Three days had passed since the Lantern Festival, yet the red lanterns of Xindu City had not been taken down, and the streets and alleys remained bustling and vibrant.
Clutching their New Year's money, children crowded around the sugar painting stall in groups of three and five, gasping in wonder as an old craftsman used a ladle of amber syrup to paint a soaring dragon.
Her appearance disguised, Yun Shu sat by the window of a tavern, a bowl of long-cold yuanxiao set before her.
The Dress-Up System's panel hovered before her eyes. The high-tier outfits that had once required immense effort to obtain were now neatly arranged in the wardrobe, glittering with radiant light and within arm's reach.
Yet she didn't have the slightest desire to click on them.
“Host, Host, it's time to eat!” A lively, childlike voice rang in Yun Shu’s ears.
Her eyes snapped open, and she instinctively scanned her surroundings—the doorway, the windowsill, the corners of the table... leaving nowhere uninspected.
However, that snowy-white silhouette did not appear.
Only after a long while did she suddenly remember that the voice just now had merely been a reminder prompt the system had set long ago.
Once, she had found this mealtime reminder noisy and had always wanted to turn it off, but the little fox would secretly switch it back on every single time.
Now, this voice had become her only solace.
With a bitter smile, she picked up the cold bowl of yuanxiao and fed them into her mouth, one bite at a time.
The yuanxiao were somewhat hard, yet as if unable to feel anything, she mechanically chewed and swallowed.
Her throat ached from the tight knot in it, yet she didn't dare to stop, fearing that if she paused for even a moment, her tears would fall into the bowl.
Another burst of clamor suddenly drifted in from outside the window.
Yun Shu set down the empty bowl in her hands and looked toward the noise.
There, before the sugar painting stall, the old craftsman gave a flick of his wrist, and a sugar dragon lifted into the air, translucent and sparkling under the sunlight.
The children clapped and cheered, their laughter crisp like ringing bells.
After watching silently for a moment, Yun Shu stood up and went downstairs, walking through the streets until she came to a stop before the sugar painting stall.
“Old Sir, could you paint a little fox for me?”
The old craftsman looked up and glanced at Yun Shu.
Then, he nodded with a smile. “What kind of little fox would you like, Miss? Sitting, or lying down?”
“Sitting, please,” Yun Shu said softly.
“All right then.” With that, the old craftsman scooped up a ladle of fresh syrup and began carefully tracing lines across the stone slab.
His wrist danced, first outlining two ears, then painting a round head, and followed by a fluffy tail...
“Miss, I'm not bragging, but this little fox sugar figurine is my specialty,” he chattered as he painted. “Back then, even Lord Spirit Fox itself came to buy one.”
Yun Shu’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, but she said nothing.
“All done. Here you go.” The old craftsman lifted the finished little fox with a bamboo skewer and held it out to her.
Pointed ears, a round head, a fluffy tail—it was identical to that gluttonous little fox.
“Miss?” Seeing her staring at the sugar painting in a daze, the old craftsman asked tentatively, “Is it not painted well?”
Yun Shu shook her head. “It's painted wonderfully.”
With that, she fished three copper coins from her sleeve, gently placed them on the stall, and turned to leave with the sugar painting in hand.
*
The days slipped by one after another.
Decrees of the new dynasty were promulgated one by one: land taxes were reduced, trade routes ran unobstructed, and academies sprang up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.
The people lived and worked in peace and contentment.
Everywhere was a scene of thriving prosperity.
In the embroidery workshops in the south of the city, the clatter of looms rose and fell.
In the northern markets, merchants from north and south haggled in various accents, exceptionally bustling.
Everyone believed that life would only get better.
Until the Day of Divine Descent arrived.
On this day, following their usual custom, the faithful held a grand ceremony of worship in Xindu City.
At the foot of the Divine Lady statue, millions of people paid homage, spreading continuously from the statue at the city's center all the way outside the city gates.
At noon, the sun hung directly above the head of the Divine Lady statue.
Golden light poured down from the sky, casting a benevolent and solemn glow across the face of the white-jade-carved Divine Lady statue.
The believers prostrated themselves on the ground, kowtowing.
Every face was filled with reverence.
The anomaly struck at this very moment.
The sky suddenly darkened.
“Wh-what is that?”
Everyone raised their heads, watching in terror as a pitch-black rift abruptly tore open right through the center of the celestial dome.
“Why is this happening?” Shen Yu looked at the massive hole in the sky in disbelief, his face turning deathly pale in an instant.
Had the mortal realm not already weathered the great cataclysm?
Where on earth had things gone wrong?
Could it be that the Mandate of Heaven truly could not be defied?
No one answered him.
The rift in the sky was expanding rapidly, thick black mist constantly churning along its edges like the gaping maw of an abyss.
In the next instant, countless drops of black rain surged from deep within the rift.
Wherever the rain fell on roof tiles, they shattered immediately; wherever it struck fields, the crops withered instantly; and when it landed on people...
“Aaargh—!”
An old man let out a shrill, agonizing scream. Where the black rain drenched his arm, the flesh appeared as if gnawed away by invisible, razor-sharp teeth, exposing ghastly white bone.
Pandemonium erupted in all directions.
Fortunately, most people had cultivated the Body Tempering Technique, so the black rain only burned their skin. Only those elderly individuals who were unable to practice the Body Tempering Technique suffered the most severe injuries.
Seeing that Xindu City was on the verge of destruction under this deluge of black rain, some attempted to stop it with the method of turning poetry into reality. Yet the moment their manifested creations touched the black rain, they too were completely corroded away.
After a brief panic, the crowd fell to their knees before the Divine Lady statue one after another, kowtowing frantically toward it.
“Divine Lady, have mercy! We beg you to save us!”
“Divine Lady, please manifest your presence!”
“Great, merciful Divine Lady, please save us!”
The sound of kowtowing echoed like beating drums as the crowd begged desperately.
Seeing this, Shen Yu surged forward and violently yanked up the worshiper closest to him, roaring hoarsely, “You are not allowed to pray to the Divine Lady! Get up, all of you! Do not pray to Her!”
The believer staggered from the pull, but without sparing a word for him, fell back to their knees and continued kowtowing.
“We beseech the Divine Lady to manifest!”
Shen Yu’s eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving violently.
“Get up, all of you!” he roared at the top of his lungs, yet the people remained kneeling on the ground, pleading with the Divine Lady to save their lives.
The anxiety within him had crested, exploding in his chest like a blaze and burning away his last shred of reason.
Unable to think calmly any longer, he abruptly drew the sword at his waist and raised it high above his head.
The instant the blade came down, a hand reached in from the side, five fingers gripping the edge and saving the believer who had narrowly escaped death.
It was Shen Jue.
“Fuyan, what is wrong with you?” he asked, his brow tightly furrowed as he looked at the visibly unhinged Shen Yu.
He had never seen Shen Yu like this before.
This younger brother of his, who had been calmer and more self-possessed than others since childhood, was now like a trapped beast driven to a dead end.
Shen Yu’s lips trembled violently. “Brother, we cannot let them pray to the Divine Lady, or else the consequences...”
Before he could finish his words, the rift across the celestial dome suddenly stopped expanding.
As if it were terrified of something.
Soon, everyone noticed that the black rain had also stopped.
Between heaven and earth, all was deathly silent.
A sliver of golden light pierced through layers of haze, growing brighter and brighter until it dyed the entire firmament in a gilded sheen.
Countless golden luminous feathers drifted down from above, each containing a vast, boundless sacred aura.
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