Chapter 77

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Chapter 77: Death

The person on the bed had stopped breathing long ago, and her already thin face was now tinted with a pale blue.

The only sound that could be heard in the room was Luo Jinsang's suppressed sobbing. But the one who should be most upset stood still and motionless.

Kongming looked at Changyi's back. He did not dare to touch him, so he only whispered near his ear, "We should arrange a suitable time for the burial."

"What burial?!" Luo Jinsang turned her head and glared at the monk. "I don't believe it! I don't believe it! There must be some way! There has to be a way! Isn't Lin Haoqing here? This must be her poison from the Demon Valley! I'll go ask him for the antidote!"

With that, she immediately stood up and ran for the door.

The monk frowned and grabbed Luo Jinsang by the arm. "I have been treating her for many days, the poison is gone! She has exhausted her body..."

"No!" Luo Jinsang pulled loose from Kongming's hand. "No! There must still be ways to help!" She pushed him away and ran out.

Kongming wanted to go chase her back, but then he saw the motionless Changyi standing to the side. This was the Demon Terrace, Luo Jinsang could make some noise, but she would not cause too much trouble. However, this fish...

His calmness was too abnormal.

"Changyi," Kongming called him. "Death is inevitable..."

He did not respond.

"Changyi..." Kongming finally touched him on the shoulder.

The touch pulled Changyi back to his senses, and he turned his head to the monk. Only then did Kongming see that Changyi's pale face was worse than the dead Ji Yunhe on the bed.

He looked numb, and his ice blue eyes now appeared gray and lifeless. Kongming had seen him like this only once before, six years ago. It was right after he saved him from the river rapids, and when he first opened his eyes.

Like an abandoned child, helpless and lost.

Kongming did not know what to say. Words of comfort would not do anything, and telling him to face reality would be too cruel. The monk twitched his mouth for a while then ended it with a sigh.

Since Kongming did not say anything, Changyi turned and walked to Ji Yunhe.

He sat down and looked at her. Suddenly a blue light flashed inside his chest. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

He was trying to give her his jiaozhu again.

But Ji Yunhe had no breath. She was lifeless and no different from the curtains, sheets, or the pillow under her head. The jiaozhu could not enter her body and remained hovering in his chest.

Just like him.

Could neither move forward or back, could not hold on or let go.

The blue glow lit up the entire room. His long silver hair hung over Ji Yunhe's ear, and two pairs of cool lips no longer warmed one another.

Changyi closed his eyes. He refused to give up.

He opened her mouth and forced the jiaozhu inside, but it did not go beyond her lips no matter how hard he tried.

So he kept trying.

The jiaozhu emitted an azure glow between their lips, casting a sea of blue across the room. It looked like he had taken her back into the ocean -- his home world.

Kongming watched for a long time. Finally, he could not take it anymore and pulled Changyi up.

The jiaozhu once again returned to his chest and disappeared.

"Ji Yunhe is dead," the monk said.

Changyi lowered his head and his face fell behind his long silver hair. "She is lying."

"She's not breathing."

"She must be lying to me," Changyi spoke to himself as if he did not hear anything Kongming was saying. "In the past, she tried to trick me into serving Shunde so she could be free. Now, she's faking her death to get away from me."

Kongming was silent.

"She didn't want to be trapped, she didn't want to stay here, she wanted to leave…"

Plop. A clear, crisp sound was heard inside the room. Kongming did not care at first, until he heard another plop. A pearl fell from Ji Yunhe's bedside, rolled onto the floor, and stopped at the monk's feet.

According to legend, jiaoren wept tears that turned into pearls...

Six years had passed since Kongming rescued Changyi. They went through mountains of swords and lakes of fire together, and had been in the most desperate of situations. No matter how much they suffered or how much blood they shed, he had never seen the corner of Changyi's eyes moist for even a second.

He thought tears of pearls were nonsense, just imaginary wonders that humans attributed to this mysterious race. Jiaoren simply did not have any tears to shed.

But now...

Kongming looked at the silver hair concealing his face. "Changyi, this is both her wish and God's will. You should also let go."

"Let go?"

The pearls fell one by one, but his voice remained calm.

"I told her earlier that if she promises to never betray me again, I will believe her. The truth is… whether she says it or not, I still believe her," he said. "I've already let go of everything in the past, the only thing I cannot let go of..."

He clutched Ji Yunhe's hand and trembled.

He did not care about her betrayal anymore. Imprisoning Ji Yunhe was never about revenge or punishment. He was just afraid of losing her.

She was the only thing he could not let go of...

But he still failed...

No matter how isolated this island was, how much he sealed the room, how carefully he watched over everything, he still could not hold on to her...

After a long silence, Changyi finally spoke again.

"She is free now..."

As free as the northern wind, wild and unrestrained.

...

Luo Jinsang frantically ran to the dungeon where Lin Haoqing was being imprisoned. In her rush, she forgot to go invisible and headed straight for the door. The doorkeeper yelled a couple of times then followed her in.

"Miss Luo! Miss Luo! What order did you receive? You should tell us!"

Luo Jinsang did not look back and ran to the deepest part of the dungeon.

It was damp and the ground was icy, Luo Jinsang lost her footing multiple times. She balanced herself against the cell door and shouted, "Give me the antidote!"

Inside the cell, a man in white and blue clothing turned his head slightly and looked at Luo Jinsang. He had been imprisoned for several days, but was still calm and collected. "What antidote?"

"The antidote for Yunhe! The old Valley Master poisoned her! And now she's dying..." she said in a panic.

The man stood up.

"What did you say?"

"Yunhe... Ji Yunhe, she died..."

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