She grabbed it and crushed it, transforming it into a black powder that she sprinkled over Meng Hao’s body.
At the same time, she performed an incantation gesture. Her eyes filled with a look of reminiscence as she recalled beautiful memories. After a long moment of silence, she pushed two fingers down onto the forehead of Meng Hao’s stiff, withered corpse.
As soon as her fingers touched his forehead, his previously unmoving body suddenly spasmed. In the same moment, the woman began to slowly wither, starting with her feet.
Her life force, her vitality, her everything, poured through her two fingers into Meng Hao.
She looked up into the blackness around them, and images appeared in her mind. She saw herself, and the man who she could never forget.
“You live, I live. You die, I die…. I spoke words like that too,” she murmured. Her body continued to wither, whereas Meng Hao’s was recovering. He was no longer ancient, and signs of life could be seen within him.
“Back then, I looked at you and you looked at me….
“From that day on, I accompanied you. I followed you through so many deadly situations….
“Every time you were hurt, I felt pain. Every time you smiled, I was happy. I know… that you tried to part with me on more than one occasion, but your reluctance held you back.” Her legs were now withered, almost like roots connected to the ground. Her life force poured into Meng Hao, causing his hair to grow long, his face to flush with life. He was not old any more, but rather, middle-aged.
The life force gathered up in Meng Hao, filling up what had once been empty.
“I also know that you had your wife, your Sect, your responsibilities, and your mission. You had everything that was yours.
“But I… really only had you.
“Even my name was given to me by you. I liked it when you called me Da Nu…. 1
“If you grow old, I’ll grow old with you. I also said the same thing.” The woman’s voice was soft as she spoke, filled with beauty and mystery and pain. By now, her body was almost completely withered. Because of the life force she was giving to Meng Hao, he was now a young man again. Except for the fact that his eyes were not open, he looked exactly as he had so many years ago.
“There is only one thing that I said which she didn’t.
“If you reach Immortal Ascension, then I… will become Immortal with you!
“I never broke your heart. I would never, ever hurt you. But on that particular dawn, on the day of vicissitudes, when I saw you severing your emotions, I wept….
“I took all the goodness that was in me, and left it in a coffin in the Milky Way Sea. I don’t blame you….
“If something is to blame, it is that I am not a real woman, but only… a Resurrection Lily who fell in love with you.”
The image of herself in her eyes suddenly was that of a beautiful Resurrection Lily, planted deep within the body of a man. After being inside of him for countless years, she… fell in love with her own host.