ATWI Ch. 2

It had been over a thousand years since the great war between celestials and demons. In the desolate northern lands, there lay a deep abyss where the scorching sun beat down relentlessly. Crimson lava, mingled with black miasma, covered the area, rendering the land barren for hundreds of miles. Above, a massive celestial canopy loomed, with purple lightning and red divine retribution intertwined, casting a shroud of despair over the land.

The sounds of erupting magma and thunderous lightning strikes echoed far and wide. Even the mountain gods and earth deities, who watched over this place from a distance, could hear the agonized wails and screams emanating from within. This was the most severe prison in the Heavenly Realm, known as the Abyssal Prison of Demons. The most vicious demons and captives from the Demon Realm were all imprisoned here.

A thousand years ago, the Heavenly Emperor, along with the four war gods, had set up a barrier, sealing the prison with the Four Divine Diagrams of Immortal Slaying. For a millennium, no one who entered this place had ever come out.

The minor mountain god tasked with guarding this place lay on a rock at the mountain peak, gazing at the Abyssal Prison of Demons. As usual, he had chosen a comfortable position to nap. But on this day, just as he had fallen asleep, a deafening explosion shook the entire mountain. The god was thrown off the peak, and in his panic, he nearly became the first minor deity to die from a fall.

When he finally managed to steady himself, his limbs trembling, he looked up and saw the seal of the Abyssal Prison violently shaking, as if a tremendous force within was desperately trying to break free.

The mountain god was terrified, but he tried to reassure himself. The seal had been personally placed by the Heavenly Emperor and reinforced with the ancient treasure, the Four Divine Diagrams of Immortal Slaying. What demon could possibly break it? With this thought, some color returned to his face.

But the violent impacts seemed determined to shatter his illusions. Each strike grew stronger, and the entire Northern Wasteland echoed with the sounds of destruction. What frightened the mountain god the most was that the purple-red lightning, which had been fiercely striking, began to weaken. Then, with another earth-shattering crash, a surge of demonic energy burst through the seal, leaving the barrier on the verge of collapse.

Terrified out of his wits, the mountain god immediately sent a message to the Heavenly Realm, while the earth deity nearby stomped his feet in anxiety. They watched helplessly as the crimson lava from the Abyssal Prison shot into the sky, slamming against the barrier.

Over the millennia, the seal had been gradually eroding. For the first five hundred years, celestial generals had come to reinforce it, but in the last five centuries, the Immortal Realm had been too depleted to spare any resources. Moreover, no immortal believed that any demon sealed by the Four Divine Diagrams could escape.

Before the mountain god and earth deity could receive any instructions, the sky suddenly darkened. The surging demonic energy and miasma plunged the Northern Wasteland from daylight into darkness. The two turned to look at the breach in the barrier, their faces filled with despair.

In the next moment, clusters of black energy flew out of the seal. Among them was a particularly striking red mist that overpowered the surrounding demons and swiftly fled. In the blink of an eye, several golden lights shot toward the Abyssal Prison. The red mist hesitated for a moment, then collided with a golden arrow wrapped in flames that had been fired from afar.

The mist shrank in size, then turned and fled in the opposite direction. In an instant, it transformed from red to a soft, translucent green and disappeared into the sky above the Northern Wasteland.

A golden-armored man holding a bow, the fire god, stared solemnly. “Quick! Reinforce the barrier! Report to the Heavenly Emperor at once! The rest of you, pursue those fiends! If they escape, they will bring untold calamity!”

The mountain god, who had been hiding, finally dared to show himself. He approached with small, hurried steps, his face drenched in sweat. “This humble god greets the fire god and the wind god.”

“What happened here?” the fire god demanded.

“I… I don’t know,” the mountain god stammered. “Suddenly, the seal was broken from within. There was no warning, just a sudden, earth-shattering explosion.”

The two gods worked together to stabilize the barrier and prevent more demons from escaping. However, it was unclear how many had already fled or which ones had gotten away.

The Heavenly Realm dispatched ten celestial generals and their troops to hunt down the escaped demons. But after a thousand years, the barriers between the Three Realms had become unstable and fragile. While some of the escaped demons were captured or killed, others managed to flee back to the Demon Realm, and a few even escaped into the Mortal Realm.

When the Heavenly Emperor received the news, he was furious. He ordered the fire god and the wind god to send envoys to the Mortal Realm to capture the escaped demons.

Dressed in a dark robe, Taiyi stood before the great formation in the Northern Wasteland. Beside him, the water god, Xuanming, glanced at Taiyi’s somber expression, unsure of what to say.

He knew well that, in the eyes of the Heavenly Emperor, the escape of many demons was not the main concern. While the Mortal Realm would suffer, there was still a chance to remedy the situation. However, among the countless vicious demons imprisoned in the Abyssal Prison, there was one whom the Heavenly Emperor had never been able to forget or let go of over the past thousand years.

Recalling the great war a millennium ago, the water god still felt a chill. He sighed and said, “Your Majesty, are you worried that she has escaped?”

Taiyi turned to look at him, then gazed at the seal and said in a low voice, “She cannot escape. In that place, she cannot survive for long. But all the demons who have escaped must be exterminated, especially those who have fled to the Mortal Realm.”

The water god nodded slightly, looking at the damaged barrier caused by the war between the realms. He murmured, “When will this war end? If it continues like this, not only the Mortal Realm but even the Heavenly Realm will be in grave danger.”

Taiyi sneered. “The Demon Realm has lost its Demon Emperor. They are no longer a threat. After a thousand years, they cannot hold out much longer. If it weren’t for your hesitation, this war could have ended a millennium ago.” His eyes darkened. If it hadn’t been for Zhuoqing’s stubbornness, he wouldn’t still be wary of the Demon Emperor. She should have died a thousand years ago.

The water god remained silent, but he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

***

Meanwhile, in the Mortal Realm, in the city of Danyang.

It was early spring, and the city was brimming with life. Trees that had lain dormant through the winter were beginning to sprout tender buds, adding a fresh green hue to the mix of yellow and dark green, creating a refreshing sight. The streets were bustling with people and carriages, showcasing the city’s prosperity. Amidst this lively and peaceful atmosphere, no one noticed a few dark clouds drifting over the outskirts of Danyang, nor a faint green light falling into a large courtyard in the eastern part of the city.

Located in the south, Danyang was a fertile and prosperous region, known as a land of abundance. The city’s residents lived in peace and contentment, and merchants thrived. Among the wealthy families in the city, the most affluent was the Gu family in the east.

The Gu family had originally moved from Shuozhou and, over several generations, transitioned from government officials to merchants, amassing great wealth. They were involved in the silk and grain trade throughout the southern part of the Sui Kingdom, and their name was well-known in Danyang.

Unfortunately, the Gu family had few descendants, with only one heir in each generation. By the time it reached Gu Ye, he was forty years old before he finally had a daughter, whom he named Gu Xiyan.

It was said that Gu Xiyan was born after her mother carried her for thirteen months. On the day of her birth, as dusk fell, the sky above the Gu residence was filled with a radiant glow, and hundreds of birds gathered around the house. At the moment of her birth, the birds bowed as if paying homage, as though a celestial being had descended.

Gu Ye and his wife were both shocked and delighted. At the time, people said that Gu Xiyan was no ordinary child and that she would surely achieve great things in the future.

The couple doted on her as if she were their very life. And indeed, Gu Xiyan was extraordinary. By the age of one, she could read and write, and she had a photographic memory. By four, she was already composing poetry and displaying remarkable intelligence.

However, the Gu family had not anticipated that Gu Xiyan would be born with weak eyesight. By the age of seven, she had completely lost her vision, and no medicine or treatment could restore it. People said that her brilliance had come at a cost, that even the heavens could not tolerate her perfection. Over time, she faded from public memory, and now she was nearly eighteen.

“Lady! My lady!” A maid in a pink dress called out as she hurried through the tea garden, her skirt lifted as she ran.

The garden was a vast expanse of tea trees, their lush green leaves arranged in neat rows along the slopes. It was already February, and the tea buds were beginning to emerge. But the maid paid no attention to this. Instead, she called out to a figure in white who was bent over, tending to the tea plants.

The figure straightened and turned around, a gentle smile on her face. “Ah Qi, I just told you to remain calm in the face of sudden events and not to be angered by the unexpected. Why are you so flustered again?”

The woman standing among the tea trees was striking. She wore a white dress embroidered with silver threads, a belt cinched at her slender waist. Her long, ink-black hair was tied back with a simple silver-white ribbon, cascading down her back. Her features were delicate and perfectly balanced, and her serene expression gave her an ethereal, almost otherworldly aura, as though she were a celestial being.

Gu Xiyan’s beauty was so breathtaking that even Ah Qi, who had served her for years, was momentarily stunned. But as she looked into Gu Xiyan’s calm, gentle eyes, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness. How could such bright, lively eyes be blind?

Lost in thought, she didn’t notice Gu Xiyan brushing the dirt off her hands and walking toward her with measured steps.

Ah Qi quickly stepped forward, but she didn’t offer to help Gu Xiyan. Instead, Gu Xiyan accurately walked up to her and, as Ah Qi moved aside, continued along the narrow path ahead of her.

Ah Qi breathed a sigh of relief, but she couldn’t help but marvel. If someone met Gu Xiyan for the first time, they would never guess that she was blind.

“You were in such a hurry earlier. Why are you silent now?” Gu Xiyan asked as she walked up the path between the tea trees, glancing back slightly at Ah Qi.

“My lady, your father sent me to fetch you. Someone has come to propose marriage, and he wants you to… to listen and see if it’s suitable.”

Gu Xiyan paused for a moment, but then her expression returned to its usual calm. “Which family is it? Do they know I’m blind?”

“My lady, how can you say that?!” Ah Qi exclaimed, both upset and hurt by Gu Xiyan’s words.

Gu Xiyan smiled faintly. “Ah Qi, it’s the truth. There’s no need to avoid it.”

Ah Qi fell silent for a moment before muttering, “Even though you can’t see, you’re far better than those who have eyes but see nothing. If no one mentioned it, no one would even know you’re blind.”

This was indeed true. In the eyes of the Gu family, Gu Xiyan was almost divine. Her weak eyesight had been discovered when she was three, when her mother noticed that she needed a lamp to read as soon as the light dimmed. When asked, Gu Xiyan revealed that she couldn’t see well in the dark.

When they learned that her condition was incurable, Gu Xiyan immersed herself in books. Gu Ye, worried that reading too much would further damage her eyes, tried to stop her, but the five-year-old Gu Xiyan simply said, “While I can still see, I should read as much as I can. Otherwise, I won’t have any books to read in the future.”

Even at such a young age, Gu Xiyan was remarkably rational and disciplined. She seemed to accept her impending blindness with ease, and even while she could still see faintly, she began to adapt to a life without sight.

Ah Qi had heard from Gu Ye that, as a child, Gu Xiyan would often blindfold herself with a white cloth and walk around the Gu residence. By the time she completely lost her sight, she could navigate the house effortlessly without needing to see.

On the day she went blind, no one in the Gu family noticed anything unusual. It wasn’t until Gu Ye asked why she wasn’t reading that day that Gu Xiyan calmly replied, “Daddy, I won’t be able to read anymore.”

It was said that while Gu Xiyan remained composed, her parents wept bitterly, their hearts breaking for their daughter. It was Gu Xiyan who comforted them.

Lost in thought, Ah Qi didn’t realize they had already left the tea garden. Gu Xiyan gently reminded her, “Stop daydreaming. Tell me what’s going on.”

Ah Qi snapped out of her reverie and stuck out her tongue. How did her mistress always know when she was daydreaming?

“Your father sent me to fetch you. The Yang family has sent someone to propose marriage on behalf of their young master. They want…” Ah Qi trailed off, unsure how to continue. Gu Xiyan’s talent, character, and beauty were unmatched, but her blindness had delayed her marriage prospects.

Gu Xiyan thought for a moment. “Is it Yang Xunzhi?”

“Yes, my lady. I’ve seen Young Master Yang before. He’s from an official’s family, but he’s not arrogant or spoiled. He’s quite handsome and has a good reputation in Danyang. People say he’s talented and has excellent character,” Ah Qi said, recalling what she had heard about him.

“He does have some talent,” Gu Xiyan said calmly. She had read a few of Yang Xunzhi’s poems and found them quite good.

Gu Xiyan remained composed as they walked through the courtyard. Servants greeted her respectfully as she passed, and she acknowledged each one with a nod. When they reached the main hall where guests were received, she turned into a side room and sat down, quietly listening to the conversation next door.

The visitors were likely the matchmaker and Yang Xunzhi’s mother, Madam Yang. Gu Xiyan listened to her conversation with Gu Ye, a faint smile on her lips.

Gu Ye was somewhat familiar with Yang Xunzhi and found him satisfactory. However, the Yang family was an official’s family, and Gu Xiyan was gentle and reserved, preferring a quiet life. Her blindness also made him worry. If not for the fear that she would have no one to care for her after he and his wife passed away, he would have preferred to keep her by his side for the rest of her life.

Knowing that Gu Xiyan was in the next room, Gu Ye gave a subtle signal, and the steward beside him understood. He quietly left and went to the side room.

As soon as the steward entered, Gu Xiyan, who had been sitting with her head bowed, looked up and slowly shook her head before he could speak.

The steward sighed inwardly as he left. Such a mistress as Gu Xiyan—who in Danyang could possibly be worthy of her?