[Xiao Yan X Runyu] Notes on Raising a Yinglong

* Modern cultivation, spiritual qi revival

* Alternate universe, inspired by The Great Ruler

* An early work. I didn't quite manage the pacing later on, oops. Anyway, I'll post it first.

* Younger man

"I can't forget him."

"He has fallen," Mu Chen said softly.

His voice was so quiet, as though he were carefully trying not to shatter a dream. But in the end, a reflection of flowers in a mirror and the moon in water was bound to vanish.

Emperor Yan pressed his lips together. His usually gentle, composed expression slowly crumbled, and pain mingled with deep sorrow in his eyes. He looked directly at Mu Chen. Even after all these years, when he spoke of that person, he could not hide the sadness in his voice.

"I truly can't forget him... Mu Chen, if Luo Li were gone, would you be able to forget her?"

It might have sounded a little rude, but he meant no harm. Putting himself in Emperor Yan's shoes, Mu Chen would not take offense at his words.

Still, Mu Chen truly wanted to say that he and Luo Li at least loved each other. But that peerlessly gifted Heavenly Emperor from back then, the one Xiao Yan had admired all his life and could never forget... from beginning to end... probably did not even know who he was.

It was only a passing thought. Mu Chen felt helpless, but he would not say it aloud. He silently watched his old friend, whose love life had been so full of misfortune, and could only sigh.

Emperor Yan shook his head and stood up. His black robe billowed in the wind with a fierce rustle. He gazed at the dark horizon in the distance, his eyes seeming to pierce through space and see the countless demons stirring beyond the borders.

There wasn't much time left.

"If that's the case, let me take care of this seal."

After a brief moment of sadness, Emperor Yan gathered his emotions. When he turned around, he was once again the gentle and composed ruler of the Boundless Flame Domain, just as he had always been. Yet there was an inexplicable hint of sorrow in his faint smile.

"I'll leave the protection of this Great Thousand World to you."

Mu Chen exchanged a glance with Lin Dong, who stood beside him, steady and silent as always. They nodded together. Emperor Yan did not need to say a word. As the world's strongest cultivators and its leaders, they held supreme power, and protecting this world was their duty.

Xiao Yan slowly closed his eyes. Brilliant flames surged from within him, growing denser without restraint until his entire body became a mass of fire that shot into the sky.

And then, in that instant--

Heaven and earth grieved.

He became the seal with his own body.

A hundred years after the Heavenly Emperor Yinglong, the Great Thousand World once again witnessed the fall of one of its most powerful beings.

Back when we were young and knew nothing of love and hate, one glimpse was enough to stir our hearts the most.

Theme: I love you. Even if I forget you, love will not forget, and neither will the soul.