*Fair warning before you proceed, this chapter depicts a bit of disturbing scene, which was the continuation from the previous chapter.*

'Why?'

Yang Xian couldn't understand why did their relationship differ so greatly. He was intrigued by Wei Liuying's quick wittedness when he first met her on that street. And since then, his interest only grew.

But the relationship between Yang Xian and Wei Liuying in the dream looked more distanced as if it was him and the current Wei Liuying a few months prior. It was as if the two of them still had the walls around their heart and they were not willing to let anyone enter.

Why?

He couldn't understand why it ended this way. It was so different to the point that he couldn't even understand himself.

What was different?

The scene in front of him changed once more despite Yang Xian's confusion. Now, it was the meeting with the Emperor. And this time, Yang Xian couldn't hear any voice. He could only see as they entered the capital city under the gaze filled with contempt of the people in the capital city.

And then there was also the talk with Prime Minister Xie and this time, the dream Wei Liuying looked a bit more taken aback. She was forcing herself to smile and kept her expression the same, yet the faint gesture that she made from time to time showed her unease.

Watching her like this caused pain on Yang Xian's chest. If only it was possible, he wished to stand forward and grabbed her hand. He wanted to ease her heart, yet he also knew that after experiencing all of that, his dream self would not be in the right state of mind.

The dream Yang Xian was still dealing with the officials with his usual smile, yet the hint of tiredness under his eyes were visible. He had no time to care for the dream Wei Liuying when he was already under heavy burden. He was just a normal human, who had feeling and also thoughts.

When they were finished, the dream Wei Liuying looked in the dream Yang Xian's direction and her lips trembled.

But no words were said.

"Please stop this…"

Yang Xian muttered to himself. Watching this scene only tortured his mind even more. His hand clenched onto his heart. For some reasons, he felt that his heart was hurting even more than what he thought he would feel.

Every scene was as if a knife stabbed into his heart.

And with each passing moment, he felt that the wound in his heart was bleeding and blood dripped onto the ground without any ability to stop it. The pain was so unbearable.

The scene changed once more and this time, Yang Xian knew that it was the battle towards Shi Yan.

"STOP!" Yang Xian screamed. He didn't want to see it. He had the bad premonition that what he saw next would only leave a deep scar in his heart.

Bang!

The sudden attack stopped their movements. The dream Wei Liuying reacted late and from her sluggish movements, Yang Xian could see that her complexion was not that good. The past few days might have taken the toll on her body because of guilt and everything that she had experienced.

She was no longer herself. The previous Wei Liuying, who was always so calm and composed had disappeared. She had lost the confidence for her skills and abilities. Failing so miserably and caused her friends to die made her unable to accept herself anymore.

Being the sole survivor haunted the dream Wei Liuying.

"Liu Ying! Move!"

"Ah?"

"Damn it!" the dream Yang Xian cursed out loudly, something that he rarely did because he would always keep his composure no matter what he did. His eyes were looking at the group of enemies that was approaching close.

The dream Wei Liuying clenched her first. "Leave first! I'll deal with this."

"Can you do it?"

The question was filled with doubt and it was clear from the dream Wei Liuying's expression that it was the last thing she wanted to hear. She had failed once, miserably at that. Even though she did everything possible, she still couldn't do it.

The dream Yang Xian never knew what had happened back in the temple. But the current Yang Xian knew. Gao Ling had shared the story about how Wei Liuying worked so hard for them to survive to the point of exhaustion. So much that it made her fall into coma for a long time.

It was also known that the mistake lies in Gao Ling for not properly taking care of herself and nearly dragging everyone down.

But in this dream, no one told the dream Yang Xian about anything. All he knew was that Wei Liuying had failed and allowed their friends to die. Maybe…. Because of that, their relationship strained from each other once more.

The dream Wei Liuying couldn't forgive herself.

The dream Yang Xian also couldn't forgive himself.

"Captain Hu and Captain Tang stay here with me along with their soldiers while the rest follow Strategist Yang to An You City!" Wei Liuying finally said, struggling to utter the word out of her mouth.

The dream Yang Xian gritted his teeth and closed his eyes for a moment. "Liu Ying, don't die."

Wei Liuying raised her head. There was surprise written on her face, but she nodded. "I won't die."

"Good." After saying that, Yang Xian raised his sword and yelled, "The rest come with me! Head to An You City as fast as possible!"

"YES!"

Yang Xian watched as the scene followed himself. As they approached the city, he felt that the time the dream him took to talk with Wei Liuying was actually wasting precious time because the battle too much longer time than when they reacted swiftly like what had happened in reality.

If he was not wrong…

Thud!

The dream Yang Xian arrived right when the arrow pierced Shi Yan's body. There was no time for him to prepare his bow and arrow like what he did a few days ago. He couldn't do anything but to watch as Shi Yan died in front of him.

One by one they left him.

After years of staying together… it only took but a moment for them to leave him behind. Just a moment of mistake led to this brutal end.

"AAAAAAaaa!"

The dream Yang Xian rushed forth and gave the order to circle them and kill all of them as the men were trying to burn the entire city. It was similar like what he did just a few days ago, but this time, Shi Yan was not with him.

Shi Yan had died.