The night wind blew in from the sea of clouds, sweeping up a few peach blossom petals that drifted past Su Ming's shoulders.
He stood deep within the Peach Blossom Forest.
He had stayed here ever since the discussion ended.
The moon was bright, so bright that the veins on the petals were clearly visible.
The petals glowed a faint pink in the moonlight, settling on his shoulders before slipping to the ground.
Su Ming raised a hand and plucked a petal clinging to his cuff.
It was thin, so thin that moonlight passed through it, casting a tiny, pale pink shadow across his palm.
He remembered how Luo Yiyi had stood beneath a peach tree in the earlier simulation and told him, "Because I like you, idiot."
She had still been smiling then, her smile like a flower about to be scattered by the wind.
Then she had vanished, becoming a golden Fox Mark that landed in his palm, searing hot as red-hot iron.
Su Ming closed his eyes and pushed that image out of his mind.
He could not think about these things. Not now, at least.
He thought of other things.
Gluttony's back as he knelt, that dark red light, and Envy's ghastly green face as he knelt on the War Banner.
And that final pillar of golden light on Xuanji Hall's Main Peak.
Su Ming opened his eyes.
He did not want the events of the simulation to happen in reality.
Now, he had no simulation attempts left.
There would be no chance to start anything over again.
The pressure weighing on him was anything but small.
Su Ming lowered his head and looked at his palm.
Gray light flickered faintly in the moonlight.
He could feel a pulse deep within it, as though something