Love That Transcends the Nine Hells

My name is Xiao Yao. I was once a princess of the Great Wilderness, but now I'm just an unremarkable little doctor in Qingshui Town. Life here is as calm as still water. I gather herbs at dawn and brew tea when I return at dusk. The neighbors greet me with smiles, as if the blades, passion, and tangled romances of the past have all been buried by time. But I know some people and some things can never be forgotten.

When night grows quiet, I always dream of him: the man in white hair and red robes, standing at the end of the sea and sky with his back to the setting sun, the shadow of a nine-headed serpent faint behind him. He never turns around or says a word. He just stands there, still as a lonely, frigid statue, while the sea wind tosses his snow-white hair. Every time I wake, it feels as if something is squeezing my heart, and the pain takes my breath away.

Xiang Liu, are you really dead? Or are you still shutting me out, keeping me at arm's length with that cold demeanor of yours, even in death?