“Who is my father…?” he thought. As he gazed off into the sky, his mood sank. “Is he still alive in the world? Does he know that his image still exists in my thoughts, in my memories?”
Submerged as he was in this sea of bitterness, Meng Hao produced a flagon of alcohol from his bag of holding. He lifted it to his lips and took a long drink.
“Dad. Mom. Do you know that I’m already starting to forget what you look like…? It’s been too many years. The image of your faces is starting to fade away.
“I don’t want it to be that way. It’s just what happens when time passes. Sometimes I want to hold on to those images, but I can’t…. I really envy Ke Jiusi….” Meng Hao took another long drink of alcohol. It burned as it slid down his throat and into his anxiety.
Meng Hao rarely slipped into a mood such as this. Starting the year his father and mother went missing, he’d had no choice but to learn to be independent and strong. In this moment, though, because of Xu Qing, he had started thinking of the past. The memories of the Southern Domain, of Mount Daqing, and the relationship between Ke Jiusi and Ke Yunhai, all struck a chord within him. He couldn’t help but think of Yunjie County, his happy childhood, and of his parents.
He suddenly felt as if he understood this tyrannical silkpants, Ke Jiusi. If Ke Jiusi really was still alive, then perhaps after all the tens of thousands of years, this dead ancient Demon Immortal Sect was the only place where he truly existed.
He had never left. He was here to protect the Sect, to protect the Fourth Peak. Year after year, for an eternity, he was here to protect that Pure Land which existed in his heart.
Most likely, the people around Meng Hao in the Demon Immortal Sect would never be able to imagine what Ke Jiusi would be like tens of thousands of years later.
“He saw his father die. He watched his Sect become desolate. He looked on as his friends perished. In the end, he bore witness to the absolute destruction of the Sect.
“If I were him, what would I do…?” Thoughtfully, Meng Hao took another long drink. Evening was falling. An entire day had slipped by while Meng Hao wallowed in his emotions.
“Ke Jiusi sent me back here, to the era in which his father was dying. I think I understand… what he wants me to do.” A look of enlightenment filled his eyes. He was just raising the alcohol flagon to take another drink when suddenly, a hand reached out from behind him to grasp his wrist lightly.
As he turned his head, he felt someone embracing him tightly from behind. It felt just like the embrace from back by the Rebirth Cave, that embrace which was filled with the fear of loss.
A smile broke out on Meng Hao’s face. He didn’t speak, but rather, allowed the beautiful woman behind him to embrace him. She pressed up against his back, as if she were trying to hear his heart beating.
It was as if the only way she could prove that everything that was happening was real… was to hear his heart beating. Perhaps everything around them was a dream, but within that dream, the two of them had each other.
I thought that when I saw you, I would have the world. I didn’t know that within your dreams, you already had me.
It was evening, and soft, orange light shone down onto the Fourth Peak, creating dark shadows on the opposite side of the mountain. Within those dark shadows were two people, embracing each other.
They seemed to wish that time could stop forever. Their longing, their promise, were no longer like sand floating in the wind.
A long time passed. Soon, the sky was dark. Meng Hao looked at the woman in front of him. The features he saw were different from Xu Qing’s, but the soul was the same ever.
“You’re awake,” he said.
Because her soul was different, her facial features suddenly seemed to change a bit. She grew colder, less timid and nervous. She grew more simple. Less a stranger.
She was Xu Qing.
She was not intelligent like Han Bei. She was not incredibly beautiful like Chu Yuyan. She was Xu Qing. Simple and cold, like her heart. When she loved someone, she didn’t need a reason. She only needed to know that somehow, that person was part of her.
She wore the robe of an Outer Sect disciple and had long, beautiful hair. Her features were delicate, and although they couldn’t be described as immaculately beautiful, they caused Meng Hao to think of that one person who was always in his heart… Elder Sister Xu.