Never One Without Love

Even though Xu Rouguang had to go to work, he ended up loitering the streets. The letter handed to him by Brother Blue was tucked inside his jacket. He trod the path towards the Duan Mansion before taking a left and walked along the fields. The general then found an old park with broken swings and the likes. His feet dragged towards the slide, and he climbed up to take a seat at the top. Xu Rouguang pulled out the letter and channeled his essence to it again.

"Dear Rouguang..."

The general sighed as he looked up, trying to keep his tears from falling.

Dear Rouguang,

Even the most magnificent of beings would collapse the moment it earned sentience from the world around it.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the world was made up of three races. The humans who inhabit the lands, the demons who stole from them, and the children of heaven who protect the humans. Due to the indulgence of humankind, only a few of them could ascend to the heavens and become powerful instruments of peace and justice. The humans outnumber the demons as the demons outnumber the children of heaven. The odds had never favored the humans nonetheless.

Back then, all of the creations—sentient or not—wished to stand with the Goddess Nuwa and destroy the demonkind. A lone, solemn, and resplendent mountain of ice was no exception. When Nuwa shedded a tear to share her power to the mountain, a spirit filled with justice was born. He wielded claws which give the kiss of frost and a sword which cripples the moving with its ice.

The power shared by the Goddess Nuwa was tremendous, and he had been arrogant and unruly. He saw himself at the top of others solely because he was strong and skilled. Nothing in this world would ever best him. That was what he thought.

In the midst of his journey, he heard of the cries of a young man. His heart was crushed by suffering, and his mind was crippled by obsession. He yearned for nothing but the demise of a certain soul of another. However, the power he possessed equaled nothing the mountain had ever seen. The ice mountain's spirit challenged the young man into a duel... in which he lost.

Instead of an arrogant look on the young man's face, it was concern and anxiousness that surfaced in his eyes. He held his hand out and breathed a breeze of restoration towards the mountain's spirit.

"Old man, you're hurt," was all he said.

The people of both heaven and earth had branded this young man as if he was eaten by insanity. A being that was consumed by madness and violence, his silence was only the absence of his concern. However, the mountain's spirit had found a kind soul within those eyes—a kind soul ruined by the world.

'I will follow this soul until he smiles again.'

It was a strange promise to live by, but the mountain's spirit wished for nothing but the accomplishment of this one-sided quest. He walked the side of the young man till he reached the peak of greatness. However, came with it was the destruction of his very soul.

The young man would never redeem what was lost, and so the mountain failed. If he could give his life just for them to find each other again, the mountain spirit would sign with blood. So he had.

Her Eminence, the Goddess Nuwa, had given me so much that I could never repay her. My final wish was to serve you for eternity; however, you were lost. I failed to find you. All I had was my dissatisfaction and regret... aside from the life I lived. In exchange for all I had, I asked for the Goddess Nuwa to lead me to you. No matter how long it would take.

I loved the life I shared with you, General Xu. My only regret was that I would never be the one who shall walk with you through redemption.

May you find the happiness that had been taken away from you.

If you're reading this, then it meant that I have left the world and will be reborn according to the will of heaven. It also meant that you have trodden the path back to the world of immortals. I don't know how much would Emodao aid you in your predicament, but I wished for him to be sentient enough not to forsake you.

We will always be the Breath and Fingers of Death.

I had loved you truly.

Severed Glacier

The sun had almost set when Xu Rouguang walked back inside the ward which Lai Mingjie was staying. The demon king was yawning while holding the remote controller of the television. The bed was reclined to support his request to watch. He turned off the television as soon as he recognized his visitor.

Lai Mingjie flashed a toothy grin at him. "Hey, Rouguang! Auntie Qiu said you skipped work today. Hahah, what are you up to, huh?"

Gloomy eyes answered the enthusiastic one, who managed to read the atmosphere. He brought down the remote and patted a spot at the side of his bed. "Rouguang, what happened? Only Old Glacier could make you look like you're gonna cry for hours. Come on, talk to me."

A sad smile curled the lips of the general as he sat down, even lying down to put his head on Lai Mingjie's chest. He produced the letter from his jacket and continued without any words. Lai Mingjie only patted the top of his head before taking the letter from him. The demon king opened the letter and saw nothing. However, there were traces of heaven and earth essence on it.

"Did he say goodbye? Properly?" Lai Mingjie could only guess what was on it.

"The more he speaks about the past, the more I feel awful for not knowing." Xu Rouguang moved around to roll on his stomach, using Lai Mingjie as his pillow. He buried his face against the blanket that was on the demon king's waist. "Jie, I can't bring myself not to cry anymore. Director Duan had been so good to me even though we were strangers. No matter how much he spoke about our past, I still couldn't remember a single bit of it. The guilt of not knowing... it's drowning me."

Lai Mingjie only looked down as the other started sobbing against the sheets. He stroked at his hair, but even his hand lost the energy to move. It wasn't the time to be dazed, but the cries coming out of Xu Rouguang was wrenching his heart. He couldn't associate General Xu to this sound, but it was as if someone else was crying on his lap.

His hand moved again and combed through Xu Rouguang's hair. However, it was too short... and the sudden loss of strands woke Lai Mingjie up.

It wasn't the time to think about someone else. He could only rub the back of his poor Princess Xu while looking at the empty letter. He wondered what was inside the letter that made Xu Rouguang cry like this. Did Old Glacier say how much he wanted to see his master again? Did he tell him the things that had changed ever since they had separated? Did he confess about his true feelings?

Emodao only knew Severed Glacier as Xu Rouguang's loyal dog. A loyal dog who would run around for five thousand years looking for his master was never one without love. He had no idea why Xu Rouguang was punished by Nuwa herself, but it was probably hard on those two...