"But you're already..."
Grief filled Li Hao's heart, and his voice was hoarse. He thought she was only trying to comfort him.
Ying Xiaoxiao saw through his thoughts, and her gaze grew even gentler. The delicate skin beneath her eyelids was slowly crumbling into powder, sparkling motes streaming upward and vanishing into the air.
"This reincarnated body accompanied you all the way here from the Mortal World. This was my favorite lifetime."
Ying Xiaoxiao said softly, "Do you remember what I said when we first met?"
Their first meeting surfaced in Li Hao's mind. At that roadside tea stall, the girl had stepped out from behind the stall like a cool breeze in summer, looking at him with easy grace:
"My name is Ying Xiaoxiao. Ying, as in born to answer calamity, and Xiao, as in free and unrestrained."
Back then, it had seemed no more than a lighthearted jest. Now, it felt as though destiny had borne it out.
Born to answer today's calamity, reincarnated through time and space.
"Then how can I see you again?"
Li Hao wanted to cradle her in his hands, yet dared not touch her, afraid that doing so would hasten her dissolution.
"The Northern Region, the Su Clan... My second incarnation is there. But with this body dying in calamity, that incarnation has yet to awaken..."
Ying Xiaoxiao's voice through her divine sense was soft and faint, her eyes filled with tenderness and contentment.
The Northern Region, the Su Clan... Li Hao etched those two names into his heart and hurriedly asked, "Can I find you if I go to the Su Clan? What's your name?"
"Once you go... you'll know."
Ying Xiaoxiao whispered softly. Her eyes shifted as she slowly said, "...Could you paint a picture for me?"
Li Hao's heart trembled,