And at last... Zhang Xiaoxing had joined them to their journey heading to the Kunlun Mountain Pass. The path leading up there is rough and steep especially when they had passed the dragon's tongue. The Dragon's tongue is a dangerous cliff and many had fell and died there. For short, no one really lived to cross the Kunlun Mountain Pass.
"Gyah!" Luo Na shouted as her other foot slipped at the rocks of the cliff. General Hua grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him.
"Be careful." He says as the air at the cliff gets even thinner. It's harder to breathe and the fog thickens more.
Luckily for them, they all had survived the rough path and reached the Mountain Pass. The peak of Mount Kunlun shone before them. They all walked towards the light and suddenly... The fog disappeared in an instant. It seems like they have entered another realm different from the apparent one. When all is cleared, a path had appeared in front of them and there are stairs leading upward a temple.
"I think, I and Zhang Xiaoxing will stay here. You all go." Luo Na hesitantly said. She thought that the disciples of the Jade Celestial might think of them as their enemies but Wei Yue insisted that they all should go.
"As the Goddess said, this war that we face is not caused by your own doing. Your ruler has been corrupted by a witch and we need to get the antidote before he could decree another war and destroy another hidden kingdom like ours." Wei Yue patted Luo Na at her back. She nodded and followed them upstairs.
The light shone brightly and when they had reached the top, monks bowed in front of them as a sign of respect. Li An looked at them and wondered... They were all children. The monks that were sweeping the temple corridors, the ones that are training at the plum orchard and the ones that greeted them.
"Greetings! I am Yin Mushen. I am the one who had been tasked by my lady to lead you all to the spring of clarity. But first let me ask you all, how did you manage to survive the path that we made? No human could even cross the dragon's tongue."
A little child monk walked in front of the other child monks. Unlike the other child monks, he had this wonderful mark at his right shoulder engraved with a phoenix and a dragon in it.
"We... We aren't all completely mortals." Wei Yue walked and bowed in front of him. The child monk's eyes grew big.
"WH-AAAAA WHAT ARE YOU?" He squealed. The other child monks looked at each other. They seem to be surprised why their leader is making such a fuss at Wei Yue's form.
"The spirit of the Jade Phoenix was passed unto mine by my father. My father did not change form as this crest was passed in him but why me?" Wei Yue asked the child monk.
The child monk cleared his throat and said... "If you want to know the answers to all of your questions, then follow me."
They all followed Yin Mushen. He then led them into a secret cave accessible only by a monk's secret chant and hand signs. Inside the cave was a pool of clear blue water. A statue of a dragon and a phoenix stood across it and plum trees grew inside the cave with it's flowers that is always in full bloom. The petals fall in the water buy it wouldn't make the water look dirty at all. The petals the fall turns into a faint light and then disappear.
"Who dares ask the questions first and delve into their deepest thoughts?" Yin Mushen flew upward the plum tree and gathered 5 petals and then returned back to them and put each one of the petal in their hand.
"We all have questions." General Hua said to him. Yin Mushen nodded and replied... "Very well..."
All of them stood at the edge of the water and their petals fell into it. Then... They all fell asleep. They had delved into the deepest and darkest part of their souls.
"Luo Na! Luo Na!!!!!" Shouted General Hua. Luo Na awakened and found themselves in the pool of clarity without Li An, Wei Yue and Zhang Xiaoxing.
"Where are we?" Luo Na asked General Hua.
"The same place but not the same time... Let's go out of the cave and find out for ourselves." General Hua helped Luo Na out of the water and they then both emerged outside of the cave.
The sky is painted red and the smell of burning embers and dead bodies filled the air. Luo Na covered her mouth as she saw the dead bodies in their wake.
"The war may have already started in my memory." Luo Na tearfully looked at the bodies. She can tell that they're from the army that the Dragon Blade Emperor had raised.
"If I were inside your memory, you mean this could happen to us? In speaking of us, where should we be now?" General Hua had no clue. But Luo Na saw something from far away.
"LOOK!" She grabbed General Hua's hand and hid behind a rock.
She can see herself pointing her daggers at General Hua. He's badly wounded and could not even stand up. His wounds from his side and arms are preventing him from grabbing his blood-stained Jade sword.
"Any last words, General?" Luo Na's other self said with a smirk on her face. She thinks that she will be enjoying herself ripping that head of his.
"Luo Na... Please wake up... You are not... "
The other Luo Na stabbed General Hua in his side. This time, Luo Na couldn't take it so she looked away and hid herself at General Hua's chest. He comforted her and caressed her hair while General Hua continued to witness the bloody horror that is happening to both of them.
He then noticed that something is very wrong... The other Luo Na has her eyes shedding tears after she stabbed the other General Hua.
"Wait... Look Luo Na! Now we know the answer!" General Hua pointed at the other direction where he could see a witch with eight arms holding a thread which controlled the other Luo Na's movements.
He would want to jump out and kill the witch but he realized... He was inside of the spring of clarity. He had no choice but to witness his own death.
"Luo Na... I... I'm sorry I couldn't protect you but... Loving you is the least I can do."
The other General Hua picked up his sword and thrust it into Luo Na and himself.
"NO!!!!" General Hua yelled.
"General! General!!!" Li An shook General Hua's arm. His vision was a bit blurry but he got up. He looked around him and saw Luo Na, Zhang Xiaoxing and Wei Yue alive especially the annoying Li An.
"It's been an hour that we all woke up from the spell, why didn't you wake up together with Luo Na? You had both been in the same memory aren't you?"
Li An's question made his mind more blurry. He saw his own death... Min Hua's prophecy was already happening and there's nothing he could do to avoid it.
General Hua stood up and ran towards Luo Na's direction and hugged her.
"I'm so glad you're alive." He said to her with tears in his eyes. This time, he is already sobbing. Tears couldn't stop flowing. Luo Na returned the hug. A gust of wind blew inside the cave, many petals fell into the water creating showers of light.
"There is light in the darkness after all." Wei Yue said.