Late summer, the twenty-seventh day, rainy night.
Time is like water. This is what Ah-Hui told me.
Three years ago, during the rainy season, watching the tide in Qiantang. Heavy rain poured down, the river flowed backwards, and the water was turbulent. I stared into Ah-Hui's eyes. In his eyes, the tide surged and the mist was hazy.
"I only know that the flow of water is determined by the terrain..." Ah-Hui turned to me excitedly, "It's not, Little Ying'er. As long as there is enough force, water can flow backwards."
Ah-Hui wanted to create something earth-shattering at that time, something different from the principle of the water-powered armillary sphere, I knew it.
"I believe you, Ah-Hui."
He held my hand more firmly, his fingertips warm. And behind him, the river tide shook the sky, as if to devour everything -
I woke up from the dream.
But I couldn't tell whether the deafening sound in the dream was the tide of that year or the explosion.
Explosion -
My head was splitting.
Vaguely, I saw Ah-Hui standing in front of the Celestial Algorithm waving to me. But, in an instant, the world in front of me was completely distorted. The shock wave knocked me unconscious, and I fell into the dark night in an instant. The entire Starshift Terrace was turned upside down, and I fell heavily to the ground. I couldn't see anything.
The smell of smoke rushed into my nose, the heat wave scorched my body, and blood flowed down my arm to the snow...
The physical sensations have faded, but I can still hear the never-ending roar, just like the tide, covering up the crying and screaming, and also covering up Ah-Hui's last call to me.
Holding Ah-Hui's hand again. No, that can't even be called a hand.
Broken, unrecognizable limbs. Only the unburnt knuckles, I am familiar with that mole. My fingertips wrapped around his knuckles as before. So cold. Not like Ah-Hui.
Sanxun stood behind me, his left hand patting my shoulder. But I couldn't turn around. In the past, he liked to joke with Ah-Hui, always patting Ah-Hui's left shoulder with his right hand, causing Ah-Hui to turn his head to the left, and then laughing while standing on his right.
But now, Sanxun's right sleeve is empty.
At that time, we had just entered the sect. Ah-Hui talked proudly about his ideas, and Sanxun's skillful hand often flew like a flock of birds, simulating Ah-Hui's ideas. And I didn't like to talk the most, just buried my head in drawing page after page of sketches.
An explosion, Sanxun lost his proud right arm. Ah-Hui's body was cold and he slept forever in the snow valley. I don't know how many fellow disciples were also seriously injured or died.
And me? I happened to be the luckiest one. I lost my sleep. Every night, I wake up from a dream, sweating profusely, and my body feels like it's on fire. Baidi City is clearly cold for thousands of years, with a cold moon and frost, so why is there such burning pain every night?
Found the sketches I drew for Ah-Hui and Sanxun back then.
"Time is like water. As long as there is enough kinetic energy, time can be adjusted. The Time Instrument is shaped like a giant pot, with a wheel in the middle, cast with dark steel and mithril. The internal patterns are all engraved according to the art of Tianyan, connecting heaven and earth, and harmonizing time and space."
Sanxun put down the sketch I sent and just shook his head. He said that it was just Ah-Hui's youthful and frivolous idea, and there is no way to reverse time in the world.
But I don't want to give up.