157: Chapter 157 Ye Qingxi

"Xishui!"

Chen Zilong blurted out, his voice cracking with extreme excitement.

He disregarded the exhaustion from his recent tribulation success, ignored Liu Mei standing by, and even cast aside the poise expected of a Spirit Transformation Realm expert.

With a flicker of movement, he vanished from atop the Immortal-Gazing Stone.

An instant later, he appeared right in front of Ye Xishui.

Almost fumbling in his haste, he pulled this lost-and-found treasure into a tight, forceful embrace.

The strength of his hold was as if he wanted to crush her into his very bones and blood, never to be separated again.

"This is wonderful... truly wonderful! You're alive! I really... I really..."

His voice was heavily choked with emotion.

The rest of his words were stuck in his throat, turning into scalding liquid that surged from his eyes, quickly soaking the thin gauze on her shoulder.

"I missed you so much..."

He finally sobbed out the words that had been weighed down in his heart for three years.

The moment he held her, Ye Xishui's body stiffened ever so slightly.

But immediately after, she relaxed and reached out her arms, gently returning the embrace of his trembling body.

Her hand patted his back soothingly, stroke after stroke, her movements gentle and filled with a cautious, tentative touch.

Her voice trembled as well, as if it had traveled through endless time and space to finally reach his ears:

"I'm back."

As if burned by those words, Chen Zilong suddenly let go, though his hands remained firmly gripping her shoulders.

He cupped her face like it was the most fragile porcelain in the world, his gaze greedily scrutinizing every inch of her features.

Her complexion still held a trace of the pallor of someone newly recovered from a serious illness, and her lips were somewhat pale, but those eyes...

Those eyes that used to be clear to the bottom and always held a gentle smile.

Now, they were like two bottomless pools of cold spring water, churning with too many complex emotions he couldn't decipher—

Confusion, sadness, resolve, and even a hint of...

A strangeness that made his heart skip a beat.

"Xishui, I'm sorry, I..."

He spoke incoherently, his handsome face etched with deep, inseparable guilt and self-reproach. "I didn't protect you well back then, letting that villain possess you... If not... if not for that Restriction in your Sea of Consciousness that protected a sliver of your soul, you might not have even... even been able to enter reincarnation. I'm just... so useless."

He lowered his head, not daring to look into her eyes, like a child who had done something wrong.

Ye Xishui shook her head, reaching out with cool fingertips to gently wipe away the tear tracks crisscrossing his face.

"You don't need to say sorry to me."

Her voice was soft, yet it carried a strange power. "Though I was forcibly possessed and my consciousness sank, I... I wasn't entirely unaware."

"I could vaguely sense how, after you thought I was dead, you sought revenge for me like a madman, how you fought others recklessly, and how you... endured these difficult three years."

She paused, her eyes dimming as if covered by a layer of dust. "The one who should say sorry is me."

A trace of imperceptible fear entered her voice. "In my... those memory fragments of the future, I seem to... always be hurting you."

"Using my existence, my choices, my fate... I'm really scared... scared those images will come true..."

Chen Zilong snapped his head up, his hands sliding down to tightly clasp her cool hands. His grip was incredibly firm, as if trying to transfer his own courage and determination to her.

"Who the hell knows what happens in the future?"

He rarely used such coarse language, trying to dispel the gloom in her heart. "So what if the Heavenly Dao has decreed it? I'll damn well change my fate against the heavens! What matters most is that we live in the present! Xishui—"

He looked into her eyes and said clearly, word by word, "From now on, let's cast aside all that past and future bullshit and start over, okay?"

The layer of ice in Ye Xishui's eyes seemed to crack, and a sliver of genuine emotion and warmth flowed out.

She looked at the unquestionable determination and heat in his eyes.

Finally, she nodded heavily, tears falling silently like broken pearls.

"Okay. I promise you. So..."

"I've decided to bid farewell to the past completely. I'll take a new identity and a new name to be with you."

"From now on, call me Ye Qingxi."

This was not just a change of name, but her declaration of breaking away from that tragedy-filled 'future.'

"Ye Qingxi! A fine name!"

The gloom on Chen Zilong's face was swept away, and his smile became bright and dazzling once more.

It was as if the three years of suffering had vanished into thin air with that single nod of hers.

They looked at each other and smiled. All the misunderstandings, fears, and sorrows seemed to evaporate in the brilliant sunlight at this moment.

They slowly and tentatively moved closer to each other, the air filled with a massive, cautious joy of something lost and found.

His breath drew near; her eyelashes trembled slightly as she slowly closed her eyes.

Everything around them seemed to stand still, leaving only the sound of their heartbeats. Just as their lips were about to touch and their breaths had already mingled—

"Ahem!"

An intentionally loud, slightly teasing cough was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, instantly shattering the romantic atmosphere.

The two of them sprang apart like cats whose tails had been stepped on.

Chen Zilong's face instantly turned beet red. He awkwardly raised a hand to scratch the back of his head, his gaze wandering, not daring to look at anyone.

Ye Qingxi's ears were flushed deep red as she hurriedly lowered her head, staring at the tips of her shoes as if a flower were blooming on them.

The person who coughed was, naturally, Liu Mei.

She had walked up close at some unknown point.

Her face wore a knowing half-smile that said 'I saw everything,' and her gaze shifted back and forth between the two.

It held a bit of helplessness and a bit of understanding.

"Mas... Master."

Ye Qingxi called out softly and timidly.

Her voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, like a child caught red-handed stealing sweets.

Liu Mei stepped forward, her gaze first sweeping over Chen Zilong's flushed face before landing on Ye Qingxi's lowered head.

Finally, it turned into a soft, warm sigh.

"Welcome back, Ye Qingxi."

Her voice returned to its usual gentleness. "To have you wake up and stand here again is... truly wonderful."

These words seemed to strike the softest spot in Ye Qingxi's heart.

Her tears broke through the dam again, flowing even more fiercely than before.

She took a step forward, no longer with a cautious embrace but a tight, dependent hug for Liu Mei, burying her face in her shoulder and sobbing:

"Master! I'm back! I'm really back! Thank you... thank you for taking care of me and not giving up all these years..."

Liu Mei gently patted her back, like comforting a child who had suffered much and finally returned home.

Her own eyes grew warm, and her vision became blurred.

"Silly child, why are you thanking me?"

Her voice was slightly raspy. "Your safe return and your ability to start anew is the greatest wish for all of us."

The sunlight poured down without reservation, enveloping the three of them in a warm, peaceful halo.

Chen Zilong's initial success in the Spirit Transformation Realm, Ye Qingxi's resurrection and her determination to break from the past...

All of this seemed to herald the beginning of a brand new journey filled with the unknown.

Now, all that remained was for Tu Shan Xiaoxiao to wake up.

The gloom of the past might not have completely dissipated yet.

But at least for this moment, the light of hope had already illuminated the summit of Purple Bamboo Peak...

...