A Lingering Promise and a Haunting Return

“Bang! Splish-splash…”

“The fireworks are so beautiful.”

“Yes, the fireworks truly are beautiful.”

In the biting winter wind, the girl and the young woman huddled together, admiring the dazzling, colorful fireworks.

“Master,” the girl suddenly turned, her gaze fixed upon her mentor.

“What is it?”

“Let’s come back here to watch fireworks again next year! Right here!” The girl’s eyes glowed with eagerness, and the young woman responded with a smile.

“Of course.”

Beneath a sky ablaze with brilliant stars, amidst the myriad of dazzling fireworks, the girl and the young woman made a solemn promise, eagerly anticipating the arrival of the following year.

“Splash!”

Feiluo awoke from her dream, her body tilting forward as she abruptly sat up in the water, her mind still reeling from the vivid imagery of the dream.

‘Was that… a dream?’

‘I actually dreamt of the scene last year when Moxi and I watched fireworks together.’

Disregarding the bathwater that had already grown slightly cool, Feiluo rubbed her cheeks, her soft, tender skin deforming under her own hands.

Once she had become a little more lucid, Feiluo lifted her head, gazing up at the ceiling, though her thoughts seemed to have already drifted far away, her eyes unfocused and not truly seeing the surface above.

‘Watching fireworks together…?’

Feiluo murmured, her mind once again recalling Moxi’s smiling face beneath the fireworks.

‘But I have already left the Blazing Spirit Sect; how could we possibly watch fireworks together now?’

Yet, the thought of Moxi sitting alone in an empty home, while sounds of laughter and joy echoed from nearby houses and brilliant fireworks lit up the sky, gnawed at her. Moxi, in this imagined scene, would be left to stare blankly at the fireworks, solitary and silent.

Picturing that scene, Feiluo felt that hollow, aching sensation, as if a piece of her heart was missing, sweep over her once more, this time with even greater intensity.

However, she paid it no mind; instead, countless small moments she had shared with Moxi replayed endlessly in her mind. Finally, the image once again settled on that night sky, illuminated by countless fireworks.

Feiluo stared blankly, lost in thought.

‘Perhaps… I should just go back.’

The moment this thought took root in her heart, it grew uncontrollably, like a seed planted deep within Feiluo’s soul, eventually blossoming into a towering tree.

Feiluo rose from the water, the liquid cascading from her body with a ‘splish-splash’ sound.

The instant she stepped out of the bathtub, Feiluo’s movements faltered.

‘But how long has it been since I ran away? Not even a full night, right?’

‘And didn’t I leave precisely because I didn’t want to participate in the Saintess Selection?’

‘Going back now… what would that even mean?’

A flicker of hesitation crossed her face, but swiftly, it transformed into resolute determination.

‘What is there to fear?!’

‘It’s only a Saintess Selection, after all.’

‘I am the dignified Chief Disciple of the Sacred Land; a mere Saintess Selection means nothing to me!’

‘What’s more, I still have to uphold my promise to Moxi!’

‘A promise, once made, must be kept, mustn’t it?’

Having resolved to return, Feiluo dried the water from her body, changed into clean clothes, and then exited the room.

Feiluo descended the stairs, intending to leave the inn directly, but she was called out to by the shop assistant, who had been roused once more by the commotion.

“Oh, honored cultivator, why have you come down again? Are you planning to…”

“I have a promise I must keep, so I shall be leaving now.”

With these words, Feiluo walked out of the inn.

“Hey, I haven’t even refunded your room fee yet!” The shop assistant tried to call out to Feiluo again, but found that she had already gone far into the distance.

Feiluo moved swiftly through the silent, deserted streets, the sky a dull grey, suggesting that dawn was approaching. Feiluo glanced at the sky, then quickened her pace. She hoped to return home before Moxi could discover her absence, then pretend as if nothing had ever happened.

After all, running away from home only to return before even a full day had passed felt, no matter how she looked at it, too much like the impulsive act of a child. She certainly didn’t want to be regarded as a child. Therefore, she absolutely had to get back home before Moxi noticed.

Feiluo wished she could instantly possess a spatial teleportation spell, allowing her to return home in a flash. Alas, she did not.

Feiluo could only continue to pick up her speed, sprinting towards the city gates.

“Wuwuwu…”

Suddenly, a faint, almost ethereal sobbing reached Feiluo’s ears, causing her steps to falter.

‘Is that… crying?’ Feiluo listened intently, realizing she hadn’t misheard.

‘It sounds like a little girl crying.’

‘Why would a little girl be crying so late at night?’ Feiluo grew puzzled, and then a possibility dawned on her.

‘Could it be…’

‘A ghost!!!’

Feiluo recalled the ghost stories she had read in horror comics and novels, tales of spectral beings luring people with cries, and her face instantly drained of color. She was absolutely terrified of anything supernatural or ghostly!

While it was true that souls existed in this world—a common knowledge among cultivators, with powerful ones even able to achieve soul detachment and exist solely as spirits—this did not mean they were ghosts; they were merely cultivators who had lost their physical bodies.

In Feiluo’s view, true ghosts were beings that instilled fear, lacked reason, and employed all sorts of terrifyingly bizarre methods to torment people’s bodies and minds. Just like the crying she was hearing now, it was simply inconceivable for a little girl to be crying on the street in the dead of night instead of sleeping at home.

Feiluo felt an increasing sense of unease. She wanted to turn back and take a different route, but discovered that the path behind her had, at some unknown point, turned pitch black, as if a fierce, man-eating specter lurked there, glaring menacingly at her.

A shiver ran down Feiluo’s spine. She then looked ahead, only to find the road before her had been replaced by a narrow alleyway. At the end of the alley, a small figure clad in white squatted on the ground, hands covering their face, emitting sobs.

Feiluo felt a chill creep over her. She desperately wanted to escape this eerie place. But with pitch-black darkness behind her and the alley ahead blocked by the crying little girl, Feiluo found herself with no path to escape.

Suddenly, she remembered that she could transform into a phoenix and fly away. A surge of joy brightened Feiluo’s face, and color returned to her delicate features.

As her thoughts stirred, her face instantly paled again.

She realized she couldn’t revert to her phoenix form, meaning she had no way to fly out of this place.

Feiluo glanced at the little girl ahead, then at the darkness behind her.

‘I’ll risk it! Perhaps this darkness is just an illusion?’

‘Maybe if I charge through, I can return to the normal street.’

Feiluo gritted her teeth and charged directly into the darkness behind her.

The moment she entered the gloom, Feiluo’s vision instantly blackened; no light penetrated her eyes. Yet, she paid it no mind, simply plunging forward with her head down.

After running for some time through the profound, inky blackness where she couldn’t see her own hand, Feiluo spotted a faint glimmer of light ahead. Feiluo’s spirits lifted, and she accelerated.

Once she burst out of the darkness, light once again filled her vision, but Feiluo’s expression twisted into one of alarm.

For before her was still an alleyway, and the little girl was still crying at its far end.