intentions of letting anyone leave,” Bai Suzhen suddenly said, her voice sharp in the storm.
“Could it be…?” Little Green exclaimed, her eyes wide in disbelief. “The monk, he’s really easy to talk to, sister.”
“The monk used to restrain himself from taking action because they were friends,” Bai Suzhen murmured softly, her voice gradually turning cold and distant. “But now, that bond has been severed. In the end, he… crossed the line!”
Diwu Qiansui asked, her voice tinged with concern, “Bai Suzhen, what do you want to do?”
“I want to reclaim my husband,” Bai Suzhen declared, her tone unwavering.
For thousands of years, the White Snake had known a love so deep, so consuming, it transcended time. This love was a hundredfold, a thousandfold stronger than anything she had ever felt. She could hide her scales, endure the complexities of the world, suppress her true nature, and wear the guise of a beautiful woman—just to catch a fleeting moment of happiness with him.
She had gained everything she ever desired, but now, she could not bear to lose it. She even forgot she was still a white snake, forgetting her true nature. She had become Bai Suzhen, Xu Xian’s Bai Suzhen.
“I will bring back my husband, no matter the cost.”
The power of the demon surged around her, vibrating like thunder in the air.
Bai Suzhen spoke slowly, her words chilling in the cold rain, “I will flood Golden Mount Temple with water!”
Little Green bit her lip tightly, fearful of what might come next.
Diwu Qiansui lowered her voice, speaking cautiously, “With the pouring rain now, if you were to use your thousand-year cultivation, it would be disastrous.”
Flooding Golden Mount Temple, the waters would submerge the mountain top, and even if there was some distance, the entire city would drown. The once-prosperous city of Jiangnan would be engulfed, countless lives lost, and entire families displaced.
“Are you trying to drive yourself mad?” the immortal fox cried out in disbelief.
“If I cannot retrieve my husband, what does it matter how many people die?” Bai Suzhen’s voice was devoid of any compassion, hard as stone.
Gone was the tender, compassionate woman. In her place stood a thousand-year-old demoness, consumed by the fear of losing her love. She never truly cared for the mortal world; she simply liked it because he did. But now that he was gone, what reason did she have to remain?
“My love, separated by mountains and seas… but mountains and seas can be overcome. My love was always dangerous,” she said quietly.
She added, almost bitterly, “Because, I am a fairy.”
Bai Suzhen’s fury subsided for a moment, and she turned to look at the little fox, her shoulders soaked with rain.
“As for you, you can choose not to come,” she said coldly.
The fairy fox remained silent, the weight of the words heavy in the air.
“Little Qiansui, you and I are different. You still have a chance to turn back, but I have no way out anymore,” Bai Suzhen spoke again, her voice softening slightly. “You are still young, too immature. Even if you wish to stay, the cost is too high… Qiansui, you asked me before if this was all just for repayment. I said no. So, what about you? Is it just for repayment?”
The fairy fox shook her head vigorously.
Diwu Qiansui, feeling lost and disoriented, whispered hoarsely, “I just want to see him one more time… just once, for the last time…”
Bai Suzhen’s eyes softened slightly, but she still admonished gently, “Don’t follow us anymore. You can’t bear this… silly girl… You can’t afford to lose again.”
The little fox crumbled, kneeling in the pouring rain, her heart breaking with sorrow.
Bai Suzhen released her umbrella, allowing it to be carried away by the wind.
She tapped the ground lightly, and instantly, the river’s waters surged toward her. The waters, once flowing gently, twisted and turned, drawn by her will into whirlpools. The turbulent waves rose, towering like battle stages, rising steadily higher.
For a moment, Bai Suzhen almost forgot the immense power she had over nature. Yet, she did not feel joy—only sorrow.
She wanted to show her most terrifying side to the one she loved most.
Little Green let out a piercing scream, diving into the swirling waters. In the blink of an eye, she transformed into a massive serpent, her deep green scales shimmering. Her tail curled, creating ripples in the water.
“Sister, let’s go together,” Little Green said. “This troublesome monk… I want to wake him up personally!”
With one green and one white, they moved across the waves, the dark clouds cloaking the sky, and the rising waters engulfing Golden Mount Temple.
“Fa Hai! Return my beloved!” Bai Suzhen’s cry echoed across the sea of water.
At Golden Mount Temple, the precious pagoda stood tall, unyielding.
Fa Hai opened his eyes, his gaze hardening as he saw the towering waves approach, the torrents of water cascading down the mountain, flooding everything in its path. Farmlands were submerged, houses collapsed, and villages were swept away in an instant by the raging flood.
His eyes turned bloodshot, and with a fierce roar, he stood, wrapping his robe tightly around him. A flying dragon tattoo on his back flared to life, radiating with Buddha’s light.
“Evil creature! How dare you?!” he shouted, his voice full of wrath.
…
The immortal fox left Qiantang, leaving behind the world of humans.
She arrived at Kunlun Mountain, kneeling once more before the Queen Mother of the West. The ruler of Kunlun was unsurprised, having anticipated the little fox’s return.
“From now on, you shall accompany me on this journey of cultivation,” the Queen Mother said.
“One hundred days later, I shall set you free, wherever you may choose to go.”
…
Fifty years later, at Golden Mount Temple, beneath the Bodhi tree, a young-looking scholar sighed, “Really? Did I actually sleep for so long, fifty years…”
On either side of him stood two elderly monks, their faces filled with kindness and age.
“Amitabha Buddha.”
“I thought I would never live long enough to see you wake up,” both monks said in unison.
The scholar was confused. “But why, both of you became monks?”
Fa Hai spoke calmly, “He insisted on staying, and I didn’t force him, the humble monk.”
Xu Xian added, “My wife committed many sins, all for me. I am the only person who cannot blame her in this world. Now, she rests eternally in the Thunder Peak Tower, and I can only remain here at Golden Mount Temple, reciting scriptures every day to atone for her.”
The scholar’s gaze became distant. “In the end, the result remained the same…”
He tapped his knee and chuckled softly, finding some amusement in the situation. “In the end, it’s still the same, with no changes. You too… you too… Are you still Lady Bai, forever resting in the Thunder Peak Tower?”
He started laughing, but then his expression turned sad. “Is it because humans and demons follow different paths?”
No one answered.
Suddenly, Fa Hai winced in pain. A green snake had coiled tightly around his wrist, biting into his flesh and drawing blood.
“Little Green, she still refuses to speak to you,” Xu Xian said quietly. Since that day, the green snake had bound Fa Hai, biting him once a day and devouring a piece of his flesh.
Fa Hai, true to his heart, responded calmly, “If she hates me, let her hate.”
In a flash, the wounds healed, as if they had never been there.
The scholar gazed at the green snake, then turned his eyes toward the monk, letting out a soft sigh.
Those who love each other must be separated forever,
Those who harbor hatred must constantly meet.
The scholar left Golden Mount Temple and returned to West Lake, where he became an ordinary boatman.
Nights passed, and he would drift on the lake, heavily intoxicated, time and again.
Clouds unfurled and curled, flowers bloomed and withered.
He grew old, his hair silvering, his body slowing. Though he appeared ageless, he knew his time had come—like a stone monument weathered by time.
One day, he climbed Golden Mount Temple, finding Xu Xian beneath the Bodhi tree, fast asleep. He never woke again. From that day on, Thunder Peak Tower grew eerily quiet.
One evening, the scholar arrived at the Buddhist pagoda and saw a green snake with hair cascading like a waterfall. After many years, she had transformed back into human form, standing on the pagoda, gazing sadly at the old monk meditating below.
When he saw her, an inexplicable thought crossed his mind…
Fa Hai passed away peacefully.
True cultivation in Buddhism doesn’t focus on the next life.
The green snake looked down at the deceased monk, her mouth opening, but no words came out. Perhaps she had forgotten how to speak.
The green snake vanished, leaving only a lonely Thunder Peak Tower, and two tombstones at Golden Mount Temple.
The scholar would occasionally visit the tombstones, just as he did before, to have tea and reminisce.
He chuckled and said self-deprecatingly, “I had a premonition… I did live past the age of one hundred.”
One evening, he was alone on his small boat, drifting on the lake.
Bai Wei, carrying a wine jug, drank deeply until he was intoxicated. Losing track of time, he lay in the boat, gazing at the starlight, his burp carrying through the air.
“Slept for fifty years, waited for fifty years… But you still don’t come.”
He sighed, “Actually, I am no longer waiting for you, and I don’t miss you as much.”
“Love, you see, is something that some can let go of easily, while others can’t.”
He continued, “I’ve lived this long, yet when I open my eyes, I still feel like a young boy. A man remains young until death, so to toy with his youth seems excessive, doesn’t it, Miss Diwu?”
“Everyone I knew is gone. The kind-hearted monk has passed, Xu Xian has gone, Bao Zheng, Zhan Zhao, Ouyang Chun, the Three Heroes, and Five Righteousnesses, even the Emperor—all are gone. The Great Song Dynasty is fading away… Yet, I remain, waiting… not knowing what for.”
“Perhaps… let’s not wait any longer.”
“Did I not tell you? I will not die. Even if this life ends, in the next life, I will start over. At worst, my memories will be sealed, but I will still be myself.”
“I will forget about you.”
The drunken scholar shouted, “I will forget about you!”
His words drifted across West Lake, the night silent and still.
Drunk and immersed in his own thoughts, he lay in the boat, reminiscing about the past.
Everyone says Jiangnan is beautiful, but only the elderly truly understand its beauty. The spring water is as blue as the sky; lying on a boat, listening to the rain, drifting by the riverbank beneath the moonlight, fair wrists gleaming like frosty snow…
Once, there had been a girl by his side.
The scholar had waited for a hundred years, longing to see her one last time.
But he couldn’t wait any longer.
The handsome scholar from the southern regions now rests eternally on his flat boat on West Lake, having lived a long and fulfilling life, reaching the age of 127.
…
After one hundred and five days and nights, the Fairy Mother of the West kept her promise and allowed them to pass through Kunlun Mountain.
Diwu Qiansui, her long hair flowing to her waist, walked swiftly down the mountain and returned to Qiantang, to the city of Lin’an.
In her memory, only three months had passed, but the city now felt so unfamiliar.
She visited Golden Mount Temple but found no trace of Fa Hai. She searched, asking everyone, but Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian were nowhere to be found.
Finally, a young novice revealed the truth—Golden Mount Temple had been submerged by a great flood over a hundred years ago.
One day in the sky was a whole year on the ground.
Above Kunlun Mountain, there was a mysterious path.
Diwu Qiansui stayed, realizing why her hair had turned gray so quickly and why the Queen Mother of the West had only spoken of a hundred days.
She arrived at the burial grounds of Golden Mount Temple and found three graves.
The immortal fox knelt down, gently brushing her fingers over the relatively new tombstone, on which were inscribed a few words:
In life, without meeting each other, we engage like partners.
Qiansui’s eyes filled with tears, her voice choked as she murmured, “I came late… five days late.”
He had waited patiently for a hundred years.
In the end, neither of them had waited for the other, nor discovered what the other truly desired.
Just as he had sold his long sword for a hairpin, she had cut off her hair for a sword sheath.
Bai Wei had believed that if he treated her well, they could be together. But he had never considered what the future would bring.
Qiansui was afraid of repeating the same tragedy—losing him once again at the closest distance, but never having the chance for one final meeting.
They were too young, too eager to cherish their first love, neglecting the more important things.
The world is filled with suffering.
All love stories are tragic.
…
A hundred years later, in the same marketplace, at the same stalls, a beautiful woman with long flowing hair walked alone.
“Shopkeeper, I am looking for a Yunhu Sword. Is it still here?”
“Yes, this sword has never been sold. It’s my favorite, and I rarely sell it.”
The woman giggled, lifting her hand and chopping off her waist-length hair. “Is this enough?”
The shopkeeper blinked, his mouth agape. “It’s enough.”
The Cloud Tiger Sword was returned to its scabbard, fitting perfectly.
The enchanting fox lady, now wearing the sword, gazed at the willow tree from a hundred years ago. She remembered the wooden plaque they had hung together and the wish she had written with her own hand.
…may we be like swallows on the beam, seeing each other year after year.
She seemed to see a scholar standing beside the stone bridge, smiling at her, asking, “Who won, and who lost?”
As she rested beneath the springs, her body decaying,
I wander this mortal realm, my snowy hair on display…
The enchanting fox closed her eyes and softly whispered, “We all lost.”
