In the room behind them, Bai Mu groaned. He had pulled Nie Huang away from the door as soon as he saw that the other person was a fallen god and had backed up from the door as far as he could as a precaution. Now, he was grateful he had been this careful. Otherwise, things might have turned out differently.
He pushed the table away that had been thrown toward them and brushed his hair back, smiling at Nie Huang. "Are you alright?"
Nie Chang looked at him in a daze. Just a moment ago, she had been standing in the doorway in a daze, suddenly finding herself in her fiance's arms again after so many years of waiting for him to return. Now they were lying on the ground and the world around them had been blasted into smithereens. Just what was happening here? "Bai Mu, what … Is it … Is it those people again? And when did you come back? How do you know Madam Zhong's son-in-law?"
She couldn't understand. How come … he had suddenly stood in front of her again and held her in his arms as if they had never been separated? She really … couldn't understand.
Bai Mu pulled her into a sitting position. "I wanted to explain slowly but it seems things turned out differently than I expected." He smiled and brushed back her hair. "Let me first say how sorry I am. I … I intended to come back but … I couldn't defeat them. They imprisoned me in the Chun Feng Sect and if it wasn't for … some people coming to rescue me, I would still be there."
Nie Huang reached over and cupped his cheeks. "It's alright. It's only important that you're back."
Bai Mu nodded and pulled her closer, once again hugging her to his chest. He brushed through her hair and closed his eyes, finally exhaling the breath he had been holding. "I'm relieved that you don't hold it against me. I've let you wait way too long. The years we could have had …" He pulled back and shook his head. "Let's not talk about that. Ah Huang, I already came back a while ago. I saw that you have a new life and I don't know if you'd be willing to give up on that life to be with me."
"Give up on it?" Nie Huang furrowed her brows. Could it be that … "You don't want me to work in the teahouse?"
Bai Mu sighed and took her hands into his. "It's not that I don't want you to work there. If I was human like you and we could live a normal life, then I would join you there and do everything to protect your dream. Unfortunately, I didn't have the luck to be born purely human. And because of that, I will never be free to do whatever I want. The same goes for you if you want to be with me. I'm afraid … you can only decide on one: The life you have made for yourself here in the capital or … me." He smiled wryly. "I know this is sudden. I also know that you might not be able to decide immediately. It's not a problem. Just … let me explain it to you and then take some time to think it through. Whatever your decision is, I will respect it."
Nie Huang shook her head. "What are you even saying?" Back then, I was barely sixteen. I couldn't imagine anything better than marrying you, living at your side, giving birth to your child … It's been more than ten years. I … I'm a tea master now. The teahouse where I work is even one where people like to come. Nobody questions me anymore."
"So you … don't want to give up on that. I understand." Bai Mu lowered his gaze and nodded. He had expected it. Ten years … it wasn't long if you were immortal but it was too much for a human. Of course, her affections might wane while the other parts of her life got more important.
He had thought that this might happen but it still stung now that it happened. Especially if he thought about the fact that things could have turned out differently if he hadn't been imprisoned by the Chun Feng Sect. Ah, that life Nie Huang had described just now … he could imagine it all too well. It was the life he had dreamed of too despite being much older than her.
A pair of delicate hands cupped his cheeks and lifted his head so that he looked at her smiling face. "Silly, what are you brooding over? Just tell me where we'll go and I'll naturally follow along. You are my fiance. I have waited for ten years. Don't tantalize me now."
"You … You mean …"
Nie Huang laughed. She laughed the same way she had laughed back then when they met, making his heart fill with an indescribable sweetness. "I'll come with you. Being a tea master … I did that because my family would have made me marry if I didn't and because it was the only skill I had that was enough to support myself. It wasn't easy either and yes, I am a little reluctant to leave that life behind. But you are more important. The dreams I had back then … don't tell me you think I'm too old now to realize them?"
Bai Mu shook his head. "You … You're not too old. In fact, you look … you look very well. Like … we were meant to be like this." His cheeks burned when he said that but he couldn't help but feel that he was right. From his earliest days, he remembered hearing those stories from his mother about how she and his father had fought their way through the whole world and finally established the Dark Temple. They had been of the same age, the same cultivation realm, the same mind. He had wanted to find a partner like that too and when he fell in love with Nie Huang who was but a young girl, he had wondered just how that could have happened. Who would have known … fate had determined their time wasn't right yet?
Yes, back then, their time hadn't come yet but now that ten years had gone by it was. Fate had brought them back together and now, nothing would be able to separate them again. This … was finally their time.