Bai Fengxi blinked, taken aback. She stared at Bai Yue as if she had grown another head.
"You say…"
But before she could finish, Bai Yue gently stroked her cheek and continued, "When you were unconscious, I tested our blood."
Bai Fengxi's brow furrowed. "How?"
" There's an old method," Bai Yue said softly. "You place a drop of blood from each person into a bowl of clear water. If the blood moves toward each other and merges, it signifies shared blood. If it separates, then there's no relation."
She paused, her fingers resting lightly on Bai Fengxi's jaw. "Ours merged instantly. As if they were never meant to be apart."
Then, slowly, she let her hand drop and pointed toward Bai Fengxi's chest.
"…And this birthmark."
With a quiet rustle of fabric, Bai Yue tugged open the collar of her own robe, revealing a pale chest and—directly over her heart—the other half of the same white lotus birthmark.
The pieces matched perfectly. Two halves of a single flower.
Bai Fengxi gasped.
Her eyes widened, darting from Bai Yue's mark to her own, then back again. Her mouth opened slightly, but no words came. Just breath. Just disbelief.
"And…" Bai Yue continued, her voice calm but piercing, "I know you didn't grow up here."
Bai Fengxi's head snapped up.
"You came from another world," Bai Yue said, studying her closely. "It's obvious… your clothes, your speech, the way you look at everything. Your ignorance of herbs, of qi, of basic cultivation terms."
Her tone wasn't mocking—just observant. Matter-of-fact.
Bai Fengxi's heart raced. She sat up straighter, every muscle alert. Her mind spun with questions, fear prickling under her skin.
'If she knows I'm not from this world… what now? Will she expose me? Use me?'
Bai Yue must've noticed the shift in her expression, because she reached forward and gently took Bai Fengxi's trembling hands into her own.
"Don't," she said softly. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Her words, simple as they were, held unexpected weight. A strange warmth bloomed in Bai Fengxi's chest—still wary, but touched.
"There's something you should understand," Bai Yue added after a pause. "Here, we have things like face-changing masks… illusions that can copy someone's appearance. So I didn't believe we were sisters at first. I thought you were wearing someone else's face."
She looked down, her thumb brushing over Bai Fengxi's knuckles. "But now I know. This isn't illusion. It's blood. It's real."
Bai Fengxi exhaled slowly, some of the tension easing from her shoulders. She gave a small nod, still processing everything, but trying to trust. It wasn't easy.
"I know we haven't known each other for long," Bai Yue said gently, "and I can understand your fear. You woke up in a world you don't understand, next to a stranger who wears your face."
Her eyes lifted, soft but resolute. "But this… this feeling between us. The pull, the familiarity—we're experiencing it together. I want to cherish it. Not destroy it."
Bai Fengxi didn't respond right away. But her fingers slowly curled around Bai Yue's hand in return.
Maybe, just maybe… she wasn't so alone in this strange world after all.
" Do you want to know about me?" Bai Fengxi whispered.
" I would love to, but if it makes you feel uncomfortable, don't." Bai Yue said with a reassuring smile.
Bai Fengxi swallowed and nooded. " I want to tell you."
" Ok."
Then Bai Fengxi started, " My name is Bai Fengxi. I am 25 years old. I never knew who my parents were. I was named by the orphanage I grew up in. Till I was 18. The orphanage was strict, teaching us different things to survive the harsh world. I was a loner, and strived hard in all my studies. I major in medicine and surgery, but I help out in the laboratory sometimes. It was never easy, but I did it. I worked hard for it . I never gave up , even when all seemed impossible. I succeeded. I got proposed to by different people, rich business men, conglomerates...I also get kidnapped severally to help In production of medicines...But my injuries and why I am here is because someone who I don't know fell in love with me" She snickered.
" She killed me. Ordered someone to throw me down from a cliff. My hands and feet were tied. I couldn't escape."
Bai Yue's brows furrowed as she listened, each word painting a vivid picture of a world so far from her own—modern, cold, yet filled with the same shadows of pain.
She didn't interrupt. Not once.
As Bai Fengxi finished, her voice quiet and bitter with the last line, Bai Yue's expression darkened slightly. But her eyes remained locked on Fengxi, steady and warm.
"…That woman was mad," Bai Yue said softly. "To harm you over love. A shallow, twisted obsession."
Bai Fengxi gave a faint chuckle, sharp and sad. "I didn't even know who he was. She never told me. Just that *he* loved me, and she hated that."
There was a long silence. The fire crackled, casting flickering shadows on the stone walls.
"I'm sorry," Bai Yue said at last. "That you went through all of that alone… and then ended up here. Injured, confused, in a world not your own."
"But I'm glad you're here now."
Bai Fengxi looked at her in surprise. Bai Yue's voice was calm, but resolute.
"Whatever the reason you were thrown into this world," she said, "you're not alone anymore."
Bai Fengxi's throat tightened. Her heart beat a little louder.
"…Thank you," she whispered, the words heavier than they seemed.
Bai Yue gently reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind Fengxi's ear.
"You've carried a lot, Bai Fengxi. Maybe now it's time to let someone else carry a little of it with you."
Bai Yue tightened her grip, her thumb brushing lightly across Bai Fengxi's knuckles. Her face remained cold, jaw clenched—but her eyes glimmered with something deep and protective.
"How dare they treat you like that?" she muttered, voice low and dangerous. "They don't deserve to breathe the same air."
Bai Fengxi blinked at her sudden fierceness… and then smiled.
"I'm glad," she said softly. "If they hadn't done what they did… I would've never met you."
Bai Yue's cold expression softened instantly. She looked down, then nodded.
"Yes… I'm happy too. But when I find the ones who hurt you—" her voice dropped into a steel whisper, "—they'll regret it."
Bai Fengxi's heart warmed as a wide smile broke across her face. "Okay," she replied, her voice light and playful. "I'll leave the vengeance to you then."
Bai Yue smirked faintly. "You do that."
And in that quiet moment—amid the crackle of fire and the rustling wind outside the cave—Bai Fengxi felt something she hadn't felt in a long time.
Not fear.
Not loneliness.
But belonging.
Bai Fengxi's eyes softened, her smile slowly fading into a look of quiet understanding.
"You too…" she murmured. "You didn't have anyone either."
Bai Yue nodded slowly, her voice steady but distant. "I don't remember my parents. I only know that one day, I woke up in the servants' quarters of the Lu Family estate. They said I'd been brought there… no one knew who I was. I worked like a shadow—cleaning, carrying, obeying."
Her eyes darkened. "Then one day, an old cultivator visited. He looked at me once and said I had 'spiritual potential.' That one word changed everything."
Bai Fengxi leaned forward slightly, drawn in.
Bai Yue continued, her jaw tight. "The young mistresses, the ones born with everything—they hated me after that. Their jealousy turned to cruelty. They tried to kill me. Twice."
Bai Fengxi's chest ached. "I'm… I'm so sorry."
Bai Yue gave a faint, bitter smile. "Don't be. I survived."
Silence settled between them—heavy, but shared.
Then Bai Fengxi reached out and took her hand again. "We both suffered alone," she said, her voice gentle but firm. "But not anymore. We found each other."
Bai Yue looked at her, and for the first time, her cold expression broke into something softer. Warmer.
"From now on," Bai Fengxi added, "we'll face everything together. No more loneliness. No more running."
"Together," Bai Yue echoed, and squeezed her hand tightly.
Under the starlit sky outside the cave, two souls—broken, but healing—had finally found home in each other.