Chapter 3
In the courtyard of Chongming Temple.
“Senior Brother Wuming! Look! The two moons are about to overlap!” Yehe’s eyes widened as he gripped Wuming’s hands tightly, his voice brimming with excitement.
In the pitch-black, lightless night sky, only two full moons could be seen slowly approaching each other. They had already overlapped by more than half.
Yehe stared at them without blinking his round, dark eyes. “Do you think Senior Brother Changqing will come back?”
Wuming gazed at the two full moons in silence for a moment before finally answering, “I don’t know.”
Inside the ancestral hall.
Master Jikong knelt on a meditation cushion facing the Buddha statue. His lips moved continuously, the low sound of his chanting so indistinct that it resembled the murmurs of someone talking in their sleep. Meanwhile, his fingers moved rapidly over the prayer beads in his hand.
The moonlight beyond the lattice window grew increasingly bright, and Master Jikong’s fingers moved faster and faster, turning the prayer beads so quickly that their movements were almost impossible to follow.
Suddenly, the cord snapped.
The prayer beads fell through the air and struck the floor of the ancestral hall with a series of crisp sounds, scattering in every direction in an instant.
Master Jikong seemed to awaken at the noise. His movements stiffened slightly, and he raised his head to look out the window.
The two moons had overlapped.
The words that person had spoken three years ago had actually come true.
At the same time.
Inside the secret chamber, the countless sheets of scripture suspended above the ice coffin suddenly began moving despite the absence of wind, as though the scriptures themselves had come alive.
The sheets of Xuan paper swayed, and for a moment, the only sound in the previously silent chamber was the rustling of paper.
Through the gaps between the sheets, a portrait hanging on the innermost wall could vaguely be seen.
The person depicted in the painting had a gentle, refined bearing, with a faint smile on his lips. His slightly curved brows and eyes seemed to gaze through the fluttering scriptures at the two people embracing inside the ice coffin at the center of the chamber.
Suddenly, a sheet of Xuan paper floated down from the tabletop, drifting unsteadily through the air before finally landing beside the ice coffin.
Written prominently on the sheet was a single sentence:
[In the third year of Great Qi, Xiao Mixing and Ning Changqing were buried together in the same coffin.]
In the lower-right corner of the paper was a drawing of a silly-looking little wooden puppet.
\*
Qing University Dormitory.
“No way, Changqing! We only finished our exams half an hour ago! How have you already packed all your luggage?!” Fang Xu stared at the small suitcase beside Ning Changqing, his eyes wide with disbelief.
“Anyone who isn’t enthusiastic about going on vacation has something wrong with their head.” Ning Changqing patted Fang Xu on the shoulder and gave him a look that clearly said, There’s something wrong with you.
Ning Changqing had been busy preparing for his final exams lately, and he hadn’t had a single good night’s sleep in an entire week. Whenever he closed his eyes, the physics formulas and various planets in his dreams would chase him around, demanding to know the results of their calculations.
Ning Changqing was a first-year university student. Half a year ago, emboldened by his perfect score in physics on the college entrance examination, he had arrogantly chosen to major in physics at one of the country’s top universities.
It was only after he actually began studying the subject that he discovered the true meaning of regret.
The completely packed class schedule throughout the semester had already put him through the wringer. Unexpectedly, the difficulty of his final exams had been even worse, practically grinding him down until there wasn’t a scrap of flesh left.
“I’m going home to sleep for three days and three nights.”
Two dark circles hung beneath Ning Changqing’s eyes on his fair face. He covered his mouth and let out an exhausted yawn, immediately bringing tears to his almond-shaped eyes.
Fang Xu watched him yawn, and a moment later, he inexplicably found himself yawning along with him.
“All right, I’m off. I need to go home and catch up on sleep.” Ning Changqing blinked away the tears in his eyes and spoke indistinctly.
“I heard there’s going to be a rare double-moon phenomenon tonight! Aren’t you really interested in that sort of thing? Don’t miss it!”
Fang Xu was still shouting after him from inside the dormitory, but Ning Changqing merely waved a hand to indicate that he’d heard him.
His home was in the same city, only an hour’s drive away.
As soon as Ning Changqing arrived home, he threw himself onto his bed. Just as he was about to drift off to sleep, he suddenly remembered Fang Xu’s words.
Struggling to sit up, he used his phone to set an alarm for nine that evening before finally falling into a deep sleep.
However, he did not sleep peacefully.
The scenes in his dreams were bizarre and fantastical. When his alarm woke him, Ning Changqing felt as though his soul was still floating somewhere in the sky, yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember what he had just dreamed about.
Ning Changqing glanced at the time on his phone.
He had already slept for almost an entire day. His body felt unbearably weak, and he couldn’t muster even a shred of strength. His mind was foggy, leaving him unable to think clearly.
Ning Changqing shuffled toward the attic of the villa in his slippers, his steps uneven and unsteady.
“Has the damage caused by studying gone beyond psychological harm now?”
Ning Changqing patted his aching head, feeling as though his studies had inflicted serious physical damage on him as well.
He casually opened a livestream by the top-ranked astronomy blogger on the homepage, then tossed his phone aside and began adjusting the telescope in the attic.
The man’s voice in the livestream was clear and pleasant, his tone mysterious and captivating.
“According to historical research, the last recorded occurrence of two moons appearing in the same sky can be found in the Book of Great Qi: ‘When the twin moons become one, time and space intertwine, and a fated opportunity reappears…’
“Who would have imagined that nearly a thousand years later, the incredibly rare double-moon phenomenon would appear once again?!
“Could the thousand-year-old opportunity truly reappear, just as recorded in the Book of Great Qi?
“Stay tuned to Little Seedling as we uncover the secrets of traveling through a thousand years…”
At first, Ning Changqing had been listening with great interest, but the longer he listened, the more he felt that the blogger’s explanation was turning into complete nonsense.
After adjusting the telescope, he frowned and picked up his phone from the beanbag chair where he’d tossed it.
Comments flashed rapidly across the screen, filled with nothing more than the simple, sincere wishes of the viewers:
[Get rich! Pass my exams! Win eight million in the lottery after taxes!]
Similar wishes practically filled the entire screen.
As a young man of the modern era, Ning Changqing certainly didn’t believe that making a wish during the livestream of a somewhat amateurish blogger would magically make it come true.
Nevertheless, in the very next moment, he quite earnestly typed out a line:
[I hope that one day, I can glimpse a corner of the universe.]
Well, you never know.
Since I’m already here, I might as well make a wish. It’s not like it’ll hurt anything.
Ning Changqing had just pressed the send button and was about to leave the livestream. His fingertip hovered over the exit button, but before he could tap it, a sharp, piercing pain suddenly shot through his head.
His vision instantly went black.
Ning Changqing felt as though his entire soul was about to be torn in half.
His phone slipped from his hand and fell onto the fluffy carpet.
In the final second before Ning Changqing completely lost consciousness, he was still thinking:
I haven’t even gotten to see the double-moon phenomenon that last appeared a thousand years ago…
I only just woke up. I don’t want to go back to sleep yet…
Ning Changqing collapsed onto the beanbag chair and completely lost consciousness.
At that very moment, Little Seedling’s voice suddenly rose in excitement from his phone.
“Look! Look! After a thousand years, the double-moon phenomenon has really appeared again!”
Through the unattended telescope, two perfectly round moons slowly overlapped.
\*
It hurts…
Everything hurts…
It feels as though an invisible hand has ripped my soul straight out of my body…
Inside the ice coffin.
The overlapping robes had already been stained red with blood.
The long eyelashes of the person lying against Xiao Mixing’s chest trembled faintly. Beneath his thin, pale eyelids, his eyes moved restlessly, and his previously relaxed brows slowly drew together.
After struggling for a long while, the person inside the ice coffin finally opened his eyes.
“Mmph…” Ning Changqing woke with his head spinning and aching, an uncomfortable groan escaping his throat.
He opened his eyes, but his vision was completely blurred. He could vaguely make out several round lights in the distance.
In his daze, he felt as though he could see five, six, seven, or even eight moons.
“So many moons…”
Ning Changqing blinked his heavy eyelids, vaguely sensing that something wasn’t quite right.
Wasn’t there supposed to be only two moons in the sky? Why am I seeing so many?
Ning Changqing wanted to sit up and see what was going on, but the moment he moved, he felt as though something was lying across his waist.
A beat later, Ning Changqing lowered his head and blinked hard.
The scene before him gradually came into focus.
It was an arm.
Ning Changqing’s mind went blank. His gaze slowly followed the arm around his waist upward until he saw a handsome man dressed in ancient attire, his face deathly pale and his eyes tightly closed.
Ning Changqing: “…”
My head hurts so much. It feels like something’s about to grow out of it.
Ning Changqing closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After mentally preparing himself, he opened them again.
This time, the handsome man’s face was even clearer.
“…”
Ning Changqing pinched his own arm.
Unexpectedly, it didn’t hurt at all.
Ning Changqing took a deep breath.
As expected, I’m dreaming.
I must have been sleeping in the wrong position. I’ll just get up and go back to sleep properly.
However, he hadn’t expected that even the slightest movement would cause every muscle in his body to ache.
Ning Changqing felt less as though he’d slept for a day and more as though he’d been asleep for several years.
Otherwise, how could he explain this limp, powerless body that couldn’t muster even the slightest bit of strength?
Ning Changqing struggled for quite some time before finally managing to prop himself up a little.
But the moment he lifted his head—
Bang!
His head struck something hard.
The arm he’d barely managed to support himself with immediately gave way, and his entire body collapsed back into its original position.
“Ha…”
Apparently, when someone was rendered utterly speechless by the absurdity of a situation, they really could laugh.
Ning Changqing felt as though all his internal organs had nearly been knocked out of his body.
However, the intense pain radiating from his head also told him that he wasn’t dreaming.
As for why he hadn’t felt any pain when he’d pinched himself earlier, it was probably because he was so weak right now that he hadn’t been able to exert any strength.
Ning Changqing’s already dizzy, aching head became even more muddled.
I only went to sleep! It’s not like I died!
What the hell is wrong with this ridiculously frail body?!
Tears welled up in his eyes from the pain. Enduring the stinging sensation in his nose, Ning Changqing looked toward the thing he’d just struck his head against.
“…”
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
I’m lying inside a transparent coffin!!!
Then the man beside me isn’t just sleeping! Could he have already…
Ning Changqing no longer had the mental capacity to worry about why he’d appeared inside someone else’s coffin.
He stiffly lowered his head to look at the man with his eyes tightly closed.
Only then did he notice the heavy smell of blood permeating the air.
With a trembling hand, Ning Changqing reached toward the man’s nose—
He’s still alive!!! He’s still alive!!!
“Phewwww—”
Before Ning Changqing could even finish breathing his sigh of relief, he found himself staring into a pair of bloodshot eyes.
The man’s silvery-white hair spread loosely around him, appearing under the soft glow of light like some rare and exquisitely expensive silk.
His face was small, with exquisitely sculpted features. A pair of glistening eyes stared at Ning Changqing without blinking, their reddened rims resembling peach blossom petals dampened by water.
Combined with his deathly pale complexion, he looked truly pitiful.
The only problem was that the way he stared at Ning Changqing was a little frightening, as though he were about to devour him whole.
Well, that’s understandable. I somehow ended up inside someone else’s coffin. It’d be stranger if he wasn’t angry, right?
Gulp.
Ning Changqing swallowed nervously and offered an obedient smile.
“You probably won’t believe me, but I woke up and somehow found myself in your bed… Pfft, I mean, your coffin, hahaha…”
The man inside the ice coffin did not laugh.
Instead, the look in his eyes grew increasingly dark and unreadable.
The air seemed to freeze.
Ning Changqing’s voice grew less and less confident. He forced down the awkward smile tugging at his stiff lips and obediently said, “Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’ll leave right now. I’m going, I’m going, haha…”
As he spoke, Ning Changqing tried to control this soft, powerless body.
However, he had only just managed to straighten his waist when the person behind him suddenly caught him and pulled him back.
Xiao Mixing buried his face against Ning Changqing’s chest, his voice low, hoarse, and difficult to make out.
“You’ve finally come back. Don’t leave me…”
“Huh? Dude, what did you say?”
But the man’s voice was far too weak for Ning Changqing to hear clearly.
Just as Ning Changqing was about to lean closer to find out what he was saying, the person in his arms suddenly fell silent.
D-did he just have a final burst of energy before dying?
Ning Changqing’s pupils practically shook.
Wait, dude?!
You can’t just pull something like this and frame me for your death?!
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