Sang Dai’s breathing was very light, and the little fox moved closer to kiss her cheek.
“Baby, let’s marry. When we go back, we’ll marry. I’ve already prepared the wedding dress. If you like it, wear it. If not, we can choose a new one. Okay?”
“After I find Lord Ying Heng, I will propose to him. I will stay by your side forever, in every lifetime, following you, Dai Dai, okay?”
He couldn’t see Sang Dai’s expression, as her face was buried in the silk pillow. From his angle, he could only see her eyes seemingly closed, her cheeks flushed and hot.
“Dai Dai, pity me a little. At my age, I don’t have any little fox cubs, not even a wife. They all laugh at me.”
Sang Dai slowly opened her eyes, and the little fox hummed and acted coquettishly.
“I only want you. I only want Dai Dai. I will listen to you from now on. Whatever you tell me to do, I will do. In the Beast Realm, you have the final say. My matters are also up to you.”
He held her waist, and Sang Dai’s back pressed against his chest. She could almost feel his heartbeat vibrating.
She slightly turned her head, and the little fox’s silver hair was damp with sweat.
Sang Dai raised her hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, brushing aside his silver hair. “Su Xuan, can you give me a little time?”
Give her some time to figure out if she could truly bear his affection. Is it fair to Su Xuan, someone like her? Could they really make it to the end?
He had done so much, and Sang Dai felt deeply indebted.
The little fox kissed her eyes, his voice soft and gentle: “Dai Dai, when it comes to emotions, there’s no need to calculate fairness. I like you more, and it’s only right for me to give more for you. You will always be more precious than me.”
“Even if you don’t love me as much, it doesn’t matter. Your love doesn’t have to be greater than mine. As long as you love me, that’s enough.”
Because in Sang Dai’s heart, there was no room for anyone else. As long as she liked him, no matter how much like there was, no one else would ever enter her heart.
Only the little fox resided there.
Her heart slowly began to open.
Sang Dai locked eyes with Su Xuan, and his gaze was filled with deep affection.
Her fingertip touched his chest, feeling the strong heartbeat beneath.
【Dai Dai, I love you so much.】
His inner voice was full of endless tenderness, lingering and full of love.
Sang Dai smiled softly, about to respond, “I know, I know—”
But the words were never finished.
A trembling cry echoed in her sea of consciousness, interrupting her speech.
—“Dai Dai… I love you…”
Choked and hoarse, with a clear cry.
Who, who is speaking?
“Dai Dai… I love you…”
The voice repeated again.
It was over and over again. The only thing that echoed in her sea of consciousness was this sentence.
Sang Dai’s smile froze instantly, and she suddenly closed her eyes.
The sword cultivator furrowed her brows, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
Su Xuan’s expression immediately changed.
“Dai Dai, what’s wrong?”
Sang Dai clutched her head as if there was a needle piercing her sea of consciousness. Her breath trembled, and though she could feel Su Xuan holding her, she couldn’t make out what he was saying or respond to him.
Someone was crying. Someone was crying.
The voice was very familiar, incredibly familiar.
He was desperate. He was crying.
Sang Dai cried out in pain, struggling to wake up, but the osmanthus contract mark in her sea of consciousness slowly lit up, tearing through the darkness and bringing her unfamiliar memories.
She saw an icy world, a vast expanse of snow.
The clouds were heavy and dark, thick bolts of lightning weaving through them. The heavy snow continued to fall, and the howling cold wind whipped the snowflakes into the air.
She felt a bit cold, lowering her head to glance at herself.
She was dressed in a white robe, stained with much blood. The robe was tattered, and her black hair was tied into a high ponytail with a wooden hairpin.
This was how she had dressed when she was at the Sword Sect. Since coming to the Beast Realm, Sang Dai had never worn white again. This attire… was from the battle several months ago, the blood on the robe was from the injuries she had sustained during that battle.
Confused, she raised her gaze and looked around at the unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar place.
A figure stood in the snow, snowflakes falling onto his shoulders. His silver hair, long to his waist, was half-tied with a wooden hairpin. He held a wine pot, standing tall with his gaze fixed on a distant mountain peak, a place where he often sat to drink in the past.
Sang Dai stared at his back, a deadly familiarity washing over her.
Her breath caught in her throat as she saw him turn and look back.
His sharp, handsome features, the indifference in his eyes, as though life and death were mere fleeting moments to him. Nothing in this world seemed worthy of his attention. Snowflakes fell upon him, seemingly weightless, but they crushed a demon cultivator at the Crossing Tribulation stage.
The thunderous roar of the clouds reverberated in the air. Behind the dark sky, a pair of enormous eyes could be vaguely seen. They gazed down at the broken world below.
“Su… Su Xuan…”
Sang Dai murmured.
But it seemed Su Xuan didn’t see her. His gaze was fixed on something behind her.
Sang Dai turned, following his gaze, and saw a bamboo hut on the verge of collapse.
It seemed no one had lived there for a hundred years. The hut was covered in spider webs, dilapidated and forsaken.
That was the place where she had lived for a century, the back mountain of the Sword Sect.
Sang Dai didn’t know how she had suddenly ended up here. She snapped back to reality, her heart filled with endless panic, as though something bad was about to happen.
“Su Xuan… Su Xuan…”
But through Su Xuan’s figure, she saw someone behind him — a white-robed sword cultivator with cold eyes, holding a sword aimed at Su Xuan’s back.
Sang Dai cried out in terror, “Su Xuan, dodge, dodge!”
In that moment, her heart tightened painfully. Her mind went blank as she rushed toward him.
“Don’t!!”
But it was too late. Su Xuan seemed unable to hear her voice, unaware of the sword being thrust toward him by Shen Ciyu.
The long silver sword pierced through his chest, and at the same moment, Sang Dai threw herself forward to hold him.
The slender sword pierced through Su Xuan’s back and impaled him completely, also passing through her chest.
Sang Dai didn’t feel pain.
She didn’t feel any pain at all. She didn’t even feel it.
She lowered her gaze, looking at the sword that had pierced through Su Xuan’s chest. The sword had directly shattered his heart, impaling him completely.
The sword’s tip also pierced through her own chest.
“Su Xuan…”
She heard her own heavy breathing.
“Is this a dream…?”
She also heard a trembling voice.
Sang Dai slowly lifted her gaze. The little fox seemed to have seen something unimaginable. His shallow eyes widened, his pupils constricted suddenly, and his eyes immediately turned red as tears fell like a broken string of pearls.
Blood oozed from the corner of his lips, but he didn’t even look at the sword that pierced his heart. The wine bottle he had been holding dropped to the ground. Slowly, he raised his hand to touch Sang Dai’s face, but his hands passed right through her face.
It was as if he suddenly could see her.
He wanted to touch her, but he couldn’t reach her.
He let out a bitter laugh: “It’s a dream… So it’s still a dream…”
Sang Dai’s breath trembled: “Su Xuan…”
Su Xuan held her face, opening his mouth to cough up blood.
“It’s fine if it’s a dream… It doesn’t matter if it’s a dream… Dai Dai… Dai Dai…”
The sword lodged in his chest was pulled out. Su Xuan staggered, not even looking at Shen Ciyu behind him.
He struggled to steady himself, his eyes never leaving Sang Dai in his arms.
“It’s Dai Dai… It’s my Dai Dai…”
In that moment, Sang Dai felt his warm blood.
“I’ve waited for you for a hundred years… I’ve waited so long, why did it take you so long to come for me… Dai Dai, I really can’t wait anymore…”
Sang Dai’s breath trembled as tears fell, landing on his hand, but they passed right through it.
She was transparent. Su Xuan couldn’t embrace her.
“I’ll stay with you, okay? I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have gone into seclusion… Dai Dai, did it hurt back then? There’s so much blood on you…”
He babbled apologies, constantly apologizing, his tears making Sang Dai’s heart tremble.
She cried out to him: “You have to live, you have to live!”
He kept coughing up blood. Sang Dai screamed and tried to cover the gaping wound in his chest, but her hands passed through his chest several times. She couldn’t touch Su Xuan, and he couldn’t touch her either.
She cried desperately. He kept apologizing, but he couldn’t hear her voice.
He could only see her. He couldn’t touch her, couldn’t hear her.
It was as if they were separated by two worlds. Even though they were so close, they couldn’t reach each other.
Sang Dai watched helplessly as his strength faded, his body swaying. Blood poured from his mouth.
“Sorry… I never told you… I don’t hate you at all. I didn’t come to fight you…”
Sang Dai broke down in tears: “I know, I know, Su Xuan, Su Xuan!”
She tried over and over to cover his chest, but each time, her hands passed through his body.
She listened to his apologies, watching helplessly as he lost strength, his vitality fading.
The little fox cupped her face in the air, leaning down to embrace her.
“Dai Dai… I love you so much…”
His hand dropped weakly, and his body collapsed toward her.
“Su Xuan!”
Sang Dai cried out and tried to hold him, but he passed right through her body.
He hit the ground heavily. Snowflakes fell on him, and the blood from his chest spread across the ground, turning the surrounding white snow red.
Sang Dai saw Shen Ciyu, his expression cold and complicated as he looked at the demon cultivator on the ground. His lips were pressed tightly together, and the long sword in his hand still dripped with blood.
That was Su Xuan’s blood.
Sang Dai felt like she was suffocating. Her body stiffened as she turned away.
He lay on the ground, his silver hair spilling like a waterfall onto the snow.
His eyes, which had once looked at her with gentleness, were now closed. Su Xuan’s embrace had once given her endless security, but now, the gaping wound in his chest was like a nightmare to Sang Dai. She couldn’t breathe, and she wished she could just die.
“Su… Su Xuan…”
She finally realized what had happened.
Thunder struck, roaring as it fell toward the Su Xuan lying in the snow.
“Su Xuan!!!”
Sang Dai panicked and ran toward him, trying to shield him from the thunder.
“Dai Dai!!!”
But she didn’t crash into the snow. A voice split the air, waking her up. The sharp pain in her sea of consciousness disappeared, and she suddenly opened her eyes.
Su Xuan’s face was full of panic. His silver hair was messily scattered behind him, and he gently cupped her face.
“Dai Dai, what’s wrong? I’m here, are you not feeling well? Did I hurt you?”
Sang Dai blinked, suddenly pushing aside his messy silver hair to look at his chest.
It was completely intact, with no wound.
She fumbled to touch his chest, feeling its warmth, smooth and even, with no bloodstain, and his heart hadn’t been pierced.
He was still alive, still by her side. She hadn’t lost him.
Sang Dai suddenly covered her face and cried out in terror: “I’m scared, I’m scared to death.”
She threw herself into his arms, holding him tightly. Her arms wrapped around his waist, her head buried in his chest, and her tears soaked into Su Xuan’s heart. His heart clenched with pain.
“I’m scared, Su Xuan, I’m scared…”
She kept crying, sobbing loudly, as if she had seen something terrifying, crying and shouting that she was afraid.
Su Xuan didn’t know what had happened. All he could do was hold her tightly, comforting her constantly.
“Dai Dai, I’m here. Dai Dai, it’s okay, it’s okay…”
Sang Dai clung to him desperately, her mind filled with the image she had just witnessed.
She knew that wasn’t a dream.
That wasn’t a dream at all.
That was Su Xuan’s fate.
A hundred years after her death, on the back mountain of the Sword Sect, with thunderclouds filling the sky, Su Xuan, who had already reached the Crossing Tribulation stage, hadn’t resisted. He had allowed Shen Ciyu to pierce his heart, and the thunder had shattered his soul. Together, they had completely killed him.
Before his death, he had confessed his feelings.
— “Dai Dai, I love you so much.”
The tender words they had exchanged after their intimacy were the last words he had spoken before his death.
Sang Dai cried even harder, her wails filling the room.
Su Xuan, confused, held her, his hand gently trembling as he patted her back. His throat was clogged with something unspeakable, and he found it hard to breathe. His chest ached as well.
“Dai Dai…”
In a corner that no one noticed, the osmanthus contract mark glowed on their hearts, slowly merging into their heartrooms.
—
The cave was dim, and the bonfire had long since burned out.
Ying Heng didn’t know how much time had passed. Since that person had left, he hadn’t slept.
Until a faint glow in his sea of consciousness slowly brightened.
Ying Heng, who had been looking down, slowly lifted his head.
In the dim sea of consciousness, a long sword stood suspended, its blade translucent.
Ying Heng remembered what that person had said.
This place was a hundred miles away from Linglong Town, and the mountain road was dangerous. This cave was deep.
He had visited Linglong Town many times. A hundred miles away, there was only one mountain called Huiqing Mountain.
This mountain wasn’t big, but its terrain was treacherous. Halfway up the mountain, there was a cave where evil creatures had once appeared. That cave was twisted and deep.
He knew where this was.
Ying Heng’s face remained expressionless as the sword spirit in his sea of consciousness slowly began to gather again.
Ying Heng: “Chunying, where are you?”
The sword spirit in his sea of consciousness flickered, its light alternating between bright and dim.
Ying Heng stood up, his fair and handsome face expressionless.
“I’ve come to find you. Guide me.”