That Brother Dropped So Many Rubies!

In a town within the Star Luo Empire, an old father wiped his eyes, brushing away a trace of glistening moisture.

He then looked away from the Heavenly Screen, turning his gaze to his own son, who was as restless as a monkey. Irritation surged within him, and he barked:

"Brat, look at Xiao Huo over there! That's a role model! Learn from him, don't just run around all day with those hoodlums from the streets and alleys, you hear me?!"

Elsewhere, an elderly grandma was also wiping her eyes: "Oh dear, this child really tugs at my heartstrings! I'm too old to watch this kind of thing."

"If my grandson hadn't run into that Evil Soul Master chaos back then, he'd probably be this old by now... surely just as well-behaved and filial as that child up there..."

After wiping away her tears, the old grandma stared blankly at the Heavenly Screen, her thoughts sinking into memories.

Within the Heaven Dou Empire, in a small courtyard, a young mother was holding her four- or five-year-old daughter, watching the Heavenly Screen together.

The brutal scene on display made the young mother instinctively hug her child tighter.

The well-behaved child suddenly burst into tears, and the young mother scrambled to soothe her: "Xiao Yuan, what's wrong? Did Mommy accidentally hurt you?"

"Mommy, that brother has so many rubies falling off him..." the little girl sobbed, asking, "Will it hurt, brother?"

Hearing her daughter's question, the young mother looked at the Blood Ice Crystals peeling from Huo Yuhao in the Heavenly Screen, and her eyes reddened as well.

She forced herself to hold back, tilting her head up to keep the tears from falling, and reached out to cover her daughter's eyes, unwilling to let her see the cruel image.

Her voice trembling slightly, she said: "It will hurt, but that brother is very strong. He'll get better soon, and he'll become both powerful and handsome!"

The little girl pushed her mother's hand away, speaking with great seriousness: "Xiao Yuan knows, that brother lost his mother, so he's working hard to find her!"

"From now on, Xiao Yuan won't let Mommy leave. I'll work hard to protect Mommy, and I'll become as strong as that brother!"

Hearing this, the young mother could no longer hold back the tears in her eyes. Laughing and crying at once, she hugged her daughter tightly, choking out: "Mommy will protect Xiao Yuan too! Mommy will never leave Xiao Yuan! Mommy believes that one day, Xiao Yuan will become just like that brother in the sky—both kind and strong!"

The little girl turned her head and held out her tiny finger: "Then let's pinky swear, Mommy. For now, Mommy protects Xiao Yuan, and when Xiao Yuan grows up, I'll protect Mommy!"

"Mhm..." The mother extended her finger, her eyes brimming with tenderness and love like water, linking with her beloved daughter to make a warm promise:

"Pinky swear, a hundred years, no take-backs!"

In the Heaven Spirit Empire, inside a blacksmith's shop, the heat was scorching.

The furnace fire reddened the sturdy apprentice's dark face and the old blacksmith's wrinkled eyes.

The two had been forging farm tools but were drawn in by the Heavenly Screen.

The old blacksmith wasn't really interested in the Heavenly Screen or the so-called Son of Destiny—that wasn't something people like them could touch. Ordinary people and lofty soul masters belonged to two different worlds.

But the apprentice, already exhausted and drenched in sweat, kept getting distracted, fascinated by the Heavenly Screen, dreaming of becoming someone as dazzling as Huo Yuhao and escaping this hard life.

The old blacksmith saw it and sighed inwardly.

But as things progressed, Huo Yuhao's experiences made both of them unconsciously stop what they were doing.

When they saw Huo Yuhao persisting through blood, with Tian Meng roaring "You can't hold on" and the youth screaming "I can hold on," the heavy hammer in the apprentice's hand clattered to the ground, sending sparks flying.

The old blacksmith didn't scold his apprentice for being clumsy as usual. He wiped his calloused hand roughly across his face, brushing away furnace ash and a hint of moisture.

He turned to look at the apprentice, who was staring blankly at the Heavenly Screen. This kid was an orphan from the village, taken in and taught a trade by him.

"Kid." The old blacksmith's voice was hoarse and dry, pointing at the figure on the Heavenly Screen struggling against ice and blood: "See that? That's what a true man is! Not fighting to save his own life, but for what he holds in his heart!"

He bent down, picked up the hammer, and shoved it back into the apprentice's hand, his eyes carrying an unprecedented seriousness: "Your master's old, can't forge much longer. Today, I'll teach you a new rule."

"From now on, when you forge blades or farm tools for others, once you take a job, even if the sky falls, you damn well finish it and make it the best! As long as you've got a shred of strength left, don't stop swinging that hammer, and don't let your spirit slack!"

The apprentice looked at his master's graying hair and no longer straight back, then at the dazzling youth in the Heavenly Screen, as if understanding the weight of responsibility and will for the first time.

He took a deep breath, puffing out his still-immature but beginning-to-harden chest, and clamped the iron block back into the furnace fire: "Master, I can hold on!"

In the Sun Moon Empire, inside a low, cramped slum shack, the air was thick with dampness and decay.

A boy of about ten huddled by a drafty window, clutching a smaller, drowsy girl tightly in his arms.

The light from the Heavenly Screen barely squeezed through the narrow window gap, faintly illuminating the boy's hollow, numb eyes.

Until Huo Yuhao's roar of "I'll hold on with my life" pierced through the walls, startling the girl awake from the Painful Roar that carried immense suffering. Groggily, she grabbed her brother's tattered sleeve: "Bro... who's shouting outside?"

The boy silently watched the brutal scene on the Heavenly Screen.

Huo Yuhao's repeated shouts of "I can hold on" and his desperate cry of "Take my life to hold on" burned like a fire in his frozen heart.

He remembered last winter, when his mother silently passed away from hunger and cold, saving half a moldy piece of flatbread for them.

He remembered when the Evil Soul Masters caused chaos, and his father, dragging his sick body, told them to hide while he was swallowed by a cloud of Blood Mist...

"Don't be scared, it's a big brother's voice." The boy unconsciously clenched his fists, answering in a low, hoarse voice: "He's... looking for his mother."

The girl didn't fully understand, but instinctively burrowed deeper into her brother's arms: "Xiao Ya wants a mother too, and a father... Xiao Ya is so scared..."

The boy's gaze swept over the shadows outside the window, recalling the helplessness and fear of being bullied and robbed daily, then looked back at the youth on the Heavenly Screen who was burning his very life to protect what he cherished.

A courage he had never known before, mingled with heartache and hot blood, surged within the Boy's chest.

He lowered his head, carefully wiping the dirt from his sister's face with his grimy sleeve. His gaze was no longer hollow; instead, it carried a resolve and determination almost like that of Huo Yuhao in the Heavenly Screen.

"Don't be afraid! Your brother is here!" He looked down, and against the backdrop of the Blood Ice Sculpture in the Heavenly Screen, he made a solemn promise to his little sister: "From now on, I'll protect you! Whoever dares to touch you, I'll fight them with my life!"

"I can't find our parents anymore, but Xiao Ya, I can hold this family together! I can protect you!"

"Even if it costs me my life, I'll hold on until you grow up!"