novelraw Chapter 418 - 408: For His Arrival, She Has Waited Far Too Many Years
Chapter 418 - 408: For His Arrival, She Has Waited Far Too Many Years
"That wasn’t the case."
Su Mu waved his hand as he spoke. He actually didn’t remember much himself. The only thing he remembered was that Shen Cha took him back to her place. He couldn’t recall anything after that.
"That’s good."
After hearing this, Du Ziren let out a sigh of relief.
Ever since three days ago, after that banquet, he had been on edge because that lunatic Shen Cha got Elder Su drunk and even took him back to her place.
If she did something reckless and angered the elder, coupled with the fact that he hosted the banquet, he couldn’t bear the blame.
So, for these three days, he had been waiting by the lake and didn’t dare to enter the small island with the ancient building in the lake.
The first reason was the fear of displeasing Elder Su. The second was fear of Shen Cha... because when Shen Cha is serious, her sense of boundaries is too strong. She is icy and bad-tempered, unable to get along with most people.
Thus, aside from the Empress visiting once, no one had ever gone to her residence.
Thinking about it, Elder Su was the only male who had ever visited Shen Cha’s residence. Yes, the first one!
....
"The wine yesterday was indeed quite unusual. This is the first time I’ve gotten drunk."
Su Mu said with a smile.
"Yesterday?"
Upon hearing this, Du Ziren was stunned. It seemed that Elder Su was truly drunk, forgetting even the passage of time.
"Elder, this is already the third day." Du Ziren responded with a smile.
On hearing this, Su Mu paused for a moment, three days??
Had he wasted three days?
Alas, never mind. It’s not anyone else’s fault. It’s his own for being too indulgent. Had he drunk less, none of this would have happened.
The wine has been drunk, these people have been met, and he had been drunk for three days without incident, proving that the other party harbors no ill will towards him, at least they wouldn’t harm him.
"Didn’t you say the bridge had collapsed?"
Su Mu needed to quickly handle the matter and return.
"I came today precisely for this matter, the Empress has been waiting for you for a long time." Du Ziren said with a smile.
With that, he steered the dragon boat under his feet along the winding river in the ancient city, heading to the depths of the city.
.....
Meanwhile, in the deepest part of the ancient city.
In stark contrast to the outside, filled with pavilions and bright lights, this place appeared exceedingly desolate and solitary.
As far as the eye could see, there was only an ancient, black stone bridge, spanning thousands of meters, shrouded in a misty aura.
Upon the stone bridge stood a pitch-black, ancient tower, its body showing tiny flickers of candlelight, exuding a profound sense of solitude and coldness, completely opposite to the bustling exterior.
On the stone bridge, a woman knelt.
Her long white hair spilled to the ground, her visage cold and desolate like a shattered blood plum blossom, noble yet so poignantly beautiful it stirred one’s pity.
"Empress, I’ve made a grave mistake."
"Please punish me."
The voice of the white-haired woman trembled slightly, soft and frail.
In the next instant.
A hazy aura arose atop the stone bridge, a dark Immortal Shadow concealed within the misty aura, appearing to be right before one’s eyes yet as if separated by infinite space, suspended as if above the highest heavens, supreme, sacred, noble...
"What punishment do you expect me to dole out to you?"
The voice of the dark Immortal Shadow was ethereal and surreal, like the sound of the Great Dao.
"Please, Empress, strip me of my status and cast me into reincarnation."
The white-haired woman was none other than Shen Cha, the Netherworld King Shen Cha.
After the incident occurred, she immediately came here, kneeling all along, awaiting the Empress’s punishment.
Moreover, she was truly harsh on herself. She, a generation’s Netherworld King, the legendary divine power, once residing at the most illustrious position in ancient history, revered by countless others, was willing to renounce her status and cultivation, casting herself into reincarnation, losing everything.
She would reincarnate as a common creature of the All Heavens and Myriad Realms, to experience the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death, to endure all of the world’s sorrows.
Upon hearing Shen Cha suggest this punishment, even the dark Immortal Shadow was momentarily stunned.
Whoosh ——
A gust of wind ruffled Shen Cha’s garments, her white hair swept into disarray, though it could not disturb the misty aura surrounding the dark figure.
Merely by standing there, she embodied a profound truth.
"This is the tribulation destined in your life."
"You cannot evade it, nor should you try to."
The voice of the dark Immortal Shadow resounded.
"But... I clearly could have avoided it." Shen Cha gently bit her lip.
In her view, as long as she didn’t attend the banquet, didn’t proactively engage with the elder, didn’t drink, drink too much, or bring the elder to her place, avoiding any one of these could have averted it entirely.
"I was the one who sent you to the banquet; could you have avoided that?"
The dark Immortal Shadow asked.
Upon hearing this, Shen Cha shook her head: "But..."
"No buts, if all the blame rests on yourself, then I am just as guilty." The dark Immortal Shadow stated.
"No, no, no, Empress, that’s not what I meant." Shen Cha hastily denied.
...
"Ah Cha, I have watched you grow since you were a child; I know you well."
"You are a good child, yet a pitiful one."
"Relying on me, your final outcome, is more vicious than the punishment you just suggested."
"I have seen your life. It seems like only a single method exists to break this impasse."
"Apart from this, I won’t tell you more about the karma; from now on... it’s up to your fortune."
The dark Immortal Shadow slowly spoke.
"Are you willing to enter reincarnation?"
After the words fell, Shen Cha slowly lifted her head, looking forward, with her beautiful eyes shimmering with brilliance, uncertain whether in confusion or reluctance, but there was no fear.
After pondering for a moment, Shen Cha slowly nodded.
In the next second, the dark Immortal Shadow waved, the mist unfurling over the stone bridge, extending to its end.
"Go."
With those words.
Shen Cha slowly stood up, tidying her hair, and walked step by step towards the end of the stone bridge.
The dark Immortal Shadow quietly gazed at Shen Cha’s departing figure, with glimmers of Divine Fire flickering in her pupils.....
At the moment Shen Cha fell into reincarnation, her rebirth began anew, she discovered something, her pupils contracted sharply, and for the first time, her face showed traces of shock.
At this moment, she fell silent for a while.
Ultimately, she made a decision, preserving Shen Cha’s memories and cultivation, sealing them within her heart, and retained a presence that ought not to have appeared.
Through her life, there were seldom things she couldn’t see through. This was the second time she encountered such an inscrutable karma...
After sending Shen Cha into reincarnation.
The dark Immortal Shadow slowly turned around, facing forward, surfacing gentle ripples in a usually undisturbed mind.
She was waiting, waiting for someone’s arrival.
She had awaited too many and too many years just for his arrival on this day.
...