บท 289: A Wound Too Deep

The crisp colors of that day started to fade. The edge of the blue sky blurred, and the scent of autumn breeze drifted farther away. A thin veil of haze returned, shrouding the scene in front of us.

Slowly, awareness trickled back to my mind. I remembered who I was. Slowly, the flow of Bai Ye's spiritual power separated itself from mine. I remembered where we were. The last lingering wisp of his memory left my consciousness, and I opened my eyes.

My heart hurt so much that I could barely breathe.

I had always known that our past pained him. He was always looking at me with such sorrow and wistfulness in his eyes, and he had always spoken of my past life with so much regret and guilt. But I never knew how deep that pain could run until I saw it. Until I felt it.

How did he make it through hundreds of years with all that suffering? How did he face me for the whole time I was at Mount Hua … hiding so heavy a burden from me every day?