Bang!
Space shattered as Qin Ruoshuang and Qin Mengyu joined forces to break through the spatial barrier.
A narrow opening appeared before their eyes. The Qin sisters could clearly sense Mu’er’s aura here.
“Mu’er!”
Sensing the bloody, murderous aura in the air, the two of them were shocked to find a demon clan lair within this cave dwelling!
But now was not the time to dwell on such matters. The most urgent priority was finding Mu’er!
***
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three streaks of light separated immediately after entering the cave dwelling, each searching for one of the three people Her Highness the Princess Royal had ordered them to retrieve.
Along the way, the scattered cultivators were greatly startled to see the court’s envoys barging into the cave dwelling.
According to the rules, since the court had not declared that this cave dwelling was now under their jurisdiction, court envoys were not permitted to enter.
Some scattered cultivators, unaware of the truth, secretly cursed the court for being shameless, saying nice words but ultimately coming to take a share of the spoils.
Some of the more experienced cultivators seemed to sense that something was amiss and began swiftly moving toward the cave entrance.
Suddenly, the entire cave dwelling shook violently, followed by the spatial power becoming unstable.
“Not good! This cave dwelling is about to experience a spatial collapse! Get out of here!”
Experienced scattered cultivators immediately used every trick they had to fly toward the entrance.
Before long, the scattered cultivators who had just been desperately charging deeper into the cave were now retreating like madmen.
***
The moment the Blood Pearl shattered, Jing Kun’s aura plummeted uncontrollably. Along with the pearl’s destruction, his Blood Qi began draining away incessantly.
Bang!
Jing Kun was sent flying by Qin Mu’s punch, smashing hard into the stone wall. However, this time, he did not immediately fly back out as before.
“Huff— Huff—”
Qin Mu gasped for breath, quickly swallowing a pill to stabilize his energy.
His eyes fixed intently on the spot where Jing Kun had smashed into the wall, Qin Mu muttered to himself,
“Did I… did I win?”
At this moment, Qin Mu could barely sense Jing Kun’s aura. It seemed he had shattered something earlier.
“Heh heh, human boy, you did well just now, breaking that Blood Pearl he had swallowed. Now, he is completely powerless to fight back.”
Qin Mu looked at Jing Kun, who had collapsed in a pile of rubble. His body was visibly aging at a rapid pace.
“Divine Dragon Senior, what’s happening to him?”
“Human boy, this is the backlash from the Blood Pearl’s destruction. He relied on the pearl to devour Blood Qi and grow stronger. Once the pearl is shattered, the Blood Qi within his body will drain rapidly. At this rate, this fellow will die within a quarter of an hour.”
Hearing this, Qin Mu fell silent.
Jing Kun felt the Blood Qi rapidly draining from his body. He knew he had lost this battle.
“Heh… haha! As expected… I was never destined to be the chosen one after all…”
Jing Kun’s eyes were now cloudy as he looked at Qin Mu.
“The victor becomes king, the defeated becomes a bandit. Kill me.”
His tone was flat. Having reached this point, he was already nearing the end of his life.
However, Qin Mu unexpectedly shook his head. Looking at Jing Kun, who had tried to kill him several times, he chose not to act.
“Even if I don’t do anything, you will die. This time, you have no more luck left.”
As Qin Mu spoke, the space around them was also gradually collapsing. After all, this cave dwelling was established with the support of the Blood Pearl. A spatial collapse of this scale was something even someone as capable as Jing Kun could do nothing about.
At this moment, Jing Kun mocked himself.
“What is this? Pity for the loser?”
Suddenly, Jing Kun used all his remaining strength to lift his head, glaring fiercely at Qin Mu, and roared,
“Qin Mu! If you have the guts, kill me!”
Qin Mu merely looked at Jing Kong calmly before turning and walking away. Sometimes, sparing someone’s life could be more painful than killing them.
Watching Qin Mu’s departing figure, Jing Kun finally ran out of strength. His raised head fell back to the ground. Feeling the Blood Qi draining from his body, he closed his eyes, quietly awaiting death.
In a daze, he heard a gentle call.
“Kun’er, Kun’er…”
Opening his eyes again, Jing Kun was astonished to find a middle-aged woman standing before him. As if struck by a tremendous shock, he stood frozen in place, his lips trembling before he finally managed to utter,
“Mom!”
For Jing Kun, this was like a dream. The figure he longed for day and night was now standing right in front of him.
His mother’s appearance hadn’t changed at all; she looked exactly as he remembered.
Seeing her son’s emotional state, his mother asked with concern,
“What’s wrong? You look like you’re about to cry. Are you hurt somewhere? Let Mom see.”
Feeling the warmth of his mother’s palm, Jing Kun wiped his tears and smiled.
“It’s nothing… I just feel like it’s been so long since I last saw you…”
“Oh! Where’s Dad?”
After confirming her child was fine, his mother pointed to the sofa opposite. A middle-aged man was sitting there, scrolling through his phone.
Tears instantly welled up in Jing Kun’s eyes.
“Dad!”
His father was startled by Jing Kun’s shout.
“Let me make this clear first, I don’t have much money. Your mom holds all the cash.”
Now, with his parents right before his eyes, Jing Kun felt that his previous experiences were like a dream, both real and illusory.
But perhaps this was for the best. At least he no longer had to fantasize about becoming the world’s number one and gathering all the beautiful women into his harem.
This kind of ordinary, peaceful life was what Jing Kun truly desired!
His father glanced at his son, who was making a fuss, and snorted.
“Instead of wasting time like this, why don’t you go call your grandparents for dinner?”
Grandparents!
Jing Kun suddenly froze. His grandparents… hadn’t they passed away long ago…
Creak. A door opened, and two elderly people walked in.
Jing Kun stood rooted to the spot. They looked exactly like his grandparents from his childhood memories.
His grandmother looked at Jing Kun with a kind smile.
“My favorite grandson is here. Come, come, let Grandma take a look at you. It’s been so many years, Grandma missed you terribly.”
Seeing his wife’s overly excited demeanor, his grandfather said,
“Hey, take it easy. Our grandson just came back; we shouldn’t scare him.”
Hearing his grandfather’s words, Jing Kun suddenly looked up, as if he understood something. But seeing his living, breathing family before him…
Jing Kun—or, more accurately, the young man—revealed a bright, sunny smile.
“Yeah! I’m back!”
***
Deep within the cave, there were many, many corpses. Without exception, they were all withered and desiccated, having died from the complete dissipation of their Blood Qi. Their faces were all twisted in terror.
However, in a certain pile of rubble, there was one withered skeleton, drained of all Blood Qi, whose face was different from all the others. It was clearly visible that the corners of his mouth were upturned, revealing a blissful smile.