Heaven and earth fell silent. Then came a faint “crack,” extremely minute, like the sound of snow breaking a tree branch. Lu Yun whirled around – the mountain mist was torn open by the force, and following it, rolling out like snow waves surging forward, was the “avalanche.”

Vast and boundless.

Lu Yun roared: “Run in different directions—”

In that split second of lightning-quick thought, his body lost its usual casualness, tensing every muscle as he fled outward at maximum speed. But the entire mountain was covered by this torrential snow pouring down like a flood. The world was extraordinarily quiet; he could only hear his breathing. Lu Yun made several leaps through the snow, his speed already extreme, but still no match for the speed of the collapsing snow mountain.

When the great force rushed against his spine from behind, Lu Yun only managed to drop to the ground and turn his body, raising his sleeve in a blocking stance to shield his face and chest. His spine escaped catastrophe, avoiding being crushed. But that surging force buried him, and before his eyes was a vast expanse of white as his body was swept into it.

The world spun, and he lost consciousness.

…

When awareness returned, he found himself lying on his side, buried in the snow. His entire body was in severe pain, his limbs numb, with both the cold and the crisis of diminishing air assailing Lu Yun.

His chest throbbed with waves of dull pain.

His arms hurt terribly, having maintained the upward bracing position against the accumulated snow above for too long, now almost immobile.

Lu Yun called out twice: “Is anyone there?”

Only his breathing answered.

He wanted to move but couldn’t.

Lu Yun closed his eyes, calming the anxiety in his heart, and forcing himself to remain composed.

He laughed bitterly in his heart, thinking this must be his destined death. For all his calculations, he still lost to heaven, lost to his arrogance. He had imagined countless ways he might die, but never thought he would be defeated by nature itself. He had always believed that actively responding would turn everything around, but things took an unexpected turn, and he was still closest to death.

Ling Yu must be furious with him.

If he… Ling Yu…

He only vaguely thought about it for a moment before forcing himself to stop thinking about such things. Right now, the most important thing is self-rescue.

Lu Yun had already sustained some injuries in the earlier battle with enemy forces. He slowly bent his arm that had been protecting his vital areas. Slowly, he brought his hand to his lips, gently biting down, letting blood drip from his finger. Lu Yun’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and when he opened his eyes, using the snow’s light, he stared at the direction of the blood dripping from his finger.

The blood dropped onto his face.

Making his clear, pure white countenance appear bewitching from the blood stains.

However, Lu Yun used the direction of the blood flow from his finger to determine the direction the snow had buried him from top to bottom. To save himself, he needed to go against the flow. After determining that direction, he mobilized all his strength to dig through the fluffy snow, creating a hole. Like swimming, bit by bit, he crawled outward.

Lu Yun knew he had to hurry.

As time passed, this fluffy snow would compact and harden. By then, with his strength exhausted and no air remaining, it would be impossible to dig through snow that had solidified into hard chunks.

Lu Yun estimated that if he couldn’t get out within half an hour and receive help, today would be his death day.

…

But this wasn’t necessarily a path to certain death.

There are no fatal situations in this world; even with nine deaths and one life, heaven will still leave that one hope for survival.

After the avalanche, sweeping across the entire mountain, disregarding friend and foe, both Prince Hengyang’s troops and the Northern forces under the Luoyang Governor were buried. The only fortunate aspect was that this was Southern territory, with only Southerners having the choice whether to rescue people – Southern troops still had a glimmer of hope, while the Northern army faced total annihilation.

Tents were set up at the mountain’s base. The first to be rescued were several scholars who had already nearly escaped down the mountain, including that Gunpowder Master. Protected by soldiers all the way, the avalanche hadn’t endangered them. They were arranged to rest, looking back at the mist-shrouded snow mountain, feeling only terror in retrospect.

Before General Wei’s side received the news, Luo Ling Yu had already commanded: “Quickly, go up the mountain to rescue people first! Send someone to tell Young Master Zhou, have him send people to help here.”

Though she managed to arrange the rescue efforts, her speech was rapid, her face suddenly pale, and her heart had already flown from this place. No one could persuade Luo Ling Yu – when the young lady lifted her skirts and ran before the soldiers who were to go up the mountain for rescue, wanting to join them, everyone was shocked and tried to stop her: “There’s still danger of avalanche on the mountain… Young Lady is delicate…”

Luo Ling Yu interrupted: “Don’t worry about me! My body is very healthy, I rarely get sick. Though I appear delicate, that’s just pretense – I’m quite tough…”

Everyone: “…”

Luo Ling Yu: “You don’t need to look after me, don’t mind me!”

The beautiful young lady opened her lovely eyes, moist with emotion, looking beseechingly at the men. Being such a beauty, there were almost no men who could refuse her.

One person still hesitated: “If it’s for Third Young Master, we can…”

Luo Ling Yu: “I’m the one who worries about him most, I understand him best… Let me go, please let me go!”

She choked up inside.

She didn’t care about other people.

Let them die.

She only cared about Lu Yun. Only if he was safe would she have the heart to worry about her reputation; if he couldn’t be safe, who would she be maintaining her reputation for? She had always hoped to be different in Lu Yun’s heart, to be special to him, for him to see her good side.

Don’t just focus on her flaws.

Don’t always think she’s a petty person.

She was going to marry him. How could her betrothed die?

…

The soldiers couldn’t resist Luo Ling Yu.

Young Lady Luo was determined, refusing to give up going up the mountain no matter how they tried to persuade her. She was also eloquent, able to convince and smooth over everyone’s different opinions. She promised not to burden anyone, promised not to seek death if another avalanche occurred. She was utterly pitiful, saying she must find Lu Yun.

Everyone’s hearts softened and they agreed.

Luo Ling Yu stumbled along with everyone, picking their way through the mountain. The mountain mist was neither dispersed nor lingering, the young lady in a red cloak and white dress, her skirts trailing in the mud. She dug through the snow with others, she looked all around, putting her hand to her mouth and shouting: “Lu Yun, Lu Yun… *cough cough*, Lu Yun—”

The wind rushed into her mouth, choking her chest tight.

Luo Ling Yu fell to the ground, and whenever she felt movement, she would dig at the snow, desperately excavating to rescue the person below. Each time she saw it wasn’t Lu Yun who was rescued, Luo Ling Yu couldn’t hide her disappointment.

Disappointment, utter disappointment.

She was this selfish, her heart was this small. If it wasn’t Lu Yun, if it was anyone else, it made no difference to her.

She could only move like a headless fly, not missing any possibility. She knelt on the ground, almost crawling forward prostrate. Her hands touched the ice-cold snow, her eyes watching helplessly as one rescued person after another turned out to be corpses. Her heart collapsed, experiencing its avalanche.

She just didn’t show it on her face.

The young lady covered her mouth, tears falling like pearls, in despair: “Lu Yun— where are you?! You promised me…”

…

She said, “I ask one word from you through the ages, may love remain unchanging as mountains.”

He smiled then and said “Alright,” and said he would give her an answer.

Could she still wait for that answer?

She didn’t want Second Young Master Lu’s dream— she had rushed from Jianye to Nanyang, and she came to marry him, not to verify that dream.

…

The air grew increasingly thin. After digging out a section, with no strength left, he still couldn’t hear sounds from outside, and couldn’t sense human voices.

Lu Yun panted, stopping. He couldn’t throw his life away, couldn’t let himself completely run out of breath. His bloodied hand moved downward, touching the pouch tied together with the jade pendant at his waist. That pouch with ordinary embroidery must be the one Luo Ling Yu gave him.

Lu Yun sighed softly, blood from his finger dripping onto the pouch. He carefully caressed that embroidery, his mind becoming hazy, gradually unclear.

Knowing his consciousness was intermittent, muddled, as if in a dream.

…

He hazily saw stars turning like light, night cool as water.

He was reading in his room when he heard a knock at the door. At the doorway stood a young lady wearing a hood. The light from the room shone out as she removed her hood, revealing her lovely face – it was Luo Ling Yu. She stood in the dim light under the lantern outside the room, the lantern swaying gently in the wind, that light falling on her face like rippling waves, layer upon layer.

Third Young Master Lu who opened the door wore a small crown and dressed in a light cloud-patterned brocade robe. He lowered his gaze, seeing plum blossoms scattered on the young lady’s trailing skirts. But Third Young Master Lu’s expression was very cold, very indifferent. He asked coldheartedly, as if without feeling: “What are you doing here?”

Luo Ling Yu said softly: “They say you’re heading to battle tomorrow, leaving Jianye, I came to see you off.”

Lu Yun raised an eyebrow, his tone slightly mocking: “I dare not accept Princess Hengyang’s sendoff.”

Luo Ling Yu acted as if she hadn’t heard, her eyelashes trembling, casting down a sorrowful shadow. Lu Yun’s heart felt empty, yet painfully uncomfortable. His hand moved slightly, wanting to pull her into an embrace, but saw her reach out, lowering herself to the utmost, extending the pouch in her hand.

Luo Ling Yu’s expression was rather forced as she said quietly: “I begged for a charm from the master at Kaishan Temple, for safety and protection. I give it to you… consider it my final repayment.”

Lu Yun’s body suddenly stiffened, yet he didn’t move.

She stepped forward, tremblingly reaching out, her fingertips touching his waist. Her eyes were moist as she reached to tie this pouch at his waist. Her fingernails brushed over the pouch she had embroidered, hiding her heart’s meaning inside. And what she had lost, what left her at a loss, she didn’t know if he would understand.

She didn’t want to marry Prince Hengyang – she had been threatened by Fan Qingchen and had also discovered Prince Hengyang’s plot to assassinate the emperor, and didn’t want to implicate Lu Yun… She didn’t want to implicate Lu Yun, yet in her heart, there was still a faint hope.

Luo Ling Yu lowered her head, tears in her eyes. But her voice was calm: “I’m about to marry Prince Hengyang. After marriage, I cannot let my husband doubt me. Don’t come looking for me anymore, don’t meet with me privately. We were acquainted after all, I hope you won’t hinder my prospects, or ruin my reputation. Prince Hengyang has His Majesty’s favor, perhaps one day he might become emperor, then I would be empress… This is our final meeting tonight, I hope you won’t let anyone know of our relationship.”

Lu Yun sneered: “I’m hindering your prospects?”

He stepped forward, and she retreated under his shadow. He suddenly reached out, grabbing her wrist. He pressed her against the corridor pillar, his nose touching her cold face. He said coldly: “You dare say I’m hindering your prospects… Do you love wealth and status that much, so eager to marry?”

Luo Ling Yu hardened her heart, closing her eyes: “Yes!”

Lu Yun pressed her: “Then am I without these things?!”

Luo Ling Yu: “…You cannot make me empress! I just want supreme power, want to… mmph! Lu Yun… Lu Yun…”

Her lips were sealed.

He bent down to kiss her.

Tightly embracing her waist as he kissed her.

The plantain leaves were cool, their radiance like water, as Third Young Master Lu passionately kissed her, and embraced her. He gripped her wrists, letting her pound against his chest in his embrace. He didn’t want to let her go; his heart was angry, knowing this was the last time.

…

He wanted to beg her.

But Third Young Master Lu was proud and arrogant; he never begged anyone.

He wrote half a letter, wrote the words “paper is short but feelings are long,” then crumpled it and threw it away. In his heart, he loved her, couldn’t bear to part with her, yet was angry that she would marry another. But he wouldn’t admit it, wouldn’t watch it happen before his eyes.

He went to the frontier.

The night before the arrows pierced his heart, Lu Yun drank himself into a stupor. Because the new emperor had ascended the throne and, being impatient, held a grand wedding despite court pressure, Luo Ling Yu became empress in one step. Just as she had hoped. Frontier soldiers came to network with Lu Yun, to inquire. They had heard Her Majesty the Empress was Third Young Master Lu’s cousin and had once stayed at the Lu residence…

Lu Yun remained silent.

His heart was in utter despair, knowing nothing could be reversed.

He died in battle the next day. The Northern army launched a surprise attack, and Third Young Master Lu was depressed and suffering from his hangover. He accepted that fate of dying from countless arrows, and as he knelt among the masses before death, he even felt a sense of release—

Looking back on this life, he seemed privileged and seemed to have many admirers.

But he never had true love, no one truly loved him.

He hated Luo Ling Yu.

The pouch at his waist, that pouch carrying Luo Ling Yu’s love, he never looked at it once. He felt she didn’t love him, and he refused to debase himself further, begging like a dog before her for her love. That love he sought but couldn’t obtain… he truly hated her!

…

Third Young Master Lu himself was hazy, as if watching someone else’s play. It felt both strange and deeply resonant. When that version of him in the dream died under countless arrows, the disappointment in that dream-self’s heart made Lu Yun feel as if struck heavily, his chest also missing a great hole, sticky blood flowing outward.

But in the dream, different things happened afterward.

When news of Third Young Master Lu’s death reached Jianye, in the vast Taichu Palace, the new, young Empress was trimming branches for flowers in the garden. A palace maid mentioned the news casually, and in almost an instant, the young lady who had just been wearing a slight smile suddenly had an empty expression.

She stood frozen, the scissors in her hand falling to the ground.

For a moment, she lowered her head. The palace maid couldn’t see her expression, but Lu Yun knew she was crying.

She held her body rigid, tears falling to the ground, forming a small puddle.

She quickly returned to her chambers, no longer able to hold back, throwing herself onto the bed, covering her nose and mouth, her shoulders trembling.

In the dim light of the chambers, Luo Ling Yu, now Empress, secretly wept in the palace room, not daring to make even the slightest sound. Her emotions were extremely suppressed and extremely painful. She felt as terrible as if she had died… she had never imagined he would die at the frontier.

With a selfish heart, she had given him the pouch, hoping that man would never forget her his entire life. In the future when he took a wife and had children, his wife would still have to bow before her. She would always be one step above his wife. Every time his wife saw her, he would learn of her news once. She wanted him to never forget, wanted to remain in his heart.

Luo Ling Yu and Lu Yun maintained that stubbornness – if he wouldn’t yield, she wouldn’t yield; if she wouldn’t yield, he wouldn’t yield either. They would slowly wear each other down, they had a lifetime to contest this stubbornness.

But she didn’t want him to die.

Her Third Cousin, her peerlessly elegant Brother Xuezhen… he was gone.

Luo Ling Yu wept: “Lu Xuezhen, I hate you.”

…

Lu Yun suddenly awoke, opening his eyes to still see a silvery white expanse. That suffocating pain he had just felt seemed like a dream. Cold sweat streamed down Lu Yun’s forehead as he thought perhaps it was a dream.

It was that first dream Second Young Master Lu had vaguely mentioned.

Lu Yun’s fingers were numb as he again forcefully dug at the snow, but gradually lost consciousness again due to lack of air.

…

This time, howling winds raged, mist and snow covering the mountain.

Lu Yun’s chest and abdomen were in severe pain; he looked down to see his abdomen bleeding profusely. He leaned against a mountain rock, unable to move.

After a long while, Lu Yun recognized this as Crown Prince’s Watch Mountain.

He seemed to be dreaming Second Brother’s second dream – before his death.

Just sitting there quietly, waiting for death in a daze.

In his heart he yearned to see her; he had glimpsed the secret hidden in her pouch. But with snow connecting the mountains, he couldn’t see her.

Lu Yun lowered his head, laughing self-mockingly. Suddenly, in the vast world, just before death, hazily, he heard her call: “Lu Yun, Lu Yun—”

Lu Yun leaned against the rock, his entire body stiff, without an ounce of strength. His life was rapidly draining away, blood and snow mixing on the ground. He thought he couldn’t wait for her anymore, perhaps it was just an auditory hallucination. Using his last strength, he bit his hand and, using the white snow on the ground, wrote several characters—

“Through the ages, I return your one word, love itself unchanging as mountains.”

…

Looking back on the past, never forgetting, unable to face each other.

In Third Young Master Lu’s final moments, lonely against the mountain boulder, he wrote these words. He felt Luo Ling Yu wouldn’t appear, yet he suspected he had truly heard her calls… he just wanted to give himself some comfort.

He was so cold.

Snow covered his eyelashes as Lu Yun closed his eyes.

He heard the distant female voice again: “Lu Yun where are you—”

Lu Yun softly murmured. Across many distances, knowing she might not be there, might not hear him. He just said to himself: “Ling Yu…”

But he had nothing more to say.

Disappointment, hope. Pleading, rejection.

His heart was unwilling, unwilling to die like this. But he had no choice. Even if she appeared, in his current condition, he couldn’t survive.

Therefore, even as her calls grew closer, he still made no sound and gave no response.

Because death was certain. Because he didn’t want her to see how he died. He felt he had failed her, let her love him in vain… in the end, her dream of glory and wealth was almost cut off because of him.

He had harmed her.

…

And the young lady finally found him after death, holding him as she wept greatly, her tears buried in his neck.

Lu Yun watched quietly, watching Luo Ling Yu cry, suffer, and finally return to Jianye. She was extremely grieved, unwilling to marry anyone else.

In the endless night, colored with glazed tiles. He quietly watched all this, as if it all truly happened before his eyes. Lu Yun lowered his gaze, thinking: No matter whose dream this was, whoever’s dream would do, he hoped that in a world without him, Luo Ling Yu could forget him and be a little happier.

…

“Lu Yun, Lu Yun—” The young lady’s calls once again filled heaven and earth.

The dream drifted, wandering for several years, much time passed, and never again had her and him. In reality, Lu Yun was in a daze, snow blocking his nose and mouth, tremblingly opening his eyes, vaguely feeling he had heard Luo Ling Yu’s voice.

The dream and reality briefly confused his mind, making him unable to distinguish which was real and which was false. But he heard her voice, and he remained silent.

Thinking of her tears in the dream, her melancholy.

He again gripped the pouch at his waist, thinking he couldn’t die.

Whoever’s dream was, he couldn’t die, and couldn’t let Luo Ling Yu lose hope.

Third Young Master Lu, unable to move his body buried under the snow, using his last strength, shouted out: “Ling Yu… help… help—”

…

It took half an hour total, from the avalanche to rescuing people.

Luo Ling Yu thought she heard the faint voice of her lord, and she grabbed those around her wanting them to go rescue him. But those nearby didn’t believe her, as they hadn’t heard anything. They looked at Luo Ling Yu with sympathy, suspecting the young lady was too worried and having auditory hallucinations.

Third Young Master Lu’s situation had too great an impact on her. The young lady was truly pitiful.

But Luo Ling Yu didn’t think so; she felt certain Lu Yun was calling for help. Even if it wasn’t him, she wouldn’t miss any chance.

The young lady dragged people, forcing them to follow her: “It’s Lu Yun… it’s Third Cousin, I wouldn’t mishear, I wouldn’t fail to recognize his voice…”

Under Luo Ling Yu’s insistence, seduced by her beauty, several soldiers reluctantly followed her in the direction of rescuing people. To everyone’s surprise and shock, the young lady knelt on the ground, digging through the snow with them. They hadn’t felt anything, but the young lady’s body suddenly trembled slightly as she called out: “It’s him, it’s him— Quick!”

Her voice suddenly became urgent, her calm expression suddenly changing.

Luo Ling Yu and several others worked together, truly pulling Lu Yun out from under the snow. Where they dug, there was a small hole, blood dripping on the snow tunnel, presumably left from Lu Yun’s self-rescue attempt. Others went to look at the hole Lu Yun had dug, at the blood under his nails. They all praised: “Colonel Lu found the direction to dig upward against the flow? Even thought of using blood to judge direction? Truly worthy of being Colonel.”

Luo Ling Yu heard none of it.

She stared at Lu Yun’s frost-covered form as he lay with closed eyes, blinking away the water on her eyelashes. Her lips lifted slightly as if wanting to smile. However, the young lady knelt dirtily on the ground, her face showing only an expression between crying and laughing. Luo Ling Yu, as if breaking down, threw herself forward to tightly embrace his rigid body.

She buried her face in the crook of his neck, sobbing: “I knew it was you, I knew it was you… they said I heard wrong, but I knew it wasn’t… Brother Xuezhen, wuu wuu wuu…”

…

“I hate you so much wuu wuu wuu!”

“What did you promise me? You promised me—”

The young lord was held as she cried. Her scalding tears fell into the crook of his neck, his ice-cold muscles severely frozen, but now trembled slightly. The fingers she gripped moved faintly. The young lady froze for a moment, realizing the wrist of her lord that she held had moved slightly; he turned his hand over, his ice-cold fingertips pressing against her wrist, gently rubbing.

Luo Ling Yu bent down, watching his eyelashes tremble as he slowly raised his gaze.

He was held in her embrace, frost still covering his face. The young lord’s eyes were dark and bright, weak as he showed her a smile—

“…I’m sorry… and, long time no see.”

…

Whether it was a dream or not, whether true or false.

Truly, it had been a long time.