Chapter 884: Hong'er?
After an unknown amount of time, Yun Che's consciousness slowly revived. Around him was a vast, white world where he could see nothing and couldn't even feel his own existence.
Where… is this?
Am I still alive…
"Brother Yun Che…"
From within the pale world came a girl's soft call. This voice caused Yun Che's consciousness to tremble violently, and he urgently shouted back: "Ling'er? Is that you, Ling'er… where are you?"
He tried to search, looking all around, but couldn't see Ling'er's figure. Only her dreamlike, murmuring sigh reached his ears: "Brother Yun Che, all these years, I've been waiting for you. Even though they all said you would definitely never return, I believed that Brother Yun Che wouldn't deceive me… I'm already sixteen years old… But Brother Yun Che, where are you… Why can I never wait for you… Am I really… never going to see Brother Yun Che again…"
Her soft whispers were now tinged with deep sorrow and grief.
"Ling'er, I've already come. I know you must be safe and sound, that you're still waiting for me… Where are you? Tell me quickly, where are you…"
Yun Che cried out with all his might, desperately searching for Su Ling'er's figure in that white world. Finally, ahead in his line of sight, a moon-white immortal silhouette slowly materialized. Staring at the figure before him, Yun Che murmured absently: "Qing… Yue?"
The Xia Qingyue before him was still ethereally beautiful, but her entire aura was vastly different from the Xia Qingyue in his heart. She was his lawfully wedded wife, yet standing right before him, he felt a sense of inferiority as if gazing up at a moon goddess.
"Yun Che…" Xia Qingyue whispered softly. "I've found what I've always longed for, but why is everything different from what I imagined… All my pursuits and wishes have completely deviated from my expectations, instead trapping me in a seemingly beautiful cage…"
"Yun Che, was I wrong… What should I do…"
Xia Qingyue murmured words Yun Che couldn't understand. Her immortal shadow gradually blurred. Yun Che instinctively reached out to touch her when he suddenly saw, at the edge of the white world, another graceful figure in snow-white robes emerging.
"Xiao… Xiao Xiannü…" Yun Che trembled as he whispered.
"Yun Che," Chu Yuechan said, her back to him, her cold voice carrying a gentle warmth: "Our daughter is already six years old. She looks like me, and like you—more adorable than any star in the night sky. But she has never been able to meet her father…"
Bam…
The pale white world suddenly shattered.
"Xiao Xiannü!!"
Yun Che cried out urgently and sat up with a jolt.
It was a dream…
This kind of strange dream had happened once before… That time too, it was because of the soul-snatching of the Netherworld Brahma Flower.
Wait, where am I now…
The intense pain all over his body quickly sharpened his consciousness. Yun Che's eyes snapped open. Before him was the world he'd seen before losing consciousness—a dark world filled with eerie purple light. As soon as he realized the source of the purple light, he quickly lowered his head.
Back then, an incomplete Netherworld Brahma Flower nearly killed me. Why, with tens of thousands of them here, and me severely injured, did I wake up on my own?
And my injuries are mostly healed… Given my body's self-healing ability, have I been unconscious for many days?
Though Yun Che didn't look directly at the Netherworld Brahma Flowers, his entire body was still bathed in the dense purple light. But puzzlingly, the feeling of soul-snatching was exceptionally faint.
What's going on?
Yun Che cautiously raised his head and looked toward the Netherworld flower sea. His expression instantly became stunned.
The vast flower sea filled his vision, stretching endlessly. But now, all the purple petals had closed up, becoming buds ready to bloom. Though they still shimmered with purple light, the soul-snatching power had clearly weakened dozens of times.
Moreover, unlike the Netherworld Brahma Flowers he had seen before, this immense sea of flowers emitted not a single wailing sound. They swayed silently in the purple light, as if afraid to disturb something.
What's happening? How long was I unconscious? Why did I wake up? Why did the Netherworld Brahma Flowers undergo such a strange change… Hiss… that figure!?
Yun Che suddenly remembered the figure he had vaguely seen walking out of the Netherworld flower sea just before losing consciousness.
At that moment, Yun Che finally sensed something and sharply turned his head. His gaze met a pair of eyes releasing an eerie, colorful light.
"…" Yun Che was stunned.
Less than two steps to his right, a petite and delicate girl floated quietly. Her silver hair, bright as the Milky Way, wrapped around her frail body and fell straight down, trailing a long distance on the cold ground. The strands in front her forehead danced without wind, gently brushing her jade-white tender face.
Her body was covered in a layer of white light. Beneath the light, she seemed to be wearing no clothes. Her slender, snow-white calves were uncovered, fully exposed. Her ice-lotus-like delicate pink feet hung down gracefully, every snow-white toe glistening as if carved from jade.
Apart from her silver hair, she looked like a flawless jade doll.
But what was most peculiar about her were her eyes—a pair of eerie pupils Yun Che had never seen before.
Her right pupil: the upper half was light yellow, gradually deepening into a dark green downward.
Her left pupil: the upper half was light blue, gradually deepening into a deep purple downward.
One pair of eyes emitted four colors of light.
The colorful pupil light he had glimpsed before losing consciousness was not an illusion!
Heterochromia—Yun Che had seen many cases back in the Cang Yun Continent while practicing medicine with his master. In medicine, heterochromia was called "iris heterochromia." But he had never seen, nor heard of, anyone possessing four-colored pupils.
As Yun Che stared at the girl in shock, she also quietly looked back at him. She remained completely still, no sound, no expression, not even the slightest trace of aura. If Yun Che were to close his eyes now, he would not perceive her existence at all.
Beneath the abyss, in a dark world, amid a sea of Netherworld flowers, with four-colored pupils…
This girl, now right before Yun Che's eyes, was filled with such profound strangeness and illusion… no, magic.
"You are…" Yun Che finally asked in a very soft voice, but as soon as he began, his voice suddenly caught, and his expression froze again. Then, a name involuntarily slipped out: "Hong'er!?"
Mysterious girl: "…"
Yun Che was startled to discover that except for her hair and eye color, this strange girl's cheeks, facial features, and even her body shape were exactly the same as Hong'er!!
Just… a coincidence, Yun Che immediately thought to himself. After all, people looking alike is very common… even if her resemblance to Hong'er was somewhat excessive.
But their expressions were completely different. Hong'er was always lively, crying, laughing, and making a fuss. Her little face was almost never calm, and even when sleeping soundly, she would babble all kinds of strange things. But the girl before him was so quiet and still, as if she had no emotions at all.
Though the girl exuded much strangeness and a magical air, at least Yun Che sensed no danger from her.
"You… who are you?" Yun Che faced her and asked softly. "Was it you who saved me?"
The girl's lips parted gently, then closed, then parted again, then closed again… She seemed to be trying to say something but made no sound at all.
"You… can't speak?" Yun Che tested.
"…" The girl watched him quietly, then nodded slightly.
"Then… can you understand me?" Yun Che asked again.
The girl nodded again. The four-colored light in her pupils remained fixed on Yun Che's face.
One of Yun Che's strong abilities was to discern someone's intent from their eyes, but he could not understand the girl's colorful gaze at all.
Yun Che stood up from the ground. Since the girl could understand him but couldn't speak, he couldn't ask her where this place was or who she was. But at least she bore him no ill will and didn't seem to reject him. For Yun Che, that was already a ray of light in the endless darkness.
So, the reason he had awakened before the immense Netherworld flower sea could only be this mysterious girl!?
A girl who lived in this dark abyss, flitting through the Netherworld flower sea… What kind of being was she? Was she human, or…
Looking at the distant Netherworld flower sea, a strange thought occurred to him, and he asked directly: "Were you the one who made those purple flowers close up?"
The girl nodded slowly. Her pupils still stayed on him, never moving away even for a moment.
"…" Yun Che was taken aback. After a moment's hesitation, he asked somewhat boldly: "Since you can control these purple flowers, could you… give me one? I need it very much. Just one, please. Is that okay?"
He hadn't forgotten that the only thing sustaining Mo Li's body and soul was an incomplete Netherworld force, which would only last twenty or thirty years. For a perfect fusion of body and soul, she needed a complete Netherworld Brahma Flower.
The girl perfectly understood his words. She turned her body, extended her small hand, and lightly pointed toward the Netherworld flower sea.
Immediately, at the front of the flower sea, a closed Netherworld Brahma Flower bloomed enchantingly, releasing an even more dreamlike purple light. Then, all its petals and the entire flower body detached completely from the stem, wrapped in a layer of faint mystic light, and flew to the girl's front.
"…" Yun Che stared wide-eyed at all this.
The complete Netherworld Brahma Flower was now within arm's reach, but wrapped in a layer of mysterious mystic light, it gave no sense of soul-snatching at all. The girl lifted the large, purple Netherworld flower in her small hands and presented it to Yun Che. The four-colored light in her pupils was dreamlike, both enchanting and immaculate.
The shock and agitation in Yun Che's heart were indescribably intense. He carefully reached out and said gratefully, "Thank you. You not only saved me but also gave me such a precious gift."
He took the complete Netherworld Brahma Flower with both hands. As he lifted it, he touched the girl's hand… but felt no warmth, not even a sensation of contact. His instinctively lowered gaze clearly saw his fingers pass through her small hand.
"You… are a soul body?" Yun Che said in surprise.
"…" The girl watched him quietly for a long while, then nodded gently.
Yun Che was astonished once more. This girl before him, like Mo Li when she had lost her body, was nothing but a pure soul body.
What astonished him even more was that Mo Li had once told him that high-level dark forces would devour a soul body terribly, and such damage was almost irreparable. As powerful as Mo Li was, she dared not appear in her pure soul state in the Slay Moon Demon Cave.
But this girl, also a soul body, existed in this dark world where the demonic aura was countless times more terrifying than the Slay Moon Demon Cave… and it seemed she had already existed for a very, very long time.