ZhenYu and JinGe ended up together again in the forest.

BuDao and the others had used another route. The men knew the path, only JinGe and ZhenYu didn't and in the dark, they had missed the men and missed the path altogether and went towards another area.

They arrived at a spot where the trees were slightly thinned out. It provided more visibility since the moon was shining above them.

JinGe knew they were lost. There were alone. She was afraid the questions that he would ask her. "What to do?" thought the girl when she turned around to look at ZhenYu, only to find him leaning one hand against the tree, breathing heavily.

The girl knew that something was probable wrong with him.

"Although, ZhenYu had been fighting and running around. He shouldn't be out of breath so quickly yet," thought JinGe. A sudden thought struck her, and she checked the arrow wound that he had.

The place where it hit was bleeding deep reddish and almost black blood. "The arrow was poisoned," thought JinGe. "Why did not I thought of it before, at the cliff when he looked so pale. If only I had check before running away from him."

"ZhenYu is going to die. Why did not I realize it sooner?"

There was no solution in front of her. No options. She can't get him to the doctor in time and she could not cure him as well.

Choice

However, the choice was not for her to make because ZhenYu had already decided, the moment when he was given by a choice by an old man with a pair of rabbit tooth, Old Tu.

When he was stumped at the cliff, an old man walked towards him, seeing that he was not wearing white neither was he dangerous. Therefore, he let him come closer to him. The old man circled around him and then squatted down to inspect where the arrow had landed.

He sighed deeply, "The arrow is poisoned," said the old man. "Did you know?"

"Yes, I kind of felt it just now," replied ZhenYu. He had felt that his stamina was running lower than usual, his fingernails were turning light pink, "There almost no colour in them anymore."

The tingling feeling, he felt all over his body, not to mention his shallow breathing. ZhenYu knew something was wrong

"I can help you?" offered the old man.

"How?" asked ZhenYu, his eyes were gazing at a faraway distance. "I am going to die anyway."

"But you are not, and I have a way to help you, but you have to choose yourself," said the old man.

"You are cheap, can't you just heal me and be done with it," joked ZhenYu. Before the old man could retaliate, ZhenYu answered his question, "Yes, please help me."

"It comes with a price," warned the old man.

ZhenYu asked him a question and when the old man answered him, he knew what he had to do. The price was worth it. ZhenYu signed the contract with the old man.

"The choice has been made, with the power in me I will grant you, your desire," said the old man and he held his hand out to the flames from the burning building.

Small clumps of flame were leaping into his hands and the old man shaped it into a ball and gently pushed the ball of flame onto the ZhenYu's arm, near the arrow wound. It healed nicely, without a hint that it was injured at all.

"Thank you, old man," said ZhenYu with a bow, before running off to help JinGe.

Seeing him the old man could only say on thing, "Foolish human."

Now ZhenYu was sat down, his back leaning against the tree as JinGe tried to make a fire for him, but her hands were trembling and the flint she was holding was not working at all. The girl was flustered as tears couldn't hold themselves in, they were blurring her vision.

However, what was more frustrating was that she was unable to do anything. "Can't even start a stupid fire," thought JinGe.

Suddenly something fell and she turned around to find ZhenYu had fallen onto the ground.

"Mister, mister," she called out to him but there was no response from the man. JinGe was more than nervous, she was panicking. "ZhenYu!" she called to him loudly. "Please don't die."

ZhenYu woke up with a smile on his face.

You finally called me, "See, you just called my name. I know that you knew me when you laid your eyes on me."

"I don't know what to say... You are so stupid."

"I am. And I am a fool who said that I am going to find you until the end of the heavens. I promised." The man got up and planted a tender and soft kiss on her lips.

"Stupid," said JinGe, wiping away her tears.

A sudden pain attacked ZhenYu which caused him to regurgitate blood from the corner of his mouth. His vision was getting blurrier. The man could still hear her voice that was calling out to him, "ZhenYu".

How he had missed it.

"Do not make our reunion a bad one. Do not die on me," said JinGe. He stared at her, there were many words which were still left unsaid but there seem to be not enough time left.

"I love you, LiQin," thought ZhenYu and he took her hand and managed to put on the bracelet that she left behind around her wrist.

He stared at it, just like him, the bracelet had returned to its owner. Just like his heart have finally found his way back home.

The bracelet twinkled on her hand.

"You forget this," said ZhenYu while giving her the brightest smile that he could muster. However, soon his eyes began to close, and he passed out, leaving LiQin tearful expression as the last image engraved his mind.

Suddenly there was a rustling from some nearby bushes, the thing resembled a human and JinGe quickly drew her dagger out, ready to attack if the one who came out of the shadow was a white cloth.

But it turned out to be the old man whom ZhenYu met.

JinGe recognized the old man, her stepmother had told her about him during the party. Her stepmother had described him as an old healer who has a vast knowledge on medicine. JinGe saw him work his wonder before the party, when he treated her stepmother in the afternoon.

She called out to him, "Old Tu. Why are you her?" as she placed her dagger back in her scabbard. He didn't answer and was staring down at her.

"Old Tu, you must know how to help him," begged JinGe desperately.

"I finally found you," stated the old man.

JinGe was confused by his words, "Yes, I know you found us."

"No, I mean you," he pointed to JinGe. "I already had an inkling when you arrived today when I saw you past through the gate. And again, when you jumped from that cliff, you called on to the wind as if it was your friend."

"How do you know?"

The old man took a few steps back and in front of the girl. He seemed to be growing in size. JinGe rubbed her eyes, fearful that her eyes were playing a trick on her.

However, the old man was really growing. His body grew and it became straighter, and his aging face changed into a youthful one. The wrinkles had disappeared and were replaced by supple and smooth skin.

He was no longer wearing the same old clothes he had been wearing. It had changed too, just like his appearance.

When he turned around, the man who stood in front of him was already a different person, with pale skin and wearing a black robe made of the darkest materials she had ever seen, "Just like a raven's feather," thought JinGe. The only thing that hadn't changed was his hair. It was still white with a hint of silver.

"You are really her old lady's granddaughter," said the man.

"Who are you?" asked JinGe, who stuttered a little bit. She had met a monster; it was even worse that what she had imagined when she saw the rustling bushes.

"I am your grandmother's friend," said the man, slowly approaching JinGe.

"We met in the forest. She asked a favour from me, to keep you safe," said the man. "And now that I am sure you were her granddaughter. Leave with me. We will go back to where our kind lives. You could cultivate and ascend into a deity."

"How can you be so sure that I was the one you are looking for," said JinGe, unwilling to leave with the stranger just because he had said a few believable words.

"The eyes and the flower pattern on your eyes are enough proof for me," said the man as he used his hands to part away the tree branches above, and blew away the clouds, revealing the full moon above.

Slowly JinGe's eyes were turning blue and the flower pattern on her forehead was appearing.

He pointed to the sky, towards the moon, "Your kind had always been attracted to the moon, a very special kind. Come on. Let's go. I hate to be in the human realm, too murky for my taste."

"No, I won't go," said JinGe, holding onto ZhenYu's body in her arms which was becoming colder as time passed by.

"Why?" asked the man, annoyed by JinGe's reluctance.

"Is it due to that man?" as he looked over to ZhenYu.

His gaze caused JinGe to move away further from him and grabbed onto ZhenYu's body tighter. "He is already beyond help," said the man, coldly.

"Why?" asked JinGe.

"You really like to ask 'why'. He had already made a choice. It was over when he did."

"What choice?" asked JinGe again.

"You really should choose your question carefully, the correct question should be, "What did he choose?" said the man. "And I will let you know this once because it was I who helped him and he was the one who told me, his answer."

The man crouched in front of the couple, just like how he had done when he met ZhenYu, "He chooses to meet you again even if he knew I could save him. There were two paths, one which will lead him to safety while the other which will kill him, but he chose the other, the one that could kill him."

"The man only asked me one question."

"In which path, will I meet the person I wanted to see?" asked ZhenYu.

"The one that leads to death. Are you still willing to walk onto that path?" asked the old man.

ZhenYu smiled in reply, sealing the contract.

"In order to meet me," said JinGe as her tears began flowing down from her blue eyes. "He did it. He chose death."

"And he is now heading into that direction. My power could only slow the poison. What he chooses with the extra time he had is still up to him. Instead of running to the town to seek medical help, he ran in the direction where you went. Foolish human," said the man amusingly, finding his foolish actions to be funny.

JinGe looked at ZhenYu, "No, do not die, ZhenYu. I am calling for you. Please answer me."

Her powers were surging uncontrollably, her eyes were flashing with a lightest blue and the flower on her forehead was giving off an immense light, illuminating her surroundings.

"Calm down," said the man as he placed a hand on JinGe's shoulder. "You need to control your power. Slowly breath in and out. No... slowly. You need to follow my advice."

But the things he was telling her, could not reach her at all until he uttered, "There is still a way to save him."

JinGe finally stopped and looked at him, although her tears were still falling off her face as she looked at him.

"We could split your soul and gave half to him. It will extend his life and allowed him to seek medical help," he sighed.

"How? How do I split my soul?"

"It is a dangerous not to mention precarious task. Are you still willing to do it?"

Without batting an eyelash, JinGe nodded.

He sighed and said, "I will help you. Just follow my actions, do it like it was your own. Concentrate."

The man held his hand up to the sky, his palm up, and then grabbing onto the moon which JinGe followed perfectly. With his hand, still in a fist, he lowered it down and when it was in front of his left eye, he opened it.

When she copied it, she felt the wind around her surging, and the moon's essence went into her left eye, and what came out from it was a blue flame, glowing warmly, swaying left and right.

The man came closer, and explained it to her, "That is your soul, half of it anyway."

"What do I do now?"

"Compress it," said the man and he closed JinGe's hand with the fire and hold onto it for a few seconds. "Open it now."

JinGe released her grip and in her hand, there was a round shaped stone that had a bluish turquoise colour.

"Place it in his mouth. Hurry, his soul is almost leaving his body," warned the man.

JinGe followed his instruction and opened ZhenYu's mouth and placed the stone, on his tongue and closed his mouth.

"You should kiss him now. In order to activate the stone, you need to pass some of your life-force (Qi)," said the man.

Without any further ado, she kissed him, and the stone was alive, and it travelled slowly to his stomach, radiating a gentle blue as it moved along. She released him, and glad that he was looking better, his breathing was more stable now, and the poison in his body seem to have already disappeared.

"You have to leave him," said the man to JinGe who was wrapping ZhenYu's wound with a piece of cloth she tore off from her skirt.

"No, I am never going to leave him anymore."

"You can't when you are near to him, your soul would not be working efficiently as it would want to return to you constantly," said the man.

JinGe looked dejected.

"And you and that boy over there are fated to cause each other hardship, especially you towards him, in a bad way. Do you understand? There is a magnetic force that drew you together, but it would not end nicely. He might really die next time."

JinGe nodded again. Without him saying it out loud, she already experience it, the first time she died, and now he almost died. If they continue to meet one of them will surely die again.

"We need to leave now," said the man at JinGe, impatiently as the sky was getting brighter. "Are you still reluctant to leave?"

"No," lied JinGe but she knew very well that she must leave him. "Could I ask you for a favour?"

The man looked at her.

"Could you erase all of my memories from him?"

"Yes," said the man.

Unknown to JinGe and the man, there was someone sneaking a peek at them from some bushes few feet away.

"What are they doing to my saviour?" thought ChunWah who stumbled upon the place as she was looking for a way out of the forest. The girl had escaped when the bandits was busy making camp.

ChunWah saw the white hair man got closer to ZhenYu and propped him against the tree.

The man was drawing the word 'seal' in the air with his index and middle finger while chanting. For the final touch, he touched the man's forehead.

"Done." ChunWah heard the man said.

ChunWah saw the girl, who left her mother behind, approached her saviour and said something to him. It was said in such a soft voice that she couldn't hear anything at all.

After the girl was done, they both left and left the young man behind.

"So, heartless that lying and unfilial women and... that white hair man, leaving an unconscious person alone in the forest," thought ChunWah as she saw them taking off into the forest.

ChunWah approached ZhenYu and touched the wrapping around his arrow wound and seeing that the knot was a bit loose, she tried to release the knot and fasten it again when ZhenYu woke up and saw her.

"Who are you?" asked ZhenYu, still a little dazed, waking up with tears that can't seem to stop.

What do you think about ZhenYu's choice?

Do you think JinGe is very selfish in her choice?