Maybe everything starts in chaos, and everything ends in chaos.
The soul seemed to be frozen, and every thought was slow, difficult, and heavy.
Jiang Wang forgot many things.
Gradually, he couldn't remember where he was, why he came, and where he was going.
His heart was heavy. He wanted to slow down, slow down again... and fall asleep.
He was very tired, like a taut string that never relaxed.
He couldn't hold on any longer.
He wanted to collapse and not care about anything, just fall down like that.
But for some reason, there was always a faint resistance in his heart.
I'm here, resisting what?He struggled to think.
"Big brother, are we going home?"
"We don't have a home."
"What about Brother Ru Cheng, Brother Ling He, Brother A Zhan, Master Tang Dun, and the others?"
"Big brother doesn't know. Maybe they have also escaped, just in a different direction from us."
"Oh. Can we go find them?"
"This world is too big. Once separated, it's possible that we'll never find each other again."
"Then when I grow up, I'll go find them with you."
"...Okay."
"Brother?"
"Big brother is here."
Big brother is here.
Big brother will take you to find them.
If the soul is already pitch black, then deep in the soul, there is a faint, unextinguished fire, murmuring softly.
The fire is faint.
"Big brother is here."
"Big brother will take you."
The flickering fire struggled, teetering on the edge of collapse.
As if it could go out at any moment, but astonishingly, it continued to burn.
This is the original spark.
A will of steel, an unwavering determination.
No one in front, nothing behind. Holding oneself up, teetering on the edge but not falling, continuing to burn.
Burning, burning...
"If it weren't for Lord Jiang, how could we survive?"
"We will never forget Lord Jiang Wang's great kindness and grace."
"I beg the heavens to let Young Master Jiang stay in Qingyang Town forever."
"May the Dao Lord bless Lord Jiang with eternal life and happiness."
...
Voices came from somewhere, echoing in this world.
Or perhaps they had always existed, but only became so clear in the mirror world of the Red Makeup Mirror.
Various names floated into Jiang Wang's ears.
A child's voice prayed like this—
"Jiang Bodhisattva, I wish you good health." (1)
At first, this world was pitch black, but then there was fire, and there was light.
Fire is the beginning of life.
Humans use fire to cook food, to drive away the cold, and to illuminate the night.
Countless blessings are countless lights.
The little light in Jiang Wang's soul seemed to be growing slowly, no longer on the verge of extinguishing.
An an, an an.
Jiang Wang's thoughts began to turn laboriously.
Gradually, his five senses revived.
Finally, a voice sounded in his heart—
"The Lord of the Fountain Source Cave has confirmed the challenge. Will you accept?"
Jiang Wang suddenly realized that it was already July 15th, the day of the challenge in the Illusory Realm.
As the saying goes, a thought is faster than sound, faster than lightning.
However, it took Jiang Wang a great deal of effort to finally turn this thought— "I accept the challenge!"
The cold and pervasive Yin Star power instantly enveloped him, and his soul was directly brought into the Illusory Realm, appearing in front of the opponent in this challenge.
As soon as his soul relaxed!
All the cold, stiffness, sluggishness, and numbness disappeared.
Only after losing did he realize how free and beautiful his soul's original state was!
Jiang Wang didn't even have time to see what his opponent looked like. He just hurriedly said, "Thank you!"
Then he admitted defeat and left the Illusory Realm, leaving his opponent looking bewildered.
His soul, now fully restored, reappeared in the snowy world within the Red Makeup Mirror. The nine major star rivers simulated within his soul began to rotate together, as if an endless power was surging.
Jiang Wang opened his eyes and rose from the thick snow!
All he could see was the white snow under his feet, and the sky was as clear as a wash— the snow had stopped!
"The Snowstorm Calamity has ended."
That cold voice, like a frosty blade, seemed to sigh.
"The beauty has not aged."
Starting from where Jiang Wang stood, the snowy white gradually receded, the frozen earth melted, the spring wind blew, and the green grass sprouted and swayed joyfully.
Jiang Wang's soul turned, and he was back in his physical body.
Without having time to adapt to his stiff body, he fell into a dazed state.
As if something was lost, as if something was gained.
From the end of June to July 15th, he had endured the Snowstorm Calamity for a full twenty days!
Twenty days and nights.
If it weren't for his astonishing perseverance and determination, with his current strength, his soul's fire would have long been extinguished in the Snowstorm Calamity.
If it weren't for the whole Qingyang Town domain, the thoughts and wishes of tens of thousands of people, and the support and nourishment of his soul from those points of light that could be called "blessings" or "merit," he wouldn't have been able to hold on for so long.
Finally, he waited for the day of the challenge in the Illusory Realm, and for the mysterious and unpredictable Illusory Realm to issue the invitation to the challenge.
Every step and every gain, every request and every result.
Jiang Wang felt lost for a moment, then began to move his body.Fortunately, the nine great Star River Dao rotations were always in motion, and the Chanxing Spirit Snake did not rest either. What he truly cared about, the Ming Candle, had also stayed put during this time, without any movement.
Jiang Wang instantly regained control over his body, stepping off the bed, his bones cracking loudly. By the second step, his body had already adapted.
Bang!
He burst through the door and entered.
Seeing Jiang Wang standing in front of the bed, the man merely blinked his dead fish eyes and said indifferently, "Still alive, huh."
Then he turned and left.
The fierce sword energy that erupted in the instant the door was broken startled Jiang Wang as well. He had always held high expectations for the man, but now he realized he might have underestimated him.
He twisted his neck, grinning and said, "My end is not here."
Dugu Xiao, Zhu Biqiong, and Zhang Hai came to greet Jiang Wang upon hearing of his awakening. After speaking with them and roughly understanding the town's recent events, Jiang Wang once again secluded himself in his room.
Since the Feixue Calamity was a test, there should naturally be a reward after it.
However, with no hints from the Hongzhuang Mirror, Jiang Wang could only grope his way through.
He entered the Hongzhuang Mirror with his physical body again and discovered that the space within the mirror world had indeed expanded, forming a circle with a five-step radius. Beyond the circle was still the impenetrable white fog, but within it, he could move freely.
The range that the Hongzhuang Mirror could probe had also expanded to the extreme limit of five li. The mirror images created by the Hongzhuang Mirror could also appear within this range.
It was clear that the probing range of the Hongzhuang Mirror was directly related to the space occupied by the physical body within the mirror world. Roughly one step equaled one li.
He guessed that entering the Hongzhuang Mirror with his divine soul would also yield different results—but he dared not try again, fearing that it would be an immediate calamity.
This highlighted the importance of a high-ranking mentor. They could guide the correct direction on the path of cultivation, inform disciples of the taboos and dangers of certain magical instruments, and greatly prevent cultivators from blindly seeking their own demise.
But such talk was of no use now.
Jiang Wang had not forgotten the original purpose of entering the world within the Hongzhuang Mirror.
The effects of the Hongzhuang Mirror had strengthened, but the outcome seemed unchanged, as if it was still of no help.
Yet, Jiang Wang always felt that the changes brought by the Feixue Calamity were not so simple.
Or rather, the rewards after the Feixue Calamity were not confined to within the Hongzhuang Mirror.
So.
He examined himself.
What had the Feixue Calamity brought him, after twenty days in the real world and the immeasurably long time in the snowy plains world within the mirror?
...
...
Note (1): The original sentence comes from the modern poem "The First Prayer," "Bodhisattva, I wish you good health."
Joyful Text