No matter how the world, the years, or space change, in the darkness, all those fragmented pieces that seem to have appeared in our dreams will one day, without warning, suddenly appear before our most real lives.
We are confused, we hesitate, and we are surprised by this.
In this instant, such a strangely familiar feeling arises. Is it that we have transformed the fragments of our deepest, most sincere prayers into a series of absurd dreams, some joyful, some sorrowful? Or have we simply been trapped in a dream we have woven ourselves, to the point that we can no longer distinguish the boundary between it and the real world?
So, what is a dream? What is reality? And what kind of magical relationship exists between dreams and reality?
Just as in the endless cycle of gathering and parting, the fate that destined us to meet again is already predetermined. Between people whose connections, whether deep or shallow, are always intertwined, whether in life or death, no matter how far apart they are, one day they will all be able to sense the most sincere call from each other's hearts.
At this moment, in Ruoxi's nightmare, where her memory is completely blank, fragmented pieces from a thousand years ago and a thousand years later flash back and forth:
In a bustling, vibrant world, amidst a torrential downpour, a tall, slender young woman in a snow-white dress wanders alone, lost in thought, searching aimlessly through every street and alley.
She would sometimes stop and shout at the empty street, "Wei Mingxuan, where are you? Come back! Come back and explain yourself! You can't do this to me! What did I do wrong? I'll change everything. Why was it you who said you'd be with me, and why are you the one who left first? This isn't fair! You can't do this to me! You can't..." Finally, she ran out of strength and collapsed helplessly in the pouring rain...
The scene shifts, and before a secluded valley, stands a man of noble bearing, tall and imposing stature, his profile exuding an air of supreme dominance. He stands against the wind before a precipice, gazing into the distance, silently calling out, "Yun'er, can you hear me? I'm calling you in my heart. If you hear me, come back to my side. I can never lose you again in this life. We've already missed so much..."
The dream shifted, and the same tall, upright figure appeared once again.
This time, the man was so focused and absorbed that he pressed a woman in red tightly against a tall tree, his lips pressed against her soft, warm red lips, kissing and sucking greedily. The woman, with her eyes closed and her face flushed, seemed to be enjoying herself immensely, responding passionately to all his expectations. Both of them were even covered in a light sheen of sweat.
At this moment, Ruoxi's face suddenly calmed down, becoming exceptionally beautiful with her serene expression. But then, as if she were once again entangled by some dream, she slightly furrowed her brows.
In the dream, the woman's appearance was too blurry to be clearly seen at all. However, the palace she was in did not look like a woman's boudoir at all, but rather like a nobleman's bedroom.
The woman said sadly, "Yun'er understands Your Highness's feelings, but Your Highness is a person with too much sorrow in your heart. Yun'er will also leave this place sooner or later, just like a fleeting shadow, a person without a tomorrow. Life is long, and how can Yun'er, who is so helpless, make any promises to Your Highness? Being together will only add to the pain in the end, how can Yun'er bear it?! Therefore, Yun'er will forget everything that happened tonight, and please, Your Highness, never remember it again in this life."
The dream sequence shifted rapidly, bringing them to the edge of a cliff. A man and a woman were each holding one end of a tree root. The root was about to break, and the woman, on the verge of falling, pleaded sorrowfully, "Your Highness, please let go! I beg you. If this continues, we'll both die. I don't care if I die, but please, Your Highness, you must live. There are many more people in this world who need you. For my sake, Your Highness shouldn't make such a sacrifice. Please don't betray that woman's dying wish."
On the same cliff, a plump, graceful woman smiled and gently lifted one foot, then fell into the clouds below.
Just as it was about to hit the ground, the woman actually reached out and grabbed a thousand-year-old ginseng on a section of the cliff.
What was that? It was like a fantastic purple light. It had enveloped the woman completely until she landed safely, and only then did the purple light disappear.
In the middle of the night, the woman was finally awakened by a blast of icy water. She felt as if the cold winds from the lake shore were constantly assaulting her.
The woman's thin body was extremely weak, but she knew she could not stay there all night; she had to try to support her heavy body.
Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain. No, this wasn't ordinary pain; it was... it was the pain of impending labor; her baby was about to be born.
The woman was immediately terrified. "No, you can't be born now! Absolutely not now! We're here in the middle of the night, on a deserted, cold lakeshore at the bottom of a cliff. There's nothing here; I'm barely clothed and have nothing to eat. If you're born now, you'll freeze and starve to death. My child, you must wait, just wait a little longer, until a kind person appears."
With this thought in mind, the woman slowly sat up in the faint moonlight of the night sky, took out a silver needle, took a few deep breaths, held her breath and calmed herself down. She then used her fingers to feel around for the needle and finally mustered up her courage to insert it into her swollen abdomen.
After calming down and the pain subsided considerably, she hurriedly looked around, then bit her lip, gripped the precious thousand-year-old ginseng tightly, and began to crawl slowly and laboriously into the woods at the far end.
As she struggled to climb, tears blurring her vision, she cried out in her heart, "Heaven help me! I have obeyed the orders of the Emperor of Western Qin and fulfilled my duty as a guardian. I have ensured the safety of the young master of Western Qin. My mission is accomplished, and I, Ruoxi, have no regrets even in death. But the child in Ruoxi's womb... she is the next guardian of Western Qin! Please, you must open your eyes! This child cannot die, she cannot die..."
At this moment, Ruoxi, who had fallen into a deep sleep, suddenly had hot tears welling up in her eyes, and she seemed to be murmuring and sobbing, pleading for help, "Help! Is anyone there? Someone please come and save her, save her..."
Suddenly, the dream flashed to a deep mansion, where an ethereal voice echoed throughout the courtyard, saying, "What is destined to be yours will be yours, and what is not, you cannot force. Cause and effect, reincarnation, a hundred lifetimes of covenant, flowers bloom and wither, since you are here, make the best of it."
At this moment, Ruoxi suddenly stopped crying and began to ramble incoherently again, "Who are you? Who are you all? What kind of people are you all..."
Suddenly, an extremely bright light flashed in her dream. Within this blinding light, a wall gradually appeared. As the wall became clearer, it was like a door slowly opening, but it seemed to be sucking her in completely. Startled, she suddenly opened her eyes, her whole body trembling slightly as she woke up.
She finally opened her eyes and immediately heard Huan'er's voice, which she had become very familiar with over the past few days. Huan'er was sitting by the bed, holding one of her arms with both hands, gently shaking it, and asking with great concern, as if she were extremely surprised, "Ruoxi, Ruoxi, what's wrong?"
Seeing Ruoxi struggling to sit up with her arms, Huan'er quickly got up and helped her up.
Ruoxi sat up and then spoke, "I...I just had a dream, a very long dream, and it felt so real."
"What kind of dream was it?" Huan'er asked curiously as she sat down and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"What kind of dreams? Dreams are all different. There are grand mansions, cliffs, bustling streets with heavy rain and traffic, men and women, and..." Just thinking about that scene made her face flush.
Then, changing his mind, he continued, "Especially noteworthy is the story of a woman who, for some unknown reason, fell off a cliff and was about to give birth. Her name was also 'Ruoxi.' What a coincidence!"
"Dreaming of a pregnant woman? That's a good omen!" Huan'er exclaimed excitedly, completely unaware of Ruoxi's inner thoughts.
However, Ruoxi paid no attention to Huan'er's joyful expression. She continued to immerse herself in her long dream, muttering to herself, "Why can't I see the faces clearly in each fragmented dream? Who are they? What do those fragmented dream pieces have to do with me? Who am I? What is my obsession?"
For some reason, as Ruoxi was talking, she suddenly remembered the Taoist priest she had met by chance in the Dream Pavilion last night, and then she began to rub the seven-colored gold and jade bracelet on her wrist as if out of habit.
Instantly, the Taoist priest's parting words echoed in her ears once more: "I have a Resurrection Pill here. Grind it into powder using the seven-colored gold and jade bracelet on your wrist, Miss, and take it. It will allow you to remember many things you have forgotten. However, it will also make you forget the obsession that has always been in your heart, a thought that should not belong to this life. Of course, that is indeed the most precious thing in your heart, Miss."
Then, she couldn't help but murmur to herself, "The true dragon emerges from the sea, the spirit is unified, the phoenix is reborn from the ashes, life is death, and death is life."
Upon hearing this, Huan'er, standing beside her, stared at her with wide, round eyes and asked, "Ruoxi, where did you hear that from?"
Before Ruoxi could reply, Huan'er cried out, "Oh no!" Before she could finish speaking, she had already dashed out of the courtyard. Ruoxi, bewildered, stumbled and groped her way out of bed...
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