Chapter 63
Princess Longyu had once said that the love between Zhuo Yichen and Zhao Yuanzhou was like mist and clouds.
Like morning dew resting on a leaf.
Fragile.
Beautiful.
Temporary.
Yet impossible to forget.
At the time, Yichen hadn’t understood her words.
Now he did.
The moment Zhao Yuanzhou placed the glowing orb into Princess Longyu’s hands, Yichen’s heart nearly stopped.
His face lost all color.
His fingers trembled.
And every fear he had buried deep inside suddenly resurfaced.
The fear of losing him.
Again.
Always again.
Every lifetime.
Every farewell.
Every sacrifice.
It felt as though fate was forever waiting to snatch Zhao Yuanzhou away.
Yichen sank to one knee.
His chest hurt so badly he could barely breathe.
“You…”
His voice shook.
“Do you ever listen to me?”
Zhao Yuanzhou immediately looked away.
A terrible sign.
By the time Princess Longyu departed to meet Wen Zongyu, Zhuo Yichen had fallen completely silent.
Not a single word.
Not even a glare.
Which somehow frightened Zhao Yuanzhou far more than any sword.
The demon walked beside him quietly.
Trying desperately to appear innocent.
He failed miserably.
The silence stretched longer and longer.
Finally-
Yichen stopped.
Turned.
And stared.
Just stared.
Zhao Yuanzhou immediately raised both hands.
“Before you get angry-“
“Before?”
The calmness in Yichen’s voice was terrifying.
The demon swallowed.
“Before?”
Yichen repeated.
The others immediately took several steps backward.
This was no longer their problem.
This was Zhao Yuanzhou’s funeral.
“You promised me.”
Yichen’s eyes were already red.
“You promised.”
“I know.”
“You promised you wouldn’t do something like this again.”
“I know.”
“And then you handed over your inner core?”
“I didn’t.”
Silence.
Yichen blinked.
“What?”
“It was fake.”
Another silence.
“What?”
“Fake.”
“What do you mean fake?”
Zhao Yuanzhou scratched his cheek.
Looking strangely proud of himself.
“The princess and I made a plan.”
Yichen stared.
“We conspired together.”
More staring.
“A very convincing fake.”
The commander looked completely frozen.
Processing.
Processing.
Processing.
Then-
SMACK.
His hand landed squarely on Zhao Yuanzhou’s shoulder.
Hard.
“Ouch!”
“You deceived me too?!”
“It was necessary.”
SMACK.
“You could have told me!”
“It wouldn’t have been convincing!”
SMACK.
“You almost gave me a heart attack!”
The demon accepted every hit obediently.
Because beneath the anger was something else.
Fear.
The kind of fear that only existed when someone loved another person so deeply that the thought of losing them became unbearable.
And Zhao Yuanzhou understood that.
Perhaps better than anyone.
The small argument faded quickly.
Because far away-
Princess Longyu had already met Wen Zongyu.
And what they heard next shattered whatever illusions remained.
The dragon princess stood before the man she had once loved.
The man she had waited centuries to see again.
The man for whom she had carried both love and regret.
Yet Wen Zongyu looked at her with nothing but hatred.
No tenderness.
No remorse.
No sorrow.
Nothing.
Only blame.
“You killed my wife.”
“You killed my child.”
Princess Longyu laughed.
A bitter laugh.
One filled with centuries of pain.
“And why did I become that person?”
Her voice trembled.
“You approached me wearing the mask of love.”
For the first time, tears appeared in her eyes.
“You never told me the truth.”
“You never told me you only wanted my scales.”
“You never gave me the chance to choose.”
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Painful.
“I was angry.”
Her voice broke.
“I was jealous.”
“I was childish.”
Tears slipped down her face.
“I killed innocent people.”
“Wen Xiao’s father died because of me.”
Her hands shook.
A dragon princess.
A mighty immortal.
Yet at that moment she looked heartbreakingly human.
“I should have hated you.”
She stared at him.
“I should have killed you back then.”
“But I loved you.”
The confession echoed through the empty wasteland.
And Wen Zongyu felt nothing.
Nothing at all.
The fake inner core shattered in his hand.
His expression never changed.
“Oh?”
His voice was cold.
“You plotted against me?”
Dark power surged around him.
“I’ve become far stronger than I was before, Princess.”
No regret.
No guilt.
No sadness.
Not for her.
Not for Wen Xiao’s father.
Not for the countless lives destroyed along the way.
Nothing.
Princess Longyu slowly turned away from him.
Toward Zhuo Yichen.
Toward the people who still understood what it meant to care for someone.
Her smile was faint.
Tired.
Beautiful.
“Take the scales.”
She placed them into Yichen’s hands.
“Restore Bai Ze.”
The scales glowed softly.
Like the last light of sunset.
Then her body began to dissolve.
Slowly.
Beautifully.
Painfully.
Particles of golden light drifted into the sky.
Returning to the Great Wilderness.
Returning home.
Princess Longyu looked toward the horizon one final time.
As though searching for the life she should have had.
The future she never received.
The love that had ruined her.
And perhaps-
the love she still couldn’t entirely let go of.
Then she smiled.
A small smile.
And vanished.
Forever.
The wind fell silent.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
Wen Xiao lowered her head.
Pei Sijing clenched her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white.
Even Ying Lei’s eyes were red.
Zhuo Yichen stood motionless.
His chest burned.
His hands trembled.
Not with grief.
With rage.
Because fate was cruel.
Because good people kept dying.
Because those who loved deeply always seemed to suffer most.
Ying Zhao.
Princess Longyu.
Countless others.
The world kept demanding sacrifices.
Again.
And again.
And again.
A familiar darkness stirred inside him.
The same rage that had nearly consumed him before.
The desire to scream at the heavens themselves.
To demand an explanation.
To ask why.
Why love if it only led to loss?
Why hope if everything eventually broke?
His hands shook harder.
Then-
a warm hand found his.
Zhao Yuanzhou.
Yichen looked up.
The demon’s eyes were filled with sadness.
Yet there was still determination there.
Still kindness.
Still hope.
Despite everything.
He squeezed Yichen’s hand gently.
“We keep going.”
Just four words.
Yet they carried the weight of twenty thousand years.
Every loss.
Every sacrifice.
Every goodbye.
For a moment, Yichen felt the rage settle.
Not disappear.
Never disappear.
But transform.
Into resolve.
Into strength.
Into the determination to keep protecting the people who remained.
The wind moved once more.
Carrying the last traces of Princess Longyu into the endless sky.
And together, hand in hand, they continued forward.