Chapter 272: The Moment of Awakening
Ling'er turned to the side, resting her head on Yun Che's arm, her eyes misty as she gazed at the moonlight filtering through the gaps in the bamboo above. After a long while, she spoke softly, "If I could sleep in a bamboo grove, with the moon above, it would surely be a very, very beautiful thing."
Yun Che looked up, a light smile crossing his face. He pushed his palm outward, and with a "bang," the bamboo above parted, revealing a broader view of the starry sky and the moon. He said gently, "Ling'er, if one day you have to leave home and keep running into danger, always remember what's inside this. Use what's inside to protect yourself well, alright..."
Su Ling'er listened to his words, nodding over and over again...
Yun Che did not put the Space Ring onto Su Ling'er's finger, because that would be too easy for others to notice. After all, a purple ring with such immense capacity and long lifespan was considered a fairly precious treasure even within the Tai Su Sect. He threaded a Golden Silk Thread through the ring, then hung it around Su Ling'er's neck, letting the gleaming purple Space Ring slip beneath her inner garments.
Tears were falling from Su Ling'er's eyes, drop by drop, each one sinking deep into the deepest part of Yun Che's soul. He held her in his arms and whispered softly, "Ling'er, don't be sad. This isn't a forever parting. When you grow up, I will come back... come back to marry you! So you must grow up happy and joyful, so that when I return, I'll see the most beautiful Ling'er. If you ever encounter difficulties in the future, don't be afraid, don't despair. Always remember that in this world, there is someone who, even when he can't see you, is always thinking of you, worrying about you..."
"Mm... mm!!" Su Ling'er nodded vigorously, struggling to suppress her sobs. Her delicate teeth had already bitten a row of imprints into her small red lips...
Time began to reach its final, final moments. Yun Che released Su Ling'er, cradled her face in both hands, and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. Then he turned around, gritted his teeth, and walked forward step by step... growing farther and farther away in Su Ling'er's sight...
Su Ling'er did not chase after him. She held her hands over her chest, clutching the Dragon Scale Armor that had come from Yun Che and still carried his warmth. Through her blurry vision, she stared blankly at his retreating figure. Finally, she could no longer hold back. Tears burst forth like a broken dam, and her cries echoed across the empty land...
"Yun Che gege! I will wait for you... I will wait for you to come back and marry me..."
"Yun Che gege, you must think of me... you must think of me... you cannot not think of me..."
"Yun Che gege... I will grow up quickly... you must come back... you must... must... must come back..."
"Yun Che gege... I can't bear to part with you... sob... sob sob sob..."
Yun Che's figure grew farther and farther, until at some moment, it completely vanished from her sight. She slowly crouched down, covering her face with her hands, and cried loudly... Her Yun Che gege was gone, and he had taken her very soul with him...
Su Ling'er's shouts, carried by the wind, reached Yun Che's ears, making every step he took unbearably difficult. His face was pained, but he dared not look back, because he feared that if he turned once, he would never be able to move another step.
"There's something strange between you two." Watching Yun Che's expression, Xia Qingyue spoke softly. She could not understand how an adult man and a ten-year-old girl could develop such intense feelings in just one day.
Yun Che raised his head and gazed at the sky. "Qingyue, do you believe... in past lives and this life?"
Xia Qingyue paused briefly. She looked at him silently for a while, then nodded gently. "I believe."
At that moment, ripples of spatial distortion suddenly appeared around him and Xia Qingyue.
"Finally, it's time to go back." Yun Che closed his eyes and murmured softly, "Goodbye... my Ling'er..."
As he murmured, their figures simultaneously vanished into the distorted space. Then the sensation of space shuttling came over him, disappearing in an instant. Suddenly, a gust of cold wind struck his face.
Opening his eyes, he was greeted by a vast expanse of white snow... He and Xia Qingyue had already returned to the Heavenly Lake Secret Realm, but not at the position above the Heavenly Lake.
"Haa..." Yun Che let out a long breath. Although that had been an illusion, and Su Ling'er from her youth was merely a phantom constructed by the Evil God's power, even so, parting with Su Ling'er still made his chest feel so tight it was about to explode.
"No matter how beautiful the dream, there will always be a time to wake up." Yun Che looked ahead, his tone melancholy. Then, sinking his consciousness, he said to Mo Li, "Mo Li, why did the Evil God's soul use its last power to send me into such an illusion? Was it to fulfill some regret of mine after reading my memories?"
"Illusion?" Mo Li's voice came through. "So, you've been thinking all along that the world you stayed in for a day was just an illusion?"
"...Of course it was an illusion," Yun Che said weakly. If it weren't an illusion, how could the long-departed Su Ling'er have appeared, and as a young girl at that.
"Heh..." Mo Li suddenly laughed in an eerie manner, as if she had discovered something interesting. She said slowly, "So that's it. No wonder your emotions and behavior were so abnormal—you actually treated that place as an illusion... Well, I can tell you very responsibly that the world you were in just now... is ab-so-lute-ly NOT an illusion!!!"
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[This segment is finally finished—exhausted to the point of collapse! I hate writing this kind of difficult, unrewarding, yet unavoidable plot!!] r1058
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