Hourglass

IV

[Wei Wuxian's First Person POV]

The last I remembered, I died. With my child in my embrace carefully breathing his life back even for a small moment. My son will never have a future in cultivation. With his broken core and future, I gave him. Yet, I wish for him, my child to live. To enjoy life, he was everything to me. My pride, my joy... My most precious treasure.

I scanned my surroundings and saw myself alone in the middle of the forest. Great! just great! Who the fuck leaves a person in his inner robes in the middle of the cold forest? I decided to stroll down first. When I met four adorable young cultivators bickering.

Wow... One from Gusu, one from Lanling, a minor sect, and—Yunmeng. It was brief but I couldn't take my eyes off the purple clothe boy. He had long hair, his posture, and demeanor are that of the Lan, and he had a soft smile on his face... And beautiful silver eyes that almost reflect the moon.

"Young Mistress Jin... Will you please be quiet for a while?" The Lan disciples, so un-Lan-ly retort. Haha. Just when did the Lan sect have this kind of disciple? Did the world finally turn upside down that Lan Qiren finally allowed a rascal in his ever-stoic and stick-in-the-mud class?

I snorted when I felt a chilling strand of the blade on my neck. The blade trembled lightly as if refusing to land a dangerous attack. It was dark, so I wasn't able to see the sword's name. It was a black lacquered sword that even the name cannot be read in this kind of dimmed light place.

"Who are you?" The young man in purple asked me as he stepped back and sheathed his sword.

"Young man... You shouldn't back away and sheath your sword when a stranger is stalking you..." I warned, but the young man only smiled at me.

He replied, "hm! But you're not a bad guy... It's okay!"

"You! And you're goody two shoes again!" The LanlingJin disciple reprimanded the YunmengJiang disciple, "ah... I should tell uncle to make you a stern person! Your kindness will kill you someday!"

The disciples were named, Jin Rulan, Lan Jingyi, Jiang Sizhui, and Ouyang Zizhen. Oh... Jin Rulan is Jiejie's son... And with the peacock. No wonder... Tsk. tsk... of all the good things this child had was his father and Jiang Cheng's hot-bloodedness, I bet even Aunt Yu is enjoying whipping her grandson to control his temper.

But... Jiang Sizhui... I found out, he was an adopted child of the Jiangs. So Uncle Fengmian took another in his wings? I couldn't help but think about my son. Did he survive? Did he live a few more years and enjoyed his life?

I wanted to cry and go back home immediately. I want to check on my son or anything about him. I want to see for myself or know what future he had. Although I know... I did not save him fully.

The soft rustles of fabric wound around my body, "wear this... You might catch a cold.."

Ah.. a very good child.

We got roped together like a house on fire. I secretly enjoyed this moment and gave them several tips before going.

Then I decided to go home and visit Yunmeng for a while. Jiang Sizhui was reluctant to let me go. He gave me a few more clothes, money, and food to get by. I refused to take everything but he pushed them to me and said he had many or he'll just ask Jin Rulan for money. What a plan! And yet... He is a caring child! I can't help but ruffle his head and said, "good child... Your parents must be proud of how good of a child you are.."

I saw him hitch his breath and smiled at me. A soft true smile he never had when talking to others. I can't help but smile back at him.

I was about to leave the mountain when I heard the explosions and the wildfire spreading. The Jiang child was the first thing that crossed my mind as I immediately took off to assist. At the scene, I saw them fighting the Soul consuming goddess. They were cornered, so I took the Lan kid's sword and made a hastily carved bamboo flute. Summoning the corpses nearby, I was able to defeat and protect the youngsters from harm. But the corpses I called almost went ballistic so I played another song, the song in my memories.