Luo Hongyan, who had been thrown to the ground by Liu Lu, was now lying on the ground with her head tilted, facing him. Her exquisite, beautiful face resembled a delicate sleeping beauty from a fairy tale.
"Qinghe!" Changqing couldn't help but shout.
His eyes were bloodshot, and with an unknown surge of strength, he suddenly erupted, dashing towards Luo Hongyan.
He completely disregarded the Hundred Flowers Token, which he had longed for day and night, as it had been flung away and landed in the distance.
At this moment, Changqing had only one thought in his mind.
To save her.
In the nick of time, Changqing finally reached Luo Hongyan's side. Unleashing all his strength, he picked up Luo Hongyan, narrowly dodging the attack formed by countless scarlet tentacles coiling together from Liu Lu's body.
Severe blood loss also left him without any strength, and both of them immediately fell to the ground together.
But he instinctively shielded the girl beneath him, using his last bit of spiritual energy to activate the Bone Spike Spirit in his acupoints.
Several ribs extended from his body, enveloping Luo Hongyan, forming his final protection for her.
Even though he knew it was all futile and completely unnecessary.
With the ability of Rebirth, everything could start over; the imminent death would soon be reversed by him.
But he still did these things instinctively, just as when he was on Earth, he would always walk on the side closer to the road when strolling with Ye Qinghe, naturally.
Although his vision was incredibly blurry, Changqing still struggled to look at the girl's face, as if unwilling, confirming it once more.
He was so familiar with the girl's exquisite and beautiful face, and it caused him so much pain.
"Qinghe..."
Behind him, countless scarlet tentacles from Liu Lu's body converged, striking down with thunderous might, crushing their bodies to pieces, turning flesh and bone into mud.
"I'm sorry..."
The strange clock in his mind began to reverse.
The clock face and hands collapsed, wriggled, and flowed like a nightmarish, amorphous blob. Twelve eye-like orbs representing time constantly formed and decomposed like pus on its surface, flashing with an evil light.
Opening his eyes again, Changqing saw the familiar ceiling.
He sat up abruptly from the bed, first confirming the date on his phone with practiced ease.
January 8th, no change.
Immediately, the familiar phone call came. Changqing quickly answered, looking at the girl in the video as if he had been separated from her for an eternity.
"Changqing, are you feeling better?"
The familiar voice came, but to Changqing, it sounded like heavenly music.
Suppressing the urge to cry, Changqing clenched his teeth, but couldn't utter a single word.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you speaking?" Seeing his lack of response, Ye Qinghe asked, a little puzzled.
"Nothing." Changqing's voice was slightly choked. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then returned to normal.
"Qinghe, did you also have that dream?"
"Dream? What dream?" Ye Qinghe, however, did not give the answer Changqing wanted.
"Luo Hongyan?" Changqing asked again.
"What are you talking about? Are you delirious from a fever? Are you feeling better? Are you still uncomfortable? How about I come see you after class?"
Seeing Changqing continuously speaking "nonsense," Ye Qinghe couldn't help but ask with some concern.
Ye Qinghe's words made Changqing fall silent and caused him to doubt his own suspicions.
"Didn't she Transmigrate to another world, just like me...?"
"Could it be that Luo Hongyan just coincidentally looks exactly like Qinghe...?"
"Impossible, how could there be such a coincidence in this world?"
"But just like Lingyu Changqing, my Incarnation after Transmigration, looks different from my original self, if Qinghe really Transmigrated, she might not look the same as before."
"I still need to find a way to confirm this. This kind of Transmigration is too tormenting. I can't just inexplicably watch Qinghe possibly get deeply involved in it."
"If she also Transmigrated, then I must help her."
Changqing was silent. From the other end of the phone, Ye Qinghe's classmate's voice came through.
"Ye, the campus belle! Watch where you're going! You've walked past it! The classroom is this way!"
"Hey, hey, hey, I know." Ye Qinghe quickly looked up and hurried after them.
"Changqing, I'm going to class now. I'll call you again after class."
Ye Qinghe jogged a few steps hurriedly, not forgetting to tell Changqing.
"You go to class, I'll come find you."
He made up his mind that he still needed to confirm it in person, so he said.
"Ah? No need, right? Aren't you still sick?"
"It's just a common flu. You go to class without worry. I'll wait for you outside the classroom after class."
With that, Changqing hung up the phone, ran to the bathroom, and began to vomit.
If there was one thing he missed from the Otherworld, it was having a healthy body.
However, perhaps because he had already achieved the Shuhuh Three Revolutions Cultivation when he died in his previous life, this Rebirth did not worsen his condition too much. Instead, he felt his physical state was a bit stronger compared to his last Rebirth.
He carefully tidied himself up to look less haggard, then left the house.
He and Ye Qinghe attended the same university, and he had a copy of Ye Qinghe's class schedule, so he easily found the classroom where Ye Qinghe was having class.
Not long ago, after being diagnosed with brain cancer, he took a leave of absence under the guise of having the flu. Now, his leave was almost over, so his return at this time was quite normal.
Changqing was somewhat well-known in their major. After all, Ye Qinghe was the recognized campus belle, and as the only male closely associated with Ye Qinghe, he naturally received a lot of attention.
Everyone assumed they were a couple.
But that wasn't entirely true.
In fact, Changqing was an orphan, having grown up in an orphanage since he could remember.
When he was 8 years old, Mr. and Mrs. Ye adopted him.
Ye Qinghe should be considered his older sister, and the two grew up together.
As a child, Changqing was very withdrawn. It was through his interactions with Ye Qinghe that he gradually became sunny and outgoing.
But this was only true for Ye Qinghe.
In this respect, he was similar to his counterpart in the Otherworld. An unhappy childhood made his personality somewhat closed off; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was self-centered.
The difference was that Lingyu Changqing in the Otherworld was a stoic, always gloomy-faced, while Lin Changqing in reality liked to use a sunny and handsome exterior as a disguise, but was actually deeply calculating.
For so many years, the only people in his heart were Ye Qinghe and the Ye couple, a mere handful.
Did he love Ye Qinghe? The answer was undoubtedly yes, but to say it was merely a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship felt too superficial.
For him, Ye Qinghe was Ye Qinghe, unique and irreplaceable. Even when in the Otherworld, Cultivating the Hehuan Sect's evil techniques that kept him constantly consumed by lust, he could still maintain his bottom line, a large part of the reason being that he would always think of Ye Qinghe.
Did Ye Qinghe love him? The answer was also undoubtedly yes, but the two had never formally acknowledged this relationship. They had just naturally been together. If one were to say they were dating, then they might have been dating for over a decade.
Unconsciously, the bell rang, and students gradually walked out of the classroom. Changqing spotted Ye Qinghe in the crowd at a glance, walked over, and the two naturally held hands, immediately drawing many envious and jealous gazes from the surrounding boys.