When Xiao Jin drew a deep breath and stepped onto the bridge, everything before him collapsed with a thunderous boom.
Beneath his feet was no longer the bottomless abyss, but the familiar little courtyard.
The sun shone brightly. Xun Er was beside him, smiling sweetly as she reached out with her fair, delicate hand, picked up a piece of beast meat straight from the pot, and eagerly tossed it into her mouth.
He was just about to pinch the girl's cheek and punish her for sneaking a bite ahead of time when a black beam of light suddenly pierced through Xun Er's body.
Her bright smile froze and withered in an instant, while the sparkle in her eyes gradually faded.
The hand reaching toward him drooped helplessly in midair before finally turning into a withered skeleton.
Before she died, Xiao Jin could still clearly hear Xun Er's soft murmur.
"Brother Xiao Jin... save me..."
The scene abruptly shifted.
At the entrance to the Xiao Clan, Xiao Jin knelt weakly on the ground, with corpses strewn everywhere before him.
His adoptive father, who had raised him; his cousin, who had once secretly gazed at him with affection; his brothers, who had sparred with him in the training grounds; countless members of the Xiao Clan—all let out miserable, despairing cries amid the wanton slaughter.
"Cousin Xiao Jin, save me!"
"Brother Jin, Brother Jin!"
"Jin Er, run!"
The whispers of the dead gathered into a tsunami, relentlessly battering his consciousness and soul.
An extreme sense of helplessness drenched his entire body like icy water. The world filled with slaughter and despair gradually swallowed him.
The scene shifted again.
Xiao Jin felt as though his soul were being torn apart again and again.
It was as if he were being roasted over Heavenly