What, This Is the Shadow World?

"It's fine. I feel much stronger now than before! I used to always be sickly, and now that I've finally been given this chance, I should stay by Lord Shen's side more."

Shimada Yukimi smiled faintly, gently declining Lin Zhiwei's goodwill.

"What state are you actually in right now?"

Wen Ke'er could not suppress her curiosity. Her worried gaze remained fixed on Shimada Yukimi, unable to turn away.

"As for me..." The faint smile on Shimada Yukimi's face faltered slightly, but after seeing Shen Yi's calm gaze and demeanor, she did not conceal anything or brush it aside. Instead, she sighed softly. "Right now, I probably possess one-thousandth of Winnie's soul. The original Shimada Yukimi cannot be said to have disappeared, but neither can she be said to fully exist."

Suddenly.

Shimada Yukimi's pupils constricted sharply, and an incomparably terrifying pressure surged from her body. At that moment, she seemed like an entirely different person from before!

"Because of the erosion of the Black Fog's power, roughly one-third of the original Shimada Yukimi's soul was damaged. Even I could not restore a loss of that degree, so I chose to use part of my own soul to fill what she lacked. The price is that my recovery period may be prolonged indefinitely."

"This can also be considered repayment for her saving me by chance back then."

After a brief pause, Shimada Yukimi's pressure-filled eyes settled on Shen Yi as she continued, "Though it may seem that my power saved her, this separated soul can only serve as an external force, slightly filling in part of Yukimi's missing soul. If my power disappears, Yukimi will still return to her original state."

"In other words, once I use the power of my soul, Yukimi will lose a little of her 'lifespan' in