"I'm sorry..."
Gu Yue's fingers trembled as she gently stroked his face, which was growing cold.
Tears fell silently, one after another, striking his pale, parched lips.
As she felt the last traces of life vanish from the young man's body, it was as if an invisible hand had clenched her heart in a crushing grip.
Pain spread through her, sharp and searing, nearly stealing her breath.
"No... Don't..."
"I won't let you die..."
Gu Yuena's voice was hoarse. Like a woman gone mad, she poured pure Life Energy into the boy's broken body.
She even burned the essence of her own soul, trying to keep his soul from crossing the boundary between life and death and vanishing forever.
Su Ling's consciousness had already sunk into a void-like sea of spirit.
Every sound and sensation from the outside world had drifted away from him.
Only the system's mechanical voice echoed through the darkness, carrying a rare trace of melancholy.
"Host, your health is down to 3%."
"Would you like to activate the save-load program and jump to the next timeline?"
"Warning: This Simulation has failed. If you force a reload, all remaining energy will be depleted, and this system will enter an indefinite slumber."
"After that, your journey will continue alone."
"But because Gu Yuena's obsession remains unresolved, her consciousness is highly likely to follow your trail and leap to the new timeline as well."
Su Ling's consciousness drifted through the darkness, and the corner of his mouth curled into a bitter smile.
"No need..."
His spirit slowly shook its head in the void, weighed down by boundless exhaustion.
"This cycle has gone on for far too long..."
"It's time... for it to end."
He still had a way out.
But when he thought of his mother in this timeline, his friends, and everyone bound to him by blood or affection, his heart felt as if it were being torn apart.
They might all be destroyed in Gu Yue's fury after he was gone.
"Host! Please reconsider! Reloading would at least give you a chance to survive!"
The system's voice was edged with urgency.
It knew all too well that starting over meant falling asleep, and the Host's complete death would mean the end for them both.
Su Ling didn't answer right away.
An image flashed before his eyes: his mother collapsed over his cold body in this life, weeping as if her heart were breaking.
From an earlier life came an even more terrible memory: Ye Wanqing torn apart by Soul Beasts, still searching helplessly for him by scent.
These fragments of memory were like the sharpest blades, cutting again and again into his soul.
"System," a steely resolve flickered through Su Ling's consciousness. "Tell me, is there any way to truly kill Gu Yue?"
"At any cost!"
He knew that by the end of the previous cycle, Gu Yue had ascended to become the Life God King, her soul's very nature already intertwined with the universe's Law of Life.
Though her power had yet to recover, her soul was of an immensely high order. It was only a matter of time before she returned to her peak.
Once her wounds healed and she regained the power to crush all life beneath her—
Humanity would suffer the same fate all over again, perhaps facing an even more brutal reckoning.
He believed that the "monster" who had shed most of her emotions, leaving only reason and duty behind, was entirely capable of it.
Su Ling didn't consider himself a good person, and his hands were stained with blood.
But he would never allow everything he cherished to be destroyed because of him again.
Outside, Gu Yue had no idea that Su Ling was prepared to die for her.
All her attention was fixed on her fingertips as pure Creation Power surged into Su Ling's body without regard for the cost, trying to mend the horrific cracks.
The powerful figures surrounding them watched the strange and brutal scene in silence.
"Fengzhi," Bone Douluo murmured uneasily, "if this kid really dies here, will that woman, Ye Wanqing... blame the whole thing on us?"
Ning Fengzhi furrowed his brows, his gaze complex as it settled on Su Ling, enveloped in dense Life Energy.
"If Su Ling dies here... given that madam's temperament, I fear the entire Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect will be made to pay."
After a moment's thought, he made his decision.
"For now, hold your positions. Don't provoke that Soul Beast any further."
"We'll wait until Madam Ye arrives before deciding what to do."
"After all, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast is precious, but we can't afford the price of provoking one."
The key was that Gu Yuena was currently exhausting her own essence to save Su Ling.
The longer this dragged on, the more her strength would diminish. When the time came to strike, their odds would be better.
Nearby, greed and viciousness flashed in Dugu Bo's eyes.
He knew his chance had come!
His injuries were severe. If he waited for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the others to recover and join forces to compete for her, he'd have no chance of winning.
He might as well take advantage of their hesitation, seize Gu Yuena, and flee a thousand miles away!
With his mind made up, he didn't hesitate.
Dugu Bo flashed forward like a ghost, lunging for the gleaming silver figure in Su Ling's arms!
He paid no attention to Su Ling. All he saw was his only hope of curing his poison—the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!
In the blink of an eye—
A powerful sense of danger yanked Su Ling's consciousness back to reality.
The instant he opened his eyes, he saw Dugu Bo's claw, wreathed in sickly green poison, already closing in!
No time to think. No time to weigh his options.
Instinct came before everything else!
The last of his strength burst from his broken body. He wrapped his arms around Gu Yuena and twisted with all his might!
He turned his bloody, cracked back toward the deadly Jade Phosphor poison claw, shielding her with his body.
At the same time, he raised one hand and pressed Gu Yuena's head firmly into the hollow of his neck.
With everything he had left—his head, shoulders, neck, and ruined body—he built the last fragile barrier between her and danger.
His action outran thought, his intent utterly clear—block it! Protect her!
Hiss!
The sickly green poison tore through the air, trailing a stench that could corrode the soul. It had already reached the fabric on his back!
"Stop!"
A furious shout suddenly exploded across the scene, cold as polar ice and sweeping over everyone with its raging wrath!
Dugu Bo faltered for an instant, but his claw kept coming. The interruption only made it three times more vicious as it struck down faster and harder!
"I said stop—!!!"
An even more furious roar rang out like thunder. Before its echo could fade—
The space in the middle of Long Street split apart under an invisible force, like a shattered mirror!
A figure appeared out of nowhere. One moment, there had been nothing; the next, she stood proudly in the middle of the street.
She still wore Xue Qinghe's disguise, but there was not a trace of warmth or elegance in her golden eyes.
Only a murderous chill that could freeze everything.
Her luxurious Crown Prince Attire whipped wildly in the wind.
Pure golden light, like molten gold, surged outward from her in every direction!
The rubble beneath her feet silently crumbled into dust.
Time seemed to come to a complete halt.
Just as Dugu Bo's poison claw was about to touch Su Ling's back, a hair's breadth away—
A hand wrapped in concentrated golden light reached out, seemingly without effort.
Precise. Cold. Merciless.
The hand clamped around Dugu Bo's wrinkled neck, its veins bulging!
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