In the twilight, an ancient road stretched across the desert, with a lone plume of smoke rising beneath the vast sky and the sun sinking beyond the long river. It was the truest picture of the desert around them.
And yet, even here, a caravan of several carriages was swaying along the dusty official road, making its way at an unhurried pace toward the capital of Xu, Xujing.
"..."
Inside one of the carriages in the middle of the caravan, Mo Caihuan was quietly weeping.
Just moments ago, her Han Li—her big brother Han—had put her aboard this caravan bound for the capital, then flown away without so much as looking back.
After this parting, the two of them might never meet again in this life.
Before she boarded, she had already confessed her feelings, telling him everything a young woman should and shouldn't say. She had been utterly straightforward: all she wanted was to stay by his side. Even if she could only be a lowly maid, she would be content, since then she could be with him every day.
But...
She had no spiritual root, and mortals and immortals followed different paths. Her big brother Han was also far too devoted to cultivating immortality. In the end, he had neither accepted her nor returned her feelings.
She wasn't crying because she blamed him, much less because she thought he was cruel. She blamed herself. Why hadn't she been born with a spiritual root? Why couldn't she cultivate immortality?
"Big Brother Han..."
Tears silently slipped down and fell onto the wooden floor of the carriage, splashing apart at once.
Fortunately, there was no one else in the carriage.
It had been hired exclusively for her. Before leaving, her big brother Han had also deliberately shown the carriage driver's boss