The Golden Dragon's Pursuit, the Silver Dragon's Break

Tang Wulin stood frozen amid the dancing fireflies, one hand still stretched helplessly toward the direction in which Gu Yue had vanished, his fingertips curling slightly as though trying to catch a wisp of wind that had long since drifted away. His other hand hung limply at his side, cold sweat seeping from his palm and slowly slipping through his fingers, its icy touch spreading all the way to his heart.

His chest heaved violently, his breathing rapid and ragged. The sight of Gu Yue turning and leaving moments ago was like a red-hot branding iron seared viciously into his heart, leaving behind a wound deep to the bone.

On one side was Na'er, whom he had finally found again after longing for her through countless days and nights. On the other was Gu Yue, who had made his heart race just moments earlier, only to leave him so resolutely now. Two utterly different emotions crashed wildly within his chest, tearing at every taut nerve and plunging him into unprecedented confusion and helplessness.

His gaze remained fixed on the direction where Gu Yue had disappeared. His pupils contracted slightly, his long lashes trembling beyond his control. Confusion, grievance, panic, and a trace of fear he refused even to admit to himself churned in his eyes.

Na'er stood by the Starlight Bridge some distance away, her eyes beneath the veil filled with heartache and unease. Looking at Tang Wulin's rigid back and trembling shoulders, she unconsciously took a small step forward. Her slender fingers clutched the gauze before her tightly, her knuckles turning faintly white. She pressed her lips together and spoke in a soft, gentle voice filled with cautious concern. "Brother Wulin, don't be sad... I'm here."

But Tang Wulin's mind had already been completely drawn away by that figure in white, leaving no room for any other voice.

He did not even have time to respond to Na'er's comfort before his body reacted on instinct ahead of his thoughts.

"Gu Yue—!"

A cry suppressed to the absolute limit burst from the depths of his throat, hoarse and trembling as it tore through the gentle night over Sea God Lake. He suddenly came back to himself and dashed after her without a second thought, his footsteps pounding against the crystalline Starlight Bridge in hurried, frantic beats.

The faint light flowing across the bridge scattered in the wind he stirred up. Fireflies whirled madly around him, yet they could no longer illuminate the sudden darkness in his eyes.

He ignored the stunned gazes behind him, ignored the solemn rules of Sea God's Fate, ignored how disheveled he looked. Only one thought remained in his mind—catch up to her and demand an explanation. Even if the answer led through mountains of blades and seas of fire, he had to hear it from her own lips.

Xie Xie stood not far away, the joy that had just blossomed on his face instantly freezing. He watched Tang Wulin's retreating figure race away, his mouth parting slightly as though he wanted to call after him, but in the end, he swallowed the words.

His hands clenched tightly into fists, his knuckles white. The usual lively confidence in his features had vanished, leaving only worry and helplessness.

Yuanen Yehui stood beside him, her posture still straight and proud, but a trace of pity quietly surfaced in her normally calm, sharp eyes. She gently patted Xie Xie's shoulder, silently soothing his panic.

Yue Zhengyu and Xu Xiaoyan stood side by side. They exchanged a glance and saw the same heaviness in each other's eyes. Yue Zhengyu's back remained straight, but his steady gaze tightened slightly as his fingers rubbed together at his side, a sigh rising in his heart.

Xu Xiaoyan's eyes reddened faintly. Her hands were tightly clasped together, her long lashes lowered to hide the ache in her eyes. She murmured softly, "Wulin... he must be hurting so much."

Xu Lizhi's chubby body tensed slightly, his round eyes full of anxiety. He looked at Ye Xinglan, then toward the direction Tang Wulin had vanished, tugging uneasily at the hem of his clothes. He wanted to go after him, yet had no idea what he could do.

The sharp, domineering air Ye Xinglan usually carried had faded considerably. She silently watched the depths of the forest, her brows knitting lightly. She said nothing, but the emotions in her eyes had long since ceased to be calm.

Na'er stood where she was, watching Tang Wulin chase after Gu Yue without hesitation, watching his back disappear without even a trace of reluctance. Her eyes slowly reddened.

Her fingers clenched even tighter, the tips turning pale. An indescribable bitterness welled up in her heart, as though something was gradually drifting farther and farther from her with Tang Wulin's footsteps. She lightly bit her lower lip and did not step forward again. She merely stood silently on the Starlight Bridge, watching that fleeing figure with complicated emotions brimming in her eyes.

Tang Wulin was incredibly fast. At this moment, he pushed his Soul Master cultivation to its utmost limit, reaching the depths of the willow trees by the lake in mere moments.

The evening wind passed through the slender willow branches with a soft rustle. Moisture from the lake washed over him, cool and damp against his burning cheeks, yet it could not calm the anxiety in his heart in the slightest.

From afar, he finally saw that familiar figure in white. In the dim night, she looked especially thin and lonely.

Gu Yue did not stop. She continued walking forward, her back held perfectly straight as though guarding a line no one else knew existed. Yet her slightly unsteady steps and faintly trembling shoulders had already exposed the turmoil in her heart.

She heard the approaching footsteps behind her and his urgent, hoarse calls. Every word was like a heavy hammer smashing viciously into her already shattered heart, each blow bringing pain that tore her apart.

She could not stop. She could not turn back. She could not soften her heart.

The Silver Dragon King's fate was like an icy shackle, locking down her limbs, her feelings, and every urge she had to run toward him. The cries of the fallen dragon clan, the hatred of the God Realm's betrayal, the loneliness of hundreds of millions of years, the mission to revive the soul beasts... all those scenes flashed wildly through her mind, forcing her to harden her heart and personally push away the boy she loved to her very bones.

"Gu Yue, stop!"

Tang Wulin finally caught up behind her, only a step away. Almost instinctively, he reached out and caught the corner of her sleeve. The plain white fabric wrinkled slightly beneath his fingertips. His fingers turned pale from the force, his knuckles taut, while his voice filled with panic, grievance, unwillingness, and sobs suppressed to the limit. "Why are you treating me like this? What happened between us? Tell me! Look at me!"

The instant her sleeve was seized, Gu Yue's body abruptly stiffened, as though an icy current of lightning had struck her, freezing her in place.

She stopped walking, but still faced away from him. She did not turn around, did not look back, and did not make a sound.

Beneath her veil, tears had already flooded her face. Scalding tears rolled down her cheeks, drop after drop falling onto the front of her clothes and spreading dark stains across the fabric. Her vision blurred through tears, everything before her becoming hazy and indistinct. The agony in her chest surged in wave after wave, nearly suffocating her and making every breath difficult and heavy.

She could clearly feel the warmth coming from the boy behind her, the tremble of his fingertips, the frantic pounding of his heart. It was the presence of the man she loved, the warmth she desperately wanted to approach yet had no choice but to push away with her own hands.

With every second she remained, her heart shattered a little more.

She bit down hard on her lower lip, her teeth pressing until they whitened, nearly breaking the soft flesh. The sweet metallic taste of blood spread through her mouth. Only through that extreme pain could she barely maintain the last shred of calm, could she stop herself from turning around and throwing herself into his arms, telling him everything—telling him how much she loved him and how unwilling she was to leave him.

Gu Yue slowly closed her eyes. Her long lashes trembled violently like butterfly wings about to fall in the wind. She took a deep breath, and the cold night air filled her throat with a stabbing pain. Gathering every bit of strength in her body, she crushed down all her tenderness, reluctance, love, and heartache, burying them deep within her heart, in a place even she could no longer reach.

Then, in the coldest, most unfamiliar, most resolute voice, devoid of even a trace of warmth, she slowly spoke word by word:

"Tang Wulin, let go."

"I don't want anything to do with you anymore."

Those two simple sentences drifted softly into his ears, yet they struck Tang Wulin's heart like two massive boulders, crushing his final shred of expectation and hope into pieces.

Tang Wulin's heart felt as though it had been torn apart alive. The pain made his entire body tremble, leaving him with barely enough strength to stand. He refused to let go. Instead, he gripped her sleeve even tighter, his knuckles turning bluish white from the force. He leaned forward slightly, unable to hide the sob in his voice any longer. His eyes were red, tears filling them, but he stubbornly refused to let them fall.

"I won't let go! Gu Yue, you weren't like this before. You were good to me. You cared about me. Why did you suddenly become like this? Look at me! Turn around and look at me!"

He tried to gently pull her arm, wanting to make her turn around, wanting to see her expression beneath the veil, wanting to find even the smallest trace of reluctance or tenderness in her eyes. But Gu Yue remained rooted in place as though nailed to the ground. Her back was still perfectly straight, like a cold, unyielding stone without the slightest movement.

With her back to him, her shoulders trembled uncontrollably. It was the trembling of someone enduring grief to the utmost limit; every shiver spoke of the storm of pain in her heart. Yet her voice remained cold and utterly without ripples, like a lake sealed in winter ice. Every word cut into her own heart and into his.

"We were never people of the same world."

"From the very beginning, getting close to you was nothing but exploitation."

"Now that the exploitation is over, there is naturally no longer any relationship between us."

The word "exploitation" was like the sharpest, coldest blade. With devastating force, it pierced straight through Tang Wulin's heart, shredding all his persistence, all his devotion, all his love.

He stood there in a daze, the fingers clutching her sleeve gradually losing strength, gradually loosening. The warmth at his fingertips slowly faded until, at last, his hand fell limply to his side.

His body swayed slightly, as though all his soul and strength had been taken from him. Darkness washed over his vision, a buzzing filled his ears, and only those two words continued echoing endlessly in his mind.

"...Exploitation?"

He repeated the word, his voice as light as a dream, yet trembling with utter despair. Each syllable forced its way from deep in his throat, carrying broken hoarseness. "You mean... getting close to me, from the very beginning, was only exploitation?"

Gu Yue did not answer. She did not dare to answer, and she could not answer.

She feared that if she said even one more word, every wall she had forced herself to build would collapse in an instant. All the emotions she had repressed would burst through their restraints, and she would be unable to stop herself from telling him everything, from holding him, from abandoning all fate and duty just to remain at his side.

She suddenly exerted force and stepped forward, completely shaking off his last touch. Her sleeve slipped from his fingertips, stirring an almost imperceptible breeze and carrying away the final thread connecting them. She moved farther away from him—one step, two steps, three steps. Every step landed on the tip of her heart, agonizing beyond measure, yet she did not hesitate even half a step.

At last, she slowly turned around. Separated by a distance neither too near nor too far, they faced each other from afar.

Yet she kept her eyes lowered, her long lashes hiding all the turbulent emotion in her gaze, hiding the burning tears, hiding the grief that tore her heart apart. All that remained was icy indifference. Her voice was terrifyingly calm, calm as though she were declaring a past that had never mattered, calm as though she were cutting off the final trace of longing.

"From now on, neither of us owes the other anything. We will have nothing more to do with each other."

"Tang Wulin, don't come looking for me again."

"Never."

When those final words fell, Gu Yue did not linger for another moment. Without looking at him even once, without leaving behind the slightest attachment, she turned and walked toward the deeper darkness of the forest. Her plain white sleeves were whipped up by the evening wind, drawing a resolute yet lonely arc. Her steps were steady and straight, carrying her farther from him, farther from love, farther from all warmth, step by step toward the cold and solitary fate that belonged to her.

Her figure gradually blurred in the dim night, until it finally vanished completely into the shadows of the willow trees and forest, never to be seen again.

This time, it was not a temporary departure, but a true farewell.

Tang Wulin stood alone beneath the willows. The evening wind swept up fallen leaves from the ground and brushed lightly across his cold cheeks, carrying a faint itch, yet it could no longer carry away the pain in his heart. The fireflies had long since scattered, the starlight had dimmed, and the ripples on the lake had lost their former gentleness. At this moment, the entire world seemed to have lost all color, leaving behind only boundless cold and darkness.

He slowly lowered his head and stared at his empty fingertips. A faint trace of the warmth and scent of her sleeve still lingered there, but the person who had made his heart race, who had consumed his thoughts, who had filled him with joy, had already vanished completely into the night and would never return.

A tearing pain surged through his chest again and again, each wave stronger than the last, leaving him barely able to stand. His legs weakened slightly, and he nearly collapsed to his knees. He opened his mouth, wanting to call her name once more, wanting to demand an answer, wanting to keep that retreating figure, but it was as though something had blocked his throat completely. No sound came out. Only an uncontrollable sob slowly spilled from deep within his throat, rough and broken.

"Gu Yue..."

"Why..."

The boy's slender figure trembled faintly in the night, so lonely it broke the heart, so helpless it hurt to watch.

He did not understand. The tenderness that had been within reach only moments ago, the days they had spent together—everything had been real. Why had it all become a carefully planned exploitation in the blink of an eye, become a cold, resolute declaration that they would have nothing more to do with each other?

He did not understand what could have turned the Gu Yue who once smiled at him, cared for him, and protected him into what she was now.

The evening wind continued to blow, the willow branches continued to sway, and the waters of Sea God Lake continued to flow quietly.

But the boy's heart, on that starlit night, was shattered completely, never to be pieced back into its former shape.

And in the deepest part of the forest, in a corner no one could see,

Gu Yue could no longer hold on. Her legs gave way, and she fell heavily to her knees upon the cold earth.

The veil slowly slipped from her face, revealing a countenance streaked with tears and pale as paper.

Both hands pressed desperately against her chest, where the pain felt as though it were about to burst open. Three consciousnesses collided, tore, and merged wildly in the depths of her soul—the deep love of Gu Yue, the innocence of Na'er, and the majesty of the Silver Dragon King.

A cold, ancient voice slowly rang out from the deepest part of her soul, carrying an irresistible force:

"I am Gu Yuena, the Silver Dragon King."

"From this day onward, abandon all romantic attachment."

Tears rolled down silently, falling into the soil beneath her feet, spreading at once and shattering into endless cold.

She covered her mouth, her knuckles white, crying so hard that her entire body shook violently, yet she did not dare make a single sound.

Again and again, in the depths of her heart, she repeated in agony to the boy beyond her reach:

Wulin, I'm sorry.

I love you.

But I can only betray you.