The wind howled in her ears as Jiang Si clung desperately to the cliff edge, her grip precarious.
Her delicate hands were torn and bloody, her body slowly sinking, yet she had no intention of letting go.
She didn’t want to die.
She had finally escaped her tragic past, loving and being loved by Ajin. The days worth looking forward to were still ahead.
If she died, Ajin would be alone.
With this thought, Jiang Si, despite her exhaustion, summoned another burst of strength, managing to move her body slightly upward.
A shoe embroidered with silver thread appeared before her.
Jiang Si struggled to look up.
Princess Qi’s lips curled in a cold smile, her appearance completely different from her usual gentle and kind demeanor.
“Seventh Sister-in-law is quite tenacious, isn’t she?”
Jiang Si bit her lip hard.
At this point, what was there not to understand?
She had gone to Baiyun Temple with Princess Qi to offer incense when they encountered a startled horse. Now she was hanging from a cliff, her life hanging by a thread, while Princess Qi stood before her, calm and composed.
In this life-and-death situation, Princess Qi was the culprit!
“Why?” Jiang Si asked.
She felt confused, unwilling, and angry, but notably absent was any plea for mercy.
Since the other party had already acted, begging would be worthless, merely inviting humiliation.
Princess Qi didn’t answer Jiang Si’s question. Instead, she bent down and, expressionless, pried open Jiang Si’s bloodied hands.
As Jiang Si fell, she thought she heard Princess Qi’s faint laughter.
Her body fell rapidly, yet Jiang Si’s mind was flooded with memories.
Thoughts of her father and brothers, her elder sister, and most of all, Yu Jin.
At this moment, those things and people that had displeased her didn’t surface in her mind.
She had no time to think of them.
She didn’t want to die.
Jiang Si’s body crashed onto the rocks at the bottom of the cliff, her bones shattering.
But in that instant, she didn’t die immediately. A thread of consciousness remained.
Clear and painful.
It hurts so much…
Ajin, where are you? I’m in so much pain…
The sound of something heavy falling echoed.
A large dog struggled to approach Jiang Si.
“Woof—” The dog barked once, licking its mistress’s hand with its tongue.
That hand remained motionless.
The dog laboriously moved closer to lick its mistress’s cheek.
The dog’s world was simple: master, mistress, meat bones.
But why wasn’t the mistress moving?
It had followed her scent all the way here. Why wasn’t the mistress moving?
The dog tried to grab Jiang Si’s clothes with its teeth to drag her but gradually lost strength.
“Woof…” The dog whimpered softly.
Yu Jin, upon receiving the news, rode at full speed. He dismounted, nearly falling at the cliff’s edge.
“Master—” Long Dan reached out to support him but was pushed away.
“Is it here?” Yu Jin asked.
Long Dan didn’t dare look at Yu Jin’s bloodshot eyes and nodded with difficulty, “Yes…”
Without any hesitation, Yu Jin immediately descended to the bottom of the cliff.
Long Dan hurriedly followed.
The cliff bottom was eerily quiet, a desolate silence that bred despair.
Yu Jin immediately spotted the figure lying not far away and staggered towards her.
His Princess lay motionless, the blood beneath her already congealed, staining the rocks red.
Yu Jin reached out, caressing Jiang Si’s cheek.
The face he had kissed countless times was ice-cold.
Yu Jin, without a word, picked up Jiang Si, his face terrifyingly pale.
Long Dan, who had followed down, watched in fear and couldn’t help but call out, “Master—”
Yu Jin ignored him, carrying Jiang Si past Long Dan.
Long Dan wanted to speak but understood how devastating the Princess’s death was to his master. He could only sigh and pick up the dog lying beside Jiang Si.
The dog had also breathed its last.
Long Dan rubbed his eyes, crying.
Wasn’t everything fine just now? How did it suddenly turn out like this?
Returning to the top of the cliff, a rescue team arrived.
Yu Jin didn’t even look at these people. He mounted his horse with Jiang Si in his arms and rode away.
Long Dan, arriving a step behind with Erniu’s body, was dumbfounded: “Master, where are you going?”
Yu Jin rode frantically, with only one thought in his mind: to find the Wumiao Grand Elder to save his wife.
Fortunately, the Wumiao Grand Elder was in the capital at the moment.
After riding for an unknown time, Yu Jin burst into a civilian residence carrying Jiang Si.
“Save her!” Yu Jin rushed straight to the Grand Elder, uttering his first words since finding Jiang Si.
Seeing Jiang Si’s mangled body, the Grand Elder’s face changed dramatically, full of shock: “How did this happen?”
Yu Jin had no strength to explain, only two words: “Save her!”
The Grand Elder reached out to touch Jiang Si and sighed, “The Holy Maiden is already dead.”
“I know, but you have the art of resurrection. Use it to save her!”
“But—” Jiang Si’s death had also thrown the Grand Elder into confusion.
Yu Jin knelt: “Please, save her.”
The Grand Elder looked at the young man kneeling before her and said gravely, “Does the Prince know that our tribe’s resurrection technique requires someone to willingly exchange their life?”
“I’m willing.”
He only wanted his Princess to live.
The Grand Elder’s eyes flickered: “When she wakes up, it might be a new beginning. Do you know what a new beginning means?”
Yu Jin shook his head.
“Reincarnation! Using our Wumiao’s heaven-defying technique to let her reincarnate once more. By then… you will have forgotten her.”
The technique defied heaven’s will. She, as the practitioner, would also forfeit her life.
But she was willing.
Only now had she glimpsed a bit of heaven’s will. Using her life to give the Wumiao a chance at survival was worth it.
The key was whether this man before her would find it worthwhile. If there was even a hint of unwillingness, the technique would fail.
Yu Jin heard the Grand Elder say he would forget Jiang Si and clenched his fists tightly: “Grand Elder, you talk too much. When does the technique begin?”
“Tonight at the hour of Zi.”
“Tonight at the hour of Zi?” Yu Jin glanced at the sky, his demeanor changing, “Then there’s still time. Please take care of my wife, Grand Elder.”
He gently placed Jiang Si on the bed and strode out, mounting his horse and riding straight to Prince Qi’s mansion.
The wind rushed into his throat, like a raging fire burning into his stomach.
But his speed increased, and upon arrival, he went straight to the main gate.
“Are your Prince and Princess here?”
Seeing Yu Jin’s terrifying expression, the gatekeeper hurriedly said, “The Prince and Princess just returned from the palace.”
Yu Jin had originally left the city on business. From Jiang Si’s fall to when he received the news, there was a considerable time gap, enough for the Prince and Princess Qi to report to the palace and return.
“Announce me. I want to see them,” Yu Jin said calmly.
Prince Qi, upon receiving the news, met Yu Jin with Princess Qi in the flower hall.
Prince Qi looked ashamed: “Seventh Brother, we never imagined such a thing would happen. I was just preparing to go see you.”
Princess Qi’s eyes were red, her expression mournful: “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t invited Seventh Sister-in-law to offer incense, this wouldn’t have happened…”
Yu Jin listened quietly until they finished, then drew his sword.
“Seventh Brother, what are you doing?”
Yu Jin swung his sword.
Prince Qi, accustomed to a life of luxury, was no match for Yu Jin, who had fought his way out of death. After barely dodging twice, he was stabbed in the chest.
Princess Qi screamed and tried to flee: “Someone come—”
Before she could finish her cry for help, Princess Qi fell to the ground, struck by the sword.
Yu Jin ignored the people rushing in and said calmly: “Don’t treat me like a fool.”
“Prince Yan has killed the Prince and Princess—” The entire Prince Qi’s mansion was in chaos.
Yu Jin walked out with his sword, cutting down anyone who tried to stop him, regardless of life or death.
The sword dripped with blood, and gradually, no one dared approach.
He left the mansion, threw away his sword, and rode away frantically, soon leaving his pursuers behind. After riding far enough, he abandoned his horse and continued on foot.
The news that Prince Yan had killed Prince Qi and his wife quickly spread. When Consort Xian heard the news, she was so shocked that she vomited blood and fainted.
Emperor Jingming was furious and ordered the Jinlin Guard to search for Prince Yan’s whereabouts, putting the entire city under martial law.
Yu Jin paid no attention to this.
What did it matter if the whole city was under martial law? He could easily hide until the hour of Zi tonight.
Soon, the time arrived.
“Grand Elder, let’s begin.”
“Are you sure?”
“No need to think about it.”
The Grand Elder nodded and lit an incense to initiate the technique.
Yu Jin didn’t understand these things. He gazed intently at Jiang Si lying on the bed.
Suddenly, the Grand Elder handed him an ancient-looking dagger and shouted: “Quickly, stab it into your heart and draw two ounces of blood from your heart!”
Without hesitation, Yu Jin plunged the dagger into his chest. Blood soon gushed out, some of it falling into the jade bowl in the Grand Elder’s hand.
He supported himself against the wall, his vision blurring, watching as the Grand Elder applied the blood to Jiang Si’s brow.
The blood seemed to be absorbed into her skin.
Yu Jin’s lips curved slightly, and he closed his eyes.
He believed that no matter how many times they reincarnated, even if he lost all his memories, even if he was no longer who he was now, he would still remember falling in love with Asi.
A’Si, let’s meet in our next life.