Chapter 21: An Exiled Immortal Descends to Earth, Jade Mountain Reflects the Snow, the Two Serpents Consumed by Longing and Loss
When they met again.
The little serpent of old had already achieved Manifestation.
Lady White's gaze settled on Jiang Linxian's present appearance, and even with a thousand years of cultivation behind her—her heart's lake as still as a mirror—she couldn't help but momentarily pause.
Before, the Tribulation Lightning had been pressing from outside, and her mind had been fixed on matters of survival. She hadn't looked closely.
Now, with the dust finally settling, she truly saw for the first time the figure that had emerged after Manifestation.
The young man before her had hair slightly damp, his features strikingly, purely beautiful, a faint luminescence hovering at his brow. From his entire being flowed a quality clean and crystalline—almost like that of an innate Dao Body—an immortal, spiritual energy utterly untouched by even the faintest trace of Demonic Energy.
He stood there in silence, like an exiled immortal descended to the mortal world, like jade mountains mirrored in snow. The magnificence of his bearing.
Even Lady White, who over a hundred years had grown accustomed to the splendor of the mortal world and had witnessed many Sprites taking human form—who prided herself on her unyielding will—and Little Green beside her, free-spirited as ever: both were struck simultaneously by a single instant of dazed unreality, as though what they saw could not be true.
If Jiang Linxian had emerged from Manifestation as ordinary—merely a clear-faced or upstanding young man.
Even with his distant attitude, even though Lady White and Little Green would have been sad and heartbroken over his forgetting, they would never have felt it the way they did now.
Something in their hearts was clenched tight, a sharp ache mingled with an emotion that words could not quite name—a trembling…
A distant sense of inadequacy, almost like shame.
When all was said and done, even great demons like themselves—who had cultivated for a thousand years and long since grown indifferent to surface appearances—could not, in the end, escape the most primitive and most profound of instincts.
The longing for something supremely beautiful and purely made.
Put plainly, it was the instinct of procreation.
A hundred years ago inside the Cave Dwelling, Lady White had been relatively restrained. Little Green, on the other hand, had clung to Jiang Linxian ceaselessly—if not for the fact that he was still a young serpent back then, she might very well have devoured him whole.
And that was when Jiang Linxian had still been a young serpent.
All the more so now that he had come of age, both his human form and his demon body having ascended to their utmost.
When this instinct, this beauty, and someone already held in affection all converged—the impact was doubled, and so was the longing and the dread of loss.
The better he was, the more dazzling—the deeper the ache carved into bone by the distance he now kept.
Especially that phrase, the two young ladies, and the perfectly proper, perfectly ceremonious words of thanks.
Falling on their ears, it was somehow a little sharp.
Was he resentful that they had failed to find him during these hundred years?
If Jiang Linxian had known what Lady White was thinking, he would surely have smiled with a little bitterness. How could he resent Lady White and Little Green?
It was only that he felt—since Lady White already had her destined partner, why should he intrude?—and besides, a hundred years of being refined inside the Alchemy Furnace had left him… his emotions seemed to have grown a touch too detached.
Lady White returned his bow, her voice still warm and gentle, though half a measure softer and lower than her usual tone.
"Little Immortal, there is no need for thanks. We sensed that you were here crossing your Tribulation—our hearts were anxious, and we came at once. Seeing that you are safe and unharmed, we are at ease."
Beside her, Little Green's eyes had already reddened. Unable to hold herself back any longer, she stepped half a pace forward, her voice laced with grievance and urgency.
"I—Sister, she… we searched for you for a hundred years. Have you forgotten us?"
Jiang Linxian replied slowly.
"Elder Sister White and Elder Sister Green showed me great kindness. I naturally remember."
Little Green had more to say but could not say it. This was not what she had wanted.
She had thought that when they met again, things would be as close and easy as before. But now, beneath what seemed familiar, a distance ran between them…
Lady White, hearing his words, spoke gently.
"Little Immortal, you have just endured the Tribulation Lightning and reforged your body and spirit. What you need most now is rest and consolidation. This place is fraught with danger on all sides. If you have no settled place to go, why not… come back to Hangzhou with us for a time? It is quiet there, and safe."
Little Green also nodded hurriedly, watching him with wide, hopeful eyes.
Jiang Linxian considered for a moment, the faint luminescence at his brow shifting gently.
He did indeed need a place of absolute safety and quiet—to fully acquaint himself with his new body, and to meditate on the secrets of the luminescence and the Grand Void Dragon Transformation Chapter.
Jiang Linxian considered for a moment, just about to answer Lady White's suggestion about where to go, when his expression suddenly shifted. He turned toward a patch of shrubbery to one side.
"Croak! Lord Serpent Immortal!"
From behind the bushes, a dull grey toad sprite with bulging eyes came tumbling and scrambling out, its voice sharp with excitement.
Its body was covered in grass bits and dirt—it had clearly been cowering in the distance throughout, trembling.
Now that the Tribulation Lightning had scattered and the 2 fierce she-demons had driven the enemy back, it finally found the courage to poke its head out.
It was none other than the toad sprite that had followed Jiang Linxian since the days of Golden Butterfly Manor—low in cultivation, yet somehow improbably long-lived and stubbornly loyal.
Or rather, the toad sprite that had no choice but to follow Jiang Linxian, having nowhere else to turn.
As if pardoned from execution, the toad sprite scrambled forward with all its might and tilted its head back, regarding Jiang Linxian's completely transformed appearance with its pair of round, bulging eyes—full of curiosity and awe.
It was clearly stunned by the magnitude of the change, staring blankly for quite a while before snapping to with a start, then waving its limbs in excitement and croaking its praises.
"Lord Serpent Immortal! Your appearance now—it's truly… truly… croak! More handsome than the immortals in paintings! More beautiful than the moon! I—I don't even know how to describe it! Croak!"
Lady White and Little Green watched this scene, and the feelings in their hearts grew all the more tangled.
Toward this lowly little demon, he seemed to show… more of a natural ease and warmth than he did toward them.
Jiang Linxian paid no mind to the toad sprite's exaggerated flattery, and simply turned his gaze back to Lady White and Little Green.
"You don't mind if I bring the toad along?"
"Of course not."
Lady White would agree to any condition Jiang Linxian named right now. The important thing was to bring him back first, and everything else could be sorted out later.
The group delayed no further, set off from Yuzhao Mountain, and made their way in the direction of Hangzhou.
With a little conversation on the road, Jiang Linxian learned that Lady White and Little Green were no longer living outside the outskirts of Hangzhou—they had purchased a spacious and refined residence and named it White Manor.
Over these years, they had even taken in and sheltered quite a number of small demons with kind temperaments—those unwilling or unable to fight fiercely for survival in these turbulent times. The manor had come to carry something of the feel of a demon's dwelling apart from the world.
Jiang Linxian walked side by side with Lady White and Little Green.
The toad sprite hopped along behind them as best it could, trading words here and there in idle conversation.
Little Green could hold herself back no longer, and seizing her chance, pressed her question with urgency.
"Little Immortal, where on earth did you go during these hundred years? What did you go through? Back then… back then, you disappeared without warning, and Sister and I were frantic with worry. We truly looked for you everywhere, only… only…"
She wanted to explain. She wanted to pour out the hardship and anxiety of a hundred years of searching—wanted to clear away whatever misunderstanding might exist between them.
But Jiang Linxian's response was remarkably measured.
"The hundred years feel like a dream—the specific details are mostly blurred and hard to distinguish. As for the searching…"
His profile, in the dappled light filtering down through the leaves, was beautiful in a way that seemed almost unreal.
"Elder Sister White, Elder Sister Green, your thoughtfulness means a great deal. But—searched or not searched—it is all the past now."
"Some roads must ultimately be walked alone. Some Tribulations, too, must be crossed by oneself. The outcome has not changed. As for what the journey was like… it is, in truth… not so very important."
His tone was even, without reproach. He was not blaming them—he truly did not mind.
Little Green was so thoroughly stopped by these words that for a moment she couldn't speak, all her urgency and everything she had wanted to say lodged in her chest.
She looked toward her sister. Lady White gave her a soothing glance and shook her head gently, signaling there was no need to rush.
Little Green reined in her impulse. Yes—yes, that was right.
At the very least, he still called her Elder Sister Green. That meant Little Immortal still held her and Sister in his heart, somewhere.