Your boundless Buddhist power, or the fury of my raging waters!
Ancient trees cast deep shadows over a hundred white-jade steps, stark and lonely beneath a sky heavy with black clouds.
Bai Su stood at the foot of the stairs leading to Jinshan Temple and lightly brushed the dust from her sleeves.
Still wearing a woman's form, she raised her head.
Her amber phoenix eyes were still.
Only the fingers hidden within her sleeves trembled, almost too faintly to be seen.
Qing had long since lost her patience. Wild spirit power surged, kindling an eerie green light in her palm.
"Why should we waste time on these bald donkeys? Let us tear this wretched temple apart!"
"Qing, hold yourself. We came to find someone, not to slaughter."
Bai Su drew a deep breath and climbed the steps.
She stopped before the closed vermilion doors. Raising one hand, she struck the heavy wood three times with steady knuckles.
A moment later, the door opened a crack and a young monk peered out. The sight of two such extraordinary and plainly unwelcome visitors startled him. He hurriedly pressed his palms together and bowed.
Bai Su inclined her body with perfect courtesy.
"This is Madam Bai of the Xu household. I have come to request a meeting with Master Daolin. Kindly carry word inside."
The young monk agreed and rushed back into the temple. Before long, the vermilion gates opened with a groan.
Fahai stood before them in his withered-tea-and-sandalwood kasaya, his nine-ringed monk's staff in hand.
He barred the way like an iron tower that no force could move.
"Fahai!" Qing strode forward.
"We came to see Xu Xian. Why have you shown your face? Hand him over, or today I will trample this ancient temple of yours into the earth!"
Bai Su glanced sideways at her, her cool voice carrying unquestionable authority.
"Qing. Withdraw your power. This is sacred Buddhist ground. Show respect."
Fahai sighed and spoke the Buddha's name.
"Amitabha. Benefactors, please return whence you came. This was Benefactor Xu's own choice. He has resolved to take refuge in the Three Jewels and sever himself from the mortal world."
Bai Su stepped forward and bowed her proud back.
In those amber phoenix eyes, once cold and aloof, there was now only a plea bordering on humility.
"Master, I know you are a guardian of the Dharma. I ask only to see Xu Xian once. If he tells me with his own lips that he wishes to remain, I, Bai Su, will never trouble him again."
Fahai looked upon her lowered head.
At last, a trace of compassion stirred within him.
"He is no longer the Xu Xian of the mortal world. He is Daolin of Jinshan Temple."
He paused, then turned away.
"Very well. The Buddha is merciful. This humble monk will persuade Benefactor Xu to see you one final time."
Inside the Mahavira Hall, the towering Supreme Dharma Manifestation radiated a golden light at once compassionate and severe.
A young monk stood ready, the tonsure blade gleaming cold in his hand, poised just above Xu Xian's crown.
Xu Xian knelt upon a cold prayer mat in coarse monastic robes slightly too large for him. He held his palms together in prayer, yet his body trembled again and again.
The nightmare of the white serpent he had glimpsed aboard the pleasure-boat still clung to him.
But his first breathtaking sight of Bai Su upon the Broken Bridge, their tenderness beside West Lake, and the red candles on their wedding night at the Bai residence of Qingbo Gate had become countless fine threads sawing his heart raw.
He feared the immense and terrible serpent.
But he could not bear to lose his wife.
"Daolin."
Fahai walked slowly behind him and sighed.
“Amitabha.”
"Humans and spirits follow different paths. She is an Immortal Lord of great destiny from Mount Qingcheng, yet for your sake she has remained in the mortal world. Heaven will not tolerate it. When the heavenly lightning descends, both of you could be destroyed."
Xu Xian jerked around, panic filling his eyes.
"I know, Master… I know."
"Benefactor Bai waits beyond the temple gate." Fahai's expression was grave, each word weighty as a mountain.
“You must see her and make your resolve clear. Only if you willingly take refuge beneath the Buddha can the karma upon her be dissolved. It is the only path left to preserve both your lives.”
“Go. Do not allow her to sink further into delusion.”
The chanting poured into Xu Xian's ears and crushed the last of his desperate hope. So long as he clung to her, his love would become a noose around his wife's throat.
Xu Xian closed his eyes in anguish. Two streams of tears ran down his cheeks.
"Master… this humble one understands." His voice shook, though his teeth remained clenched.
"I will see her. I will persuade her to return to the mountain. I am willing to enter the monastic life and accumulate merit for her… for her and our child."
A glint passed through Fahai's eyes. He slipped a strand of purple-gold prayer beads from his wrist and held it out.
"This is a sacred Buddhist artifact. Should the white snake lose control of her spirit nature, it will protect your mortal body. Go."
Xu Xian gripped the beads and walked toward the temple gate one numb step at a time.
The heavy vermilion doors opened once more.
Dressed in plain monastic robes, Xu Xian slowly emerged.
At the sight of his tall, graceful wife below the steps, his body shook.
The purple-gold beads dug into his palm.
He was still afraid of spirits.
Yet faced with eyes so full of hope and grief, he forced his feet to remain where they were.
"Husband!"
Hope blazed through Bai Su's eyes.
She instinctively protected the slight curve of her belly and hurried forward.
"Husband, come home with me. The child… our child cannot be without a father."
Xu Xian watched her draw nearer, torment and conflict filling his face.
"Benefactor, please return." His voice shook.
“This humble monk… has severed all mortal ties and taken refuge beneath the Buddha. You are a cultivator of great destiny from Mount Qingcheng. Please return to your mountain.”
"As for the child…" Xu Xian closed his eyes and pressed his palms together.
"Amitabha. Master said that mortals and spirits cannot be joined. It is only something you fashioned through spiritual power…"
"Xu Xian, you coward!" Qing erupted.
“I warned you to treat her well for the rest of your life. And I swore that if the day ever came when she could not bring herself to kill you, I would rip you limb from limb.”
“With my own two hands.” A fierce green glow gathered in Qing's palm.
His wild spirit nature broke loose.
Her eyes turned crimson, her fingers hooked into claws. Bearing a torrent of spirit power and rage, she struck directly for Xu Xian's throat.
"Qing, you cannot hurt him—!"
Xu Xian was only mortal flesh—how could he possibly withstand a blow struck in Qing's fury?
Bai Su had no time to think.
She had already thrown herself between them.
At that very instant, the purple-gold prayer beads upon Xu Xian's wrist sensed the aggressive spirit power and awakened of their own accord.
Golden demon-subduing light exploded.
The edge of the blast struck Qing and hurled her several steps back.
But the fierce pure-yang radiance—created to overcome spirits—fell squarely upon Bai Su's belly as she stood utterly defenseless before Xu Xian.
Bai Su made no sound.
Deep within her, the primordial forbidden art shattered.
The backlash came at once.
At the instant the Buddhist light struck, immortal bones that had not bowed in two thousand years gave one faint shudder.
She stumbled half a step and sank to her knees upon the stone.
A thin line of blood slipped from the corner of her eye.
Then another.
The world before her went dark.
Bai Su closed her eyes.
Beyond the darkness, her spiritual awareness stirred.
The impact of bone against stone was not loud.
Yet it seemed to strike every heart present.
The last trace of color vanished from that jade-like face.
Bai Su raised a trembling hand, clutching his abdomen tightly.
Beneath his snow-white robes, blood seeped through, little by little—blooming like a scarlet-heart lotus bud, petal by petal, weeping crimson like the cuckoo's tears.
Blood trickled slowly down the hem of his robe, soaking into the bluestone steps, spreading into a darkening stain.
"My lady—your eyes!"
In that instant, the terror in Xu Xian's eyes was ripped apart.
The agony and love of blood calling to blood swept every nightmare of spirits from his mind. With a cry, he lunged toward the steps as though mad, desperate to catch the white figure drenched in red.
"Daolin, return!"
Fahai's face changed. He strode across Xu Xian's path and struck the nine-ringed staff against the ground.
A wall of Buddhist light surged upward and formed a vast golden dome, imprisoning Xu Xian inside the temple gate.
"Master, release me!" Xu Xian beat frantically against the barrier, tears pouring from his eyes.
"My wife! She is bleeding!"
Beyond the gate, the smell of blood spread swiftly through the wind.
Bai Su lay limp in Qing's arms, her long hair disordered.
Qing froze.
"Brother... your eyes!" Her face drained of color. "The forbidden art. It's the backlash!"
Though she could no longer see it, Bai Su felt that faint wisp of life trembling in the air. She reached out a blood-smeared hand and caught it.
It was their child.
Wounded by the demon-subduing radiance, that frail light could not even gather into a human shape.
In her palm, it slowly became a pinch of cold ash.
The wind passed.
The final glimmer scattered, little by little.
Bai Su held her palm open for a very long time.
Long enough that everyone believed a tear must fall.
None did.
She only closed her fingers slowly, as though trying to hold something. Or as though she had finally understood that nothing in this world would ever remain within her grasp.
Inside the wall, Xu Xian witnessed it all and collapsed to both knees.
"My wife… my wife…"
The sight of the scattered ash and his wife lying in blood tore his soul apart. In despair, he lifted his face and released a song that seemed to weep blood.
【Twelve Songs of the White Snake · Eighth Song — "Be Well, Farewell"】
Ah! Heaven!
What was it all for?
Why did it have to be like this?
I only wanted to grow old with my wife.
I only wanted to keep our little apothecary, and live one quiet life.
I never asked for more.
Never coveted the Nine Heavens.
All I wanted was to love her, care for her, practice medicine, gather herbs, grow old.
What did I do wrong— to earn this thunder, this lightning, this cage of vajra light?
You call her a spirit. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
All I know is—she was good to me.
Why can't the ones who love each other stay together?
Why does Heaven have no room— for one small, ordinary happiness?
Enough. Enough. Enough!
If the mortal world won't keep him, if Heaven means to drive him down into the Nine Shades—
Then I'll leave the world!
I'll shave my head!
I'll bow before your cold lamp, your ancient Buddha!
From this day on— the temple bell my only company.
Let this mortal body of mine bear my lady's suffering instead.
Ten thousand bows— wash the sin and frost from him.
Only let him be well...
Only let him be well…
Farewell, my lady.
When the song ended, all strength seemed to leave Xu Xian's body.
Beyond the barrier, he bowed slowly toward the bloodstained white figure outside the gate.
He spoke one phrase at a time, each word steeped in blood.
“My wife… your husband has failed you. I could protect neither you nor our child. A mortal century passes in the blink of an eye, yet our sins have already grown too deep.”
“Today, I willingly take refuge beneath the Buddha.”
“From this day onward, I will keep company with a blue lamp and the ancient scriptures, performing rites for our child and praying for my wi—for you Immortal Lord…”
“Do not keep bleeding for mortal bones. Stop hurting yourself. Please go, return to your mountain. Be well.”
Xu Xian turned away, desperately. Tears still streamed down his face.
Bai Su heard his footsteps retreat. The wind fell into a silence so complete it made the soul tremble. He reached out a hand, as though to call him back.
But no words came.
The song and those final words kindled something fiercer than any heavenly lightning within Bai Su.
He had never wanted Xu Xian to imprison himself. Never.
He only wanted his husband to come home.
Fahai, Jinshan Temple, and the laws of the mortal world woven by the Heavenly Dao stood between them. They had destroyed his child and imprisoned his husband. They were the true authors of this calamity.
And the Supreme Dharma Manifestation embodied them all!
Bai Su raised his head.
Crack—!
A faint, crisp sound, like ice splitting upon a frozen lake.
Beneath the mortal cosmetics concealing his brow, a hairline crack appeared. Slowly, a slender trace of crimson surfaced between his brows—like a single drop of blood upon snow.
It was the origin-mark that the Immortal Lord of Qingcheng had borne deep within his soul for two thousand years.
Once, a mortal's tender word—wife—had made it soften. Today, it held only the cold dominion of one who looked down upon the Three Realms.
The feminine guise he had worn in the mortal world dissolved beneath the force rising through him, revealing his original male form.
A strip of white silk appeared in his hand.
Without a word, Bai Su raised it and bound it across his eyes.
Above the silk, the crimson origin-mark burned.
Absolute white and scarlet seemed to cleave him in two.
Two thousand years of cultivation stored within his immortal bones awakened with the blood-weeping mark and burst forth like a tidal wave.
Every ancient tree in Jinshan Temple rustled at once.
Countless dead leaves spiraled into the sky. Fahai took an involuntary half-step backward at the change in Bai Su's presence and at the mark weeping blood between his brows.
“Bai Su, stop persisting in this obsession! No evil can trespass here!” Fahai shouted.
“This is the karma of the Heavenly Dao! Do you truly mean to slaughter before the gates of the Buddha? Jinshan Temple stands beneath the protection of the Buddha's Supreme Dharma Manifestation. You cannot break it!”
Fahai's gaze fell upon the white silk covering Bai Su's eyes.
“The forbidden art has already turned against you. Will you still refuse to turn back?”
Bai Su spoke out.
His voice was not loud, yet it struck the ear like thunder. “No trespass by evil? What a splendid Supreme Dharma Manifestation. What splendid purity!”
“Fahai, you used the Dharma to imprison my husband and the Buddhist light to destroy my child. Since you claim no evil may trespass upon Jinshan—”
He raised one hand and slowly drew the white-jade hairpin from his hair.
Black strands burst loose into the wind.
At that very moment, the crimson mark between his brows blazed brighter. From root to tip, the black slowly drained from his hair, leaving it a cold silver-gray.
The wind swept past. His silver hair flew like snow.
Divine bones meant for the Nine Heavens had come at last to grief.
In that moment, he cast away every softness of mortal life.
The bloodstained hairpin lengthened within his grasp. With a solitary cry of steel, it returned to the form of his bonded divine weapon—the Originseeker.
Bai Su held the sword in one hand and pointed it toward Jinshan.
The white silk blindfold still covered his eyes. Above it, the crimson origin-mark burned.
The bloodstained red-white robes rose against the gale.
“Today, this lord will bring forth the floods of the Qiantang River, shatter your Supreme Dharma, and crush this ancient temple into dust!”
“Let’s see which is greater—the boundless power of your Buddha, or the fury of my raging waters!”
“Qing—raise the waters!”
Black clouds crushed the city. Wind and rain broke loose. From the distant Qiantang River came the low roar of an awakening tide.