Chapter 78: Sealed in Ice

Ji Yunhe was still lying on the bed. If not for her bluish complexion, she would look no different from her usual slumber. Her long eyelashes fluttered in the breeze blowing in from the window, as if she could wake any minute.

But, only "as if". The pair of black eyes that he had never been able to fathom no longer gave him a chance to. No sighs and no words, Changyi quietly sat beside Ji Yunhe, still holding her hand. His palm chilled and frost began to cover her body.

The frost spread out inch by inch, stroking and caressing her like his fingers. It wrapped around her arms, her torso, up her neck, and onto her face. Her lips froze, and her lashes froze.

Then...

"Wait! Wait a minute!"

A shout from Luo Jinsang broke the silence in the room. She stepped in and pushed Changyi's arm away from Ji Yunhe. His palm landed on the bed frame, instantly freezing the sheets. And Luo Jinsang's hands turned white from the contact. The frost crawled up her arms and she shivered.

Kongming saw this and immediately grabbed her. He cast a spell and covered his hands with fire, then stroked down her arms, melting away the frost.

"Do you not want to live?" He scolded her in anger.

"I don't want to die." Luo Jinsang pushed him away and said to Changyi, "Yunhe can still be saved!" Her words lit up the dull blue in his eyes.

"Lin Haoqing can save her!"

Everyone turned around and saw Lin Haoqing standing at the screen. He stepped into the room. His eyes swept over Changyi's face then fell on Ji Yunhe, and his expression dimmed.

"You can save her?" Changyi asked.

Lin Haoqing took a step forward and carefully observed Ji Yunhe, his face growing more dim.

So thin… When they said goodbye six years ago, Lin Haoqing did not expect to see Ji Yunhe again. He always thought Ji Yunhe would die in the hands of Princess Shunde.

Unexpectedly... she survived six years in the Grand Master's prison, then was brought to the north by the jiaoren.

"Why does she look like this?" he asked Changyi rhetorically.

Changyi did not answer him. He just asked again, "You can save her?" Lin Haoqing turned his gaze to look at Changyi.

"Look at her right now, how can I save this?" The slightly brightened ice blue pupils lost their color again.

Luo Jinsang ignored her red and swollen hands. She grabbed Lin Haoqing by his lapel and shouted, "You said you could save her! You said she wouldn't die so easily! You just told me!" Lin Haoqing did not break away from her grasp.

"I thought I could."

"What do you mean?" Luo Jinsang asked.

"I thought she was ailing from the drugs that refined people into demons, so I thought I could save her." Lin Haoqing looked at Ji Yunhe on the bed.

"But no, she has withered. Obviously her body has been fully consumed and exhausted. And now she's sealed in ice, how can she still be saved?"

Luo Jinsang's eyes turned red again. She turned her head and shouted angrily at Changyi.

"Why did you seal her?!" She cried out in tears.

"Why did you seal her, why?"

Changyi remained silent and did not respond. Luo Jinsang felt her legs grow weak and give way underneath. Kongming caught her before she fell and said, "She was already dead before the seal."

Luo Jinsang continued to mumble, "Why did you treat her so badly, why didn't you let her go. You knew she wanted to go out and see the world, why didn't you at least let her take a look…" Luo Jinsang broke away from Kongming and threw herself onto the side of Ji Yunhe. She reached out and grabbed her arm.

"I won't let her stay here anymore! She wants to go out, I'll take her out."

She tried to break Ji Yunhe's arm out of the frost. Before Kongming had a chance to stop her, Ji Yunhe's body floated up into the air with a blue glow.

A bright light flashed and the shield surrounding the island instantly fell. Changyi and Ji Yunhe's body disappeared together.

Luo Jinsang wiped her eyes. "Where is he taking her?"

"Outside." Kongming lifted her up and looked out the window.

"Let her see what she wanted to see most."

Lin Haoqing stood to the side and did not say much, but his eyes followed Changyi flying in the air.

.....

What laid beyond the island was naturally the lake. Changyi stepped onto the frozen surface. He still remembered the time Ji Yunhe broke through his seal and ran wildly across the ice.

At that time, he actually already saw her from afar, but he did not approach her right away. He watched as she ran and panted in the cold, then tumbled down onto the ice. He watched her look at the night sky and laugh hysterically.

That was Ji Yunhe at her most natural form. When he could best understand her -- simple and happy. He liked seeing her that way.

Changyi placed Ji Yunhe down on the ice. Her eyes were closed and she was silent, but he seemed to still hear her laughter. As happy as a child, without worry in the world.

A pearl fell and landed in the frost on Ji Yunhe's cheek. The ice under her body began to crack and open like a giant flower. It embraced her and took her into its blossom, then built up layer by layer until she was completely encased. The pearl that had fallen from his eye was now forever frozen onto her face.

"You're free."

The ice sank, pulling her down into the lake. As she grew more distant, her face blurred and the glow from the pearl faded. Ji Yunhe slowly disappeared into the depths.

The surface of the frozen lake closed up and smoothed over, leaving him standing alone between heaven and earth...