As the sun set over Great Xia's Heavenly Edict Hall, Ning Chen and Qing Ling left together, heading out of the palace.
Before the Heavenly Edict Hall, Xia Chi watched the two depart, his eyes filled with reluctance.
He knew that his master had only returned for a look and would not stay long.
Outside the city, at the Xia Imperial Mausoleum, the maple forest blazed like fire, blood-red and dazzling.
Ning Chen and Qing Ling arrived, walking straight toward Changsun's grave.
Before the maple forest, the two stopped. Looking at the great tomb ahead, they knelt down together.
Ning Chen, who bowed neither to heaven and earth nor revered gods and Buddhas, laid down all his pride at this moment, bent his knees, and kowtowed.
"Empress Dowager, we have returned."
His smiling voice echoed before the imperial mausoleum. A nearly imperceptible glimmer of tears flashed through Ning Chen's eyes, then quietly vanished a moment later.
After a lifetime of wandering, battling gods and slaying demonic calamities, after half a life spent amid warhorses and armor, the most precious memories in his heart were only the warmth of her smiles and frowns when he had first entered the palace.
Before the imperial mausoleum, the two knelt for a full hour. As always, they recounted bit by bit all that had happened over the past century to Changsun within the tomb.
In the west, the sun had completely set. Night fell, and countless stars dotted the sky, beautiful enough to intoxicate the heart.
A century's worth of stories was so long. Ning Chen knelt for an hour and spoke for an hour.
"Empress Dowager, the Buddha of the Buddhist Kingdom said that people have reincarnations, and Xin Yu's next life will appear a thousand years from now. Once I settle matters