That night, Nie Mingjue dreams of Qinghe, but it is a Qinghe that is far from home.

Longing makes the world bright and the yearner blind, he knows, but even without his want soaking through and staining it, he thinks— he would be sure.

Nie Mingjue wakes, and he is not within his guest rooms at Koi Tower.

However could he run from Nie Mingjue, after all, when it is always and only ever will be Nie Mingjue that he runs to?

The spark of it starts small, well beneath Jiang Cheng’s notice, but builds steadily.

Sect Leader Nie has still not returned to the main hall over half an hour after the agreed time.

Jiang Cheng takes a dagger meant for Nie Huaisang. In the rapidly ensuing aftermath, bleeding out in the middle of the Unclean Realm becomes the very least of his concerns.

Before Lan Yi is alone with the Yin Iron, she's alone with the Yin Iron and Baoshan Sanren.

Or: being immortal means always having to say you're sorry.

Surely in a world so vast there lie yet stones unturned— slippery things smalled for his spindling fingers to unearth.

Spring comes, and Nie Huaisang is seen with his sabre for the first time since— anyone's guess as to when.