Chapter 677 – The Martial Hero Remains Uncrowned, The Emperor Stands Too Proud, Mountains and Rivers Bear Witness, Knowledge Through Inquiry - Part 2

Liu Long, no...

Xie Yu

left Tang Sect alone.

She had arrived alone, nearly left with a child, but in the end, walked away alone once more.

Fortunately, she was long used to walking this vast land with no one at her side.

And she wasn't afraid.

She still had her sword.

She traveled east, passing through towns and villages steeped in Tang Sect’s celebration.

After all, Lady Yu had found Lord Yu.

Even if he had returned through reincarnation, the two were now reunited, destined lovers brought back together at last.

Xie Yu couldn’t quite figure out what Lady Yu was thinking.

Wasn’t the secret of rebirth far too great to be spoken so openly?

Many outsiders found the whole thing strange. Some even refused to believe the child really was Lord Yu reborn.

But it didn’t matter. Belief was optional. Attendance was not.

Anyone who received a wedding invitation from the Tang Sect dared not decline.

Beyond those formal guests, others came of their own accord, old acquaintances of Lord Yu who hadn’t received an invitation but still prepared gifts and made their way to Westgorge.

Among them was Guo Qin, once the spirited young lady, now silver-haired and frail with age.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Months passed. Winter arrived.

Before the first snow, Xie Yu reached Skyscale Mountain.

It was a ruin now, long abandoned and broken.

She climbed steadily up the desolate path, until at last, she arrived at her own grave.

And then she froze.

There weren’t just one, but two tombstones.

One read,

Tomb of the Red-Clad Sword Immortal, Founder of the Skygale Sect.

The other,

Tomb of the Li Clan Ancestor, Gucheng.

Xie Yu stared at the second marker in disbelief.

A long silence passed. Then longer still.

At last, she whispered, “Weren’t you supposed to enter the Deathless Tomb? Why are you here?”

Her strength suddenly left her. Her eyes turned red, and she drew a long, trembling breath of cold mountain air. A sorrowful look crossed her face as she raised her red sleeve to wipe away the tears slipping down her cheeks.

In her mind, pieces were already falling into place.

As a daughter of Southriver’s Liu Clan, she had made inquiries after awakening. Of course she had. She’d looked into the Deathless Tomb, only to learn it had become legend, a place no longer of this world.

She could guess why.

When Yin and Yang converged, when the Heavens and Earth shifted in harmony, the Deathless Tomb had receded from the mortal realm. And back then, the Central Capital Princess had been among the last to follow the divine crow westward.

After that, the entire Western Extremes had melted away.

The boundless ice and snow collapsed into a roaring flood, as if heaven itself had overturned. Waters rushed toward the sea, and the Western Extremes became a barren land of endless mountains and dry desolation.

“Was it because you went looking for me...that you were late? That you missed your chance to enter the Deathless Tomb?”

That was the truth Xie Yu had pieced together in her heart.

She was a proud woman, but she knew what kind of person Li Yuan had been.

She knew, without a doubt, that he would have gone looking for her. That he would’ve taken her with him to the Deathless Tomb.

So, she had released false information to throw him off her trail. She had avoided him, then died alone in the mountains, quietly.

But now...

“You idiot,” she whispered.

She lowered her head. She had truly believed that Li Yuan’s grave was here.

“I was wrong. It was my fault...”

The words came soft and low. It had taken a whole lifetime, and another one besides, for her to finally admit it. But the man beyond the grave could no longer hear her.

She sat before the tomb for what felt like forever. And slowly, she realized...all the bitterness she'd once carried had vanished like morning frost under the sun.

But with that bitterness gone, so too was the one she had hated.

“Why were you so foolish? Weren’t you supposed to be the brilliant one?” She tilted her head back, and saw the clouds above. They gathered, then scattered, so like those who came into one’s life, only to leave again.

She remained there for three days and three nights. On the fourth, a thought struck her.

If the tombstone said Li Clan Ancestor, then...who was this supposed descendant?

But Skyescale Mountain was deserted. There was no one left to ask.

The Skyscale Sect was now based in the Western Capital, and with the life she now lived, it wasn’t exactly easy for her to show her face there. Even if they believed she was their founder reborn, there was no guarantee it would lead to anything good.

“Time to go back to Southriver,” she murmured.

In this life, at least she still had the Liu Clan, the ones who had raised her and given her a name.

In this life, she could still walk the path of the sword.

SHING!

The red-robed girl drew her blade in one fluid motion. In a flash of steel, she sliced off the long, waist-length hair that had trailed behind her. What remained was a sharp, boyish cut, clean, fierce, and resolute.

It gave her a heroic air, even if it softened the gentler charm she once had. But that, too, felt right.

She buried her severed hair before the tomb of Gucheng, and said, “When I die, I’ll have them bury me beside you. If fate allows, if reincarnation is kind, I’ll find you again and say sorry to your face.”

With that, she rose and walked away, her figure like a crimson flame cutting through the wind.

Snow swept the mountain paths.

And in the distance, the red robes danced in the storm.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Several months later.

She crossed the Eternal Rest River and arrived in Southriver Province.

The Liu Clan estate wasn’t far from where she and Li Yuan had once lived in Gemhill County.

When she returned home, her parents, Father Liu and Mother Liu, were overwhelmed with joy. They bombarded her with promises: “Alright, alright! We won’t force you to marry. Just please, no more running off without a word!”

Xie Yu, or rather...Liu Long, smiled and said, “I’m not going anywhere.”

The three of them embraced tightly, reunited at last.

Father Liu beamed. “I’ll go to the market, buy us some good meat.”

Mother Liu stayed behind, holding her daughter’s hand. “So...what are your plans now?”

Xie Yu answered with a single reply, “Hone my sword.”

Let the rivers and mountains bear witness to me. Only after foolishness ends does true wisdom begin. Yes

, she thought.

That is the heart of the extraordinary.