That Meeting Long Ago

The last rays of the setting sun sank below the distant horizon, and Aolai City gradually fell beneath the gentle embrace of night. Warm lights flickered on in every household, while the aroma of food and faint laughter drifted from the windows. Tang Wulin and Gu Yuena walked side by side along the shimmering shore, neither speaking, yet an unspoken understanding flowed between them. As they wandered through the city during the day, looked upon familiar sights, and listened to waves breaking against the shore, emotions buried by time began to awaken little by little.

Pushing open the familiar wooden door, they found the lingering warmth of sunlight inside, along with the fresh scent left behind after Gu Yuena had cleaned the place with her elemental power. It was no longer a dust-covered ruin. It truly had the warmth of a home.

Tang Wulin went to the kitchen to boil water and steeped two cups of tea. Wisps of white steam, carrying the fragrance of tea, rose beneath the lamplight and added a touch of warmth to the quiet night. The two sat beside the old wooden table in the living room, now scrubbed spotless. For a time, neither spoke, as though both were savoring the tranquility before the storm.

Gu Yuena held her warm teacup, her violet eyes fixed on the tea leaves drifting within. Her gaze was distant, as if she were gathering her words. Tang Wulin did not urge her, merely staying quietly by her side.

After a long while, she gently set down her cup, raised her head, and met Tang Wulin's eyes.

"Wulin," she said softly, her voice carrying the hazy quality of memory, "Di Tian told me some things about why we met... and why I ended up alone in Aolai City back then."

Tang Wulin straightened, his expression intent. "I'm listening."

Gu Yuena drew a deep breath and began slowly. "Ten thousand years ago, the conflict between soul beasts and humans had already become so severe that it was nearly irreconcilable. As the ruler of the soul beasts, I had to find a path forward for my people. Infiltrating the human world, learning about their society and technology, seeking the possibility of coexistence, or... at the very least, finding a way for our race to endure, was an unavoidable choice at the time."

Her voice was calm, but Tang Wulin could feel the immense pressure concealed beneath that calmness.

"This was the 'infiltration plan,'" she continued. "To avoid drawing the attention of the Federation's experts at the time, I had to seal away most of my cultivation and... the memories that belonged to the Silver Dragon King. Di Tian and the others were under close surveillance by human experts and could not leave the Star Dou Great Forest in large numbers. I could only sneak out alone."

At this point, she frowned slightly, as though recalling an unpleasant experience. "But something seemed to... go wrong during the sealing process. Maybe I was unsettled at the time, or maybe the human world's laws suppressed the dragon race's origin more strongly than expected. In any case, the sealing power went out of control. It did not merely seal my strength as intended. It also... sealed away and scrambled most of my memories and sense of self."

Her gaze turned toward the deep night outside the window, as though she could see through time and space to the lost and helpless self of ten thousand years ago. "When I regained even a little blurry awareness, I was no longer in the Star Dou Great Forest. I remembered nothing. I did not know who I was, where I had come from, or where I was going. My mind was completely blank. Only instinct drove me to wander aimlessly."

Tang Wulin's heart clenched sharply. He imagined that silver-haired, violet-eyed girl, who should have been one of the most noble beings in the world, losing all her memories because of a sealing mishap and wandering through an unfamiliar human world like a lost child. The confusion and fear of it made his chest ache unbearably even in imagination.

"Even in that state, the Spirit Pagoda's detection soul tools seemed to have caught a trace of the aura of a powerful soul beast origin that I could not completely conceal," Gu Yuena said, a chill entering her tone. "They sent people to track me. My memories were in chaos and my power was sealed, but my instinct for survival remained. With the tiny shred of cultivation I had left after the sealing, I hid and fled all the way. I did not dare go to large cities. I could only head for remote places."

Her voice lowered, carrying a faint, almost imperceptible weariness—the memory of flight branded deep into her soul. "In the end, I was utterly exhausted. Guided by what little blurry instinct I had left, I escaped to this city by the Eastern Sea... Aolai City. Soul tool surveillance here was sparse, the auras were mixed, and it was relatively safe. Then..."

She said no more. She merely lifted her violet eyes and gazed deeply into Tang Wulin's.

They both knew what happened afterward. That dazed, dirty little silver-haired girl met a black-haired little boy at a street corner, one holding a lollipop and wearing a warm smile.

Tang Wulin could no longer restrain the surging emotions in his heart. He reached across the table and pulled Gu Yuena tightly into his arms. His arms were firm and strong, as if he wanted to knead her into his very flesh and blood, using his own warmth to drive away the bone-deep loneliness and cold within her memories.

His chin rested gently atop her head. His voice was slightly hoarse from the effort of suppressing his emotions, filled with pain and remorse. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry. Before you met me, you suffered so much... endured so much..."

He could not imagine how she had dragged herself along in that state, evading pursuit, crossing who knew how great a distance before finally ending up here. Every minute, every second, she might have faced unknown danger.

Yet Gu Yuena, held tightly in his arms, did not show any sadness. Feeling the powerful heartbeat in his chest and breathing in his reassuring scent, she instead began to laugh softly. Her laughter was like a breeze stirring wind chimes, clear and touched with relief.

She lifted her arms and embraced his strong waist in return, rubbing her cheek against his chest with quiet dependence. Raising her head to look at his tense jawline, she said softly, "I may not remember everything yet, but fortunately, I met you."

Her violet eyes gleamed with clear, resolute light beneath the lamplight, as though they held a sky full of stars. "If I had not ended up here, if I had not become like that, how could I have met you, Wulin?"

She paused. Her voice grew softer, yet carried an unquestionable certainty. Looking into his eyes, she asked word by word, "You'll stay with me for the road ahead, won't you?"

This was not the first time she had sought reassurance, but every time, it carried the same weight.

Tang Wulin's heart softened beyond measure at her words, yet also became firmer than ever. He did not answer immediately. Instead, he conveyed it through his actions—drawing her even closer, holding her even tighter, as if he wanted to brand his promise into the depths of her soul through this embrace.

Only after a long while did he lower his head, gently pressing his forehead to hers. Their noses nearly touched, their warm breaths intertwining. His calm black eyes were now like the deepest night sky, reflecting only her figure with perfect clarity.

"No matter what happened in the past," he said in a low, resolute voice, every word carrying immense weight, "no matter who we once were, or what grudges and entanglements lay between us. From now on, I will always be by your side. Wherever you are, that is where I'll be."

This was not sweet talk. It was the most instinctive choice and vow made by their souls after ten thousand years of life and death, after forgetting everything.

Gu Yuena smiled. Her smile was like an ice lotus blooming, instantly dispersing all the shadows and uncertainty of the past. She raised a fingertip and gently traced his sharp brow bone, tenderness and love flowing from her violet eyes like water.

"Then it's settled," she said, her voice light yet filled with strength. "Together, we'll recover our memories and recover... our love."

Tang Wulin said nothing more. He only gazed deeply into her eyes, then nodded firmly and heavily.

Everything needed to be said had been said without words.

The night deepened. The cottage's lights glowed softly, casting their embracing silhouettes upon the wall and intertwining them into a complete, inseparable whole. Outside lay Aolai City's peaceful night and the endless sea. Inside, two lost souls who had found each other again made a silent promise for the future and eternity, a promise weightier than mountains.