Cutting Out the Heart and Bones

"Within... the heart?"

Heavenly Fire Venerable was taken aback at first, the smile on his face gradually fading.

Clearly, he understood the problem Venerable Yao had pointed out just as well.

As half a mentor to Xiao Yan, although Heavenly Fire Venerable had never truly witnessed the bond between him and Hun Ruoruo, he could still sense from the little details of daily life how much weight she held in Xiao Yan's heart.

That weight had surpassed even profit and life itself.

Yet now, the woman that foolish boy had loved all his life had left in order to save him.

Heavenly Fire Venerable had always been alone, and precisely because of that, he understood the meaning of loneliness better than most.

"Sigh..." He could not help but sigh softly. "I had heard of the Eight Clans' might in my early years, but I never expected that girl Ruoruo would come from such a colossal force."

"With Xiao Yan kid's strength and status, the gap between the two of them is indeed great enough to drive one to despair. It would be normal for him to lose heart. What a pity for that pair of lovers."

Venerable Yao shook his head. "He is my disciple."

Heavenly Fire Venerable abruptly looked at him.

Within Venerable Yao's deep, pale-golden eyes, a glint of wisdom gradually flickered.

"If there is anything in this world that can trap him, perhaps it can only be himself."

As the sun and moon alternated, autumn arrived in the blink of an eye.

In a corner of Starfall Pavilion's Endless Forest Sea, Xiao Yan leaned quietly beneath a tree, as though he had fallen into an eternal slumber.

Fallen leaves drifted down with soft rustles. Green leaves mingled with withered yellow ones, piling over his corpse-like body until