AWB Chapter 327 Time and Space
Chapter 327 Time and Space
On the desolate plains of Xijing Kingdom, the celestial phenomenon of the seven stars aligning painted the night sky with an eerie purplish-gold hue. Jiang Liushen knelt before the altar, his fingertips tracing the moss-covered star map stone carvings—the spatial coordinates he and Jia Xiaoyan had accidentally discovered a century ago. Suddenly, the bronze lampstands surrounding the altar spontaneously combusted, the eerie blue flames making his wife's face appear even paler.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Jia Xiaoyan gripped the soft sword at her waist, the silver bells on the tassel jingling softly in the wind. The sound of horses' hooves approached from afar; it was the guards Jiang Mingyuan had sent to stop her. She turned to look towards the imperial city, where the lights resembled fallen stars, momentarily overlapping with the neon lights of the 21st century.
Jiang Liushen took out his ancestral astrolabe, its gears gleaming coldly in the starlight: "A conjunction of the seven planets occurs only once every hundred years. If we miss this opportunity, we may never have another chance." He recalled the modern newspaper he had found in his study three days ago. The yellowed headline boldly proclaimed "Major Breakthrough in Time Travel Experiment," and next to the article was a blurry photograph—a picture of him and Jia Xiaoyan taken in the laboratory during their university years.
As the sound of horses' hooves drew nearer, Jia Xiaoyan suddenly plunged her soft sword into the ground: "I'll hold off the pursuers, you activate the formation!" As she turned, strands of her hair brushed against Jiang Liushen's cheek, carrying the familiar scent of herbs. Memories flooded back; when they first met in Xijing Kingdom, she too had shown such resolute courage, using silver needles to shield him from a deadly poisoned arrow.
The star chart at the center of the altar began to glow, seven beams of light intertwining in the air to form a vortex. Jiang Liushen embedded the astrolabe into the groove, the metal clanging with a crisp sound. In the distance came Jia Xiaoyan's shout, mixed with the clanging of clashing weapons. As the first ray of dawn pierced the clouds, he finally heard the hum of time and space being torn apart—the formation had been activated.
"Liushen! Catch!" Jia Xiaoyan's voice pierced the battlefield. The package she tossed arced through the air, containing a handwritten copy of the "Secret Techniques of Mechanisms" from the Western Jing Kingdom, along with a decree of gratitude personally written by Jiang Mingyuan. The moment Jiang Liushen caught the package, he saw his wife being forced to the edge of a cliff by three guards, her soft sword gleaming in the morning sun.
"Live on!" Jia Xiaoyan's shout mingled with the wind. She suddenly leaped into the void, just as the spacetime vortex swallowed Jiang Liushen. A sharp pain swept through his body, and he seemed to see countless fragments of memories scattering before his eyes: the red candles of their wedding night, the smoke of the battlefield, the tiger tally bestowed upon him by Jiang Mingyuan upon his ascension to the throne... finally settling on the relieved smile on Jia Xiaoyan's face before she fell off the cliff.
When Jiang Liushen opened his eyes again, the pungent smell of disinfectant hit him. The familiar hum of the chandelier on the white ceiling rang out. He sat bolt upright, the burning sensation of the altar runes still lingering on his skin beneath his hospital gown. "You're finally awake!" came the nurse's joyful voice. "You were in a coma for three years, your brainwaves were almost gone..."
The phone vibrated on the bedside table, the lock screen displaying April 14, 2025. Among the unread messages was an email from Jia Xiaoyan, sent three years ago on the day of the experimental accident: "If time and space are misaligned, please remember, I will find you in any world." Jiang Liushen trembled as he opened the attachment; it was a blurry star map—the very constellations on the altar of the Xijing Kingdom.
Meanwhile, in a hospital in another city, Jia Xiaoyan awoke with a start from her coma. She reached under her pillow, where the soft sword should have been hidden, but only found an ancient acupuncture manual. Moonlight streamed through the window, refracting through the IV tubing, creating dappled patterns that, in a fleeting moment, resembled the silver tassels of a sword from the Western Kingdom. The tablet on the bedside table lit up automatically, displaying a news headline: "Renowned Archaeologist Discovers Ancient Time-Space Altar Ruins, Suspected to be Related to Two Scientists Who Disappeared Three Years Ago."
Late at night, Jiang Liushen stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows of his laboratory, gazing at the city lights. His phone suddenly received a location notification from an unknown number; a red dot on the map flashed at an archaeological site on the outskirts of the city. He clutched the book he'd brought back from Xijing Kingdom, *The Secrets of Mechanisms*, the handwriting of Jia Xiaoyan on the title page still clearly visible: "If we meet again, let us prove our hearts with the art of mechanisms."
Under the searchlights of the archaeological site, Jia Xiaoyan crouched beside the remains of the altar. Her fingertips traced the star map on the stone carvings when she suddenly heard familiar footsteps behind her. Turning around, Jiang Liushen appeared in the halo of light, carrying a stack of ancient books. The "Secret Techniques of Mechanisms" in his arms perfectly aligned with the stone carvings on the ground.
"Long time no see," they said in unison. The gears of time began to turn again, and the years they fought side by side in Xijing Kingdom, the bond that transcended life and death, all transformed into the starlight in their eyes at this moment.
In the Jiangnan region during the plum rain season, the fine rain soaks the bluestone pavement until it shines. Gu Liuli, holding a plain oil-paper umbrella, strolls along Hefang Street, water droplets dripping from the eaves splashing into ripples on the water's surface. She stops in front of an antique-style teahouse, and the bronze mechanical bird displayed in the window makes her gasp—its intricate gear structure is clearly identical to the teaching aids used by the Nanzhao Mechanical Academy.
"Miss, these are newly arrived cultural and creative products, all handmade," came the enthusiastic voice of the shop assistant. Gu Liuli pushed open the door as if possessed, her fingertips lightly touching the wings of the mechanical bird, and memories flooded back: Qi Cheng's excitement when he first made a mechanical bird that could flap its wings, running around the palace; the scene of Xiao Jingchuan teaching the children how to adjust the gears, as if it were just yesterday.
Meanwhile, at the archaeological institute on the other side of the city, Jia Xiaoyan frowned as she looked into a microscope. The archaeological team had discovered peculiar acupuncture point diagrams on bronze fragments brought back from a Yunnan site, strikingly similar to those recorded in ancient texts she had collected in Xijing Kingdom. "Professor Jia, someone is looking for you," her assistant's voice interrupted her thoughts. She removed her goggles and saw a familiar figure gazing at photographs of the ruins on the wall in the reception room.
As Gu Liuli turned around, her gaze met Jia Xiaoyan's. Both were dressed in simple modern attire, but the jade bracelet on Gu Liuli's wrist and the cinnabar mole behind Jia Xiaoyan's ear seemed to tell a story that transcended time. The air seemed to freeze until Jia Xiaoyan's phone suddenly rang, the ringtone a folk song from Xijing Kingdom breaking the silence.
"It really is you..." Jia Xiaoyan's voice trembled. She quickly stepped forward and grasped Gu Liuli's hand, the touch so real it brought tears to her eyes. Gu Liuli looked at the new fine lines at the corners of the other's eyes, recalling the night they talked all night in the Nanzhao Palace, and how Jia Xiaoyan had shielded her from the curse when they fought side by side against the Netherworld Pavilion.
Inside the teahouse, two cups of Biluochun tea steamed gently. Jia Xiaoyan took out a yellowed copy of "The Secrets of Mechanisms" from her bag; the words on the title page, "If we meet again, let us prove our hearts with the art of mechanisms," were still clearly visible. Gu Liuli unfolded the manuscript of "New Chapters on Women's Education" that she always carried with her; the edges still bore Qi Cheng's childish scribbles. "Do you know?" Gu Liuli said softly, "I created a 'Nanzhao Kingdom' in the game, and the mechanical beasts in it can recite 'Admonitions for Women.'"
Jia Xiaoyan choked on her tea, laughing until tears streamed down her face. "When I'm doing archaeology, I always subconsciously use the burial site finding techniques from Xijing to locate ruins. My colleagues all think I've gone mad." Her smile gradually faded as she pulled up photos of the archaeological site on her phone. The runes on the bronze artifacts gleamed eerily under the light. "These patterns are exactly the same as the secret passage mechanism in Jiang Mingyuan's study."
The rain outside the window had stopped sometime earlier, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone on the tea set. Gu Liuli suddenly remembered what Jiu Li Mao had said before she disappeared: "When longing is strong enough, even time and space will yield." She took out a fragment of the Qiankun Mirror from her bag, which refracted into tiny spots of light in the sunlight. Jia Xiaoyan's pupils contracted sharply—the arrangement of those spots of light perfectly matched the star map of the archaeological site she had just deciphered.
“They are calling us,” Gu Liuli’s voice became firm. The two exchanged a glance and stood up simultaneously. Jia Xiaoyan stuffed the “Secret Techniques of Mechanisms” into her backpack, while Gu Liuli put away the manuscript; their movements were so synchronized that it was as if they were still fighting side by side in Nanzhao. Outside the teahouse, dusk deepened, and the city lights lit up one after another, seemingly overlapping with the palace lanterns of the Nanzhao royal palace.
Three days later, at the Yunnan archaeological site. Gu Liuli and Jia Xiaoyan, wearing safety helmets, followed the archaeological team deep into the newly discovered underground palace. Bronze lamps in the passageway lit up automatically, illuminating the murals on the walls—the figures in the paintings, dressed in Nanzhao attire, were performing a mysterious sacrificial ceremony. Jia Xiaoyan placed her hand on a recess in the stone wall, and a rumbling sound of a mechanism activating rang out; the long-sealed stone door slowly opened.
In the center of the secret chamber behind the door lay a crystal coffin. The boy lying within bore a striking resemblance to Qi Cheng, and the Soul-Purifying Stone worn on his chest emitted a faint glow. "This is impossible..." Gu Liuli covered her mouth. Jia Xiaoyan, however, noticed the star map surrounding the coffin, a perfect alignment of the seven stars.
"Abnormal energy fluctuation detected!" the archaeological team's instruments sounded an alarm. The crystal coffin suddenly trembled, and the Soul-Cleansing Stone burst forth with dazzling light. In the instant Gu Liuli and Jia Xiaoyan were engulfed by the light, they heard familiar voices—Qi Cheng's childish call, Xiao Jingchuan's steady admonition, and Jiu Li Mao's haughty complaint. When the light dissipated, they found themselves in an unfamiliar space, surrounded by countless fragments of memories.
"Welcome home." The Nine-Tails' voice came from the void. It appeared on starlight, its nine tails even more agile than when it was in Nanzhao. "It seems that the story of Nanzhao still needs you to continue writing it." Its tail swept over fragments of memory, and the anxious face of Qi Cheng flashed in the images, as well as the Netherworld Pavilion mark that reappeared in the sky above Nanzhao.
Gu Liuli and Jia Xiaoyan exchanged a smile, then simultaneously reached out to touch the suspended Soul-Purifying Stone. The boundaries of time and space blurred at that moment; they seemed to have returned to the battlefield of Nanzhao, back to the years when they fought side-by-side with their lovers.