Days passed by like a fleeting dream.

No matter how the darkness may suffocate Jingrui, she felt that flowers could still glitter gold. The long days she griefed for her loss and cried for vengeance had ended. Now, she was freed.

Zhanying had kept his promise to wed her at the Jade Dragon Mountain, and they campaigned past the mortal village she was born in. The moon was ever waning, but she no longer found it sorrowful. The crescent formed a smile that warmed her soul and gave her solace. The dying embers within her heart had sparked to become an eternal flame, and her pasts were burned by the will.

Zhanying held her hand as he led her to a place filled with substantial power. She looked up at him with eyes filled with wonder. "Where are we?"

"Before the Jade Tree," he replied to her. "One drop of blood. Ashes eat away frost. The heart blossoms a Jade Fruit. Return all that is lost."

Jingrui flinched when she smelt blood. She grabbed his sleeve and tugged it. "I can smell blood. . ."

He didn't seem alarmed as he plucked a fruit off the tree and handed it to her. "At long last I finally understand, Bao Bao, and my heart no longer will deny it," he told her. "Standing before this Jade Tree, I know that it has all been because of love. My life had regained colours because of you, Bao Bao."

Jingrui twirled the Jade Fruit in her palm. "I don't understand."

Zhanying simply smiled. "In order for the Jade Fruit to spring to life, it must receive a drop of blood of the person you love most, but all the same, that very person must also hold reciprocating love; a mutual love." He turned to her. "And, that love was you, Bao Bao. All these time it has been you."

Jingrui's eyes wavered as she felt the Jade Fruit in her palm. A soft smile came over her as she understood his words. Without hesitation, she bit into the fruit, feeling the sweet taste on her tongue.

As soon as she swallowed it, warmth flushed through her body. The night became day and colours crept into the edges of her vision, filling her world. She looked up, and her gaze met Zhanying. He held the timeless look, and he was beautiful under the hue of diamond and gold.

The corners of her mouth broke into a smile. "I miss you."

He tilted his head to the side. "Why? Haven't I always been by your side," he questioned. "And, I will forever be by your side," he added.

A smile spread over her face. "I will also be by your side and keep you company forever, Your Highness." She clasped her hand over his. "I used to doubt the Jade Fruit, but now I can see as clear as day. Now, that I can see again, let us visit my beloved Phantom Lord."

"As you wish." He returned her a subdued smile as they walked towards the main hall of the Jade Dragon Mountain.

As Jingrui passed through the training ground, her eyes widened. The whole pine forests had been replaced by ten miles of peach blossoms, ever-blooming through all adverse fates. The, once dark, and sinister Jade Dragon Mountain had become a field of colours. Jingrui let the sweet fragrance sweep away every bitterness within her life. Standing beneath the outstretched branches, her heart was at peace.

"Do you like it?" Zhanying muttered as he glanced at the sky. "I had planted a forest of peach blossoms for you; the one you had always dreamt of, and the one that offers you the world of freedom."

Jingrui smiled as she stretched her arms out, letting the refreshing breeze pricked against her skin. "I like everything that you do."

"I also moved your Master and Sister's tomb to this field," he said, and his eyes became residual with a pain Jingrui knew couldn't heal within just a year. But she would hope that through the future filled with her company, it would soon be engraved in a memory far back in his mind, and submerged until forgotten.

"I've paid respect to my real father, Bao Bao. I think he must be at peace now." Zhanying let out a sigh that released away years of exhaustion.

Jingrui nodded. "Now, Master could finally rest in peace. All his life, he sought to find his long lost family, and now, his son finally stood before him." She peered up at the sky, and her lips curled up. "As for my sister, I'm sure she is watching us right now. I'm sure she is proud that I have come this far. Her wish is that I live happily, and now I am surrounded by the happiness the world could bestow me."

She glanced around the field, and before she could say anymore, she spotted Xiao under the blinding sun. Instantly, a grin plastered over her face as she waved at him. "Senior!"

When he spotted her, his eyes were filled with sparks, and he ran up to them. Winding his arms around her, he pulled her close. "Oh my dear junior, I have heard all that has happened in the throne hall. I'm glad you are safe, and I'm glad you finally learn to let go. Now that everything is over, can we—" Xiao was cut off when Zhanying scoffed, and he gave a sheepish smile. He pulled himself away from Jingrui as he bowed. "Greeting, Your Highness—Your Majesty. No, actually"—a wide grin plastered his face—"little brother in law!"

Zhanying clenched his jaws. "Don't you dare call me that again. I am older than you by millenia."

Xiao rolled his eyes and placed his fists on his waist. "Well, then, don't you dare think that just because my junior is now your Empress, the Phantom Sect is obligated to pledge alliance with the Sky Kingdom."

Zhanying let out an unamused chuckle. "Is that so? But did you know, Phantom General, that the previous Phantom Lord was my grandfather? In a sense, I am entitled to the mountain."

Xiao gritted his teeth and held his head high. "Your Majesty is already a Heavenly Emperor, now you even want to rob me off the Phantom Lord title and claim your entitlement to the mountain? That's a bit thrifty isn't it? Heavenly Emperors are supposed to be magnanimous, you know." Xiao crossed his arms and furrowed his brows. "Now, that I think about it, how did you even find out the Phantom Lord is your grandfather? Perhaps, it's just another one of your cheap lies."

Zhanying's smile turned taunting as he held up his finger, wrapped with the serpent ring. "Simple, really. I saw this ring on the portrait of Yunyi's lover. Before, he died, he felt my hand and recognised me; thus giving me the decree and confirming my presumptions."

Xiao turned his face away as he was unable to argue. "So, why are you two here on the mountains? You trespassed the barrier and went straight to eat the Jade Fruit. You haven't told me why you came."

"To bow to Heaven and Earth," Zhanying replied, and then sadness took over eyes. "To fix regrets. There are many regrets that I have brought upon myself. Ones I had never thought about when they were still alive. Only when they are gone, did things become meaningful. It's always like this, isn't it?" He trailed off and glanced up at Jingrui. "I should have treated Yuetong better, shouldn't I?"

Jingrui pressed her lips into a thin line and shook her head. "Yuetong wouldn't want you to feel that way. She loved you, really, Zhanying. And I think she is resting in peace now that you visited her with the most beautiful flowers the other day."

A hoarse chuckle left his lips. "Then, I shouldn't have been so harsh on my Third Uncle who had never meant to do wrong, shouldn't I? And I should have held more trust in you, Bao Bao. I should have taken your antidote and look after you better."

Jingrui shook her head rapidly. "Don't say sad things anymore, Your Highness," she whined and clasped her hand over his. "Don't say them again. You are never to be blamed. Besides, what's the point of saying them now? Don't we have something more important we ought to do than reminiscing about the past we can never fix?"

Zhanying glanced down at their hands that clasped over his and intertwined his fingers in hers. His eyes were solemn as he led her towards a cliff, overlooking the vast world.

Zhanying waved a hand, and a lotus pond was formed right before her eyes. Jingrui plopped down, peering at the still water. Zhanying crouched beside her and summoned the Golden Lotus seed.

His breathing turned sharp as he placed the seed into the water. "Yuansong has longed for freedom. He longs to outlook the world. Perhaps, this is his wish..." He trailed off and closed his eyes. A sad smile came over him. "I sent him to protect you that day, but I didn't think he would come back in that state. Do you think he would blame me? Do you blame me for stubbornly pretending to hate you all that time? If only I hadn't sent him and went to protect you myself, do you think fate would be kinder?"

Jingrui stared off into the horizon, watching a flock of birds fly by. "No. In the end, no one can defy the course of the world. If he is meant to dissipate like smoke, that is destiny. The river would continue to flow, the clouds would continue to roll along the sky, and the stars would continue to circulate. If you insist on being stranded in past regrets for all eternity, then you can never find happiness. In the end, the world would still go on and time would change seasons."

Zhanying looked up at her, and every coldness within him melted. His voice was a soft muffle. "But, Bao Bao, did you know there is something that time can never change?" His eyes lit up. "It is our heart, Bao Bao; our love."

A smile came over her, and she laid her head down against his shoulder. "And, I will never change. I will be your Bao Bao forever."

The wind blew, rattling the leaves, and they were swept beneath the sweet falling petals. He caressed the side of her head. "Then I'll be yours forever."

At his words, Jingrui smiled a smile that would never fade.

The flowers would wilt when winter came and the flowers would bloom in spring. Just like her happiness, even when she felt no hope existed within this world, she just had to wait with an unfading smile until spring came again.

The moon may be full, but there would be time when it waned. As she stared off into the horizon beside the person she loved most, she didn't hate the imperfect changes anymore.

If there were never these changes, there would be no colour within this world. It would be no better than an abyss.

Jingrui glanced up at Zhanying, and she knew both of them were no longer alone.

He was once blind, but she had pulled him from the depths of the darkest abyss, and now, he could see the world in full bloom again.

She was once bereft, but now he had become a part of her life, a part of her family; a person who gave her his whole heart, and the person she gave her whole heart to.

Silver and gold glitzed as the beam cast down against pristine landscape. Within the arms of the person she loved most, no waning moon, no winter, and no abyss they wouldn't shine through.

People met and parted, the moon was full and wane, and life, at that moment, was perfect.