Xinyun stared in disbelief at Nangong Jun’s body, now completely transparent, then looked down at herself, finding she had become exactly the same.
She truly couldn’t process it, simply staring at him, shaking her head over and over, until at last she managed, choked with tears, “You… when exactly did you become a spirit?”
Nangong Jun smiled. “Then you tell me first—when exactly did you fall so deeply for me?”
The world around them was collapsing, and the two of them were about to be reduced to ash and vanish entirely—yet this man could still tease her with such easy composure.
“You—!” Xinyun found herself unable to speak at all, feeling as though everything had happened far too suddenly.
“Silly girl, why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why didn’t you tell me you’d already become a spirit?” Nangong Jun asked gently, and Xinyun felt herself practically melting under the weight of his tenderness!
Seeing her look so hopelessly smitten, Nangong Jun couldn’t help but pull her even closer. “Before I die, there’s something I want to tell you—will you listen?”
Xinyun nodded immediately, overwhelmed with a sense of undeserved favor. This embrace, this tenderness—it was something she had once longed for so desperately, no, something she had never even dared to hope for!
And now, all of it belonged to her!
Even this man himself now belonged entirely to her—she truly… truly couldn’t believe it, so taken aback she felt almost dazed, lost in a foolish, overwhelming happiness.
“My engagement to Miss Helian was arranged by my elders. The reason I wanted to leave was because I didn’t want to break faith with someone who trusted me,” Nangong Jun explained.
Xinyun simply nodded along, foolishly, again and again.
“Silly girl, you kept begging Bai Zili to let you leave—I really thought you truly wanted to go!” Nangong Jun sighed. “I never imagined you’d been deceiving me the whole time…”
Xinyun lowered her head. Yes, it was true—she was a spirit, had been one for a long time now. All she had ever wanted was to see him safely out of here. That was all.
Just as Xinyun lowered her head, Nangong Jun suddenly tilted her chin up, and this gentle man, so tender in every other way, kissed her fiercely, commandingly!
Xinyun startled, eyes widening in shock—but soon, as Nangong Jun’s overwhelming presence swept over her completely, she finally surrendered to it entirely!
And gradually, as their kiss continued, their transparent forms grew thinner and thinner, fainter and fainter, until at last… at last they dissolved into two wisps of pale smoke, intertwining together, drifting slowly further and further away, until they vanished entirely.
Lishang was nearing its end, the entire cave had all but disappeared, leaving only the faint outlines, visible amid the ruins, of the two figures playing their zithers—their forms had faded so completely that it was impossible to tell which was which, except that one of them wore a faint, lingering smile at the corner of their mouth throughout.
At last, just as Lishang approached its final close, suddenly, with a resounding boom, both figures vanished from sight entirely.
And in that very same instant, Ziqing and the others, still plummeting downward, suddenly came to a stop. Looking around, they found themselves back on the cliff above the Innocence Ravine!
They… they had escaped the Lishang illusion realm!
“Where’s Ali!” Ziqing cried out in alarm, looking all around, unable to find him anywhere. Jun Beiyue rushed straight into the cave, but it too was completely empty, not a trace of anyone to be found!
“Little Lili…” Baili Weisheng murmured to himself, taking a long moment to gather himself, unable to accept this reality—Xuanyuan Lige… hadn’t left with them.
What did this mean?
But before they could even fully process it, they heard a sharp ting—the sound of two strings snapping simultaneously—and in an instant, the entire cliff began to collapse. They had no time to flee at all, plunging along with the crumbling cliff into the bottomless abyss of the Innocence Ravine.
The wind roared past their ears, and within that wind, they seemed to catch the faint, distant strains of a zither—the sound of Shangli, mournful as weeping, yet also joyous as laughter, as if someone were trying to tell them something through that melody.
Yet no matter how intently, how carefully they listened, they could make out nothing at all, forced to let the music grow more and more distant, until it faded away entirely, beyond hearing…
“Xuanyuan Lige!”
Suddenly, Ziqing cried out, bolting upright from the ground, eyes flying open. Seeing everything around her, she was struck utterly speechless, frozen in place.
Soon after, Jun Beiyue and Baili Weisheng, who had also fallen to the ground, woke as well, scrambling hastily to their feet, looking at Ziqing, then at their surroundings, exchanging stunned, disbelieving glances.
This place—it was none other than the Xinqing Pavilion, the music room Jun Beiyue had specially prepared for Ziqing, within Prince Yao’s estate in the capital of Da Zhou!
They… they were back!
All three of them had returned. But what about Xuanyuan Lige?
Jun Beiyue and Baili Weisheng turned to look at Ziqing, only to find her already reduced to tears. She spun around like a woman possessed, searching for the blood zither, and the moment she sat down at the instrument, her fingers flew across the strings, urgently playing that very piece—Shangli.
Shangli was, after all, a joyful melody!
She played it frantically, urgently, and the melody flowed forth swiftly—but no matter how hard she tried, no matter how deeply she poured herself into it, she simply could not enter the Shangli illusion realm!
It seemed she had been permanently barred from it, forever!
Ziqing refused to believe it, playing the melody over and over, until finally, her ten fingers were bleeding raw—yet still, it made no difference at all.
If she kept this up, her hands would surely be ruined for good!
Jun Beiyue, aching for her, pulled her away, and by then, having played the piece no fewer than fifty times, Ziqing was utterly exhausted, collapsing limply into his arms.
“He deceived us,” Ziqing murmured, as though she’d lost her very soul.
Jun Beiyue and Baili Weisheng both fell silent. Baili Weisheng stood off to the side, leaning heavily against the wall—and remained there, unmoving, for an entire day and night, while Ziqing lay curled in Jun Beiyue’s arms, just as silent, for that same full day and night!
No one knew quite how much time had passed before Ziqing finally murmured, “I was such a fool… I had a dream, and in the dream everyone was so happy, Ali was so happy too, but I kept feeling like something was off. I even saw Xiong Bao in it!”
As she spoke, she couldn’t help but cover her mouth, recalling everything from that dream, all that happiness—she couldn’t hold back the urge to cry. All of it, surely, had been arranged by Ali himself.
Before their parting, Ali had watched her get married.
“Even I felt like something was wrong, but… but why didn’t I realize it sooner? I even saw Xiong Bao in it! How could I possibly have seen Xiong Bao inside the Lishang illusion realm!” Ziqing was consumed with self-reproach and regret. If only she’d noticed sooner, she surely would have stopped Xuanyuan Lige in time!
She had no idea exactly how Xuanyuan Lige and Bai Zili had managed to send them away, but he hadn’t returned with them to the Shangli illusion realm, and now, she couldn’t even enter the Shangli illusion realm at all anymore.
Whether he was alive or dead, Xuanyuan Lige was, to them, gone forever now.
“I had that same dream too. So… it was him!” Jun Beiyue murmured. He had thought of it himself, had thought of it long, long ago—wanting to claim Ziqing’s hand with the realm as betrothal gift, the world as matchmaker, arriving in full splendor to marry her—yet never had he imagined that it would be within Xuanyuan Lige’s final dream that this wish would finally be fulfilled.
That man could have dreamed of anything he pleased for himself—yet instead, he… he was truly a man of honor!
Watching Ziqing’s grief, Baili Weisheng’s own heart ached as though it might shatter completely. He sniffed hard, laughing bitterly. “Xuanyuan Lige… heh, leaving us with nothing but a dream as farewell—how effortlessly graceful of him. What an absolute bastard.”