Accompanying the Phoenix

Chapter 77.2

A year later.

After the Ruins of Heavenly Poles disappeared, the miasma in the Demon Realm decreased day by day, and the demons infected by the miasma became less and less. Without the external battles, the disputes of interests in court became fiercer and fiercer. Shen Li did not like these open and covert battles, so all day, she simply claimed that she was sick and did not go to court nor to the Council Hall. Besides, there was no war going on for her to worry about. Therefore, in the Demon Realm, she would stroll around the capital every day. On occasion, she would drag a few generals, who were goofing off, out to drink with her or put a few new recruits, who were bullying others, in their place. As such, she was given a new moniker, A Stroke of Bad Luck.

After Rou Ya heard this, she felt very indignant for Shen Li: “It was his family that was hit by a stroke of bad luck! Don’t let me find out which unlucky dude spread this, once I find out, I, Rou Ya, will tell Xu Xu to peck his head bald!”

Shen Li, who was sitting on the chair, leisurely took a sip of tea: “There’s nothing bad about it.” She said, “I have always been a person with very bad luck.”

When Rou Ya heard these words, she was taken aback and her face fell.

She still remembered that when the king came back covered in blood with the corpse of the Divine Sovereign Xing Zhi, Shen Li seemed to have completely lost her soul at that time. After taking the Divine Sovereign Xing Zhi to the Snow Sacrificial Hall, she spent three months alone in that place of icy snow with her wounded body. Ultimately, the Demon Sovereign could no longer stand it and forcibly dragged her out.

When she came out, she fell seriously ill. The illness spiraled around her intermittently for three to four months. After Shen Li recovered from the illness, she seemed to have come around and returned to her previous self. However, Rou Ya knew that this version of Shen Li, her heart was already broken and shattered.

“Tomorrow, I’m not coming back to the mansion.” Shen Li finished her tea and said softly, “Just prepare a meal for youself.”

For a moment, Rou Ya was stunned, but suddenly she remembered that tomorrow would be the first anniversary of the Divine Sovereign’s death.

Rou Ya nodded, slightly worried. Shen Li glanced at her, then ruffled her hair: “Don’t worry, it’s all in the past. I understand that.”

Her father and Xing Zhi saved this life of hers. Even if she did not live for herself, she should live well for them. She had to take care of herself and love herself. If Xing Zhi could not help her take care of herself, then she just had to do it herself.

As Rou Ya nodded, she watched Shen Li walk away and could only sigh.

The door to the Snow Sacrificial Hall was once again opened. As the chilly iciness poured out from inside, Shen Li closed her eyes gently. Such coolness reminded her of Xing Zhi. She walked into the Snow Sacrificial Hall. She had placed Xing Zhi’s body in the naturally occurring seal of this realm, in order to preserve his body from decaying and to prevent people with evil intentions from stealing his body.

“Xing Zhi.” When she broke through the layers of frost and looked up at the icicle in the center, her pupils unexpectedly constricted.

In that icicle… There was no one!

Stunned, Shen Li quickly stepped forward and looked around the icicle in the center, but she did not see Xing Zhi’s figure. Suddenly, her heart panicked, but along with it, a new hope slowly ignited. She clenched her fists, forcing herself to calm down. However, at this moment, Rou Ya’s shout was heard from outside the Snow Sacrificial Hall: “My lord! My lord!”

When Shen Li came out of the Snow Sacrifice Hall, she saw Rou Ya rushing towards her, completely out of breath: “There’s! There’s… There’s a demon beast! On the main street!”

“It’s a snow demon!”

Shen Li pushed Rou Ya out of the way and quickly left; her footsteps were stumbling around because of her trembling legs. She just looked straight ahead, searching for the familiar aura, running all the way to the main street of the capital. Like a madwoman, searching for someone in front of her, suddenly, she heard loud noises in front of her, exclamations from the people and reprimands from the officers and soldiers. She pushed through the crowd and saw a figure in white standing in the street. Even though his back was facing her and his head of black hair had already turned white, Shen Li still knew that it was this person. She was so sure.

She abruptly stepped forward and embraced him from behind.

“I know it’s you.” She said, “I know it’s you!”

Shen Li did not know how the people around her reacted. She only felt that her hands were being covered by a pair of ice-cold hands: “Be gentle.” He said, “It hurts.”

Only then did Shen Li dare to loosen just a little. When the person turned around, she saw the familiar features still carrying the same smile from the olden days. He said: “Shen Li, at this time, you should be laughing.”

When Shen Li heard this, her tears flowed even more happily: “It’s just… Not gonna be as you wish.”

Xing Zhi sighed: “Can’t you just listen for once.” He leaned down, lifted Shen Li’s chin up, and imprinted his lips on hers, “After all, I am still your own husband.”

When the surrounding exclamations faded into the background, Shen Li just ignored everything, hugging and kissing him in the middle of the street.

The Divine Sovereign Xing Zhi came back, but his divine power was extremely weak. It was as weak as an ordinary immortal. Even his body was not up to par as that of an ordinary immortal. Shen Li was worried that the residual miasma in the Demon Realm would hinder him, so she took him to the Mortal Realm and bought a small house, just like the one when he was still Xing Yun.

The people from the Heaven Realm came to find him several times, but Xing Zhi avoided seeing them, displaying an attitude of shunning the world. It was because of this attitude, the people of the Heaven Realm tactfully stopped coming to find him.

Shen Li and Xing Zhi settled down in the small house. Life appeared to have returned to the way it was before; the sickly scholar and the domineering queen. They were in the backyard planting grapes. As the two of them started to plant grapes together, they were chatting and working: “Aren’t you curious about how I came back?” Xing Zhi asked Shen Li.

Shen Li paused: “I’m curious, but I’m afraid to ask.” She confessed, “If I ask and find out that this is all a dream, what will I do?”

For a moment, Xing Zhi was stunned, thinking to himself that Shen Li must have been very frightened this time. He smiled, and did not say anything more. He was not anxious, he still had a lot of time to tell Shen Li that this was reality.

It was just that… He looked up at the sky, the Outer Bounds of Heaven shattered into smithereens, the golden images of his old friends… He lowered his head and loosened the soil. Those memories of the ancient deities would only be like a dream to future generations. He could imagine that in the Western Garden of the Heaven Realm, those memorial tablets that floated around by using the last remaining divine powers of many deities should have completely vanished by now. It was because… They turned the last bit of their powers into life force for him to survive. His friends and his past could no longer be found again.

“Shen Li.” He called out to her suddenly, “I’m no longer as strong as I used to be, do you despise me?”

Shen Li glanced at him and automatically asked: “Why would I despise you? In the beginning, I fell in love with just a sick and weak mortal.”

They went around in a circle and still returned back to the starting point.

For a moment, Xing Zhi was stunned, but then he immediately smiled and said no more. The last deity in this world was gone, but in its place was an idle immortal.

Year after year, the time in the Mortal Realm passed very slowly, the grape vines in Shen Li and Xing Zhi’s little backyard had already produced large bunches of grapes.

One day, under the grapevines, on the rocking chair, the sun was shining on Xing Zhi’s face. His eyes were closed while taking a break, suddenly he heard a voice say: “Taste these grapes.”

Xing Zhi opened his eyes and saw Shen Li standing beside him. Against the backlighting of the sun, her silhouette was simply too beautiful. When Xing Zhi reached out to take the grapes, he suddenly remembered something and said: “Shen Li, you still owe me two wishes from before.”

Stunned, Shen Li pondered for a long time, and seemed to remember something about this matter: “What else do you want to wish for?”

“My first wish, in the future, every summer, you will help me pick grapes.”

Shen Li went and laid down on the rocking chair next to him, nodding in agreement: “Okay.”

“My second wish…”

Shen Li turned her head to look at him: “Are you going to make all your wishes today?”

At the exact same moment, Xing Zhi also turned his head to look at her. They were so close that they were breathing one another’s breath. Xing Zhi smiling said: “It’s because my second wish will take a long time to accomplish.” He moved his body over and quietly dropped a kiss on Shen Li’s lips.

“Help me have as many children as a bunch of grapes.” Startled, Shen Li pushed him and ran away: “You’re completely crazy and ridiculous!”

In the backyard, only Xing Zhi’s neverending chuckles were left.

At the same time, the sunshine was just perfect.

~~~~~

The author has something to say: Because there’s a lot of details~ So I wrote it up to this point Orz

At this point, the main text is finally over~ Releasing a long sigh of relief~

There will be a side story~~ Tomorrow morning, the side story about Shen Li’s parents will be updated~ It’s still eleven o’clock~ It’s probably going to look more like a short story~