Snowlit Reckoning - Chapter 1

The Ninth Heaven. A grand banquet at the Jade Pool.

I touched the mask of human skin on my face and walked gracefully into the feast.

Raising my cup, I toasted the assembled immortals.

“Well, everyone? How are the spicy cartilage bites?”

Shang Yuan, the God of War, spoke first. “Lady Zanxue’s cooking is exquisite, of course! May I ask which spirit beast these bones came from? So crisp, so tender, and so rich in spiritual energy!”

“Indeed, indeed.” Lord Siming took another helping and swallowed a great mouthful. “In ten thousand years, I’ve never tasted anything so delicious!”

“Hahahaha…”

The immortals laughed in perfect harmony.

I laughed with them.

“They’re the Immortal Emperor’s bones.”

Shang Yuan’s chopsticks shook. “Lady Zanxue, you mustn’t joke about such things!”

“Quite so! That’s the height of disrespect!”

My bright eyes widened a little. “Who said I was joking?”

In an instant, something stripped of much of its flesh dropped out of the void, splashing blood across the floor.

The Immortal Emperor himself, barely clinging to life!

I propped my chin on my hand and watched them.

“Eat. Why has everyone stopped? Hmm? Don’t you like it? Oh, you’re next, by the way.”

I swallowed my last bite of cartilage.

Cracks spread across the skin on my face. It abruptly shattered.

Beneath the beauty’s skin was a face crisscrossed with bloody scars.

“You’re not Lady Zanxue!”

Shang Yuan was the first to recognize me.

All color drained from his face. “You… you’re that mortal… Shen Que?”

I stood, fixing the immortals with a smile that never reached my eyes.

“Everyone. It’s been a while.”

Cold sweat covered Lord Siming’s brow. His fingers moved so fast through divination gestures that they blurred, yet he still couldn’t fathom my fate.

I gently took his hand. “Be good. Stop trying.”

“Such merriment here at the Jade Pool. What a shame the mortal world is in the grip of famine. Whatever shall we do…?”

“How about this? We’ll use your immortal flesh and bones to feed the countless people freezing and starving down below. What do you all think?”

Shang Yuan drew his sword, Long Rainbow, its aura cutting through the air. “Shen Que, you’ve overstepped! A lowborn wretch like you has no right to run wild in the Ninth Heaven!”

No right to run wild?

Then that was precisely what I would do.

A sword? Was that all?

I had one too!

I stood at the very summit of the heavens and roared—

“Zhaoxue! Come!”

I am Shen Que.

Born into a family that had hunted for generations. A nobody.

I had only just come of age when the immortal realm wiped out my family.

I remember it was New Year’s Day. I was hurrying home with a little bag of copper coins from selling donkey meat. At my waist hung the Xiuyan jade hairpins I’d bought for Mother.

Xiuyan jade wasn’t worth much, but Mother could never bear to spend the money.

Humming, I walked barefoot along the bluestone paving of Wenshui Lane, my heart full of joy.

Neighbors nodded and called their greetings.

Spring willow fluff danced before my eyes.

The pair of hairpins swung at my waist, chiming together.

We had little to our name, but slaughtering our old donkey meant we could finally enjoy a decent holiday.

Yet my little sister’s smile wasn’t there to greet me.

Nor was Mother’s hot soup.

I pushed open the courtyard gate and found a man glowing all over with golden light. Dressed in sumptuous robes, he crouched in a corner, clutching a donkey hide and sobbing his heart out.

The instant he saw me, his eyes went blood-red.

“Mortal. Was it you who killed Zanxue?”

His voice boomed like a great bell. Every word shook blood from my eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

Black clouds rolled. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed.

An invisible force slammed me to the ground, pinning me so tightly I couldn’t move.

My ears rang. My sight darkened. Fine, piercing pain worked its way from flesh to bone.

It felt as though every bone and sinew in my body was snapping, inch by inch.

The richly dressed man walked slowly toward me. A hand as pale as white jade settled on the crown of my head…

Then tightened. And tightened again.

Crack… crunch…

I heard my skull breaking, horribly clear.

Sticky blood welled from my scalp, pouring down and clotting at the corners of my eyes.

I struggled to open my mouth. I wanted to ask where my parents and little sister had gone.

Blood kept surging up from my organs and clogging my throat. All I managed were a few muffled whimpers.

“There’s no point saying more. I’ve already searched your sea of consciousness. You killed that gray donkey.”

“A mere mortal, killing Lady Zanxue while she endured her tribulation below. What punishment do you deserve?”