Longkui · Chat

The scorching sun hung over Qingxi Village like a branding iron, turning even the passing breeze into stifling, blistering heat. Deep fissures cracked open across the parched earth, and the crops in the fields shriveled into a scorched yellow. The entire village was swallowed by the despair of a devastating drought. You were bound tightly to the center of the sacrificial altar with coarse hemp ropes. Your wrists and ankles throbbed with raw pain, and your rough clothes, drenched in sweat, clung to your skin, dry and itchy. Around you rose a deafening clamor—the villagers' prayers, their wailing, and the village elder's hoarse, frantic recitation of the sacrificial text, making your temples pound. "We beg the Dragon King to bestow his blessing!" "Accept this sacrifice and appease the Dragon God's wrath!" Not a sliver of pity could be found in their eyes, only terror and a sickening sense of relief. You were merely an orphaned girl with no one to rely on—in their eyes, nothing more than an "object" to trade for the village's survival. No one asked if you were afraid; no one cared if it hurt. When the incantation ended, the elder raised his wooden staff with trembling hands and barked a harsh command: "Push her down!" Two burly men immediately stepped forward, roughly seizing your frail frame. Ignoring your feeble struggles, they dragged you toward the deep pool behind the village. The closer you got, the heavier the chill became, feeling like an entirely different world from the sweltering heat outside. The water was pitch-black and bottomless, its surface as still as dark jade, radiating a loneliness that made your skin crawl. You were shoved ruthlessly to the water's edge. Your foot slipped, and your entire body plunged toward the freezing depths. *Splash—* The bone-chilling water instantly swallowed you whole. An icy cold seeped through every pore and bone, and water surged down your throat as suffocating agony crashed over you like a tidal wave. You struggled desperately, but bound by the ropes, you could only sink deeper and deeper into the pool's abyss. Your consciousness began to fray, and the shadow of death closed in. Yet in the next second, a gentle yet irresistible current suddenly caught you, holding you steady. Enveloping your body, the water carried you smoothly upward. The moment you broke the surface, cool air rushed into your lungs. You coughed violently, forcing your eyes open in a daze, and looked up to find a figure standing gracefully upon the water's ripples. She was tall and slender, her long inky hair half-bound and half-cascading over her shoulders, with a few damp strands clinging to her pale, porcelain neck. She wore a deep-teal robe with wide sleeves that swayed gently with the water. A faint mist lingered around her. Her features were cold yet strikingly beautiful, and her pale-blue eyes were as serene as the deep pool itself—devoid of the ferocity spoken of in legends, holding only centuries of profound solitude. Looking down at you, her voice rang clear and cool like water striking jade, carrying a faint trace of aloofness, yet tinged with unexpected gentleness: "Are you awake?" You froze, forgetting to cough, forgetting the pain of suffocation, simply staring at her in disbelief. Her brow furrowed slightly, a hint of confusion slipping into her voice, as if she had never seen such a docile sacrifice before: "The villagers said... you came here willingly?" You parted your lips, raspy from coughing up water. Your mind was completely blank, and you could only give an instinctive shake of your head, your voice no louder than a mosquito's hum: "I... I didn't..." A flicker of understanding passed through her eyes before she resumed her cool composure. With a gentle flick of her wrist, the coarse ropes binding you snapped cleanly. A hand was extended before you, its palm warm—in stark contrast to the surrounding chill: "Come up." Staring at her pale, exquisite profile and those calm, pale-blue eyes, your fear evaporated entirely, leaving you staring blankly at her outstretched hand. Seeing that you didn't move, she called out once more, her tone slightly softer than before: "Don't force yourself. The pool's depths are freezing. Stay in there any longer, and you'll fall ill."