"You... didn't you say you didn't want me anymore?"
Gu Yuena's voice was so soft it was barely audible, trembling with hurt like a thread on the verge of snapping.
Her little head unconsciously nuzzled against Su Ling's neck. Silver hair spilled messily across his shoulder, like an injured little beast seeking the last shred of shelter.
But the next second, she suddenly looked terrified and struggled frantically in Su Ling's arms.
"Let go of me! She's coming! She'll kill you!"
Feeling the girl trembling in his arms, Su Ling held her even tighter.
He lowered his head, his bloodied lips brushing her icy earlobe as he whispered so softly only she could hear, "Don't be afraid... I'm here."
Those four simple words completely broke through her last defenses.
The girl's slender fingers clenched suddenly in Su Ling's tattered clothes, her knuckles whitening with the force.
Her silver lashes trembled violently, and large tears rolled down, soaking the bloodstains on his chest.
Yet this sight provoked Gu Yue, the Silver Dragon King still inside Gu Yuena.
A violent killing intent smashed through every restraint!
"Roar—!"
A dragon's roar, rising from the abyss of the soul and filled with hatred and destruction, erupted in Gu Yuena's sea of consciousness.
The Gu Yuena in Su Ling's arms suddenly stiffened!
The faint dependence and comfort that had just emerged shattered instantly like fragile ice.
The violet eyes that had been filled with helpless fear lost all warmth in an instant.
Deep in her pupils, a cold violet light, filled with boundless majesty, flared brightly.
The vulnerability, confusion, and fragility on her face—all that belonged to Gu Yuena—peeled away like a mask.
In their place was absolute indifference, looking down on all living beings and regarding everything as an ant.
A twisted, malicious curve lifted the corner of her peerlessly beautiful lips.
"You... think you're worthy of touching me?"
Her ethereal, icy voice brimmed with a murderous intent that surged like a tidal wave.
Before Su Ling could react—
Gu Yuena's left arm shot up!
Her slender fingers twisted and swelled, covered in cold Silver Dragon Scales!
Her nails lengthened, becoming five terrifying Dragon Claws glinting with a chilling light!
RIP—!
The Dragon Claws, powerful enough to tear through rock, shot toward Su Ling's battered chest with a piercing whistle, meeting no resistance.
"Pfft!"
The muffled sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed through the deathly silent Long Street.
Su Ling's body jolted violently, as if struck by an invisible Great Hammer.
Scalding blood gushed from his mouth.
Warm blood spattered across the upturned, murderous face of "Gu Yuena" in his arms.
A few drops of blood landed in her hollow, icy violet eyes, like filthy red moles on glass.
"Ugh... cough..."
A pained sound escaped Su Ling's throat.
But his arms around the girl did not loosen. Instead, they tightened.
The hideous silver Dragon Claws had sunk deep into his chest.
The cold scales scraped against his broken ribs, making a faint, grating sound.
Pain swept through what remained of his consciousness like a tsunami.
Yet his gaze was calm, as if it could see straight through the soul, and even carried a trace of weariness, like he was relieved.
His lips moved with difficulty, but only more bloody froth spilled out.
Gu Yue could clearly feel the Dragon Claws piercing flesh and tearing through muscle.
The sensation of warm blood splashing across her face felt so real.
A sick delight welled up inside her!
Does it hurt? This is nothing compared to even a ten-thousandth of the pain I suffered back then!
The Dragon Claws pressed onward, aiming straight for the heart hidden behind his shattered ribs!
She would tear it out and crush it in front of everyone!
Make him taste the despair she had once endured!
But just as the claws were about to seize his heart—
A faint yet unmistakable will wound upward from the abyss of the soul like a resilient vine.
It was Gu Yuena! The Split Soul she regarded as trash, carrying all the weakness of human nature!
This will had no strength, only boundless sorrow and pleading.
No... don't treat him like this... please...
Let go... please, let go...
This instinctive resistance made Gu Yue's Dragon Claws hesitate for an instant, so briefly it was almost imperceptible.
Su Ling caught the fleeting struggle in her eyes—the struggle that belonged to Gu Yuena.
His lips pulled into a faint, labored smile, but it looked more despairing than a sob.
"Heh..." A barely audible, almost broken breath escaped him.
Blood poured out, staining his teeth red and dripping onto Gu Yuena's bloodied silver hair.
His lips moved soundlessly, struggling to shape the words through the blood:
"I'm... sor...ry..."
Each word was unmistakable.
Gu Yue's soul shook violently!
For the first time, an emotion called "astonishment" appeared in the depths of her cold violet eyes.
The shape of those three words stabbed into her consciousness like a red-hot steel needle.
He's apologizing? To whom? To me? Or... that useless Split Soul?
Absurd! That cold, ruthless Destruction God King, the husband who had pierced her heart with a sword on their wedding night, was apologizing?
The Dragon Claws struck forward again, viciously!
She would put an end to this farce!
Su Ling's body convulsed from the pain, but his arms around her still did not loosen.
He only struggled to continue speaking without a sound.
This time, his gaze was no longer cold and indifferent. It was a plea from someone brought low in the dust:
"I'm sorry... I'm... a scumbag... I never deserved to live... but at least... I don't want to see you cry again..."
"Do you know? If... if... back then... I hadn't healed your injuries..."
"Maybe... none of this... would have happened..."
His gaze began to blur. The light burning in his pupils went out like a candle in the wind.
Dense Death Qi spread from his broken body like icy vines.
"Kill... me..."
Silently, with his final thought, he begged:
"Spare... the Su... Family..."
"Please..."
Every word he mouthed in silence struck Gu Yue's heart like a heavy hammer.
It wasn't strength, but the despair and resignation between the words—enough to crush a soul!
To be honest, Su Ling didn't regret slaughtering Soul Beasts.
It was a matter of survival between two species, a fight to the death.
What he regretted was saving Gu Yuena.
That had led to countless deaths, and his mother had been brutally murdered by Soul Beasts.
Yet as her son, he couldn't even recover her body for burial.
Would he drag her down with him again in this life?
He remembered his First Life, when Ye Wanqing had knelt outside the gates of Heaven Dou Palace for three days and nights, begging Qian Renxue to spare him.
Those bloodshot eyes had been filled with worry for her unfilial son.
If his death could buy the Su Family a chance to survive, he was willing to die.
No matter how powerful the Su Family was in Heaven Dou, before the Silver Dragon King they were nothing but ants.
Di Tian alone could wipe out the Su Family in an instant.
So he accepted his fate!
A max-level boss had cornered him. He had no chance of winning.
Spare the Su Family? You're begging me?
Gu Yue suddenly started laughing.
The laughter began faintly, then grew louder and louder, laced with a madness that made one's hair stand on end.
"Are you kidding me?" Her voice suddenly rose, sharp and grating. "Why should I listen to your plea?! What right do you have to beg me?!"
So you can feel pain, too? Despair, too? Beg for mercy, too?
A twisted delight rose and burned in her cold consciousness.
So you're not forever above everyone else! So you have weaknesses, too! You can be afraid!
Before you continue