"Where did you get the confidence to think you could kill me?"
"...Where did you get that confidence?"
Chen Yi's voice echoed through the empty expanse of heaven and earth.
He stood atop the head of the pale, radiant dragon. No longer paying attention to the stunned and disbelieving Du Cang, he looked toward Xiao Wan'er and revealed a faint smile.
He said warmly, "Eldest Sister, I've come to take you home."
Xiao Wan'er stared blankly at him. "You..."
Before she could finish, Chen Yi raised a hand and cut the ropes binding her, then pulled her to his side.
"You don't need to say anything or ask anything. Once this is over, I'll tell you everything."
Feeling the warmth from his hand and meeting those slightly smiling eyes, Xiao Wan'er softly hummed in acknowledgment.
"I'll wait."
Chen Yi smiled and nodded. Then he waved a hand, as though bidding farewell to the magnificent chessboard behind him.
The white dragon let out another draconic roar.
Strands of silver-white light erupted from its body and shot in all directions.
Amid successive crisp cracking sounds, this small world shattered and fell apart.
When they looked again, the few of them had returned to the abandoned Buddhist hall.
Only now, Chen Yi had taken Du Cang's place and stood beside Xiao Wan'er.
Du Cang, meanwhile, had his back to them. His crimson eyes stared vacantly ahead, still unable to believe it.
The doll pieced together from blood and bone in his hand had somehow split into two halves and fallen to the floor with a clatter.
Before him, Uncle Gui and the saber-wielding man still stood in their previous positions, flanking one another. Their eyes were lifeless as they looked at Chen Yi and Xiao Wan'er.
Outside the Buddhist hall, the night rain