Time, for an immortal, is like a slow-moving river.
But for a mortal, it is a waterfall—fast, relentless, and beautiful only because it is ending.
Fifteen years had passed since the family returned from their world tour.
The Feng Group had reached heights never before seen in the corporate world, largely because Feng Yuan had indeed trained Feng Shi with a ruthlessness that bordered on the sadistic.
The boy was now a young man, a striking figure with his father's broad shoulders and his mother's ethereal, jade-tinted skin.
When his violet eyes flashed in a boardroom, even the most seasoned directors felt their blood run cold.
"I'm heading to the Demon Realm for the weekend," Feng Shi announced one morning, tossing a stack of signed merger documents onto the desk.
"Uncle Hu says there's a rebellion in the North. He needs me to 'practicing crushing skulls' or something equally dramatic."
Feng Yuan, now in his late fifties, sat in his armchair by the window.
His hair was a distinguished salt-and-pepper, and though he still possessed the aura of a king, his movements were slower.
"Finish the quarterly audit before you go. I won't have the Demon Realm's politics affecting my profit margins."
Feng Shi rolled his eyes, a gesture inherited directly from Nan Si.
"Yes, Father. Give mom my love. And tell her I hid the spicy strips she wanted in the third drawer of the library."
Feng Yuan's eyes narrowed. "I already found them and threw them away. She's on a 'healthy diet' this week."
"You're a tyrant," Feng Shi laughed, vanishing in a swirl of violet mist before his father could throw a paperweight at him.
Once the room was silent, Feng Yuan let out a heavy breath. He looked down at his hands.
Even with the highest maintenance, the best doctors, and the occasional "Spirit Fruit" Nan Si smuggled to him, he could see the fine lines of age and the slight tremor in his fingers.
The door opened, and Nan Si skipped in. To the world, she was the "Eternal Goddess" of the Feng family.
She hadn't aged a single day. Her silver hair flowed like a waterfall of starlight, and her jade eyes were as bright and mischievous as ever.
"Ah Yuan! Look! Su Su sent me these new silk ribbons!" she chirped, sitting on the arm of his chair and leaning against him.
Feng Yuan wrapped his arm around her, but he felt a sudden, sharp pang in his chest.
He pulled her closer, burying his face in her neck, inhaling the scent of peach blossoms that never faded.
[Beep... Warning,]
Baby's voice whispered in Nan Si's mind.
[Host, the fragment's physical shell is reaching its limit. Because of the injuries he took in his early years—his life force is depleted. He has ten years left, at most.]
Nan Si's smile faltered. She looked at Feng Yuan, who was currently kissing her temple with a doting, desperate intensity.
"Ah Yuan? Why are you always so distracted lately?" she asked, her voice small.
Feng Yuan pulled back just enough to look at her. He wanted to ask her a thousand questions again and again. 'When I am gone, will you find someone else? Will you go back to the Demon Realm and forget the mortal who kept you in a villa? Will you still eat spicy strips and think of me?'
But looking at her innocent, loving face, he couldn't bring himself to be that selfish.
Instead, he stroked her cheek. "Sisi... you'll remember me forever, right? Even when I'm not here to tuck you in?"
Nan Si laughed, though her heart felt like it was being squeezed by a cold hand.
"Yes... obviously! We are husband and wife. I will always love you, Ah Yuan. Don't say such silly things!"
Feng Yuan smiled, the heaviness in his heart lifting slightly at her confession.
He didn't tell her that he had already finalized his will, leaving everything to her and Feng Shi.
He didn't tell her that he had spent the last year secretly building a memorial garden in the back of the villa, a place where he hoped she would sit and remember him.
As the months turned into years, Feng Yuan's health grew increasingly weak. The doctors called it "natural decline," but Baby knew it was the fragment's soul preparing to depart.
He refused to stay in a hospital. "I want to be with Sisi," he insisted.
Nan Si stayed by his side 24/7. She fed him, read to him, and used her spiritual power to soothe his pain. She looked at him—the man who had spoiled her to the heavens, who had fought her brother for her, who had built an empire just to keep her in luxury—and felt a profound sense of wrongness.
One afternoon, as they sat in the villa's sunroom, Feng Yuan fell asleep while holding her hand.
Nan Si looked at his pale face and whispered to the system.
[Baby... extract my soul when he goes.]
Baby paused his drama. [Host? You still have decades of life left in this shell. You could stay with Feng Shi. You could travel again.]
[No,] Nan Si said, a tear falling onto Feng Yuan's hand.
[I came to this world for him. I am a his Sisi; If the fragment leaves, this world is just a cage of memories. I want to follow him.]
Feng Yuan's eyes fluttered open. He saw her crying and immediately tried to sit up, his voice weak but still filled with doting concern. "Sisi? Why are you crying? Did that brat Feng Shi say something to you? I'll have him disinherited..."
Nan Si laughed through her tears, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "No, Ah Yuan. I was just thinking... about how much I love you."
Feng Yuan pulled her into a weak embrace, his eyes closing again as he savored her warmth. "That's my girl. Just keep loving me... that's all I need."
Inside the room, the sun set slowly, casting long shadows over the couple.
Outside, the Feng Group was being led into a new era by a violet-eyed heir, but in this quiet corner of the villa, the "Ice King" was simply a man spending his final days in the arms of the only woman who had ever truly known him.