Chapter 20 — The Verse That Ends Heaven (Part I)
The dawn after creation was unlike any that had come before.
No sun rose, yet light touched everything — soft, endless, and forgiving. The heavens were no longer golden, nor the void black. They met at the horizon in a color the world had never known — silver memory.
At its center floated the Codex, now whole — its cover neither open nor closed, resting quietly between breaths. Words rippled across its surface like water touched by the wind, and from them, the voice of creation whispered:
"The Thirteenth Verse has been written. The world remembers."
Below, where the divine plains once burned, life began anew. The mountains that had been shattered grew again, covered in green. Rivers reformed, and stars reflected in their calm waters. The sky was empty of gods — and yet it was more alive than ever.
High above, where time still hesitated to move forward, Li Shen drifted. His body was no longer torn by battle or cursed by shadow. He was quiet, peaceful, his eyes closed.
For the first time in centuries, his face bore no pain.
He felt the warmth of light on his skin, though it came from nowhere. He felt the softness of wind, though there was no air. And faintly, in the distance, he heard laughter — the kind that echoed from a thousand lifetimes ago.
"You've done enough, Li Shen."
He opened his eyes.
Standing before him was Mei Lian, her figure radiant and gentle. The threads of her being were woven into the new dawn itself — she was neither ghost nor goddess now, but memory given life.
"You can rest," she said.
Li Shen looked down at his hands — they were fading, the last traces of script vanishing from his skin. "And what will become of the Codex?"
"It will remain," she answered. "But without command, without curse. A record of what was, for those who come after."
"And Rui?"
"Reborn," she smiled. "As are you."
Li Shen frowned slightly, a faint ache in his chest. "Will I remember any of this?"
Mei Lian stepped closer, her hand touching his heart. "Not in words. But in feeling. The world you rewrote carries your memory in every heartbeat."
The space around them shimmered. The light began to bend, curling downward, forming the shape of a mortal world — forests, rivers, mountains, and a small village nestled between them.
Mei Lian looked toward it, her voice soft. "It's time."
He turned to her. "Will I see you again?"
She smiled sadly. "In every dawn."
The light embraced him — and Li Shen fell, not in sorrow, but in peace.
As he descended, the Codex turned one last page on its own.
"Thus the scribe's tale ends not with silence, but with the breath of a new life."
Chapter 20 — The Verse That Ends Heaven (Part II — Finale)
The rain fell softly over the village of Qinghe, its scent of earth and mist drifting through narrow streets.
A young man stirred awake beneath an apricot tree. His clothes were simple, his hands calloused — a worker's, not a warrior's. The morning sun brushed against his face, and he blinked into the light as if seeing it for the first time.
He didn't know why the sunrise felt familiar. He only knew it was beautiful.
"Li!" a voice called from the path. A girl waved from the distance — a bright smile, her eyes full of mischief. "You're late again! The master's waiting for us at the scroll shop!"
He laughed softly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was dreaming," he said.
"What kind of dream?" she teased.
He hesitated, staring at the horizon where the light met the mist. "It felt like… the world was ending. And beginning again."
The girl tilted her head. "That's a strange dream."
"Maybe," he smiled, "but it felt right."
They walked together through the village, past merchants setting up stalls and children chasing each other in the street. The world was ordinary — gloriously, perfectly ordinary.
Yet, as they passed an old shrine at the edge of town, Li paused.Carved into its stone was a single symbol — one he couldn't read, yet felt deep in his soul. A verse.
When Heaven forgets, and Void remembers…
He reached out to touch it. For an instant, the world seemed to shimmer — as if the air itself recognized him.
Then it passed.
The girl tugged his sleeve. "Come on, dreamer. The day's already half gone."
He smiled and followed.
Above them, unseen in the clouds, a single book drifted on the wind — pages blank, waiting. The Void Codex no longer commanded gods nor cursed men. It merely listened.
And when the breeze brushed through its cover, a faint whisper could be heard:
"There was no Heaven. There was no Void. Only memory — and the man who chose to remember."
The book closed.
The light of the new world rose fully over Qinghe.
And somewhere in that light, Li Shen — reborn, unknowing, but free — smiled.
End of Void CodexBy Peerless Moon