Chapter 240 – Who Are You?

All sounds seemed to have quieted around me. I could no longer hear the growl of the yazis, and the rest of the world faded to a haze. Only the sound of my heartbeat thudded in my ears, and only the sight of that girl in the red dress burned me like a hissing fire.

Never had I expected to see her in real life, and never had I expected it to happen under circumstances like this. She looked more beautiful alive, even with her eyes closed and her arms draping languidly by her sides, as if she was still deep in somber. Even with the dim light around us. There was no mistaking her breathtaking features, and every detail of them matched the ones that I had seen in all my visions.

How was this possible? The seal that contained her had been here long before Twin Stars came into Bai Ye’s possession … So who was she? And who was I?

A hand landed on my shoulder. I jolted, breaking out of my trance. Bai Ye was looking at me, concern written all over his face. “Are you alright?” he asked softly.

His hand was cold, and I wanted to ask if he was alright instead. But I bit back the question, knowing that it was pointless. “I’m fine,” I said, forcing myself to calm down. “I didn’t get a chance to clear all the yazis in our vicinity yet—” my ears finally came back to their senses and picked up the approaching growls again, “—I’ll go and …”

“I can block them for a moment.” It was Yu Jing’s voice. I hadn’t noticed that he was already standing next to us as well, his face also pale. The spell from earlier must have been harsh on him. He fetched a set of talismans and muttered another incantation, summoning a shield over the entrances into our section of the cave. “The beasts won’t be able to get through for a while. It will give us some time to deal with this first—” he gestured at the girl in front of us.

I winced inwardly. Yu Jing didn’t know the entanglements between Bai Ye and this girl—or at least, who this girl appeared to be—and he didn’t know how impossibly difficult it was for us to deal with this. I dared not look at Bai Ye, uncertain and somewhat afraid of the struggles I might find on his face. “What happened while I was away?” I asked Yu Jing instead.

“We came late. The seal was too close to the verge of breaking. It was barely holding on its own, and the influx of spiritual power brought on by the renewal process was too much for it to handle. It became unstable and snapped just before the spell was completed.”

There was a moment of silence. “Can you not reinstate the seal?” Bai Ye asked after a little while. “The same way the original one was done six hundred years ago?”

I looked at him then, surprised by the question. Was he asking out of fear that Yu Jing might do something to hurt the girl, or was he suggesting that we reinstate the seal if that was an option?

“Not at this moment,” Yu Jing said. “The spell from earlier took a heavy toll on my power, and I won’t be able to summon enough strength for another seal any time soon.” He glanced at the girl. “Not soon enough before she wakes up.”

All eyes snapped towards her. Yu Jing was right. The spiritual power flow around her had changed while we spoke, lifting her chin and raising her body as if preparing to wake her from the long, deep sleep. Her thick lashes fluttered, and her fingers twitched, her grip on the twin swords tightening. Slowly, she let out a light sigh, and she opened her eyes.

The first person that those eyes landed on was Bai Ye.

I held my breath, and my own grip on my swords tightened. Long, quiet seconds passed. As she studied him, I searched for signs of recognition, hatred, regret, or even longing in her expression. But there was nothing. She blinked her large eyes before taking in the rest of the room, her gaze sweeping past Yu Jing first, then me.

I thought I saw something flash on her face the moment our eyes met. But before I could catch a good glimpse of that fleeting look, it was gone, and there was only blankness in those twinkling depths.

“Who are you?” she parted her lips and asked, to none of us in particular.

The question took all of us aback. I blinked. She didn’t know Bai Ye? Instinctively, I darted a look at him. His brow was knitted, likely with the same puzzlement going through his mind.

“We’d like to ask the same.” It was Yu Jing who responded. He turned towards me. “You said this … spirit, has resonated with a demonic sword you possess? Is it the swords you are carrying right now?”

I nodded and held out Twin Stars. “You might recognize these,” I said to the girl.

I trained my eyes on her the entire time, making sure that any change in her gaze wouldn’t escape me again. But she kept staring at me blankly. “They look like the ones I’m holding,” she said, lifting the blades in her hands. “Are they related?”

Confusion grew in my head. There was no way that a sword spirit wouldn’t recognize the power of their swords. “Is it common for that seal to affect the target’s spiritual power?” I asked Yu Jing.

He shook his head. “No … Not usually. But considering it’s also unusual for those seals to last over six hundred years, nothing is impossible.”

“Six hundred years?” the girl gasped. “Did you just say … I’ve been sleeping here … for six hundred years?”

The three of us exchanged a glance then. Had the seal damaged her soul to such an extent that she lost not only the connection to Twin Stars, but also her memories?

Or … Who was she really?