"One awakening in a lifetime may come with luck. But to truly pass this trial, the Dao heart cannot bear even the faintest crack. Three lives of trial, with a heart as firm as stone, holding fast to the path of the Dao—only then is one considered qualified."
An Xiaolin turned his left hand, palm facing downward. The shimmering image before them shifted once again.
The Second Life.
Firecrackers boomed, ribbons danced, and a bright-red wedding character was pasted upon the window.
Her hair was coiled in a bridal knot, a phoenix crown resting on her head. A face newly adorned, radiant as spring blossoms.
"My Ranran… my good daughter… today, you are the most beautiful…" Yao Shi dressed her carefully, yet as she turned her head to the side, she quietly wiped away tears.
Yao Ranran stared blankly into the bronze mirror, dazed. "Mother, I don't want to leave you…"
Yao Shi dabbed the corners of her eyes and forced a smile. "Silly child, what nonsense are you saying? What girl in this world does not marry?"
Yao Ranran paused, her voice low. "Maybe… some do not?"
Yao Shi brushed away a stray lock of hair from her daughter's temple, speaking gently. "No, child. I once had such foolish thoughts too. But in this world, aside from the monks of Qingyuan Temple and the nuns, there are no men or women who remain unmarried."
"Monks? Nuns? Temples?" A spark ignited in Yao Ranran's heart. She suddenly stood, the phoenix crown jingling, her red garments swaying.
She turned, eyes bright. "Mother, I want to cultivate immortality! I want to go to the temple!"
Yao Shi's fingertips trembled, her expression disbelieving. "Ranran, do not speak nonsense. The Shen family will arrive soon. They may not be of royal blood, but they are a wealthy, noble house. That Shen young master is handsome, full of spirit, more than worthy of you!"
Yao Ranran tore the phoenix crown from her head, stripped off the outer red robe, and declared firmly as Yao Shi cried out in alarm: "Mother, break off this marriage. Tell Father, his unfilial daughter is going to cultivate immortality!"
Before Yao Shi's horrified eyes, Yao Ranran ran out of the Yao household.
Yao Shi's face collapsed, gentleness swept away, as she shouted in fury: "Yao Ranran! Must you force me to tell you? This marriage was secured through your father's and my painstaking effort and silver, climbing high to join the Shen family. It benefits the Yao clan—don't you understand?"
"Get back here, immediately!"
Shen family.
"Master, Young Master, terrible news! The Yao family's daughter ran away—the marriage cannot happen!"
Shen Father's eyes widened, veins bulging. "What did you say? Where did the Yao girl go?"
"She… she went to cultivate immortality!"
Shen Father roared, "Cultivate immortality? What nonsense! There are no immortals in this world. For the Yao family to treat me like this—I will not forgive them!
My son, we shall immediately go propose marriage to the An family's young lady instead!"
Shen Yuefu's gaze was cold and distant. Even clad in wedding robes, the red characters around him seemed to belong to another world.
"Father, I too… should go cultivate immortality."
Shen Father froze. "What did you say?"
The wedding characters shattered in his eyes.
Shen Yuefu hung suspended in a void, gazing down at himself dressed in azure robes.
"That Yao girl from earlier… who was she?"
…
The Third Life.
A broken, tattered hut. Half of a chipped clay bowl. Harsh coughing echoed. On a pile of straw, a beggar girl slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze shifted, and she muttered to herself, "Again? Will this never end?"
"Empty house, dead parents, all alone… If I don't cultivate immortality, who else will?"
Yao Ranran was speechless.
The world before her crumbled apart.
An Xiaolin's pupils trembled. His calm expression cracked ever so slightly. "Her Dao heart… so resilient! It seems she has passed this trial."
He raised his hand, summoning light, yet before his radiance touched the wall of illusions, that ragged girl kicked off the ground and shot into the heavens, piercing into another world.
An Xiaolin's fingers gave a near-imperceptible twitch. "What… just happened?"
"Did she leap out of my constructed world and enter another's cycle of reincarnation?"
…
Qingyun Sect.
A girl in a pale yellow dress stood at the foot of the ten-thousand-step staircase, staring at the sect's plaque high above, her eyes burning with defiance.
"Who says false spirit roots cannot cultivate immortality? You dwell above the clouds, untouched by the world—how could you understand the suffering of mortals?
As long as I still possess a spirit root, I will never give up the path of cultivation!"
Her clear voice echoed across the valley.
Yao Ranran descended lightly on the treetops, staring at the familiar figure ahead, a strange feeling rising within her.
At the girl's final words, the great Qingyun Sect plaque suddenly cracked. The entire valley shook, on the verge of collapse.
As Yao Ranran prepared to withdraw, she caught sight of the girl's face—and the familiar glow dancing beside her.
She froze. "Pei Xianqiao… and the Mirror Spirit from that secret realm?"
A banyan root twined around her toes, a hazy voice calling out, "Boss?"
Yao Ranran looked down. The world shattered once again.
The vision spun violently.
An Xiaolin reached out, intending to pull her back, but an indescribable force stopped him. His fingertip tingled as though shocked.
"This… who is this girl, truly?"
…
Yao Ranran remembered only that she had wanted to hold Xiao Rong and escape this strange place.
In her past trials, so long as she held firm to her will to cultivate immortality, she could break the illusion and leap free from false reincarnation.
Yet when she opened her eyes again, her hands were empty, her legs too small to support her weight, and only childish babbling spilled from her lips.
Before long, a pale but beautiful woman's face hovered into view.
Yao Ranran wanted to reach out to touch her, but her hands moved clumsily, uncontrolled.
The beauty smiled faintly.
"Ranran, let me call you Ranran, all right? You will take your mother's surname, Yao. Forget that heartless man. From now on, the two of us will live happily together in a quiet little village."
"Yah yah yah!" I want to cultivate immortality! I want to cultivate immortality!
Yao Ranran screamed in her heart, but this time, nothing changed.
She grew up at her mother's side until the age of six.
Dongxi Village.
Yao Ranran strained to drag a banyan sapling down from the mountain, planting it before their house.
Inside, Yao Yanliu saw her from the window and smiled softly.
"Silly girl, six years old and still tiring yourself with dirt. Why plant a banyan tree? I had thought to buy two willows for the doorway."
Yao Ranran panted, forcing out words with all her strength. "I like banyans."
The books never recorded such detail, only that Yao Yanliu, whose name contained the word liu for willow, had always loved willows.
She would never have planted a banyan. The original six-year-old would not have either.
But Yao Ranran insisted on doing it.
She toddled into the house, clinging to Yao Yanliu's leg with childish affection.
Her voice was tender, but her eyes were utterly calm.
None of this was under her control.
She was merely reliving what the original Yao Ranran had once experienced—fragments of memory she had never received at the time of crossing, now surfacing piece by piece.
If nothing changed, this mother was destined to die.