Lu Qingsong struggled to crawl out from the gaps of the mountain ruins like a dying dog.
Many of his bones were shattered; every movement brought a soul-tearing pain, and blood constantly welled up from his mouth.
But his eyes were fixed intently on Fang Xuan, who was being held in Ning Xian's arms not far away.
"Cough... ha... hahaha!"
He pulled back his blood-stained lips, letting out a crazed laugh.
"Fang Xuan! I should have... should have crushed you to death... on the day of the initiation ceremony!!!"
He felt such hatred! He hated himself for playing those games of balance and calculation. If he had just moved to kill him earlier, today’s catastrophe would never have happened.
The ten-thousand-year foundation of the Qingyun Sect had actually been destroyed by the hands of a brat who had joined less than half a year ago!
He struggled, using his only remaining intact hand to crawl inch by inch toward Fang Xuan and Ning Xian.
Even if it meant dying together.
......
A shoe covered in dust and blood gently stepped on his hand as he crawled forward.
Crack.
The sound of bone shattering echoed.
Lu Qingsong let out a shrill scream of agony.
Ning Xian looked down at him. Several strands of her blood-stained hair fell beside her cheeks. The tear tracks and bloodstains on her face had already dried, leaving behind only indifference.
Those eyes, which used to be as cold as a frost pond and occasionally rippled with life, were now bottomless and void of any emotion.
"Every injury..."
Ning Xian spoke, her voice still calm and steady.
"That he suffered on his body."
She paused, applying a bit of pressure with her foot.
"Crack, crack..."
The bones of Lu Qingsong’s entire arm shattered inch by inch.
"Will be returned to you... a hundredfold."
There was no hysterical roar, no teeth-gritting curses.
It was this extreme, flat statement that caused Lu Qingsong the most absolute terror.
He didn't doubt for a second that this woman would do exactly what she said. She would use the most cruel methods to torture him thousands of times, leaving him unable to live and unable to die!
"No... no... save me! Save me!!!"
Lu Qingsong finally collapsed mentally. He turned his head to look around, pleading with the peak lords and elders who were watching in horror.
With one stomp, Ning Xian crushed his throat bone.
......
The nearby peak lords and elders looked at each other, their faces filled with internal struggle.
Lu Qingsong was the sect leader after all, but... the methods the woman holding Fang Xuan had just displayed were clearly beyond their comprehension!
Even Old Ancestor Dry Bone, a peak-stage Transformation Realm expert, had been effortlessly erased by her!
Just as they hesitated to step forward, Ning Xian’s blood-stained eyes swept toward them indifferently.
That gaze was cold and detached, as if glancing over a pile of insignificant stones.
Everyone touched by her gaze shuddered violently.
They all lowered their heads, avoiding her sight, and even instinctively retreated several steps.
No one dared to move.
The last spark of hope in Lu Qingsong's eyes died out, turning into complete ash and despair.
He glared at Ning Xian with pure malice and suddenly let out a miserable laugh. His voice sounded strange because of his shattered throat. "Fine... fine... I, Lu Qingsong... admit defeat..."
He suddenly gathered all his remaining spiritual energy and reversed his heart vessels.
"Pfft—!"
A large mouthful of origin blood essence sprayed out.
The light in Lu Qingsong's eyes faded rapidly, and he breathed his last breath.
The area fell into a dead silence.
Only the sound of the wind blowing through the ruins remained.
Ning Xian didn't look at Lu Qingsong’s corpse again, as if she had simply stepped on a bothersome insect.
She moved her foot and leaned down again, focusing all her attention back on Fang Xuan in her arms.
His aura was getting weaker, and his body temperature was becoming lower and lower.
She carefully picked Fang Xuan up again, using her remaining spiritual power to protect his heart vessels as much as possible, and turned to leave.
The surviving elders in the vicinity instinctively moved aside to create a wide path. No one dared to block her, and no one even dared to breathe loudly.
Holding Fang Xuan, Ning Xian stepped across the scarred ruins and walked outward step by step.
The sunlight pierced through the dust that had not yet dispersed, spilling onto her blood-stained back.
.......
Fragments of memories flashed inappropriately within her heart amidst the extreme pain.
She remembered that sunny afternoon in the valley of Sword Peak.
Her junior brother had excitedly pulled her along, pointing at the plum trees that had not yet blossomed. "Senior Sister, when the plum blossoms bloom, you have to teach me how to brew plum blossom wine."
At the time, she had only responded with a faint "Mm," while thinking to herself that brewing wine required a lot of sugar, and she might not have enough spirit stones...
She remembered how he always approached her with a grin, lacking any sense of decorum, saying things that made her ears warm and doing things that seemed offensive but were actually careful.
She remembered the first time he secretly gave her a stick of candied hawthorns; the sugar coating was crystal clear, and the hawthorns were a vibrant red.
In all her many lives, that was the first time anyone had ever bought her candied hawthorns.
It was very sweet, almost sickeningly sweet, but she had eaten it all in small bites...
She remembered him standing in front of her, looking back with a smile and saying, "Senior Sister, I'm taking you away."
He had also said, "For Senior Sister... it's never just 'along the way.'"
"I like... Senior Sister the most."
......
A suffocating pain radiated from her heart.
It hurt more than when her spirit bone was excavated, more than when she was betrayed by everyone and died in her previous lives.
Ning Xian lowered her head and gently rubbed her face against Fang Xuan’s cold forehead with extreme tenderness.
She wouldn't let anyone... hurt him again.
.......
Just as Ning Xian was holding Fang Xuan and about to leave the range of the Main Peak ruins—
"Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" "Swoosh!"
......
In the distant sky, several dozen sounds of breaking air suddenly rang out.
Immediately after, waves of incredibly powerful Transformation Realm pressure swept over like a tsunami.
There were dozens of them! Several of those signatures were even deeper and more terrifying than Old Ancestor Dry Bone!
These pressures carried clear anger and urgency, locking onto this area firmly—especially onto Fang Xuan in Ning Xian's arms!
Friend or foe?
Ning Xian's pupils constricted slightly.
Her current condition was extremely poor, and Fang Xuan was in critical danger; she absolutely could not be caught in another bitter battle.
Without a moment's hesitation, Ning Xian hugged Fang Xuan tightly with her left arm and gripped the black sword in her right, slashing forcefully at the void in front of her.
"Rippp—!"
A long, narrow spatial rift appeared in response.
Ning Xian didn't look back at the dozens of terrifying auras rapidly approaching. Holding Fang Xuan, she stepped into the spatial rift.
The rift quickly closed behind her and vanished, as if it had never existed.
Only the owners of those dozens of Transformation Realm auras were left to manifest above the ruins.
They looked at the empty ruins and the vanishing spatial trace, their expressions becoming exceptionally grim.
"Pursue! Use every tracking treasure!"
The leader, a white-haired old man with his hair and beard flared out, shouted in a voice of rage.
.......
......
March in the Central Plains.
It was mid-spring, and a warm breeze was blowing.
Sunlight filtered through the layers of fresh green leaves.
The stream gurgled, and the birds chirped clearly.
Inside a simple but clean and tidy bamboo hut.
Fang Xuan's eyelids fluttered a few times.
His consciousness slowly rose to the surface.
His eyelids felt as heavy as lead, but he still struggled to open them, revealing a small slit.
The piercing sunlight flooded in instantly, causing him to frown in discomfort as he instinctively wanted to raise his hand to block his eyes.
Just as that thought arose—
"Ngh...!"
What the hell? Why does this feel so good?
Struggling to move his eyes, his blurry vision gradually came into focus.
An unfamiliar bamboo roof and simple beams.
Beneath him was a hard wooden board bed covered with a thin mattress, carrying a very faint... yet familiar cold fragrance.
Where... is this?
Where is Senior Sister?
His last memory was that after slashing with the sword, the world had turned upside down, and everything was covered in blood.
And... the sight of Senior Sister's tear-filled eyes.
Was she... very sad?
......
Just as he wanted to get out of bed, another wave of pleasure hit him.
He only belatedly "remembered"—oh right, before, because he was afraid he couldn't handle the intense pain, he had asked the system to turn the sensory conversion module to the maximum setting.
So that's why he felt so good?
Fang Xuan: "..."
This damn system really always managed to give him a surprise in the most unexpected ways.
However, if he kept it on too long, he was afraid he would become someone very strange.
He hurriedly gave an order in his mind, "System, turn off sensory conversion."
【Sensory conversion mode has been turned off.】
"Urgh...!!!"
He suddenly clenched his teeth as his vision went black. He almost passed out from the shock.
"System, system! Quick, quick, quick! Turn it back on right now!"
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