Tokyo Bay's twilight was like orange soda mixed with sugar, and among the Glyph Tree's branches, seven-color petals condensed into stardust visibly. Each petal glowed with warm gold from the string lights Su Qinghuan had hung that morning, called "reunion lights for Xiaokui".
"Captain, look at this." Xiaotao approached with a tablet, showing a new holographic projection from the institute—global Glyph Core resonance frequencies spread fine star tracks from the eighth knot, all ending at one coordinate: an abandoned well in Tokyo Bay's old district.
"An old well?" Sakura tilted her head. "Wasn't it filled in thirty years ago?"
"Monitors show strong glyph fluctuations at the bottom." Su Li's Time Glyph expanded, star tracks matching the projection. "Something sealed is awakening."
The old well was fenced with iron, moss creeping over its edge. As Lanye approached, his Reverse Scale Core burned hot, ancient blood words appearing:
"The deepest rift hides the warmest light; the warmest light will finally reveal the fullest moon."
"Captain, sounds from the well!" Xiaotao's bracelet glowed blue as she knelt, pressing her ear to the edge. "Like... many voices."
Lanye knelt too. Faint whimpers rose from below, mixed with baby cries, maiden's laughter, and a man's sigh, repeating brokenly: "Li, come home..."
"Li?" Su Jiuli's voice shook. Her neck birthmark oozed purple mist, resonating with the well's vibrations.
"It's me."
A hoarse voice came from the well. They turned to see a maiden in dark green armor, a diamond jade glyph on her forehead, similar to Su Jiuli's but weathered.
"You are..."
"Su Jiuli." The name blurted out. Her fingertip traced the moss. "Three hundred years ago, I jumped down this well."
Memories flooded in.
On a stormy night three hundred years ago, Dragon-Locking Abyss's altar collapsed as Young General (Lin Yuan's face overlapped) carried bleeding maiden (Su Jiuli's outline). Her neck bore the same seven-color pattern as his, tear mole matching Yue Kui's.
"Li, this way!" The general pointed to the well. "Jump! I'll seal the entrance with the Reverse Scale Core, and when you grow—"
"No!" Tears fell on his hand. "I want to live with you!"
The general paused, staring at black mist seeping from her neck—the Erosion Beast's contamination crawling toward her heart.
"Li, listen." He pressed a bronze fragment into her palm. "This is Dragon-Locking Abyss's key, opens time rifts. When you find the other half—"
"I don't want a key!" She threw herself into his arms. "I want you alive!"
The general smiled, touching her neck: "Silly girl, I already live in you."
The next moment, black mist drowned his voice. Her last sight was his Core flaring seven colors, sealing the well.
"So you're the eighth knot's 'vessel'." Lanye's voice shook. His Core and Su Jiuli's bracelet resonated like a galaxy between them. "Three hundred years ago, you sealed the most painful love in yourself to stop contamination."
"But it escaped anyway." Su Jiuli's tears fell, moss withering instantly. "It became memory rifts, gnawing at all who believe—Chaoyan's mother forgot her daughter, my grandmother forgot her granddaughter, even..." She looked at Lanye. "You forgot who you are."
Lanye's breath caught. He recalled the dream: standing at Dragon-Locking Abyss, watching Yue Kui block a blow, unable to remember her name.
"But love remembers." Su Jiuli placed her hand on his. "Look—"
Whimpers from the well turned to cheers. Tails of seven main stars fell from the sky, coiling around the well to form a giant star net, where countless images emerged:
Yue Kui smiling with the Reverse Scale Core three hundred years ago;
Modern Chaoyan shouting "Mom!" with the letter;
Xiaotao wiping a stray cat's tears;
Sakura putting a Cherry Glyph bracelet on a lost child;
A Jiu's crows blocking an attack for a friend...
"We're all flowers on the same vine." Sakura sobbed.
"Each flower shines for the other." Su Jiuli traced Lanye's Core. "This is reunion's weight—not blood, not time, but love."
As first moonlight broke the clouds, the well's iron fence snapped. Su Jiuli's figure dissolved into seven-color light, merging with the star net. Lanye's Core cooled, new characters appearing:
"The ninth knot is born from the fullest moon and grows in the warmest reunion."
"That's..."
"Our next story." Su Jiuli's voice came from the net. "About love, memory, and..."
"About unextinguishable hope." Lanye finished.
Tokyo Bay's Glyph Tree bloomed with brightest seven-color flowers, each petal holding silhouettes: Chaoyan and Coalball wrapped in love, Sakura and the child supporting each other, A Jiu and her crows side by side, Su Qinghuan and Chaoyan, Lanye and Su Jiuli...
In a dark vortex beyond sight, the last trace of contamination dissolved, not in struggle but as a wisp of light joining the galaxy's embrace.
As the hovercar's glyph trail split the morning mist, Lanye looked at his Core, its stardust brighter than ever. He knew "reunion" was never an end—but the accumulation of countless "now" moments, the weight of every "remember", and the unfading starlight woven by lovers with their lives.