Chapter Fifty-One: The Living and the Grand Duke

But when Chen Qing opened his eyes once more, everything before him had become utterly unfamiliar.

The yellow sands he had known were gone; the earthen buildings he sought had vanished without a trace. All around him stretched nothing but endless grass and open plains, where the green met the blue sky at the horizon.

He looked up—the sky was a pure, unbroken blue, with only a few clouds hanging motionless above.

The clouds did not drift; there was no wind.

“Where is this…” he muttered, frowning. The tranquility was so profound it felt unnatural.

It was as if the world had emptied, leaving only him behind. He tried to recall what had happened before, but the instant he tried, a stabbing pain pierced his mind like needles.

“Hss…” He pressed a hand to his forehead, groaning softly, “Where am I?”

He turned to gaze into the distance. Nowhere did he see the mark of humankind.

“No roads? No buildings? Not even a single passerby?”

He spoke quietly to himself, and just then, a gentle breeze rose behind him, nudging him forward, as if urging him to walk toward the horizon.

He stumbled a few steps before the wind stilled. Looking ahead, he saw a figure emerging from below the edge of the sky.

She was far away, but there was no mistaking that she was coming toward him. Her silhouette grew clearer with each passing moment.

She wore a long white dress, sheer and light, fluttering softly in the breeze.

He watched her, noting the brown straw hat atop her head, which, caught by a gust, lifted and flew far away.

She tipped her head back, watching her hat dance away, and a flicker of annoyance crossed her features. Hurrying in small steps, she soon reached his side and asked, “My hat flew off—did you see where it went?”

He was momentarily stunned by a strange heaviness on his head. Reaching up, he felt the hat and, confused, handed it to her.

“Wow! How did you know where my hat was?”

He tilted his head, studying the girl before him in her sleeveless white dress, suspicion on his face. She leaned closer, her fragrance drifting over him. Her face was hauntingly familiar.

Chen Qing felt a stir of recognition but could not recall a single detail about her.

“Who are you? Where is this place?” he asked quietly.

“Me? You want my name?” The girl’s skin was flawless, almost translucent. Up close, she seemed even more familiar.

At that moment, as he gazed at her, a memory flickered—a figure overlapping with hers.

Their forms merged perfectly, the vague shadow taking on substance.

“Yes. You feel so familiar to me.” He cocked his head, confusion clouding his features.

Her lips curved into a bright smile, her small, sharp canine tooth peeking out. She slipped an arm around his neck, drawing closer, and pressed her lips to his, breath mingling in a gentle exchange.

She kissed him softly, her fingers tracing the lines of his body, caressing his skin.

“Who are you?” he asked again, frowning, as she leaned in closer. This time, however, he pushed her gently away.

Her presence was achingly familiar, yet a deep resistance stirred from every part of his being.

“What are you saying?” she laughed, the neckline of her dress falling open slightly in the breeze, revealing a glimpse of skin.

She didn’t give him time to recall anything else. With a playful lunge, she was upon him again, her dress drifting away across the grasslands.

He felt the gentle touch of her hands, the sensations on his body growing indistinct as his consciousness began to fade. In that moment, their forms merged completely, clinging to one another as the wind swept over the grass.

…

“Will you stay here with me?” she whispered, her face pressed to his chest, eyes filled with a longing that words could not express. She reached up, arms encircling his neck, her voice soft, “Will you stay?”

He sounded uncertain, “Stay where?”

“Here, of course.”

He hesitated. “But I’m already here.”

“But you’ll leave, sooner or later.”

“I won’t, if I just choose not to go.”

“No one can stay here forever.” She smiled gently, a stray lock of hair blown across her face by the breeze, which she tucked back behind her ear.

“And you?”

“I’ll always be waiting here for you. When you’re tired, when you no longer want to struggle, I’ll be here by your side.”

Her hand traced his arm, stroked his body. “When you want to see me again… return, and don’t resist. Take it. It will bring you back to me.”

He listened, thoughtful, his brow furrowed as half-remembered things stabbed at his mind.

“Take it?”

“Yes. When you take it, you’ll come back here, and we will meet again.”

He gently pushed her away and looked down at his chest, but there was nothing there. Why, then, did he feel such reluctance to part?

A sharp pain flared in his chest. The girl’s form seemed to blur, splitting into two overlapping shadows, one reaching out to touch him.

“You’re leaving… you’re leaving… come back to me… don’t forget me…”

Their voices were soft, but now their faces began to rot and decay before his eyes. Flesh sloughed off bone, dripping down in foul, putrid streaks.

He watched as her bodily fluids dripped onto the grass, the corruption falling from her face until nothing remained but bare bone and a skull without a trace of hair.

He stared at the skeletal figure before him as the shadow grew more distinct, merging completely with her form.

A vision abruptly flashed through his mind: white and red fluids spreading everywhere, and a single, wide-open eye staring straight at him.

“What… what happened to me?” she asked in a low voice, raising her arm to see only bare bone.

“You…” He hesitated, then gently supported her bony frame, helping her to her feet. Together, they stood side by side on the grassland, now shrouded with dark clouds. He asked, “Have I seen you before?”

“You haven’t, but we’ve known and loved each other.” The skeleton smiled, touching him lightly with jointed fingers linked by some unknown force. “I wanted to be beautiful… now I must look hideous.”

He glanced at his own hand and saw clothing had appeared on his shoulders. Looking down, he noticed most of the grass had withered away.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked, frowning, but still did not let go of her.

“Save me… take it, eat it…” she murmured, repeating the phrase again and again until the remaining eyes in her skull melted away, dissolving into a scene from Chen Qing’s memory.

He watched as her figure merged once more with the shadow.

Before he could speak, the skeleton in his arms crumbled into yellow sand and slipped through his fingers. When he blinked, the world around him had changed completely.

He opened his eyes to find himself beside a neatly arranged pile of blood-stained clothing. For a moment, he was stunned. He reached out and touched the clothes: they were icy cold.

He looked up; outside, the sounds of fierce battle echoed in.

He glanced down at the garments—blue uniform soaked through with blood.

“Jiang Wan?” he whispered, and a stabbing pain twisted through his gut. He rolled off the bed, bent over, and retched uncontrollably, vomiting up thick, black bile that far exceeded anything he could have eaten, staining the floor.

He turned his gaze back to the bed, to the uniform lying there. Memories flooded back—the beautiful woman had her face.

She had lived, there, in that grassland, where they had loved with abandon. When guilt overwhelmed him, she had soothed his pain in her own way.

He bowed his head, but in a dizzy spell, noticed a figure beneath the uniform. She slowly sat up, her hair matted with blood, but she was alive—even with a fist-sized hole in her skull, she was alive.

Even after losing half her brain and one eye, he stubbornly believed she was still alive.

She sat up, turning her hollow gaze upon Chen Qing.

“Save me,” she said. “I once lived in this world… save me.” Her voice was low, but Chen Qing shook his head. Shocked to the core, he stepped forward and touched her face. “You’re alive, aren’t you? Why do you need saving?”

She shook her head, her voice cool and distant. “I’m already dead. Only the power of the Taisui keeps me here. Eat it—eat as much as you can… and I can live again.”

Her tone softened, filled with longing. “Go… eat more Taisui. It will bring us back to that place.”