Ashes of Love: The Little Grape’s Unrequited Love

During the great war between the gods and demons, the Water Goddess Jinmi died. After her death, the incense ashes of Doumu Yuanjun awakened the real Jinmi, but it was too late. She was now only a wisp of a soul. Jinmi watched a single tear fall from Runyu's eye, and her heart ached. She followed him. Jinmi attached herself to a night-blooming cereus to keep Runyu company. She could only appear for a little while at night, because her soul was too weak. Runyu could not sense her presence, but the Nightmare Beast could see her. One night, Runyu did not come to see the flower as he usually did. Jinmi waited and waited, but he never came, and she began to worry. She wanted to go find him, but she could not stray too far from the flower. Then Jinmi suddenly remembered Runyu's old injury from using the Blood Spirit technique. Without thinking of anything else, she hurried out of the flower and flew to his bedchamber. When she arrived, she saw Runyu lying on the floor. Jinmi rushed forward to lift him, but Runyu had already stopped breathing, and his body was almost transparent. In that moment, she finally understood what it meant for a heart to die. She wanted to cry, but no tears came. Beside Runyu, the Nightmare Beast spat out one dream pearl after another, each showing something Runyu had experienced. As Jinmi watched the dream pearls one by one, her heart felt as if it were being pierced by ten thousand arrows. When she had watched the last pearl, she wept tears of blood. Just then, someone stepped out of the shadows. It was Doumu Yuanjun. Jinmi begged her to bring Runyu back to life, saying she would pay any price if only he could be saved. Moved by compassion for Jinmi and Runyu, Doumu Yuanjun told Jinmi of a forbidden spell that could send her back to the past, but warned that if she died, she would never be reincarnated. Jinmi cast the forbidden spell without hesitation. But her cultivation was not strong enough to take her back to the time she first met Xufeng. She could only return to the moment she came back from her tribulation.