In the Bai family’s small courtyard, Bai Ziqian looked at the giant monster sprawled on the ground, and pursed his lips, not knowing how to explain the situation to Su Su.
“It doesn’t harm people.”
The monster looks like a tiger but it has fangs and a lion’s tail. Since he was born, this monster will turn into a tiger and come down the mountain to visit him every year.
Bai Ziqian knew that there is something peculiar about him but thought nothing of it before but who would’ve guessed that Su Su would see it by chance?
With one glance, it is easy to see the monster is not some fairy immortal beast and might even be something more terrible than demons. He has even watched it swallow the souls of the dead one time.
Bai Ziqian looked down, hiding the emotions brewing in his eyes. He doesn’t know if it would help if he tried to gain some sympathy in this situation.
The edge of his eyes turning a bit red, he was about to say something when the monster rolled on the ground, turning into a baby tiger that is about the side of a kitten, shuffled sheepishly to Su Su, lowered its head and hesitantly let out a “Meow…”
Su Su squatted down and looked at it.
“Ow…meow.” The tiger demon trembled, begging not to be killed.
The aura of a god is completely alien to its own. These long years had not added to its intelligence. Just when it was pondering if it should abandon Bai Ziqian to escape by itself, Su Su suppressed her goddess aura and patted its head. (Superpowerful beings’ presence can cause great physical and mental pressure on those who are much less powerful than them. This is why Su Su had to suppress her aura in order to interact with the tiger demon. By the way, the tiger demon and Su Su’s interaction was pretty funny in the book. The tiger disliked Su Su on sight when it first met her and would try to bully her…but always ended up losing to Su Su. The two ended up having this funny feud that went back and forth, with Su Su winning most of the time.)
The tiger demon’s legs went weak and almost collapsed on the floor.
The last god of the world…she is not going to kill him and his unlucky Demon God master?
Su Su’s finger tapped lightly on its brow and after a long moment, she whispered, “Thank you, tiger demon.”
Huh? Huh? The tiger demon’s eyes widened. Bai Ziqian looked at it, the meaning in his eyes was obvious, why aren’t you leaving?
Tugging its tail between its legs, the tiger demon promptly ran away.
Bai Ziqian asked Su Su with an odd expression in his eyes, “You are not afraid?”
Su Su smiled and looked at him. Instead of answering, she asked, “You know in your heart that there is something amiss about me, are you afraid of me? Do you still dare to marry me?”
“As long as you won’t regret it, then it’s good.”
Only a few days later did Bai Ziqian learn that Liu Dongyan had resolutely broken off the engagement and had also hastily married Nobleman Lee.
He heard about the rumors and was amused, “You let them believe that I had been bitten?”
Su Su nodded, and said frankly, If she would’ve walked in and stuck by you no matter what, then she would’ve found out it was all a lie.”
But Mama Liu and Liu Dong Yan are both selfish people. They tried to force Bai Ziqian to bend to their will but is suffering the consequence now. They have not only been criticized by others for breaking off the engagement first but have now become a laughing stock for losing a prize husband.
“And you? If I had really lost the use of my right arm, would you have left me?”
Su Su didn’t expect Bai Ziqian to ask this kind of question. He had asked it in an offhanded manner but the slight drop of his eyes exposed his inner thoughts. Staring into his ink-black eyes, she said, “See for yourself.”
She took his hand, placed it on her brow, and closed her eyes.
A white divine seal appeared on her brow, and a scene appeared in front of Bai Ziqian.
A thousand years ago, in a cove of trees by a small town, a young man in black clothes lay on the ground half dead. His left eye had been blinded, and a group of children were throwing rocks at him.
A girl leading a horse walked by, picked him up, and helped him onto the horse.
She bickered with him, but her hands gently wiped away the blood from his right eye.
In the tree demon’s body, she gouged out her own eyes to replace his blind eye. The kiss that fell on his lips was very light, dispelling the darkness of the whole world.
Su Su opened her eye, “I won’t leave you.”
Never have, and never will. I respect your strength when you sacrificed for the Six Realms, and I also hurt for your loneliness that no one can understand.
Bai Ziqian withdrew his hand, forcefully suppressed the tears in his eyes, and said with a smile, “Hmm.”
———————————————–
The day they got married was in the month of October in the mortal world.
Su Su didn’t use any spells, but secretly and diligently learned how to embroid a bridal cover with an embroiderer.
There were many guests that came. The wedding procession picked her up from the wine shop and was greeted with warm and kind congratulations from the villagers. She could see through the cracks in the bridal cover that there was a smile in the man’s eyes the whole way.
He was dressed in red, the color was vibrant against his black hair, clean and humble.
This moment, not only has Tantai Jin waited a long time for it, but she too, has waited for a very long time.
They got married as two ordinary people. He was no longer a demon born with evil and slaughter in his bones, nor was she a goddess with a mission.
In the next life, I wish you to be an ordinary person, have joy, know sorrow and pain, and experience a life of peace and happiness.
What she said back then, even after he died, the last remaining fragment of his soul still remembered it.
Bai Ziqian kept feeling that this day was unreal but his heart finally settled down when he lifted the bridal cover and saw Su Su’s smiling eyes.
As the wedding host is saying one well wish after another, they drank the wedding wine together.
With a big smile, the wedding host announced, “The bride to tie hair.”
Su Su had already learned the mortal etiquette of Changle. She used silver scissors to cut off a small strand of hair from herself and Tantai Jin, tied the two strands together with a red thread, and said, “Tie hair as husband and wife, never doubting our love. May we be linked together, and never leave each other.”
The two strands of hair were put together in a red wooden box.
Bai Ziqian looked at the closed wooden box, he had never imagined this day would really come one day.
Left alone, under the dancing candlelight flame, she lost some of the goddess’s aloofness and gained a hint of allure from the mortal world.
Dazzling with her bridal makeup on, Su Su gently caressed his face, “Can you tell me, who is my husband at this moment?”
He replied, “Bai Ziqian.”
Su Su did not refute him but held his hand and put the red thread with glazed beads on his wrist.
“I have been to the imperial tomb, I found the bead bracelet, I finished the sword tassel a long time ago, and I have also walked the road you walked back then.”
He lowered his eyes, trying desperately to hide the emotion in them.
Those were the most tender words he had ever heard in his life…
“The epiphyllum flowers in the demon palace are blooming year after year. Su Su and Ah Mi have also waited year after year. Husband, when are you willing to go home with me?”
He muttered softly, “When did you know?”
Know that he had not forgotten the memory belonging to Tantai Jin.
Su Su cupped his face, and looked into his eyes tenderly, “Tantai Jin is not someone who would fall in love at first sight.”
He was a madman who was obsessed even to death, the most insane fool in the world.
Tantai Jin had nothing to counter against that, he swallowed hard a few times and said, “Sorry.”
He had left a way out for everyone in the Six Realms, including the tiger demon who had been with him for more than 500 years. He had the tiger demon swallow the soul of an ancient gluttonous monster, to help him transform. (The book doesn’t go into a detailed explanation, but I think it allows the tiger demon to gain some abilities and to stay alive.)
He never imagined there would be one day he could come back. He thought once she became a god, and his soul dissipated, then that would be the best ending for her.
Who knew that after losing the love thread he would turn cold-blooded, and did not have time to let the tiger demon leave? Gaining the ability of the gluttonous monster, the tiger demon could swallow anything. After the tiger demon got pulled into the World of Despair, he unknowingly swallowed his soul which had dissipated inside the World of Despair. After a thousand years, his demon soul started to regroup again and ended up in the mortal world.
He had planned on living his life in the mortal life in an ordinary manner, to not look for her, not trying to find out anything concerning her…until the day he saw Ah Mi, and wasn’t able to take another step.
With just a partial resemblance of her, it was enough to cause him to pour out all the goodness inside him and take Ah Mi home.
He missed her too much.
Everything now is something he has never even dared to dream. He even pretended that he was Bai Ziqian, not daring to pop the blissful dream.
Tantai Jin asked with much difficulty, “I…disappointed you?”
Su Su never knew that her heart could ache so much for a person. After so many years, he did not dare to return to the demon realm. After hiding himself in a small corner of the mortal world, the one thing he is most afraid of after his identity is exposed is still that she would be disappointed.
He actually thought that him being alive again would disappoint her.
She shook her head, and hugged him tenderly, tears welling up in her eyes, “You don’t know how grateful I am that you can come back to me.”
“Tantai Jin, I have many things I want to confess to you. Ah Mi is your daughter.”
“I know.” He whispered. If he didn’t understand at first, what was there not to understand later? Ah Mi resembled her but resembled him even more. Heaven knows how much joy he felt in his heart when he knew.
“General Ye’s third daughter liked the young emperor who had embroidered the bridal cover for her. The Li Su Su in the dream world, like the Cang Jiuxin who mended her soul. (This is a dream world that wasn’t in the drama)” She paused, her voice was very soft and gentle. Tantai Jin heard the goddess’ voice that was as gentle as the spring breeze, “Just as I am now, loving you who had forgotten to go home.”
The candle flame reflected his silhouette, and his eyes were suddenly wet.
In order to wait for this sentence, he had stayed alone in the cold ghost river, enduring for a couple of hundred years of having his flesh and bones swallowed and then the pain of having them regrown. He journeyed the land of spirits, with the lonely bleak moon behind him. He was in the World of Despair for a thousand years, enduring the astral wind, slowly reforming his soul.
Even the heavens sighed.
To love a person, how can it be so bitter to this extent?
He thought no matter how long he waited for this life, he will still be that boy trapped in that nightmare dreamland, that boy who had swallowed the glass fragment, waiting for the goddess who never came down from heaven.
But at some point, his goddess looked back, and there was finally his silhouette in those eyes.
————————————————-
When the blue-purple epiphyllum flower bloomed all over the hillside of the demon realm, every demon in the realm knew their demon god is coming back!
On that day, Siying solemnly tidy up herself and stood with all the lead demons at the border to welcome their demon god.
Tantai Jin had thought many times what the demon realm would be like by now but he had never imagined that on the day he stepped into the demon realm, he would be revered and joyfully welcomed by all the demons. Siying and Jingmie who were standing at the front even had tears in their eyes.
The newborn and innocent young demons all hid behind their parents to peek at him– staring at him with reverence in their eyes like one would toward one’s monarch.
In his life, he suffered cold shoulders and bullying in his youth. When he was an emperor, he was used to the fear and disgust in people’s eyes. Later, he became a demon god, and trampled on the unified contemptuous eyes of the six realms.
He thought that in this life, he would end on that snowy winter day.
At that time, he didn’t know that time (here is referring time as an entity) and the heavens are generous and gentle. The sacrifice he made back then, and the hardships he went through alone, all have been compensated to him in another way this year.
His little Ah Mi held her head high, seeming proud that he is her father.
Jingmie hugged little Ah Mi, almost sobbing out loud, “It’s great that princess is alright, or how else will I answer to my demon lord!”
Ah Mi felt terrible, and comforted him with her little voice, “I am sorry, Uncle Jingmie, Ah Mi made you worry.”
Su Su took Tantai Jin’s hand and led him through the demon realm that is filled with blooming flowers.
The blue flowers are in full bloom, fireflies are dancing, and mushrooms are popping out under the trees.
Tantai Jin’s black pupils reflected the scene in front of his eyes, the demon river surged, the mountains and valleys were magnificent.
Once he had no home and drifted half his life, with nowhere to lean on.
But Tantai Jin knew at this moment, he was home.
THE END.
ps. I might add one or two epilogues next week.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Thank you so much for the great translations!
Ive been refreshing ur page for countless time for updates everyday 🙂
Well done!
As for the ending i do agree this ending is so much more satisfying than the drama ending.
Still logical too 😂
And it is still possible (if the drama makers kindly willing) to make this last lifetime of tantaijin to be the content of second season of tteotm.
But i do find it strange that bai ziqian had not forgotten the memory belonging to Tantai Jin. cause from previous episodes, he appeared to be curious of the identity of Su Su
I totally agree with you. I was thinking the same thing as well. The only thing that I could come up with is that Tantai Jin had sealed his past memory to allow himself to live an ordinary life since Bai Ziqian mentioned about a voice (I am assuming that’s his true self) telling him to hide his talents. My guess is that Tantai Jin’s “full” spirit went into hibernation and allowed his other fragment to live as Bai Ziqian without the past memory. Once Ah Mi showed up, the “full” Tantai Jin was woken up but the Bai Ziqian fragment was probably still clueless. A close example I can think of is in Eternal Love when Dilraba Dilmurat’s character becomes a concubine in the mortal realm to the emperor. Since she had to play a certain part to fulfil the emperor’s wish, she became that “character”. Her real self is aware of the “character” self but not the other way around.
Anyhow, thinking too much makes my brain hurts so I am generally just glad that I got my happy ending!
The biggest clue was when he addressed Susu as Miss Li.
Susu never told her last name when she met Bai Ziqui.
That’s when we learned that Tantai Jin was pretending this whole time and didn’t sought for her because he was afraid she would be disappointed to see him alive as he tried to live the life she wanted him to live.
When he saw A Mi & Susu, he couldn’t resist his urges and pursued them while being Bai Ziqui.
Hmm! Interesting! I didnt catch that he called her ms Li
I do agree with ninja that the most plausible reason of him at a point being clueless and at another point being fully aware who she was, was that the Tantai Jin with full memory was hidden inside BaiZiQian, so that this fragment of his can live the life the way SuSu wanted him to live.
Hopefully there will be a season 2 or a special eps to give a closure to the open ending. this remind me of princess agent though. Of which the ending was begging for a season 2 thatwill never come in this lifetime i suppose ;(
Thank you so much for this, Ninja! What a labor of love! This replaced the unsatisfying drama ending. I’m so glad our author had this type of ending in mind. I’m perplexed as to why the writers left it so incomplete?
Thank you so much for this translation!!! So much more satisfying and really brought that closer that I think we all needed from the drama ❤️ thank you again for your work, please know it’s massively appreciated by many pp.
**closure**
Thank you so much for your hard work translating this. I think I really wanted something more to show for the torment the writers put us and our leads through. Reading this finally soothed my soul and I can’t wait for the epilogues.
Wonderful translation thank you.
And thanks for the comments to clarify certain parts as well.
I wish some of the stuff where in the drama. I like the books and sometimes the shows disappoints me but this one was not to bad, I just wasn’t fond of the ending in the drama. I don’t mind sad bad ending but if I read a book and it’s just too different when I see the movie I can’t handle it 😆. Thanks for sharing! 💕
Hi Ninja, does the book also write that he crushed his immortal essence? and if he does how is he resurrected? and Ah Mi mentioned that Bai Zi Qian is Human, thus he doesnt have immortal/God essence anymore? How will he be able to spend the eternity with SuSu ans AhMi? Is this noted in the book?
Su Su is the one who crushed the demon bone. Tantai Jin had became the demon god without the demon bone since it was sealed up inside Su Su’s body. Su Su took out the bone in their last battle and was able to kill him that way. So how was Tantai Jin resurrected without the demon bone? Well, he really didn’t need the demon bone to resurrect himself since he became the demon god just fine without it. The book was fairly vague how the resurrection thing came about other than there was enough of “Tantai Jin” left over in the World of Despair and that “left over” was accidentally swallowed by the tiger demon that had gained the ability to swallow souls. Again, the book left this all pretty much to our imagination but I assume the tiger demon swallowing Tantai Jin eventually allowed his soul fragments to be gathered and subsequently become strong enough to enter into the mortal world.
So the whole being “human” thing is pretty loosey goosey in these sort of novels. A god/immortal can temporarily become human for various reasons such as being hurt, being punished, their power was sealed, by spell, and etc. My guess is that since Tantai Jin sealed his powers and past memories, then very few people would be able to tell that he is not human. The story does make it pretty obvious that once Tantai Jin goes back to the demon realm with Su Su, he is back in full force as the demon god. Again, the novel doesn’t explain the whole thing but judging by how afraid the other powerful demons were of Tantai Jin in the epilogue, there is no doubt that he is still very powerful and still very much a god. One thing to remember is that Jingmie and Siying had learned the hard way that Tantai Jin is very very talented and powerful in his own right despite being without the demon bone. (Which is why he was able to accomplish what the other demon gods before him could not do.) The novel doesn’t bother to explain why…we just get to bask in our hero’s awesomeness.