Long Time No See

[You took A Ruan's hand in front of the other children, telling everyone that A Ruan was your best friend. This action began to make the other children actively accept A Ruan.]

[At eight years old, you received news that A Ruan's family was leaving and going to a very distant place. A Ruan told you that they were going to deep space to conduct research on life sciences, which was Aunt Mei and Uncle Ruan's job. You told your parents about this, expressing your desire to go with them, but they firmly disagreed with your request.]

[So, on the day A Ruan left, you gave her a Ruan Lyre that you had made yourself, carved with Plum Blossom.]

[At nine years old, after A Ruan left. Although you always felt empty inside, at the same time, you also set a goal—to become a life scientist, so that you would have the opportunity to work with A Ruan in the future.]

[At ten years old, you inquired about A Ruan's news from your parents while working hard towards your goal.]

[At eleven years old, you graduated from the private school at the top of your class. A swordsman saw your talent in swordsmanship and hoped that you would practice swordsmanship with him. You wanted to refuse, but he tricked you into going by saying that his home had countless books. If you learned swordsmanship with him, he could find someone to help guide your research on life sciences.]

[At twelve years old, your swordsmanship improved by leaps and bounds under his guidance.]

[At thirteen years old, you defeated your fellow disciples and became a famous young genius. Your master gave you an ancient sword, which you named "Nameless."]

[At fourteen years old, under your master's recommendation, you joined the army to temper your mind.]

Before this, your life had been smooth sailing.

However, all of this changed when you were fifteen years old.

[At fifteen years old, a Star Nucleus descended upon this land, and then, a large-scale Antimatter Legion also came to this planet, beginning to indiscriminately slaughter all living beings. Your mother was killed by the Legion in this disaster, and your father also had an arm chopped off by the Legion in the riots.]

[After the initial chaos and turmoil ended. The army began to organize resistance, your father sold all the property he had earned over the years in business and donated it to the refugees in the disaster area and the resisting army, and then, against your objections, joined the spontaneously formed resistance army.]

At sixteen years old, the battle between the two sides was protracted. But those Antimatter Legions were like insects that could never be killed, constantly assaulting the last remaining territory of mankind.

[One day, you saw your father's name on the list of fallen soldiers at the front line. The resistance army he was in was all composed of local soldiers. In a border defense battle, in order to hold on until reinforcements arrived, they were all killed in battle.]

[At seventeen years old, you found the source of this disaster—the Star Nucleus. The master who led you into the path of swordsmanship was ordered to accept the task of destroying the Star Nucleus. But when you saw him again, you found that he had been bewitched by the Star Nucleus and had become another person.]

[Many of your fellow disciples were killed by your master. You stood in front of him, looking at the severed limbs all over the ground, recalling the past, and your heart was twisted like a knife. As his direct disciple, you were familiar with his swordsmanship and knew his sword techniques, so it was only right for you to end all of this.]

Even if you created your own sword techniques and were invincible among your peers, you were just a young genius. Facing the contemporary Sword Master, you still had no power to resist. All that was left in front of you were two choices: either avoid his sharp edge, at the cost of your master killing countless people during this time, or fight to the last moment, but the result is likely to be your fall, a hero's end.

[The time left for you to choose was very short. In the end, you followed your emotions and chose the latter.]

[The setting sun was like blood. Even though you knew all of your master's moves, your lack of experience still led to your defeat.]

[The long sword pierced your chest, and the intense suffocation and stinging almost paralyzed your nerves. But you still held the sword, trying to delay even for a second.]

[At the last moment of your life, blood kept dripping down the already blood-stained blade.]

[In a trance, you were in the void, and the "Preservation" Amber Lord cast a glance at you.]

[The golden energy made you unable to feel the pain of being pierced through your body for a short time. You coughed up a mouthful of blood, used your last bit of strength, raised "Nameless" above your head, and slashed forward...]

On the mountain of corpses and sea of blood piled up by the remains of the Antimatter Legion and the corpses of former comrades and fellow disciples, Bai Heng knelt on one knee, his vision completely obscured by blood, becoming blurred and indistinct.

His hands clenched the long sword embedded in the ground, his body trembling constantly. With each breath, blood gushed from his internal organs.

Bai Heng knew his physical condition, so he did not pull out the sharp sword that had pierced his chest, but was silently waiting for the arrival of death.

Looking back on these three years, he had lost his parents, lost his friends, comrades, and even all of his closest relatives, and finally... personally killed his master.

In the end, only he was left.

Gradually, Bai Heng felt a little tired, his eyelids were heavy, and he could no longer open his eyes.

His thoughts began to drift, and he seemed to have returned to his childhood.

In the warm cottage, the courtyard was covered with snow, incense burners were lit in the long corridor, and plates of exquisite snacks were placed in wooden boxes.

Bai Heng would shake the Plum Blossom in the courtyard, while his father would hold a broom and chase after him, who would not listen to discipline.

He burrowed into his mother's arms under the long corridor, making faces at his father behind him, sticking out his tongue slightly.

When his father ignored even his mother's face, Bai Heng would clutch the Plum Blossom he had just picked from the tree, run to A Ruan's house, and then pin the Plum Blossom on A Ruan's long hair.

He also remembered that bastard of a master who tricked him into believing his house had many scriptures, but in reality, he couldn't read a single word, and his house was full of comic books.

And those fellow disciples who always liked to take him to dig bird nests, practice swordsmanship for five minutes, and slack off for two hours.

In the revolving lantern, Bai Heng seemed to have returned to that carefree time.

Until, a faint melody of Ruan Lyre sounded in his ears.

Bai Heng opened his heavy eyelids. His body was still weak, and there was still a stinging pain in his chest.

His gaze rested on the bed curtain above his head, somewhat unfocused.

"I... didn't die?"

"Where is this?"

He covered the bandage on his chest, supported himself on the edge of the bed with one hand, and barely sat up.

After looking around at the surroundings, he realized that he seemed to be in a woman's boudoir.

The sound of the Ruan Lyre outside the house was still playing.

Bai Heng endured the pain and walked forward to push the door open.

And in the courtyard facing the gate, there was a girl gently caressing the Ruan Lyre.

She was dressed in green, with two jade hairpins holding up her beautiful hair, her temperament was gentle and refined, her slender hands gently caressing the Ruan strings, her jade-like deep and clear eyes were looking at the plum blossoms in the courtyard, but they seemed distant and ethereal.

Seeming to have noticed Bai Heng who opened the door, the girl came back to her senses, and a shallow smile appeared on her seemingly otherworldly beautiful face:

"Long time no see."