Thinking of Xing Yun, he unwittingly thought of Wu Meng again, the woman whose eyes always held a faint trace of sorrow whenever she looked up at him. "You gifted me a pearl; a fragrant heart quietly awaited the bright moon."
As his thoughts continued, he saw Ye Wan bending over in the fields to plant rice seedlings. He saw her in the Painted Realm, keeping her lonely vigil for a lifetime, waiting for him to come home even when her face had aged and she lay confined to bed.
As he flew, his thoughts wandered endlessly. He looked north, where there was still a girl named Chen Qi, that stubborn girl who had put on a bride's wedding gown for him.
He had to admit that, since parting with Ling'er, these four women had become impossible for Mu Bai to forget. If Wu Meng was a shy lilac, Xing Yun was a violet in the night. If Ye Wan was a water lily blooming toward the full moon, Chen Qi was a red plum blossom amid wind and snow.
But it was Ling'er whom Mu Bai held in his heart. Though, thinking back now, they had still been children during their time together, though their feelings had been like those between brother and sister, Mu Bai wanted to be sure. He did not want to let her down.
If it had been a mistake from the beginning, then why had that mistake been so beautiful?
Should he keep making that mistake?
He shook his head sharply, casting off the thoughts that had accompanied him along the way. Looking ahead at the vast drop beneath his feet, Mu Bai abruptly accelerated and flew straight onward. He made few stops after that, and three days later, he returned to Spirit Command