They were like mirror images carved from the same piece of jade. Their features were identical — fine brows, clear eyes, soft lips shaped in the same curve. The only obvious difference between them was their hair. One had long, flowing red hair that still seemed to carry traces of heat, as though embers were hidden somewhere within each strand. The other's hair fell in a soft frost-white, a faint cool mist lingering persistently around the tips.
Their figures were well-proportioned, curves visible even through what remained of their damaged cloaks, and there wasn't a single scar or flaw marking either of their skin, as though some meticulous artisan had sculpted them both with equal, obsessive care.
Mo Xuan's sword lowered on its own, forgotten entirely in his grip.
For a heartbeat, his mind went completely blank.
"..."
The fiery girl's grin gradually faded, her hand rising quickly to touch her own face, as though only just now realising exactly what Mo Xuan was actually looking at.
The red-haired girl's face went bright red. "W-What are you looking at?!" She looked down immediately, and the moment she did, she realised just how torn her own clothes had become in the explosion.
The frost-haired girl gave a small gasp of her own, her cheeks flushing as she noticed the same thing about herself in the same instant.
Without thinking, they both shouted at him in unison. "Turn around!!"
The sharp command snapped Mo Xuan out of his daze immediately. He blinked, and his eyes registered what he'd actually been staring at — the tattered clothes, the exposed skin — and his face flushed with sudden heat, warmth rushing to his cheeks so fast it left him almost dizzy.
He averted his gaze at once, his heart thudding hard enough that he could feel it in his ears. From the corners of his eyes, he caught them both pulling fresh cloaks from their storage rings, hastily throwing them on — though this time, neither bothered covering their faces the way they had before.
A moment later, one of them spoke, her voice lighter now. "You can turn back now."
Mo Xuan found himself still looking, even after turning. Not in any vulgar way — more like he was staring at two familiar strangers, trying to drag something loose from the fog settled thick over his own memory.
The red-haired girl nudged the frost-haired one with her elbow, a smug look twitching at the corner of her lips. "Look at him," she whispered. "Has he gone stupid from seeing how beautiful we are?"
The frost-haired girl let out a soft sigh. "Sister..." She was about to say something more when her gaze dropped slightly and stopped there.
Her pupils shrank.
"Yan'er... look," she said quietly, reaching out to lightly grab her sister's sleeve. She was staring at Mo Xuan's chest — more precisely, at the necklace hanging around his neck. A simple pendant, slightly worn with age but still fully intact, its shape unmistakably familiar to both of them.
The fiery one clicked her tongue. "What is it now, Lian—" Her words cut off mid-sentence as she followed her sister's line of sight. Her expression froze. For a heartbeat, even her breathing stopped.
"...That... that pendant..." The frost-haired girl — Lian, as her sister had called her — stared at it, her calm expression cracking for the first time since the fight began. Her voice came out soft, but it trembled noticeably. "Sister... that's... isn't that..."
She didn't get the chance to finish.
Because at that moment, Mo Xuan spoke. His lips moved slowly, as though he were afraid the entire moment might shatter if he raised his voice even slightly.
"Yu Lianyan..."
His gaze shifted.
"Yu Lianxue."
The names came out calm and even. Beneath them, his heart was pounding like a war drum.
Both girls froze in place.
They turned to face him fully now, all pretence of composure gone.
"What..." Yu Lianyan said slowly, her tone low and guarded, every word measured. "...who are you?"
Yu Lianxue's eyes had gone wide, her usually calm gaze now filled with something shaken and raw.
Mo Xuan drew a slow breath. "I may look a bit different now," he said quietly. "But... it's me. Mo Xuan."
Silence settled over the cliff. The Sword Cliff, which had been humming faintly with sword intent this entire time, now felt unnaturally still, as though even the mountain itself were holding its breath to hear what came next.
The red-haired girl narrowed her eyes. "Is that not your name, Mo Xuan?" Her voice was sharp, cutting straight through the moment. Even though their eyes betrayed them, still shaking with disbelief, their words held firm doubt. Neither of them rushed forward or accepted his claim outright.
Yu Lianxue bit her lip softly, staring at his face with rare hesitation. His features had changed so completely that if not for the pendant, they might have pinned him to the ground and interrogated him on the spot.
"It is me. Mo Xuan, from Willow Creek Village."
Yu Lianyan folded her arms across her chest. "Prove it."
Mo Xuan felt a strange ache settle in his chest at that, sharp and unexpected. But at the same time, he understood completely. If their positions were reversed, he wouldn't have believed so easily either — not with changes as drastic as the ones he'd gone through.
"...How do I prove it?"
The twins exchanged a glance. Yu Lianyan's gaze sharpened into something close to a glare, while Yu Lianxue answered instead, her voice suddenly sheepish. "Back then, when we were small," she said slowly, "by the lotus pond in the back garden... you made a ridiculous, shameful boast to us."
Yu Lianxue's cheeks turned faintly pink just from the memory alone.
Yu Lianyan pointed at him accusingly. "If you're really Mo Xuan, repeat exactly what you said. And don't you dare change a single word."
The memory hit him like a bolt of lightning, arriving all at once and fully formed. A small pond thick with lotus blossoms. Two little girls standing at its edge. Himself, younger and far more foolish, standing atop a rock, chest puffed out with all the misplaced confidence only a child could summon.
His hand moved on its own. He took a step back.
He even puffed out his chest, planted his feet exactly as he had back then, and put both hands on his waist in that same childish, overconfident posture he'd once struck in without a shred of self-awareness.
The posture alone made both girls' eyes tremble even harder than before.
Then he spoke. "When I become the richest man in Willow Creek Village..." He paused, letting his gaze meet both of theirs in turn. "...I will marry both of you."
The words weren't loud. But they landed like a thunderclap all the same.
Yu Lianxue's face turned completely scarlet. Yu Lianyan's expression twisted rapidly between shock, embarrassment, and outrage, unable to settle on just one.
For a heartbeat, no one moved. As they stared at him, the present seemed to blur at the edges, and the boy from years ago overlapped perfectly with the young man standing in front of them now, as though no time had passed between the two versions of him at all.
Silence.
Then Yu Lianyan exploded. "You... you actually still remember that?!" she shouted, stomping hard enough to crack the stone beneath her heel. "You said that without even blinking! Only the shameless Mo Xuan we knew would dare say something like that with a completely straight face!"
Yu Lianxue lowered her head, her fingers tightening in her sleeves. Her eyes shimmered with something she was clearly fighting to hold back. Her voice, when it finally came, was very soft. "...It really is you."
The tension hanging over the cliff eased, just slightly. Their doubt hadn't vanished entirely — not yet — but the wall that had gone up the moment he'd spoken his own name had clearly cracked wide open.
They weren't ready to talk about the past just yet. And they clearly weren't going to explain easily why they were here, or what exactly had happened to them in all the years since he'd last seen them. But one thing, at least, was now beyond doubt.
The boy they'd once believed lost to them was standing right there in front of them, close enough to touch.
After the shock faded and the truth of it settled properly into their hearts, the three of them found themselves sitting together at the very edge of the Sword Cliff, legs dangling out over the abyss below, the night wind brushing past them cold and clean, carrying away the last traces of tension still clinging to the air.
The cliff glowed faintly under the moonlight behind them, and the ever-present sword intent hummed softly in the background, steady as distant breathing.
Yu Lianyan was the first to break the silence. "...How did you even change this much?" she asked, staring at him as though trying to memorise every last detail of his face before it could shift again. "You were handsome enough as a kid, but now? You look like some ancient clan's young master. It's honestly unfair."
Yu Lianxue nodded slightly beside her. "Your aura is different too. Calmer. Sharper." She studied him a moment longer. "Not nearly as playful as I remember."
Mo Xuan let out a slow breath, some of the tension finally draining from his shoulders now that the hardest part of the reunion had passed. "Well," he said, looking between the two of them, "It's a long story."