Her hands shaking profusedly with puff of smoke of warm air released from her mouth as Wan Miansu let go of her divine weapon that struck Guan Yu's chest. Tears fell like white pearls from her eyes.
Pit... Pat...
Guan Yu's blood fell as he pulled out the sword. The severed bleeding rendered him immobile as it is fatal for an immortal to take damage from a divine weapon of another immortal.
"You deserve this! Guan Yu, how could you forget?" Wan Miansu shouted as rage overtook her eyes.
"I never knew! I— may have forgotten when I took the potion..." Guan Yu replied with a weak voice.
"Knew? No! You always knew! When you saw my face that night when I took off the mask, you promised me! You promised that you'll find me the next blue moon." Miansu yelled in denial.
Staying rooted on his position, Guan Yu's memories started flowing back into him. The effect of the love-forgetting potion gradually wore off.
The memories were too painful that he forgot that he was bleeding to death.
"Fang Xuezhi told me that night... I remembered it now... He said that you killed yourself after an immortal you confessed to rejected your love. He said that you committed death."
Reaching out his hands towards Miansu, Miansu flicked his hand in dismay and moved away.
"Death? How? If there's any immortal I had ever loved, you should've realized that it's you!"
"I—I...."
No words came out from his mouth as he realized everything. If from the start, he would have had trust on Miansu, he would rather trust her rather than listen to words of other people. The immortal flame core inside him weakened. It is his fortitude driving him to do righteousness but to himself, he could not even be righteous to the woman he loved.
"I—I am sorry..." —Guan Yu
"A sorry can't fix a shattered heart. No matter how you stick it altogether, the pieces still break." —Wan Miansu
"I just wanted to say sorry. It may never fix the pieces but at least it may comfort your soul." —Guan Yu
"It is not your fault, it is mine. I trusted on a hanging promise. But, one thing that hurt me was that, the promise was made by a person I loved the most." —Wan Miansu
Picking up her divine weapon, Wan Miansu headed up to the stairs leading up to the firmament of ninth heaven where the eternal swordpool is located.
"Mian—su... What will you... Do???"—Guan Yu
"You deemed me that I died once right? Now, I shall make your request come into reality." —Wan Miansu
"No!!!! Don't do it.... Stop!" —Guan Yu
Inspite of Guan Yu's interference, Miansu took steps up the stairs. Guan Yu's body became heavy as he saw blood dripped off from his chest. He looked at his hands with blood as his eyelids grew heavy and wanted to lie down but his mind did not cooperate.
"I want to save Miansu... The first time I failed her, I will not fail her next time." He whispered internally.
With the rest of his qi, Guan Yu performed an excursion of intertwined dragons ritual. It is a ritual where the core eternal flame of an immortal dies but their souls keep intact. However, the primal soul of the immortal only shows up not where they have died but on the place that they first came to be. They can reincarnate back if another immortal nurtures their souls back until they undergo soul breakthrough where they can return back to their former stasis of immortal prowess.
Miansu reached on the swordpool and using her divine weapon, she slit a little wound from her wrist. Slowly, the blood trailed from her hand. As she lifted her hand up, the blood drifted in the air suspended. With sad eyes, Wan Miansu was about to form a blood pact with the swordpool to take her own life however...
As Guan Yu saw the levitating drop of blood, he was torn in stopping Miansu or not... In the end, he finally made the decision.
"I will stop this blood pact no matter what."
With few strength left, Guan Yu used his spear and sprang up the air tipping the blood away from the swordpool's idol and caught it using his mouth.
"Why did you do that? Just let me die already!" Wan Miansu angrily crossed her eyebrows.
"Dying does not solve anything! If you are angry at me, then get back at me! Kill me if you must, I was the one at fault for letting you down. Aim your anger at me!" Guan Yu said as tears slowly fell from his eyes.
"Guan Yu, even if I am angry and I feel that I must kill you for everything that you have done, I still cannot bring myself to kill you! It is this anger, sadness and guilt that I feel... Because of these, I would rather kill myself!"
Wan Miansu wanted to slit her other wrist when, Guan Yu twisted his spear in another direction and aimed it at himself.
"Consider this as my redemption." With a strong thrust, Guan Yu impaled himself with his own spear. Wan Miansu could only scream in horror and sadness as she ran over to him.
Guan Yu's eyelids became heavy as he slowly sunk at the swordpool's deep waters.
"Guan Yu!!!!!!!!!" Wan Miansu screamed as she swam deep below to reach Guan Yu's body. As she reached it, she held his lifeless body as a faint purple light emitted from both of them shone from the pitch black darkness of the deep water.
----------------------
At the pillar of life and death, Xuanzheng seated underneath the plum tree of eternity as she blew her black flute.
The goddess of death did not paid much attention because there were no more souls that needs to cross the bridge when she realized that two main pillars dimmed.
She looked up and stopped playing.
"What is happening!!??" She shouted loudly as a strong and violent gust of wind seen in purple hue crossed the bridge in hurry.
"The pillar of flame and ice... This—"
Xuanzheng pulled out a handbook... She looked for the immortals who were the bearers of the pillars.
"Let's see... Guan Yu... and... Wan Miansu? No... This can't be."