Cold. Trembling...
It was as though she were sheltering at the silent bottom of a sea ten thousand meters deep, tightly wrapped in endless malice. She could not hear anything; all she could feel was a soul-piercing cold.
There was nowhere to breathe, nor could she move. She could see nothing, hear nothing, and could only endure this suffocating pain without respite.
At that moment, it felt as though she had returned to that time when, trapped between life and death, she had been forced to feel her body slowly rot away.
...Perhaps I was never saved at all?
At some point, such a strange thought suddenly surfaced in the Girl's heart.
That was how things really were, wasn't it? There had never been any childhood sweethearts descending from the sky, no loli Master, and certainly no Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land. Everything she had encountered afterward had merely been within her own mind...
"Oh, yes, yes, yes. You're absolutely right."
At that moment, a lazy-sounding voice rang directly within her mind.
"What Desolate Heaven Emperor who ruled through eternity? He was just a boy whose Supreme Bone had been dug out, having one final dream before death. I quite agree with that."
"..."
The next instant, the dark dreamscape came crashing down.
When Huan Yan opened her eyes, she found herself in a rather bizarre place.
The sky was a hazy yellow, as if yellow sand filled the air. Looking in every direction, all she could see were ruins.
Wind and sand swept endlessly across the wilderness, its desolation stretching beyond sight.
Wails and cries seemed to drift in with the wind from somewhere far away, yet also seemed to come from all directions.
...This was an utterly desolate world.
And where she currently stood was high up within Damaged