Azure Mirror

You are a celebrated young talent in the jianghu, born into the light. I am a heartless, emotionless killer, raised in the darkness. We should have watched our own scenery from opposite banks of the river, but fate bound us tightly together in an inescapable knot.

Schemes and treachery, bloodshed and turmoil. I never thought you would plot against me, just as I never thought I would plot against you. Only at the very end did I discover that we were both pieces on the board, unable to escape the hand that could turn clouds and rain.

It turned out that everything you said was as boundless and elusive as drifting clouds. From the day we first met to now, with the poison of love coursing through me, it was all part of your game. As the flowers fall and the swallows return, do you, the one holding the pieces, still remember a woman who lived and died for you?

[Su Shengyue’s Story]

She held the mystic sword, its edge reflecting a cold gleam. Her once elegant, immortal air had changed completely, and all tenderness had vanished from her eyes, which had seen through the ways of the world. The tip of the sword glided across her once-beautiful face, staining its dark blade with specks of rouge. He gazed at her pale face, where beads of blood trickled down, and gently reached out to caress it.

“Qingci, do you hate me? You do, don’t you? I killed your brother. It wasn’t Ye Xi, and it wasn’t Xiao Chen’an. It was me.” His voice was as gentle as when they first met, and a fond smile played on his lips.

“I am Canglan, and you are Tumi. In this life, you can only be mine.” He curled his fingers and gathered up the strands of hair that had fallen across half her face. Bending close, he whispered in her ear, “Qingci, forgive me. Forgive me for not wanting to love you.”

[Mo Jingliang’s Story]

He held the piece over the center of the board and set it down. The sunset cast its glow over the scene, scattering pale golden fragments like a black swallowtail butterfly with broken wings.

“Men and women should keep their distance. Would you do me the honor of marrying me, miss?”

“Qingci, do you understand? We are both inheritors of sin. The blood flowing through us is tainted.”

“Even if your beauty is ruined, everyone turns against you, your martial arts are gone, and your heart is dead, you must not die. Don’t die.”

“When the peach blossoms bloom next March, let me come and marry you, Qingci?”

[Jinse Cottage] A nest full of cuties