The divine light over Jialing Pass gradually faded. Ning Rongrong and Oscar slumped to the ground, their soul rings dim and lifeless, their auras so weak they could barely hold on. They exchanged a glance, seeing exhaustion in each other's eyes, but also relief—the Resurrection Divine Light had drained their divine power, leaving them unable to use Soul Power for the next year, but Tang San's return was worth the price. Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing immediately stepped forward to help them up, using their remaining Soul Power to regulate their breathing.
Not far away, Lin Zhixia stood silently beside Gu Zhinian's corpse. Silver-purple stellar power flowed slowly around her, though it carried a faint, nearly imperceptible sluggishness. She lowered her eyes to the cold body, her gaze so calm that not a ripple stirred within it, as though the person before her had nothing to do with her. Bone Douluo stepped forward, looking at her slender back as he consoled her in a deep voice. "Zhi Xia, this was not your fault. Don't blame yourself too harshly."
Lin Zhixia slowly curled her lips into an exceedingly faint smile. There was not the slightest warmth in it, only bone-deep coldness. "I no longer have the heart to distinguish right from wrong." She raised a hand, a wisp of pitch-black Power of Destruction curling around her fingertips and intertwining with the silver-purple Power of Judgment. "They forced me to this."
The instant her words fell, a terrifying aura of destruction abruptly spread from her body. Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and the others changed expression, clearly sensing the Power of Destruction within her growing wildly, faintly overwhelming her original Power of Judgment. Even the surrounding air warped under that force, while fine cracks spread across the ground.
"Zhi Xia..." Zhu Zhuqing clenched