Chapter 76

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Chapter 76: Returned

Ji Yunhe felt like she was being held by someone dashing wildly through the snowstorm.

Heavy breaths filled her ears.

When she finally came to a stop, the world fell into discord. She could hear everything, but nothing was audible, and they came intermittently. Sometimes it was Luo Jinsang crying, other times the monk cursing. Then she heard Qing Ji comforting Luo Jinsang.

Oh yeah... Qing Ji...

She still had something to tell her.

Ji Yunhe tried to open her eyes, but other than a bright white haze, she could not see anything. She parted her lips and desperately murmured the things she saw in her dreams, not caring if Qing Ji was there to hear it.

While she tried to talk, a brush of cool air swept over her body and took away some pain, giving her the strength to voice out, "Qing Ji... Ning Ruochu, Ten Square Formation... was killed by the Grand Master..."

Ji Yunhe repeatedly spoke these broken words.

The wind wrapping around her grew stronger, now allowing Ji Yunhe to open her eyes.

She saw Luo Jinsang sitting next to her bed with red puffy eyes, and Qing Ji standing next to her with a solemn face. She did not see Changyi or Kongming… but it was fine.

The wind suddenly swirled up with so much force even the bed curtains flew. Luo Jinsang was shocked. "Yunhe... what is happening... "

Ji Yunhe did not have the time or the energy to explain. Her body was now pulled into the air by the wind.

"Qing Ji, what's wrong with Yunhe?"

Qing Ji also looked at Ji Yunhe with confusion, unable to give Luo Jinsang an answer.

Ji Yunhe's lips moved on their own, free from her control, "Ning Ruochu did not lie to you."

This confused Luo Jinsang even more, while it left Qing Ji completely stunned.

Ning Xiyu, the woman in white, had borrowed the power of the wind and took control of Ji Yunhe's body.

She continued to speak, "He intended on entering the formation to be with you, but the Grand Master deceived him. The Ten Square Formation killed him. It was the Grand Master who killed him."

"Yunhe, what are you talking about…?" Luo Jinsang asked nervously. "Why are you..."

Qing Ji stared at Ji Yunhe for what felt like an eternity. "I know what she is talking about." She turned to leave, bumping into Changyi's shoulder.

The two of them brushed past each other. Qing Ji did not stop and headed straight for the exit, her face dark and gloomy. And Changyi did not even bother to take a look. He did not care who bumped into his shoulder, or where anyone was.

He only had eyes for Ji Yunhe.

His lips were a bit pale, and his silver hair was a bit of a mess. He walked to Ji Yunhe's side and looked at the strange disturbance surrounding her.

With Qing Ji's departure, the wind began to dissipate.

Ji Yunhe slowly fell back onto the bed. The corner of her eyes caught a glimpse of him.

She saw his lips open and close, tremble several times, but ultimately not say anything.

What did he want to say? Ji Yunhe wanted to ask him.

But the wind that gave her the strength to talk had now completely disappeared.

Ji Yunhe knew she would disappear soon as well... Her eyes blinked, burning the last image she could see of this world into her dark pupils.

There was a bit of the sky outside the window, Luo Jinsang's crying face, the room she had grown tired of looking at, and... Changyi.

His silver hair and blue eyes.

A pity that she could no longer see his stunningly beautiful tail.

Her eyelids slowly fell, isolating her from the last bit of contact in this human world.

All the sights disappeared, all the sounds receded, and Ji Yunhe's last strand of consciousness, in the midst of the darkness, gave her a final image. It was the day when Changyi took her away from the Grand Master's prison. He carried her in his arm, flew over a thousand hills, ten thousand layers of clouds, and landed on the top of a mountain.

The sun was about to rise, and Changyi held her against a boulder.

It was the first time in six years they were alone together, looking directly into each other's eyes.

And that was what Ji Yunhe saw in the final moment of her life.

Why?

Ji Yunhe did not understand it.

She looked at Changyi, seeing him, and also seeing herself inside his eyes. The sun rose up behind him and he turned into a black silhouette, but the sea-like eyes still clearly reflected her face.

As if looking into a mirror, Ji Yunhe saw herself shed a tear.

The tear was crystal clear, and she once again felt a burning heartache.

"Big-tailed fish," she said to him, "I never betrayed you."

She said it.

The hidden regret she had buried deep inside was now expressing itself at the very end of her life.

Ji Yunhe finally realized why she never told Changyi the truth. She lied all over the place about the greater good, deceiving both the monk and herself.

But the real reason was... she was selfish, and afraid.

She was afraid that he would not forgive her even if she told him the truth. She was even more afraid of what she had done might have been a mistake from the beginning. That it was wrong for her to make the choice for him, wrong to plan with Lin Haoqing and drive him away, and wrong to stab him on that cliff and break his heart...

She was most afraid of Changyi blaming her for what he had become...

She shattered a heart that was innocent and pure, and disfigured a gentle, kind spirit into something completely different. It was a huge mistake.

So she did not say anything. Did not want to, and did not dare to.

And that was why she was seeing this right now, and hearing herself say it.

I never betrayed you.

But it did not matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore. When people died, they died. She would take everything with her and fade away.

Ji Yunhe watched as the sun grew brighter and hotter, until all of her surroundings turned white and Changyi disappeared. She looked up at the empty sky and closed her eyes. She had spent her entire life fighting for freedom and survival, struggling and wandering, now, she was finally… at peace.

Ji Yunhe died.

A matter of course. But when Changyi watched Ji Yunhe close her eyes, close her lips, and breath out her last breath, he suddenly felt a stabbing pain. First like a frozen spear, then a burning hot iron, it pierced through him from inside and stopped at the heart.

Thump thump...

He had never heard his heartbeat so clearly.

Thump thump...

Ji Yunhe was dead.

That was a fact.

His jiaozhu floated out of her lifeless body carrying her residual warmth, and disappeared inside him.

At that moment, Changyi felt as if...

… he also died.

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