Even the arm that had been pierced by bullets bore no trace of injury.
What was going on?
Xie Tao, who was lying at the edge of the bed, moved her eyelids the moment Wei Yun sat up.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Wei Yun sitting on the bed, holding his shirt with one hand, his eyebrows deeply furrowed, looking incredulous.
“Are you awake, Wei Yun?”
A look of surprise shone in Xie Tao’s eyes.
Wei Yun turned his head and saw Xie Tao sitting on the cold floor, leaning against his bed.
He paused, then extended a hand to her, “Why are you sitting on the floor?”
She was pulled to her feet by him.
Looking at him then, she was clearly happy, but for some reason, she couldn’t help but burst into tears.
The tears fell suddenly, one after another.
She hastily reached up to wipe them away, but couldn’t manage to do so.
It was as if all the emotions she had been suppressing burst forth when she heard his voice, which sounded like a rebuke but was clearly filled with concern.
Her fear, her panic, at that moment, could no longer be suppressed.
No one could truly understand the shock Xie Tao felt when she first saw Wei Yun covered in blood, his life hanging in the balance.
Even now, with the blood cleaned from his body and face, the images of blood still flashed through Xie Tao’s mind, indelible marks that could not be erased from her memory.
And now, her fear intensified when Wei Yun pulled her into his arms, becoming uncontrollable.
But she cried softly, making little noise, just occasional sniffles and choked sobs like a small animal, always restrained.
Unbeknownst to her, he may have already gone through a cycle of life and death.
Perhaps it was a close call, and she could have lost him forever.
And she, could only wait like this, waiting for him to come to her, to tell her that he was still alive and well.
Beyond that, she could do nothing.
At this moment, Xie Tao seemed to finally come to a realization.
What separated her and him was not just two different spaces and times but also two completely distinct eras, one following the other.
She was born as the most ordinary girl in modern society. She had never witnessed a real war, never personally experienced what it’s called the clash of swords and the shadow of arms, where life and death are disregarded, and the fight never ends. She was, after all, just an ordinary person.
He, on the other hand, was at the center of power. In that feudal era, he was like walking on the edge of a knife, a single mistake could lead to a continuous series of them.
Later, Wei Yun and Xie Tao were lying on the same bed. At that time, the room was silent, without a sound for a long time.
“Tao Tao,” Wei Yun finally spoke, his voice soft, “I’m sorry for worrying you.”
His jaw resting against her forehead, one hand gently patting her back as if soothing a child, his brows revealing a rare tenderness.
“But… what exactly happened to my wound?” he persisted in his concern.
Everything was supposed to be under Wei Yun’s control. Whether it was on the way to Yidan country or on the way back, Wei Yun had encountered dozens of assassination attempts. But with his martial skills, along with the personal guards from the Imperial Advisor’s mansion or the cavalry drafted from the military camps of Yingdu, there hadn’t been any mishaps along the way.
However, this time, he miscalculated. Wei Yun had never anticipated that Shao Junkang, who had been captured back to the third space-time by Nian Jitang, would reappear and strike a deal with Prince Xin, becoming one of his supporters. If it hadn’t been for Shao Junkang’s shot, Wei Yun would not have been seriously injured.
This time, Prince Xin had sent nearly hundreds of people to ambush him. In the ensuing melee, Wei Yun and his companions were separated, and when forced into a wilderness, he managed to reduce the nearly one hundred pursuers to thirty. In the end, those thirty men also died under his sword, but he was indeed seriously injured.
Yet, at this moment, he felt no pain, nor could he see any wounds on his body.
“It was Uncle Xi.”
Xie Tao snuggled closer into his embrace, sniffed, and said, “He’s a deity. He saved you with his magic…”
Old Xi?
Upon hearing Xie Tao mention this person, Wei Yun recalled the face of the middle-aged man he had seen in that mysterious tavern.
“So that’s how it is.”
Wei Yun finally understood. If it was Old Xi, then everything made sense.
“If you encounter danger again, you must come to me immediately, you understand?” Xie Tao looked up at him, saying earnestly.
“Alright.”
Wei Yun gently patted her hair in response.
Xie Tao hugged his waist tightly, burying herself in his embrace, and muttered, “I was really scared today.”
From the beginning, she was passive.
Even after obtaining the gold powder, she could only wait passively for him to ignite the gold powder before she could travel to that world and see him.
And now, with the gold powder used up,
She could only wait here for him to come.
Waiting, after all, is the most tormenting aspect of life, making the passage of time even more unbearable.
Yet, Xie Tao’s life was destined to be so ordinary.
She is just a mortal, someone who chose to live alone due to a broken family.
In this vast sea of people, she is the most ordinary of them all.
And in her life, the greatest fortune was finding that phoenix tail scale.
Because the phoenix tail scale landed in her phone, she got to know Wei Yun, who was from another time and space far more distant than the Milky Way, and through it, she also got to know Xie Lan and Old Xi.
The only ripple in her otherwise ordinary life was Wei Yun, was them.
“When you were fainting just now, I was thinking that your time-space is so dangerous, maybe… maybe it’s better for you to stay here and never go back.”
Xie Tao said, her voice gradually becoming faint, “But Wei Yun, I know you have things you must do…”
If possible, she also wanted him to stay here.
Especially when she saw him covered in wounds and bleeding profusely, this thought became even stronger.
But,
He originally came from that world, he grew up through the hardships of that era, and he has given a lot there.
To him, that place is filled with hidden dangers, yet it is, after all, his homeland.
To ask someone to leave their homeland forever, never to return, never to hear the familiar sounds of home again.
And to give up everything he has worked for.
Wei Yun couldn’t do it.
And Xie Tao, in the end, couldn’t bring herself to say such words.
“But you… must live well.”
As she spoke, her voice became softer and softer.
When Wei Yun heard Xie Tao’s words, his knuckles tightened slightly, subconsciously holding her even tighter.
“Tao Tao,”
Perhaps the emotional touch of the moment even brought a few indistinct traces of moisture to his usually cold and undisturbed eyes.
Those were very faint marks.
His throat moved slightly, and his cool voice, in such a quiet night, sounded especially clear:
“In this half of my life, I’ve never longed to live as much as I do now.”
His life, rugged and bloody.
Countless people wanted his life, and his hands were stained with the blood of countless others.
From the time the Wei family was completely annihilated, he was left alone in this world, with nothing to hold dear.
On a path that seemed like a dead end, he forcefully carved out a path to survival.
But having survived, he felt that the world had lost its appeal.
Only because he didn’t want to be controlled by others, didn’t want to be seen as worthless in the eyes of others, he vowed to climb up step by step, to grasp the ultimate power in the world in his hands.
He lived each day as it came.
If others couldn’t kill him, he would kill all those who wanted him dead.
He once thought that his life would always be this relentless.
But he had never felt like now, realizing that being alive could actually be bearable.
Because of the girl in his arms,
He felt the eagerness to live again, like the intense warmth of the sun, shooting straight into his chest, an irresistible warmth.
He even began to yearn for the gentleness of the world, for peaceful times.
Transparent moisture silently fell on the dark hair of the girl in his arms.
Wei Yun lowered his head, and his cool lips pressed against her forehead.
