During the Tianshu Era, a blizzard hit Mian Province.

The Eternal Sea covered in snow stretched for tens of thousands of miles, up to the Northern Frontiers.

…

The coldness here made thin ice float on dead water.

Wu Xingxue1Wu means black, Xing means to walk or go, and Xue means snow stood in the middle of the water on a withered tree, washing the blood on his hands.

His hands were slender and pale, without the slightest sense of ebullience. As if all he ever did was play with the birds of the Yao Palace and the flowers of Immortal Capital.

But in reality, just not too long ago, those two fingers made countless heads fall from their neck.

So he must wash them carefully and didn’t show any intention to speak. The people waiting at the lake bank didn’t dare to speak either.

After waiting for a long time, a sentence finally came to their ears.

“What year is it?” asked Wu Xingxue.

Coming from the center of the vast water, his voice was a little fuzzy.

The people on the shore took a second to process this sudden question, and then immediately replied, “Year 25 in the Tianshu Era.”

Wu Xingxue took a sniff on his washed fingers, then turned his head to look over, “Tianshu?”

“Yes, Tianshu.”

“Tianshu……” Wu Xingxue softly repeated this unfamiliar era.

The person who replied to him earlier quickly added, “The Immortal’s Alliance changed it to that.”

“Oh.”

Wu Xingxue dropped his hand. With his movement, the sound of metal clanging could be heard.

…… as if he was chained.

The people on the river shore reacted greatly to this sound, each feeling their scalp go numb.

They looked with fear towards the person in the water.

Wu Xingxue was wearing a plain light blue robe, almost blending in completely with the cold fog.

But both his wrists coming out of the sleeves and his ankle bones on top of his bare feet were pale white and clean; there was not a single trace of a chain.

Yet that clanging sound could still be heard.

One of the people murmured softly, “This sound is–“

“Shh! Are you crazy? Do you think we’ll forget you have a mouth if you don’t use it? If you want a death wish, don’t bring us in!”

The person who interrupted him was also afraid to be heard by the person on the water, so he also only used a very low voice.

But they were still heard.

“Is what?” Wu Xingxue asked, “Don’t stop, continue.”

The people on the shore swallowed hard and held their breath. The one who spoke early had his fingers trembling, “No…nothing! We… we didn’t say anything, really!”

Everyone knew that the Northern Frontiers was a place even more terrifying than the Devil’s Lair.

The spirits of the world were not afraid of revenge nor immortals, only afraid that they would die here.

The demons and devils imprisoned here would have Heavenly Chains nailed into their bodies. They couldn’t be seen, and couldn’t be taken off. The evils who had these nailed onto them would suffer endless torture, until their souls languished and their bodies into ashes.

So, for the 513 years that the Northern Frontiers have been floating on the Eternal Sea, there was only in and no way out.

Except for Wu Xingxue.

He was the first one who have been chained here for 25 years and was still alive.

Such a devil lord, who was wearing a set of invisible chains, and was asking “what’s that clanging sound? Let me hear it”, who would dare to answer?

The dead silence drifted in the cold mist.

The people on the shore gave him a cautious look. Seeing that Wu Xingxue was still looking at them with a tilted head and not speaking, they felt chills crawling their spine.

It’s over.

Our equivocal lord is starting again

They cried in their hearts.

Surprisingly, this infamous Devil Lord did not look scary in the slightest. Instead, he looked like he was born from an aristocratic family. His voice sounded very pretty, and his face looked very handsome, especially his eyes.

The corners of his eyes were slightly bent downwards. When looked from the top, they looked like ink freshly dipped into a pond.

But so what?

Back then, he even killed the Twelve Spiritual Immortals without hesitation, let alone them, who were just lowly followers. How could they not be afraid?

When he spoke, they felt afraid.

When he was silent, they were also afraid.

And now him looking at them with his tilted head, nothing could be worse!

Cold sweat came down from their head like beads.

Without another choice, the person who spoke at first could only speak while shaking, “City Lord, City Lord, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have said anything, I shouldn’t have mentioned the cha… Ah! I didn’t say anything! I shouldn’t have! I… I really–“

He wiped a bloodstain on the corner of his mouth, ready to curse himself.

But Wu Xingxue was not mad, “What do you mean your fault? I don’t understand.”

“……”

“And, you called me City lord?”

“……”

FuckWhat’s wrong with City Lord? Isn’t that what you should be called?

The people at the shore were almost driven crazy by his questions.

But what they didn’t know was that the person on the tree was no longer the City Lord they knew.

Wu Xingxue’s face showed no difference, but inside, he was beyond shocked. In his head, there were only four words: “How did this happen!”

All he did was take a good nap, and now he’s in someone else’s body???

Just fifteen minutes ago, he was still a noble childe of Que City. After placing his jade wine cup down on the Winding Stream Banquet2A winding stream party is an old Chinese custom in which the participants wait by a winding stream and compose poems before their cups full of rice wine float down to reach them. – From Wikipedia, he put on his fur coat and returned to his mansion.

At Que City, it has been snowing for two days already, making it quite difficult to walk on the road. He was tall, and the servant beside him was struggling to keep the umbrella steadily on top of his head.

In the end, he felt like it would be easier for himself to hold the umbrella instead, so he handed the little jade stove he was holding to his servant. This made his servant feel almost as if he was being rewarded.

When he got to his mansion, his servants have already prepared him a warm soup. After drinking it, he started to feel sleepy.

He even remembered that he was flipping through a folktale while leaning on the head of his bed.

Outside, a winter sparrow landed a small decoration bell, making it ring over and over again.

He listened and watched through the window, and slowly… he fell asleep.

When he was woken up by the noisy voice and opened his eyes, he found himself in this mystifying place.

He was surrounded by water and the fog went up all the way to the sky.

In the middle of the water, there was only one withered tree standing alone. Through the water, however, he could see greenish-white branches, blurred by the refraction of water.

At first, he thought that they were white coral that has been quite popular in Que City. But only after a closer look did he find out that they were actually human arms.

Human arms…

And he was standing barefoot on a branch of the dead tree, that looked like it might break any second.

……

Oh, and there was the wind blowing on him.

Making him wobble.

And his hands were full of blood.

Only God knows how much he wanted to curse at that moment.

In poems, one would often see poets “dreaming of their childhood years”, but on him, turned into the “years in the netherworld”.

Oh wait, no.

More like he was possessing someone else in the netherworld.

Thanks to the slip of the tongue by the people on the shore, his identity hasn’t been exposed yet. And he managed to learn some crucial information.

This hellish place was called the Northern Frontiers, a place where devils were imprisoned.

And he, was the Devil Lord.

The people on the shore were his former subordinates. When one of them broke in, he was still dragging half of a bloody corpse behind him and stepped into the water expressionlessly.

None of them here was a kind soul obviously.

Surrounded by such people, he wouldn’t even dare to imagine what would happen if he said “I’m not the owner of this body.”

If he did, those subordinates who looked sincere and frightened would immediately change their attitudes. They would cut him in half and leave him in this pool of dead water.

So, he could only keep washing his hands while trying to learn more information from them.

But no matter how hard he tried, the only responses he got were “City Lord it’s all my fault”, City Lord I’m wrong, I’ll be quiet,” and, “Shhh”.

Shit

…

As he was carefully planning what to do next, he suddenly heard a loud noise.

It was a little hard to tell across the iron-like mountain walls around them, but it was obvious that they were being surrounded by countless people outside.

Among them, one could also hear the sounds of swords being drawn and words like “What are you waiting for”, “It’s the Devil Lord”.

In the split of a second, there was a giant bang, making small pieces of black ironstones beside them fall down. The gloomy and chilly pool suddenly started to shake violently.

Wu Xingxue quickly held onto the nearest branch to make sure he doesn’t end up falling off.

“……”

His subordinates were listening carefully and trying to figure out the situation outside. They were all frowning with darkened faces.

“Doesn’t sound good to me.”

“I’m guessing everyone from the Immortal’s Alliance has already come.”

“Of course. They have always treated this place more precious than their lives.”

“They call this the place in the world that can frighten the evil, that’s only natural.”

“Ha, but so what, it won’t be for much longer!”

Boom!

Another loud explosion. The mountain surrounding them still held firm, but was shaking more and more severely.

“No, if they keep going like this, they’ll be in here in no time! City Lord, let’s –” The subordinates turned their heads to look, and their voices paused.

Wu Xingxue had his head lowered, and in his hand held a newly broken branch.

The subordinates: “?”

“Let’s what? Please continue.” Wu Xingxue seemed to be just playing around. It only took a few seconds for him to lose interest in the branch, and he casually threw it into the water.

The subordinates stared at the floating twitch with fear.

It was common knowledge that everything touched by the Devil Lord was worth to be feared of, even if it was a drop of water.“Uh, let’s……” The subordinate speaking licked his dry lips and couldn’t help but glance back at the branch, “Let’s leave this place as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, City Lord. There have been some strange phenomena recently in the Northern Frontiers. Rumors have it that the place has reached its end. The Immortal’s Alliance is all here by now to check on the situation.”

Partially because they wanted to try and save this place.

Partially because they were afraid that the Devil Lord haven’t died completely yet.

In such a situation, if the two sides met, it would inevitably be a bloody battle.

But just when they were about to urge, Wu Xingxue spoke again, “So that’s why you’re in such panic? Too weak?”

The subordinates: “…”

They knew better than to nod their heads

“City Lord, those disciples outside are naturally not worth mentioning at all,” said the eldest subordinate.

The people beside him were silent for a few seconds, and then turned to look at him: “?”

“It’s this place, the Northern Frontiers itself,” he glanced around, then continued, “It is said that there were strange phenomenons here recently and that the spiritual energy here has been drained dry. That must be true, otherwise, we wouldn’t have broken in so easily. It’s just that, this place, after all, it used to be controlled by that… that Celestial Immortal.”

He said the words “Celestial Immortal” super fast and blurred, but was still elbowed by someone beside him.

“He has already died together with the fall of Immortal Capital, why must you bring it up right now?!” The subordinate who spoke secretly took a glance at Wu Xingxue and kept his voice lower than a mouse’s.

“……”

Again? What’s up with the pale face and that secretive attitude?

That Celestial Immortal, did something happen between him and me? No, I mean with the owner of this body?

Wu Xingxue really wanted to let that subordinate to continue, so that he could understand more of his situation.

But due to this identity, he could let it go for now.

But since he wasn’t the original person who was supposed to be chained here, he didn’t know what kind of reaction to have to be considered “normal”. He could only silently and indifferently listen to his men on the shore call him with the unfamiliar name.

The subordinate talking earlier took a glance at him again, “In… in short… although that man’s dead for a long time already, he might have planted a trap here before he passed. We’ll be in quite some trouble if that’s true.”

“True.”

“So City Lord, please, let’s hurry up and leave!”

Their tone sounded like they were on fire, as if their patience had a taste of bitterness in it.

Their City Lord was completely agreeing with them at this moment and was literally about to nod.

But at this moment, he had a more pressing problem.

Which was: How the heck can I get down from this tree while keep pretending to be the Devil Lord?

Wu Xingxue looked at the deep pool below him and then looked at the shore.

His subordinates were looking at him eagerly, waiting for an order.

A thought came across his mind. He raised his hand and randomly chose a person that looked relatively pleasing to the eye.

“You, come here,” his voice was soft.

The person who was chosen shivered and froze in place.

“Me?”

“Mm.”

“City Lord, did I say something wrong? It wasn’t me talking just now…”

Wu Xingxue: “……”

Coward.

“Come here,” he softly repeated while hooking his finger.

As he moved, those invisible chains made clanging sounds again.

The person who was chosen didn’t ask more and courageously stepped onto the dead water. With big steps, it only took him a few seconds to reach the dead tree.

“City Lord.”

Just as he was about to step onto the tree, “Boom!”

Countless invisible sword aura came from all directions, carrying the chill of the tens of thousands of miles of snow of the Northern Frontiers.

The hand that he reached out to Wu Xingxue immediately turned into a mist of blood, and his whole person was swept back to the shore.

In an instant, a giant array formed and the waters crashed like waves.

Wu Xingxue felt a cold sword energy coming for him, and he subconsciously closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, a giant golden lotus, big enough to cover the entire Northern Frontiers, slowly opened beneath his feet.

In the dazzling snow particles and golden light, he saw a phantom holding a giant sword.

That person was very tall, and there were three black nails in the ear bone of his right ear. He gave off an intense killing intent, but his face looked incredibly handsome as well. His presence made the air above the Eternal Sea smell like cold iron.

In the wind, the giant phantom turned his head to look at Wu Xingxue. From beneath his ear to the bottom of his neck, there was a golden seal that could faintly be seen.

It wrote the word “Mian”.

As everyone knew, Celestial Immortal, Xiao Fuxuan, was given the name “Mian” from the heavens.

“Mian”, meant forgiveness. All sins could be washed.

———-

Author’s notes:

I’m back! Wu Xingxue is the receiver (shou) of the relationship, don’t get them mixed up~

Please don’t set the bars too high for this novel, this is only my second ancient-times BL. Thanks to all my readers, love you all!1Wu means black, Xing means to walk or go, and Xue means snow2A winding stream party is an old Chinese custom in which the participants wait by a winding stream and compose poems before their cups full of rice wine float down to reach them. – From Wikipedia