The memories changed again.
Not abruptly.
Not dramatically.
They simply… softened.
The years inside Azure Heaven Sect passed quietly after that. Seasons came and went beside the southern ocean, and life moved at a gentle pace untouched by the chaos spreading through the northern regions.
For Feng Xia, those years eventually became difficult to separate clearly.
Not because they lacked meaning.
But because they contained too much peace.
And peace rarely announces itself while it is happening.
It only becomes precious later.
The memory opened beneath warm evening light.
The ocean reflected orange and gold beneath the setting sun while waves rolled calmly against the cliffs below Azure Heaven Sect. The air smelled faintly of salt and spirit flowers drifting through the mountain paths.
Zero sat quietly near the edge of the cliff with a book resting lazily in his hands.
Or rather pretending to read.
Because he had not turned the page in nearly twenty minutes.
