Silent Night

Night, like a gentle veil of ink, softly shrouded Aolai City. The salty, damp scent carried by the sea breeze slipped in through the not-quite-closed window, mingling with the dust that had settled in the old home for ten thousand years to form a unique fragrance.

Gu Yuena sat on the cleaned old wooden chair in the living room, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the tabletop where a lollipop carrying their first sweetness and sense of belonging had once rested. Her silver hair flowed with a faint radiance beneath the hazy moonlight filtering through the window, while the emotions in her purple eyes were complicated and unreadable. A crack had been pried open in the gates of memory, and the past known as "Na'er" began to seep into the heart that had lain blank for ten thousand years like a trickling stream. This was home. The realization gave her an unprecedented sense of security, yet also brought a hint of the unease one felt when nearing home.

Tang Wulin silently entered the little room that had belonged to him in childhood. The room was tiny, barely large enough for a narrow wooden bed, an old desk, and a chipped wardrobe. His gaze was immediately drawn to a plain photo frame sitting on the bedside table.

He walked over, picked up the frame, and gently brushed the dust from its glass. In the photograph stood a middle-aged couple with simple, warm smiles—his adoptive parents, Lang Yue and Tang Ziran. Before them stood two small figures. One was a little boy with black hair and black eyes, his face bright with sunshine—his younger self. Beside the boy, whose little hand he held tightly, was a beautiful little girl with silver hair and purple eyes, like an elf. She wore a hint of shyness on her face, but her smile was equally full of dependence and happiness. That was... Na'er.

Through the cold glass, his fingertips gently stroked every smiling face in the photograph. A surging, uncontrollable ache suddenly rose to his nose, and his vision blurred at once. He did not remember the specific details of living with his adoptive parents, nor did he remember when this photograph had been taken. Yet the longing and attachment for "home" and "family," born from the depths of his bloodline and soul, erupted like a dormant volcano, nearly tearing his heart apart. This grief, made purer and deeper by forgetting, struck harder than any fragment he had remembered.

It took several deep breaths before he could barely suppress his roiling emotions. He carefully returned the photo frame to its place, as though it were some fragile treasure.

Just then, something in the corner of the desk caught his eye. It was a Soul Spirit Orb, but completely unlike the radiant Soul Spirit Orbs currently circulating on the market. It looked utterly worn-down, its casing covered in spiderweb-like cracks and devoid of luster, as if the slightest touch would shatter it completely. This was the lowest-grade, poorest-quality Soul Spirit Orb, one that usually produced nothing but useless defective Soul Spirits.

As if possessed, Tang Wulin reached out, his fingertips touching the cold, rough surface of the orb.

The instant he made contact—

"Buzz!"

A powerful tremor shot from his fingertips like an electric current, rushing straight into his sea of spirit! His previously calm spiritual world suddenly churned!

A thought that was somewhat unfamiliar yet brimming with excitement and disbelief rang clearly in his mind, like the first cry of a being awakening after sleeping for ages:

"Mas... Master?! Is that you? You... you've finally awakened?!"

The voice carried closeness and dependence born from the very source of its soul.

Tang Wulin reacted. The space around him distorted slightly, golden light flashed, and he vanished from where he stood.

The next moment, he appeared in a secluded grove by the sea near the old home. The sea breeze rustled through the leaves, and moonlight passed through the branches, casting mottled shadows across the ground.

Almost instinctively, Tang Wulin's thoughts stirred.

A deep, majestic dragon roar suddenly rang out, shattering the forest's silence! Amid an explosive surge of golden light, a colossal creature appeared in the clearing before him.

It was a dragon! A five-clawed golden dragon more than twenty meters long, its entire body covered in dazzling golden scales! Its body was sleek yet brimming with power, its four dragon claws sturdy and forceful. Every scale seemed carved from the purest golden crystal, refracting a brilliant and noble gleam beneath the moonlight. Most eye-catching was the scale at the center of its forehead, larger and more radiant than the rest, shaped like a flawless diamond gem. It seemed to contain boundless power and majesty. Hovering in midair, it radiated dragon might that made one's heart tremble, like a true divine beast stepped out of myth.

Its massive dragon eyes, burning as though filled with golden flames, gazed down at the comparatively tiny Tang Wulin with incomparable excitement and affection.

Its enormous head lowered, and its respectful voice once more resounded directly in Tang Wulin's mind, choked with ecstatic joy. "Master! You really have awakened! I never thought I would see you again! I never thought I would awaken alongside your rebirth! I missed you so much, Master!"

Tang Wulin looked up at the imposing golden dragon, and thunder seemed to explode in his mind. Fragmented images flashed rapidly past—a thin, frail boy standing before a simple Soul Spirit apparatus, tightly clutching a low-quality Soul Spirit Orb while facing the pity of the Spirit Pagoda Master before him. Inside was a little grass snake with a weak aura, one that seemed about to dissipate at any moment...

Of course. This was his Soul Spirit! The companion initially regarded as a defective Soul Spirit, yet one that had accompanied him throughout his growth and ultimately evolved and transformed!

"Golden... Speech?" he called out the name instinctively.

"It's me, Master!" Golden Speech, the five-clawed golden dragon, nodded its enormous head forcefully, its voice full of excitement.

At that moment, a streak of silver light teleported to Tang Wulin's side. Gu Yuena had suddenly appeared. She had clearly rushed over after sensing Tang Wulin's sudden disappearance and the abnormal energy fluctuations here. When she saw the golden dragon coiled in midair and radiating powerful dragon might, her purple eyes narrowed at once. An even more ancient and supreme dragon might spread from her body instinctively like an invisible tide, pressing down upon Golden Speech!

It was the absolute power of the Silver Dragon King to command all dragon-kind in the world!

Golden Speech, who had just been so imposing, suddenly shuddered beneath this pressure from the source of its bloodline. It let out a pained whimper, its dragon head nearly pressed to the ground as it hurriedly sent out a thought. "Mistress! Please withdraw your pressure! My origin has not fully recovered yet—I cannot bear your majesty!"

Hearing this, the sharpness in Gu Yuena's purple eyes faded slightly, and the terrifying pressure receded like a tide. She examined Golden Speech closely, her brows faintly furrowed as though searching her memories. With some uncertainty, she asked, "You... are that grass snake from back then?"

Golden Speech cautiously raised its head. Its huge dragon eyes first looked at Tang Wulin, and only after seeing him nod slightly did it answer respectfully, "Yes. Ten thousand years ago, Mistress bestowed upon me the name 'Golden Speech.' Master also liked the name very much."

It seemed to have exhausted the power it had just regained upon awakening. Its massive body began to glow faintly and rapidly shrank, eventually turning into a small golden snake about a foot long. It affectionately coiled around Tang Wulin's wrist, rubbing its cool, smooth head against his palm and conveying weak, exhausted thoughts. Then it transformed into a streak of golden light, merging back into Tang Wulin's body and falling silent.

The cool, slick sensation seemed to linger on his wrist as Tang Wulin stood there in a daze. Golden Speech's appearance was like another key, opening a different drawer in his storehouse of memories. He remembered himself stubbornly fusing with the defective Soul Spirit, the "little grass snake," amid others' ridicule. He remembered the initial hardship and unwillingness to yield, as well as every hardship they had endured together while he nurtured the little creature step by step... That refusal to abandon it despite its humble beginnings, that bond, was deeply engraved in his bones.

A cool, soft hand gently touched his cheek.

Tang Wulin came back to himself and met Gu Yuena's purple eyes, filled with heartache and understanding. She remembered as well. She remembered the silent, resilient youth of that year—the tremendous pressure and inner loneliness he had endured after fusing with a Soul Spirit considered worthless. The pain he had suffered that night seemed to rise before her eyes.

"It followed you and received a heaven-shaking stroke of fortune," she said softly, her voice carrying a soothing strength. "Wulin, have you... remembered anything else?"

Tang Wulin nodded slightly, then took a deep breath and began telling her about the newly surfaced fragments of memory. Like puzzle pieces, they were still incomplete, yet each carried important information.

He recalled every moment he had spent with Golden Speech. His experiences from the beginning of his cultivation gradually became clearer in his mind. He told her how they had explored the complexities of cultivation together, as well as the difficulties and challenges they had encountered along the way.

Though those memories remained vague, every detail that emerged made him feel more closely connected to his past. It was as if he could see the once-ignorant youth growing step by step into the person he was now.

As he spoke, she listened quietly, surprise and curiosity occasionally appearing on her face. She could feel the emotional fluctuations Tang Wulin experienced as he recalled those events, and she could also understand his desire to become whole again.

When Tang Wulin finished recounting the last fragment, an indescribable sense of satisfaction rose within him. Though these memories were still incomplete, their return made him feel more real, more whole. He was no longer someone who possessed only the present. He was a complete person with a past, a present, and a future.

Neither of them spoke again. In silent understanding, they turned and returned to the little house that carried their earliest memories.

Standing in the center of the still dust-covered living room, Gu Yuena raised both hands. Pale green wind elements and blue water elements flowed gently between her palms, intertwining. There was no incantation, no dazzling burst of light. Only a fresh, moist breeze swept through, like invisible hands gently brushing every corner of the room.

The wind passed without a trace, and the dust settled.

In only an instant, the entire house looked brand new. The furniture revealed its original wood grain, the floor was clean and bright, and the air had become fresh. Only the warm marks bestowed by time remained, impossible to erase.

It was already late at night.

After exchanging a simple "good night," they each entered one of the home's only two bedrooms.

Tang Wulin lay on the narrow wooden bed, the reassuring scent unique to the old home lingering beneath his nose, along with... the faint yet familiar soul fluctuations of the newly awakened Golden Speech within him. Ten thousand years had passed, and everything had changed, yet it also seemed as though nothing had changed. The woman he loved was still by his side. Complex emotions surged within his chest as he closed his eyes and tried to calm himself.

Who knew how long passed. Just as Tang Wulin's consciousness gradually sank into sleep, the door was pushed open a crack with the utmost gentleness.

A silver figure, like an elf beneath the moon, slipped inside without a sound.

It was Gu Yuena.

She had removed her outer garments and wore only a thin silver nightgown. Barefoot, she stepped onto the cold floor without making the slightest sound. She walked to the bedside and stood silently for a while, gazing at Tang Wulin's sleeping profile by the moonlight spilling through the window. Under the moonlight, her lovely curves were impossible to hide.

She bent down slightly and leaned close. Her nose twitched gently, like a small beast confirming a familiar scent, as she breathed in the reassuring fragrance on him—a blend of sunlight and a faint vegetal scent. Her fingertips trembled so slightly it was almost imperceptible as they lightly, softly brushed over his brow bone, the bridge of his nose, and finally came to rest beside his warm lips.

An uncontrollable flush spread over her lovely face in the darkness, like a ripe peach. Her heart seemed caught in an internal struggle, but her body was more honest than her thoughts.

Carefully, she lifted a corner of the blanket and slipped beneath it with light movements, like a nimble yet shy silver fish, nestling close to the embrace so warm that even her soul trembled.

Her movements were gentle, as though afraid of waking him. Only after she had completely sunk into that familiar, broad embrace, feeling his steady heartbeat and body warmth pass through the thin fabric, did she seem to finally find the home she had lost for ten thousand years. A satisfied, nearly inaudible moan escaped her lips.

She adjusted her position, pressing her cheek against his chest. Her hands, somewhat possessively yet filled with endless dependence, clasped his large hand tightly, their fingers interlocked.

After doing all this, she raised her head and looked at his sleeping face, which appeared especially peaceful under the moonlight. Only after confirming there was no sign of him waking did she quietly, sweetly, and a little mischievously murmur with a soft laugh that only she could hear:

"This pig..."

There was not the slightest reproach in her tone, only deep longing and indulgent affection.

Then, completely content, she closed her eyes and buried herself even deeper in his embrace, as though she wanted to melt herself into his body. Their hands remained tightly interlocked as she felt the closeness they had regained after losing it.

Ten thousand years of ice and isolation, countless confused thoughts upon awakening... all of it quietly faded within this warm, real embrace like snow and ice melting beneath sunlight.

In his arms, she found her first truly peaceful sleep since awakening, one that required no vigilance at all.

And after she had fully relaxed, her breathing becoming even and deep, Tang Wulin—who was supposed to be "asleep"—gave the faintest flutter of his tightly closed lashes. The arm around her silently tightened a little.

Outside the window, the sea breeze was gentle, and the moonlight flowed like water.

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