Homecoming Cottage Night Talk

(P.S.: The explanation for multiple female leads is very clear—marrying wives to attain the Dao.)

By the time Huo Chen returned to Homecoming Cottage, it was already late at night.

The small courtyard was lit up, warm yellow light spilling from the main hall's windows and casting a cozy glow across the flagstone ground.

He pushed open the door and saw Snow Empress sitting beneath the lamp, reading a book. A cup of tea that had long gone cold sat beside her. Ice Empress reclined in a chair on the other side, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes closed; it was impossible to tell whether she was truly asleep or merely resting with her eyes shut.

"You're back?" Snow Empress looked up, her gaze lingering on him for a moment. Her tone was as calm as if she were asking whether he had eaten dinner.

"Mm." Huo Chen stood by the door for a moment before walking over and taking a seat at the table.

The room fell silent for several breaths. Ice Empress still had her eyes closed, but Huo Chen noticed her eyelashes twitch slightly. She was awake—she was simply waiting for him to speak.

Huo Chen poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, then set the cup down and said, "I want to tell you about what happened by Sea God Lake this afternoon."

"Don't want to hear it." Ice Empress kept her eyes closed, her voice stiff. "Your affairs have nothing to do with us."

"Bing'er." Snow Empress called to her softly. There was no reproach in her tone, only a trace of helplessness.

She set down her book and looked at Huo Chen, her gaze tranquil. "Go ahead. We're listening."

Huo Chen was silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts before beginning with the Samsara God Trial.

He explained the meaning of attaining the Dao through mortal life. It was the seventh trial set by the Samsara God King, requiring him to walk among the living, experience all facets of worldly life, and comprehend the true essence of samsara through the bonds between people.

He explained that one path to attaining the Dao through mortal life was to forge deep connections with different people, including the affection between master and disciple, the loyalty of friends, and the ties between men and women.

"The Samsara God King's path isn't about severing mortal ties. It is about experiencing them, then transcending them."

Huo Chen looked at the teacup on the table, his voice low and calm. "Under the conditions of the divine trial, every person who forms a deep bond with me becomes a cornerstone on my path of attaining the Dao through mortal life. And the bond between a man and a woman is the deepest, and the hardest to see through."

He raised his head, his gaze moving from Ice Empress to Snow Empress. "I never explained these things to you in detail before because I was still figuring them out myself. But what happened today made me realize that I should make things clear to you."

Ice Empress finally opened her eyes. She did not look at Huo Chen, instead staring at the lamp wick on the table. The flame danced beneath the lampshade, casting shifting light and shadow across her profile.

"So what you mean is that there will be many more 'this afternoons' in the future?" Her voice remained even, but Huo Chen could hear the faint emotion suppressed beneath that calmness.

"I don't know." Huo Chen answered honestly. "I still haven't fully seen the road of attaining the Dao through mortal life. But I don't want to lie to you. Similar things may indeed happen in the future."

Ice Empress said nothing.

Snow Empress picked up the cup of tea that had gone completely cold, took a sip, and set it down before asking, "Then what do you plan to do?"

"I'll take responsibility for every one of them." Huo Chen answered without the slightest hesitation. "No matter what happens, I'll bear the responsibility I should bear. I won't let anyone be wronged."

"Take responsibility?" Ice Empress finally turned to look at him, an indescribable emotion in her eyes. "How will you take responsibility? Marry them? Then what about Snow Empress and me? How do you plan to handle us?"

The question was so direct that the air in the room seemed to freeze for an instant.

Huo Chen did not avoid her gaze. He answered earnestly, "You are just as important to me. No one's appearance will change that. If you are willing, I'll spend the rest of my life proving those words."

Ice Empress stared at him for several seconds before looking away, turning back toward the lamp. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, no words came out.

Snow Empress sighed softly, breaking the silence. "Bing'er, don't rush. Let him finish."

"I'm already finished," Huo Chen said. "I've said everything I should say and everything I shouldn't. I know it's hard to accept all this at once. I don't expect you to understand immediately, but I hope you know that every word I've said to you came from the heart."

The room fell quiet again.

After a while, Ice Empress suddenly stood and headed toward her room without looking back.

When she reached the door, she paused. Without turning around, she said in a muffled voice, "I'm sleepy. I'm going to bed first."

The door closed, and her footsteps gradually faded away.

Only Huo Chen and Snow Empress remained in the main hall.

Snow Empress lifted her teacup, took another sip, then set it down. In an even tone, she said, "She isn't really angry."

"I know." Huo Chen gave a bitter smile. "But she must feel terrible inside."

"Anyone would." Snow Empress's tone remained calm, though the corner of her lips curved slightly. "But at least you didn't hide it from us. You did fairly well in that regard."

Huo Chen glanced at her. "You're not angry?"

"It would be a lie to say I'm not angry at all." Snow Empress picked up the teapot and poured herself another cup. "But I've lived for seven hundred thousand years. I've seen far more than you have. Your human rules and ethics aren't all that important to me. What matters is whether you can do what you say."

She lifted the teacup and gently blew on the steam, her gaze falling on the ripples spreading across the tea's surface. "If you can truly take responsibility for everyone as you said, and not let anyone be wronged, then I have nothing to say."

She paused, then looked up at Huo Chen. "But if one day, you fail to live up to your own words—"

She did not finish, but Huo Chen understood what she meant.

"I won't let that day come," he answered seriously.

Snow Empress watched him for several seconds, then nodded faintly. She raised her teacup and said nothing more.

Huo Chen sat beneath the lamp, watching the flickering flame on the table as a complicated swirl of emotions rose within him.

He had experienced too much today: Ma Xiaotao's appearance, the purification of her evil fire, the advancement of his soul ring, and this conversation with Ice Empress and Snow Empress after returning home.

He knew this was only the beginning.

The path of attaining the Dao through mortal life was still long. More people would enter his life in the future, and more bonds would need his care and his commitment.

He did not know whether he could ultimately make it to the end of this path, but he knew that he would give it everything he had.

The night wind slipped through the gap in the window, making the lamp flame sway gently before it steadied once more.

From a distant room came an exceedingly soft sigh, swiftly swallowed by the night.