Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

The heavy snow lasted for three whole days.

The Vermilion Bird Avenue in the capital was completely covered up; as far as the eye could see, it was all white.

The charcoal fire in the imperial study burned brightly, occasionally crackling and popping.

Li Yu sat behind the dragon table, holding a broken piece of red silk in his hand.

It was broken in my hand three months ago, on the day of Gu Xiang's wedding.

Later, Gu Xiang went to the northern border, and Li Yu put the red silk away.

The knot above was re-tied by Gu Xiang; it's a dead knot and can't be untied.

The old eunuch, Wang Gonggong, carried in hot tea, his footsteps very light.

"Your Majesty, the tea is ready."

Li Yu did not accept the tea, but carefully placed the red silk into a sandalwood box.

"Draft an imperial edict."

Li Yu's voice was a little hoarse.

Eunuch Wang quickly ground the ink and spread out the imperial edict.

"Su Qing was posthumously honored as the Holy Empress of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and her place in the Imperial Ancestral Temple was reserved for her to receive incense offerings for ten thousand generations."

Wang Gonggong's hand trembled, and ink dripped onto the paper.

This is against the rules.

Su Qing is a demon, and also the prime minister's wife before she's even married. How could she be made a holy empress and even enter the Imperial Ancestral Temple?

But he didn't dare to speak. He changed to another piece of paper, picked up a pen, and wrote something.

Li Yu stood up, walked to the window, and opened it.

A cold wind, carrying snowflakes, rushed in, causing his dragon robe to flutter loudly.

"besides."

Li Yu looked towards the direction of Zuixianju, which was covered in snow in the distance.

"Close down Zuixianju."

"Designated as a restricted area."

"No one is allowed to enter or touch anything except Prime Minister Gu."

"Everything inside, even a chopstick or a piece of paper, must be kept exactly as it was."

Eunuch Wang bowed his head and replied, "Yes."

Li Yu sighed.

"I have protected the land of the Great Zhou."

"But they couldn't save the prime minister's wedding."

……

The streets of the capital were much quieter than usual.

The once bustling teahouses and taverns are now eerily quiet.

The storyteller, Old Zhang, sat on the stage and struck the gavel.

He used to love telling stories about the White Tiger Demon Lord and those demons that ate people.

He changed his notebook today.

"On that day, the sky collapsed and the earth caved in, and demons besieged the city."

"Our Prime Minister Gu, alone with his sword, stood guard at the northern border."

"And that woman in red..."

Old Zhang's voice choked up as he said this.

The tea drinkers below the stage also had tears in their eyes.

No one calls her a witch anymore.

No one mentioned that she was a vixen anymore.

"That is our Great Zhou's Holy Empress."

A woman dressed in plain clothes wiped the corner of her eye and took out a wooden carving from her bosom.

The wood carving is of a nine-tailed fox. The workmanship is not very fine, but it has been touched until it is shiny.

"My son was right there at the foot of the city wall that day."

"If it weren't for the Empress Dowager's fire that burned away those monsters, I would have lost my son long ago."

The woman hung the wooden carving around her neck and bowed with her hands clasped together.

The peddler next to him also sighed.

We were so foolish back then.

"I always felt that those who were not of my kind must have different hearts."

"But when it came to life and death, it was others who traded their lives for ours."

The peddler pointed to the shops on the street.

"Look, all the carpenters in town are carving foxes now."

Everyone says that this fox can ward off evil spirits and bring peace.

"It's more effective than the clay Buddha statues in the temple."

On the banks of the Luo River.

Despite the heavy snow, the river was filled with red lanterns.

That was a spontaneous act by the people.

The lanterns floated downstream, turning the river water a bright red.

Like the wedding dress Su Qing wore that day.

……

The Star-Picking Tower.

This is the highest point in the capital city.

Fifth Princess Li Qingge knelt in the snow.

Her knees were soaked, but she didn't move.

There was a snowman piled up in front of her.

The snowman has pointed ears and nine tails trailing behind it.

Li Qingge took off her red cloak and draped it over the snowman.

"sister in law."

Li Qingge called out.

No one answered her.

If she had shouted like that before, Su Qing would have definitely appeared out of nowhere, knocked her on the head, or snatched the roast chicken from her hand.

They would also laugh at her for being a girl who would never grow up.

Now all you hear here is the sound of the wind.

Li Qingge sniffed, and tears fell onto the snow, making small craters.

Are you hiding here to laugh at me?

"Come out here."

"I'm not going to fight you for Gu Xiang anymore."

"I'll give you the roast chicken that my brother gave me."

"Can you come out?"

Li Qingge reached out to touch the snowman's face.

It was icy cold.

The divine soul of Bi Yao within her body stirred, emanating a sorrowful emotion.

That was a daughter's longing for her mother.

It was also out of guilt towards the woman in red.

Li Qingge wiped away her tears and stood up.

She looked in the direction of the palace in the distance, and her expression changed.

The innocent and willful Fifth Princess of the past is gone.

In its place came the majesty of the Great Zhou Princess.

"You protected the Great Zhou once."

"I'll guard the rest."

……

City God Temple.

This place was originally a dilapidated temple, but Gu Xiang later had it repaired.

The incense is very strong.

The offering table was filled with offerings, including roast chicken, pig's head, and fruit—everything imaginable.

The statue in the very center is a short, stout man with green hair, looking both comical and festive.

That's an earth spirit.

Gu Xiang kept his word and actually bestowed upon him a divine title.

Earth Virtue True Lord.

But at this moment, the statue is empty.

The earth spirit did not enjoy the incense offerings in the temple.

He was at Luofengpo.

Beside that large pit where the sacred parasol tree once grew.

Tu Ling squatted on the ground, holding half a roast chicken in her hand, gnawing on it while tears streamed down her face.

"Big sister."

"The roast chicken in this capital city isn't as good as yours."

"The incense offered by those mortals is pungent and irritating to the throat."

Tu Ling threw the bones into the pit.

There was a withered tree root at the bottom of the pit.

That was the last thing left behind by the sacred parasol tree.

"What are you after?"

"They could have run."

"You're a quasi-emperor; where in this world can't you go?"

"I have to risk my life for that scholar."

Tu Ling sniffed.

"Now look what happened, you're gone."

"That scholar has gone mad too."

"I'm all alone now."

Not far away.

A few thatched huts stood in the wind and snow.

Those were people from the Mountain Moving Sect.

The ancestor did not leave.

With the remaining disciples, they settled down on Luofeng Slope.

They took off their monk robes and put on coarse linen clothes.

He became the guardian of this ruin.

Elder Tie's tombstone stands next to Shenmu Pit.

The old man was sweeping the snow off the tombstone with a broom.

"Hey bro."

"Our Mountain Moving Sect has guarded this place for ten thousand years."

"In the end, we still couldn't hold on."

The old ancestor sighed, took out a flask of wine from his pocket, and poured it on the ground.

"But don't rush."

"Prime Minister Gu said he would bring the Empress back."

"When the Empress returns, the sacred tree will come back to life."

"Then we'll kowtow to Her Majesty and apologize."

……

At the gate of the capital city.

This place is packed with people today.

All the civil and military officials, dressed in their court robes, knelt on the ground.

At the very front are the six ministers.

Next came the officials in the Censorate who were responsible for remonstrating with the emperor.

Even the most antagonistic factions on ordinary days knelt together today.

They are stopping people.

The prime minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty was blocked.

Gu Xiang left the city.

He wasn't wearing that scarlet official robe.

He was wearing a faded blue cloth long gown.

That was what he wore when he went to the capital to take the imperial examination three years ago.

He carried an old book box on his back.

The corners of the book box were worn out, and inside were several books of sages and the spirit-seeking disc.

He did not bring any attendants.

They didn't ride in a horse-drawn carriage.

Just this one person, walking out step by step.

"Prime Minister Gu!"

The Minister of Rites kowtowed his head on the snow, making a loud thud.

"You can't leave!"

"Now that the Great Zhou Dynasty is in dire need of rebuilding, His Majesty cannot do without you, and the people cannot do without you!"

"What will happen to the court? What will happen to the world if you leave?"

Gu Xiang stopped in his tracks.

He looked at his colleagues kneeling on the ground.

His face was expressionless.

The ruthless and decisive aura he displayed in the imperial court was gone.

That kind of strategic shrewdness is gone.

Now, he is just like an ordinary, down-on-his-luck scholar.

"His Majesty is in the imperial court."

"I have paved the way for the world."

Gu Xiang's voice was very soft, and it was easily dispersed by the wind.

"The new law has been implemented, and the administration has been rectified."

"The rest is just following the steps."

"Whether I'm here or not, it's all the same."

The Minister of War raised his head, his eyes red-rimmed.

"But Your Excellency..."

"Over in the North..."

"There are 300,000 border troops in the north."

Gu Xiang interrupted him.

"And the patriarch of the Mountain Moving Sect is watching over things."

"It won't be chaotic."

Gu Xiang tightened the straps of the book box on his back.

"My lords."

"Gu is tired."

"This prime minister's hat is too heavy."

"I wore it for three years, and it made it hard for me to breathe."

Gu Xiang raised his head and looked north.

That is the far north.

It is the place with the heaviest wind and snow.

"I lost my wife."

I have to go find her.

"She has no sense of direction and is very concerned about her image."

"If I don't go to pick her up, she definitely won't be able to find her way home."

Done.

Gu Xiang cupped his hands in greeting to the officials.

He bowed deeply.

"Gentlemen."

"Mountains high and rivers long."

"Never again."

Gu Xiang turned around.

I stepped out of the city gate of the capital city, my feet sinking into the thick snow.

Behind.

All the officials wept in unison.

"Respectfully seeing off Prime Minister Gu!"

The sound shook the snow on the city wall.

Gu Xiang did not turn back.

His figure grew smaller and smaller in the wind and snow.

In the end, it turned into a black dot.

They disappeared into the vast expanse of white snow.

……

Luofengpo.

Gu Xiang did not go directly to the north.

He went back here first.

He erected a monument next to that large pit.

There are no words on the stele.

The stele without inscription.

Gu Xiang sat in front of the stele and took out an inkstone and ink sticks from his book box.

He poured some snow water into the inkstone.

Grind the ink slowly.

The movements were slow and meticulous.

Just like when I used to draw Su Qing's eyebrows at Zuixianju.

"Qing'er."

"I have resigned from my official post."

"That Emperor Li Yu wanted to keep me here, but I scolded him."

"I said, 'My wife is gone, what's the point of being an official?'"

Gu Xiang ground the ink while speaking to the stone tablet.

His tone was very flat.

It's like chatting with family.

"Oh, right."

"When I left, I bought the courtyard we had at Zuixianju."

"I've spent all my savings."

You used to say I was stingy.

"I was generous this time."

"When you come back, we'll stay there again."

"I'll also make you roast chicken."

"I'll definitely use less salt this time."

Gu Xiang stopped what he was doing.

He reached out and touched the stone tablet.

The stone is cold.

But the heart in his chest was beating very hot.

thump.

thump.

thump.

That is a heart with seven orifices and exquisite beauty.

It was left to him by Su Qing.

Each jump seemed to be a response to his words.

Gu Xiang smiled.

"I know you can hear me."

"The old ancestor's plate has moved."

"I know you're in the north."

"You wait for me."

No matter how far.

No matter how difficult.

I will definitely bring you back.

Gu Xiang stood up.

Put the inkstone and ink sticks into the book box.

He patted the snow off his clothes.

One last look at the ruins.

then.

He started walking and headed north.

With firm steps.

……

Above the capital city.

The clouds churned.

A golden dragon appeared and disappeared in the sea of ​​clouds.

That is the golden dragon of the Great Zhou Dynasty's national destiny.

It used to have only four claws.

just now.

A fifth claw grew from its abdomen.

Five-clawed golden dragon.

That is a symbol of the Holy Dynasty.

The golden dragon hovered above the capital, letting out a loud roar.

The sound spread throughout the land.

It was bidding farewell to the prime minister who had saved the people.

They are also waiting for the return of that red-clad empress.

The wind and snow intensified.

It covered up all the footprints.

But that couldn't conceal the scholar's determination to head north.