"Why did you come to save me?"

Because I love you.

"You… love me? What is love exactly?"

You asked me those questions when I didn't even know how to answer them. When I answered you, I drew on what I read about in the fictional novels in the Hengyang Sect library, and from what I heard from the married couples in the sect.

"A couple should look out for each other." "In the novels, we didn't see eye to eye, but as time passed, we grew fond of each other." "Love is… when you don't want him to die. You miss him when you don't see him, and feel happy when you do."

All hollow statements. Sentiments that I didn't feel at the time.

Even when I told you I loved you, it was a lie.

But in your eyes, I saw you believe each one of my lies. You wanted to stay with me. You played with me in the snow at New Year's Eve. You protected me from Tantai Minglang's demon cultivator. You saved my life when I was hit by the Heart Gnawing Spell.

And I, liar that I was, did everything that I could for you to fall in love with me.

Just so that I can create the weapon that can destroy you, through the string of affection you have grown within you.

Why did you believe me? Why did you have such great faith with the words that fell from my lips?

In the end, why did you love me so much?

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Ye Qingyu smiled wider. "Sister," he said again, gently putting down the fox to give Li Susu a warm hug. "It's been a long time."

Li Susu chuckled. They broke apart, and finally looked at each other after such a long time. She stared at Ye Qingyu's silver hair, at the plain clothes he had on him, and the carefree expression on his face. "How long has it been?" she asked, silently dreading the answer.

"A hundred years, or so," Ye Qingyu answered nonchalantly, unaware of Li Susu's inner turmoil, as the little fox did little jumps around them.

Li Susu gasped. "A hundred years…" Her heart dropped at the passage of time. It had been a hundred years since Tantai Jin left, but she had been unconscious all this time…

I'm going to come back for you.

But it had been a hundred years…

Li Susu almost missed Ye Qingyu's explanation of where he had been for the past years. "After stepping down and passing on the kingdom to a distant Tantai descendant," he was saying, "I've been searching the world for Pian Ran's incarnation, with success, as you can see."

Li Susu smiled at the little fox who was frolicking around them. The streaks of red in the fox's white coat truly reminded her of her Sister Fox, as did the sharp glance that it threw her when she attempted to pet it. "I'm glad you found her," she said.

Ye Qingyu smiled. "It was Tantai Jin who suggested I do so," he said. Li Susu sharply turned her eyes on him as he, unaware of the effect his mentioning Tantai Jin had on her, looked her up and down. "You're even dressed just like him when I last saw him," he remarked.

"Tantai Jin came to you?" Li Susu asked, surprised.

Ye Qingyu nodded. "That's how I knew to find you here," he said. "He really was serious about me coming to get you here a hundred years after. I went here a few times before today, thinking you must be here, but I never saw you, until now."

"When did he visit you?" Li Susu was still confused.

Ye Qingyu thought for a while. "I think the day before the All-in-Distress Way dispersed from the world."

A pang of pain shot through Li Susu's heart. He had already made preparations before he… left. He knew I'd appear here after a hundred years, and told Ye Qingyu to meet me…

But where could I have been…?

Li Susu gathered power in her palm and scanned herself, looking for any artifact that could explain where she had gone for the past hundred years. She found something, and pulled it out of herself—

God of War Ming Ye's Heart Guarding Scale landed on her palm.

Ye Qingyu was equally astonished. "Why is the Heart Guarding Scale with you?"

"I… don't know," Li Susu replied, similarly confused as she looked at the scale glittering in her hand. Then she remembered…

"Let Cang Jiumin do it."

Her two fathers and Uncle Zhaoyou looked at her in astonishment. "Daughter…" Qu Xuanzi began, but Li Susu insisted. "He already has a connection with the scale when he lived in the Bo're Life Dream as the God of War, Ming Ye. He can make full use of the protective power of Ming Ye's Heart Guarding Scale."

"Tantai Jin had it with him," Li Susu whispered slowly, slightly uncomprehending.

"But how did it end up with you?" Ye Qingyu asked.

"I… don't know…" Li Susu looked at the scale, which cast rainbow colors across her face. How could it be on me unless…

Unless he put it on me when I lost consciousness.

"You have to live on."

Li Susu tightly held on to the scale. He kept me safe in the scale for a hundred years… and I didn't know.

You've always protected me, and I didn't know.

Lost in her thoughts, Li Susu didn't notice Ye Qingyu take out a bundle beside him. "Here, sister," he said, opening the bundle and bringing out a food box. "You must be hungry. I brought some food, and some clothes for you to change in. Then let's get out of here after you're done eating and changing."

Li Susu simply nodded. She looked over the packages Ye Qingyu brought. Food… and clothing. To go back to the world as if the world hadn't ended… as if the world didn't have a gaping hole that only one person could fill…

But time had passed. A hundred years have passed, and Tantai Jin's sacrifice is now nothing more than an echo from a vague memory. The world had moved on, enjoying the peace that his death had ensured.

It was only her who couldn't move on. It was only her who had a gaping hole in her heart that only one person could fill. It was only her whose world had ended. It was only her who remembered Tantai Jin.

You have to live on, he said in her dream. She remembered his hand trail from her face, her neck, her shoulders…

Struck by a sudden thought, Li Susu looked at her palm. She gathered a little bit of power, just a gentle amount, just to know…

She turned the power towards her abdomen, and let it search for…

Li Susu gasped. Her hand stilled over her abdomen, as tears filled her eyes and fell down her face. Ye Qingyu noticed, and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong, sister?"

You have to live on, so that the love that existed between us could also live on.

"B-brother…" Li Susu managed to say, before completely breaking down. Ye Qingyu gathered her in his arms and ran his hand in a soothing motion up and down her back as she wept bitterly. "Sister, what's wrong?" he said, over and over again, as the little fox looked up at them both, seemingly concerned for them.

When love ends, hatred ends, and our physical bodies perish, how do we prove that these emotions existed once?

It was there. Persistent. Warm. A tiny flicker of hope that her desolate soul had managed to nurture.

A child.

Tantai Jin's and hers.

Li Susu laughed as she cried, as she felt time move forward again. She placed her hand over her abdomen.

Tantai Jin, hurry and come back to me…

come back to us.

We'll be waiting.

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"A child…" Ye Qingyu felt dazed at Li Susu's revelation after she had calmed down. "I… I can't even begin to imagine…"

Li Susu picked up her cup of tea and sipped slowly. She met the eyes of the white furred fox, who was looking up at her curiously. She reached down and patted its head. "Pian Ran," she said, addressing the little fox instead of her brother, "you need to cultivate well so you can get back and accompany my brother properly."

"Sister," Ye Qingyu muttered in an aggrieved tone, but the tips of his ears turned red. He softened at the peaceful look Li Susu had on her face. "But I am glad for you, sister. This child is a blessing."

Li Susu smiled at him. "It is."

They left the Tantai Mausoleum after Li Susu had eaten and changed into the clothes Ye Qingyu brought. "Even after years had passed, this mausoleum still stands," Li Susu remarked as she took a final look at it.

"That's because the memory of those who have passed do not fade with time," Ye Qingyu said, glancing fondly at the fox who walked beside him.

The two tombstones hidden within the mausoleum seemed to appear before Li Susu's eyes. She smiled. You carved those words on the stones in memory of the love you had for me; now it's my turn to carry the memory of your love within me. She touched her abdomen. I'll care for it well.

"Where do you plan to go, sister?" Ye Qingyu asked as they walked away from the mausoleum. The little fox ran ahead of them, but occasionally stopped to look back at them. "You know you could always stay with me and Pian Ran. We've found a secluded spot somewhere in the mountains. It's calm and peaceful there, and suitable for…"

"I want to go back to the Demon Realm," Li Susu said.

Ye Qingyu did a double take. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm going to the Demon Realm," Li Susu repeated.

"But why?" Ye Qingyu asked in a sharp tone. Seemingly hearing Ye Qingyu's distress, the demon fox ran back to him. "The Demon Realm isn't exactly a welcoming place, especially for someone in your… condition."

"They will welcome me," Li Susu replied in such a firm tone that Ye Qingyu bit back his words. She turned to him. "I'm sorry brother, but I'm not Ye Xiwu. I am Li Susu, daughter of Chu Huang, Goddess of Space, and Di Mian, Lord of Evil. I may have been born a spiritual fetus, but part of me came from the Demon Realm. And besides…" she looked down, and touched her abdomen again, "I carry within me the child of the Devil God." She looked up at Ye Qingyu, who finally fell silent. "They will welcome me."

Ye Qingyu looked at Li Susu's determined face. He knew she wasn't Ye Xiwu, but he couldn't help but be concerned about the person who had lived as her during the last days of his mortal life. But when she mentioned her divine lineage, he had finally felt he was out of his depth. This was about gods and devils, which he, even as an immortal, only had an inkling of. If Li Susu says that she will be welcomed in the Demon Realm, then she must be, and he, a mere immortal, does not know better.

"I understand," he ultimately conceded. He smiled softly at Li Susu. "I only wish you well… sister. For sister you will always be for me, no matter what the circumstances." He looked down at Pian Ran, who stayed close to his feet and looked up at him as well with those large eyes.

Li Susu followed his gaze, and understood him as well. "I wish you well too, brother," she said. "After taking care of the kingdom for so long, it is time for you to live your life the way you want to." She threw her arms around her brother in a warm embrace.

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