Chapter 63: Provoke

Ji Yunhe had a very lengthy dream. She dreamed of Lin Haoqing as a child inside the sea of flowers in the Demon Valley. She made two flower wreaths, one for herself and the other one for him. They played and laughed together under the sun.

And then she ran into the depths of the flowers and saw Snow March gently kissing Li Shu under a giant wisteria tree. Feeling a little embarrassed, she turned her head to leave, but bumped into Luo Jinsang who slowly faded into view. And next to Luo Jinsang was a grinning Qu Xiaoxing. They each grabbed one of Ji Yunhe's hands and pulled her toward the distant hill, running wild and free.

When they reached the top of the hill, everyone disappeared, and a vast open sea rolled out before her eyes. There were birds singing and whales calling.

She saw a huge white and blue fish tail in the middle of the waves, breaking out from the surface then diving in again. Ji Yunhe waved her hand, and watched it drift off into the horizon and disappear. Suddenly a bright ball of light appeared in the middle of the sky.

She took a step toward it and found herself standing in the air, as if an invisible staircase had formed beneath her feet. She followed it up. Her body grew lighter and her ailments faded as she walked higher step by step. But just as she was about to enter the light, a gust of wind blew past her ears.

The wind carried a coolness that felt completely out of place inside this dream world.

"You can't leave yet."

A woman's voice sounded inside Ji Yunhe's ears. She looked around. There seemed to be someone else here in the middle of the hazy light that surrounded her.

She looked at the direction where the wind had come from, and saw an elegant woman dressed in white with long hair draping down. The woman said to her,

"You can stay a little longer."

"Who are you?" Ji Yunhe asked but did not get an answer.

The invisible stairs under her feet trembled and collapsed, and the white light around her faded as she helplessly fell into the darkness below. Then she felt as if she had crashed into a human-shaped prison, wet and cold.

It binded to her like an iron shackle and locked into every inch of her skin. Ji Yunhe opened her eyes. She moved her fingers and held a hand to her face. As it turned out, the prison... was her own body.

Demon Valley, Grand Master's house, the Cloud Garden in the middle of the lake, none of these could compare with the imprisonment of her own withered flesh and bone. Before she had time to get too emotional, Ji Yunhe saw a black robed man behind her raised hand.

He stood at the end of the bed and watched her without saying anything. His blue eyes seemed to have a thousand thoughts, but at the same time, they seemed to have nothing at all.

A cool breeze blew onto her face and Ji Yunhe realized the windows were now open. Even though it was daytime, the snowstorm was heavy enough to keep the sun from shining through. A few snowflakes flew in and landed on the charcoal pot, sizzling and disappearing into thin air.

So this was the source of the wind inside her dream...

"Changyi..." Ji Yunhe called out his name, but it sounded more like a sigh.

"Why bother..." Why bother not letting her go, and why not let himself go as well...

Changyi did not answer her. His clothing right now looked more formal than the usual ones he wore around her. Even his silver hair was coiled under a crown, as if he had just rushed over from a very important event..

Changyi took a step forward and sat down on the side of her bed, but he did not look at her. Instead, he looked at the charcoal pot in front of the window and the smoke hovering above it.

"You want to die?"

"This body of mine..." Ji Yunhe sat up and leaned weakly against the headboard.

"Life and death no longer make a difference."

Changyi answered himself, "You want to die."

Ji Yunhe did not know what was going through his head right now, which was rare. She reached out her hand and placed it on his wrist. Changyi was a bit surprised but he did not break free, instead, he turned and looked at her.

Ji Yunhe said, "Changyi, don't you want to get back at me?" She stared into his eyes.