Chapter 93: The Prince Returns

Time and Space, we should have foreseen this ending long ago. Her Highness has already agreed to hand the City of the Netherworld over to the underworld, and we cannot alter its fate. All we can do now is build the City of Rebirth as swiftly as possible so that more lost souls may be reborn sooner. As for the rest, it is not ours to decide.

Though Shaoguang offered this explanation, her voice held a trace of sorrow.

“Shaoguang, do you know? Even knowing that Her Highness must have had no choice in making such a decision, I still cannot accept the city being surrendered to the underworld,” Time and Space said, and Four Seasons felt the same.

“Her Highness should truly not have given this place to the underworld...” Four Seasons had not finished when Shaoguang cut her off.

“It is better not to speak such complaints. Her Highness has done all she can. If there had been any other choice, she would never have made this decision. We should simply do our own part and share the burden on Her Highness’s shoulders.”

They fell silent together. Time and Space silently rebuked herself; what had she been doing just now, complaining to Her Highness? How could she have done such a thing?

“Her Highness is coming back. If there is anything that cannot be decided, let Her Highness make the choice,” Shaoguang said, and her words gave Time and Space a glimmer of hope. Perhaps Her Highness would find a way to preserve the temple.

Above the Great Earth Goddess Temple, Niao Niao was still peering into the distance. At last it saw a figure appear on the horizon, a figure it knew all too well.

“Ah, Nuluo, you’re finally back!” Niao Niao was about to fling itself toward her when it spotted another figure it hated. “Why is he here again?”

Nuluo and Litian appeared outside the City of Fengdu at the same time. Their arrival stirred not the slightest disturbance, and they touched down in perfect silence.

Nuluo did not enter at once. She had already noticed the changes in Fengdu. If one were human, such things would not be easy to discern. The great city was shrouded in thick mist, everything hidden beneath its veil, and within it lingered an inescapable aura of the dead.

From afar, she seemed to see a figure rushing toward her.

Nuluo was just about to lift a hand when a familiar voice rang out.

“Nuluo, dare to try and lay a hand on me!”

It was Niao Niao after all, and its speed had actually improved.

Niao Niao flung itself into Nuluo’s arms with some hurt feelings. It had not expected her to show any delight at seeing it; instead, she looked as though she had encountered an enemy.

“Sorry, Niao Niao. I didn’t see that it was you. But how did you know I was coming back today?” Nuluo hurriedly soothed it, fearing what else it might do.

“I guessed. Niao Niao is amazing, right?”

Nuluo did not expose the lie. It must have heard the news from Shaoguang. She set Niao Niao on her shoulder and walked into the city.

Niao Niao kept glancing at the Netherworld King beside her. Hadn’t he returned to the underworld? How had he appeared here together with Nuluo?

The Netherworld King ignored the bird’s unfriendly stare. With that creature, it was best not to provoke it.

“Nuluo, how is it that he appeared here with you?” Niao Niao asked unwillingly. There was already one irritating Sleep God in the city, and now there was another. Why had there been so many bothersome people lately?

Nuluo only smiled and gave no answer. As for why the Netherworld King had come here—once the City of Rebirth was built, he would be its true master. Why should he not be here? Of course, these were only her private thoughts. She did not wish to explain too much to Niao Niao.

They had already reached the city gates. Nuluo looked up at the words engraved there, knowing that before long, even the city’s name would be completely changed.

The moment she stepped inside, Nuluo saw that the city itself had undergone tremendous transformation; every arrangement had been altered.

There was another gate within. If this was the outer city, then where they stood now was the inner city.

Litian also observed the changes, though there was something oddly familiar in the layout.

The inner gates suddenly opened, and four familiar figures emerged: the Sleep God, Shaoguang, Four Seasons, and Time and Space.

The Sleep God walked slowly up to them. After bowing first to Litian, he turned his gaze to Nuluo. “Earth Goddess, long time no see!” He was still dressed exactly as Nuluo remembered, unchanged in any way.

“Your Highness the Sleep God, long time no see.”

Niao Niao, however, was not as friendly as Nuluo. It turned its head away in disgust. Though it often saw the Sleep God in the city, it still could not bear the sight of him.

The Sleep God had long since grown used to Niao Niao’s attitude. The experiences in the underworld did not seem to have eased its resentment.

Shaoguang, Four Seasons, and Time and Space were slightly startled by the sight of the Netherworld King. Nuluo had not told them that he would be returning to Fengdu, but recalling the Sleep God’s earlier suggestion, they found it understandable. Such a decision would surely require both Her Highness and the Netherworld King to approve it.

After bowing to him, they stood behind Nuluo.

Nuluo turned her gaze to Litian. “Your Majesty the Netherworld King, please.”

The City of Rebirth had not yet been built, so Nuluo was still the master of this place.

When Litian heard the title he had once known so intimately, he felt only an unfamiliar chill. Once they returned to such forms of address, it meant they would again bear their separate duties. Those days when they had forgotten rank and identity and walked side by side were already gone forever.

Litian became once more the lofty Netherworld King. Looking at Nuluo with cold detachment, he said, “Please, Earth Goddess.”

Nuluo, hearing this address, also paused slightly. They each caught the fleeting complexity in the other’s eyes. Yet the change was too brief, a loss only they themselves could truly feel.

The inner city had not changed much. Everywhere retained the shadow of the place as it had been when Nuluo left.

Once they arrived in the inner city, they parted ways. The Netherworld King and the Sleep God returned to their own residence, while Nuluo went with Shaoguang and the others to theirs.

After returning to the main divine temple, which had been rebuilt here, Four Seasons eagerly recounted everything concerning the Earth Goddess Temple.

Nuluo studied their expressions carefully and saw helplessness, anger, and a faint, indescribable complexity.

“Regarding this matter, what do you think?”

Shaoguang and Time and Space exchanged a glance and remained silent. To voice their true feelings would be to accuse Nuluo of neglect.

Though they had already discussed the issue before, Four Seasons could not help but ask, “Her Highness, is there truly no way to change it?”

“Do you resent me?”

Four Seasons was just about to nod when she suddenly remembered herself and froze in place.

“That is understandable. Resenting me would be only natural.”

“Your Highness...” Shaoguang began, but Nuluo cut her off.

“As for everything in the underworld, there are some things I do not wish to speak of again, but there are others I can explain to you now. When I was in the underworld, in order to obtain the Netherfire, I had to make concessions. In truth, the request the Netherworld King made at first was to establish a city of death in the mortal realm. That city would serve as the entrance between the underworld and the mortal world. In other words, once such a city existed, the mortal realm and the underworld would be formally linked together.”

“What? A city of death!” It was the first time they had heard of such a thing. A city of death and the City of Rebirth were entirely different notions. If a city of death appeared in the mortal realm, who could guarantee that a second would not follow, until in the end the entire mortal world became a realm of death?

“But when I proposed changing the city of death into the City of Rebirth, the Netherworld King relented. If, at the time, he had insisted on his own proposal and demanded that a city of death be built, I truly cannot imagine how matters would have ended. After all, I needed the Netherfire, and in the underworld my power was severely limited. I could not contend with the entire underworld.”

“Even if a city of death had to be built, would Your Highness still have agreed?” Time and Space asked.

“Yes. I needed the Netherfire, and I needed the support of the Netherworld King.” Nuluo nodded. At that time, what choice had she had beyond agreeing? And she had to obtain the Netherworld King’s support so that the Earthcore Sacred Fire could continue burning forever. Once it burned again, no power would ever be able to extinguish it, and the mortal realm would be preserved for all time.

Time and Space did not press further. Perhaps some things were not as simple as they seemed. Her Highness must have concealed many matters.

“Now that you know all this, I only want you to be prepared. As for the fate of Fengdu City, there is no possibility of change. Even if the Earth Goddess Temple is destroyed, that is only reasonable. It was the promise I made then, and it cannot be altered.”

“But Your Highness, once the Earth Goddess Temple disappears, Fengdu City will be completely transformed. It is still difficult to accept such a reality.” Four Seasons sounded sorrowful. Even after learning everything, she still could not accept it. She could not resent Her Highness, but whom could she resent? Perhaps only that catastrophe that had struck so suddenly.

Even now, Four Seasons still shuddered when she thought of that sudden disaster. She governed the turning of the seasons, yet could do nothing to change the fact that the mortal realm had abruptly fallen into winter. Nuluo had rushed off on the journey to kindle the Earthcore Sacred Fire, while she, together with Shaoguang and Time and Space, had assumed all of Nuluo’s duties in her absence.

She had witnessed every part of it. She simply did not understand why the Earthcore Sacred Fire had suddenly gone out. Something uncanny must have happened to extinguish the sacred flame. She wished she could eliminate every possible cause. Whoever it was, if she discovered they might affect the burning of the Earth-Spirit Sacred Fire, they would be killed without mercy.

“Now your efforts should be focused on the City of Rebirth. Do not remain entangled in the matter of the Earth Goddess Temple. It is merely a temple; if it is destroyed, so be it. Compared with the survival of humankind, whether it exists or not is insignificant. And the light of the temple has already gone out. I cannot relight it. Even if the temple were forcibly preserved, it could no longer serve any purpose.”

A temple that had lost its sacred light no longer had any reason to remain.

Thinking of the extinguished temple light, Nuluo felt that perhaps Fengdu City had long since been destined for its fate, and the Earth Goddess Temple within it had likewise long been destined for its end.