First of all, I want to sincerely thank everyone who stayed with this story until the very end.
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Whether you followed each chapter from the beginning or discovered it later and binged it all at once—thank you. Truly.
Translating this novel has been quite a journey for me. It's not only the first full novel I've ever translated, but also the first time I found myself pouring so much of my thoughts and emotions into something like this.
In the beginning, I was simply translating.
Not word-for-word, of course, but I didn't go out of my way to explore the deeper meaning behind each line. I followed the story, kept it accurate, and made sure it flowed. That was it.
But everything changed after I received a review from LiberiumK. (Thank you, if you're reading this!) As I mentioned in the opening notes, their feedback made me realize something important: without knowing it, my subconscious had already been picking up on subtle hints the author left behind, connecting dots that weren't explicitly stated.
That review helped me see how much more there was to uncover. So I went back and began to rewrite, reflect, and refine.
And the result… well, I think you've already seen it (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)
Let me walk through my thought process, starting from one of the earliest scenes in the novel, Chapter 3: Undercurrents in the Shadows.
There's a moment where Su Min sits down and tries to sort through her memories. The original line is:
[Now she finally had a chance to sort out her life story, and her face quickly turned ugly when she recalled it. Because she found that she seemed to be unacceptable in this dynasty. The extermination of her family was nothing to her, anyway, she had never seen those people. But what is more troublesome is her identity, which will make it difficult for her to move forward.]
On the surface, the line moves fast. It touches on her pain, but it doesn't stay there. The issue is that once we get to know Su Min later on, we see she isn't the type to brush things off this easily. She transmigrated into this body, yes, but she inherited everything that came with it. Every memory from infancy up to this moment.
Anyone would be affected by that. So I wanted to show more of her emotional depth. Maybe the author hadn't fully shaped her personality at this stage, or maybe they wanted her complexity to unfold slowly. Either way, I felt this scene needed more weight. That's why I wrote it like this:
[Now that she finally had a sliver of peace to sift through the memories she had inherited, Su Min's heart grew heavier by the breath. This wasn't just some unfamiliar land, this was a dynasty that had marked her for death. The Su Clan had been exterminated, the name erased from records and memory alike. And she remembered it all.
Every moment from infancy to the age of fourteen, every fear, every humiliation, every long night staring at the walls of a prison cell too cold for a child. Even if those memories hadn't originally belonged to her, they were carved deep into her bones now, threaded through her soul like old scars that wouldn't fade. She was Su Min, in every sense that mattered.
But even with all those memories, no, because of them, she knew she could do nothing right now.]
Then there's this part:
["It seems I need to find a place to hide for a while. As the saying goes, people are gone and the tea is forgotten. Who will remember me after more than ten years?"
After thinking for a while, Su Min decided to hide away. After a decade or two, the world would probably have forgotten her.]
I changed it to:
[All she could do now was hide, and endure. She exhaled slowly, forcing down the tightness in her chest.
"Ten years," she murmured, almost to herself. "Twenty, if needed. Let them forget me. Let them think the last Su is already dead."
Her eyes gleamed, not with grief, but with quiet resolve. "I'll take it all back when I'm ready."
And when she did, not a single soul who had wronged her, past or present, would be spared.]
For me, this moment wasn't just about revenge. It was about survival and quiet strength. It was about carrying the weight of being forgotten without ever giving up. That nuance felt important.
There's another part in this chapter where Su Min barely escapes the soldiers while hiding in the temple. The original says, [At this moment, a noisy sound of footsteps startled Su Min, who then jumped up, landed on a tree, and rushed deep into the mountains with the help of branches, landing in a bush and looking around cautiously.]
The way it's written makes her seem perfectly fine, agile, and ready to run. But that doesn't really match her situation.
After her family was named traitors, they were locked up and tortured for weeks before their execution. Even if Su Min didn't suffer the worst of it, she still went through punishments, deprivation, and neglect. Those things leave lasting damage.
She might have a healing-oriented cultivation method and natural talent, but she'd only just started. A few hours of cultivation wouldn't magically restore her. She wouldn't be at full strength yet.
So I made small tweaks to show that reality.
They're subtle, but they remind readers that this is a girl who lived through hell. And she's still recovering.
Moving on to Chapter 4: Background and Army, this was another point where I started to deepen my approach.
The original lines read:
[This gave Su Min a weird feeling, and she kept searching for information about this world in her mind, but soon her face turned a little ugly. What was life like for young ladies in ancient times? They read books, wrote, and learned how to take care of their husbands and children. Not knowing much about this world, she couldn't find any useful information.]
The lines worked, but something felt missing. By this point, I had already begun to understand Su Min in a different way. Her soul might be new to this world, but the memories she inherited were now part of her, even if they weren't originally hers.
So I chose to write it like this:
[Su Min sifted through the inherited memories of this body. Though she'd never lived through those early years herself, they clung to her soul like old bruises. The past Su Min had seen too much and understood too little, until now.
The original Su Min, that girl who'd been born into a noble family, knew little about life beyond mansion walls. Her days.....
Her grip tightened. "Even with all her memories, I still know nothing about how this world truly works."]
Why did I change it? Because the difference mattered.
Su Min may have been a programmer in her old world, someone logical, methodical, maybe even detached. But now she carries everything a noble girl in this world would have felt. That includes expectations, pressure, and the pain of being labeled a traitor's daughter overnight.
I also wanted to build a clearer picture of what her life would have been like before everything fell apart. Her father served as Minister of Rites, so this was a family shaped by rules, reputation, and ceremony. Their world revolved around discipline and tradition. I wanted readers to feel the weight of that background and understand that Su Min isn't just wandering through some historical setting. She carries a shattered lineage on her back, and it shapes how she sees everything.
Then, still in Chapter 4, we reached a turning point, the mountains.
In the original version, Su Min simply escapes to the forest. But I had to ask myself, is that really all? She's just been marked by the Emperor. Her entire clan was executed. She has nowhere to go, no one she can trust, and nothing left except a faint hope and the broken pieces of a life that wasn't originally hers.
So I slowed the moment down. I added scenes where she fell, where she held back a cry, where she heard faint echoes of someone who came before her, maybe a memory or maybe something else.
(｡•́︿•̀｡) Because grief isn't always loud. Sometimes it's just lying face down in the dirt, trying not to cry too hard in case someone hears you.
These small moments matter. They remind us that Su Min isn't just a cold schemer or a distant transmigrator. She's someone trying her best, clinging to thin pieces of her own identity while being swallowed up by someone else's memories.
I also started hinting at her past life more clearly. She was fresh out of university, working as a programmer. She probably enjoyed her games, maybe played strategy sims or cultivation browser games during long nights at work. That background is where her divine abilities came from. The choices she made in that game weren't random. They reflected her personality, her goals, and her quiet wish to protect something.
So I wove that into her actions. I let her hesitate. I let her grieve. I let her remember.
Not everything needs a long inner monologue. Sometimes a single moment, like her hands trembling or a brief pause before she moves, can say more than pages of explanation.
Right then, Su Min wasn't a savior or a brilliant tactician or the last hope of her family. She was just someone trying to breathe. Trying to survive.
By the time I reached Chapter 33: The Cards Are Laid Bare, my understanding of Su Min and the way I wanted to show her had already settled into something clearer. This was the scene where she revealed her identity to the manager of the Fuding Merchant Guild's southern branch. It was an important moment, but the original text said only:
[She was not unaware of the mess that happened back then. After all, the most profound memory she inherited from her body was when she was imprisoned. However, she was a family member of an official and a female family member. She did not suffer much in prison, but she still knew everything that happened.]
The line delivered the facts, but it didn't dig deep enough. At this point in the story, the emotional cost of Su Min surviving everything she went through should have been impossible to ignore. It shouldn't feel brushed aside.
So I rewrote it. Or more accurately, I let Su Min remember.
[She was well aware of what had happened back then.
Not in the distant way someone might read about tragedy in an old record. The memories were hers. Imprinted. Not learned, but lived.
Even though she transmigrated into this body the day it was almost dragged back to the brothel by hounds, something deeper had already tied her to it.
Even now, if she closed her eyes, she could recall the smell of iron bars, wet straw, and blood. The thick dampness of the prison cell still clung to her skin every time she remembered it. Cold. Heavy. Impossible to ignore.
The girl she had once been, the original Su Min, had curled up on cracked stone, her hair stuck together with soot, her nails broken from clawing at the walls during those first nights when she screamed until her voice cracked.
She remembered her cousin choking on his own blood in the next cell. She remembered her aunt, once a dignified woman of the Su household, whispering lullabies through dry, cracked lips until her voice faded into silence.
And her father... The last thing she remembered was not the execution. It was his face as he turned to look at her through the bars, half kneeling, hands tied behind his back, blood at the corner of his mouth. He still smiled at her. A smile full of pain and apology.
"Endure," he had mouthed. Then he was taken away.]
Even though Su Min hadn't been tortured the way some of the others were, I wanted to show that surviving doesn't mean she escaped suffering. Sometimes being spared hurts in a different way, especially when you're left with the memories of everything you couldn't stop.
The Emperor may have left her alive, but it was only so she could be used later by the one hiding behind the veil, the Demon Queen who fed on innocence and talent to extend her own cultivation. That wasn't mercy. It was planned cruelty.
And that matters.
Because Su Min isn't heartless. Not deep down.
She's someone who remembers everything. She feels everything, even when she doesn't show it on the surface. Those feelings shaped her ambition. Not into something small or petty, but into a steady fire burning underneath.
So when she stood in front of the merchant manager, looking calm and speaking carefully, what she carried inside her wasn't bitterness. It was purpose.
This part of the story is one of my favorites, because by this point, Su Min doesn't need to prove anything anymore.
She doesn't crave approval. She doesn't want pity.
Her pain doesn't control her, but it fuels her. It sharpens her focus.
That's why I chose to end the passage with this:
[The past had burned. The ashes remained. And she carried them like embers in her chest, banked but still smoldering, waiting for the right breath of wind to reignite.
Someday, they would see what rose from that fire.
And none would be spared its light.]
(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
Chapter 101: Wanting to Owe a Favor carried more weight than the surface tension between two cultivators might suggest.
This was the chapter where something changed. It didn't happen loudly or dramatically. It happened quietly, which made it feel even more real. This was the moment Xie Yingying began to soften.
Originally, the text gave us the facts:
[Su Min was surprised. Xie Yingying seemed different. Gentler. Less guarded. What Su Min didn't know was that Yingying had done some digging... and what she found had made her reconsider.]
It worked well enough, but I felt there was more happening underneath. Xie Yingying's character up to this point had always been built on distance, caution, and a very controlled sense of detachment, especially around other cultivators.
So I created Extra 1: After Meeting With Her. It was a quiet interlude that let us step into Xie Yingying's private world. We saw what she learned, and even more importantly, how it changed her feelings.
Xie Yingying didn't suddenly fall in love. And in that space of recognition, something gentle started to grow.
[Maybe a crush. Maybe admiration. Maybe the first fragile thread of something deeper.]
I wrote that extra chapter to show this shift. In the way her tone changed, even if she didn't notice it herself. This was where her feelings began. Not through a dramatic rescue or a sweeping gesture. They began with understanding.
By the time we reached Chapter 102: Valley of Death, the emotions running under the story had already shifted. It wasn't just about cultivation anymore. It wasn't just revenge or power.
It had become a story about choices, the bonds you build, and the promises you make without ever saying them out loud.
This chapter mattered a lot to me because of one moment, when Xie Yingying offers to seal herself with Su Min. At first glance, it might look like a practical idea, something a cultivator would suggest to save time and strength. But underneath that, it felt much more personal.
In the original, the moment passes fast. Su Min refuses, Yingying accepts it, and the story moves on. But after everything that happened in Chapter 101, I felt like the emotional weight of that offer needed more space.
That's why I rewrote the scene with more intention.
["After this… do you want to seal yourself with me?"]
It's such a quiet question, yet it carries the weight of trust, companionship, and a kind of affection that even Xie Yingying hasn't fully admitted to herself.
She isn't just suggesting a plan. She's offering a place by her side.
And Su Min's answer isn't cold. It's careful.
It comes from someone who already decided what kind of path she'll follow, someone who understands how much it costs to step away from it.
["…So you dug that far back," she murmured. There was no anger. Only quiet astonishment. Not because the memory had faded, but because someone else had chosen to carry it too.]
That line matters to me. It shows who Su Min really is.
She's not detached or numb.
She's someone who holds on to memories with her whole heart, even if she pretends she doesn't. She can't forget, not just the hatred she carries but also the kindness she's been given.
She just doesn't know how to accept it.
Su Min knows exactly what Xie Yingying is offering, a piece of her Sealing Crystal, something rare and precious. It's an act of deep trust, maybe even affection, a gesture that quietly says, "When you wake, I want to wake beside you."
But Su Min still refuses.
Not because of pride. Not to push her away. But because her path was set long ago, back when she created her account in her old world. She chose the Longevity Route, not just for strength, but because a part of her always expected to walk alone.
[She would cultivate quietly, endure quietly, and when the time came, she would walk forward while the rest of the world turned to dust.]
But that doesn't mean she wasn't moved. It doesn't mean she didn't understand how meaningful the offer was. Even if she couldn't return those feelings, she still respected them.
I also wanted this moment to make it clear that Su Min isn't a person without emotions. She remembers her father's last words. The prison. The humiliation. The silence. And above everything else, she remembers the grudge.
[Forget? She had endured because she remembered.]
That single line shows everything about her.
In a way, this scene captures their bond perfectly:
Xie Yingying, still careful but starting to soften, finally opens up and offers something real.
Su Min, steady and weighed down by everything she carries, can't accept it, but she's grateful all the same.
In Chapter 103: Golden Core Heavenly Tribulation, everything is ready to fall apart. The Golden Core Corpse King is gathering strength in the shadows, and Su Min's mind is already drifting toward what's about to happen. But right between all that tension and the looming tribulation, the story gives us a moment of calm. A breath. A brief connection.
The original only had a few lines:
[Xie Yingying exhaled in relief. At least Su Min wasn't completely clueless. Their conversation continued, but Su Min grew increasingly cautious. Xie Yingying, however, was remarkably candid, sharing details about her sect and background. Su Min, on the other hand, had to carefully mask her origins, sticking to her 'Su Min' identity.]
It works, but I felt there was something more inside it. I saw a chance to deepen their bond, not through explanations, but through atmosphere. That's why I wrote Extra 2: Moonlit Fragrance, a soft chapter with no cultivation, no danger, and no fighting. Just two women sitting under the moon, sharing parts of their past like quiet offerings in the dark.
In a lot of ways, this chapter is about vulnerability.
Xie Yingying opens up first, not with some big speech, but the way someone lowers their guard a little at a time, testing each step.
Su Min stays careful. She doesn't lie, but she can't reveal everything either. Still, she listens. And in that silence, she gives something back. Not a confession, but her presence.
[They sat like that for a long time. Quiet. Still. Two ghosts beneath the moonlight, living anyway.]
This line means a lot to me, because Su Min and Xie Yingying aren't just cultivators in a story. They're people who've lived through more pain than they ever put into words.
Each one carries wounds that no one else sees. But here, under the moonlight, they didn't need to hide everything. Even if they didn't share every truth, they finally acknowledged each other fully for the first time.
I ended the extra with:
[Companions, if not yet friends.]
Because that's how it really starts.
Not with big promises or sudden trust. Just with recognition. With the simple choice to sit next to someone and stay, even in silence.
( ˘︶˘ ).｡*♡
In Chapter 110: Preparations Before Forming the Golden Core (Part 1), there's a quiet moment. A small one, really. Su Min comments on the gift Xie Yingying gave her.
But I kept thinking about why Xie Yingying left those things for her. About what she was really giving.
Preparing for a self-sealing is one thing. Giving away your own savings, the resources your sect trusted you with, the things that keep you safe, is something else entirely. That kind of gift isn't casual.
It wasn't convenience.
It was love, even if she couldn't say it out loud.
So I wrote Extra 3: The Valley of Parting, a slow and quiet chapter set three months after Settled, at the edge of their goodbye.
In this chapter, we see that Xie Yingying already knows.
She knows her feelings, even if she won't voice them.
She watches Su Min, not just as a cultivator or ally, but as someone she cares about deeply. She notices the way the wind catches her hair and how her brow tightens when she's lost in thought. And it hurts, because she already knows what Su Min's answer will be.
["Do you want to seal yourself with me?"]
She asks twice.
And Su Min refuses, twice.
It's not a full rejection. Not exactly. But for Xie Yingying, it still stings. There's a quiet, hidden hope that Su Min might choose her, not for strategy or survival, but for companionship. For her.
[Xie Yingying looked away first, her chest aching with something she couldn't name.]
That line was everything.
Sometimes the heart understands something long before we can name it.
Su Min is still blind to her own heart.
But she isn't emotionless. She isn't cold.
[Her fingers close around the silk pouch. The warmth of Xie Yingying's skin lingers. She says thank you—but doesn't know what she's really thanking her for.]
She doesn't understand yet what time means. What absence means.
To her, years are just fuel for cultivation. The path ahead feels endless. She's too young as a cultivator to realize that the highest peaks can also be the loneliest.
Not yet.
But she will.
["Don't die," Xie Yingying says softly.
"I don't plan to." Su Min's smile is sharp, but her heart is already heavier than she realizes.]
And they part.
This was the first farewell that truly mattered.
The first wound Su Min wouldn't feel until much later.
The first name she would carry with her through silence, through blood, through victory.
[She would tell herself this was just an alliance of convenience. It would take her a decade, maybe longer to admit the truth. That Xie Yingying had been the first to slip past her armor. The only one who ever did.]
When I wrote this extra, I wasn't trying to rush the romance. I wanted to honor the slow ache. The long silence that only a near-eternal life can hold.
Su Min may be immortal, but immortality means nothing if you don't understand what it's costing you.
In Chapter 113: Return to Prince Yong's Mansion, Su Min stands in a familiar hall, but nothing else feels familiar anymore.
This is her third time coming back here. Her third audience with someone holding the title of Prince Yong. And yet, none of them were the same person.
When I reached this chapter, I didn't want to just push the plot forward. I wanted to slow down and let that quiet ache settle. Because this is the moment when Su Min's immortality starts to feel less like a gift and more like a weight.
Before this, she had endured suffering. She had gone through war, betrayal, hunger, exile. But those were storms, sudden and violent.
This moment was different.
This was erosion.
Time itself was becoming her first true enemy, and she was only starting to see it.
The original lines were short and efficient. A quick note of recognition, then the story moved on.
[This was already the third Prince Yong she had seen. No wonder the Heaven Court forbids immortals from falling in love with mortals.]
But I saw a chance to let this become the beginning of Su Min's slow, painful understanding of eternity.
To let her remember the first Prince Yong, who rose from nothing in the ruins of rebellion.
To let her remember the second, his son, who kept the region stable but lacked the same fire.
And now, the third.
[Three Princes Yong. Three eras. And her, unchanged.]
She is starting to understand what immortality really means.
Not power.
Not cultivation levels.
Not transcendence.
But loss.
Endless, repeating loss.
[The more she lived, the more she lost.]
That was the feeling I wanted to bring forward. Su Min may seem calm, steady, and controlled, but she isn't cold. She remembers. She grieves.
She just does it quietly.
[Toward the corridor where sunlight touched empty air.]
That little moment says everything. A simple detail, but it shows the shape of her heart.
When I rewrote this chapter, I wanted to show that Su Min isn't emotionless. Not at all. She has just learned that emotions become a weakness when no one stays. Her walls aren't built from pride. They're built to survive.
[Some part of her had stopped reaching for connection. Not because she was cold, but because she still remembered the warmth and what it cost to lose it.]
That was the line that defined the whole scene for me. Su Min's journey is about healing, but it's also about enduring.
This moment is quiet.
But it's the first time she truly understands what eternity means.
Not as a goal, but as a burden.
And maybe, even though she doesn't realize it yet, this is the moment that starts to shape why she will one day cherish Xie Yingying. Not as a temporary presence, but as the one who stayed. The first person she dares to hope might still be there when the world changes again.
Chapter 118: Blood Debt and Old Grudges
This scene is one of those moments where the original text gives a solid foundation, but the emotional weight feels too light considering Su Min's past. So I chose to expand several parts. I didn't change the intent. I just wanted the emotions and motivations to come through more clearly.
In the original version, this was Su Min's first confrontation with the Demon Queen. We got the grotesque details of her appearance and a bit of taunting. It covered the basics, but it didn't tap into the heavier history between them.
The first thing I expanded was the Demon Queen's appearance. The original simply described her as pale, with messy hair and green lips and pupils. It was accurate, but it didn't show the full horror of who she is or the psychological impact she has. I wanted her to feel like a decaying echo of someone who was once beautiful, her corruption showing in every twitch and every strand of her hair. Even experienced cultivators would feel a jolt of instinctive disgust. She isn't just "scary." She's wrong.
Next, I added one small line. In the original, Su Min suddenly says, ["Oh, it seems your mother loved you very much,"] in sharp sarcasm. It's a great line, but it feels sudden if we don't see what set her off. So I added a short, taunting line from the Demon Queen: ["Your mother must've really loved you,"] said with fake sweetness. It gives Su Min's comeback clear context and adds to the Demon Queen's manipulative, unsettling personality.
These are the original lines:
[The look was as disgusting as it could be, and it made people feel creepy.
"Oh, it seems that your mother loves you very much." Su Min just replied lightly, and the demon queen's face changed instantly.]
The biggest shift I made was in how Su Min's emotional history comes through. The original explains that the Demon Queen had been sold to a brothel and gained a ghostly physique suited for Hehuan cultivation. It also mentions that "mother" became a taboo word for her, and that Su Min doesn't expose others' wounds unless provoked. It's all compelling, but it feels like background notes instead of lived experience. I wanted it rooted in Su Min's point of view, her memories, her anger, her trauma.
These are the original lines:
[When Su Min and Xie Yingying were waiting for the birth of the corpse king, she had known her. When she was born, she was sold to a place like Yihongyuan by her mother, but she found her special physique there.
A ghost body, a physique that is very suitable for the Hehuan type of exercises. And she absorbed the essence of several cultivators there and obtained the Hehuan type of exercises, which allowed her to enter that realm. But since then, the word "mother" has become her taboo.
Originally, Su Min was not interested in exposing other people's scars, but since the other party spoke first, it depends on who breaks the other's defense first. But it is obvious that Su Min's defense is far superior to this person.
"Ten Thousand Withered Devouring Ghost Hand!!!"]
So I expanded the scene and worked Su Min's past into the moment. In my version, Su Min isn't just calm and composed. She remembers everything, including the life of the girl whose body she now carries. She remembers the fear, the grooming, the silent pain. These memories aren't just echoes. They're real to her. They've shaped her voice, her strength, and her anger. I wanted it clear that Su Min isn't untouched by pain. She isn't hardened because she's cold. She's hardened because she survived.
By retelling how the original Su Min lived through the brothel system and how she was shaped for consumption, I aimed to make this confrontation personal. This isn't just a fight with a villain. It's a moment tied to years of buried hurt, something that deserves release even if Su Min herself never says it out loud.
I also added a line where Su Min turns the Demon Queen's cruelty back on her: ["I suppose I should thank you. Had you not wanted to eat me alive, I might've ended up a very obedient girl."]
It's quiet, but sharp. It shows her strength and the way she can cut someone down with a single, controlled sentence. It lets her reclaim power in a situation where she once had none.
In the end, my goal wasn't to change the original meaning. I wanted to make room for Su Min's inner world, because this moment isn't just about strength. It's about facing the living symbol of a past that once tried to destroy her. And she wins, not only because she's powerful, but because she's still standing.
In Chapter 119: A New Era, Su Min steps out from the ruined hall, not with pride or arrogance, but with silence. And breath.
That was the moment I knew Volume One had finally reached its real ending.
It wasn't just the last showdown with the Emperor and the Demon Queen. It was closure. Not a happy ending, not a clean reset. Just closure for the girl who had once been chained and silenced and nearly forgotten. The Su Min who had burned quietly for decades under the skin of a wandering healer, a strategist, a cultivator.
The original version of the chapter delivered the events clearly. Bones uncovered, techniques destroyed, debts settled.
[After walking out of the hall, Su Min also breathed a sigh of relief.
"Little girl, now the grudge is over. You can rest in peace, and the creatures of this world can breathe a sigh of relief. By the way, go see if there are any scrolls left by the old witch. It's better not to keep her evil magic."
Su Min slowly closed her eyes when she said this. The next moment, a huge perception enveloped the entire palace. Su Min's face became a little gloomy. Then, she waved her hand, and the square in front of her was smashed to pieces, revealing the densely packed bones inside.
This palace is filled with countless skeletons, and a large part of them have some blood connection with the dog emperor.
"These are all the skills here. I also got all the skills from the palace maids and guards. It's better to cut off the inheritance of the old demon queen. There are not many normal ones left."
Su Min sighed when she said this, and then she left the imperial city and came out. Now everyone knew that she was going to settle the accounts, so naturally no one dared to come in and disturb her.]
But I felt it was time to slow down for a moment. To look back, not only through Su Min's eyes, but from the perspective of everything we've gone through with her during more than a hundred chapters.
She never cried in front of anyone. But she mourned. And she remembered.
["You don't have to keep running," she whispered. "We're not prey anymore."]
This line was one of the most important additions for me. I didn't want Su Min to only defeat her enemies. I wanted her to grow beyond them.
This moment wasn't for the world. It was for herself. And for the Su Min who once curled up in a jail cell and whispered to herself just to stay sane.
There was also a gameplay reason for highlighting the destruction of the Demon Queen's legacy. In the original game lore, that woman becomes a long term threat in the shadows. She returns around 120 to 130 years after her awakening and becomes a hidden endgame boss who hunts the player without warning.
But Su Min wasn't going to let that future play out. Not in this lifetime. She already knew what was coming, and she would burn it away before it took form.
[It hadn't been her hand that struck the final blow. But the grave was still hers to seal.]
Now, the palace is quiet. The sky is clearing. And Su Min is tired. Not weakened or diminished, just finally allowed to stop.
She spent decades cultivating in silence and healing others while carrying her own fury. This victory wasn't only about revenge. It was about honoring memory. Her clan. Her name. Her stolen childhood.
["I didn't forget. Not one face. Not one name. Not one betrayal."]
If you've stayed with her all this time, you know her anger was never loud. It was controlled. She shaped it into action and strength and survival.
Volume One ends without a triumphant shout. It ends with ash drifting on the wind and a woman walking forward. She is alone again, but she is no longer running.
["The living still have work to do," she said. "And I still have bones to bury."]
Su Min isn't finished yet. But she has finally taken back her name.
And with it, a future of her own making.
Next is Volume 2. In Chapter 127: Seeing Yingying Again (Part 1)
["Yingying said she'd reach out a decade before the Golden Core Avenue opened… and yet, centuries have flown by."]
This line marks the first real shift in Su Min's awareness of time.
In Volume 1, time was her weapon and her shield. It was the debt she meant to repay. But here, time becomes something completely different. It becomes a weight. It slips in quietly and catches her off guard.
When she touches the pendant and hears no voice, only the echo of a promise made lifetimes ago, something moves inside her. She realizes she has been waiting all this time without ever saying it out loud.
In the original version, the scene is simple. A jade pendant trembles. Su Min realizes how many years have passed. Then she leaves. But I wanted this moment to slow down a little.
This scene is not just about moving the plot forward. It's the first emotional echo of their bond since Xie Yingying sealed herself away. Su Min has spent the last few chapters focused on sect management, quiet cultivation, and pushing down her own softness. So when the pendant pulses, it feels like the past calling her. Not to trouble her, but to remind her what still matters.
["That time… that sealed mansion beneath the silver moon…"]
She still remembers. Not just the event, but the feeling behind it.
And I wanted readers to feel that too.
Then comes the second pulse.
["She's in danger?!"]
This moment didn't need dramatic shouting or heavy emotion. It needed something quiet but clear. Su Min moves instantly. She doesn't hesitate. She doesn't wait. She goes because she chooses to go.
Because it's Xie Yingying.
This chapter is short in structure, but its tone carries a lot.
We've stepped into a new stage of their relationship. It's not romantic in words yet, but the truth is already there in their actions.
Su Min has lived through dynasties. She has buried emperors and outlasted entire lines of rulers. But this one woman still lives in her thoughts. A single flicker of jade can pull her from the sky.
That detail alone says everything.
This section, Chapter 128: Seeing Yingying Again (Part 2), marks not only the emotional reunion between Su Min and Xie Yingying, but also the moment the world understands that a storm has returned.
[The fluctuations in this mansion nowadays are unprecedented in the world, and now there is extreme greed in everyone's eyes.
It seemed as if the opportunity to enter the Golden Core stage was right in front of him, and he could just kill the cultivators inside.
"Everyone, kneel down!!!"
But at this moment, a cold voice sounded in the sky. Almost in the next moment, a huge pressure came down from the sky, and everyone felt their feet go weak and they all knelt on the ground.
"Golden Core Stage???"
"How is it possible? Even a being in the Golden Core stage wouldn't have such terrifying power."
At this time, exclamations were heard one after another, especially from the royal family. They were extremely horrified, even their Golden Core stage ancestors could not give such a terrifying pressure.
After all, Su Min's configuration was all top-notch, with the Heavenly Dao Foundation and the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulations. A person's coercion was directly linked to their overall attributes, and it was indeed impossible for an ordinary Golden Core to make this group of people kneel down with coercion alone, but she was different.]
In the original, the scene moves in a very direct order. The greedy crowd reacts to the fluctuations in the mansion, then Su Min arrives and forces everyone to their knees. After that, someone shouts "Golden Core stage?!" and the text explains her cultivation level and why her presence crushes them so easily.
But I split this passage into two parts and rearranged the order for both emotional and narrative effect.
The original explanation of Su Min's configuration, her Heavenly Dao Foundation and the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, shows up early, right after everyone kneels. It makes sense logically, but it weakens the emotional impact. We understand the reason before we get the feeling.
So in my version, I delayed that explanation.
Su Min does not simply return. She comes back to a world that feels smaller, more selfish, and completely unaware of the power she now carries.
That is why I rebuilt the scene around atmosphere, weight, and controlled anger.
[The spatial fluctuations emanating from the hidden mansion were unprecedented, igniting unbridled greed in the eyes of all present. To them, this was a golden opportunity to break through to the Golden Core stage, and the cultivator inside? Just kill them.
Yet, they didn't know. Couldn't know.
That they were poking the sleeping tail of a dragon.
Then,
"All of you, kneel!!!"
The voice was neither loud nor shrill, just cold.
Utterly frigid.
Like divine judgment given form.
A second later, the entire sky ignited with invisible pressure. The clouds parted in a blaze of crimson qi. Screams echoed as cultivators crashed to the ground, knees buckling under the crushing weight.
"Golden Core?!"
"Impossible! Even Golden Core experts shouldn't have this level of power!"
Shocked cries erupted, especially from the imperial envoys. Their own Golden Core ancestor couldn't compare to this crushing aura.
This wasn't just the pressure of a Golden Core expert.
It was rage.
It was fury given weight.
It was a celestial mountain crashing onto mortal ants.]
I wanted the world to feel it first. Some cultivators don't just become strong. They turn into natural disasters.
And for Su Min, it has nothing to do with showing off. It comes from fear. Fear that something might have happened to her.
So I let that tension shape the way her power is described. Her pressure is not simply strong. It feels furious. Her presence is not just overwhelming. It feels like divine punishment.
The Earth Demon Ancestor's moment becomes less comedic and more tragic. He is not a cartoon villain flying through a wall. He is a desperate man, almost at Golden Core, completely crushed by the distance between his dreams and Su Min's reality.
A single word from her, "Scram," carries more force than any long battle. That is how terrifying she is now, and it is more intimidating than violence.
I wanted her power to land first. The pressure falls. The crowd collapses. Her presence tears open the sky. And only then, once the shock has settled, do we learn the reason behind it. Her impossible foundation. Her flawless tribulation. Her complete uniqueness.
[Su Min's presence darkened the sky.
Nanming Lihuo cloaked her form, her foundations were peerless, Heavenly Path Foundation Establishment, Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation. An ordinary Golden Core cultivator couldn't suppress a crowd like this with mere pressure, but she was no ordinary Golden Core. In this place, she was the heavens.]
By delaying that explanation, I wanted readers to feel Su Min the same way the crowd does. First the shock, then the fear, then the understanding. The structure shifts from cause to effect, to effect to cause, which makes her entrance feel larger than life.
Only when the sky quiets does her tone soften. This contrast matters. It reminds us she is more than a storm. She is still a person. A woman driven by something far deeper.
That is why I separated this second part, and why the order changes. It lets her enter like a force of nature and leave the scene as someone far more human.
Here, the pace slows. The world fades. The crowd, the mansion, the watchers, none of them matter anymore. Only the two of them do.
In the original, the reunion between Su Min and Xie Yingying is straightforward. They comment on cultivation, changes, then move on. But I kept thinking about how three centuries have passed. Even if Su Min does not fully accept her own feelings yet, there is no way that gap did not affect her.
So I let the moment linger.
Su Min does not break down. She does not cry. Her reaction is calm, steady, and deeply felt. Her control does not mean she feels nothing. It means she feels too much to let it spill out.
The added line ["I told you I'd come"] may seem small, but I felt it carried more emotional weight than any big confession. It is a promise kept. Simple and sacred. Xie Yingying hears it and replies with relief rather than banter. In the original, she hides a quiet longing under her admiration, so I let that longing breathe a little.
The final part of the chapter expands on the original idea, Su Min inviting Xie Yingying to her sect, but I approached it with more sincerity and growing vulnerability.
In the original, Xie Yingying acts wary of Su Min's power and talks about finding a place to store her things. Su Min casually invites her to her sect. But the hidden meaning goes far deeper.
I wanted to show how much Su Min has grown, not only in power but in presence. She does not need to impress Xie Yingying anymore. Her strength is obvious. Instead of acting superior, she offers something softer. A place. Safety. And underneath it all, an invitation to stay close.
The offer to join her sect might seem practical, but it is also a quiet confession. "Stay near me. I want you here."
On Xie Yingying's side, I brought out her awe and hesitation. She has watched Su Min rise from a distance, filled with pride and admiration, and a gentle reverence she hides under logic. I wanted to show that behind her careful analysis of sect power, there is a heart quietly hoping for a reason to say yes.
The next scene is the most delicate emotionally. On the surface, it is about sects and legacies. But underneath, it is the first time Xie Yingying hesitates because of her feelings, not strategy.
In the original, she simply considers Su Min's sect and mentions the Fusang Tree. In my rewrite, her awe grows slowly, shaped by her admiration and something more fragile. Su Min hides longing behind teasing, just as always, but the reader can sense her hope. It is careful, quiet, and sincere.
This moment is not only about rebuilding a legacy. It is about sharing something meaningful. About letting someone into your world and maybe your future.
The line ["You're dangerous"] was one I enjoyed keeping and reshaping. Here, it is not a warning. It is recognition. Xie Yingying sees that Su Min is dangerous not because of her power, but because of the way she affects her. And Su Min's silent reply, [Only to others. Never to you.], shows a completely different kind of vulnerability.
I also kept the detail about Su Min wanting Xie Yingying's legacy but holding back from admitting the real truth. It is not the inheritance she cares about most. It is the woman who carries it.
Su Min is not just asking for a cauldron or a technique manual. She is asking Xie Yingying to stay.
And for the first time, Xie Yingying considers that her home might not be a sect or a mountain, but a person.
When I got to Chapter 130: Bold and Unrestrained Su Min, I ended up making some intentional changes.
In the original, the scene leaned heavily into comedy. Su Min was rough, unladylike, and completely unfiltered, nothing like what Xie Yingying thought a female cultivator should be. Prince Yong even called her "manlier than all his subordinates." It was funny and light, almost slapstick. But it also felt like the story wasn't using the moment to its full potential.
So I shifted the tone.
Instead of relying only on humor, I rewrote the scene to show something deeper, something that had been simmering inside Su Min from the very beginning.
She carried more than one lifetime inside her. The original Su Min was a noblewoman, the daughter of the Minister of Rites, raised with perfect posture, flawless manners, and a smile she never let slip. She knew every rule of propriety. She could have played that role better than anyone. But she didn't. She refused to.
That contrast was too powerful to ignore.
I didn't want her wildness to feel like a gag. I wanted it to feel like a choice, a sharp and deliberate refusal to perform for a world that destroyed her family even when they followed every rule. Maybe the Su Min from Earth gave her the will to break free. Maybe it came from watching obedience and elegance lead to nothing but tragedy. Either way, her refusal to act like a proper female cultivator wasn't just a funny trait. It was rebellion. It was her way of surviving. It was grit forged through pain.
That was the feeling I wanted readers to carry with them.
Then came Chapter 133: The Eastern Azure Wood.
This was one of those chapters that looked simple on the surface. A quick fight, some bandits, a rare treasure. It did what it needed to do for the plot by pushing the characters deeper into the ruins, giving them a chance to cultivate, and giving the two leads a reason to step in.
But I kept feeling like there was something more hiding underneath. A quiet shift in Su Min's heart. A moment where she makes a choice, not because of strategy or pressure, but because of her.
( •᷄⌓•᷅ )੭
In the original, Su Min barely did anything. The conflict wrapped up with a bit of bluffing, someone handed over a reward, and that was it. It worked, but it felt empty.
So I rewrote it.
Instead of treating the fat cultivator like a throwaway joke or the disciples like nameless thugs, I leaned into the emotion sitting under the scene. Su Min doesn't step in just to be righteous. She moves because Xie Yingying reacts. Yingying's mood shifts the whole moment. That brief flicker of hunger in her eyes, that tiny break in her cold front, is what pushes Su Min to act.
She notices. She always notices.
(*≧ω≦)
I wanted that to come through. Even when the stakes look small, Su Min is paying attention. And she's starting to change. She isn't just protecting Xie Yingying because of duty or alliance anymore. She's making choices based on what Yingying needs. What she wants.
It's a tiny gesture in the grand scheme of things. Telling those disciples to get lost, giving away a resource they could have saved for later. But Su Min doesn't pause. In that moment, Xie Yingying's desire matters more to her than any long term plan.
And then we get the crystal scene.
(´ｰ`)
This one made me think a bit more. In the original, it felt like a small info dump. Xie Yingying says she wants the treasure, Su Min says "that's too long," and then they move on. Done.
But with everything that's been building between them, that didn't feel right anymore.
So I changed it.
Now, the crystal is more than a cultivation item. It becomes a reflection of Su Min's emotional growth. She sees the longing in Xie Yingying's face, hears that rare crack in her voice, and she moves without hesitation. No flowery words. No dramatic speech. She just puts the crystal in Xie Yingying's hands and keeps going.
That's Su Min.
No big declarations. Just action.
And Xie Yingying, who usually keeps herself locked up tight, doesn't argue at all. She accepts it. She understands exactly what the gesture means, even if neither of them says it out loud.
(*ﾉωﾉ) Moments like this, small and quiet, are my favorites to write. They're the kind people might skim past if they're rushing to the next big fight, but if you slow down, there's a lot waiting underneath.
That's why I adjusted the tone here. Not to make it overly romantic, but to give the emotional growth room to breathe. To show how their relationship is shifting, even if they haven't spoken the truth yet.
Then came Chapter 145: Yin Body, Yang Soul—A Solar Sovereign Physique?
This was one of those chapters that needed more than a straight translation. It needed some tuning, not in facts or plot, but in emotional weight.
[For a moment, the two of them looked at each other in silence, especially Xie Yingying's expression was very subtle.
Su Min always felt that she was being questioned a little bit.
....
"The inheritance is done, let's go. There is nothing good here anymore, let's prepare for the Golden Core Heaven Ranking."
Su Min smiled when she said this, but just when she was about to leave, her hand was grabbed by Xie Yingying, and then under her puzzled gaze, the latter spoke very seriously.
"Excuse me, are you a pervert?"
"???"
Looking at Xie Yingying's serious face, Su Min was confused. What was this guy doing? If a stranger dared to hold her hand and say this, she would have slapped her in the face.
But looking at Xie Yingying's serious expression, she felt a little hesitant to do it.
"What do you mean?"
"Humans are divided into body and soul. Men are yang and women are yin. But you have a yin body and a yang soul. Otherwise, you would never be able to activate your solar body. Isn't this similar to tadpoles, which grow through metamorphosis?"
....
Soon, Xie Yingying looked at Su Min with a confused look in her eyes and said, although she didn't know where Su Min got the solar energy from, there was no doubt that Su Min was a real solar body at least during that period of time, and it was a very special solar body.
Because she had just checked and found that Su Min had a Yin body and there was nothing wrong with her.
"Go away, go away, go away. I can only maintain this for a few minutes a day. What the hell are you practicing for?"]
In the original, the tone felt strangely casual. Xie Yingying's shock was brushed off with a random metamorphosis comparison, and Su Min's Solar Sovereign Physique came across like an easy power-up. The curse of "Yin and Yang never meeting was broken", yet the story barely reacted.
That didn't work for me.
So I rewrote the scene with more silence, more breath, and more heat.
For Xie Yingying, this moment isn't a mild surprise. It is a break in her world. For the first time, she comes face to face with the one thing her Lunar Sovereign Physique has always longed for and could never reach. And it is Su Min.
Not a perfect cauldron partner, not some distant myth. Su Min, standing there with radiant qi still clinging to her skin, unaware that the power she just used is shaking something inside Xie Yingying that has always been held tight.
[For a long moment, the two women simply stared at each other.
Especially Xie Yingying.
Her expression was… complicated. Dark eyes wide, lips slightly parted, her chest rising and falling just a fraction too fast. Something primal and unreadable flickered in her gaze, something that made Su Min feel abruptly, uncomfortably seen.]
Their silence is no longer awkward. It is charged. Every glance, every question, every unspoken feeling carries that sudden pull. (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)
I kept Su Min steady and practical. She doesn't feel what Xie Yingying feels. To her, this is power. Intense, overwhelming power, but still just a tool she can use. But to Xie Yingying, it is everything. It is a call from something ancient, biological, and deeply personal.
From:
[Su Min didn't know how Xie Yingying felt, because she wasn't a true sun body. So she wasn't deeply touched, but the roar of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth was too scary. If she didn't shut it down, it would probably spread out from the Golden Elixir Avenue soon.
Even some powerful people who have been self-proclaimed for many years may come to take a look despite the five signs of aging. If they can hear the truth in the morning, they can die in the evening.]
To:
[She didn't understand the look on Xie Yingying's face. To her, it had just been power, raw and overwhelming, but still just another tool. She hadn't felt the way the Grand Dao sang between them, hadn't tasted the centuries-old longing built into their physiques. If she had, she might have recognized the hunger in Xie Yingying's eyes for what it was.
But the roar of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth was too scary. If she hadn't shut it down, the phenomenon would have spread past the Golden Core Avenue.
Some long-sealed experts might even have risked the Heaven Man Five Decays to come investigate. To hear the Dao in the morning and die at dusk, many would think it worth it.]
From this:
[Seeing this scene, Xie Yingying put away the rippling feeling, but it was not Su Min's fault that she was confused. Because this was also what she heard in the inheritance, compared with Su Min who was not loved by her uncle and grandmother and was sent away with a sealed ancient book.
It is obvious that what Xie Yingying obtained is more complete, and she even has many inherited memories.]
To this:
[Seeing Su Min's blank look, Xie Yingying pushed down the ripple inside her. But it wasn't Su Min's fault that she was confused. This was what she heard in the inheritance, compared with Su Min who was not loved by her uncle and grandmother and was sent away with a sealed ancient book.
It is obvious that what Xie Yingying obtained is more complete, and she even has many inherited memories. She knew the legends. She knew the weight of what had just happened between them. And that made it even harder to bear.]
And this:
["Are you… a pervert?"] became ["Are you… metamorph?"]
It is strange, yes, but it also says a lot.
Xie Yingying is trying to latch onto logic, anything that can help her explain the feeling rising inside her. Her body and soul already understand what Su Min is, but her mind tries to frame it through theory and structure. The question is nonsense, but she needs something to hold on to. She wants to make sense of it, because the other possibility is frightening.
Because if it isn't soul structure or science, then what is it?
Xie Yingying steps in, not to attack but to reach. Su Min steps back, not out of fear, but because she's uncomfortable with herself, with what she feels or doesn't feel, and with the possibility that this connection might turn into something she can't control.
When she snaps and tells Xie Yingying to back off, it's not only because she needs to protect her trump card. It's because for a moment, she sees something in Yingying's eyes that tempts her to lean in. And that scares her more than any opponent could.
(´-ω-`) Three minutes a day. It doesn't sound like much.
But for Xie Yingying, those three minutes are enough to wake something that won't fall asleep again.
This chapter is the hinge point of their dynamic. Before this, their connection is growing. After this, it's burning, fueled by a force neither of them fully understands.
Chapter 147: The Five Elements Emperor's Masterpiece was supposed to be a simple transition.
Alchemy, prep work, the calm before the next big arc. The chapter originally ended with one quiet line: Su Min seated in front of the furnace, Xie Yingying watching her with a smile.
It worked fine. It was peaceful. But it didn't say anything, not after everything that happened in Chapter 145.
So I added more.
( •͈ᴗ•͈) Even though resonance is usually explained with qi and physique, it doesn't vanish once the power fades. It lingers in the body, in the air between them, and most of all, in Xie Yingying's thoughts.
I didn't want to skip straight to a confession or romance. That wouldn't fit her at all. Xie Yingying is careful, proud, guarded. She barely trusts her own emotions, much less Su Min's. But this chapter was a chance to show her walls slipping a little. Not through dialogue, but through quiet observation.
The added lines were about noticing.
The way Su Min sat. The way she moved. The way she stayed focused without reacting. The calm, steady presence that made it harder for Xie Yingying to pretend this was just admiration.
(*´-`) Her first reaction is denial. She keeps telling herself, "It's just respect. Just appreciation." But her thoughts unravel fast. There's a warmth in her chest she can't label. A memory in her body that doesn't fade. A soft, almost domestic kind of longing that sneaks up on someone who never thought she'd feel it.
I needed her to stay silent. No confession. No flirting. She simply watches, feels everything, gets overwhelmed, and then leaves early, using duty as an easy escape.
That's how you know it's real.
I also wanted to show that nothing happened between them after the resonance. No talk. No follow-up. Just tension hanging in the air like mist that won't clear. It's honest, really. Sometimes the biggest emotional shifts aren't followed by dramatic moments. Instead, there's distance, uncertainty, and that lingering question of "what now?"
By writing this extra beat, I wanted to show that Xie Yingying remembers. Her heart is changing even if her mind hasn't caught up yet. And Su Min, calm as she seems, might sense it too, even if she won't say a word.
Two people circling each other, fearless in battle yet scared to name what's forming between them.
This is where the romance actually begins, if you ask me. Not at the first kiss, but at the moment they start seeing each other differently.
Next is Chapter 152: The Young Play Wild.
And the author... skipped everything. (*￣︿￣)
I get why. Plot-wise, it was time to move on. But emotionally? In terms of their relationship? You can't just say "they spent decades doing all kinds of things together" and then move on like nothing happened.
This wasn't some random pairing. Su Min and Xie Yingying went from allies to taoist partners to something that felt fated. Then suddenly an entire era of their relationship got reduced to a single line.
So I wrote three extras.
Extra 4, Part 1: Moonlace Bloom, Where doubts fade to certainty... and feelings finally get "consummated".
This one meant a lot to me. Before anything could grow physically or spiritually between them, they needed clarity. Real clarity. Not just "our bodies resonate" or "our physiques match." The real questions were:
-Do I want you, or do I just want what you give me?
-Are these feelings mine, or something stirred by fate and bloodlines?
By the end of this chapter, they have their answer. Quiet. Gentle. Not through dramatic speeches, but through shared understanding.
Real intimacy starts with honesty.
(｡•́‿•̀｡)♡
Extra 4, Part 2: Burning Through the Moonlight [NSFW], After confessing their feelings, things escalate... slowly
This chapter took me four days to finish.
Why? Because I didn't want it to turn into a standard cultivation bed scene. I wanted to show what it meant to them, especially to Xie Yingying.
When Su Min activated her Solar Sovereign Physique during their first intimate dual cultivation, it completely broke Xie Yingying's usual restraint. Not only because of resonance, but because that warmth filled something in her she never knew she was missing. And she fell. Completely. Messily. Over and over again.
They had manuals and techniques and rituals. None of that mattered. They weren't doing this as cultivators. They were doing it as people. Desperate. Human. A bit unhinged.
It took decades before Xie Yingying could fully control herself again. And I felt that needed to be shown instead of skipped. Her losing herself to that desire says a lot, both about how tightly she'd held herself back all her life and how powerful Su Min's presence was for her.
Was it indulgent? A little. But sometimes you need to write about women wanting things too.
(≧∀≦)
Extra 4, Part 3: The Experiments of Sun and Moon, The actual cultivation experiments. You know. The innocent kind.
After all that intensity, this extra was a breath of fresh air. It showed the lighter, nerdier side of their bond, the kind that appears when two geniuses share both a bed and a lab.
They tested resonance thresholds, mapped qi circulation overlaps, compared Solar and Lunar scripture compatibility, and argued about meridian theory over tea.
This wasn't fanservice. It was foundation. Their partnership wasn't only physical or romantic. It was intellectual. Spiritual. Equal.
You can't become lifelong Taoist partners without also being partners in curiosity.
(´｡• ᵕ •｡`)
In the end, Chapter 152 may have skipped decades, but I couldn't. Those years mattered. To Su Min. To Xie Yingying. And to me.
They deserved to be written.
Chapter 153: The Art of Cowering
This was one of the chapters where I took a bit more freedom than usual. Not to change the meaning, but to bring out the feeling I got when I read it.
One scene really stood out to me, the moment Su Min shielded Xie Yingying from Yao Xianer's spiritual pressure.
["It's her. She is indeed a mortal. But she makes me feel very strange. I..."
Before Xie Yingying finished speaking, she saw the woman glanced at her. For a moment, Xie Yingying felt as if she saw a tall figure who had come from a distant era and experienced the vicissitudes of time.
"Be calm and stick to your heart."
At this moment, Su Min took a step forward and stood in front of Xie Yingying.
...
Looking at Su Min who was protecting Xie Yingying behind her, Yao Xianer withdrew her gaze and said nothing more.
...
"Are you okay? You have to know that what we have here is just a trace of spiritual consciousness. She can still have an impact on you. She is really not simple."
Su Min retracted her eyes and looked at Xie Yingying behind her. The latter was now frowning and looked at the mysterious woman with great fear.
"Nothing happened, she is dangerous"
"Um."]
The original scene was already intense, and the image was clear. But I felt like there was something deeper waiting to be drawn out. Something softer than pure action, but warmer than simple tension. So I made a few adjustments. I added more breathing room. More closeness. More quiet emotion between them.
["It's her. She is indeed a mortal. But she makes me feel very strange. I..."
Before she could finish, the white robed woman turned her gaze toward them.
...
Then, like a shield sliding into place, Su Min stepped forward.
"Stay calm," she murmured. "Guard your heart."
And just like that, the weight lessened.
Su Min's figure blocked the woman's gaze, intercepting it without hesitation.
....
"You okay? We're just projections here, and she still affected you. She's no joke."
Su Min turned to Xie Yingying, her voice calm, and she kept her back toward her, protective, shielding. It felt like part of her still worried Yao Xianer might look their way again.
Xie Yingying's expression stayed tense, her eyes fixed on where that oppressive presence had been. But slowly, she let out a breath and nodded.
"I'm fine. But she's... dangerous."
Su Min watched her for a moment longer than she needed to. The faint pallor in Xie Yingying's cheeks hadn't faded yet.
"Yeah," she said softly, eyes narrowing in thought. "She is."]
Su Min doesn't say "Don't be afraid." She just steps forward. She shields her.
And even when it's over, she doesn't move away right away. Even after Yao Xianer looks somewhere else, Su Min still keeps herself between them, like she's silently saying, "If she looks again, I'll still be here." (;ω;)
That moment felt quietly beautiful to me. Protective. Steady. Understated. I wanted the scene to hold that feeling, not just describe it.
[Xie Yingying looked up at her. For a long second, she didn't speak.
"...You blocked it," she finally said. Her voice was soft, unreadable. "Even when you didn't have to."
Su Min shrugged one shoulder, brushing it off. "Instinct."
But Xie Yingying smiled a little. Her fingers brushed, barely, against the back of Su Min's hand.
"Liar," she whispered, "you just couldn't bear to see me hurt."
Su Min didn't reply, but the flicker of heat in her gaze gave her away.]
And then there's Xie Yingying. Reserved. Proud. But when she says "You didn't have to," and Su Min answers with "Instinct," it's obvious they both know it's not that simple. (≖ᴗ≖๑)
I added the line where Xie Yingying brushes her hand and calls her a liar. That wasn't in the original, but the feeling already was. It's a small moment, but it shifts the entire tone from simple reaction to quiet intimacy. It also hints at their dynamic, Su Min being the calm and steady one, and Xie Yingying being the possessive but quietly vulnerable one.
Sometimes it's the softest lines that say the most.
Chapter 155: Discussions About Su Min's Physique, and honestly... I had fun with this one.
In the original, there was already a sense of pride coming from Xie Yingying. She knew more about Su Min than anyone else in the room. But when I read it, it didn't feel like simple pride. It had a slightly territorial edge. A little smug. Almost like she was thinking, "You can stare and speculate all you want, but none of you know her like I do."
So I leaned into that feeling and let it grow.
I rewrote the moment to show Xie Yingying's subtle jealousy and quiet possessiveness. Not in a loud or dramatic way, but in a soft hint that said, "Su Min isn't just powerful. She's mine to understand. Mine to protect. Mine to stand beside."
And beyond that, even though Xie Yingying never says it out loud, the line between admiration and affection is already blurring here. Her inner voice feels warm, even when it has a bit of a bite to it.
[That knowledge wasn't something she would share. It was hers. Just like Su Min.]
That line felt like such a calm but pointed statement. No big reveal. No heavy emphasis. Just a small thought tucked into her gaze. I couldn't bring myself to soften it. (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡
It mattered to me that this moment wasn't just an info dump about Su Min's abilities. It needed to show how Xie Yingying sees her. How deeply she knows her. How much she keeps to herself, and how fiercely she guards the parts of Su Min that no one else gets to touch.
I think this chapter was also the point where Xie Yingying's possessive streak really started to show clearly. Not just jealous of attention, but protective of the pieces of Su Min that belong only to her. And Su Min... lets her. She doesn't argue. She doesn't push back.
That balance between them, Su Min being steady and quiet and a little resigned, while Xie Yingying burns a bit hotter and holds her a bit closer, was something I really wanted to bring out.
Now, Chapter 156: The Crimson Blazing Bird was where I let myself be a little cheeky. (≖ ͜ʖ≖)
The original line was already funny. Su Min was annoyed by the weird nickname spreading through the crowd, while Xie Yingying was laughing quietly on the side. But I thought, what if the nickname actually came from her?
Because honestly, doesn't that fit?
Xie Yingying is the one who knows Su Min better than anyone. She's studied her flames up close, sometimes way too close. And even though she acts cold most of the time, she has this dry sense of humor that only shows up around Su Min.
So I rewrote the moment with that idea in mind. It wasn't just Su Min reacting to a silly nickname. It was Xie Yingying being the one who started it. A tiny bit of mischief mixed with affection.
["Crimson Blazing Bird?!"
"What kind of half-baked, ancestor-defiling nonsense is that?!"]
Su Min's outrage was so perfect that I just leaned into it. She isn't someone who takes mockery well, especially when it sounds like something pulled straight out of a cultivation roast battle. But it's also very her to get worked up over something this small, all while completely missing the very obvious culprit standing right beside her. (≧▽≦)
And let's be real. When you're dating the most terrifying alchemist in the realm, you get a little teasing privilege, right? (ﾉ∀`)
By the time I reached Chapter 161: The Age of Darkness, The Fallen Immortals, I felt like I had already walked beside these two for a long time.
This scene wasn't a flashy fight or a big breakthrough. It was the aftermath. One of those moments where everything slows down. The stakes are still there, but the emotions finally get room to breathe.
In the original version, Xie Yingying gives up her place in the tournament without much attention drawn to it. But when I read it, I felt the weight behind that choice. She didn't just pull out. She chose Su Min. She did it quietly and willingly, and she never asked for anything in return.
So I rewrote the scene with more focus on everything that wasn't spoken.
It starts with Su Min waking up. She's tired, sore, still recovering, and the first thing she sees is Xie Yingying watching her. Not worried. Not scolding. Just watching. With that small smile of hers. Like she had never moved from that spot.
["You forfeited?"
"Of course she did."]
That was the heart of the scene for me. It wasn't only the words. It was the comfort that comes from trust built over time. Su Min's surprise fades fast, because part of her already knows the answer. And Xie Yingying, even with her sharpness, doesn't make a big deal out of it. She says it simply: "I left the opportunity to you."
But I wanted to go a little deeper, not just to show what she did, but why she did it. If she had fought Su Min at that moment, it wouldn't have been fair. Su Min would have had to use everything she had left, maybe even more. And Xie Yingying understood that.
[Some battles weren't worth winning.]
I added that line after sitting with the scene for a while. I didn't want it to sound noble or overly romantic. I wanted it to feel honest. Just like her.
Because I think this chapter is also where Xie Yingying starts to show a different kind of love. Not the type that comes from big declarations, but the kind that shows up as restraint.
The intimacy here feels different. It's shaped by exhaustion, trust, and the understanding that even in a world built on strength, sometimes the strongest thing you can do is step back.
And through this, I got to show their dynamic more clearly. Su Min is the steady one, always pushing ahead. Xie Yingying is the one who protects her in quiet ways, even if it means giving up a fight that could have brought her more glory.
Because what mattered more to her was Su Min.
And she didn't need to say it out loud. (〃´-ω・`)ゞ
Chapter 164: The Five Elements Emperor and the Inheritance was a quiet turning point, and one of those moments that felt much bigger than what was written on the page.
In the original, Su Min is offered a mysterious surge of life force and gives it to Xie Yingying without a second thought. No big reaction. No debate. Just a sure, intentional choice. Her only condition is "Don't let her know it came from me."
That was already touching, but I wanted more than the act itself. I wanted the aftermath, the effect not only on the body but on the heart.
So I expanded Xie Yingying's response. Not as a sudden moment of understanding, but as something soft and instinctive. Her body feels the change right away, because five hundred years of life is no small thing. But her mind can't find the source. No one else reacts. No divine glow or echoing voice points her anywhere.
And still…
[Her gaze darted across the arena before, without conscious thought, lingering for half a breath in Su Min's direction.]
That was the line I centered the whole rewrite around.
Because in that single glance, I wanted to show the bond between them moving beneath the surface. Not spoken. Not explained. Just felt.
Xie Yingying doesn't know what Su Min did. But something inside her shifts. Her attention pulls toward Su Min in a way she can't reason out, and she doesn't try to. She simply notices the feeling and lets it settle.
I love that kind of tension. That almost knowing. Because love, real love, isn't always about dramatic confessions. Sometimes it's a breath. A glance. A thread that tightens a little more without snapping.
[Yet something deeper than reason tugged at her attention before slipping away like mist.]
This wasn't a scene where I wanted her to uncover the truth. I actually liked it better that she didn't. That she couldn't. Because Su Min didn't do it for praise. She didn't want gratitude. She acted because it felt right to her. Quietly. Intimately. And that kind of love stays with me the most. Not loud or showy, but steady and sincere.
There's a special kind of tenderness in not needing every answer. In simply feeling that someone is there for you, even when you never see the hand that lifts you up.
And so, Chapter 165: The Nascent Soul Pill is Complete marked the end of Volume 2.
This one felt like a long exhale, like reaching the top after a long climb.
The Nascent Soul Pill had been Su Min's goal for dozens of chapters, and every bit of tension before this moment had been leading right here. So when she finally opens her eyes and holds the finished pills in her hand, it felt right.
She doesn't brag. She doesn't even take a break. She just tosses one to Xie Yingying like it's nothing.
[Take one.]
Except it really is something.
For someone like Xie Yingying, whose entire sect would have done anything to get a fifth grade pill like this, it's priceless. But from Su Min, it comes without fuss. No conditions. Just trust. Just here. For you.
So I leaned into that intimacy in my version. I wanted the moment to feel warm but steady. Familiar. Like two people who have been through so much together that a scene like this doesn't need dramatic lines. It's just Su Min flicking a legendary pill as casually as candy, and Xie Yingying catching it like it's the most sacred thing she has ever held.
[What, you wanted me to feed it to you by hand?]
Of course Su Min teases her. Of course Xie Yingying pretends to be annoyed. But there's affection in every line and gesture.
They've earned this ease between them.
And then, as they prepare to enter seclusion, I wanted the tone to shift in a subtle but clear way. The doors close. The arrays activate. The world falls away.
Original text:
["Well, this time my probability of entering the Nascent Soul stage is more than 90%."
"Then let's practice, and don't worry about the outside world now."
At this point, Su Min and Xie Yingying also began to practice in seclusion again, and during this period they completely turned off their communication devices. ]
I changed and expanded it into:
["Now that we've got these, our breakthrough odds are sitting at… what, ninety percent?" Su Min mused aloud, stretching her arms overhead with a languid ease.
"Higher," Xie Yingying replied, her tone unusually resolute. "If we can't make it now, we might as well quit cultivation altogether."
Su Min grinned and leaned in, close enough for her breath to stir loose strands of Xie Yingying's hair. "Confident, aren't we? Good. I like that in you."
Xie Yingying's ears flushed a delicate pink, but she met Su Min's gaze without flinching. "Shut up and cultivate."
Their eyes lingered a second too long. Then, without another word, they stood in unspoken agreement.
The door to their temporary dwelling closed. The array formations lit in quiet pulses of light, dimming external noise and shielding divine sense. Even their spiritual communicators were powered down, stored away as if the world beyond no longer existed.]
...
All of that was my own addition. Because when I read the original line, I thought, what kind of seclusion needs them to completely turn off their communication devices?
So in my view, this wasn't just another cultivation session. It's celebration. It's peace. It's trust.
And honestly, after everything they've faced, they deserve a moment that's just theirs. No fights. No politics. No ancient inheritances pulling them apart. Just the two of them.
It's closeness. It's the moment they let themselves feel everything they've been holding back through all the chaos. It's how they choose to close this chapter of their story.
Their celebration isn't loud. It's private. Earned. Intimate.
And after that added celebration, I closed with the original scene and this extra line: [But for now, she lay with Xie Yingying beneath the quiet lanternlight, her fingers twined with hers.]
I couldn't imagine a better way to end Volume 2. (〃ω〃)