Sacrifice! An Inescapable Fate!
Jin Li hugged Huo Yuhao tightly, as if she wanted to remember the warmth of this moment.
Her lips brushed close to his ear, her voice soft and clear, carrying an unprecedented tenderness. "Thank you for showing me the wonders of human society, thank you for taking care of me all this time, I cherish the time we've spent together."
Huo Yuhao listened to these words, a sense of unease suddenly rose within him, like a taut string emitting a sharp warning.
He tried to push Jin Li away, but Jin Li was holding him too close. His arm was pinned down by her shoulder, and the strain from his injury prevented him from breaking free.
He wanted to say something, but before he could speak, Jin Li continued, "I don't know when I fell in love with you. Perhaps if it weren't for that question from that voice earlier, I wouldn't have faced my own feelings."
"But I still have to tell you now, I, Jin Li, have fallen for you, no matter what you think of me."
At this point, she suddenly chuckled softly, "When I said I was willing to give my Life God for you, I wasn't just saying it."
Huo Yuhao's pupils contracted sharply. The ominous feeling seemed to have finally come true at this moment. He had guessed what Jin Li wanted to do.
Jin Li loosened her embrace slightly, her usually flamboyant and bright face now carrying an unprecedented gentleness.
She moved her face away from Huo Yuhao's shoulder and closer to him, so close that she could see her own reflection in his pupils.
She smiled, her golden eyes filled with undisguised love; her smile was clean and open, like the lightness that comes after letting go of all burdens.
Huo Yuhao shook his head, his eyes filled with rejection. "No..."
He had only uttered two words when Jin Li interrupted him with a smile, "I don't regret it."
As she finished speaking, her face slowly drew closer, her brow touching Huo Yuhao's.
Then, a dazzling golden light suddenly burst forth from Jin Li's body, as if a small sun had been ignited within her.
The light was intense yet warm, slowly coalescing into a phantom above her head—the outline of the Auspicious Beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. Its entire body was golden, with its third eye slightly open on its forehead, radiating a soft yet profound glow.
The golden phantom was pulsating slowly, as if it were continuously injecting its energy into Huo Yuhao's body, flowing gently down between their touching brows.
Everything around seemed to stand still at that moment. The wind stopped, the sounds of fighting on the distant battlefield became blurred, and even the scorching smell of gunpowder in the air seemed to be separated by an invisible barrier.
Huo Yuhao tried to push Jin Li away, but found that he couldn't even move a finger. It was as if a force was fixing him firmly in place, leaving him only able to watch helplessly as everything happened.
Wang Dong'er, standing to the side, was also filled with shock. She stared blankly at the phantom of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion above Jin Li's head, watching the golden light flow into Huo Yuhao's body as if it were Life God. Only then did she finally understand what had happened.
This is Sacrifice! (It won't be a real Sacrifice, see the next chapter. Some readers are too impatient and can't wait for any plot twists, so I'm making this clear.)
Jin Li was actually Soul Beast Transformation, and was currently Sacrifice to Huo Yuhao!
This was at the cost of his entire Life God and cultivation, transforming everything into the purest power to transfer to Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao's Soul Power has reached Level 90, and Jin Li is clearly not an ordinary Soul Beast.
After her Sacrifice, Huo Yuhao's strength will definitely experience a qualitative leap.
Even so, they still had no chance of winning against a true Angel God.
As Wang Dong'er watched Jin Li's face gradually become transparent, and saw the calm and unregretful smile in her eyes, the bitterness in her heart melted away as if blown away by the wind.
Jin Li was willing to give her Life God for Huo Yuhao; her love for Huo Yuhao was no less than her love for herself.
At this moment, she felt no jealousy or resentment; she simply stood there quietly, watching the golden light flow towards Huo Yuhao little by little.
Huo Yuhao wanted to interrupt the Sacrifice process, to push Jin Li away, and to stop what was happening irreversibly.
But his body seemed to be frozen by some irresistible force, and he could only watch helplessly as Jin Li made her Sacrifice.
He felt Jin Li's fervent and pure Life God flow into his body like a warm current, slowly healing the irreparable wound on his chest.
His throat felt like it was blocked; he wanted to shout, but no sound came out, and he could only helplessly watch it all happen.
At the same time, all the little things he and Jin Li shared in the past flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.
Their first meeting in the Star Dou Great Forest, their encounter after Jin Li took human form, and their time together at the Spirit Pagoda...
Huo Yuhao's feelings for Jin Li were complicated. Initially, he was just curious about what kind of existence this legendary Auspicious Beast was.
Later, when he learned of her inevitable death in the original historical trajectory, he felt a pang of heartache.
Therefore, when he came into contact with her, he always consciously or unconsciously avoided her original destiny, trying to pull her out of that known fate.
His care for her, while not exactly meticulous, was so subtle that even he himself was unaware of it.
He always thought that his concern and care stemmed from guilt.
But only now, only now, only now, only now, only now, as she is Sacrifice her Life God for him bit by bit, only now, as he watches her figure gradually become transparent in the golden light, does he finally understand that it is not just guilt.
Unbeknownst to him, he had already fallen in love with Jin Li, who was on this path of fate.
That feeling was hidden in their daily interactions, wrapped up in the names of "responsibility" and "protection," and even he himself didn't truly see it clearly.
And now, when he finally sees her clearly, she is disappearing little by little right before his eyes.
Huo Yuhao's eyes were already red, and tears welled up in his usually calm and composed eyes, eventually sliding down his pale cheeks silently.
He knew this was a fictional battlefield, but he still felt that what was happening at this moment was definitely not an illusion.
Jin Li is truly Sacrifice herself; even if she leaves this place, she will never return.
He couldn't understand why this was happening. He had tried his best to avoid Jin Li's fate of Sacrifice, and he had changed the course of so many things.
But he did so much, so why did the tragic end of Jin Li's Sacrifice still occur?
Why did the line of fate he desperately tried to avoid ultimately converge at the same end?
Huo Yuhao couldn't understand any of this, while at this moment, in the Divine Realm, Tang San, the instigator of all this, was watching this scene unfold with a blank expression.
He stood before the light screen of the Nine-Colored God Temple, his hands behind his back, his gaze calmly fixed on the image of the golden light gradually dissipating on the screen, his face showing no emotion.
Ning Rongrong, standing to the side, frowned slightly, her expression constantly shifting.
She wasn't surprised that Tang San was secretly manipulating the Sacrifice of the Auspicious Beast, even though the so-called auspicious Auspicious Beast were just Soul Beast and had nothing to do with her.
What truly changed her expression was that during the Sacrifice of the Auspicious Beast, she suddenly sensed a very familiar aura deep within Jin Li's soul.
That was a fragment of Tang San's daughter, Tang Wutong's soul.
Although Ning Rongrong is only at the level of Secondary Deity at this moment, she is still God, and the slight abnormality in her aura cannot escape her perception.
Her gaze shifted from the light screen to Tang San beside her, her tone slightly lowered as she asked, "Third Brother, how did part of Xiao Qi's soul end up in this Auspicious Beast?"