"Told you to run… I screamed so loud that my voice broke!" She fought to hold up her shield. Then she turned her head and faced him, her black eyes dotted with red.
"Why didn't you hear a single word?!"
Looking at her face, Changyi was completely stunned. Ice blue eyes stared blankly at the person in front of him, full of disbelief. Aji struggled to hold on, but the power of the lava had exceeded her imagination. Within a few moments, it already burned a hole through her shield.
She felt a sharp pain in her chest and let out a grunt. The hand holding the shield began to tremble. But she could not give up. He had done his best to save everyone and their city, she must do her best to save him...
Aji ignored the pain in her chest and poured all of her demonic power into the shield, then she cast a spell with her other hand using spiritual power. She no longer cared how the jiaoren might react upon seeing her use both sources of power.
She reached out and grabbed a hold of Changyi's hand. When she touched him, she felt the sudden hot and cold temperature shift inside his body. He must have exhausted all of his strength leading the wall along the path.
"I'm not sure if I can break us out, I can only try my best," she said to Changyi.
"Are you willing to put your life into my hand?"
Changyi tightened his grip on her. Suddenly, an image flashed in her mind. She was holding his hand just like now, and they jumped into a sinking pool of water inside a dark abyss.
Aji regained her focus and was about to cast a spell when the lava squeezed through a gap inside her black shield. Without even thinking about it, she took Changyi into her arms and embraced him.
More disconnected images floated up into her mind. She saw his big beautiful tail, him locked behind black iron bars, and his shadow printed onto a screen by candle light. Although there were no connections, they were all images of Changyi and her.
But what lingered in front of her eyes at the end was a moonlit night, on the top of a cliff. She plunged a sword into his chest, and her ruthless face was clearly reflected inside his blue eyes.
That sword felt as if it had stabbed Aji in the heart.
"Enemies," Aji whispered to herself as she shielded Changyi from the searing lava. "We really were enemies..."
But this enemy...
Why did she not feel any hatred toward him? Her eyes grew dark and she prepared for the end. It was just a pity that she could not remember everything...
.....
When Kongming and his men chipped away layers of black rock and saw Changyi below, he was in the middle of a ball of ice. His hair had been tainted grey and covered the face of a woman lying inside his arms. But Kongming did not really care who she was. He just needed to see that Changyi was okay.
People broke out in cheers as they saw their lord alive. Kongming wanted to call him out, but Changyi ignored him no matter how much he knocked on the ice. Finally, the monk could not stand it anymore and chopped onto the ice with a hand full of spiritual power.
Changyi looked up at him. The world's most beautiful face was now covered in black soot.
And on that face were two white streaks of tear marks. Pearls littered the ground next to the woman, her neck also wearing one. The string was still half hidden by her collar, as if Changyi had pulled it out to observe.
The ice melted into water, and Kongming heard his voice.
"It's her," he said. "She came back." Kongming looked at the face of the woman inside Changyi's arms.
It really was Ji Yunhe...