[The Echoes of Departure]
Inside the tent, the air was suffocating. Luo Ye's voice cracked with raw obsession. "Then what about me? If you leave, what am I supposed to guard? Whether the gates open or not, I won't let you go."
Lin Lie remained silent for a long time before whispering, "Perhaps... there's another way. You don't have to leave." He didn't say the words "stay with us," but his eyes pleaded for a miracle.
Sang Qi crossed his arms, his voice sharp to hide the tremor in his hands. "So, you're just going to brush us off and go back? What are we to you, just disposable charms?"
Cang Yuan leaned against a post, a faint, hollow smile on his lips. "So even with all of us here, we still can't beat a single door, can we?"
Finally, Li Yan, as steady as iron, spoke. "Regardless of the end, I will protect you until then. And if you choose to leave... I will be the one to personally escort you to that gate." His words were a heavy vow, a promise of a final homecoming that silenced the room.
Gu Xingyu felt as if her heart were being strangled. She couldn't give them a promise that might be a lie. "Let's not think so far ahead," she whispered, her eyes brimming with tears. "For now, I just want to stand with you and save this world."
[The Shadow in the Abyss]
Outside the tent, Si Moheng stood frozen in the shadows.
"She is going back to her own world?"
The realization hit him like a physical blow. His盡頭—his ultimate end—was not in the Yao-world. A wave of panic and terror he had never felt before pushed him toward a dark abyss. He turned and vanished into the night, his palms bleeding from the force of his clenched fists.
Back in his own tent, Moheng was a cornered wolf. He stared at the clumsy, crooked safety rope on his wrist.
"She's leaving..." he rasped, his voice broken.
He had thought he could be a shadow, watching her from afar. But the thought of her vanishing forever made his self-control crumble. He tried to tear off the braid, only to clutch it tighter, unable to let it go.
"I won't let you go," he hissed to the darkness, a desperate, biased vow. "Even if I have to fall into the deepest hell... I will keep you here." He refastened the knot, binding himself to an oath he could never escape.
[A Message to the Capital]
In her tent, Xingyu sat by the flickering candle and wrote to the Crown Prince:
"Your Highness: In the East Wing's old archives, there may be hidden records of soldiers whose deaths have been erased to cover the shadows of the living. If this is true, it leads directly to the Preceptor's secret network. I am in the field and cannot investigate, so I ask you to verify this in the capital. Be cautious. If there is danger, prioritize your safety."
She sent the letter by messenger pigeon. As the white wings disappeared into the night, Xingyu lay down, staring at the roof of her tent.
The longer she stayed, the heavier the sorrow of leaving became. The faces of the five men—and the shadow of the prince—haunted her thoughts. She had come to save a world, but she hadn't expected to lose her heart to it.