Connected 7

It was a terrifying dream. To be honest, Ouyang Xueqing didn't know how she could dream of something so vivid. Even the act of remembering it brought back the pain and sorrow that she had never felt before.

She was in a burned land. Smoke was billowing toward the sky, painting the originally clear blue horizon into a depressing grey. Corpses were strewn everywhere and the smell of blood was so thick that it was nauseating.

The sound of metal clinking was still heard somewhere as the war was still not done. But the damage that it had done was massive.

Ouyang Xueqing was running as if her life was depended on it. Her breath was uneven and her chest hurt from the lack of oxygen. Yet she didn't seem to care as her feet kept on rushing toward somewhere, toward someone who was the core of her soul, the meaning of her existence.

She remembered that her sight was blurred from tears. She was running in a deep forest where large trees were growing wildly and traces of fights were seen on the destroyed and burned trunks. She had wiped her cheeks for the nth times, but her tears seemed unstoppable as it slowly morphed into a sob.

She had called out a name.

She cried for him countless times until her voice was hoarse and her throat constricted.

She had searched for him anywhere. Fear, anxiety, despair, it filled her with so much pain that she couldn't breathe. She had prayed wholeheartedly that he would be there, alive and breathing. Waiting for her with a faint smile on his lips.

The next moment, the scene changed abruptly and she was kneeling.

In his embrace was the cold body of a man. Not even an inch of his skin was seen as he was submerged in his own blood. It kept on trickling from his open wound. His pair of beautiful eyes was closed and blood dripped down from his mouth into her hand.

His blood was still warm, yet his body was chilled. She couldn't felt even a tinge of warmth even when she had hugged him so tight. She had begged for him to open his eyes, to not leave her again, she had begged the heaven not to take him away from her.

But it was too late.

He had stopped breathing.

She couldn't even say the words that she had been wanting to. She had left him all alone. She had caused him pain and pushed him to his death. And now, she reaped what she had sowed.

Tears trailed down her cheeks in a stream as she cried and cried. It was futile though. He would never hear her again. He would never know that she had come back for him. He would never know that she would never leave his side again.

She decided, she would accompany him. Even if he went to hell, she would find her way back to him.

In that last moment of her dream, she had raised the sword on his hand against her neck and slashed herself with a smile on her face. Blood spurted out from her open wound, spurted out in a large stream so much that it combined with his. She intertwined their hands together as she laid on his chest, imagining that she was listening to his strong and steady heartbeat just like what she had liked to do before.

As her eyelids fluttered shut, she vowed.

She vowed that she would be reborn as a man in her next life. She would be a man and he a woman. So that she could search this vast world for him and protect him with her life.

She would find him so that nothing could ever separate them ever again.

She vowed with her soul as she whispered for the last time before the eternal darkness swallowed her whole.

"Wait for me, my beloved…"

***

At past midnight on White Owl Country.

Silence ensued in the magnificent and prestigious manor. Inside the main bedroom, it was a mess everywhere. Buckets of hot water mixed in black blood was placed on the floor. The room had a very thick putrid smell that had caused even the strongest guard nausea a few times.

At that moment, every single person inside the bedroom was frozen in place, stunned at the scene that enfolded before. On the huge bed before the floor to ceiling window, there laid a pale and sickly figure with an uneven breath and body soaked in sweat and blood.

His countenance was so handsome that it could tugged at everyone's heartstring. His thick eyebrow arched like a pair of crescent moon, pointed nose and jawline so sharp as if The God of Creation had took his own time to carve him to perfection. His thin lips was pale and dry, akin to wilted petals that still preserve its beauty and elegance.

Even though he was frowning as if in great pain, the most important point was…he was alive!

It was a little past midnight and he was still breathing!

Hai Feng, Mo Yujian's right hand man was the first to snap back to his senses. "What…just happened?" He asked in a soft voice.

Hearing that question, they regained their clarity one by one. There were five of them guarding the room with Hai Feng especially charged of looking after their master and cleaning after him every single time he vomited large mouth of black poisonous blood.

They had been so anxious as they guarded until midnight.

But the look on their faces revealed that they didn't have much hope in their master's survival. It was more so for Hai Feng who had been accompanying Mo Yujian ever since he first showed signs of being poisoned.

He was the one that had carried Mo Yujian home and guarding by his side ever since.

He had seen how weak his master's breath was, even his vitals were deteriorating in such a fast speed that his lips turned black and his skin was bluish.

They had tried their best to keep his life. But it was futile by the time near midnight as their master began to groan in pain. He threw up more blood, even his nails had turned black. They had been so restless that they wanted to burst out in tears at their master's pitiful state.

When the clock struck midnight, it was at that time that Mo Yujian was in the peak of crisis. His breathing was labored and weak, even his chest had caved in his ribcage as he seemed to turn into a skeleton. His skin decayed rapidly and his hair turned greyish white.

Hai Feng's eyes were glistened in tears as he prayed for a miracle to descend upon them.

And unexpectedly, a miracle really did happen.