Volume One: The Celestial Palace of Mist Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Snow Maiden

Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Snow Maiden

Zhou Hao frowned and said, “You still haven’t told me how Luo Tianyi ended up sealed in this cave.”

Deng Tu Lang’s face mirrored the same furrow, then he lifted his gaze to meet Zhou Hao, who towered ten times his size. “Whether I tell you or not doesn’t matter. Besides, you’re starting to irritate me—if you can’t answer my question, you might die here as well.”

“Oh? Really? Don’t you want to find a new master for the gourd?” Zhou Hao asked with a cold smile.

“Hmph, this yellow-skinned gourd is hardly a virtuous artifact. I’m not obliged to find it a new master. Years ago, I agreed to a request from its previous owner, so I intend to fulfill that promise. But who do you think you are? Is the gourd’s master destined to be you and no one else?” Deng Tu Lang now bore no resemblance to the man Zhou Hao first encountered. His eyes burned with anger and disdain, as if he regarded Zhou Hao as a sworn enemy.

“I recall you mentioning your time is running out. Can you really find another master for the gourd before your last shred of immortal essence fades?” Zhou Hao pressed.

“Boy, my affairs are not yours to meddle in. Since you dare claim all my cultivation was gained through women, you must suffer my wrath. For those who spoke that sentence before me have all been slain!” Deng Tu Lang declared.

“It seems there’s a story behind this. I suspect someone very important to you is tied to those words,” Zhou Hao observed, catching a fleeting sorrow in Deng Tu Lang’s eyes and boldly inferring hidden depths.

Deng Tu Lang was suddenly taken aback, a hint of panic surfacing; he dropped his head, unwilling to meet Zhou Hao’s gaze for fear his secret might be revealed.

Seeing this, Zhou Hao knew his guess was close and continued his conjecture: “This person must have meant the world to you. Everything about her is treasured in your heart, guarded from harm. I said your cultivation depended on women—surely many have said so. One day, the person you cared for most must have told you: ‘They say such things because they don’t understand you; ignore their words, pay them no mind…’”

“No, that’s not what she said!” Deng Tu Lang interrupted, nearly shouting, his whole face trembling.

“Then who was she? What did she say?”

Silence. Deathly silence. No answer, no further questions. Two men and a gourd sat in quiet at the bottom of the blazing pool.

After a long pause, Deng Tu Lang looked upward, eyes closed, drawing a deep breath. “With other women, I never felt I owed them anything, including Luo Tianyi. Only to her do I owe a debt I’ll never repay.”

“Her name was the Snow Maiden. She was once a snow rabbit, cultivated to the rank of Golden Immortal, dwelling amidst vast snowy mountains, guarding her companions, protecting her tiny home. Before she met me, she was a pure and carefree girl.”

“At that time, I had already obtained the yellow-skinned gourd and roamed the immortal realms, my footprints crossing the stars. After the battle in the mountain valley, Luo Tianyi became determined to follow me. I did not refuse. Affection grew with time, but after less than a century together, I knew we were unsuited. Luo Tianyi was too domineering, afflicted with a severe princess complex. She hindered my pursuit of other women to practice the ‘True Sutra of Salvation’, and eventually, she even killed those women. She demanded I obey her every whim, submit to her abuse. I’d had enough of this so-called dragon princess, so I left her.”

“The immortal domains are vast—too immense for me, even at the Grand Immortal stage, to explore fully. Cultivation is boundless; to advance, one must never cease. I studied the way of Yin and Yang, the mystery of union, seeking the harmony of heaven and earth, the practice of mortal love. I tasted the waters of myriad beauties, yet increasingly felt something lacking, an inexplicable loneliness. I didn’t understand then. Until I met the Snow Maiden—a barefoot girl in white, singing and dancing upon the snow. She was a clear spring pouring into my heart, banishing loneliness forever.”

“That day, I was hunted. My pursuers were none other than the Dragon Shadow Guards of the Lo Sea Dragon Palace. There are seven in total, each a formidable quasi-Immortal King. To capture me, the palace dispatched four. Later, I learned that day was Luo Tianyi’s fifty-thousandth birthday—she insisted I attend, even if I were dead.”

“A quasi-Immortal King may bear the prefix ‘quasi’, but they have already set one foot in the Immortal King’s threshold. Though I’d reached late Grand Immortal stage, I was no match for them. My only reliance was the yellow-skinned gourd. By then I wielded it with ease, and though the guards’ power was immense, the gourd countered their attacks. Yet those four were no ordinary foes. They knew I couldn’t wield the gourd’s might indefinitely—my cultivation was insufficient, the disparity vast, and their prowess could crush stars with a gesture, their immortal force boundless.”

“The battle was brutal. I value my life, but Luo Tianyi’s words—‘even a corpse is fine’—enraged me. There was no way I’d return to the palace. I unleashed the gourd’s greatest power, clashing with the four experts. The void shattered, mountains crumbled, earth split, all creation became a field of carnage.”

“In the end, I survived; the four were annihilated. The devastation was immense, and the gourd’s mysterious force tore through the void, propelling me into another dimension. When I awoke, my body was broken, flesh mangled, and the only eye I could open saw a world of white snow—and a girl, white-clad, white-haired, blooming like a flower.”

“Just a glimpse, and I fainted again. When next I woke, I was in an ice hut; the white-robed girl was brewing medicine for me. I immediately sensed her cultivation at mid-Golden Immortal. Her world was a wild star, a wasteland in the eyes of the lofty immortals, though still within the Sun and Moon Immortal Domain, yet a million light-years from Luo Tianyi’s Lo Sea Dragon Palace. For the time, I felt safe.”

“The Snow Maiden and I were strangers, yet she tended to my wounds. Though I knew her medicine would hardly help me, I happily drank it each day. As I recovered, for the first time I felt the urge to marry a woman. She was too special—her innocence, her charm, her genuine love for all things captivated me. I had never met such a pure, unworldly maiden. In my heart, I knew—if I could have the Snow Maiden, my life would be complete.”

“Time flowed, and my affection for her grew stronger. We treated injured animals, ran and played on the snowy mountains every day. That unbridled joy made me forget all worries—even cultivation.”

“A year later, I proposed. She was delighted, shyly nodding her head. We laughed in each other's arms and, blessed by mountain spirits and animals, entered our cozy ice hut, a world for just the two of us.”

“Married life was truly sweet. We rose with the sun, rested at dusk, living as mortals, simple yet happy—the happiest days of my life. Though, because she was not purely of Yin nature, we had no children, we both sought to care for each other as the happiest children ourselves. We were each other's babies!”

“But good fortune is fleeting; disaster struck. Our affair eventually reached Luo Tianyi, and the Lo Sea Dragon Palace sent many experts to hunt me. I had no choice but to flee with the Snow Maiden. We journeyed through various immortal realms, but were recognized. The Snow Maiden overheard rumors that my cultivation was all thanks to women. Gentle as she was, she grew angry at the noble immortals slandering me. She demanded an apology or she would not be polite—yet to anyone, her threat was empty, and no one listened. She tried to teach those rude immortals a lesson, but it was always her who got hurt.”

“I told her to ignore their words. Seeing her beaten broke my heart, but she insisted on confronting them, again and again, even if she was bruised and battered. I was furious, so I retaliated, punishing them tenfold. I asked her why she insisted, and her answer was this: ‘I am your wife, you are my husband; only the wife truly understands her husband. The way you cultivate is through union, merely a method, not dependent on anyone. Those people misunderstand and malign you; I want them to understand, so I act to prove them wrong. Otherwise, they will always be mistaken, never know you.’”

“I was deeply moved, truly. From then on, anyone who dared claim my cultivation was gained through women—I would kill them. For the Snow Maiden died because of those words!” At this point, Deng Tu Lang’s eyes reddened, as if tears would flow.

“I’m sorry, I spoke wrongly before. I apologize. Your cultivation is not dependent on women. The Snow Maiden was right—the way of union is simply a method, not a matter of relying on anyone. She was indeed a remarkable woman. I can imagine how happy you must have been with her,” Zhou Hao sincerely apologized to Deng Tu Lang’s lingering immortal essence atop the gourd.

Deng Tu Lang wiped his eyes as if to remove tears, then turned his gaze back to Zhou Hao. “You asked me why Luo Tianyi was sealed here? Now I’ll tell you—because she killed the Snow Maiden!”