The scene before Bai Xiaowen shifted rapidly, and his consciousness blurred with it.
When Bai Xiaowen came to again, the soldiers and the Earth Vein Corridor had vanished.
Childhood memories surfaced one after another: memories belonging to Bai Xiaowen of the Common Era and memories belonging to Bai Xiaowen of the Psychic Energy Era.
In the Common Era, Bai Xiaowen had no memories of his father. His memories of his mother, too, ended when he was barely old enough to remember anything.
His last memory of his parents was of his mother walking away through heavy snow. No matter how Bai Xiaowen called out, she kept walking, never once looking back.
In the Psychic Energy Era, Bai Xiaowen had grown up without a mother. His memories of his father, Bai Yuantang, likewise ended in his earliest years.
The last scene was the same: snow swirling through the sky and a figure walking resolutely away. Behind that figure stood Bai Xiaowen, calling out. How alike the memories from his two lives were.
There was one difference. In his memory from the Psychic Energy Era, Bai Xiaowen was calling for his father, and someone else stood beside him.
His older sister, Bai Xiaohua, held their little sister Xiao Jun, still a toddler, in her arms. She kept repeating her gentle words of comfort.
"Let's go home, Xiao Wen."
"Does Dad not want us anymore?"
"No, Xiao Wen. Don't worry. I'll find Dad and bring him back."
The memories blurred rapidly, then gathered into a single scene before Bai Xiaowen's eyes.
His father in this life, Bai Yuantang; his mother from his previous life, Li Xiao; his older sister, Bai Xiaohua; and his younger sister, Bai Xiaojun, waved to him from afar. They looked as close as any family.
Only a river separated