When Jian Yumei awoke from the illusionary realm, he found that everything before him had disappeared.
The willow trees were gone, the small temple was gone, and the voice had vanished, along with the scent of plum blossoms. "You, who have returned from your homeland, should know the affairs of your homeland. Will there be plum blossoms by the window tomorrow?" Jian Yumei murmured this poem to himself.
He thought of the willow trees, and suddenly recalled the verse, "In days gone by, I went away, the willows were lush and green. Now, I return, yearning, bearing hunger and snow." Jian Yumei recited these lines.
He suddenly remembered the ancient palace in distant Western Xia, where, on a snowy day, he hurried back from the battlefield to spend a beautiful day with her. When he rushed back to the palace in his armor, he saw her standing by the pool in the snowy garden, surrounded by rows of willow trees.
"In days gone by, I went away, the willows were lush and green. Now, I return, yearning, bearing hunger and snow!" she recited, gazing into the distance with a vacant look.
"Zi'er!" Jian Yumei called out.
"It's you, you've returned!" Zi'er's eyes suddenly sparkled with light, as if a spring in the desert had been replenished with water upon hearing the wind. It was a miraculous legend - in the desert, there was a thousand-year-old spring called the Wind Spring. While often dry, on the night of the full moon, it would swiftly fill with water upon hearing the wind.
Jian Yumei recalled the time when he was still Li Yuanhao, passing through that desert. The guide told him the story of that spring. Coincidentally, that night was the fifteenth of the month, so he stood there alone, waiting for the wind to awaken the spring.
The old man said the sound of the wind was a lover's call, and the spring was transformed from a beautiful woman. On that full moon night, alone with his sword, Li Yuanhao waited by the spring, anticipating the miracle.
At midnight, the wind suddenly rose, its call like a sweet reminiscence, conveying both a melancholic longing and a poignant reminiscence. When the wind sounded, the spring instantly filled up, starting with a trickle and then becoming a gush, until it brimmed with water.
It was exquisitely beautiful.
Li Yuanhao was stunned.
The old man said the spring was called the Wind Spring, or the Spring of Longing.
As Li Yuanhao gazed at the spring, he saw a reflection of a person's face, a woman's face, in the water. Her eyes were so beautiful, so enchanting, yet so melancholic and hesitant, evoking a sense of sorrow.
Li Yuanhao exclaimed!
That cry awakened Jian Yumei.
It was then that Jian Yumei woke up from that dream-like state.
"Brother, what's wrong with you?" Lin Li asked.
"Where... where am I?" Jian Yumei inquired.
"When we were together! We just encountered something strange, don't you remember?" Lin Li said anxiously.
"Strange thing!" Jian Yumei pondered deeply. Suddenly, he remembered that he and his senior sister had arrived here together. He saw a row of peculiar willow trees, a small temple, then entered, heard a voice, and saw a person.
"Am I dreaming or awake?" Jian Yumei said to Lin Li.
"You were probably dreaming just now. I pulled you, but you didn't react at all. Your eyes were staring straight ahead, looking quite eerie. I thought you were possessed!" Lin Li said.
Jian Yumei chuckled, "We're both exorcists, can we really be possessed? If we were, wouldn't we need to find that Master Niu?"
"You still have the mood to joke. I'm asking you, what did you see inside?" Lin Li asked.
"Not much, I just went in like that, then heard a voice, and when I turned back, I saw a person, just like I told you before, resembling that ancient figure from Western Xia!" Jian Yumei said.
"Ah, so everything was created by her? It's so strange. What could be her purpose in conjuring up such an illusion?" Lin Li said.
"Perhaps it's truly out of longing!" Jian Yumei said, because he saw the sweet, happy, and yet melancholic expression on Zi'er's face.
Jian Yumei remembered feeling deeply moved at that moment. He thought, if someone had been yearning for him for a thousand years, how could he not be touched?
So, at that moment, Jian Yumei was not afraid at all. He felt a sense of joy mingled with sorrow.
This feeling was something his senior sister might not understand. In Jian Yumei's heart, his senior sister was just like a child who never grew up.
"If it's truly longing, can you two still be reunited, separated by life and death?" Lin Li sighed, seeming to be lost in her thoughts.
Jian Yumei looked at his senior sister. "By the way, senior sister, why did you push the door open just now?"
"Actually, I felt something was off earlier. I clearly saw you reaching out to push the door, but before your hand even touched it, the door creaked open. At the moment it opened, I didn't see anyone inside opening it. Then, I saw it was covered in dust inside, as if no one had been there before. I found it strange!" Lin Li said.
"Oh, what else surprised you?" Jian Yumei asked.
"When you went in, I saw you look puzzled, then you looked around, but suddenly turned around, and that door strangely closed immediately! I found it even more strange at that moment. I deduced that something was definitely wrong here!" Lin Li said.
"But how did you decide to take action?" Jian Yumei became increasingly admiring of his senior sister.
"I was waiting there all along. I didn't want you to miss out on something you wanted to know! I just waited there first. But my intuition grew stronger and stronger. I felt a life approaching you! I was afraid something might happen to you. Just then, you shouted loudly from inside! I was worried about you, so I pushed the door and entered!" Lin Li said.
"What did you see when you pushed the door?" Jian Yumei asked with a smile, wondering what Lin Li had noticed.
"As soon as I pushed the door, I saw a woman quickly leap away from the window. Then, I was puzzled, and there was a burst of green smoke in front of me. Then, everything disappeared. The trees were gone, the small temple was gone, everything was gone! Only the two of us were left standing here!" Lin Li said.
"Junior brother, do you think this encounter of yours is extraordinary? It's like a haunting, but that female ghost didn't scare you. It's more like a reunion with an old friend. She's so mysterious, designing all these twists and turns! I imagine there were many things going on when you two were together," Lin Li said.
"What... what many things!" Jian Yumei was almost dumbfounded.
"I mean, you're a quirky and mysterious girl. There are a lot of twists and turns with you. I don't know how you managed it at the time, but I guess the more mysterious you were, the more you loved her. I wonder what exactly happened between you two back then!" Lin Li asked.