"Tantai Jin!"

I couldn't believe my eyes. "When did you learn those demonic arts?" I demanded from you as I stood between you and the fox demon whose core you attempted to absorb.

You who I thought had sincerely wanted to learn simple charms from me to protect yourself from bullies like Prince Wuning. You who I had sincerely wished could be as innocent and pure as the starlight that brightened the night sky.

You, who I had wanted to save from your dark fate as the Devil God.

You stood in front of me, dark demonic aura swirling around you, the glint of malice in your dark eyes. For a moment, the Devil God overlapped with your face, and my heart felt despair.

Where was the Tantai Jin who stayed with me to watch fireworks during the cold New Year's?

"You dared hurt me for a demon?" You asked me as you deftly caught the lightning spell I threw at you to protect the fox demon. "How could you be ruthless to me?"

How could I not be ruthless to you, when at that moment, you threatened to become the greatest calamity on all the realms?

That day, when you took me away from the Sheng Kingdom, when you brought me on the boat to Jing Kingdom, you've shown me how ruthless you could be too. Your schemes against Ye Xiwu, against your nanny Yingxin, and even Jing Lan'an who had wanted to bring you back to the Jing Kingdom, did they not show just how much wickedness you had succumbed to?

I wondered, were you still worth saving?

But when you told of Ye Xiwu's wickedness, of Yingxin's betrayal, and Lan'an's eventual abandonment of you, how could my heart not waver again? How could I not look at you in pity as you lay unconscious and weak at the banks of the Mohe River? How could my heart not weep at the pain that you hide behind your sharp and cruel words, that when you said I should just kill you, actually you just desperately want to live?

In my heart I didn't want you to die.

So I brought you back from the banks of the Mohe River and tended to your wounds as best I can. I saved you from the Heart Gnawing Spell of Tantai Minglang's demon cultivator. I exchanged my eye for your blinded one. I took on the cruel and violent fate you were destined to have when you used the World Overturning Jade.

Because I didn't want you to die. At that moment, I wanted you to live.

And you were worth saving, my love.

Look at how you saved us.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jing Mie came running towards Si Ying. "I came as soon as I heard…" he started to say, his voice trailing off as his eyes were drawn towards the opened gates of the Demon Palace. Then he looked down towards the two women who stood underneath the gateway.

"You too…" Li Susu whispered as she watched the purple-clad snake demon approach her with heavy steps.

"What is she doing here?" Jing Mie angrily cried out, jabbing a finger towards Li Susu.

"She's the one who opened the Palace," Si Ying told him in a flat tone, still eyeing Li Susu warily.

Jing Mie comically looked at one woman to another, then back to Si Ying again. "You're serious?" he asked. Si Ying gave him a curt nod. His eyes widened. "But… but the gates can only be opened…"

"…with the blood of the Devil God," Si Ying finished for him. "Get over it quickly and help me decide what to do with …her."

Si Ying's uncertain tone somehow alarmed Li Susu. Despite the drought demon's acknowledgement of her as the Devil God's wife, Si Ying seemed to still have doubts about her. "You're going to send me out still?" she asked, incredulous. "You're kidding, right?"

Si Ying's face was stoic. "We cannot risk you undoing the work that our lord has done," she said, her eyes coldly glancing over Li Susu's disbelieving face. "We," indicating Jing Mie, "owe him our lives twice over, and in his stead, we will protect the Demon Realm that he had nourished with his last breath."

"You think that isn't what I want too?" Li Susu asked angrily. "You think that I'd destroy what Tantai Jin died for?" She roughly brushed away the tears that sprang in her eyes.

Si Ying was unmoved. "What am I supposed to think about the one who destroyed my lord?" she answered, her tone as cold as Li Susu's was heated. "You'd think I'd just easily accept the one who ended my lord's life when he gave his for me?" Ignoring Li Susu's startled glance, Si Ying looked towards the Demon Throne with melancholic eyes.

"I remember clearly how Di Mian, possessed by the evil bone, absorbed all my essence," Si Ying said, turning away from Li Susu and towards the Demon Throne. "I knew I had died then, but in the darkness of death, I heard my lord call my name, and bade me to rise and protect the Demon Realm in his stead. I woke up just as the All-In-Distress Way dissipated above me, and my lord's essence was everywhere and nowhere at the same time." There was a pause, then Si Ying turned back to Li Susu again. "I knew my lord was gone, and at first I wanted to hunt down the goddess who ended him, to avenge him, but she had disappeared with him." She smiled at Li Susu bitterly. "I had nowhere to put my anger, so I returned to the Barren Abyss, to try to gather what was left of the Demon Realm and raise it up again to its former glory."

"The Devil God raised me back from death as well," Jing Mie said. "As soon as I woke up, I went around the Barren Abyss, seeking demons who have survived the war. There were a few of us left, too few to fight against the immortals who have taken our hope away from us. But somehow, even with the Devil God gone, we felt his power protecting us in the Abyss. We soon found out that the Demon Realm was hidden to all, and that we can live safely here without the prosecution of the immortals, and that we could flourish here. For the past 100 years, we demons have lived here quietly, cultivating peacefully, even having little demons of our own." He did a quick side-glance at Si Ying. "All this has been made possible with the Devil God's sacrifice, and we are not going to let a goddess," he emphasized the word with disdain, "ruin everything."

Li Susu listened to both Si Ying and Jing Mie, the demons who had been loyal to the Devil God until their final breaths, with tears in her eyes. She looked at the Demon Palace, where the Demon Throne lay empty atop a flight of stairs amidst an empty hall.

All his life, Tantai Jin had fought against the fate that he was dealt with. During his life as Cang Jiumin, he rejected anything that had to do with the demon realm. He had promised her that he wouldn't become a demon, and continue in the path of immortal cultivation.

But what Tantai Jin had done as the Devil God was beyond anything any immortal could have ever done for the Demon Realm, beyond anything even the gods had done. He turned the path of destruction into a path of compassion for the unfortunate, not just in the immortal and mortal realms, but also and especially for the demon realm. Since time immemorial, demons have been hunted down and persecuted, but Tantai Jin made a haven for them to live safely and happily, just as he had wished for the immortals and the mortals above to live safely and happily as well.

Tantai Jin, couldn't you have kept some of that wish for yourself? Li Susu thought bitterly. Why couldn't you have thought of yourself too and lived safely and happily together with the people you've saved?

You've let everyone believe the worst in you, when you've given them the best of yourself.

Li Susu wanted to continue what Tantai Jin had begun here, but looking at Si Ying and Jing Mie protecting the realm, remembering the bustling town that they had passed through on the way to the Demon Palace, seeing the demons that had thrived and lived fairly normal lives in the quaint little town, and marveling at the small demon children playing and running around town, she felt she would simply be in the way.

Si Ying was right, how could the demons accept the one who had ended their lord's life? How could they possibly tolerate the goddess who had brought about the death of the Devil God, who had done so much for them with his last breath? How could she ask them to forgive her when she can't even forgive herself?

But…

"If you're going to chase me away, where am I going to go?" Li Susu whispered miserably. "If I can't protect what Tantai Jin left behind, what am I supposed to do?" She looked up at the night sky, where the full moon shone on the Demon Realm. "If I can't pay Tantai Jin back for everything he did for me, how am I supposed to live with myself?"

Si Ying and Jing Mie both looked at Li Susu with complicated feelings on their faces. This woman had been their enemy for as long as they could remember. As a true god, she was the only one who could defeat and destroy the Devil God. Even as an immortal, she had crossed their path many times. But each time, they had seen her protect the devil fetus, first, from them, and then from the immortals who had judged him at the Devil Subduing Peak. The devil fetus himself sought to protect this woman, in defiance of them both, even at the point of death.

The Devil God and the true goddess. Their fates seem to be still intertwined, especially with the little soul that had opened the doors of the Demon Palace.

"Then stay here."

Si Ying, Jing Mie and Li Susu turned to the sound of the voice. Clad in a black dress with red highlights, Mo Nv walked towards them with a calm look on her face.

"Sister," Si Ying whispered, while Li Susu looked at Mo Nv with shock. "Ye Bingchang?" she blurted out.

Mo Nv smiled at Li Susu. "A lifetime ago, we were sisters," she said, acknowledging their relationship in the mortal realm. "Now, I am just one of the many others who owe their lives to the Devil God." She turned to Si Ying and Jing Mie. "The goddess stays here," she told the two demons, who had initially wanted to protest. "It's not for us to drive away anyone who wants to take shelter in the lord's realm. He meant it as a safe haven for anyone, especially for his beloved. And his child," she added belatedly.

Li Susu couldn't believe it. Ye Bingchang, or Mo Nv here in the Demon Realm, was the last person she'd expect to offer her sanctuary. The person who had caused her a lot of pain during her last moments in the mortal realm was now taking Li Susu's hands in hers, and saying warmly to her, "Tantai Jin would have wanted us to take care of you in his stead."

Li Susu's heart swelled with pride, and pricked with pain at the same time. Tantai Jin, you have opened the way of compassion, even in the darkest of hearts.

A/N: Yes, I'm bringing back Si Ying, Jing Mie, and Mo Nv into the Demon Realm chapters of this fanfic. Don't you think they deserve their own stories? 😁 I wanted to see Si Ying and Jing Mie become the aunt and uncle to little A'Mi. I put Si Ying first because I really liked her character, and the actress as well. Mo Nv and Gongye Jiwu I think deserve a closure too, so let me weave them one. It might not be what the drama or the novel intended, but well, that's the purpose of fanfics, isn't it?

I initially intended to make this fanfic as just a snippet of stories about how much Li Susu missed Tantai Jin, but of course I couldn't resist to write my own take on what happened during those times that wasn't covered in the drama and the novel. It's the uncharted waters that make the stories more interesting, doesn't it? As always, I could only hope to give justice to the story that this drama and novel have given us.

Thanks for reading! Thanks for all the reviews as well! 😁