The spring after Nobu left, the small wooden cabin deep in the snow mountains, from which smoke occasionally rose, collapsed in a blaze.
Flames licked at the mountain slopes, where green shoots had just begun to appear, then faltered under the cold meltwater, leaving only ashes.
Where had it gone wrong...
Perhaps it was because Baima had gone down the mountain to find a soft red cloth for the handgrip of the newly forged Cold Stone blade, or perhaps the loud sound of the bronze door attracted too much attention. Or maybe it was all fate, an unstoppable end.
When she returned home with the cloth, Baima had a joyful smile. She wrapped the good cloth, which she had painstakingly exchanged with people at the foot of the mountain, around the hilt of the sword.
Though the Cold Stone blade was sharp, its touch was chilling. With this handgrip, her Nobu would not be harmed by the cold.
The cold blade was carefully placed in a stone box, waiting for her dear child to return one day.
But now, Baima lay flat on the ground, her eyes only able to see a patch of sky so blue it was blinding.
The sky was cloudless, almost like a transparent mirror, illuminating everything below.
The Zhang family had been searching for the bronze door for years. This small home was eventually exposed by wave after wave of Zhang family members.
Baima felt the cold. The winter's chill had not yet completely dissipated. The hard, ice-chipped earth pressed against her back like a thousand blades.
Her head trembled slightly. She wanted to look one last time in the direction of the cabin, one last time at the sword wrapped in red cloth, the sword she hadn't had time to give away.
But she couldn't move. All she could hear was the crackling sound of burning wood, sometimes near, sometimes far, the unique aroma of burning wood lingering in wisps.
It was like a dream, lit by a hypnotic incense.
She suddenly realized that she might not live to see her child return.
But at this moment, she couldn't help but force out a joyful smile, tinged with tears—
It was good that Nobu had left.
If Nobu's lack of joy and sorrow was a punishment from the gods for her rebellion against her clan, then at least, in her final moments, the merciful eyes of the gods had cast a glance her way.
The scent of blood diluted the aroma of burning wood. The gushing blood warmed the frozen earth beneath her, but was quickly solidified into blood crystals, like Manjushaka, by the cold wind.
Baima's vision grew darker, but just then, she heard a tremor that reached deep into her soul—
The massive bronze door, which had stood in the distance for a year, almost merging with the vast snow mountains, slowly opened a crack. The faint colorful light emanating from within was like a devil tempting people to reveal their hearts.
Baima saw it.
—
If the bronze door contained the destinies of all beings, could it see its own end?
It could calculate all heavenly destinies, yet its own was unfathomable. Perhaps it was for this reason that when it saw the extremely weak Nobu, it was drawn by the temptation to preemptively kill fate.
It slowly opened its door. Even if it was just a crack, it was enough to guide Nobu towards death.
And the child, who had traveled a long way, with tattered clothes and disheveled hair, merely clutched a sharp beast bone tightly and looked up.
Nobu's lips were chapped and bleeding, the slowly oozing blood forming beads that hung precariously.
His extremely pale face was hidden by his overly long black hair, but his faintly visible eyes held a deathly stillness, as devoid of emotion as a black hole, making him seem more like a cold creation than the bronze door before him.
And in that instant, as if a faint, flickering flame lit up in those dark pupils, it momentarily imbued this piece of stone with a trace of life.
Zhang Qiling's soul had awakened prematurely.
The bloodline, sealed along with his soul, surged fiercely within his body again, expanding outwards with the roar of a Qilin. The cracking sounds of bones breaking continued incessantly. Zhang Qiling slightly raised his hand and saw those familiar fingers.
He was only fourteen years old this year. Although his body had undergone brutal training, it still could not bear the heavy burden of his soul.
His skin, already dry in the cold wind, cracked into fine bloody wounds under the impact of the power. This fragile body shattered in an instant, like a ceramic doll dropped on the ground.
The seal, which was supposed to be broken at sixteen, had finally arrived with his mother's company.
The bronze door seemed to sense the threat and dissipated in the wind and snow, like a faded ink painting.
[The premature unsealing will cause irreversible physical damage to the host. The system recommends re-sealing the soul.]
The system's flat, emotionless voice sounded again after many years, but Zhang Qiling did not hear its words.
As if a long dream had suddenly shattered, Zhang Qiling was instantly lost in this pale world. He looked blankly at the sky, unsure of where to go.
And then, a gentle female voice sounded, or perhaps it resonated within his soul.
It was a common lullaby, sung by countless bedside. The singer was clearly not familiar with it, but the occasional stutter in the lyrics revealed an undeniable love.
Although Nobu had learned how to survive under Baima's guidance, he ultimately didn't know how to take good care of himself.
At this moment, his bleeding lips trembled slightly. His long-unused vocal cords produced a hoarse, unpleasant sound. The sound was very faint, as if it would be blown away at any moment.
But it directly interrupted the system's rambling.
"...I want to see her."
Zhang Qiling, Nobu's eyes lit up.
His eyes had never been so bright before, as bright as the most dazzling morning star in the sky, filled with light, drop by drop, full of hope.
What could the system say?
[...The closest route from home has been detected for the host. Based on the host's current physical condition, compressing the hibernation time will take 29 days.]
...29 days. Compared to the time Nobu had spent traveling arduously, it wasn't a long time.
Zhang Qiling took a step.
He walked as he had countless times before in the wind and snow, his body unbandaged. Drops of hot blood fell from his wounds, and soon, the rags soaked in blood froze, sealing the wounds along with them.
This would not kill him, but the bone-chilling cold was unavoidable.
But at this moment, his heart felt like it was warmed by a flame.
He finally had a mother.