In all these years that came to pass, Dan Feng had set a camp of researches to monitor the region. The man was convinced that something could have happened beyond their explanations, merely because he didn’t want to accept Yingxing’s sudden demise. Many times, he would sit himself in front of Yingxing’s grave and wonder if he had gone insane, if the mara was finally affecting the Vidyadhara as well. Maybe this was another type of madness, one that Yaoshi had nothing to do with, and instead was Long’s curse.
But his obsession paid off somehow. The moment in which imaginary energy starts to concentrate in an area nearby, Dan Feng instantly gets up. He’s secure in himself and knows he can handle most incoming battles, what doesn’t mean he will simply allow unknown energy to gather suddenly and not be ready to stop it if its purpose is destruction. Not here, in this site that should be preserved for more investigation. (Although he must admit that the scientists of the Luofu already said there isn’t anything else to be investigated. He had requested scientists from the Yaoqing instead.)
Once the fissure grew steadily until it took the format of a rift, Dan Feng summoned Cloud Piercer. Many things could come out of special fissures; however, this one seems to be forcibly opened. The way imaginary energy condenses around the atmosphere reminds Dan Feng of the residual energy he could feel when he got at the destroyed camp, and the man can’t help but hope that maybe it can be Yingxing coming back home. However, it could also be something or someone else, and for that, Cloud Piercer is ready.
What he did not expect was a version of himself suddenly popping out of the rift. Teal eyes widen with surprise, cloudhymn gathering around his spear and ready to fire. The other doesn’t seem to have much time, for he goes to the point rather quickly— until he stops to cast a gaze at Yingxing’s tomb. That’s the moment in which Dan Feng knows: he feels the same thing as I do. But this person doesn’t seem to be from this universe; as emanator of Long, Dan Feng can easily notice how the particles around the rift conjure distortions in time and space. Is it a different version of himself, then? He doesn’t look much different by appearance or speech, so it’s hard to discern which point in time this Dan Feng in front of him comes from.
But the High Elder is attentive to the words given to him, and that hope within his chest just doesn’t stop growing. He wants to will it down, else he will be disappointed in the end, but he just can’t, and his eyes dart to and fro the portal. That’s why he can see Yingxing, his Yingxing, crossing the portal. For a moment Dan Feng wants to pinch himself to see if this is true, but instead, he throws water at the both of them; if this is an illusion, he’s not going to be fooled easily.
It turns out that they are not, in fact, an illusion. Both Dan Feng and Yingxing get very much wet from the sudden attack, although by the mere change of this not being all a deceptive lie, Dan Feng hadn’t added any real attack to his action. Everything seems to zero around Yingxing once this discovery is done. Dan Feng leaps forward, Cloud Piercer still in hand, and wraps his arms around the wet man, not caring that his own clothes were going to be wet as well. First, he hugs the man close, listening to his breathing and heartbeat. Then he pulls away slightly, tail coming to wrap itself around one of Yingxing’s legs as it used to in the past. Both hands cup Yingxing’s face, that man still taller than Dan Feng, what doesn’t stop the High Elder from just looking at him. “Are you really here, or am I finally gone mad?”