"My name is Mo, what's yours?" Her smile was faint, yet it drew one in powerfully.
"Qiao Qiao." Madam Qiao Qiao blinked her dark, almond-shaped eyes. "You're the little monkey's sister."
As she spoke, Madam Qiao Qiao realized the little monkey had gone quiet, so she quickly turned to look at her. The child stood beside Mo Lian, eyes red-rimmed and dazed, her small shoulders slumped, looking as if she wanted to come closer but dared not.
Mo raised her hand and beckoned to the little monkey.
The little monkey cried out "Wah!" and ran forward in a few quick steps, leaping into Mo's embrace. Unfortunately, Mo was just a mere illusion. The little monkey passed right through the ethereal figure, then turned back, looking dazedly at Mo, and sorrowfully called out, "Sister."
"I'm sorry," Mo's voice carried a hint of helplessness. "Little monkey, I actually didn't want you to see me like this." This was why her half-strand of divine consciousness remained here but had always been unwilling to appear and meet the little monkey. Moreover, this half-strand of her divine consciousness had been here for two or three hundred years, and it was finally nearing the end of its soul power, about to dissipate.
"Sister, when are you coming back?"
"Little monkey, I can't come back," Mo said softly.
"Liar! You said you'd always be with me." The little monkey's eyes welled up again and again, then she suddenly burst into loud sobs, "You're a liar!" She had waited for her for two or three hundred years, guarding a single obsession, watching over this secret realm for so long. She just wanted to wait for her return. But now, she was telling her that this obsession... couldn't be maintained anymore.
Mo wanted to reach out and stroke her little head, but her palm passed through her somewhat withered hair. She gazed forlornly at the little monkey before her and whispered, "Sister doesn't have much time left. Can you listen to me finish?"
She turned to look at Qiao Mu, a faint smile gracing her lips. "Qiao Qiao, I sense a familiar aura on you." She floated a few steps closer to Madam Qiao Qiao, nearing her, and said in a hushed voice, "That's the aura of the void."
"I was once exiled to the void for three thousand years."
"This secret realm has been drifting in the void, just going wherever it goes." Her gaze was distant, as if she was looking beyond unknown time and space. She reached out and phantom-touched Qiao Mu's head. "You, too."
Madam Qiao Qiao's heart felt as if it had been suddenly touched. She stood there in a daze, staring blankly at her.
Suddenly, a scene seemed to appear before her eyes. A small, expressionless girl floating in the vast, boundless void. What was the void like? Darker and purer than night. Because even the darkest night eventually had starlight or moonlight. But the void had none. The void had nothing...
It was as if, in that moment, only Qiao Qiao remained between heaven and earth. Qiao Qiao walked slowly and blankly through the void, unable to see the path ahead, utterly lost on where to go. There was no living thing in the void. She didn't know if she should stop, but at that time, she firmly believed that stopping meant a dead end. Whether floating or walking, she felt she was still moving. She was the only living thing in the void...