The streets were silent—too silent. Only the rain spoke, whispering against the broken pavement, running in thin rivulets over shattered glass and blood.
Yue Lusi collapsed beside Li Xuanjin, her breath hitching in gasps that refused to steady. His fingers barely twitched in hers, his body curled against the cold, his pulse weak beneath her touch.
"Stay awake," she begged, her voice cracking. "Just stay with me. Please."
His eyes, once bright as burning embers, dimmed. The world felt distant to him—like something fading away, slipping between the cracks of time.
"You were always too stubborn," he murmured, his lips barely forming the words.
She let out a half-sob, half-laugh. "And you were always reckless."
The rain poured harder.
Above them, Wu Tianye stood with his blade slick in crimson, watching. He did not smile this time.
"Do you feel it, Yue Lusi?" he whispered. "The moment fate steals him away? The moment you realize love is never enough?"
She did not look at him.
She only saw Xuanjin—the man who had torn through time for her, who had fought against gods, against destiny itself. And now, all she could do was hold him, as if she could fight death with her own strength.
"I won't let you go."
Her fingers found the ChronoKey beneath his torn shirt—the jade pendant that had pulsed through centuries, tying their souls together.
It was cold now.
No heartbeat.
Xiangyin's breath caught, her hands shaking.
"No—"
A sob shattered her voice.
Thunder cracked across the sky, lightning slicing through the darkness. Mei Linghua watched from the ruined steps of an abandoned shrine, her expression unreadable. She did not remember why the pain in Xiangyin's voice echoed within her own soul.
Xuanjin exhaled softly, his grip loosening. His head tilted slightly—just enough to press his lips against her palm.
"Live," he whispered. "Even if I don't."
And then—
The world stilled.
The rain stopped.
The final breath left his lips.
For a moment, Xiangyin did not move.
Then a scream tore through the city, ripping through the sky, splintering through time itself.
The jade pendant cracked.
The ground beneath them trembled.
And the heavens, for the first time,wept.
------------
The city hummed with neon light, stretching its veins across the towering skyline. It was supposed to be an ordinary night—streetlights flickering, cars droning, the distant pulse of sirens in the background. But something stirred beneath it all. Something ancient, something waiting.
She was born in a downtown hospital, under the glow of fluorescent bulbs and the eerie red reflection of the blood moon spilling through the window. The monitors beeped, nurses bustled, and in the delivery room, no one noticed the lights dimming for a split second as she took her first breath.
No one but him.
Across the city, a man in a tailored suit glanced up at the sky, watching the blood moon with a knowing expression. He had spent years preparing for this moment—decades, even. He reached into his pocket, fingers brushing against a worn envelope. Inside were the words he had read a thousand times:
"She will either rule the world or end it. But she doesn't know."
And now, she was here,Alive.
Unaware of what she was meant to become.