"No—"
Yun Zhuohua cried out in terror to stop him, but it was already too late.
She did not know whether that scream came from fearing that her father's remnant soul would dissipate once forced out, or from fearing that the father she had always revered might truly be steeped in sin, as the man before her claimed.
Deep down, she naturally trusted her father. Yet the man before her was far too confident, his solemnly assured manner utterly unlike someone making a joke.
As the middle-aged man pointed at the Du'e Monk Soldier lying on the ground with one arm severed.
A disheveled, curled-up figure slowly emerged, hovering above the Du'e Monk Soldier's body and trembling without cease.
It was as though the figure had been trapped in darkness for ages and abruptly released, utterly unaccustomed to the outside. The entire person seemed dazed and disoriented.
"F-Father!"
Yun Zhuohua stared blankly at the phantom before her. There was no hysterical cry, only grief suppressed to its very limit.
The father in her memories had been so stalwart, so lofty. Yet now, he was withered and curled up like a beggar whose lamp had run dry and whose oil was exhausted.
She simply could not accept such a contrast.
Especially when she saw that his intact arm was covered in dark-red flame patterns.
These were the marks of suffering backlash from cultivating Blazing Phoenix Heavenly Dance, wounds inflicted by the Blazing Phoenix Flame!
"Zhuohua..." After a brief daze, Yun Tiangang saw that the person before him was his dearly missed daughter, and joy immediately filled him. But once he noticed his surroundings and saw that the middle-aged man who had tormented him for four long years was still there, he understood his situation. The delight on his face instantly turned