When Yu Xi's announcement rang out, Na Liang had already been beaten back from his Near-God Body and his Wolf Totem shattered.
All that remained was a small, thin figure, fallen on the ground.
In pain, yet powerless.
This feeling...
It was like lying alone on the grassland, waiting to rot.
So tired.
Na Liang thought hazily. What had made him abandon me on the grassland in the first place?
No one knew that even as an infant, he had already possessed a hazy capacity for thought.
According to the Cangtu God Temple's teachings, this "wisdom from a past life" was evil, for it "defied the natural order" and deserved to be burned at the stake.
So he had never let it show.
Though this "wisdom from a past life" had brought him no useful memories. In truth, it only meant he had started thinking earlier than others. There were plenty of muddleheaded people in their eighties or nineties, and his intelligence was no greater than many of theirs.
It was just...
He remembered. He remembered, vaguely.
Back when he was still an infant.
That feeling of hunger, helplessness, waiting to die. Just like now.
Only this time there was no mother wolf, no "mother," to lick him warmly.
Let it be.
I did my best to survive...
Amid the blood covering his face and head, the green light in Na Liang's eyes faded.
In his final, hazy moments of consciousness, he felt warmth.
"Winner: Chongxuan Zun of Qi!" Yu Xi announced.
Chongxuan Zun unclenched his fist and slowly rose to his feet.
The dazzling light within him dimmed.
The forest of moonlight across the arena vanished. The countless Wolf Ghosts faded into the night, then, along with the night itself...
Died away.
Chongxuan Zun turned and walked toward his