The pursuers behind us hadn’t stopped, and ahead, there were still enemies blocking our path.
Obstructed from both front and back, with no way forward or backward.
My increasingly blurry eyes could still see the inner city wall ahead. The gate was still intact and firmly closed. Though so close, the remaining distance seemed impossibly far for Xie Zhuo and me.
“Xie Zhuo,” I used the last of my strength to whisper in his ear, “you still have spiritual power… put me down and go by yourself. Don’t pull that ‘I won’t leave without you’ act, it’s not worth it.”
“I told you. It’s not your time to die yet.”
He still refused to put me down.
Behind us, the overwhelming miasma drew closer, and ahead, we could already see people blocking our path.
Xie Zhuo suddenly stopped, looking back.
The black-armored soldier on horseback had just helped us kill several of the fastest-approaching evil spirits. Black energy swirled around him. Seeming to sense Xie Zhuo’s gaze, he looked over from his horse.
Inside the black armor, beneath the helmet, there seemed to be only darkness. I couldn’t see his face, but Xie Zhuo appeared to have made eye contact with him.
Xie Zhuo suddenly turned and moved toward the black-armored soldier.
The soldier seemed to understand his intention. He swept his spear horizontally, forcing back the evil spirits clinging to him, and galloped quickly toward us.
I understood Xie Zhuo’s plan and gritted my teeth: “What if…”
“It’s a gamble…”
With me in this state, Xie Zhuo would never be able to break through, but if we could borrow the black-armored soldier’s horse, we might still reach the city gate.
Before entering the city, Xie Zhuo had repeatedly warned me not to trust anyone inside. But now, for my sake, he said… take a gamble…
If this black-armored soldier was an evil spirit, if he had been planning for this moment… Xie Zhuo and I, caught in this situation with enemies before and behind, would have no chance of survival.
I lay limply on Xie Zhuo’s back, allowing him to bear all my weight.
In truth, he could have avoided this risk. He could have gone on without me.
Reason told me I should urge Xie Zhuo to weigh his options, to convince him to leave. Having even a slim chance of survival was better than both of us dying.
But as he resolutely carried me toward an unknown choice, for some reason, I felt an inexplicable sense of peace, as if his actions were telling me that no matter what hell lay ahead, he would face it with me.
Strangely, amid the screaming evil spirits and rising black mist, as I clung to Xie Zhuo, I seemed to hear a quiet, gentle voice repeatedly whispering in my ear—
*May I pledge to my beloved, to walk hand in hand, from dawn to dusk, never parting until our hair turns white.*
I thought for a long time, remembering five hundred years ago, in the light of red candles, when Xie Zhuo and I sat facing each other, holding each other’s hands, softly uttering this vow.
But so much time had passed since then, so long that without today, I might have forgotten this vow entirely…
All my strength was just enough to curl my fingertips, clutching his clothes from behind.
Before Xie Zhuo, the black horse was already rushing toward us with the wind. I watched the black-armored soldier with his silver spear, as if watching my judgment.
Yet my heart remained calm.