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[Love Never Fails] [EP35]

Why aren't you off

handling the divine punishment?

Father!

Father,

I grew up in Celestial Realm,

repeating your lessons,

watching every step of mine.

Until this trial

I never truly grasped

what you,

Mother,

and Kunlun

mean to me.

Muxian

is the woman I love.

I beg you,

please approve

our marriage.

In ten‑thousand years as Monarch

I've never held a family feast.

Know why?

It softens the will.

Now,

I allowed one

this time from pity,

not indulgence.

You've been back long enough,

yet you are still

narrow‑sighted.

Blind to the bigger picture.

Do you think

the Emperor Star's trial

is to teach you

worldly romance?

No.

It shows you

the world's chaos,

and that order

and fairness

are the only constants.

Father,

all I want

is to stand beside the one I love,

never to slack off.

You are not qualified.

Sir.

I'm sorry.

Perhaps,

in His Majesty's eyes,

I'm still unfit

to be your Empress.

I'm just

the punisher now;

even so,

eyes follow you.

If I took the throne,

you would become the target of many.

If some battles can't be dodged,

let's face them together.

Will you truly stay?

Would I

be here otherwise?

Come here.

The Celestial Floralia's over.

You're the new Floral Deity.

Train harder.

Strengthen your powers.

I'll be your help.

Focus.

Only then can I

pass power into you.

But you're wounded.

I don't want you to strain.

Listen.

I cultivate faster,

and dual practice

boosts us both.

Dual practice?

They say it accelerates cultivation.

Let's do it.

Do you know...

It's born of love.

I owe you

my life,

and now I love you too.

[Why does his energy]

[feel blocked,]

[as if sealed?]

[Could this be the Soul‑Binding Litany]

[the Sage spoke of?]

[And how is it linked to that bracelet...]

Greetings, Your Majesty.

You've kept

the Withered Garden in fine order.

Just doing my job.

Do you know,

in Celestial Realm,

everything must

be flawless?

So why leave

a Withered Garden?

Trials are harsh,

ascension harsher.

I thought

it spared broken flowers

a last breath.

Broken is broken.

No life left to save.

I kept this garden

as a warning.

A reminder to myself.

Show mercy,

and all becomes ruin.

I

never knew

this garden's story.

Of course you didn't.

No one does.

Ten thousand

years ago,

it became like this.

It was once a fairy's home,

a remarkable one.

Now

even her name

is forgotten.

[Could this]

[link to Jinxiu?]

If I may,

where is

she now?

Dead.

Sacrificed for the three realms

to end

an unforgivable mistake.

Your Majesty,

what's this?

Well,

I chose once ten millenniums ago;

I won't let

that error return.

I don't understand.

Camellia pixie!

So you knew it all along.

He prizes you

above life.

Of course I knew.

I forged Jinxiu for ages,

yet

he's still soft.

He's a total disappointment.

Today proves you can't stay.

Let this garden

be your grave.

Consider it my mercy

to you both.

You want to kill me.

What mercy is that?

You preach order

and justice.

This life,

I rose by merit.

Why kill me?

You shattered Celestial Realm's order.

That's

reason enough.

It was you!

You cast Soul‑Binding Litany on Jinxiu,

and Soul-locking Bracelet on me, through him.

You hurt your own son!

He is not my son!

If he weren't the Emperor Star,

he'd be ash

in Kylin Lair!

Jinxiu,

Stay away from him!

Jinxiu!

Don't go.

He's lying.

He's hurting you.

Everything he does

is an act.

Father!

Father!

Why stand by?

Seize her!

Kunlun!

Kunlun, move!

Hongning!

This is the woman

you long to marry?

All of this

began with you!

Kill me, then.

It all

started with me.

Silence.

She snuck in and attacked the Monarch.

Her sin is unforgivable.

By my decree,

hand this camellia pixie

to the Punisher:

rip out her core,

smash her soul.

Mother,

let's take Father back

for treatment first.

No.

I'll watch the Celestial Commander

punish this fiend myself.

What are you waiting for?

If you won't kill her,

I'll bury Floralia Palace

with her!

Sir,

can't swing the blade?

I

slayed your father.

Do it.

Why?

Why did you do it?

If you hate me,

kill me.

Sir,

from now on,

we owe each other nothing.

Are you deaf?

Kill her!

Now!

[Sir,]

[farewell.]

Brother,

do you even grasp

the price of letting her go?

This isn't

just a lightning sentence.

Keep shielding her

and you'll lose

your own life.

If I don't protect her,

no one

will.

She locked her own heart

for her evil purpose.

How can you still not see it?

She'd never

put on a Heart Seal by choice.

She must have a reason.

Reason?

What reason could she have?

She's a camellia pixie

with nerves of steel.

What can't she do?

You saw it.

She hurt Father with demonic energy.

What else is she hiding?

Without the forbidden spell you cast

to descend her,

you wouldn't even see that seal.

Brother,

she's not the Hongning we knew.

She's using you.

That's not who she is.

Fine.

Then tell me this:

how the seal

pierced her heart

if it wasn't her doing?

If she truly loves you,

why not stand

beside you openly?

Why use

a seal to get close to you?

Don't tell me

you felt nothing.

I know exactly

who Hongning is,

and so do you.

Sir Kunlun,

His Majesty was already

drained from seclusion.

Demon King's power tore his core.

We're patching his spirit,

but that's only a stopgap.

How bad?

Let me have a look.

No need to see, Mother.

You're shaken enough.

No need for more shock.

Hongning's strike

shattered Father's core.

Only his millennium body

keeps him alive.

The healers

flooded him with power.

He's stable for now.

How could that wretch

wield such force?

She absorbed vast demon energy

back in State Wuzhang.

So you knew she was Hongning all along?

Your brother's

bewitched,

and you let it happen!

What were you thinking?

What should we do now?

I've frozen

Father's body,

but her power

keeps gnawing

at his spirit.

If it breaks through...

he'll be gone.

You're saying

he could vanish at any moment?

Yes.

He would never imagine,

all his pride,

and his obsession with divine law,

were ended up

by a camellia pixie.

Where is Jinxiu?

My brother

knelt for punishment the moment

you and Father came back.

You still call him brother?

Think a

half‑hearted scolding

fixes his sin?

Ridiculous!

Is Father holding on?

For now, the healer's holding his spirit.

But her power

keeps attacking

his spirit.

If his spirit gives way,

I'm afraid...

I've let everyone down, haven't I?

Brother,

you've always been our pride.

To me,

you'll always be.

Whatever trouble I stir,

you carry me through.

If I hadn't

dragged Hongning up here,

none of this

would have happened.

Brother,

do you remember

when we were kids

and I

nearly died?

How could I not remember?

The Demotion Pool. I took you there.

You recall taking me,

forget I

begged for days

before you agreed.

Kunlun.

Kunlun.

You promised,

no mischief.

Relax!

Live a little.

Isn't that exhausting?

You said just to look,

not to go in.

It's too dangerous.

Come back!

Father's off at Kylin Lair.

He won't be back soon.

So why not have a little fun?

How about this:

catch me

if you want me home.

Kunlun!

Kunlun!

It's too dangerous!

Scare tactics again?

It's just a pool.

Do you know, that pool

strips all power.

Fall in

and you're dust.

Brother,

what would you do

if I had fallen?

What could I do?

I'd have jumped in after you.

And if you fell too,

I'll dive after you.

Think of how sad

Father and Mother would be

if we both vanished.

Brother.

Brother.

Listen, Kunlun,

we both should stay safe...

[You're always]

[ready to]

[risk your life]

for others,

yet now you shut

everyone out

when it's you in danger.

Celestial Realm's duty rests on me.

That's how it must be.

And that

lone‑wolf act

is what landed us here.

Everything Hongning did

were her own choices.

This was

all set in motion,

a trap

from the start.

She drew close to you,

won your trust,

and returned to Celestial Realm with you.

It was all her scheme.

Brother,

it's never your fault.

If you erred at all,

it was

your love to her

blinded you.

Her hate

began with me.

If I'd noticed sooner,

explained to her

and begged forgiveness...

Please,

don't flog yourself.

If that's true,

I'm guilty too.

I knew she was Hongning

and kept quiet.

None of this

is on you.

Brother.

Kunlun,

Mother always

favored you.

That's why

you acted

carefree and uninhibited,

but really,

you did it for me.

So I could be the heir.

In truth, your skills

and your power

are no less than mine.

I know it.

You'd make

a better Monarch.

Do you

hear yourself?

Promise me

you'll look after Father

and Mother.

Celestial Realm's future

is yours now.

Sir.

Sir.

Sir!

Mother.

You've got some nerve.

Mother,

Father's life hangs by a thread.

I'm worried about him.

I know

it's all because of me.

It's too late now

and I'm ready to trade my divine bones

for his safety.

What did you say?

Father's spirit

is corrupted

by demonic force.

This method may not work

but it will save his life.

Trade away your divine bones,

and you'll be no different from a mortal.

Do that,

and you'll lose your god power,

even the right to inherit the throne.

My sins

stripped me of that right already.

I know

this all began

because of me.

But as his son,

I owe him my duty.

I can't think of

any other way.

Afterward

I'll exile

myself below.

Please let me.

Mother,

another peony bloom

opened on my true form.

Would you like to see?

Celestial Commander's true form

naturally has

81 golden blooms.

This one bloomed so soon after the last.

We just admired the last one.

I'll pass this time.

Okay.

Rest well, Mother.

Your Majesty,

Sir Kunlun

has mastered puppet magic.

Truly?

Take me to him.

Mother.

Wait here.

When I return,

we'll view the new bloom together.

Yes, Mother.

Right now,

giving Father my divine bones

is the only cure.

Mother, you know me.

So please indulge me this time,

just this once.

Mother,

you're back.

Why are you still here?

You said

you'd see Kunlun first,

then my new peony bloom,

so I waited.

You're from the Flora Clan.

Blooming is normal.

Must I come

every time one of your

81 petals opens?

Mother,

this gold petal

is different.

It's just 81 petals.

Different how?

Mother,

it opened

while I pictured

your face.

A peony is a peony.

What's it to me?

Rise.

Not unless

you agree.

In ten thousand years

I've asked you for nothing else.

Please, Mother.

Get up.

You said

you never asked me for anything.

But you're wrong.

At 500,

when your first golden bloom appeared,

you begged me.

Yes,

yet

you never came.

Jinxiu,

I always favored Kunlun

and was strict with you.

I tried to control it,

but it wasn't hidden.

Have you ever

wondered why?

Because I'm the elder son,

I bear expectations.

So Mother disciplined me strictly.

Do you really

believe that?

I

have to.

If you're displeased,

I must try harder.

So, since I was little,

I've always

worked harder

than Kunlun.

I thought

if I excelled at everything...

perhaps

you'd love me just a bit more.

You've never fallen short.

You did better than Father,

Kunlun,

any god

of your age.

But it changes nothing.

No matter how hard

you try,

it won't lessen

my hatred for you.

Jinxiu,

you know,

I hate you.

The more you try,

the more I'm torn.

You are so innocent,

yet I despise you.

You bear

this coldness

because...

you're not

my flesh and blood.

You've sensed it,

haven't you?

Whatever my birth,

I owe you ten millennia of care.

I

cannot forget that.

Today,

I proved your

thousand-year doubt.

I should've known.

Your refusal to fight

wasn't virtue.

It was fear of the truth.

Fine,

I consent your request.

Thank you, Mother.

No thanks needed.

I agreed

for one reason:

to dispel you from Celestial Realm.

Mother,

I have one more favor to ask.

Speak.

Please,

spare Hongning's life.

You heard all that?

You don't look surprised.

Though I'm unremarkable,

but we're close.

I sensed it.

You're good at hiding it.

Mother,

we may not share the same blood,

but we've been brothers for so long.

That bond is real.

Please, don't do this to him.

What,

you think

I'm cruel to him?

If I said no,

you'd know I'm lying.

Everything you did was for me.

Mother, you may well ask me:

in all three realms,

who has least right to call you cruel?

The answer, of course, is me.

Yet, Mother,

have you ever considered my feelings?

Did you ever ask me

whether any of this is what I wanted?

Well,

too late for that.

If you hadn't feigned ignorance,

and taken

responsibility sooner,

none of this

would've happened.

Now,

words are useless.

Since everything is beyond saving,

as the Celestial Realm's Punisher,

carve out Jinxiu's divine bones.

What?

Afterall,

you're his brother.

Ease the pain

if you can.

It may be

all you have left to give.

The decision is yours.