77.2

The jiaozhu emitted an azure glow between their lips, casting a sea of blue across the room. It looked like he had taken her back into the ocean -- his home world.

Kongming watched for a long time. Finally, he could not take it anymore and pulled Changyi up. The jiaozhu once again returned to his chest and disappeared.

"Ji Yunhe is dead," the monk said. Changyi lowered his head and his face fell behind his long silver hair.

"She is lying."

"She's not breathing."

"She must be lying to me," Changyi spoke to himself as if he did not hear anything Kongming was saying.

"In the past, she tried to trick me into serving Shunde so she could be free. Now, she's faking her death to get away from me."

Kongming was silent.

"She didn't want to be trapped, she didn't want to stay here, she wanted to leave…"

Plop! A clear, crisp sound was heard inside the room. Kongming did not care at first, until he heard another plop. A pearl fell from Ji Yunhe's bedside, rolled onto the floor, and stopped at the monk's feet. According to legend, jiaoren wept tears that turned into pearls...

Six years have passed since Kongming rescued Changyi. They went through mountains of swords and lakes of fire together, and had been in the most desperate of situations. No matter how much they suffered or how much blood they shed, he had never seen the corner of Changyi's eyes moist for even a second.

He thought tears of pearls were nonsense, just imaginary wonders that humans attributed to this mysterious race. Jiaoren simply did not have any tears to shed.

But now...

Kongming looked at the silver hair concealing his face.

"Changyi, this is both her wish and God's will. You should also let go."

"Let's go?" The pearls fell one by one, but his voice remained calm.

"I told her earlier that if she promises to never betray me again, I will believe her. The truth is… whether she says it or not, I still believe her," he said.

"I've already let go of everything in the past, the only thing I cannot let go of..."

He clutched Ji Yunhe's hand and trembled. He did not care about her betrayal anymore. Imprisoning Ji Yunhe was never about revenge or punishment. He was just afraid of losing her. She was the only thing he could not let go of...

But he still failed...

No matter how isolated this island was, how much he sealed the room, how carefully he watched over everything, he still could not hold on to her...

After a long silence, Changyi finally spoke again.

"She is free now..." As free as the northern wind, wild and unrestrained.

.....

Luo Jinsang frantically ran to the dungeon where Lin Haoqing was being imprisoned. In her rush, she forgot to go invisible and headed straight for the door. The doorkeeper yelled a couple of times then followed her in.

"Miss Luo! Miss Luo! What order did you receive? You should tell us!"

Luo Jinsang did not look back and ran to the deepest part of the dungeon.

It was damp and the ground was icy, Luo Jinsang lost her footing multiple times. She balanced herself against the cell door and shouted, "Give me the antidote!"

Inside the cell, a man in white and blue clothing turned his head slightly and looked at Luo Jinsang. He had been imprisoned for several days, but was still calm and collected.

"What antidote?"

"The antidote for Yunhe! The old Valley Master poisoned her! And now she's dying..." she said in a panic. The man stood up.

"What did you say?"

"Yunhe... Ji Yunhe, she died..."