Que Fuyin's soul drifted, light and aimless, drawn onward by a mysterious force.
Soon, she saw the vast Nether Sea churning in the darkness, and a half-built gateway standing tall in its midst.
Beneath that gate stood a handsome man, a gourd slung on his back, as countless mosquitoes flew in and disappeared into the gourd.
"Here she comes."
When the handsome man saw her, he couldn't help but smile. "This makes a hundred deaths. After this, South Emperor's divine soul will be completely sealed and never awaken. My task for Venerable Vast-Sky will be complete."
Que Fuyin was drawn toward the incomplete gateway, passing through it and heading off to reincarnation.
"These insects really are treasures—worthy of the Heavenly Emperor's family. But for all the good things Venerable Vast-Sky has gotten, he only gave me a packet of eggs. Stingy!"
The handsome man was none other than Prince Umbral. He patted the gourd and mused, "Primordial Divine Insects are so hard to raise. If I could use the Black Tortoise Five-Thunder War Gourd from the Northern Emperor, their power would skyrocket! The Northern Emperor won't give me one, but Crown Prince Yooming is a naïve fool, rich and generous—maybe I can trick him out of a Five-Thunder War Gourd..."
Suddenly, he frowned, sensing something odd as Que Fuyin passed through the Mingdu Heaven Gate—her last trace of consciousness hadn't been wiped away.
He felt vaguely uneasy and muttered, "The final step wasn't completed. I wonder what went wrong... Well, next time then. South Emperor's divine soul is already dull—killing her won't be hard. No need to bother with anything fancy; she's so dumb now, a Primordial Divine Insect will do the job."
Que Fuyin's soul floated on, knowing she had died. Yet suddenly her mind felt clearer, her thoughts sharper than before. She wondered in confusion, "Did passing through that gateway just now make me smarter?"
Ten months later, Que Fuyin was born again. The moment she arrived in the world, she understood all her past lives—she remembered being Moon-Venerable's disciple, remembered her name was Que Fuyin, and even recalled how she died.
Moon-Venerable ordered her disciples to search for Que Fuyin's whereabouts, but after more than a decade they found nothing. Yet Que Fuyin had already made her way to Sky-River Court, leaving Moon-Venerable astonished—she wondered if the Vermilion Bird divine soul had awakened.
But after examining her, Moon-Venerable found that Que Fuyin still hadn't awakened the Vermilion Bird divine soul.
Que Fuyin was much smarter than before, but still not truly clever; it took her four or five centuries to reach the god realm. After she did, war broke out between humans and demigods, and Que Fuyin joined the battle—only to be slain by a giant mosquito.
After her death, Que Fuyin again saw the Nether Sea and the Mingdu Heaven Gate, passing through it once more.
Just after passing through the gate, she was startled to find that she had recalled yet another lifetime of memories!
"How strange!"
Ten years later, in her next life, Que Fuyin wore twin upright braids, stood barely five feet tall, and was just a yellow-haired little girl. She traveled by boat all the way to Heavenly Court, hopping and skipping to seek out Moon-Venerable.
Moon-Venerable tested her again, and Que Fuyin turned out to be even smarter than before.
She marveled, "Every time South Emperor's reincarnation dies, the veil of confusion in the womb thins a little. What could be causing this?"
But after a few more centuries, Que Fuyin—now a god—died again during an expedition in the Earth-Mother Origin World, drained of blood and qi by a sudden giant mosquito.
Once more, the Nether Sea, once more the Mingdu Heaven Gate—Que Fuyin passed through the gate, delighted: "Ah, I've awakened another lifetime of memories! How bizarre!"
Strangely enough, from the Dragon-Han era to Everpeace, Que Fuyin died again and again—always killed by a sudden mosquito bite. Each death let her awaken memories from an even earlier life.
She grew more and more intelligent, devising ways to avoid death and dodging the strange mosquitoes time after time. With each life, she lived longer and her cultivation grew higher.
Eventually, even Primordial Divine Insects struggled to kill her, so Prince Umbral had to intervene personally.
Moon-Venerable protected her through several calamities, but Prince Umbral was cunning—eventually, in an unguarded moment, Que Fuyin died at his hands.
Later, after reincarnating, Que Fuyin mastered Moon-Venerable's arts and chose not to become her disciple, hoping to avoid disaster on her own.
Moon-Venerable, disheartened, believed Que Fuyin was truly dead and gave up the search.
Prince Umbral was greatly troubled, but remained relentless, searching everywhere for her. Instead, Que Fuyin managed to trick him several times—he nearly died by her hand.
On the Heavenly Dragon Imperial Palanquin, Annie was still worried. She asked, "Young Master, can that jade pendant really save my mother?"
"Of course it can."
Quinn Shepherd said, "I understand the principles behind his divine arts, so I'm using his own methods to break his seal. But your mother will still die. Prince Umbral will still come for her and complete the sealing of her divine soul."
He couldn't help but smile, "Every time your mother dies, the seal loosens a little and another lifetime of memories returns. After ninety-nine more deaths, she'll fully awaken—the Vermilion Bird divine soul will be restored."
Annie cried out, "My mother has to die ninety-nine more times? That's not right! What if Prince Umbral stops killing her—then what...?"
"He won't stop."
Quinn Shepherd said slowly, "I know Prince Umbral. He's obsessive and stubborn—he won't give up until he's perfected his task. As long as your mother retains a shred of consciousness, he'll keep at it, again and again, until her divine soul is utterly erased. That's who he is, which is why I'm using his own hand to break his seal."
Annie thought for a moment, then said, "That guy has endless patience. Just to get the Five-Thunder Jug, he sent insects to bite North Emperor's gourd vine—and kept at it for hundreds of thousands of years."
Quinn Shepherd smiled, "From Dragon-Han to today, there have been many calamities—the greatest were the Dragon-Han Cataclysm, Chiming Cataclysm, Supreme Cataclysm, and Pioneer Cataclysm. Que Fuyin could hardly survive such disasters, but Prince Umbral's perfectionism actually protected her soul from complete destruction. Their struggle made her ever more clever—Prince Umbral's wisdom honed her like a whetstone, sharpening her to an astonishing degree."
Annie clenched her little fists, eyes shining with excitement. "So you're saying—my mother is still alive?"
"She must be alive!"
Quinn Shepherd smiled faintly. "When we return to the Everpeace Era, we just need to check the Book of Life and Death—we'll know her current name and where she's been reincarnated. The only uncertainty is whether she's already died ninety-nine times."
He let out a long breath. "If she's died ninety-nine times, the Vermilion Bird divine soul will awaken, and she'll remember all her past lives. And..."
He shook the Vermilion Bird Feather in his hand and smiled. "With this feather, it'll be even easier to find her and any other shattered soul fragments."
Annie burst into tears of joy.
Quinn Shepherd finally felt a burden lift from his heart.
This solution was near perfect!
Yet he still felt uneasy—what if Que Fuyin hadn't died ninety-nine times?
What if, in her struggle with Prince Umbral, she'd grown so cunning that even he couldn't kill her anymore?
"That shouldn't happen."
Quinn Shepherd comforted himself, "Prince Umbral is formidable—he wouldn't fail to kill a little girl whose Vermilion Bird soul hasn't even awakened. He's always been a killer of beauties, especially women, and he's especially skilled at it..."
(Author's Note: House Pig is experimenting with 2,000-word chapters. From now on, there will be four updates per day, sometimes three. Four chapters will update at midnight, noon, 6 p.m., and 10 p.m.; three chapters at midnight, noon, and 8 p.m. Just a heads-up!)