Wu Zhengyang had just driven off a Golden Core Cultivator and was leaning on his sword, gasping for breath.
When he saw the two young women walking toward him, Wu Zhengyang was momentarily startled, then recognized Su Wan’er.
“Fellow Daoist!”
He quickly cupped his fists.
“Thank you for your assistance earlier!”
Su Wan’er waved a hand, too anxious for pleasantries.
“Elder Wu, where is my master? That man in the dark blue robe—did you see him?”
Wu Zhengyang’s expression froze for a moment.
“Dark blue robe? Earlier, only a senior in a gray cloth robe passed through.”
He was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke, briefly recounting what had happened.
“That Mid Nascent Soul Stage Demon Cultivator burned his Dantian. The spiritual power within his body was completely out of control, crazily pouring out in all directions, distorting the very air around him.”
Wu Zhengyang closed his eyes, as if reliving that terrifying moment.
“I was no more than a few dozen zhang away. That spiritual pressure weighed down on me so heavily I couldn’t move so much as a finger. I even… I even smelled the scent of death.”
As Su Wan’er listened, her face grew paler and paler, her lips trembling slightly, but she couldn’t utter a single word.
Ruan Se stood nearby, listening to Wu Zhengyang’s account. Her face beneath the veil paled slightly, her brows furrowed tightly, and her fingers unconsciously clenched within her sleeves.
“He didn’t retreat half a step. When the white light erupted, the two of them… disappeared together.”
Wu Zhengyang took a deep breath and continued.
“That senior’s technique was far too profound. This old man has never seen such a method.”
He paused mid-sentence, as if hesitating over something.
“However… a Mid Nascent Soul Stage cultivator’s self-destruction is no small matter. Even a Peak Nascent Soul powerhouse, facing an explosion from such close range…”
He slowly let out his final words:
“I’m afraid… it’s ten deaths, no life.”
Those words struck Su Wan’er’s heart like a blade.
Her body swayed violently, nearly losing her footing. Ruan Se moved quickly and caught her arm.
“Daoist Friend Su!”
Su Wan’er didn’t respond. She kept her head lowered, her shoulders trembling slightly.
“He won’t die.”
Su Wan’er’s voice was barely audible.
“Master won’t die.”
“You’re lying!”
Her voice turned into a sharp, nearly broken accusation.
“What right do you have to say it’s ten deaths, no life? You don’t know him at all! He’s my master! How could he possibly die? What does an Nascent Soul self-destruction even count for? He’s not even afraid of heavenly thunder! How could he be killed by some Nascent Soul explosion?”
The more she spoke, the more agitated she became. Tears streamed down her face without stopping as she cried and shouted, as if desperately trying to convince herself.
“He’ll come back! He said so! He said he would never abandon me! He’s my master! How could a master lie to his disciple? Master wouldn’t lie to me!”
Ruan Se held Su Wan’er, feeling her body tremble violently. She was silent for a moment, then reached out and gently pressed her hand on Su Wan’er’s shoulder.
“Daoist Friend Su.”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a strangely calming strength.
“Listen to me.”
Su Wan’er looked up, eyes blurred with tears.
“Senior will be fine.”
Her gaze was calm and unwavering.
“What kind of person is Senior? Someone who can slay a Late Core Formation cultivator in the blink of an eye—how could a mere Nascent Soul self-destruction possibly harm someone like him?”
Ruan Se continued,
“Senior deliberately took that Nascent Soul farther away, afraid of harming innocents.”
“But why hasn’t Master come back yet?”
“Senior might have matters to handle.”
Ruan Se comforted Su Wan’er.
“Once he’s done, he’ll naturally come back to find us.”
She paused, then added another line.
“Until then, all we can do is wait for him properly.”
A sob escaped from Su Wan’er’s throat.
“Wuu…”
Su Wan’er crouched down, covering her face with both hands, and burst into loud crying.
“Wuu wuu wuu… It’s all my fault… It’s all my fault…”
Her voice came out in broken fragments.
“If it weren’t for me… if I hadn’t been injured… Master wouldn’t have had to attend that Alchemy Grand Assembly. If he hadn’t gone to the Alchemy Grand Assembly, he wouldn’t have met Shao Jiao. If he hadn’t met Shao Jiao, he wouldn’t have been teleported here. If he hadn’t been teleported here, he wouldn’t have…”
She couldn’t continue. Her entire body curled up on the ground, shaking uncontrollably as she wept.
“Everything… everything was finally getting better… I thought… I thought I could finally stop being a burden to Master… I thought I could finally stand by Master’s side…”
“But… but why is it like this again…”
Ruan Se crouched beside her, saying nothing, just quietly keeping her company, one hand gently resting on her back.
Ruan Qin had unknowingly walked over and stood behind her sister. She said nothing, merely taking a clean silk handkerchief from her sleeve and handing it to Ruan Se.
Ruan Se accepted the handkerchief and gently placed it beside Su Wan’er’s hand.
Su Wan’er kept crying, as if she wanted to pour out all the guilt buried in her heart in this single moment.
Ruan Se didn’t urge her. She just quietly crouched beside her.
In the distance, the sounds of battle gradually subsided. Alliance cultivators were cleaning up the aftermath. No one came to disturb them. No one dared.
Su Wan’er cried for a long time, until her tears ran dry. She crouched there, hands still covering her face, shoulders twitching occasionally.
Ruan Se gently patted her back.
“Daoist Friend Su, let’s go back.”
Her voice was soft.
“Let’s go back and wait for Senior.”
Su Wan’er slowly lowered her hands, revealing a face utterly ruined by tears.
She sniffled, roughly wiped her face with her sleeve, then stood up.
“I’m fine. I… I’ll go back and wait for Master.”
She couldn’t help but look into the distance.
Master, where are you?
And in a faraway place, Lai Li’an’s situation was a thousand times worse than Su Wan’er could ever imagine.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw nothing but white.
White stretched out from the sky, covering the entire earth, extending all the way to the edge of sight.
Feather-like snow drifted down endlessly from the gray sky. Lai Li’an lay in the snow, staring blankly at the white sky, his mind still reeling from the chaos moments before.
He remembered casting the Qiankun Shift Technique to take Gong Jiwang away.
In reality, this technique had transported both him and Gong Jiwang to the same place. The Qiankun Shift Technique was supposed to teleport oneself elsewhere, but in reality…
Then he realized he had made a fatal mistake.
When he opened his eyes, Gong Jiwang was standing right in front of him, like a bomb about to detonate, ready to explode at any moment.
Lai Li’an’s mind went completely blank at that moment.
He looked at Gong Jiwang’s face, twisted from spiritual power loss of control, and only one thought remained in his mind:
Get away from him! As far as possible! As far away as I can get!
Then he cast the Qiankun Shift Technique again.
This time, he didn’t think of any destination, didn’t think of any direction. His entire consciousness focused on a single thought.
Away. Away. Away.
White light flared again, swallowing him whole.
When he opened his eyes again, he was here.
Lai Li’an lay in the snow, watching the heavy snow falling from the sky, and suddenly felt like laughing.
At least he had survived.
So the question was, where was he now?
All around him, there was nothing but snow. Not a single person in sight.
Lai Li’an slowly sat up and looked around. In every direction, all he saw was a vast expanse of white, with no reference point in sight.
His gray cloth robe was as thin as paper in such a heavy snowstorm. The frigid wind cut right through it.
“Why is it so cold? Does spiritual qi circulation still leave you cold?”
Lai Li’an took a deep breath and sank his consciousness into the system panel.
[Current Fantasy Source: Gong Jiwang (Deceased)]
[Current Cultivation: Early Qi Refining Stage]
“Are you kidding me?!”
He shot up from the snow like a spring.
Back to square one, all the way down to Early Qi Refining Stage!
Early Qi Refining Stage! Early Qi Refining Stage!
He had worked so hard for so long, conned his way all the way to Nascent Soul, and now his actual cultivation was—Lai Li’an’s mouth twitched.
Wait.
His cultivation had regressed, so what about his rewards…
He quickly checked the system panel.
[Detected Fantasy Source “Gong Jiwang” deceased. All fantasy value provided by him has been reset to zero.]
[Rewards generated from fantasy value are being recalled.]
[Current cultivation recalculation in progress…]
[Recalculation complete.]
[Current cultivation source: None]
[Current cultivation: Early Qi Refining Stage]
“Ahhh!”
A scream echoed across the empty snowfield, quickly carried away by the howling wind.
Lai Li’an crouched in the snow, feeling his heart bleed.
All his rewards had been recalled!
Fine, fine. One step at a time.
First, let’s see what he had left.
He looked at the system panel again, checking his belongings item by item.
[]
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“Seriously?! You didn’t even leave me anything?!”
Lai Li’an patted himself down all over, but couldn’t find a single thing.
He remembered hanging his clothes out to dry, casually setting his things aside, and then he got teleported to the battlefield.
“Damn you! Shao Jiao! Just wait until I get back—I’ll chop you to pieces!”
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