He Qingfu found it hard to refuse this decision.
Because Chen Xihe was absolutely right—even if he was determined, even if he promised not to get involved in mortal karma or let his thoughts stray, avoiding karma was not something he could accomplish on his own.
Even with her planning, it would be extremely difficult.
Chen Xihe was a living being. He needed to eat. Even though a crane yao could survive on the purest mountain spring water alone, when he went out to drink, it would be hard for him not to encounter other living creatures.
A fish, a bird, a deer, a lost traveler.
Take a deer, for example. Suppose it was meant to be discovered and eaten by a predator at the riverbank on a certain day, but because it happened to meet Chen Xihe while drinking, it ran away in panic and survived. That would disrupt the karmic chain, possibly triggering a series of changes.
If something like that really happened, all of He Qingfu’s efforts would be in vain.
But she didn’t want the crane yao to die.
After so much time together, not only had the crane yao come to see her and little Jiang Yan as family—she felt the same. Chen Xihe was her family too.
“I’ve actually thought of that, and I’ve already found a solution.”
He Qingfu proposed another approach: “I’ve found the most hidden valley—no living being will discover it for a thousand years. But it’s so remote, so quiet, that there’s nothing there but you—not even a single blade of grass.”
“I’ll teach you how to fast, to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. That way, you won’t need to eat. As long as you don’t leave that valley for a thousand years, you’ll be fine.”
Chen Xihe asked, “How big is that valley?”
He Qingfu glanced around the underground palace. “About half the size of this place.”
Chen Xihe laughed. “Forget it.”
“That would be pure torment.”
“The place I used to live was a thousand times bigger than this. The mountains were my home. If I had to spend a thousand years in such a tiny place, unable to feel any flowers, grass, or trees, unable to see or hear anything, my mind wouldn’t survive. So just separate my soul from my body.”
“Suppress my true form underground, let my soul hover outside the valley.”
“Actually, it only looks bad—it seems like I’m dead. But compared to being alive and trapped, the latter feels more like death.”
He Qingfu was silent for a long time.
After a moment, she nodded. “You’ve convinced me.”
“I’ll give you two runes—one to prevent your soul from being polluted by turbid qi, and one to keep you hidden from psychics. For a thousand years, no psychic will be able to break these two runes.”
“Psychics?” Chen Xihe frowned lightly. “What’s that?”
“They’re what we now call exorcists, but the name will change in the future,” He Qingfu explained.
Chen Xihe understood.
He already had a rough guess about He Qingfu’s identity, but he didn’t ask. Peering into others’ secrets was never a good thing, and he never did such things.
He Qingfu pressed her lips together. “Then I’ll come find you the night after tomorrow.”
“All right.”
As he watched He Qingfu leave, Chen Xihe thought for a moment, then suddenly spoke:
“You seem a little guilty, but there’s no need.”
“If not for you, my soul would have been destroyed two years ago in the middle of the night. So anything I do for you is only right.”
He Qingfu stopped and looked back.
“Thank you.”
“No need to thank me.”
*
Time flew by. The next afternoon, urgent news of Yao Shian’s critical condition reached the palace and landed in Jiang Chixi’s hands.
After receiving the letter, Jiang Chixi quickly arranged everything.
She summoned the imperial physician, announced she had contracted a seasonal illness, issued an edict for Jiang Rongge to act as regent, and at sunset, spent two hours talking with her adopted daughter—the next empress of Jiang—entrusting her with all future matters.
“To keep up morale, Shian’s true condition has never been revealed. Even now, as she struggles, the army only thinks she’s been overworked and needs a couple days’ rest.”
Jiang Chixi’s expression was grave and earnest:
“I want to go see her.”
“Shian hasn’t returned to the capital in six years. I’ve almost forgotten what she looks like. Fortunately, you’re now capable enough for me to go do what I want.”
Jiang Rongge made no move to stop her mother. “Do whatever you wish, Mother.”
“I’ll take care of the capital.”
Jiang Chixi smiled and got to the heart of their talk: “I have no interest in a peaceful retirement. I’ve loved power all my life, loved the struggle, most enjoyed the feeling of controlling everything. Staying in the palace after abdication would be torture for me.”
“So I plan to take Shian’s place on the battlefield. I’m only two years older than her. If she can go, why can’t I?”
Jiang Rongge looked up in shock.
This time, she couldn’t sit still. She jumped up, wanting to persuade Jiang Chixi.
Jiang Chixi raised her hand, cutting her off, then countered:
“You don’t trust me?”
“I do, of course I do… but…”
Jiang Rongge was full of worries.
Jiang Chixi continued, “Back then, Shian and I had the same master. We fought each other, sometimes winning, sometimes losing. I once imagined going to war, but my mother saw through me and said I bore too much to be qualified for the battlefield.”
“All these years, I never stopped practicing martial arts—maybe I was waiting for this day.”
“Though I never thought, when this day came, Shian wouldn’t be there.”
Jiang Rongge could no longer object.
She asked softly, “What do you want me to do, Mother?”
Jiang Chixi replied, “Shian and I have similar faces and heights. She’s thinner now, so our figures are probably even closer. Once I put on armor and with Gu Zhaojun’s cover, no one will suspect a thing.”
“Everything will be decided in these next few days.”
Under Jiang Rongge’s incredulous gaze, Jiang Chixi said something earth-shattering: “I’ll go to battle in her name.”
“So if I die, find some trusted people, bring my body back to the imperial tomb, and put it down as Shian’s death.”
Her voice was very calm:
“Yao Shian is a general. She told me many times that her end should be to die on the battlefield, to die fighting.”
“She can’t do it now, but I can do it for her.”
Jiang Chixi was a woman of swift action. After saying this, she sent Jiang Rongge away, rested well that night, and spent the next day resolving all outstanding matters. At dusk, He Qingfu took control and went to the underground palace to find the crane yao.
She gave Chen Xihe detailed directions, precise to when to turn, where to hide, and how many minutes to wait before moving on.
“When the first ray of sunlight lights the earth, you’ll reach that valley.”
He Qingfu handed him four runes, introducing them as she did: “This one separates body and soul, this one is for suppression and sealing, this one prevents turbid qi from tainting you, and this one conceals your aura and spirit.”
“I’ve already unlocked all the restrictions. Just shatter them with your yao power and they’ll work.”
Chen Xihe looked at He Qingfu in confusion. “You want me to do all this myself?”
He Qingfu nodded. “There’s no time.”
“And I know you’ll do it right.”
At this point, her tone was uncharacteristically teasing: “You’re carrying my soul talisman. Disobey me and you’ll die—you haven’t forgotten that, have you?”
Chen Xihe laughed. “I haven’t forgotten.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t mess any of this up.”
After arranging everything for Chen Xihe, He Qingfu looked at the girl sleeping soundly on the bed.
Chen Xihe looked over too.
After a moment, he walked to the girl’s side, bent down, and pressed his cheek gently to hers.
He didn’t say goodbye.
The situation didn’t allow for farewells. After a soft sigh, he turned and left the underground palace. Chen Xihe’s ability allowed him to hide his form for ten minutes—enough time to leave the palace and reach the cave.
After Chen Xihe left, He Qingfu went to the imperial tomb to place the duplicate wedding dress and diary in Xing Mountain. As it happened, the tomb keeper’s family was dealing with trouble and was distracted, often only checking a few random tombs before stopping.
The innermost tomb, where the wedding dress was kept, wouldn’t be inspected for the next three days.
And in three days, everything would be settled. So He Qingfu took it without pressure. When she returned late at night, the little girl was already awake.
She sat on the bed, a bit lost. As soon as she saw He Qingfu, she asked:
“Where did Father Consort go?”
He Qingfu told her, “Something happened at his home. He had to go back.”
So the little girl asked no more.
He Qingfu said nothing either.
If she wanted to give this world a chance, if she wanted to prevent a parallel world from appearing, now was the time to seriously injure the little girl, then place her true form in the imperial tomb, letting the dragon vein heal her wounds until the day she woke.
As long as she didn’t pierce the true form with a sharp object or make the wound irreparable, the dragon vein would heal it on its own. It might take a hundred years, maybe two hundred.
But the damage would eventually be mended.
To be absolutely safe, she should add rune restrictions in the tomb—those that limit a yao’s movement—so the little girl would be completely trapped until the Empress’s tomb was excavated from outside.
Because He Qingfu was silent for too long, little Jiang Yan grew puzzled:
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
She frowned, thought for a moment, then suddenly realized: “Do you miss Father Consort?”
He Qingfu lowered her eyes. “A little.”
The little girl nodded. “Me too.”
Another long silence.
After a long time, He Qingfu looked up and suddenly spoke of something she hadn’t planned to tell the little girl.
“Mother’s friend is gravely ill. I want to go see her.”
“Most importantly, she can’t go to the battlefield anymore. Mother plans to take her place and fight. I might die.”
The little girl thought for a while, then finally said, “Mm.”
“What happens after you die?”
He Qingfu said, “I’ll be buried in the imperial tomb.”
The little girl asked, “What about me?”
He Qingfu asked softly, “Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know.”
The little girl shook her head. “I don’t have anywhere I want to go. Anywhere is fine.”
He Qingfu asked again, “Do you have any wishes?”
The little girl said, “No.”
“What if you had to have one?” He Qingfu pressed.
The little girl looked at her. “Do you know you’re going to die, so you insist I make a wish?”
He Qingfu shook her head.
“I just like you. I want to help you realize your wish.”
After saying this, He Qingfu was suddenly overwhelmed by sadness. Her thoughts raced, her mind working at high speed, but her spirit felt utterly exhausted.
She repeated, “I really like you.”
The little girl was dazed.
Half a minute later, she couldn’t help but smile.
She sat up a little straighter. “Then I want to see the sunlight—with my own eyes.”
Life in the underground palace was truly unfit for the light; the little wedding-dress yao had become a little girl who never saw the sun.
But she was never meant to be this way.
She was the one who most deserved the light, the cutest, the most lovable—at the very least, the most loved by He Qingfu.
He Qingfu thought for a long time and finally came up with a solution.
“How about this?”
She slowed her speech: “Yan Yan, put your true form in the imperial tomb, and choose a little red string to go with Mother to the border.”
The red string was like an avatar. Wherever it was, Jiang Yan could manifest. Likewise, if the red string’s human form was injured, the true form would be injured too.
The little girl’s eyes lit up.
Without needing He Qingfu to explain, she took the initiative: “That way my aura is weak, and the exorcists won’t notice me!”
“When no one’s around, I can transform.”
“And if my true form is well hidden, even if the red string is killed by exorcists, the true form will only be badly hurt, not die.”
With her plan set, the little girl urged He Qingfu:
“Hurry up and put my true form in the imperial tomb.”
With that, she transformed back, letting a red string slip into He Qingfu’s collar.
Half an hour later, He Qingfu placed the pomegranate-red wedding dress in the imperial tomb, putting it where it belonged. Then she returned to her bedchamber and lay down to rest.
In the second half of the night, Jiang Chixi slowly opened her eyes.
She was in control now.
The coachman was already waiting outside the palace—it was time for her to secretly leave.
Because of secrecy, only two or three people knew about this trip, so she even packed her own bundle.
Once she was ready, she asked He Qingfu in the empty hall:
“It’s time for you to decide.”
He Qingfu noticed the little red string was already asleep and replied softly, “I know.”
Jiang Chixi: “Don’t forget why I let you live in my body in the first place. You said you wanted to save humanity’s future, so I agreed.”
“When you went to the underground palace just now, I didn’t choose to block my senses—I watched how you interacted.”
“You and her are too close. Can you really go through with it?”
He Qingfu said nothing.
Jiang Chixi sighed.
She offered, “If you can’t do it, I can do it for you.”
He Qingfu cut her off.
“Let’s not talk about this today.”
“She’s going to see the sunlight at the border. I can’t go with the intention of hurting her.”