The Snow Mountain welcomes distant guests, with wine and poetry we toast. Singing long songs to the moon, do you know what fate has in store?
I wish to ride the wind away, with my soul returning and nowhere to rest. Living, I shall surely return; dying, I will remember for evermore.
—— Prologue
Time turned back several decades. Alin, having lost her memories, came alone to the sacred Snow Mountain inhabited by the Snow Wolf Clan. As for why she had come, even she was somewhat puzzled. She only felt that coming here would allow her to recover what she had lost.
"Yiner, what are you doing at the cave entrance? It's pitch black, why aren't you going back to sleep?" Xue Langxing flicked his tail, walked out of the cave, and squatted down beside his younger sister, who was staring blankly at the starry sky.
"I'm waiting for someone." The snow wolf at the cave entrance did not even lift her head, continuing to gaze blankly into the night sky.
Xue Langxing asked no further, and also raised his head to glance at the night sky. There were countless stars filling the night, silently watching the snow-capped peaks that had remained unchanged for ten thousand years, forgetting to blink down at the brother and sister of the Snow Wolf Clan who guarded the sacred mountain.
"It's too quiet, or at least that's how I feel," Xue Yin added out of nowhere.
"Are you saying something is going to happen?" Xue Langxing suddenly grew alert, narrowing his eyes as he scanned the snow peaks under the moonlight. Looking at his maturing sister, the expression of the Snow Wolf Clan chieftain underwent a subtle change. "Have you ever heard of Xueyue Suling?"
"You mean that spirit from the legends who can control memories and thoughts?" Xue Yin turned her head, looking at her brother in confusion. "Isn't she long dead?"
"No, spirits do not die so easily. She was only sealed away because her power was too great."
"Then what would happen if the seal were broken?"
"I don't know. Probably many people—especially those unwilling to face the past—would remember everything they wish they didn't."
A long silence followed...
"How would the seal ever be undone?" Xue Yin raised her head and asked softly.
"What is meant to come will come eventually. Xueyue Suling sealed her own power; I imagine as long as she is willing, there is a way for her to wake up."
"I heard she has a sister. Is that true?"
"It's true. I heard she sealed her sister's memory in order to save her..."
"Why? Could her sister be a spirit too?"
"I suppose so. Being true sisters, they should be alike. All right, go to sleep, stop guessing wildly." Xue Langxing stood up and returned to the cave. Xue Yin sighed and followed after him.
The Snow Mountain stood quietly beneath the night sky, silently watching over all living creatures like an ancient deity. A faint blue figure appeared on the peak, melting into the dark night like a ghost.
You have come after all. Can you still remember me, my dear sister?
In the darkness, someone muttered to themselves, opening eyes that had been slumbering...
Purple eyes have always been the symbol of demons, which is why such a pair of eyes, no matter how beautiful, is deemed an ominous existence. Xueyue Suling lay within the ice cave, her gaze piercing through ten thousand years of glacial ice to fixate upon that blue-robed figure.
After walking for a while, a snow wolf appeared ahead of Alin, bounding toward her with its pure white fur flashing silver in the sunlight.
Alin instinctively squatted down, opened her arms, and hugged the oncoming snow wolf. Xue Yin flicked her tail and stretched out her tongue to lick the back of Alin's hand, acting just like an excited little puppy meeting its master.
"You're such a big girl now, yet you still act like a child!" Feng Ling also squatted down and stroked Xue Yin's sleek, satin-like fur.
"Our Yiner is naturally still a child, what's wrong with that!" Alin smiled and pecked Xue Yin affectionately.
"She's too kind-hearted, she'll easily get bullied!" Feng Ling smiled, blinking at Alin.
"Wolves are not so easily bullied!" Xue Langxing, who had followed close behind, looked dotingly at his sister and flashed a grin at Feng Ling, his wolfish face looking rather foolish, much like a dog.
"Look at you, aren't you always the one getting bullied!" Alin let go of Xue Yin, flicked her sleeve, and stared unblinkingly at Xue Langxing.
"Me? Who dares..." Before he could finish, Xue Yin had already lunged through the air at her brother, tackling the unprepared Xue Langxing to the ground. She proudly flicked her tail, ran back to Alin's side, and raised a paw to high-five her.
Xue Langxing rolled in the snow, stood up, shook the snow from his body, and looked helplessly at his triumphant sister and Alin.
"That's why you should never speak with such absolute certainty!" Watching Xue Langxing caught completely off guard by his sister, Feng Ling suddenly felt an urge to laugh. The moment Alin arrived, his entire mood relaxed. Although he had been startled by this crazy girl's reckless stunt of jumping off a cliff, come to think of it, she had deliberately meant to worry him. Alin had used herself as a gamble, making his reason suffer a crushing defeat once again.
He asked himself, could he truly let go in his heart? The answer was self-evident; simply because he had once given so much, he could not easily give it up.
Even Alin herself did not know that her arrival had attracted the attention of more than just the snow wolf pack.
Sister, why on earth did you travel thousands of miles to Snow Feather Mountain? Do you truly not remember me anymore, or is Feng Ling more important to you in your heart than this sister of yours?
True enough, for his sake, you were willing to cast aside your life! But what about him? No matter how much he cares about you, he still did things that broke your heart, and even avoided meeting you face to face. Is he truly worth such sacrifice from you?
A small figure leaned against a pine tree hung with ice crystals, gazing thoughtfully at the snow caves where the wolf pack lived.
"Yiner, what are you looking at?" Alin and Xue Yin were squatting at the cave entrance, chatting animatedly, but Xue Yin kept glancing outside from time to time.
"It's nothing, I just feel like these past two days have been a bit off. It seems like something is about to happen, though this intuition might not be entirely accurate." Xue Yin furrowed her brow and scratched her ear with a paw.
"Intuition can be quite accurate sometimes," Feng Ling said, walking up to the cave entrance just then, "especially a girl's intuition!"
"Ah, Big Brother Feng Ling, what do you mean by that? Is something really going to happen?" Xue Yin raised her head, looking at Alin with a mix of confusion and excitement. "Xiao, Xiao, come listen closely and see if there are any unusual sounds from the snow mountain recently."
A snow wolf stepped forward in response. It was even larger than Xue Yin, with a faint feather-like mark on its blade-shaped ear.
Xiao's build was virtually identical to that of the chieftain Xue Langxing. Apart from the dark ink mark on its ear, its entire body was snow-white, though its fur did not look quite as soft as Xue Yin's. A small wooden plaque hung around its neck, half-hidden in its thick ruff, though who had hung it there was unknown. Xiao possessed the sharpest hearing in the pack, functioning as their keenest listener.
Xiao walked over to Xue Yin, pricked up its ears, closed its eyes, and listened with intense concentration before opening its eyes and shaking its head...