A disdainful snort.
“Don’t make your Sister Li laugh.”
In the end, there was no earth-shattering battle, no sudden burst of willpower.
Just a dissolving remnant, and a sinner taken away by the Association.
When Lu Luoquan heard the news, his eyes showed regret—but all he regretted was the damage to his own reputation caused by his daughter.
He immediately distanced himself from her, and even her mother at home showed no great grief upon learning of it.
It was as if, from the very beginning, they had never treated this daughter as family, only as a failed tool.
Afterwards, the police and the Association gave them ideological education and promoted it online.
But could that really put an end to this kind of situation?
The answer was obvious.
A figure in a purple robe gently touched the television screen, which had long since been unplugged.
Staring at the family harmony advocacy playing on the TV, he let out a sneer.
“There are still people waiting for salvation.”
Outside the hotel, the snowstorm continued.
The sun had almost completely set.
Within sight, aside from the white snow underfoot, there was only darkness.
But even in such an environment, the phosphorescent powder scattered by the silver butterfly still flickered, until it vanished at a certain point.
“It seems… this is where they were dragged into the Inner World.”
Li Meng looked around, carefully sensing the residual Nether Breath at the scene.
As a Youxun, even without a Bole Detector, she could roughly judge the opponent’s strength… At the very least, it wouldn’t be weaker than Qiu Qiqian.
If Isana weren’t here right now, Qiu Qiqian could have possessed Li Meng like before, then used the residual Nether Breath to forcibly open a passage to the Inner World.
But now…
Whoosh—
The snowstorm suddenly intensified.
At that same instant, Qiu Qiqian and Li Meng both felt the distortion of space.
They knew they had been dragged into the Inner World by the Guiyi.
Li Meng instinctively checked their surroundings.
Qiu Qiqian was still bound to her, but Isana’s figure had vanished.
“Well, this is rare… You two are the first pair that Grandpa couldn’t separate.”
Not far away, a hazy figure gradually became clear.
Li Meng couldn’t see clearly, but Qiu Qiqian recognized her—this was the second time she had felt that strange, chaotic, and filthy life aura.
“You… you’re the Lu Xinyin that Isana mentioned, right?”
Qiu Qiqian’s face darkened, her tone clearly hostile.
“Where did you take them?”
Li Meng, standing beside her, didn’t know why this woman had appeared here, but she trusted Qiu Qiqian’s judgment and became alert.
“People who would get in Grandpa’s way? I just trapped them in this snowstorm.”
Qiu Qiqian paused.
“Your grandfather is…?”
“That deceased from the funeral earlier,” Li Meng whispered.
“That deceased? But if he’s already dead, how could he possibly…”
“Because… the Deity heard Grandpa’s prayer and gave him a second life.
The one lying in that coffin now is just some leftover he ate.”
“Leftover?”
When Li Meng heard Lu Xinyin say this so casually, her previously merely vigilant eyes suddenly narrowed.
The moment she lifted her gaze, the cold light that seemed to pierce souls made Lu Xinyin shudder slightly.
“You… how many people have you harmed so far?”
“How many? A dozen? Twenty? Not that many, really.
Compared to a disaster or a war, it’s nothing.”
She spoke only in pure numbers, as lightly as passing clouds, as if those lost lives were nothing but insignificant counts.
“Life cannot be measured that way!”
Li Meng’s emotions exploded, her voice echoing through the entire Inner World, even startling Qiu Qiqian beside her.
“You… what do you take life for? Something to be taken at will?!”
Under Li Meng’s interrogation, Lu Xinyin was stunned for a moment.
But it wasn’t reflection—it was confusion.
Why couldn’t these people understand her?
“Because… Grandpa didn’t want to die, so he needed you people to contribute your lives.”
Her tone still carried that cold “arrogance,” sending chills down one’s spine.
Qiu Qiqian’s fury nearly burst from her chest.
This urge to tear someone apart—she hadn’t felt it in a long time.
“But even if I told you all this, you wouldn’t understand, would you?
In that case, we have nothing more to say.”
Lu Xinyin gave them one last look, then retreated into the snowstorm.
Li Meng immediately rushed forward, trying to grab her, but the moment she stepped back, she had already been teleported away.
They caught only an afterimage left in the Inner World.
“That woman… she’s fast,” Qiu Qiqian clicked her tongue, her anger still fresh.
Li Meng looked around, as if assessing the space itself.
“This Inner World isn’t very strong… In that case, we won’t need you to forcibly flush it with Nether Breath this time.”
Just as she was about to seize control, Qiu Qiqian suddenly spoke.
“You said before, didn’t you? If two Inner Worlds of similar strength are expanded at the same time, they’ll cancel each other out and can’t be reconstructed for a short while, right?”
“Yeah! You mean, Xiao Qian, you’re going to—”
“That woman… she makes me hate her to the bone.”
Qiu Qiqian gritted her teeth.
“I haven’t met such a bastard in a long time.”
The next second, she opened the entrance to her own Inner World.
She no longer suppressed her nature as a Guiyi.
The air let out a strained hum, and the invisible space around her began to compress and repel the original gray-white world.
The two Inner Worlds collided, like mirrors shattering.
The entire space began to crack.
***
After the Inner World disappeared, Yao Xueyue and the others trapped inside returned to reality.
Though the snowstorm still raged outside, it was far better than the Inner World.
Since that Inner World’s reflection in reality wasn’t large, after escaping, Yao Xueyue, Isana, and Mo Ling could all see each other.
“Mo Ling, Isana, how are you two?”
Isana gave an “OK” gesture, indicating she was fine.
Mo Ling looked a bit disheveled, shivering from the cold.
“Phew… thought I’d freeze to death in there. Glad I made it out.”
“It must have been Miss Li Meng’s doing.”
Yao Xueyue withdrew her Nether Breath, looking at the falling snow in reality.
“Now then… time to deal with our side of the problem.”
She turned to look at the black worm-like Guiyi, stunned by the sudden collapse of the Inner World, standing a dozen meters away.
***
On the other side, when Lu Xinyin saw Qiu Qiqian and Li Meng reappear before her, a rare ripple of emotion flickered in her lifeless eyes.
“Why… how did you do it?”
“Just a small trick.”
Qiu Qiqian said coldly.
“Now then, let’s continue where we left off.”
In the snowstorm, her light brown hair was blown into disarray, but her expression was colder than the wind and snow.
“For your own and your family’s benefit, you can trample and plunder others’ lives at will?”
“You… you just don’t get it!!”
Lu Xinyin’s emotions finally collapsed, her voice sharp and trembling.
“Those people were never my family!
I suffered neglect, academic pressure, bullying from classmates, random violence!
That kind of suffering-style education that treats people like machines—do you understand?!”
“Of course you don’t!
Because you have normal families!
Only my grandpa cared about me… only he stood up for me!”
“I watched him reach the end of his life… but the gods gave him a second chance!
As long as he keeps eating people, he won’t die!”
“So… because of that, you can trample on others’ lives?
All for a grandpa who’s no longer human?”
Qiu Qiqian pressed forward step by step.
“Not human? He just changed bodies! He’s always been human!”
Lu Xinyin screamed hysterically.
“As for those people… their lives are nothing compared to my grandpa’s!!”
Slap—!!
A crisp slap instantly overpowered the howling wind and snow.
Lu Xinyin felt as if heaven and earth had flipped, her ears ringing.
When she came to, she was lying in the snow, her right cheek swollen and stinging.
Not far away, Qiu Qiqian slowly withdrew the arm formed from darkness.
“I admit, your experience is pitiable,” she said coldly.
“But that’s no reason to desecrate others’ lives.”
Lu Xinyin covered her face and stumbled to her feet.
She stared at Qiu Qiqian and suddenly showed a sinister smile.
“I see… the aura on you is the same as Grandpa’s now.”
“You’re a Guiyi too, aren’t you?”
She grinned, her smile venomous.
“You talk about eliminating my grandpa, but you carry a Guiyi with you… your Association is really hypocritical.
How many has she eaten?
Dozens?
Hundreds?”
“Shut up!!”
Li Meng roared, stepping in front of Qiu Qiqian.
“Xiao Qian is completely different from the kind you’re talking about!”
“She doesn’t desecrate lives… she doesn’t harm the weak!”
“Excuses.”
Lu Xinyin sneered.
“If you had the power to gain immortality by devouring others, when you’re dying, you wouldn’t be any kinder than me.”
“Kindness?”
Qiu Qiqian couldn’t help but laugh.
“Coming from your mouth, that’s really ironic.”
She paused for a moment.
“If I really had that kind of power… I still wouldn’t hurt innocent people.
That’s all there is to it.”
Lu Xinyin, perhaps due to the cold and her injuries, went limp and sat back in the snow.
In the distance, the sounds of battle explosions still echoed.
“Yao Xueyue and the others are still fighting. I’ll go help,” Li Meng said.
“What about her?”
“Someone like this—not bewitched by a Guiyi, actively aiding evil, and causing actual deaths—will be executed personally by the Association.”
Li Meng’s tone was utterly flat.
“Haha… Grandpa will never lose…”
Lu Xinyin laughed maniacally.
Qiu Qiqian gave her one last look and let out a low, cold laugh.
“Never lose? Talk about jinxing it.”