After Perishing Together with the Male Lead Chapter 1

In the seventh month of the celestial calendar, a torrential downpour drenched the Heavenly Palace.

Xue Yu,with a cold expression, stepped out of the Qingyuan Hall and headed west. The layers of ruffles on her skirt billowed out with each movement. Wherever she went, the smiles on the faces of the celestial attendants instantly vanished. They dropped to their knees in neat rows along the path, their forms shrouded in the misty glow of hazy lantern light.

In the pouring rain, those celestial attendants looked at her with both awe and dread.

Xue Yu appeared oblivious. She strode unhesitatingly into Yunxiao Palace.

At the entrance, the chief steward bowed deeply without a word, as if he had already been instructed not to obstruct her.

The rain lashed down like a waterfall, its relentless patter echoing all around. Xue Yu crossed the threshold and let her gaze sweep the austere interior of the hall. For a brief moment, her steps faltered. Then, extending a slender hand, she commanded, “Wait outside.”

As soon as the words left her lips, she entered the inner chamber alone, her slender figure quickly concealed behind a beaded curtain.

Inside, the air was warm and faintly fragrant. Beside a tall, eight-legged cabinet, one person was seated and another was standing. The latter had yet to remove his armor, a sword resting at his side. He looked visibly weary, but his eyes held a gentle expression. The other person was propping his head on one hand, his eyes half-open. In the span of just a few breaths, he had sighed more times than one could count.

“Fine,” Lu Chengze said, his eyes finally opening. Casting a glance at Song Heng, he added, “I’ll speak to Xue Yu myself. You’ll just make things worse with your clumsy explanations.”

“Speak about what?”

The voice, cold as frost and sharper than steel, came from behind them.

Every word she spoke carried a chill. “I’m right here. If you have something to say, come and say it to me directly.”

Song Heng and Lu Chengze both turned to face her.

The woman, with her long hair flowing down her back, was wearing a long gown that swept the floor. Her willow-leaf eyebrows, oval face, and almond-shaped eyes formed a delicate and refined beauty, like a piece of fine white porcelain steeped in the grace of ages. Despite her gentle and lovely appearance, there was an innate air of authority in the way she furrowed her brows and spoke in a cold, steady voice.

She was a pearl carefully nurtured and cultivated by the Luohuang clan in Yedu. Had she not followed Song Heng on campaigns to conquer mountains and seas and expand territories, she would already be seated on the throne as the empress of Yedu by now.

Song Heng took a step forward. His gaze held a complexity she had rarely seen in him before. When he spoke, his voice was lower than usual. “Zhu Yun told me you were injured last month while capturing the Celestial Wolf King in Sangde. How is your health now?”

Xue Yu stared at the man’s handsome face, her fingers gripping the edge of her sleeve. Lowering her eyes slightly, she addressed him by his full name, her tone sharp and direct. “Song Heng, we’ve known each other for a thousand years. Today, give me a truthful answer.

“When I went to Sangde to subdue the Celestial Wolf King, where were you? What were you doing?”

Sensing the tension rising, Lu Chengze quickly intervened, his voice urgent. “Xue Yu, calm down. This isn’t what you think. There’s more to it. Song Heng had his reasons.”

“You still can’t speak for yourself, can you?” Xue Yu turned her head toward Song Heng, who was standing ten paces away. Her voice was icy, laced with sarcasm. “A thousand years ago, when you were a prisoner, you were like this. And now, as the Celestial Lord, nothing’s changed. Will you spend your entire life hiding behind others?”

Song Heng’s appearance was the epitome of a nobleman’s elegance. He needed no adornment of gold or jade to enhance his presence. Even standing casually, he exuded a natural charm that words couldn't describe. From the humiliated young man falsely accused by his enemies and dragged before the tribunal of the Six Realms, to the Celestial Lord now revered by all in the Heavenly Palace, the steadfast determination in his heart seemed unchanged.

Xue Yu had told him more than once that he was a stubborn do-gooder. At times, she even likened him to a pedantic and inflexible old monk.

For Song Heng, if there were lives trapped in peril, he would save them without hesitation. If a cause served the greater good, no matter how insurmountable the obstacles ahead, he would tirelessly push forward. He was, in every sense, a good man, a virtuous man. But for those nurtured in the sanctums of the great sacred lands, such as Xue Yu or Lu Chengze, this kind of selfless conviction was something they rarely, if ever, possessed.

Yet, just two days ago, this man, who was hailed by all as the embodiment of righteousness, led his undefeated army to flatten the entirety of Yedu.

Save for the sacred lands and the city's native inhabitants, hundreds of thousands of spirits and demonic beasts in the heart of Yedu were suppressed and sealed by a great formation. Only a few powerful beings with the ability to protect themselves managed to escape.

If not for the messages that were falling like snowflakes on her communication talisman, and if not for the life lamps representing those powerful beings, which were one by one dimming beside her, Xue Yu would not have dared to believe that Song Heng was the one who had done this.

It was actually Song Heng.

Outside the window, the rain lashed furiously, the wind howled, and storm clouds darkened the skies like spilled ink. Within the hall, a small barrier muted all external noise. In the silence, Song Heng looked up and met her cold eyes, which seemed to be adorned with snow. He tightened his grip and called her name softly.

“Ah Yu.”

Just that name, without saying anything else, admitted everything.

Xue Yu closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, her voice was calm. “Where is my father?”

“His Majesty sacrificed himself for the greater good. He used his own body as the core of a formation to completely isolate Yedu from the outside world.” Song Heng exhaled slowly, his tone heavy with regret. “Ah Yu, I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop him.”

“Sacrificed himself for the greater good,” Xue Yu repeated the words softly, as though tasting them. Her delicate fingers hung in midair before slowly lowering, as if she were a marionette being pulled by the strings. There was a sharp, pale fragility to the gesture, something on the verge of shattering.

She looked at the familiar face before her, and a strange crimson color slowly crept onto her lips.

“All you've done, is it for your so-called greater good, or for that Tea Immortal?”

Song Heng remained where he was, neither affirming nor denying her accusation. After a long pause, he finally spoke. “This was not my wish but something I had no choice but to do.”

Xue Yu couldn't stand these empty words.

She blinked slowly, and a vast surge of spiritual energy rippled outward from her without a sound. Song Heng seemed to sense something and turned his head. The rain outside had stopped at some point, replaced by goose-feather snow. In a moment, the world was covered in a desolate white.

Snow fell in the seventh month, and the person in the hall had unknowingly entered the formation.

“You’re injured You shouldn’t fight.”

Even before starting a fight, he would make a kind reminder. He cared about the world and was kind to everyone. Everyone liked him and admired him, even the most ferocious demonic beasts and evil spirits would try to get close to him.

“Formations can be created, and they can be undone.”

“In that case, I'll capture you and take you back to Yedu to break the seal.”

“——Enough!” Lu Chengze finally couldn’t hold back. He pushed himself between the two of them, his voice tight with frustration. “Where did you two learn to fight at the drop of a hat? Can't you just sit down and talk about this?”

He glanced back and forth between Song Heng and the sword he had discarded, his face full of absurdity and ridicule, as if saying, "Are you out of your mind? This is Xue Yu."

Song Heng knew she would be furious. Xue Yu was a woman who saw the world in black and white, a person who could not tolerate even a speck of sand in her eyes. To her, every action he had taken was nothing short of an unforgivable betrayal.

And traitors, in her view, deserved to die.