The palace healer worked quickly, murmuring incantations as glowing threads of light sealed the shallow wound on Li Hua's shoulder.
But she felt nothing.
Not pain. Not fear.
Just… heat.
The moment he touched her, something had broken.
She sat now in a quiet room of the inner courtyard, where light filtered through silk curtains and incense filled the air. The wound was gone. But her heartbeat hadn't slowed.
Why… why did my power stir?
She closed her eyes, pressing trembling fingers against her chest.
When Jin Xuan Yue had touched her — even for a second — a pulse of divine energy had surged into her. Not just warmth. Something familiar. Ancient. As if a long-lost thread between them had reconnected.
As if…
No.
She gritted her teeth.
This is exactly what I must resist. I came here to destroy him. To make him suffer. Not to remember.
But memory was cruel.
Whispers of the past stirred — of him cradling her after battle, brushing her hair behind her ear beneath plum blossoms, vowing to protect her even from the heavens.
Lies. She slammed her hand into the cushion beside her. All of it lies… right?
Yet her own conviction was slipping.
---
Meanwhile, Jin Xuan Yue paced inside his private hall, hands clasped tightly behind his back.
"Her movements," he muttered. "Her spiritual rhythm. Even her scent…"
He stopped at the window. The garden below was peaceful again, as if nothing had happened.
But everything had.
"She's hiding something."
Behind him, a voice broke the silence.
"Could it be... the past catching up?"
Rui Shen leaned against the doorframe, a dumpling in one hand, and a crooked grin on his face.
Jin Xuan Yue narrowed his eyes. "Speak clearly for once."
Rui Shen popped the dumpling into his mouth. "I'm saying… what if she's someone you knew?"
"That's impossible," the god said stiffly. "If Qing Yue were alive, I would know."
Rui Shen gave a soft chuckle. "You've searched a thousand years. Maybe you searched too hard to see what was right in front of you."
Jin Xuan Yue turned sharply. "She died."
Rui Shen's grin faded.
He bowed slightly, respectful now.
"Sometimes… the ones we think are dead are only lost. Or hiding. Just be careful. You don't look like a man ready to lose someone again."
And with that, he slipped away.
Leaving the great War God standing alone, haunted by the echo of his own longing.
---
Far below the palace, Li Hua sat on her bedroll, unwrapping a small silk bundle she had hidden in the sleeve of her servant uniform.
Inside… was a jade fox pendant.
Cracked.
Faded.
But hers.
A relic from a life the world believed gone.
She stared at it, heart heavy.
If he didn't betray me… if I was wrong…
Then who truly tried to destroy me?