Behind the dark-gold curtain, a voice fell softly like chipped jade, reaching the ears of the people bowing all along the street.
“Shen Yu, come with me.”
Shen Yu subconsciously raised his eyes, looking toward the source of the voice.
The curtain remained completely still.
After a moment of hesitation, he stood up and took a step forward. His boots trod upon the bluestone street, each step exceptionally clear.
He sat sideways on the wide carriage shaft.
Behind him hung the dark-gold tassels. The view inside the curtain was completely obscured, only occasionally revealing a shadow of a skirt hem as the tassels swayed.
Suddenly, the dark-gold carriage moved.
The eight heavenly horses raised their hooves in unison, and the golden-armored heavenly soldiers rose into the clouds, the clatter of their armor mingling with the sound of the wind.
Shen Yu’s spine instantly tensed. He instinctively grabbed the edge of the carriage shaft, forcing himself to remain calm as he looked down at the rapidly shrinking city gates and the dense crowd below.
Inside Chaoyang City, the vast crowd of people let out an uncontrollable gasp of awe the moment the carriage left the ground.
Countless eyes stared at Shen Yu sitting on the carriage shaft. Their gazes were incredibly complex—filled with envy, awe, and even a hint of resentment that asked, “Why him?”
“Young Master Shen is truly blessed...”
“The Divine Lady relies on him so heavily...”
“If only I could receive the Divine Lady's favor as well. That would truly be a miracle, bringing immense honor to my ancestors...”
The muttering of the people nearby reached Shen Jue's ears, making his already heavy chest ache even more with a sour pang.
Recently, he often could not help but wonder what exactly he had done wrong to displease the Divine Lady.
Yet, no matter how much he thought about it, he could not understand.
It was only when he was entrusted by Chief Administrator Xu the other day to lead troops to capture a murderous thief and learned the full story of the crime that he realized not everything had a reason.
The thief already had a virtuous wife at home. The couple had been deeply in love for over a decade, but it ultimately could not withstand the desire for novelty. Upon meeting a woman younger and more beautiful than his wife, he began to find fault with her, even conceiving the idea of divorcing her to remarry. His wife naturally refused, and in the end, she was brutally murdered by him.
He had asked the thief.
Why he had treated his devoted wife of many years this way.
The thief simply replied that he loved the new and loathed the old.
So it was simply a matter of casting aside the old for the new.
An expected answer.
An emperor had three thousand beauties in his imperial harem, and many of them never got to lay eyes on him from the moment they entered the palace until the day they died.
The believers who revered the Divine Lady numbered far more than three thousand.
Setting aside Fang Shuo, when compared to Shen Yu alone, he had nothing but his martial strength to compete with his younger brother.
Shen Yu had been a child prodigy famous throughout the capital since childhood. He could read and write at three, and compose elegant prose at five. How could he compete?
Having fought on the battlefield for years and weathered the harsh winds of the frontier, his physical appearance naturally could not compare to his brother's jade-like countenance.
It was only normal for the Divine Lady to cast him aside for someone new.
But he was simply unwilling to accept it.
He was unwilling to be forgotten just like this...
Watching the Divine Lady's carriage drift further and further away, a layer of mist uncontrollably welled up in his eyes, dampening his eyelashes.
The dark-gold carriage vanished.
The magnificent temple standing outside Chaoyang City also dissolved bit by bit amidst the gasps of the crowd.
Meanwhile.
Shen Yu, sitting on the carriage shaft, had no time to think of anything else.
The wind whipped past his ears, and the cold air from the high altitude began to seep into his collar. He had thought the carriage would soar straight into the clouds, so he secretly clenched his teeth, trying hard to overcome his inner fear.
However, the expected ascent did not happen.
The carriage glided forward smoothly the entire time.
Shen Yu lowered his head and could clearly see the dew drops condensing on the tips of the wild grass on both sides of the official road outside the city.
The carriage was barely three feet off the ground.
He blankly let go of the carriage shaft and looked back at the completely motionless dark-gold curtain.
With the tassels hanging down, there was still only a blurry silhouette behind the curtain, as quiet as a jade statue.
Inside the carriage.
Yun Shu was contemplating whether she should first use other outfits to farm a wave of Shock Values once they arrived in Longyou, or if she should go straight to her ultimate move: putting on the Rainbow and Feather Garment and bringing down a massive downpour.
“Host, I didn't expect you to remember that Shen Yu is afraid of heights and keep the carriage close to the ground. You are so nice to him.”
The little fox's tone was slightly sour.
“System, you can't just look at the surface of things.”
“As the saying goes, if you want to know where someone's love lies, look at where their money is.” Yun Shu pulled the little fox into her arms and stroked its head. “Calculate it yourself. How much Shock Value have I spent buying skins for you from beginning to end? Is there even a need to ask who I care about most?”
All nine of the little fox's tails perked up.
“I knew it! We are the absolute best of friends!”
Having stayed by Yun Shu's side, it knew very well that she had never spent a single cent on Shen Yu; she was completely freeloading off him.
Inexplicably, it felt another pang of sympathy for Shen Yu. He was actually quite exhausted. Every time its host finished showing off, she would just leave, leaving him to appease the commoners and govern the city. The workload was so massive that even an artificial intelligence like itself would shake its head.
Despite being so young, his body was in worse shape than a middle-aged man's. If this continued, he would sooner or later work himself to death.
Hmm?
In the original book, Shen Yu did indeed seem to have died young, even earlier than the male lead. How did he die again?
It couldn't quite remember.
Whatever, it wasn't anything important anyway.
“Divine Lady, if I may be so bold, do you truly intend to interfere in mortal karma during this trip to Longyou Prefecture?”
A slightly nervous voice came from outside the carriage curtain.
Hearing this, Yun Shu's long eyelashes fluttered slightly, and she immediately assumed her lofty, divine tone.
“All living beings seek salvation, and I resolve their karma.”
After the great drought, a true chaotic era would arrive, accompanied by frequent natural disasters. She couldn't possibly blame evil spirits every single time to justify saving people; she had to find a new reason.
Shen Yu's brow furrowed with worry and anxiety. “Are you going to save them from all the suffering in this world?”
Every Buddhist and Daoist scripture he had read told him that even deities could not interfere in mortal karma, lest they pay a terrible price.
“Since I have witnessed it, I shall naturally dispel the disasters and alleviate the suffering.”
Shen Yu clenched his hands into fists, his voice hoarse. “Divine Lady, you have already sacrificed so much for us mortals. Why must you still interfere in mortal karma and bring harm to yourself?”
In the past, he certainly would not have said such words. After all, receiving the protection of a deity was an immense blessing; how could anyone push a deity away and refuse their protection?
But after following the Divine Lady all this way, she had already transcended everything in his heart. He could not bear to watch her continue to sacrifice herself for mortals. That would be more painful than death.
In particular, the legend of Nüwa mending the heavens told by Luo Daoqing was a thorn deeply embedded in his heart that could never be removed.
Before he could suppress the rising panic in his heart, he heard the spirit fox's accusation from inside the carriage.
“Shen Yu, you have the nerve to say that! If you lot hadn't used your sweet words to keep the Divine Lady in the mortal realm, she wouldn't have abandoned her cultivation of the Dao of Emotionless Transcendence to switch to the Dao of the Common People!”
“How wonderful was the Dao of Emotionless Transcendence? She wouldn't have had to care about any of your mortal nonsense. But by cultivating the Dao of the Common People, she has to protect you weak mortals. It's an absolute pain in the neck!”
Rate on N.U.
