Extra 3: Encounter

Jiang Jingjian thought that he was dreaming about the past again.

How could he dream of the past? Was he asleep? Oh, yes, he remembered, he had closed his eyes.

He lay in the coffin.

Jiang Jingjian slowly opened his eyes.

The lazy midday sun fell into the palace, illuminating a bright yet not dazzling area.

In the upward vision, the light and bright gradually spread to gray and dim. In the gray and dim, the beams and ceiling were vaguely visible. Jiang Jing's eyes gradually blinked in a daze, and the blurred vision was dark and bright, dark and bright...

The coffin, pitch black and mottled with gold, was square, cramped, and confining. A figure, dressed in a neat black embroidered robe, lay flat on his back, his hands gently folded over his abdomen, breathing quietly and blinking his eyes.

His dark eyes were still dazed, his lips were lightly pursed, and his face looked indifferent and numb. For a long time, he showed no intention of getting up.

For a long, long time.

In the silence, the sound of a door being pushed open was heard from far away.

Yuan Shi lowered his head and walked over quickly. He gently lifted his robe and knelt beside the dark coffin. He whispered to him, "Your Majesty, there was an explosion at the bottom of Tianshui Pond just now."

Jiang Jingjian remained motionless and unresponsive.

Yuan Shi paused, lowered his eyes, and continued softly, "Half an hour ago, news came from Prince Ning's Mansion that Prince Ning had passed away."

Inside the magnificent palace, there was once again a dead silence. This dead silence was illuminated by the bright sunlight outside the window, a light and dead silence.

Yuan Shi knelt on the spot, bent over and lowered his head under the black and golden coffin wall, waiting quietly for a long time.

A pale hand slowly stretched out from the wall of the coffin and gently lifted it up high.

The five fingers of his right hand were casually spread out, and the person in the coffin quietly looked at his own hand, and the faint light passing through his hand...

"Dead."

He looked indifferent, and for some reason he muttered something in a voice so soft that it almost disappeared in the dim light of the hall.

Yuan Shi felt confused and kept quiet with his head down.

The hand that was raised high suddenly fell down, grabbing the wall of the coffin and exerting force. The figure in it slowly sat up and closed his eyes. He supported the coffin and slowly stood up, dragging out a slender ghostly black shadow in the bright and soothing hall.

"I'm the only one left..."

He floated out of the coffin, walked slowly past the kneeling Yuan Shi, and headed out of the hall, leaving behind only a soliloquy that almost vanished on the wind:

"It's my turn..."

Yuan Shi suddenly looked up, his pupils suddenly constricted, his face was filled with panic, and his mouth opened wide, but he could only utter a faint, almost inaudible sound: "Your Majesty..."

The familiar figure walked into the distance without looking back, as if he had not heard or noticed anything. He muttered to himself softly and walked into the bright white sunlight outside the hall. He was quickly swallowed by the white light, disappearing like a bubble, like the last alternation of day and night.

"Your Majesty..." Yuan Shi hurriedly turned around, knelt deeply in the direction where he was leaving, closed his eyes, and choked with tears.

…………

late at night.

The water is clear and cool under the moon.

In this deserted and silent place, the grass and trees are growing and dying, and the insects are chirping softly. The colorful birds do not visit this place. A big bird with a black body and red eyes stands on the branch of the full moon, sometimes motionless like a dead thing, and sometimes turning its head strangely.

Vines and branches clung to the towering rocks, lush and thick like a heavy blanket. Within the blanket of nature, a heavy stone door suddenly flew open.

The black-clad figure, almost blending into the night, walked in step by step, and the stone door closed again behind him.

“Swish——”

On the left and right walls, lights lit up one after another, spreading into the darkness below the long steps.

Jiang Jing took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and slowly walked down the stairs.

He walked slowly, taking each step seriously. He first looked at the terrifying darkness ahead with a serious and focused expression. As he walked, he unconsciously forgot about his surroundings and himself. His dark eyes were blank and his face was dazed.

The entire Tianshui Lake was turned upside down.

People, some die, some disappear, and some leave their hometowns.

To dust, to dust, to dust… Later is later, what good is later? After all, there is no turning back to the past; in the end, we will return to dust.

The air was filled with coldness, as if it was about to condense into a solid mist. Jiang Jingjian walked slowly in it, unconsciously.

I can't blame anyone, I can't hate anyone, I just feel powerless. I'm powerless and helpless to the extreme, even resentment is powerless. Jiang Jingjian thought absentmindedly, what did Rong Yejin say in the past that was right? Where did it go?

"Da, da, da..."

Jiang Jing stepped onto the end of the long staircase and gradually lost his mind. He raised his foot to go down again, but he stopped on the flat ground again.

Jiang Jingjian was startled and suddenly came to his senses. He turned around to look around, then stared blankly ahead, feeling distraught.

He shouldn't have come...

But he still came on his own.

He should move people away, or he could just stay here and protect her well in the future.

Jiang Jingjian clenched his drooping hands, then suddenly raised his hand to grab the lamp on the wall next to him. Feeling full of shame, he walked forward quickly.

As if fleeing, faster and faster, faster and faster——

The orange-red flames broke through the sticky darkness and illuminated the small bridges and flowing water on the flat ground!

"Thump." The pebble was kicked and suddenly bounced forward, rolling against the door.

Jiang Jingjian's pupils trembled, his pale face stained with sweat and tears. His mouth parted as he gasped for air, puffs of white mist rising in the cold. He stopped before a massive bronze and gold-carved door, his entire body flexing and curling in pain, trembling uncontrollably.

"Jiang, Jiang Jingyuan, Jiang Jingyuan..."

"Jiang Jingyuan..."

With his head down, his eyes sore and his breath intermittently, he frowned, closed his eyes, raised his hand and pushed open the door in front of him.

"Jiang Jingyuan, Jiang..."

The huge bronze door with gold carvings had just opened a crack when he quickly rushed in, hiding inside the door as if he was avoiding some kind of flood or beast behind him.

"Jiang, Jiang, Jiang Jingyuan..."

"Jiang Jingyuan! Jiang Jingyuan! Jiang Jingyuan——"

"Jiang Jingyuan?!!"

The moment Jiang Jingjian raised his head, his pupils suddenly shrank and the lamp in his hand fell to the ground with a "click".

In his field of vision, shrouded in the glowing orange-red dimness, on top of a huge, carved and gilded black coffin, a familiar girl in gorgeous and complicated clothes sat facing him sideways, quietly.

Jiang Jingjian opened his eyes wide in disbelief. In a moment, he ran over in panic and shouted:

"Jiang Jingyuan! Why are you here? It's so dark here, why are you here!!"

He rushed over, opening his arms to embrace her. The familiar girl raised her head, but instead of looking at him, she stared straight at the crack in the door behind him. She stood up, her figure passing through her black embroidered sleeves, and walked slowly towards him, as if floating.

Jiang Jingjian pounced on the pitch-black coffin, not daring to stop for a moment. He supported the coffin with both hands, turned his head to look at her, and hurriedly chased after her, "Jiang Jingyuan, wait! Wait for me!"

Unexpectedly, the familiar girl actually stopped and turned to look sideways. Her pale face had a dull expression and her eyes were dark and lifeless.

"Jiang Jingyuan...?"

Jiang Jingjian was stunned. He slowly stopped and stood five steps away from her. As if he thought of something, his pupils trembled violently again, like the bottomless lake under the moon, shimmering in an instant.

His body trembled, his voice trembled, "You..."

Jiang Jingyuan looked at him, his eyes as dark as the abyss, his face calm and expressionless. I wonder... if he had any thoughts, and I wonder what he was thinking...

Jiang Jingjian took a deep breath, not even daring to lift his sleeves to cover his face, fearing that the person in front of him would disappear in the blink of an eye. He walked over and reached out to hold her hand, but he couldn't. Jiang Jingjian looked down at her hand, his eyes red. He was silent for a while, and then asked her softly:

"where are you going?"

"Wherever you're going, I'll go with you."

As day and night change and autumn comes and goes, two figures, one high and one low, one bright and one dark, one in front and one behind, wander in the wilderness like ghosts.

Like dandelions, little flowers drift in the wind to the east, west, south and north.

They drifted here and there and returned to Yuan Country, but suddenly they felt something and stopped briefly at the legendary mysterious Dongling.

Jiang Weiji, the Emperor Huan who was said to be dead but not yet dead, was sitting there for an unknown period of time, his clothes disheveled and in a state of disarray. He held a fat white goose in his arms, leaning against the grass and rocks with his head tilted.

Amidst the large number of scattered figures lying on the ground and the dark red water, the goose in his arms tilted its neck and closed its eyes. He himself also tilted his head back, gazing at the white clouds in the sky.

Seeing someone slowly approaching from a distance, and seeing that the person looked familiar, Jiang Weiji's face was numb, and only a light and short sound came out of his mouth, as if he was laughing, but he couldn't laugh. He said to the two people who were approaching:

"Take the Blood Seal and the 'Mountain Tower'. I have no use for them. If you're willing, send me back to Diqu City. If not, forget it..."

The voice was soft and flat, but it could hardly hide the numbness.

Jiang Jingyuan didn't react, but also looked at the distant sky, standing quietly aside. Jiang Jingjian put away the blood seal and the "Mountain Tower" with a flick of his sleeve, nodded to him and said, "I'll take you back."

Jiang Weiji said "hmm" and slowly closed his eyes.

…………

Two figures, one low and one high, one bright and one dark, one in front and one behind, continued to wander between heaven and earth, as if aimlessly, year after year, watching all beings laugh, watching all beings get angry, watching all beings cry and struggle.

The wilderness is cold and bleak during the day.

The fire crackled. Jiang Jingjian tilted his head and asked her softly, "Jiang Jingyuan, where are you going?"

Jiang Jingyuan sat lightly on the gray-white boulder and did not respond for a long time. It was unknown whether he could hear his voice.

Jiang Jingjian pursed his lips, slowly turned his head, lowered his head, and poked the fire with the branch in his hand. He was silent for a long time, without looking at her, and asked softly: "Can you wait for me..." Wait for him to find a way to become an immortal and a way to bring the dead back to life.

Jiang Jingyuan still didn't respond.

Jiang Jingjian also fell silent.

Unfortunately, she was a ghost, unable to be grasped by hands or held by ropes. She could only call out day and night in the wilderness without stopping: "Jiang Jingyuan, wait for me!"

Then he held his breath nervously and carefully, staring at her, hoping that she would stop like she did before.

This won't work.

She never knew when he would suddenly run away.

He also... didn't know how long he could follow her.

No, no, no. This is too dangerous. We can't let her wander around alone.

Jiang Jingjian stared at the figure not far away in front of him, and almost instinctively took a step forward and followed.

Several hundred years was already beyond people's expectations, but Jiang Jingyuan was still here.

He wants to accompany her, he wants to protect her, he cannot leave her.

If only there were a little more time, a little more fate, immortality, becoming an immortal… Jiang Jingjian’s eyes were blank, staring at the figure in front of him gradually moving away, and he almost unconsciously choked with sobs and said, “Jiang Jingyuan, wait for me…”

In front, Jiang Jingyuan stopped and turned to look at him.

Being caught in her dark eyes, Jiang Jingjian instantly came back to his senses. His eyes were sore, and he pursed his lips, clenching his teeth a little bit. He let out intermittent sobs from his throat, but he didn't say anything.

Jiang Jingyuan didn't react either. She just stood there quietly, looking at him.

"It's okay..." Jiang Jingjian suddenly raised his sleeves to cover his face, took a deep breath, and swallowed hard in his throat, "Just keep going."

Jiang Jingyuan turned around.

She took two steps and stopped.

Behind her, Jiang Jingjian suddenly put down his hand, walked quickly to her side, and stared ahead vigilantly.

Not far ahead, a figure in white stood in the gray sky and earth. She was completely shrouded in the flowing gauze of a pearl silk flower hat. Her figure was illusory and she watched them quietly for an unknown period of time.

Jiang Jingjian was stunned.

His entire body tensed with vigilance, his left hand subconsciously reaching out to the girl beside him, wanting to hold her hand. After a pause, he seemed to recall something, glanced sideways at her, then silently withdrew his hand. He then looked at the person in front of him and calmly asked, "What are you doing?"

"Who are you?"

The person in front of her didn't say anything. Two figures, one in red and one in white and blue, walked out from behind her and asked:

"Do you want to see her later?"

Jiang Jingjian was startled, and inexplicably understood. He subconsciously turned his head and glanced at the calm profile of the girl next to him. He turned back to the front, was silent for a moment, and said to the person next to him: "Jiang Jingyuan, let's go." He turned around and walked out first.

Jiang Jingyuan followed him.

"At the end of her rope, don't you want to go and see where she ended up in peace?"

The three people behind did not catch up.

The figure in white and green smiled and said slowly, "We can send you directly to a thousand years later."

Jiang Jingjian slowed down his pace but continued walking. He gently moved his right hand to the side, grabbed the hand of the girl beside him as if he had touched her, and walked forward.

He turned his head and looked at the person next to him with sad eyes, but his tone was calm:

"So, what is she going to do in these thousand years?"

The person behind him also smiled when he heard this and said slowly, "After you die, she will be what she is."

The river view gradually stopped.

Jiang Jingyuan, who was standing next to him, stopped and followed him, his face calm.

Jiang Jingjian's body tensed for a moment, but he was unable to relax. He slowly turned around and raised his head to look.

Just at this moment, a strong wind blew, and the white gauze around the quiet figure in front of him fluttered. In the gray and desolate wilderness, the light golden eyes were bright, mysterious and indifferent.

Jiang Jingjian opened his eyes and mouth instantly.

"……good."