Another year had passed.
Xiaoyun was seven years old.
She had already been corroded by the black spots until she was unrecognizable.
What were once merely spots had now merged into patches, resembling ugly black mold crawling across her body and even spreading onto her face.
Half of Xiaoyun’s tender little face was covered by that terrifying blackness.
She could barely walk anymore, spending most of her time alternating between lethargy and madness.
Tuoba Feng had changed as well.
Years of wandering and despair, witnessing his kin die one by one, and watching his daughter struggle in agony had long since crushed him.
He was so thin that his cheekbones protruded and his eye sockets were deeply sunken, his messy hair tangled with many strands of white.
Though he should have been in his prime, he looked like a disheveled old man.
Only those hands gripping the blade remained steady.
On this day, Tuoba Feng silently picked Xiaoyun up and went to the sacrificial burial chamber.
He gently placed his daughter on the stone bed in front of the coffin, the place where countless Grave-keepers had ended their lives.
Xiaoyun was lucid at this moment.
She lay there quietly, looking up at the dim vaulted ceiling of the burial chamber with clear eyes.
"Father," her voice was weak, her breath as thin as silk, "don't be sad."
Tuoba Feng’s tall frame trembled violently as he knelt by the stone bed, gripping his daughter’s hand tightly, rasps coming from his throat but unable to speak a single word.
Instead, Xiaoyun began to comfort him.
"Grandfather is gone, Mother is gone, and the uncles are all gone... it’s my turn now."
"Xiaoyun is just going to accompany them."
Her gaze shifted toward the stone coffin, her eyes holding a trace of apology.
"I told you before that when I grew up, I would protect Father... now it seems I probably... won’t be able to do that."
She turned her head back with effort, looking at her father whose face was so thin it was barely recognizable.
Xiaoyun’s eyes were filled with heartache.
"But it’s okay."
"Since Xiaoyun is going to die anyway."
"Father, bleed Xiaoyun dry."
"Take more, so the seal of the god's tomb... can last a bit longer."
"There are so many monsters outside; when Father gets tired, come hide in the tomb."
"That way... Xiaoyun will still be protecting Father, right?"
As she spoke, her tone even carried a small hint of expectation.
It was as if being able to use her death to trade for a moment of respite for her father was something worth being happy about.
Tuoba Feng could no longer hold it in; tears burst from his eyes.
He knelt by the stone bed, clutching his daughter’s withered hand and burying his face in her small palm, his shoulders heaving violently.
Xiaoyun just looked at him tenderly and whispered, "Father, don't cry..."
"Xiaoyun isn't afraid."
Just then, her body jerked suddenly, and the black spots on her face deepened abruptly.
The madness returned.
"Heh... heh..."
Strange rasps came from her throat, her eyes instantly covered in blood-red as her body began to struggle violently with startling strength.
"Xiaoyun!" Tuoba Feng held her down firmly.
But Xiaoyun no longer recognized him; she roared and flailed her arms, her nails scratching against the stone platform with an ear-piercing sound.
"Kill... kill... you..."
"Monsters... they're all monsters..."
The madness only lasted for a short time.
Xiaoyun suddenly spat out a large mouthful of black blood, and then she went limp, as if all her strength had been drained.
Her eyes regained a moment of clarity, but her pupils had already begun to dilate.
She looked at Tuoba Feng, her lips trembling, but she could no longer speak a complete sentence.
Only her mouth moved, faintly forming two words.
Father... Father...
Then, that last bit of light vanished completely from her eyes.
The small body stopped struggling.
Xiaoyun was only seven years old this year, and she would be seven forever.
Tuoba Feng froze.
He remained in the posture of holding down his daughter, motionless.
Time seemed to congeal.
The burial chamber was deathly silent.
After a long, long time.
Only then did Tuoba Feng slowly release his hands.
He looked down at his daughter’s ghastly sleeping face, looking at that small face covered in black spots that still retained the silhouette of her former self.
Then, he tilted his head back and let out an inhuman wail.
"Ah—!!!"
The sound echoed through the empty burial chamber, crashing against the stone walls and shattering into pieces, as if the entire god's tomb were weeping with him.
He cried for a long time, until his voice was hoarse and he could no longer shed a single tear.
Then, with a trembling hand, he picked up the knife.
He followed his daughter’s last wish and began to drain the blood.
Blood carrying an aura of filth flowed from the girl’s slender wrists, dripping onto the coffin lid and flowing along the patterns carved into the wood.
Tuoba Feng’s movements were slow and steady.
It was as if he were performing the most sacred yet most cruel ritual in the world.
After the blood was drained, he picked up his daughter’s light, cold corpse and held it tightly in his arms.
He pressed his face against his daughter’s icy forehead, murmuring incoherently to himself.
"Xiaoyun... don't be afraid..."
"Father is here..."
"Father will send you... to a good place..."
"There are red flowers there... green grass... and birds that sing..."
"No black spots... no monsters... and no..."
His words came to an abrupt halt.
Because he suddenly realized that in this world, there might not be such a place at all.
The Grave-keeper clan was heavily burdened by sinful karma; after death, their souls were denied rebirth, forced to endure endless torture outside the god's tomb to atone for the sinful karma in their bloodline.
His daughter, with his blood flowing through her, naturally bore this sin as well.
Even in death, she would find no peace.
Tuoba Feng began to howl in grief, his heart torn asunder.
This was the third time the mummified corpse had seen Tuoba Feng cry.
The first time was when he was a youth, rebuked by his father for wanting to leave the Western Region; he had knelt before the coffin, crying with grievance and resentment.
The second time was after his father died; he had cried with suppressed despair, maturing from a boy into a man overnight.
And this time, holding his daughter’s corpse, he cried so hard the world seemed to collapse, his grief heart-wrenching.
Of the Grave-keeper clan, he was now the only living soul left.
He cried and laughed like a madman.
The mummified corpse saw Tuoba Feng stand up, his spirit broken as he looked around the burial chamber with hollow eyes, and then slowly raised the knife stained with his daughter’s blood.
The cold blade reflected his withered face.
Tuoba Feng brought the edge of the blade to his neck.
His eyes were empty, his will to live entirely gone.
Father was dead, Mother was dead, his brothers were dead, and his clansmen were all gone.
Now, even his only concern and only warmth in this world had left him.
What was he still living for?
To continue guarding this god's tomb that brought nothing but endless disaster?
To continue lingering on his last breath like a lonely ghost in these hopeless yellow sands?
Better... to just end it here.
Together with his daughter.
The blade pressed slightly into his skin, causing a line of blood beads to seep out.
Tuoba Feng closed his eyes and exerted force with his hand.
Rate on N.U.
