The forest was eerily silent after the beast's final cry. Only the rustle of falling leaves and the faint whisper of the wind remained. The Black Mist Forest was living up to its name—swirling shadows danced across the twisted tree trunks like mourning spirits, and the moon above was hidden behind thick clouds.
Yun Qianyu sat on a moss-covered stone, her breathing shallow but even. Her wound had stopped bleeding, thanks to the elixir the stranger had handed her. The warmth of it still lingered on her tongue, a stark contrast to the coldness she had grown used to.
She glanced up. He was standing at the mouth of the cave, his back to her, his white robe swaying softly in the night breeze. His presence was calming, but powerful. Not many dared walk into the Black Mist Forest alone, let alone rescue a stranger.
"Why?" she finally asked, breaking the silence. "Why did you help me?"
Liang Fenghua turned slightly, revealing a side glance filled with quiet strength. "Because you didn't want to die, not really."
Qianyu frowned. "You don't know me."
"No. But I know that kind of silence—the one that screams for someone to notice." He walked over and sat down a few paces from her. "You've seen too much. Felt too much. And now you hide behind ice."
She looked away. Her dark hair, now slightly damp with sweat, clung to her pale cheek. "I was once someone else," she whispered. "But that person is gone."
Fenghua didn't press. He let her speak, giving her the one thing she had long been denied—space to breathe.
"I fell," she said at last. "Not by accident. I was cast down. From the Celestial Realm. For a mistake I didn't make."
Fenghua's brow furrowed, but he said nothing.
"They called it betrayal. They stripped my name, my title, my wings… Everything. I fell into the Demon Realm. And I survived. But I changed."
Her voice was steady, but bitter. "I became one of them. Not by choice. I had to live. I learned to kill, to lie, to suppress every last spark of light in me."
Fenghua finally looked directly at her. His gaze was deep, like a still lake concealing a current. "You haven't lost your light. It's just hidden."
She laughed once—short, humorless. "You sound like a priest."
"I'm not. Just a man who's seen darkness. And chose not to stay in it."
A long pause passed between them. The wind howled through the trees, and the flames of the small campfire flickered.
Just then, a faint tremor ran through the earth. Fenghua's hand moved instinctively toward his blade. "Someone's coming."
Before she could stand, a crack of light split the night sky. A tear in space opened at the forest's edge, and from it emerged a tall figure in silver armor, his dark blue cloak billowing behind him.
"Qianyu!" the voice called out—deep, urgent.
Her eyes widened. "Rong Xianzhi...?"
He approached quickly, his steps pressing into the soft ground, his eyes burning not with joy, but something dangerously close to jealousy.
"You disappeared from the Demon Realm without a word. I searched every gate, every border. And I find you here—with him?"
Fenghua stepped protectively between them, his presence calm but firm. "She was attacked. I saved her. That's all."
Xianzhi's eyes flared with emotion. "You don't know what she's capable of. What she's done."
"I know what I see," Fenghua replied. "And I see someone trying to breathe again."
Qianyu's voice cut between them. "Enough! I'm not an object for either of you to fight over."
Her words fell like thunder, silencing both men.
"Rong Xianzhi," she continued, her voice quieter but steady, "you cared for me when I was at my worst. I owe you. But I don't belong in the past. Not anymore."
Xianzhi clenched his jaw. "You're making a mistake."
"Maybe," she whispered. "But it's mine to make."
He stared at her for a moment longer, then without another word, turned and vanished into the mist the same way he came.
Silence returned, heavier than before.
"That was... intense," Fenghua said after a while.
She didn't respond at first. Her gaze was still fixed on where Xianzhi had disappeared. "He used to be my only anchor. The only one who believed I could be more than what I'd become."
"And now?"
She looked at Fenghua slowly. "Now… I'm not sure what I believe. But I don't feel so alone anymore."
Their eyes met. Not with the fire of passion, but the warm beginning of something unspoken. A flicker of understanding. Of light, however small.
Far away, watching through the shadows, a woman with violet eyes and crimson lips curled her mouth into a smile.
"So this is the girl who caught both their hearts. Let's see how long you can hold them, Yun Qianyu."
The dark mist swirled again, and the forest held its breath.