Or perhaps the beginning of everything was chaos, and the end of everything will return to chaos.

His soul felt frozen, every thought slow, difficult, and heavy.

Jiang Wang had forgotten many things.

Gradually, he couldn’t remember where he was, why he was there, or where he was going.

His heart was heavy. He wanted to slow down, slow down even more… wanted to fall asleep.

He was already very tired. He was like a tightly strung bow, never relaxed for a moment.

He couldn’t hold on any longer.

He wanted to collapse, to not care about anything, just collapse.

But for some reason, there was always a faint resistance in his heart.

What am I resisting?

He thought with great effort.

“Brother, are we going home?”

“We don’t have a home anymore.”

“Then what about Brother Ru Cheng, Brother Ling He, Brother A Zhan, Junior Brother Tang Dun, Teacher… do they still have one?”

“Brother doesn’t know. Maybe they escaped too, just not in the same direction as us.”

“Oh. Then we can go find them.”

“The world is too big. Once we get separated, we might never find each other again.”

“Then when I grow up, I’ll go with you to find them.”

“…Okay.”

“Brother?”

“Brother is here.”

Brother is here.

Brother will take you to find them.

If his divine soul was already pitch black, then in the deepest part of his divine soul, there was a flickering flame, murmuring softly.

The fire was tiny.

“Brother is here.”

“Brother will take you.”

The fire flickered, struggled, and teetered.

As if it could be extinguished at any moment, yet amazingly, it continued to burn.

This was the initial spark.

An iron will, an unwavering persistence.

With no one in front and nothing behind, supporting himself, he continued to burn, teetering but not falling.

Burning, burning…

“If it weren’t for Master Jiang, how would we survive?”

“We will never forget Master Jiang’s great kindness.”

“Please, heavens, let Young Master Jiang stay in Green Ram Town forever.”

“Daoist Venerable above, this believer prays for Master Jiang, wishing him longevity and eternal happiness.”

Voices came from somewhere, echoing in this world.

Or perhaps they had always been there, but only in the mirrored world of the Rouge Mirror did they become so clear.

The titles varied, but they all reached Jiang Wang’s ears.

A child’s voice prayed like this—

“Jiang Bodhisattva, I wish you good health.” (1)

At first, this world was pitch black, and then there was fire, and then there was light.

Fire is the beginning of life.

Humans use fire to cook food, drive away the cold, and light up the night.

Countless wishes are countless lights.

The flame deep within Jiang Wang’s divine soul seemed to be slowly growing stronger, finally no longer on the verge of being extinguished.

An’an, An’an.

Jiang Wang’s thoughts began to turn with difficulty.

Gradually, his five senses recovered.

Finally, a voice sounded in his heart—

“The master of the Blessed Land Spring Source Cave has confirmed the challenge. Do you accept the challenge?”

Jiang Wang suddenly understood that it was already the fifteenth of July, and it was time for the Blessed Land challenge in the Mirage of the Grand Void again.

The speed of a thought is faster than sound or lightning.

However, Jiang Wang exerted himself to the utmost to finally turn this thought: “Accept the challenge!”

The cold and ubiquitous power of the Taiyin stars instantly enveloped him, and his divine soul was directly brought into the Mirage of the Grand Void, appearing before his opponent in this Blessed Land challenge.

His divine soul relaxed!

All the cold, stiffness, slowness, and numbness disappeared.

Only after losing it did he realize how free and wonderful the original state of his divine soul was!

Jiang Wang didn’t even have time to see his opponent clearly, only hastily said, “Thank you!”

Then he directly conceded defeat and left the Mirage of the Grand Void, leaving his opponent there with a look of astonishment.

His divine soul, restored to its full state, reappeared in the snowy world of the Rouge Mirror. The nine simulated stellar river Dao whirls within his divine soul rotated together, as if endless power began to surge.

Jiang Wang opened his eyes and soared from beneath the thick snow!

He saw only white snow under his feet and a clear blue sky—the snow had stopped!

The Snowstorm Calamity dissipated.

The voice as cold as a frost blade seemed to sigh.

The beauty did not age.

Starting from where Jiang Wang stood, the white snow gradually receded, the frozen soil thawed, the spring breeze arose, green grass sprouted, joyfully swaying.

With a turn of his divine soul, Jiang Wang returned to his physical body in reality.

Without having time to adapt to his body, which had been stiff for so long, he fell into a daze.

Something lost, something gained.

From the end of June to the fifteenth of July, he had endured the Snowstorm Calamity for a full twenty days!

Twenty days and nights.

If not for his astonishing perseverance and determination, with his current strength, his divine soul fire would have been extinguished in the Snowstorm Calamity long ago.

If not for the tens of thousands of people in the entire Green Ram Town area, their thoughts and intentions, the direction of the people’s will, those points of light that could be called “blessings” or “merit,” nourishing and supporting his divine soul, he would not have been able to persevere for so long.

Finally, he waited for the Blessed Land challenge day of the Mirage of the Grand Void, waiting for the mysterious and unpredictable Mirage of the Grand Void to issue an invitation to meet the challenge.

Every sip and every peck are what is done, what is gained, what is sought, and what is the result.

Jiang Wang was lost in thought for a while before he began to circulate his body.

Fortunately, the nine stellar river Dao whirls were still rotating, and the Entangling Spirit Snake had not rested. And what he was most concerned about, the Nether Candle, had obediently stayed in place during this time, without moving.

Jiang Wang instantly regained control of his body, stepped out of bed, his bones making a cracking sound. By the second step, his body had already adapted.

He kicked open the door and entered.

Seeing Jiang Wang standing in front of the bed, he only blinked his dead fish eyes and said indifferently, “Still alive, huh?”

Then he turned and left.

The sharp sword energy that erupted the moment the door was kicked open startled Jiang Wang. He had always had high expectations for Xiang Qian, but now he realized that he had underestimated this person.

He twisted his neck and grinned, “My destination isn’t here.”

Du Gu Xiao, Zhu Biqiong, and Zhang Hai came to greet him one after another after learning that Jiang Wang had awakened. Jiang Wang spoke with them, roughly understanding what had happened in the town during this time, and then locked himself in his room again.

Since the Snowstorm Calamity was a test, then there must be a reward after the test.

However, the Rouge Mirror did not give any hints, so Jiang Wang could only explore on his own.

He entered the Rouge Mirror again with his physical body and found that the space in the mirrored world had indeed become larger, becoming a circle with a radius of five steps. Outside the circle was still a white, misty area that could not be crossed, while within the circle, he could move freely.

The range that the Rouge Mirror could probe had also expanded to the limit of five li. The mirror images created by the Rouge Mirror could also appear within this range.

Obviously, the range of the Rouge Mirror’s probe was directly related to the space occupied by the physical body in the mirrored world. Approximately one step was one li.

He expected that entering the Rouge Mirror with his divine soul would also be different—but he didn’t dare to try again, fearing that he would be met with another calamity.

This is the importance of high-ranking teachers. They can guide the correct direction on the path of cultivation, and the taboos and dangers of some magical artifacts will also be told to the disciples, greatly reducing the risk of cultivators killing themselves by groping around blindly.

But it’s useless to talk about these things now.

Jiang Wang had not forgotten the original purpose of entering the mirrored world of the Rouge Mirror.

The effect of the Rouge Mirror had become stronger, but the result seemed unchanged, still seemingly to no avail.

But Jiang Wang always felt that the changes brought about by the Snowstorm Calamity were not so simple.

Or rather, the harvest after the Snowstorm Calamity was not only in the Rouge Mirror.

So.

He examined himself.

After spending twenty days in the real world, and an immeasurable amount of time in the snowy world of the Rouge Mirror, what did the Snowstorm Calamity bring him?

Note (1): The original sentence comes from the modern poem “First Prayer,” “Bodhisattva, I wish you good health.”