The Brother Dropped So Many Rubies!

In a town in the Star Luo Empire, an old father wiped his eyes, brushing away a glistening tear.

Then he looked away from the Heavenly Screen and turned to his son, who was as unruly as a little monkey. His temper flared, and he scolded him:

"You little rascal, look at Huo Yuhao! That's what a role model looks like! You should learn from him instead of running around all day with those street thugs. Got it?!"

Elsewhere, an elderly grandmother was wiping her eyes too. "Oh, this child just breaks my heart! I'm getting too old to watch things like this."

"If my little grandson hadn't been caught up in the Evil Soul Masters' rampage back then, he'd probably be about this age now... I'm sure he'd be just as sweet and filial as that child in the sky..."

After wiping away her tears, the grandmother stared blankly at the Heavenly Screen, lost in thought as memories carried her away.

In the Heaven Dou Empire, a young mother sat in a small courtyard, holding her four- or five-year-old daughter as they watched the Heavenly Screen together.

The horrific scene on the screen made the young mother instinctively hug her child tighter.

The well-behaved little girl suddenly burst into tears. The young mother hurriedly tried to soothe her. "Xiao Yuan, what's wrong? Did Mommy accidentally hurt you?"

"That big brother is losing so many rubies..." the little girl sobbed. "Does it hurt him?"

At her daughter's question, the young mother looked at the Blood Ice Crystals peeling away from Huo Yuhao and felt her own eyes grow red.

She fought back her tears, tilting her head up so they wouldn't fall, and covered her daughter's eyes, not wanting her to see any more of the cruel scene.

Her voice trembled slightly as she said, "It hurts, but that big brother is very strong. He'll get better soon, and he'll become powerful and handsome!"

The little girl pried her mother's hand away and said earnestly, "Xiao Yuan knows. That big brother is trying so hard to find his mommy because he doesn't have her anymore!"

"When Xiao Yuan grows up, she'll never let Mommy leave. She'll work hard to protect Mommy, and become as strong as that big brother!"

Hearing this, the young mother could no longer hold back her tears. Laughing and crying at once, she hugged her daughter tightly and choked out,

"Mommy will protect Xiao Yuan too! Mommy will never leave you! Mommy knows you'll grow up to be just like that big brother in the sky—kind and strong!"

The little girl turned and held out her tiny finger. "Then let's make a pinky promise, Mommy. You protect Xiao Yuan now, and when Xiao Yuan grows up, she'll protect you!"

"Mm..." Her mother held out her finger, her eyes brimming with tenderness and love. As their fingers linked, she made a warm promise with her beloved daughter:

"Pinky promise, cross my heart. It'll never change, not even in a hundred years!"

In the Dou Ling Empire, heat billowed through a blacksmith's shop.

The furnace fire glowed against the sturdy apprentice's dark face and the master's deeply wrinkled eyes.

The two had been making farm tools, but the Heavenly Screen had caught their attention.

The old blacksmith wasn't interested in the Heavenly Screen or some Son of Destiny. Those things had nothing to do with people like them. Ordinary folk and the exalted Soul Masters lived in two different worlds.

But the apprentice, already exhausted and drenched in sweat, kept getting distracted. He was fascinated by the Heavenly Screen, imagining he could become someone as dazzling as Huo Yuhao and leave these hard days behind.

The old blacksmith noticed and sighed inwardly.

But as Huo Yuhao's story unfolded, both of them unconsciously stopped working.

When they saw Huo Yuhao endure through bloodshed, Tian Meng roar, "You can't hold on!" and the boy scream, "I can hold on!", the heavy hammer slipped from the apprentice's hand and crashed to the ground, sending sparks flying.

The old blacksmith didn't scold his apprentice for being careless, as he usually did. He dragged his calloused hand across his face, wiping away the furnace soot—and a trace of moisture.

He turned toward the apprentice, who was staring blankly at the Heavenly Screen. The boy was an orphan from the village, whom the old man had taken in, raised, and taught his trade.

"Boy." The old blacksmith's voice was hoarse and dry. He pointed at the figure on the screen, struggling against ice and blood. "See that? That's what it means to be a real man! It's not about staying alive for yourself. It's about holding on to what you believe in!"

He bent down, picked up the hammer, and pressed it back into the apprentice's hands. His gaze held a seriousness it had never had before. "Your master's getting old. I won't be able to work for many more years. Today, I'm teaching you a new rule."

"When you take a job making someone a sword, a plow, or anything else, you finish it with all your focus, no matter what happens—even if the sky comes crashing down! You make it the best you can! As long as you've got a shred of strength left, you don't stop swinging the hammer in your hand, and you don't let the fire in your heart die!"

The apprentice looked at his master's graying hair and stooped back, then at the dazzling boy on the Heavenly Screen. It was as if he understood, for the first time, the weight of responsibility and determination.

He took a deep breath, puffed out his young but newly firm chest, and pulled the iron from the furnace again. "Master, I can hold on!"

In the Sun Moon Empire, in a cramped, low-roofed shack in a slum, the air reeked of damp and decay.

A boy of about ten curled up beside a drafty window, clutching a smaller girl who was half asleep.

Light from the Heavenly Screen slipped through a narrow gap in the window, barely illuminating the boy's hollow, numb eyes.

Only when Huo Yuhao's desperate cry of "I'll hold on with my life!" came through the wall did the girl wake, startled by the roar filled with suppressed agony. Groggily, she grabbed her brother's ragged sleeve. "Brother... who's yelling outside?"

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

Huo Yuhao's repeated cries of "I can hold on!" and his desperate declaration, "I'll use my life to hold on!" burned like a fire in the boy's frozen heart.

He remembered last winter, when their mother had quietly passed away from hunger and cold, trying to save half a moldy bun for them.

He remembered the Evil Soul Masters' rampage, when their father, gravely ill, had told them to hide—only to be swallowed by a cloud of Blood Mist...

"Don't be scared. It's the voice of a big brother," the boy replied in a low voice, unconsciously clenching his fists. "He's... he's looking for his mommy."

The girl seemed to understand, but instinctively snuggled closer to her brother. "Xiao Ya wants Mommy too, and Daddy... Xiao Ya is scared..."

The boy glanced at the shadows outside the window, remembering the helplessness and fear he felt whenever he was bullied and robbed. Then he looked at the boy on the Heavenly Screen, burning through his life to protect the hope in his heart.

A courage he had never felt before welled up in his chest, mixed with heartache and fervor.

He lowered his head and carefully wiped the grime from his little sister's face with his own dirty sleeve. His eyes were no longer hollow. Instead, they held a resolve much like Huo Yuhao's on the Heavenly Screen.

"Don't be scared! Your brother's here!" Beneath the Blood Ice Sculpture on the Heavenly Screen, he lowered his head and made a solemn promise to his little sister. "Your brother will protect you from now on! If anyone dares lay a hand on you, I'll fight them to the death!"

"Your brother can't bring Mom and Dad back, but, Xiao Ya, I can hold this family together! I can protect you!"

"Even if I have to use my life to hold on, I'll keep going until you've grown up!"