A shattered dream

"No, that's not true." As if compelled by some unseen force, Xiao Yan hurriedly denied it.

By now, he understood that these must be the memories of his previous life that the "Netherworld Judge" had mentioned.

So, in his previous life, he had married his senior sister?

Xiao Yan squeezed through the crowd and entered the clinic. Xiao Yi Xian, her long hair white, moved between the medicine cabinets, her delicate hands dancing up and down as she sorted the bundle of medicinal herbs he had just brought into the little drawers.

Although the mercenaries lined up outside the clinic were noisy, their queue was fairly orderly. He had met quite a few of them before.

They were all mercenaries hired by the Myriad Medicine Pavilion who had previously surrounded them at the entrance to Qingshan Town. In this life, however, they seemed quite familiar with Xiao Yan.

Many came over to sling their arms around his shoulders and invite him to join the Hunting Tournament at the start of spring next year.

Time hurried past. A month passed in the blink of an eye, and Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian's wedding took place as planned.

It was arguably the liveliest day Qingshan Town had ever seen. Nalan Jie helped arrange a grand wedding, and guests arrived in an endless stream.

Dressed in a bright red wedding robe, Xiao Yan stood at the clinic entrance to welcome the guests. They were all familiar faces: Xiao Ning, Xiao Yu, Ya Fei, the Great Elder, the Second Elder, the Third Elder...

Yet one person alone did not come: Xiao Xun'er.

The wedding proceeded according to custom. Seated in the place of honor, his father, Xiao Zhan, watched cheerfully as Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian performed the three wedding bows, while Xiao Yan's two older brothers raised their wine bowls and egged them on.

After the wedding bows, Xiao Zhan solemnly handed Xiao Yi Xian the bracelet that only each successive mistress of the Xiao Clan could wear, drawing another round of boisterous cheers from the surrounding clan members.

On their candlelit wedding night, Xiao Yan lifted Xiao Yi Xian's red veil and saw her lovely face flushed with bashfulness. Suddenly, he felt that this life was actually quite wonderful.

Xiao Yan slowly leaned in and kissed her.

The candlelight went out, and muffled panting drifted from the bridal chamber.

Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian's first child was born eleven months after their wedding. She was a girl, and he named her Xiao Xiao.

A year came to an end. Xiao Yan had fully adjusted to this life. He gathered medicinal herbs every day and occasionally joined the mercenaries in the Hunting Competition, taking first place every time.

In the second year, Xiao Yi Xian became pregnant with their second child. This one was also a girl, and Xiao Yan named her Xiao Yinyin.

In the third year, Xiao Yi Xian became pregnant with their third child. This time, it was a boy, whom they named Xiao Xian.

By then, Xiao Yan had no choice but to secretly refine pills to support his family, nearly exposing his identity as an Alchemist in the process.

In the fourth year, Xiao Yan firmly put a stop to Xiao Yi Xian's idea of having a fourth child. Their family of five settled into a simple but happy life in Qingshan Town.

In the sixth year, Xiao Xiao had grown old enough to begin cultivating. She was very talented, but also terribly playful, and loved nothing more than leading her younger sister and brother outside town to play. Every time, Xiao Yan followed them in secret. Watching his three children laugh and romp about, he felt as though he could understand how his father, Xiao Zhan, had felt all those years ago.

So what if Xiao Xiao could never become a Dou Zhe? He was still determined to protect her for the rest of her life.

In the tenth year, Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian had settled into the life of an old married couple. The clinic remained open, but the mercenaries who entered it were no longer the same ones from years before.

In the fifteenth year, their longtime friend Nalan Jie died at the hands of the Amethyst Winged Lion King. For the first time, Xiao Yan flew into a rage. The moment he saw the body, he took a single step and appeared above the valley, flattening the entire valley with a wave of his hand.

From then on, legends of the World-Destroying Heavenly Flame spread throughout the Jia Ma Empire, while Xiao Yan's life returned to its peaceful course.

In the twentieth year, after Xiao Xian stole the Heavy Xuan Ruler from home and ran off to gain experience, Xiao Yan truly had nothing left to do.

He persuaded Xiao Yi Xian to close the clinic and travel with him, and she agreed.

They began roaming the mountains and rivers, while time raced past.

In the hundredth year, Xiao Xiao had become the new sect master of the Misty Cloud Sect, while Xiao Yinyin had entered the Pill Tower in the Central Plains to cultivate. The youngest, Xiao Xian, had made them proudest of all. He had become a Dou Sheng who looked down upon all living beings, carving out a small world somewhere in the Central Plains and founding his own sect.

By then, Xiao Yan's memories of the past had grown hazy. Whether it was his previous life on Earth or the life of the Three-Year Agreement, they all seemed like mere illusions.

Only the hundred years of this life were real. Only Xiao Yi Xian, who stood before him, who had borne and raised their children with him, and who loved him as deeply as ever, was real.

But just as Xiao Yan believed time would carry on like this until the end of their lives, an unexpected change suddenly arrived.

A woman whose image had nearly faded from Xiao Yan's mind stood suspended in midair. She was Xiao Xun'er.

Compared with her younger self, Xiao Xun'er had long since shed her youthful innocence and become a graceful, regal woman. Her features were dignified as she looked down upon them from above.

"Brother... Xiao Yan." The words were the same, but the circumstances now were utterly incomparable to those of the past.

She pointed at the bracelet on Xiao Yi Xian's wrist and said, "Give me the Tou She Ancient God Jade. I won't hurt you."

The Tou She Ancient God Jade? Just as Xiao Yan wondered what that was, great torrents of information suddenly flooded his mind.

The Ancient Eight Clans... Tou She Ancient God... the Dou Di Inheritance... the Tou She Ancient God Jade... Origin Qi...

"Sorry, I can't, Xun'er. This was a gift my father gave Xiao Yi Xian." Xiao Yan refused, not because he could not bear to part with the Tou She Ancient God Jade, but because it held symbolic meaning.

"I should have taken the Tou She Ancient God Jade while I was still in the Xiao Clan. Brother Xiao Yan, I've withstood my clan's pressure for all these years. Don't make things harder for me." Golden flames suddenly blazed behind Xiao Xun'er-no, Gu Xun'er-pressing down on Xiao Yan until he could barely breathe.

Suddenly, a pitch-black flame rose from within Xiao Yan. It seemed capable of devouring everything in heaven and earth, even warping light itself. The instant it appeared, heaven and earth grew dim.

This was Xiao Yan's intrinsic heavenly flame. Ever since he had entered this world made of "memories," it had remained with him.

"The Nihility Devouring Flame. Brother Xiao Yan, you really did join the Hun Clan..." Sorrow showed in Gu Xun'er's eyes, and then she slowly raised her hand.

The pressure of a Nine-Star Dou Sheng drained the color from mountains and rivers, forced rivers to flow backward, and burdened Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian's bodies beyond endurance.

"Then take it." Xiao Yi Xian quickly removed the bracelet and threw it to Gu Xun'er.

But grief filled Gu Xun'er's eyes. She let the Tou She Ancient God Jade fall to the ground without reaching out to catch it.

"It's too late. I can no longer hold back the elders of my clan. Rather than let you die at their hands, it would be better for you to die at mine." Gu Xun'er's gaze finally, slowly hardened with resolve. She thrust her palm downward, as though the entire sky were falling!

Under this strike, they would surely die.

"Heh heh heh."

"Xiao Yan, I think you need my power." Suddenly, a cold, sinister voice rang out. The black flames on Xiao Yan's body shot into the sky and began devouring everything around him.

In an instant, the entire world began to collapse. Xiao Yi Xian, standing before Xiao Yan, broke into fragments bit by bit, swallowed by the black flames.

Xiao Yan returned to the Three-Life Stone. The mirror surface before him had shattered, and the Netherworld Soldiers beside him had vanished without a trace at some unknown point.

Only boundless black flames remained, blazing across the sky of the Netherworld.

The tremendous contrast left Xiao Yan dizzy and disoriented. For a moment, he could not distinguish reality from illusion at all.

Only the black flames in the sky let out that heart-rattling "heh heh heh" laughter.