Qiu'er Fears Disappearing, Tells Yuhao to Remember Her

Huo Yuhao saw the hand Wang Qiu'er held the Golden Dragon Spear with tightening slightly. He also saw that the gold in her eyes was not mere anger, but fear as well. Wang Qiu'er had never feared enemies. What she feared was that everything she had lived through, fought for, and loved would ultimately be erased.

The meeting soon turned to route arrangements for the Sun Moon Camp and Shrek's old battlefield. Bei Bei and He Caitou checked the coordinates again. Tang Ya added the terrain markers mapped by her Blue Silver Grass to the map. Ye Guyi examined the lingering divine consciousness echoes within the Holy Light Shard. Ma Xiaotao stood guard outside the tent, her Phoenix Flame burning away every trace of the damp, chilling evil aura left by the rain. Wang Dong'er stayed behind to help Huo Yuhao stabilize the soul tool fragments. She occasionally glanced at Wang Qiu'er, but said nothing.

She disliked Wang Qiu'er. That was the truth. But if a more complete, more unfamiliar person truly appeared in the future to replace them both, then it would not only be Wang Qiu'er who was taken away by this world. She herself would be taken away too.

Half an hour later, Huo Yuhao discovered that Wang Qiu'er was gone.

She had not run away. Wang Qiu'er would never run away. She simply needed to find a place where no one was watching her, a place where she could tear apart the question, Will I become someone else? She wanted to vent her feelings alone. Huo Yuhao followed the newly formed Auspicious Beast Golden Mark on the soul tool fragment and found her beside a boulder outside the camp.

The mist on the outskirts of Star Dou was thick after the rain. Wang Qiu'er stood beside the boulder, one foot on an ancient stone slab washed out by the rain. She did not turn around, only saying coldly, "Don't look at me like you're trying to find someone to save."

Huo Yuhao stopped. He truly wanted to ask whether she was all right, but the words reached his lips and were swallowed back down. Wang Qiu'er turned around, her golden eyes blazing with a force that pressed down on him. "I'm not Dong'er."

"I know," Huo Yuhao said.

"You know?" She laughed, carrying a wild sort of disdain. "You humans are the best at saying that. That afterimage said I was a fragment of someone's light, that Dong'er carries the other half of the key, and that a name in the future will reclaim us both. Then you look at me with that guilty expression."

She stepped forward, lowering her voice. "Huo Yuhao, who are you showing that guilt to?"

That question was sharper than any grievance. Huo Yuhao did not answer at once. Wang Qiu'er had not come tonight to seek comfort. Her soul power fluctuations were violently restless, as though a golden beast were trapped deep within her flesh and bones. She was afraid, but she refused to call that fear weakness. More than afraid, she seemed angry—angry at fate, and angry at Huo Yuhao.

"So why did you come?" she asked.

Huo Yuhao raised his eyes. "To see you."

"See what? I don't need your pity."

"I don't pity you."

"Then what do you want?"

Huo Yuhao could not answer. That was the most embarrassing part. He could decipher afterimages, find a way out when trapped by three converging lines, and use his Spirit Eyes to turn enemy coordinates back against them. But when facing Wang Qiu'er, he had no polished answer. He could not speak words of comfort, could not tell her to let it go, could not promise to protect her with all his strength, could not say anything to keep Dong'er from hurting, and could not voice that dark selfish desire in his heart.

Wang Qiu'er understood his silence. The chill in her eyes suddenly faded a little, becoming something even more dangerous.

"Huo Yuhao, Dong'er said you have feelings for me."

Huo Yuhao's Adam's apple moved. Wang Qiu'er grabbed his collar and pulled him close.

"Is it true?"

Huo Yuhao's voice turned hoarse. "Qiu'er..."

She did not kiss him immediately. She only forced him to lower his head, forced him to see the gold in her eyes clearly. Her voice was cold enough to tremble. "Look at me."

"Mm."

"In your heart, am I one of a kind?"

"You are."

"Not some stretch of road that fate intends to return to someone?"

Huo Yuhao gripped her wrist. "No."

Wang Qiu'er stared at him as if trying to tell how much truth those three words contained. After a long time, she finally smiled. It was not a gentle smile, but one carrying a hint of victory—a smile that belonged to Wang Qiu'er.

"I hope you can prove that I exist, Yuhao."

She kissed him. There was no tender prelude to the kiss, no tears. It was like a declaration of war, carrying the scorching heat of the Auspicious Beast's fortune and the lingering chill of rainwater as it crashed directly through Huo Yuhao's final layer of restraint. He stiffened for an instant, but in the next breath, he still raised a hand and clasped her waist. The golden light in Wang Qiu'er's eyes flickered, as if she had finally seen the genuine reaction she had been waiting for.

She did not like being placed in the position of someone who needed saving. What she wanted was his acknowledgment. An acknowledgment that he was attracted to her, that he had not come before her solely because of fate.

Behind the boulder, golden aura burst outward, forming a barrier that separated the two of them from the camp. A tracking wave that had leaked out struck the barrier and gave off a faint cracking sound. Wang Qiu'er paid it no attention. Her fingers dug into Huo Yuhao's shoulder with enough force to seem as though she wanted to brand herself into him.

Huo Yuhao's breathing became uneven. Wang Qiu'er looked up at him, her voice so low it was almost provocative. "Huo Yuhao, you do like me."

There was no mockery in those words. It was more as if she had finally bitten off something real from him. Huo Yuhao did not argue. Perhaps it was the utter release that came from being completely seen through, but he lowered his head and kissed her again, deeper and harder than before. The rain fell more densely. Within the golden barrier, the Emperor Auspicious Beast's golden aura and icy-blue soul power entwined layer by layer, sometimes suppressed, sometimes surging anew amid their disordered breaths.

Wang Qiu'er backed against the boulder. Her hair was dampened by the rainy mist, but her golden eyes never closed. She wanted to watch him, and she wanted him to look at her.

"If I really disappear in the future," she said softly, "Huo Yuhao, remember how I look now."

Huo Yuhao's fingers tightened, and her words nearly drove him out of control. He stepped forward and gripped her wrist again. The chill in Wang Qiu'er's eyes finally cracked a little, exposing the heat and ferocity hidden beneath.

"See me clearly," she said.

Huo Yuhao's voice was low and rough. "I see you clearly."

She kissed him again. This time, it was no longer merely a forceful attempt to prove that she was still here. She was still dominant, still sharp, but she placed the choice in his hands as well. Huo Yuhao no longer pushed her away with responsibility, nor did he use guilt as an excuse. He only lowered his head and answered her, as if pressing every answer he had failed to speak into that kiss.

The golden barrier slowly closed. The sound of rain was shut outside. The night behind the boulder was deep, their breaths intertwining and gradually sinking back into the reality of body heat. Neither mentioned that name destined to appear, nor did either speak of fate again. At least at this moment, Huo Yuhao remembered Wang Qiu'er's gaze, while Wang Qiu'er held on to Huo Yuhao's hand that had not retreated.

After a long while, a corner of the barrier dispersed. Huo Yuhao leaned against the boulder, steadying his breath, his clothes disheveled by the rain and her fingers. Wang Qiu'er stood before him, her hair slightly damp. The heat in her golden eyes had yet to fade, but she was far calmer than before.

She raised her hand and touched the spot on his chest where the soul tool fragment was glowing. A faint Auspicious Beast Golden Mark sank into it.

Huo Yuhao frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Leaving evidence."

"Qiu'er."

"Don't make that face like you're about to reason with me." Wang Qiu'er withdrew her hand, her voice cold and steady. "The old afterimage can record the light between you and Dong'er. Sun Moon can sample your spiritual algorithms and my Return Flow reactions. So why can't I leave my mark in your formation?"

Huo Yuhao looked at her. She was not acting spoiled, nor was she asking for a title or status. This was Wang Qiu'er's way. She did not ask fate to acknowledge her. She carved her mark herself.

Huo Yuhao said softly, "This will make it easier for anyone who gets the clue to track you."

Wang Qiu'er's golden eyes rose. "Then let them come."

She turned her head toward the camp. "Someone's coming."

Huo Yuhao sensed it too. Wang Dong'er had stopped outside the golden barrier. She did not rush in—not because she had not heard, nor because she did not understand. She merely raised her hand first, using the power of light to sever a wisp of tracking residual wave that had followed the Auspicious Beast Golden Mark. If that wave had landed, the mark Wang Qiu'er had just left in the soul tool fragment would immediately have been exposed to the enemy.

Wang Dong'er moved quickly, and ruthlessly. The phantom of luminous wings flashed, cutting the residual wave into fragments of light. Only after finishing did she look at Huo Yuhao. Through the dispersing golden barrier, all three of them could see one another clearly.

Wang Dong'er's face was pale, but her eyes were not red. She had not even cried tonight. That made Huo Yuhao's chest tighten more than tears would have. She looked at Huo Yuhao once, then at Wang Qiu'er.

"A tracking residual wave just followed your auras over." Her voice was calm. "I cut it off for you."

Huo Yuhao wanted to speak. But Wang Dong'er cut him off first.

"Don't explain now."

The calmer she was, the more it seemed she had crushed every emotion into her bones.

"I don't want to hear it, and there isn't time." Wang Dong'er looked toward the camp. Her voice lowered slightly, but it remained steady in a way that did not fit someone who had just witnessed this scene. "Both Sun Moon Camp and the Holy Spirit Cult are tracking your auras. If you want to argue, acknowledge things, or settle accounts, wait until we get back alive."

Huo Yuhao's throat felt dry. "Dong'er."

Wang Dong'er did not respond. She walked up to Huo Yuhao, grabbed his collar, and fastened the most obvious disheveled part for him. Her movements were gentle, yet carried an almost punitive restraint.

"Back to camp."

Wang Qiu'er neither lowered her head nor apologized. She only looked at Wang Dong'er. The two similar faces met amid the mist after the rain. One was cool and radiant; the other was wild with golden eyes.

After a moment, Wang Dong'er turned and walked away first.

Wang Qiu'er remained where she was. Only after Wang Dong'er had taken several steps did she say coldly, "Huo Yuhao, you will never achieve the balance you want."

Huo Yuhao gave a bitter smile. "I know."

"Are you afraid?"

"I am." Huo Yuhao did not evade the question. "But I'm more afraid of pretending I'm not."

Wang Qiu'er's golden eyes shifted slightly. She suddenly felt that those words were more useful than any declaration of love. At least tonight, he had not used responsibility as a shield again.

When they returned to camp, the soul tool fragment lit up again. At the center of the formation pattern, the incomplete trace of the character "Dance" had not vanished. But beside it, an Auspicious Beast Golden Mark had forcibly cut across it, like a stroke Wang Qiu'er had drawn with her own hand.

Fate was not allowed to remember only that future name.

Nor was Huo Yuhao allowed to forget tonight.