She heard the sound of approaching footsteps and voices, and then, she breathed a sigh of relief.
It was Tuoba Feng.
He was still alive; that was wonderful.
The dry corpse had memorized the names of many people, but now, she could no longer hear the voices behind the vast majority of those names.
They were all dead, turned into handfuls of withered bones beneath the yellow sands.
But Tuoba Feng was actually still alive.
Only, he was no longer alone; a very young child followed by his side.
"Daddy, it's so dark here. I'm scared," a timid, childish voice rang out.
"Don't be afraid, Xiao Yun. Daddy is here," Tuoba Feng's voice drifted over. That voice, once filled with resentment and despair, was now very calm.
"Remember what Daddy taught you. Put your hand in this groove and don't move. It'll be over in a moment."
"Mm..."
The dry corpse saw Tuoba Feng leading a little girl who looked to be only four or five years old toward the coffin.
That little girl was Xiao Yun.
He crouched down, his expression flickering with struggle.
Tuoba Feng seemed to wrestle with himself for a long time, his face full of heartache.
Xiao Yun was still too small—so small it made his heart break.
However, there was no other way.
The tribe of grave keepers was now withered away, with fewer than twenty living people remaining.
The power of the seal was weakening day by day; even a child as tiny as Xiao Yun had to come and contribute her blood.
"Daddy, are you unhappy?"
Xiao Yun tilted her small face up, using her chubby little hand to stroke Tuoba Feng's rough cheek. "Xiao Yun is very brave. It won't hurt at all."
She was so well-behaved and sensible that she was actually comforting her father.
The dry corpse watched silently from inside the coffin, and a wave of emotion called sadness submerged her once again.
All of this... was her doing.
The deaths of the grave keepers were because of her.
The corruption of the land was because of her.
The rampant monsters in the sand sea were also because of her.
It seemed she was a monster by nature, one that brought only disaster and ill omens.
In her heart, she cautiously apologized to the father and daughter outside.
I'm sorry.
I'm really... sorry.
"Xiao Yun, how about Daddy tells you a story?"
To distract his daughter's attention, Tuoba Feng began to recount stories he had tried everything to hear from others when he was young—stories about the world beyond the Western Regions.
"...Outside, the water is green, and ships can sail on it."
"In the spring, pink plants called peach blossoms bloom everywhere. When the wind blows, the petals fall down like rain."
"Wow..." Xiao Yun's eyes sparkled, filled with longing.
"That must be so beautiful!"
"Daddy, I want to see red flowers and green grass. We only have yellow sand here."
The dry corpse listened, silently fantasizing in her heart as well.
If even the yellow sand was so beautiful, what would green grass and fresh flowers look like?
Would they be softer than sand?
Would they be sweeter than this dry air?
The bloodletting began.
Stone spikes on the coffin pierced Xiao Yun's delicate skin, and fresh blood flowed slowly along the patterns etched into the stone.
Xiao Yun's body trembled, and her small face instantly turned pale, but she bit her lip hard and didn't make a sound.
Tuoba Feng held her gently, continuing to tell her about the outside world in her ear, though his voice was shaking.
"Wait... later on, Daddy will take Xiao Yun out of the Western Regions to see real flowers, okay?"
Xiao Yun shook her head, her voice a bit weak from the pain.
"No, Daddy."
"We're grave keepers. We have to guard the tomb in the Western Regions."
"If we leave, what will happen to the Divine Corpse here?"
Inside the coffin, the dry corpse's consciousness nodded in agreement.
Yes, she couldn't leave either.
They couldn't go, and she couldn't get out.
She suddenly felt that she and Xiao Yun were somewhat alike.
Both were trapped in these yellow sands, one outside the tomb and one inside.
This made her feel that she wasn't quite so pitiful after all.
The bloodletting process was grueling, but Xiao Yun didn't utter a single cry of pain.
Finally, the bloodletting ended.
Tuoba Feng hurried to pick up his weakened daughter and used the herbs he had prepared to bandage her wound.
"Our Xiao Yun is so brave. You lost so much blood and didn't cry out once."
Xiao Yun leaned against her father's broad chest and gave a weak smile.
"Only babies cry when it hurts. I'm already four years old; I'm an adult."
"Daddy, I'll practice my blade arts well."
"The monsters outside are so fierce. When I grow up, it'll be my turn to protect Daddy so you don't have to work so hard."
Tuoba Feng's eyes reddened as he nodded heavily.
"Okay."
"Let's go. Daddy will take you to pick desert dates now. Xiao Yun's favorite desert dates."
"Yay! Desert dates!"
The little girl's cheerful cheering was the only bright spot in this deathly silent Divine Tomb.
The dry corpse could only watch from inside the coffin as the backs of the father and daughter, huddled together, gradually faded into the distance.
Until the sound of their footsteps completely vanished, the tomb chamber returned to its deathly silence.
The dry corpse suddenly felt... a bit lonely.
Over the centuries, the Divine Tomb had gradually grown quiet, and many of the vibrant human voices in her memory had disappeared.
Year after year, she had only herself and this cold stone coffin for company.
Ugly black spots had also begun to grow on her body.
Scattered like mold, they covered every inch of her skin.
Actually, she was willing to stay in the tomb forever.
After all, a coffin was the final destination for the dead.
However, she felt as if she... envied Xiao Yun a little.
Even if Xiao Yun could never leave the Western Regions and never see the flowers and green grass she longed for.
At least she could run across the vast desert of the Western Regions and feel the sunlight and the wind.
Most importantly, she had a father who loved her so very much.
Since that day, Xiao Yun had become a frequent visitor to the Divine Tomb.
Sometimes Tuoba Feng would bring her, his tall silhouette standing silently in a corner of the tomb like a mute statue.
He would watch his daughter skillfully slit her wrist and let the blood drip into the grooves of the coffin.
The emotions in Tuoba Feng's eyes were complex—pity, numbness, and even a faint, hard-to-detect... dependence.
More often, Xiao Yun came alone.
She was already very familiar with the path, her small figure moving through the dim tomb passages, her footsteps crisp and solitary.
As she let her blood flow, she would chatter away to the Divine Corpse inside the coffin.
"Lord Divine Corpse, today Daddy and the uncles went to clear out those black monsters again, so they couldn't come to see you."
Xiao Yun's voice was clear and pleasant to the ear.
"But I remember the way, so I came by myself."
"Do you think I'm a bit too noisy?"
The dry corpse lay quietly in the coffin, listening to the girl's sweet voice.
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