Her breath stopped.
Everything went dark. Then moonlighr piereced the dark and unveil her face.
"Diē… Niáng…" her voice came out from her mind.
"Yicheng..."
"Forgive me. I failed you all... I failed you all..." her soul wept.
A single tear slipped from her eye down her cheek.
It was warm and real.
"I cried...." her voice is stunt. "I can cry..." her voice started to cry. That was her first tear since the day she lost her father. She had forgotten how to cry, or her mind wanted to keep her safe, so he wiped out all her tears.
"Diē… "Even though she didn't see her father's face, she felt his presence.
"Niáng… I failed to save Yicheng", she cried her heart out.
"If I had a chance..." she thought. "Just one chance...".
Then everything around the world starts to change. Water bubbles started to rise around her, and her chest suddenly convulsed.
She gasped, tried to open her eyes, but she failed.
Time stopped for a second.
The world changed, and a blue aura started to bloom around Xu Jian. Her body glitched between a modern-day costume and to ancient-time blue elegant hanfu. The scene almost out like a fantasy world.
And the glitch stopped. time started
Around her was just water, and a blue aura rising around her body, nothing else.
She wanted to swim upward, to escape, but she couldn't do anything. Only a hand finding the light. Darkness wrapped around her and pulled her down. Her sleeves of the hanfu drifted like seafoam, while her robes danced to the water.
Thud...
The lake's surface cracked into pieces, water displaced in chaotic ripples, and through the water a red aura waved like a fire.
A tall figure plunged into the depths, like a fish finding its freedom through a net. His black robes flutter behind him like his wings.
Below, Xu Jian is floating, her one hand reaching upward.
The man moved toward her, and inches apart, their hands met,
Red met Blue. Their auras clashed in silence and vanished. The water started to calm down.
He grabbed her arm gently, pulled her fragile body into his.
Then he swam upward, without a second thought.
They broke through the surface with a sharp splash. He pulled her to the shore, gently laying her down.
She coughed. Water poured from her lips.
Her body heaved, her chest burned.
He knelt beside her, patting her back with steady hands until her breath returned.
His eyes settled on her face with a deep emotion.
Her eyes, still clouded and locked onto him.
She wanted to thank him. But no voice came out, but her gaze said it all.
She saw him, a man wearing a half golden mask covering the right side of his face, and locked his eyes with her mysteriously and silently.
Her heart started to ache, and deep sorrow swallowed her heart, and she couldn't understand why.
And those eyes, they were special. Every time she saw them, she wanted to cry harder.
"I know those eyes", she whispered in her heart. "But where? Who are you? Why do I feel like I know you?" Her heart was burdened with the thoughts of him.
"Yicheng..." She suddenly remembered her brother, and she scanned through the darkness.
Not a trace of him, instead, she is in a forest near a lake.
"A lake, but I was in..." Her strength started to fade.
She looked into those eyes one more time. Shining phoenix eyes.
Her eyes failed her.
"Qianyi... Qianyi..." His soft and manly voice broke through the silence. He gently tapped her cheeks to keep her awake.
But Xu Jian heard and felt everything in her dreams.
Those phoenix eyes... I want to see them...