Cold.
Bone-piercing cold seeped through the gaps in her drenched clothes, gnawing at her already numb skin.
The swelling and pain in her left cheek had yet to fade.
A dull ache continued to throb through her waist and abdomen.
Every breath sent piercing agony through her broken ribs.
Gu Yuena's purple eyes stared blankly ahead.
The only fixed point in her vision was the Su Family's two tightly shut gates.
How many days had it been?
Time had long since lost all meaning.
There was only rain—endless rain—cold, and the thorns called "regret" spreading wildly through her heart.
Cruel Fragments of memory churned uncontrollably through her mind:
The bloody hole in Su Ling's chest that she had pierced with her own hand, warm liquid gushing from it.
And the despair in his final collapse, when he fell to his knees and roared.
The slap Ye Wanqing had delivered, carrying overwhelming grief and rage, and those eyes filled with hatred and icy coldness.
The Short Dagger Qian Renxue had tossed down, along with that whisper like a final verdict:
"Your very existence is a stain upon his future... If you die, it will all be over."
And... most fatal of all, the resentful murmur of the Gu Yue Spirit Body in her soul depths:
"Kill yourself, Gu Yuena... you mistaken existence... As long as you disappear, everything... might truly come to an end..."
"No one wants me anymore..."
A faint voice steeped in utter despair echoed in her heart.
"He will never... look at me again."
"It's all my fault... If I, this Split Soul that should never have existed, had never appeared... he would not have suffered so much pain..."
"It would be better if I died... wouldn't it? If I die... my heart will no longer hurt as