“No—” Feng Jiu’er’s vision went black; she nearly fainted on the spot.

She stumbled forward, and before she even reached the edge of the cliff, she saw a figure come flying up from the bottom of the chasm.

No—he had been thrown up!

Jian Yi!

Jian Yi leapt up from the ground, blood still flowing from his shoulder.

It was the wound from moments ago, where Feng Qiongcang’s thin thread had pierced straight through his shoulder blade.

But he had no attention to spare for his own injury now. He only stared blankly at the cliff, and then, blankly, at Feng Jiu’er.

“Jiu’er…”

Jiu’er walked to the edge of the cliff.

She couldn’t believe it. Her mind was in chaos!

“Ninth Imperial Uncle…”

Feng Li’s expression changed, and he moved at once to go to her.

But Jiu’er said flatly, “Father… don’t come closer. I need to… find Ninth Imperial Uncle.”

“Jiu’er, calm down!”

The look on Feng Jiu’er’s face at that moment made Feng Li’s heart clench violently.

Tension, unease, terror!

“Jiu’er…”

“Father, who was it that said this was the highest cliff, that any master who fell from it would be shattered to pieces, with no chance of survival?”

She turned back to look at Feng Li.

Her hands would not stop trembling. Her whole body trembled.

Below the cliff, Ninth Imperial Uncle’s figure had long since vanished, but his presence still seemed to linger, drifting in the air around them.

Ninth Imperial Uncle had seen Jian Yi in danger and, without a second thought, had leapt down.

No—what he had seen was not Jian Yi in danger, but her despair.

To keep her from despairing, Ninth Imperial Uncle had been willing to give up even his life.

Just as before, a thousand times over, Ninth Imperial Uncle had thrown himself into danger without hesitation—always, only, for her.

Forever, it was always for her…

“Ninth Imperial Uncle…”

“Jiu’er, perhaps—” Jian Yi took a step forward, a sharp pain stabbing through his chest.

Perhaps… perhaps there would be an exception. Perhaps there would be a miracle.

But the Ninth Prince had fallen while saving him; that single strike moments ago had drained every last bit of the Ninth Prince’s power.

Jian Yi had gotten the chance to rise—while the Ninth Prince had only fallen faster.

Was there truly still a chance of survival?

Jian Yi’s heart felt as though it had been pierced by ten thousand blades, bleeding freely.

The look on Jiu’er’s face in that moment would be carved into his memory, never to be forgotten for the rest of his life.

Why hadn’t it been him who fell?

Why did it have to be the Ninth Imperial Uncle that Jiu’er loved most?

He would rather it had been himself who died!

“Jiu’er…”

“Ninth Imperial Uncle… wouldn’t just… abandon me like this.”

Feng Jiu’er looked at Jian Yi—seemingly lost, and yet, as if she had made up her mind.

That desolate, distant look in her eyes sent a chill of fear through everyone present.

“Jiu’er…”

Feng Li took a step forward, and Feng Jiu’er took a step back toward the edge of the cliff.

Feng Li and Jian Yi cried out at the same time: “Jiu’er! Don’t!”

“Miss Jiu’er…” Yu Jingfeng’s eyes had reddened. Though his heart was filled with grief, the Prince had already met with misfortune—he could not let anything happen to Miss Jiu’er now, of all times!

“Miss Jiu’er, the Prince… the Prince will surely be fine! Trust me.”

“He wouldn’t just abandon me like this!”

Feng Jiu’er suddenly cried out, staring at Jian Yi, her voice hoarse: “Ninth Imperial Uncle would never abandon me like this. Jian Yi—he wouldn’t, would he?”

“He…” Jian Yi clenched his fist tightly, his voice growing fainter with every word. “He told me… to look after you well, until he… came back.”

“I won’t wait for him!”

Feng Jiu’er’s hoarse voice tore out: “I won’t wait! Why should I wait? I will never wait for him!”

She turned and looked at the cliff.

She would not wait for him.

She was going to find him!

She had never been someone willing to simply wait for fate to arrange things for her.

A gust of madness swept over her. At the cliff’s edge, Jiu’er’s slight figure swayed, as if about to fall.

“Jiu’er, what are you doing?” Feng Li and Jian Yi cried out in alarm at the same moment.

Jiu’er turned back and glanced at them once.

Her thin lips parted slightly, as if she said something.

But the wind howled ever more fiercely, and no one could make out her words.

The wind roared, and in an instant, it wrapped itself around her slender body and lifted her into the air.

“Jiu’er!”

Jian Yi tried to lunge forward, but Feng Li caught him and held him back.

“Something’s wrong!”

Feng Li shoved Jian Yi aside and tried to rush forward himself.

But that same gust of wind blew him back with tremendous force.

Something was wrong!

This wind—it was far too strange!

Jiu’er had already been swept up into midair.

The wind tossed her long hair wildly about, and for all its chaos, she looked unspeakably, achingly beautiful.

In the space of a single breath, the figure suspended in midair suddenly plummeted!

“Jiu’er—!” Jian Yi opened his mouth, spat out a mouthful of blood, and collapsed unconscious.

Feng Li rushed to the cliff’s edge.

At the bottom of the chasm, there was no longer any trace of Jiu’er.

She had fallen.

In that final glance she had given him, he thought he finally understood what his daughter had meant.

She was going to find Ninth Imperial Uncle.

Wherever Ninth Imperial Uncle was, that was where she would be.

Only where Ninth Imperial Uncle was could ever be called home to her.

His daughter had grown up, and had found the one she wished to spend her whole life with.

She had fought for so long. She, too, was tired.

All she wanted now was to return to Ninth Imperial Uncle’s side.

Life after life, generation after generation—never to be parted.