Endless Grief

Heaven’s laws are merciless, yet foxfire burns through the Ninth Heaven. Nine hundred branches of apricot blossoms, ninety thousand years of delusion, all become a heart-searing blaze of karma. Xuanzhi is the highest deity in the Heavenly Realm, the “axis” that keeps the Three Realms in balance. He took form from the fundamental laws that coalesced at the creation of the world. Free of emotion and desire, he has but one duty: to descend and restore balance whenever Heaven’s laws stray. He is the embodiment of “stillness,” the end point of all things, an absolute order that must even freeze tears before they fall. Yinyuan is the purest descendant of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox clan, spirited, beautiful, and devoted. Five hundred years ago, on the summit of Kunlun, he caught a fleeting glimpse of Xuanzhi when the Celestial River spilled its waters. From then on, he fell hopelessly in love. He knows nothing of Heaven’s merciless laws. All he knows is that the lonely figure standing amid the wind and snow makes his heart ache. Yinyuan, the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, offers this most desperate confession to the cold laws of Heaven, with five hundred years of fervent love and ninety thousand years of lonely vigil: He breaks off his tail and makes it a lamp, sustaining Xuanzhi’s soul in the abyss of Beiming; He splits off a clone to form a lock, helping seal the world-devouring demon atop Kunlun; He burns away his spiritual bones to forge the Light-Tracing Mirror, hoping only to glimpse a trace of Xuanzhi’s past... He exhausts all his cultivation and years of life, wanting only to ask: Could it be that you truly don’t know? Xuanzhi’s answer is that tear deep within Heaven’s laws, suspended forever at the instant before it falls: a destructive “I can’t bear to let go” that he knew could erupt at any moment, yet still allowed to grow. When Yinyuan burns his final spiritual tail and questions Heaven with the blood of his heart, the answer is not an embrace, but Xuanzhi’s ultimate silence as he crushes the teardrop and destroys his own personality. It turns out the most painful thing is not that Heaven is merciless, but that Heaven has feelings it can never express. Nine tails burn to ash, apricot blossoms hang suspended, Heaven’s laws collapse, and tears become tribulation.