Perhaps,

on the day the nineteen-year-old young man walked into the church in Dao Ya City, Li Mingyue began to be curious about him.

Even though it was merely a symbol of the Savior, a destined fate, a calculated conclusion. Yet he fell into that similar ideal.

He began to believe in this beauty.

——It undoubtedly belonged to humanity, belonging to the determination to stubbornly step into this long river of time.

The three children with the surname Su——Su Shaoqing, Su Wensheng, Su Ming'an. It made him realize that humans are not merely living, they can possess ideals that evoke emotions, like a kind of lively innocence.

It turns out that such happiness is truly incomparable to anything else.

Unique.

"Click".

The bones lightly sounded.

The snow into which people's lives transformed, melted into countless points of light, converging on Su Ming'an's sword.

——That was the blessing from the deceased to the new life, an unwavering ascending tone.

Behind Li Mingyue, frost and snow unfolded, as if pure white wings.

Jingle, jingle.

The Word Spirit began to peel away, heading towards the tip of the sword.

He held Su Ming'an's cold hand, making the sword in His hand thrust straight forward, aimed at his own heart, forcefully——

"Stab".

Under his calm expression, the sword tip pierced into his heart, the torrent of life surged into Su Ming'an's hand.

At a tremendous cost, to continue the deity's "self".

Su Ming'an's hand froze. He perhaps ought to be sad, to the point that his body showed instinctive reactions, his eyes turned red.

But in His heart... why was there only desolation?

Maintaining an embraced posture, the light in Li Mingyue's eyes gradually dimmed.

Behind him, snow of endless years began to swirl up.

The priests and nuns gathered as the food for the positional rank, fed to Li Mingyue, resembling grains of white snow.

And under the sky filled with "white snow".

——He softly asked Him.

"Ming'an... what's your favorite color?"

Su Ming'an's pupils trembled: "I don't have a favorite color."

This was the response taught by Li Mingyue. As a Savior, he couldn't reveal his preferences.

But Li Mingyue shook his head:

"Didn't you say... you like white, just say it... it's okay."

Su Ming'an widened his eyes. Why say this now, when back then...

"Remember."

"From now on... you can reveal your preferences, you needn't be afraid of someone using your weaknesses to threaten you. Even if you don't cater to others, don't abandon yourself, don't be forced to give in... it's okay."

"Because you..." Li Mingyue's eyes clearly reflected Su Ming'an, like a mirror, and he slowly rejected his previous teachings:

"Your will... your determination... allows you to be fiery enough to melt all conspiracies."

"Therefore, you forever have 'innocent' space. You can forever attempt to have it both ways... you can forever let the chariot no longer move forward... although in others' eyes, your ideals are merely fantasies."

"But you can do it."

"Therefore, please boldly retain this naive idealism... Ming'an. You are exceedingly precious."

He bled, yet he smiled.

His smile——was a kind of free happiness, naive and uncouth...

As if in this moment, he finally lived in the way Su Wensheng did in his last moment.

He smiled and bowed to idealism, admitting it.

And Su Ming'an, lived in the way Li Mingyue initially was——calm and wave-less, like frost and snow unchanged for millennia.

Consciousness began to separate, the Undying Word Spirit, through the Immortal's Talisman of "Transfer Object", gradually transferred onto Li Mingyue.

The price of which was——

The thousand-year positional rank, thousand-year ability, thousand-year emotion, thousand-year soul of Li Mingyue... even reincarnations and rebirths over millions of years to come.

He lived for so long... journeyed so long. He clearly had such a long and beautiful life ahead, equivalently eternal, yet in this year, he completely severed his long years... ending on this day.

Just to...

Protect his deity... No.

Protect his child.

He always tried to protect his child.

Blood spread from the heart, the Word Spirit gradually transferred to Li Mingyue's body, though his positional rank was high, he had no means to defend, the "unconsciousness" within the Dieying Curse, would magnify to the extreme.

That is to say,

He would become a true frost and snow... an eternal vegetative state.

"Smile... more." Li Mingyue said softly, blood flowing from his mouth.

"...Godfather." Su Ming'an looked at the increasingly unfocused eyes of Li Mingyue: "...Why. What does this mean? Is it... death?"

He still couldn't comprehend the magnitude of this sacrifice, only vaguely felt... as if someone very important was about to pass. Until this moment, He realized the accumulated, deep loneliness on the white-haired man for millennia.

In the past, He could respond, could promise to remember the other, but now... He could only calmly watch the smile on the other's face, with only pale desolation in His heart.

"I can't smile." Su Ming'an said bewilderedly, more and more tears fell from His eyes. These were not tears of sadness, just some physiological reaction.

As if...

The nineteen-year-old youth in His heart, was crying.

The youth struggled countless times in His heart, trying to stop this sacrificial offering, but was pressed deep within the divinity, full of scars, unable to break free.

He roared frantically, but each time was pressed back, could only watch as a new name was gradually engraved onto the Ring of Time.

...By what right.

Why.

By what right his own choice... should others bear the cost?

Why... are these people always so stubborn?

To the extent that what appeared on Su Ming'an's face was only unconscious tears.

But the Godfather didn't mind His coldness, only, as if he had gotten his wish, raised his hand, touched His cold cheek, calmly wiped away His tears.

Inch by inch, the movements gentle. Like tidying the attire of a child about to go to school.

The youth bewilderedly looked back.

In the white pupils, there was only the figure of Su Ming'an.

"Then, cry less." He looked at Su Ming'an with unfocused eyes:

"Clearly, not saving you, letting you lose yourself, and becoming the strongest deity is the best solution for the civilization of the World of Old Days."

"But still, I came to save you. It was a foolish move to place all hope on your humanity; it was not rational."

"But I finally understand a bit..."

The cold voice, bit by bit, carried a hint of smile, and slowly lowered.

"...what he said in his childhood, how 'idealization' was naive."

It seems he finally understood a bit... Su Wensheng's last lingering, simple joy.

It was the boy's influence that made him step out and choose an idealized path—willing to reduce the survival rate of civilization to preserve Su Ming'an's "self."

Believing in Su Ming'an's future... infinite possibilities.

For this, he gave up his own thousand-year-long future, a lifespan as long as the heavens.

At the end, before the Word Spirit took effect, Li Mingyue talked about many things.

He covered Su Ming'an's hand and said it wasn't cold anymore, it would never be cold again, child, from now on, there would be spring.

Then he talked about how, in his life, he had witnessed snow countless times. The snow in the Capital City, the snow on the airship, the snow on the island... but none of it was warmer than today's snow.

He talked about the yet-to-be-set church, the books that priests hadn't organized, the pot of peach blossom wine warming on the stove, the unfinished welfare list... talked about how Su Shaoqing was the liveliest child. He talked about that night with heavy fog, how he carried the sleeping young man up the pavilion, handcuffing him with iron chains. And about their unrealized Great Harmony...

Talking about the obedient female students in Dao Ya City, the always disheveled teacher Mr. Xia, the soup kitchen event to be held next year, the white bird greedily nibbling on breadcrumbs by the fountain, the lush parasol tree at the door, the tea on the table that hadn't boiled yet... talking about the moonlit nights in Loulan, the wars in Changping, the waterfalls in Taihua, the camel bells in the Western Regions...

Talking about his thousand-year life, everything long gone, the young soldier he met early on, now with a large family, with a tombstone at the far corner of a hill. The little girl who used to sell cloth, forced into marriage, now whereabouts unknown. The aunty who once patted his head, selling ice sugar near ice columns, now probably passed down for over ten generations...

And also the boy whose life also ended at nineteen, who loved iced sugar and hawthorn pieces since childhood, having a child's temper, loved being mischievous, and sometimes argued...

But in the end, with reddened eyes he said,

...he let that boy down.

He lowered his head, silver-white hair rising with the wind, covering Su Ming'an's unconscious reddened eyes...

"Ming'an."

"In the future remember... to smile a bit more."

He gazed at the clear light in Su Ming'an's eyes.

Seemingly...

Seeing the frost and snow of these thousand millennia.

Turns out he too, gave up his own flow.

"It's been hard enough... be a little happier."

Snow-white hair lay on the ground, silently under the eternal blue moon, the Word Spirit finally fully transferred to him, a flash of malicious red overwhelming his eyes' cold clarity.

Then,

the cross chain gradually dropped from his becoming void hand to the ground.

"Clink."

A crisp sound.

A moment later,

Su Ming'an seemed to realize something, letting out a gasp of despair, feeling a chill in his hand.

He held the quiet white-haired person in his arms, tears falling from his bewildered eyes.

...

"...Godfather?"

...

It seemed he couldn't understand, that in the future no one would call him that anymore.

The body in his arms turned transparent at that moment, carrying the eternal curse, he would never open his eyes to gaze at him, nor open his mouth to call him "Ming'an" again.

The care in Dao Ya City, the original bag of bread, the warm coat, the personally warmed quilt, the rule book written in blood...

All no longer existed.

He raised his hand to open those closed eyelids, eyes flip open, white pupils with no light. He called "Godfather" several times, tugging at the white-haired person's lips, no matter how he tugged, no sound came out.

Why.

He told him to smile more.

But he...

"...Godfather?"

He stood stiffly in place, trying to force a smile, but it failed.

"Teach me again... Godfather."

"After becoming a god, it seems I can't smile anymore."

"You haven't given me your Immortal's Talisman yet... if you can't give that, then give more good things, Godfather..."

The emotion seemed to be tightly suppressed, sharp pain spreading from the heart.

The expression on the body in his arms was fixed in a small smile, making Su Ming'an recall the smile of Su Wensheng just before he drowned in the lake.

...In the end, who became whom.

"Godfather."

He stood confused in place, shaking the unmoving body in his arms, tears falling for unknown reasons, silently hitting the ground.

He seemed to see.

When they first met, under the White Jade Pavilion, a jade-colored long robe embroidered with silver threads. A gust of wind, the jade pendant ringing, the person like frost and snow turned back, looked at him.

White hair fluttered, quiet and silent.

The river of time flowed between them, thousands of similar figures spread beneath his feet.

"...Ming'an?"

Then, the white-haired person finally uttered the unmistakable name, breaking the stagnant silence.

"It's February..."

And he walked towards him, chanting words like reciting a text with generous fervor.

They stood under the White Jade Pavilion, watching this new snow falling from the sky.

"The peach blossoms have bloomed, Yuheng," he said.

"Mm, spring has come," he smiled:

"This is the warmest snow I've seen in a thousand years..."

The wind blows, bells ring, butterflies are born.

Worlds change, seas and gulfs transform.

A thousand years pass.

A long dream.

...

Su Ming'an held Li Mingyue, looking up.

At the entrance of the church, a few butterflies fluttered by.

Perhaps due to the heavy snowfall and the cold temperature, they sought refuge from the storm, actively flying indoors.

...

["Don't go too far, Wensheng," he said.]

[Su Wensheng stood at the church entrance, looking back at him.]

["But I want to catch a butterfly to give to you."]

[The boy loved all kinds of insects, but every time he tried to catch one, the butterflies would slip through his fingers.]

[In the end, he could not catch any butterfly, nor hold any insect tank.]

["Why are you so persistent?" he asked.]

["I heard... if a butterfly kisses your eyelashes, you'll have good luck... I want you to have good luck, Godfather."]

...

The next second,

--- the butterfly that flew from outside grazed the Godfather's forever closed eyelashes, silently.

It seemed like a kiss of blessing and rebirth.

Wensheng.

--- You couldn't catch any butterfly, nor keep any butterfly. No matter how hard you tried, no matter how much you struggled, all you held was an empty insect tank.

But in the end, the butterfly flew willingly to you.

In that moment—

...

You caught it, and it kept you.

...

--- You don't have to compare yourself to anyone.

Wensheng.

If there were a World Game...

You would be no worse than anyone else.

...

The butterflies in the church kissed the Godfather's eyelashes.

Su Ming'an picked up the sword on the ground, adorned with radiance.

In the corner of the church, a priest clad in black approached, kneeling with one knee before Su Ming'an. This priest was the sole survivor in the church, meant to ensure its future operation.

"They all say you are a deity, are you truly a god?" The priest lifted the hem of Su Ming'an's clothes, giving it a devout kiss.

"...Yes." Su Ming'an lifted Li Mingyue's silent body, standing up, promising:

"I am a deity."

A deity continued at the cost of life, bound to repay with a greater vision.

I promise,

--- I will redeem you all.

---

--- I will remember you all.

---

--- I will rescue you all.

He then lowered his head, gazing at Li Mingyue's pale cheeks, a tear frozen at the corner of his eye. He reached out, gently wiping the tear away.

"...This is what you wished for."

He said softly.

"Isn't it, Godfather?"

"You taught me this."

"I promise to the heavens—I will stubbornly step into this life, regardless of millennia, heedless of fate."

"Though my body changes, my resolve remains unchanged,"

"...Can my heart be dissuaded?"

The Godfather gave no response.

In eternal slumber, the corners of his mouth remained in a gentle smile.

As if reminding him.

Smile more.

...

"Dingdong!"

[You have achieved the (Li Mingyue) character ending: HE·Sheng on Moon]

[(Sheng on Moon):

["Ming'an."]

["Smile more."]

["Perhaps, since the first time you stepped into the church, I was already walking towards 'you."]

["I still remember Wensheng's final conversation with me. He asked, does the Savior really have to descend? Could you...give him a chance?"]

["I saw the desire in his eyes, unable to hold back the pain in my heart. In the evening, I finally prayed to the deities, kneeling down in plea, oh deities, can I exchange myself for Wensheng? I can die in his place."]

["The deities said, no."]

["I still remember the indifference on the deity's face. The deity said I would have countless years and a life spanning millennia, under The Republic's blessing, I would have endless possibilities...in fact, due to my long life, my positional rank could even surpass Dieying, to be as eternal as heaven."]

["So I couldn't substitute my death for Su Wensheng's. Su Wensheng's death was because he had no 'value'."]

["For the first time, I felt a vast confusion."]

["...That was the first time since becoming a bishop that I felt such great resentment towards the deities. Yet I knew well they were right, and I was wrong."]

["That night, Wensheng came into my room for the last time. Ever since he was young, he slept poorly and often had nightmares of being replaced, so he would talk to me for a while more, this night was no different."]

["He asked me, what was the result?"]

["I told him the truth."]

["He was silent for a moment, then said, alright, give me a little more time, I will prove I have value, I am already nineteen years old, I am a man, I can definitely do well..."]

["Yet I knew it was too late."]

["Precisely because he was nineteen, it was already his final deadline."]

["The Gods showed me an unfathomable number of tragedies on earth, all because... a qualified Savior has yet to appear, forcing humanity to continue waiting, and thus these tragedies occur. There are millions of children like Su Wensheng who died in these tragedies."]

["I stood silently under the blue moonlight, all night long."]

["On the last day, before he left the chapel, he seemed to have sensed something."]

["He turned his head, smiling, saying to me, if indeed someone must take his place... then please take good care of the upcoming Savior, make every effort to nurture that Savior, and respect that Savior's wishes. Even if the Savior is unwilling to leave the small town, please promise. He knows he lacks the ability, unable even to save an orange cat. So, if the Savior can replace him, he would not blame them."]

["That night, I watched him fall into the lake. His gaze met mine, yet he said nothing."]

["From then on, he became a nightmare for my life."]

["I once believed that for the rest of my life, I would sail through these endless years, neither joy nor happiness, day and night engulfed by nightmares."]

["I have dreamt countless times of him, standing by the lake, catching butterflies for me, saying."]

["Godfather, the butterfly escaped."]

["Godfather, the butterfly is gone..."]

["Until that day, you first stepped into the chapel. Looking at you, I realized the difference between you two—your innocent and naive idealism... unbelievably could bring forth thousands of flowers instead of turning to mere ashes."]

["I realized, Wensheng and Shaoqing perhaps didn't die, they became eternal in you."]

["Since then, I never had those nightmares again."]

["Perhaps, I started gravitating towards 'you all'. The reason supporting me to live gradually transformed into protecting 'you'."]

["I gradually discovered... the phoenix tree, wheat ears, moonlight... these things could actually be so beautifully moving."]

["Such that, I am willing to give up that possibility of surpassing the Dieying... I am willing to relinquish my millennial life, the rich diversity of ten thousand generations and world eras, just to hold on to 'you'... to keep 'you all'."]

["Child."]

["You must live on."]

["——Pray for your victory, pray for your wishes to come true, pray for your martial success."]

["You will resist dark deeds, cleanse the world's injustices, wash away decay and grime."]

["You must obliterate countless evil intentions, return to a thousand years ago... fulfill the wishes of a thousand years. Do what we cannot."]

["Then, you will reveal — your —"]

["Invaluable innocence."]

["Unwavering idealism."]

["Everlasting warmth."]

["World-encompassing selflessness."]

["... these belong to you eternally."]

["Then, I will bless you."]

[— Illuminate life, health forever smooth.]

[— Lifetime after lifetime... no.]

[Just this life will do.]

[...]

[No more cold, it will never be cold again, Ming'an.]

[... from now on, spring will commence.]

...

Su Ming'an still remembers the last words whispered in his ear by Li Mingyue.

——Su Ming'an, my child.

I earnestly pray with all my soul, emotion, memory, millennia of reincarnations, and endless possibilities thereafter,

——Please, Gods, I implore you to favor such a child.

Let the Gods see such a child.

He should not be stripped of self, forget companions, unable to return home. The world should not treat him so unforgivingly.

Therefore, I will bear it for him, alter this tragic end, allowing him a bright future.

Please bless this young child, bless him, with joy and health.

Holy...

Holy.

My child, you will surely melt the frost and snow.

For you are hot enough.

Please keep your idealized innocence forever, stand before the tracks eternally, and become the light walking in darkness.

Then, go forth.

Fly.

——Go seek your Utopia.

...

...

"Ding dong!"

[TE3·(Your and His Utopia) Perfect Completion Progress: 99%]

[TE5·(One Flower, One World, One Leaf and Bodhi) Perfect Completion Progress: 0% (Li Mingyue's death, this route failed.)]

...

[Ring of Time (Purple Grade) upgraded to lv.10.]

[Current Recorder of the Ring of Time: Tretiya, Bi, Yao Wen, Noah, Sen Kylstia, Beili Sier, Lin Guang T-0321, Alice, Li Mingyue]

...

"Run slower, slower..."

Outside the window, the boy laughed, plunging into the glow, as if diving into a bright and radiant future.

The millennia-old white-haired individual followed this innocent and youthful life, taking a step forward—

They walked under the free sunlight, resolutely stepping into this flow of life.

They stood here long enough,

finally able to leave.

Catch a butterfly for me to see. The white-haired one said.

The boy smiled and said.

Alright.

Godfather, let me secretly tell you, I actually caught it long ago.

...

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