"A new Shen Lin was born."
"Returning to Mortality, Qi Yuan... Returning to Mortality succeeded."
"Is everything over?"
"No, why haven't I dissolved yet?"
Qi Yuan had thought that once all the blood returned to his true self, and he could no longer perceive the world in his stead, it would be the moment his True Spirit completely perished.
But...he didn't die.
He was still alive.
"It is... the new Shen Lin, still sensing this world in my place," Qi Yuan realized something.
And at that moment, a voice resonated in Qi Yuan's mind.
"Great Dao is fifty, heaven evolves forty-nine, all that is imperfect, simply escapes one.
I shall bestow upon it... a branch of spring."
"Spring?"
"Chun!"
"So, the missing character on the stele at Sunset Cliff is 'spring'!"
"She gave spring to me!"
"The correct phrase is..."
"In ancient times, there stood a Qichun, silently rooted in profound Chaos. Now I long for her as a tree longs for spring. Oh so subtly, do not seek her."