3 Fusang (Part Three)-Faz muito tempo que deixei de ser uma divindade(Agosto no verão)

The first thing she had to return was that black tortoise shell on her back.

The shell had been given to her by the Heavenly Venerable of Early Spring on the day she entered the mountain as a disciple.

In ages past, the Heavenly Venerable of Early Spring had slain an ancient black tortoise fiend on the Primordial Battlefield. Its shell was as hard as dark iron, and he had split it open only after striking it with a thousand swords.

The shell had been broken into five pieces. The Heavenly Venerable and his disciples took three, the Supreme Deity of Extravagance claimed one, and the last piece ended up in Bai Su's hands.

Bai Su was no good at divination or deduction; keeping that black tortoise shell with him was a waste. In those years when their friendship was still intact, Fusang had tried countless times to trick it away from him, only to fail every single time.

The celestial palace of the Heavenly Venerable of Early Spring stood on Juman Mountain. Fusang did not use magic, but walked all the way uphill on foot, taking a full three or four hours.

When the divine attendant Qingji, stationed outside the palace, saw her, he was quite surprised and bowed. "What brings you here?"

Fusang asked in return, "Has my senior sister already set out for the Northern Yingsky?"

Qingji smiled and said, "Supreme Deity Wangcen was to go first to Jiuli Sky to receive Lady Wanguan. She left South Huaitian early this morning."

Fusang sighed theatrically. "Senior sister is still angry with me. She left without even telling me."

Qingji was still smiling. "Supreme Deity Wangcen simply did not wish to disturb your recovery."

And wound your heart further, he silently added.

Fusang knew this too. Her senior sister had always been kind, gentle in temperament and soft at heart, but she was fiercely protective of her own. Those ugly rumors about her and Bai Su had flared up again these past few years, spreading everywhere; her senior sister must have feared reopening her wounds, and so had slipped away in secret.

Fusang was actually hoping she would go.

Her senior sister had always doted on her. She could not possibly make her sister stand by and watch her fall to ruin.

As for her master...

Fusang looked toward the celestial palace hidden among the misty clouds and suddenly did not want to go in.

"Is Master still in seclusion?"

Qingji gave a slight nod. "The Heavenly Venerable will not emerge until he has faced the great thunder tribulation, which comes in a hundred years."

By calculation, the Heavenly Venerable of Early Spring had been in seclusion even longer than Fusang.

Mortals always thought that becoming immortal meant living as long as heaven and earth, free from illness and calamity. In truth, it was not so.

Every ten thousand years, the immortals of the Twenty-Seven Immortal Realms had to endure a minor thunder tribulation, while the gods of the Nine Heavens faced a great thunder tribulation once every ten thousand years. Those who failed to survive it would perish completely, their souls extinguished beyond any return to the cycle of rebirth.

Though the Heavenly Venerable of Early Spring had suffered backlash from the mandate of heaven and had still not recovered, as the Heavenly Venerable of South Huaitian, with the fortune of an entire heavenly domain behind him, he would surely pass the great tribulation safely.

Fusang nodded. "In that case, I shall not disturb Master."

Qingji parted his lips as if to say more.

In the past, when the Supreme Deity Fusang came to see the Heavenly Venerable, she never cared whether she disturbed him or not. Even if he did not emerge, she could chatter outside his doors for half the day. Today, she was uncommonly agreeable.

But even if she entered the celestial palace, she would not see the Heavenly Venerable. He... was not in South Huaitian at all.

When Fusang reached the middle of the mountain, she tossed the black tortoise shell upward. A flash of white light streaked through the air, and in the blink of an eye the shell landed atop the towering gourd-shaped roof of the celestial palace.

She did not look back.

Too lazy to walk further, she simply turned herself into a spring breeze and returned to Baozhen Palace, where she sat through the entire night. Only when the light of day had fully broken did she go looking for the Tree of Life and Death.

Without Furui and Manshuang, who tended it every day by loosening the soil and watering it with spiritual nectar, the tree was quieter than ever that day.

The heavens, however, were most lively.

Auspicious clouds transformed into countless blessed beasts and raced toward the northern sky, while streams of multicolored radiance poured down like good fortune itself. Within the luminous haze, immortal music and cheerful laughter drifted on the wind.

The wedding banquet of Supreme Deity Bai Su and Princess Huaitan drew congratulations from all the gods; truly, it was a festive spectacle.

Yet Fusang had no mind to join the revelry. With a flip of her hands, she formed a seal, and a dark green longsword burst forth into the air.

The blade was forged from divine wood, its sharpness restrained within, the surface faintly flowing with light. One glance was enough to feel the fullness of its spiritual power.

Fusang gazed quietly at the wooden sword, and for the first time in a long while, real laughter surfaced in her eyes.

"The black tortoise shell was given to me by Master. It is not mine, so I have returned it. The South Wood Token belongs to the battle division of South Huaitian. It is not mine, so I have returned that too. Even the Three-Blue Birds I had Furui and Manshuang send back to Heking. Only you, from the very day of your birth, have belonged to me."

After fifty thousand years, this mighty Supreme Deity and protector of the Tree of Life and Death had ended up with only this sword as truly hers.

One word for it: miserable.

"I am very stingy. What belongs to me, even if I destroy it, I will never let it recognize another heavenly god as its master." Fusang looked at the wooden sword with a trace of attachment and reluctance in her gaze. She smiled. "Huaisheng, will you come with me?"

The divine sword possessed a spirit. Its name was Huaisheng.

The restrained brilliance of Huaisheng suddenly burst into blinding light, and with a resolute, unreturning momentum it cleaved into Fusang's primal spirit, determined to accompany its master into life and death alike.

Fusang touched the faintly heated center of her brow and said with a smile, "There is no need to be so excited. It is not yet the hour of the dragon."

There was still a quarter of an hour before her auspicious moment.

Fusang thought for a moment, then slowly let her consciousness spread across the entire heavenly domain of South Huaitian.

Though South Huaitian was springlike all year round, this was still her favorite season here. The Baozhen Palace, with its profuse greenery and blooming flowers, was forever brushed by spring winds.

In the heavens above, auspicious clouds surged like a sea. By the time one cloud had formed into a pair of matched birds flying wing to wing, the quarter hour had passed.

The hour of the dragon had come.

The second section begins here.

Fusang withdrew all her consciousness and closed her eyes to form a hand seal.

"True spirit as sacrifice, return from death to life! Silence!"

A point of light spread from the center of her brow to her forehead, tracing a nine-branched totem.

The moment the totem appeared, fierce winds lashed in all directions, and a blinding column of white light thundered from the crown of the Tree of Life and Death straight into the sky.

The barrier rose.

Spiritual power surged like a tidal flood toward the giant tree behind her. The divine wood, long withered and decayed, gradually stirred back to life. Tiny green buds sprouted like shoots after spring rain, one after another, swaying in the bright breeze.

The black hair falling over Fusang's chest slowly dissolved into points of light, and the immortal music echoing in her ears grew fainter and farther away.

She slowly closed her eyes.

All splendor and magnificence were but empty things passing before the eye. More than fifty thousand years had come to a close, and in the end, all of it was only a dream.

Fusang felt no pain in her dissolution, only an ancient, desolate stillness. It was a deathly silence that even the soul itself would tremble before.

It was as if she had returned once more to the waters of the Dark Abyss.

She lay entwined by tree roots beneath the water, unable to see a trace of light, unable to hear the slightest sound. Only cold, only stillness, only endless darkness.

Until one night, the ancient notes of a flute awakened her.

The young supreme lord of the Northern Yingsky stood beneath the tree and said to her, "Fusang, you are Fusang."

And so she became the Supreme Deity Fusang.

But there had never truly been a Supreme Deity Fusang in this world.

And there would be no more Supreme Deity Fusang.

Fusang smiled softly, whether in self-mockery or in relief, it was hard to say.

Then suddenly, a bright, unrestrained laugh came from ahead. "But you are still the most outrageously formidable Supreme Deity in all of the Nine Heavens!"

Fusang opened her eyes in astonishment. In the darkness, a green figure was walking toward her. The newcomer had long hair streaming behind her, and nine formation stones on her wrist rang crisply with each brisk step.

Looking at that person, Fusang wanted to smile and tease her: "You came too early, Listen-to-Jade Immortal."

But she could no longer make a sound. Her brow, her eyes, her lips were all beginning to dissolve into transcendence. As the last glimmer of light faded and consciousness returned to nothingness, all cold and silence receded into the distance.

The final image in Fusang's mind was a sky full of longevity lamps like stars.

"Do you see it, South Huaisheng? The one floating highest and shining most blindingly is your lamp. If the hour of the rabbit does not arrive, the flame will not go out."

"Supreme Lord, the hour of the rabbit has arrived."

The auspicious hour for the wedding rites was the hour of the rooster, but the Northern Yingsky lay far from Tianxu. The round trip to receive Princess Huaitan would take at least four hours, so departing at the hour of the rabbit was just right.

The young war god of the Northern Yingsky stepped out of the Shrine of the Divine Ancestors, crowned with jade and clad in an ornate, archaic purple wedding robe. An ivory-white winged dragon was embroidered on the robe, its head coiled over his shoulder, its half-open eyes seeming to gleam with cold light.

All the gods of the Northern Yingsky were descendants of the water gods, and the silver dragon stitched into the wedding robe was the guardian divine beast of Northern Yingsky, the Winged Dragon.

Forty-nine carriages crafted of green jade and glazed crystal cut streaks of emerald light across the sky. In less than two hours, they landed at the Great Luo Heavenly Palace of Tianxu.

The palace blazed with gold and jade. A bridge of radiant blossoms stretched from the palace gate to the jade steps outside the Great Luo Divine Hall. On both sides of the steps stood nine rows of divine soldiers in golden armor, bearing halberds and sabers, and divine maidens holding ceremonial cloths and waving fans.

The Heavenly Emperor Ying Mian sat high on the imperial throne within the hall, while the crown prince, Shaoyu, and Princess Kuiqin stood to his left and right. Below the throne stood the black mass of Tianxu's gods.

Kuiqin watched Bai Su cross the bridge, stepping over blossoms of gold that flickered in and out of sight as he came toward her, and could not help but curve her lips into a faint smile.

Yet just as Bai Su finished climbing the jade steps and was about to enter the Great Luo Divine Hall, disaster struck. A mouthful of blood suddenly burst from Princess Kuiqin's mouth!

The crown prince Shaoyu changed color in alarm. "Kuiqin!"

With pain showing on her face, Kuiqin looked up toward the southern heavens and cried in shock, "It is the Tree of Life and Death!"

The Tree of Life and Death?

For some reason, Bai Su thought of the dream from the day before.

He turned abruptly and saw a column of light bright as a blazing sun shooting straight up into the sky from the heavenly domain of South Huaitian.

"Slay the demon!" Bai Su shouted gravely.

A jet-black longsword answered at once, flying forth and coming to rest beneath his feet.

Just as Bai Su was about to ride the sword away, the silver dragon on his wedding robe suddenly transformed into several streams of spiritual light, binding him fast. At the same time, the voice of the Supreme Deity Yujue rang in his primal spirit:

"Bai Su, help Kuiqin first!"

Bai Su acted as though he had heard nothing. With a twist of spiritual power, the purple wedding robe tore to pieces in an instant.

"Bai Su!"

"Supreme Lord!"

"Supreme Deity Bai Su!"

The third section begins here.

On the ninth day of the third lunar month, it was an auspicious day for marriage and for tribulation.

Quite a number of heavenly gods were heading out that day: some to attend banquets, some to undergo tribulation, some to watch the excitement. In short, all sorts of escaping radiance crisscrossed the cloud-filled sky, making for a lively scene.

"I've heard that many divine monarchs are going down to the lower realms to face tribulation today, including the future Buddha of Formless Heaven and the little princess of Taiyou Heaven who oversees the six paths of reincarnation. Those two have had old grudges for ages; I wonder whether they'll come to blows today?"

"Today is the great wedding of Princess Huaitan and Supreme Deity Bai Su. Even if those two wanted to fight, they surely couldn't, could they?"

"Hard to say, hard to say. Have you all not seen the temperament of the one from Taiyou Heaven? If she really starts a fight, she would not even give face to Emperor Ying Mian!"

Amid the noise and clamor, a blinding pillar of light suddenly shot up to the heavens. The immortals and gods, who had been chatting away about gossip, hurriedly stopped in place and looked toward South Huaitian.

The bold and curious among them simply urged their divine beasts onward and rushed toward South Huaitian at top speed to find out what was happening.

"What has happened in South Huaitian? Why have they activated the heavenly defensive barrier?!"

"What is that column of light? The spiritual force is so vast even my mount has begun to tremble!"

"Which Supreme Deity from South Huaitian is attending the banquet today? I heard that Supreme Deity Fusang never accepted the invitation from Northern Yingsky. Could this pillar of light be her doing?"

"No, surely not? If she made such a huge disturbance, that Supreme Deity still wouldn't come, would he..."

"Which Supreme Deity? I dislike people who stop halfway through a sentence. Speak clearly: which one?"

"Shh! Lady Divine Maiden, lower your voice, lower your voice!"

The speaker was a divine lord in brocade robes. As he hurried to hush his voice, his eyes darted left and right. Just as he was about to answer the beautiful divine maiden's question, he suddenly saw a black giant sword falling from the sky, carrying the force to shatter all laws, and hacking savagely at the defensive barrier of South Huaitian!

The brocade-robed divine lord stared in utter disbelief. "Bai... Supreme Deity Bai Su!"

The barrier took the blow from the Demon-Slaying Sword and let out a thunderous crash. The transparent shield rippled with wave after wave of distortion, then quickly returned to its original shape, as solid as an iron wall.

Bai Su gripped the Demon-Slaying Sword and struck again.

Then again.

And again.

A wintry, murderous sword intent came crashing down from the heavens. Under the surging force of spiritual power, the web between Bai Su's thumb and forefinger tore open. Countless bloodstreaks wound down the blade and fell like rain, staining the barrier with a layer of red.

No one knew how much time passed. After he had hacked down thousands upon thousands of times, that blinding pillar of light finally faded. The gods only heard a mournful sword cry before the Demon-Slaying Sword dimmed and shattered together with the barrier.

Many years later, the heavenly beings who witnessed this moment would still never forget it.

Bai Su, the renowned war god of the Northern Yingsky, actually used his life sword as a sacrifice and forcibly blasted apart the defensive barrier of South Huaitian.

The instant the barrier broke, a spring breeze seemed to pass over the face. Countless tiny points of light spilled out from within, like falling stars, drifting away on the wind across the myriad realms.

Only later did they learn that these lights, warm as spring breeze and bright as stars, were in fact the extinguished true spirit of Supreme Deity Fusang!

Dong--

Forty-nine solemn and mournful bells rang from the Tablet of the Firmament, resounding across the Nine Heavens in an instant. The toll was vast and heavy, striking the hearts and souls of all the gods.

"Forty-nine bells of mourning from the heavens! Has a Supreme Deity fallen?!"

When a god perishes, signs from heaven appear.

As the bells first rang, a five-colored rainbow bridge spanning the nine skies appeared in the heavens. Before long, that bridge transformed into a pair of yin and yang fish, black and white entwined and circling beneath the vault of heaven, gradually changing into a gentle rising sun.

Beneath that sun, the phantom of the Tablet of the Firmament descended, and the five golden characters engraved within it faded stroke by stroke.

No more South Huaitian Fusang.

Bai Su stared blankly at that rising sun. His white robes had long since been dyed red with blood, and blood dripped from the broken sword in his hand.

"Bai Su, if one day I should fall, what kind of signs would heaven give for my death?"

"You will not fall."

"Who says I won't? Even gods cannot live as long as heaven and earth. There will always come a day of falling."

"At least in the Wild Ruins, I will not let you fall. If I live one day, you will live one day."

"If you live one day, I live one day? That's some bold talk, Supreme Deity Bai Su. Don't worry. So long as one dies for a worthy cause, those of us from South Huaitian have never feared falling!"

A slit of crimson suddenly appeared at the center of his brow. The godlord, drenched in blood from head to toe, felt nothing at all, and only murmured in a low voice, "Fusang, how could you? How could you?"

Two rising suns hung high in the heavens, while auspicious clouds churned into divine beasts and rushed ceaselessly northward.

In the year 272,579 of the Heavenly Crown Calendar, on the ninth day of the third lunar month, Supreme Deity Fusang of South Huaitian fell.