304: Surprise, Surprise

Surprise, Surprise

I hadn't expected this to be the first question he had for us, and a chuckle escaped me. "There wasn't a ceremony for you to miss," I said. Then I nodded toward Xie Lun and Wen Shiyin. "Though it seems like … there might be a different one happening soon."2

Xie Lun looked our way—he was an immortal now, which meant that any conversation within sight would be loud enough for his ears. Returning my comment with a knowing smile, he strode over.

"It's a pity that I wasn't there to bid the two of you farewell when you left." He gave Bai Ye and me a courteous nod. "I owe you a congratulations … and I'm glad the weight of keeping those secrets is off my shoulders now."

Qi Lian gasped. "S-Senior Xie, you knew the news all along?" Then he turned to me disappointedly. "How come I had no clue?"

"Because Master Bai Ye likes secrets and riddles." Teng Yuan's voice interjected before I got a chance to reply. Now that everyone else had left one by one on their flying swords, his look toward Bai Ye turned probing. "Should I be concerned with the truth of what happened today?" he asked.

"I suggest that you don't bother." Bai Ye tightened his arm around me, pulling me closer. "Twin Stars is taken care of, that is the truth and all you need to know. I'm not making more innocent lives pay for our mistakes. You can rest assured on that end."

Teng Yuan kept his eyes on Bai Ye for a while longer. Then he looked at me. At last, he let out a light laugh. "I suppose I'm done with that favor I owe you then, Bai Ye—I trust your daoist companion to be quite capable of protecting herself from now on. It is a grand day for celebrations indeed." He turned back, summoning his own flying sword. "Xie Lun, time to get back to Mount Hua. It's your turn to start preparing for your own ceremonies."

The rest of us exchanged our final goodbyes, and I watched as the four flying swords took off, disappearing into the clouds.

"Teng Yuan really kept his word," I said after the last sign of them was gone. "Saved me from the Gatekeeper quite a few times in the past too. He's been a good friend to you … I hope you won't keep holding those grudges against him because of the past."

Bai Ye dropped a soft kiss on my forehead. "Like you said, it's all in the past now. You've come back to me safely, and the rest doesn't matter anymore."

He gathered me into his embrace, and I pressed my cheek over his chest. We stood just like that for a little while, relishing the quietness of the woods around us. We finally had a chance to be alone like this after that fateful battle with the sword spirit … and I wished I could etch the beautiful, reassuring feeling of this moment forever into my memory.

"Qing-er." Bai Ye was the first to break the silence. "How does it feel now that you remember everything?"

I had been waiting for that question. It was only natural for him to wonder, and I was relieved that he no longer sounded worried or uncertain about my answer—he wasn't afraid anymore that knowing the past would change me. I tightened my arms around him. "Feels like I love you even more than I did before," I said honestly. "I didn't know that could be possible … But maybe because my soul has finally become whole, there is now more of me to understand you and love you with. It feels different … in all the best ways."

He laughed. A kiss landed on the top of my head, and although he didn't say anything in reply, I knew he understood what I felt. I knew he must feel the same way as well, now that our souls were finally as close to each other as they had ever been.

"Bai Ye," I whispered, remembering something. "I have something to show you."

Reluctantly pulling out of his arms, I gave him a mysterious smile and unsheathed Twin Stars. "I'm quite certain that I'll be able to summon the ancient ritual to reawaken the full power of these swords now," I said. "Watch."

I let the spiritual power inside me flow free. With almost no effort, light poured onto the blades, and I let go of my grip. Twin Stars floated in the air in front of us, all the while the light pulsed stronger, turning into a glowing halo emblazing the swords. Power radiated from them, strong but without any trace of menace, filling our vision with a bright and peaceful glow.

"… Incredible," Bai Ye gasped. "This is not only its full strength, but also completely free of demonic aura … How were you able to do this?"

"I didn't do it." I smiled. "You did. Your heart's blood, and the demonic influence you cleansed from me through the modified bonding technique … It all shows now that the sword gained its full power back. Twin Stars might have retrieved its strength, but it won't be lost to dark power any longer. Because you purified it, with your love."

Bai Ye stared at the swords as if in a trance. It seemed to take him a while to fully come to terms with what I just told him. "… That hadn't been my goal," he smiled somewhat speechlessly. "But I suppose I'm glad to see such a surprise."

"There's another surprise for you too," I added. Fetching the blades, I summoned my power to rest and sheathed them back. "You might be more shocked by this one, so be prepared."

With a wink, I reached for that faint call in my consciousness—it had been there ever since we left the cave, and I knew from the depth of my mind what it was telling me to do. Spinning on my heel, I made a full turn of my body, and when I swirled back to face Bai Ye again, I found myself staring right into a pair of wide eyes.

So wide, in fact, that I could see the reflection of myself in them. The reflection of a beautiful girl in a flaming red dress that he had not seen for almost three hundred years.

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