Silver Moon Shatters in Sorrow, Falling Star Descends!

Aolai City's night was like a piece of black velvet steeped in chill.

After playing wildly all night, the three of them were like three exhausted kittens, "hauled" home by Tang Ziran and Lang Yue.

"You two older brothers, how could you be so thoughtless? You took your little sister out to play until this late. Aren't you going to school tomorrow?"

Though Lang Yue scolded them, she handed over three cups of warmed milk.

Seeing the children drenched in sweat yet wearing smiles more fulfilled than ever before, her motherly heart had long since melted into a puddle.

"Mom, we were wrong! We won't do it again!"

Tang Wulin grinned, drained his milk in one gulp, and let out a loud milky burp.

"Go wash up and sleep." Tang Ziran waved his hand, his eyes full of indulgence.

Late at night, all was silent.

From the next room came Tang Wulin's faint, rhythmic breathing.

That little fellow was carefree by nature, and after exhausting so much energy today, he had long since fallen into deep meditative sleep.

And in this room—

Na'er, who had originally been lying on her side with her back to Tang Linyuan, suddenly opened her violet eyes.

Moonlight slipped through the gap in the curtains and fell upon her silver hair, casting a desolate sheen over it.

She slowly sat up, her movements as light as a feather.

She wore no shoes, her bare feet stepping onto the cold floor.

Na'er walked over to Tang Wulin's bed and looked at the boy sleeping sprawled across it, a gentle curve appearing at the corner of her lips. She

reached out, her fingertips tracing Wulin's outline through the air, but in the end, she merely tucked in his blanket.

"Dummy brother, when no one is there to put food on your plate anymore, remember to eat more yourself."

Then she turned and walked toward the other bed.

Tang Linyuan was "sound asleep," his breathing steady.

Na'er crouched down until her gaze was level with his.

Looking at that face which was usually so cold and stern, yet now seemed somewhat gentler, her eyes finally reddened.

In this home, Wulin gave her warmth like sunlight, while Linyuan gave her support like a mountain.

"Brother..."

She called out silently, the sound caught in her throat.

Two crystalline tears slid down her fair cheeks and fell onto the floor with a nearly imperceptible sound.

They were the purest tears shed by the Silver Dragon King's other half in this world.

She stood and took one final look around the little home filled with the warmth of everyday life, as though she wished to carve every detail here into the depths of her soul.

Then she turned, pushed open the door, and disappeared into the darkness.

At the moment the door closed—

Tang Linyuan slowly opened his eyes on the bed.

There was no drowsiness in those ink-dark eyes, only bottomless clarity and helplessness.

"...Sigh."

An exceedingly soft sigh echoed through the room.

"Foolish girl, did you really think I wouldn't see you off?"

Aolai City, the seaside boardwalk.

This was the place they had visited only a few hours ago. It had been full of laughter then, but now only the lonely sound of waves striking the shore remained.

Na'er walked barefoot across the beach, the sea breeze tossing her skirt and long hair into disarray.

Ahead, several faint yet powerful auras were waiting for her.

They were several Fierce Beasts, messengers who had come to take her back to her destiny.

Just before she stepped into those shadows—

"Na'er."

A familiar voice pierced through the sea breeze and sounded behind her.

Na'er's body suddenly stiffened.

She turned around in disbelief.

Under the moonlight, Tang Linyuan stood quietly at the end of the boardwalk, draped in a thin coat as he watched her.

There was no reproach, no attempt to stop her—only those ink-dark eyes that seemed capable of accepting everything.

"Brother..."

Na'er's emotional defenses completely collapsed in that instant.

Unable to suppress the tidal emotions surging through her heart any longer, she turned and ran madly toward that figure.

"Brother—!"

She crashed into Tang Linyuan's arms, wrapping both hands tightly around his waist, burying her face against his chest, and bursting into tears.

"Wuwuwu... Brother, I don't want to go... I really don't want to go..."

"I can't bear to leave you... Dad and Mom... this home..."

Her sobs were heart-wrenching, as if she wanted to cry out every grievance of her life.

Tang Linyuan said nothing.

He merely reached out and held the trembling little girl tightly, resting his chin atop her head and letting her tears soak his clothes.

After a long while, the crying in his arms gradually turned into soft sobs.

"I know."

Tang Linyuan spoke softly, gently patting her back. "I know you don't want to leave. But Na'er, you have your own path to walk."

He raised his hand, cupped Na'er's tear-streaked face, and gently wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"Your eyes hide secrets I do not understand, as well as a mission that belongs to you."

"We are too weak right now. So weak that we do not even have the right to make you stay, so weak that we can only watch fate take you away."

Na'er stared blankly at him, her violet eyes filled with astonishment.

She had never expected her normally quiet brother to see things so clearly.

"But Na'er, remember this."

Tang Linyuan's voice suddenly became firm, carrying a metallic ring that overwhelmed the roaring waves:

"This parting is not the end."

"Go. Go to the world that belongs to you and reclaim the power that belongs to you."

"Wulin and I will catch up to you. Even if you fly into the heavens, even if you become a god."

"One day, we will become strong enough to hold up the sky for you. By then, you can go wherever you want and come home whenever you wish. On this Douluo Continent, no one will dare force you to do anything you do not want to do again."

"This is your brother's promise to you."

Na'er looked at the youth before her.

At this moment, his Soul Power was clearly weak, yet in her eyes, he stood taller than even those Titled Douluo of the great clans.

The warmth of being understood, supported, and promised to filled her hollow heart.

"Mm!"

Na'er nodded forcefully, smiling through her tears.

She planted a hard kiss on Tang Linyuan's cheek.

"Brother, I'll wait for you ahead. You have to come find me!"

With that, she released him and stepped back.

This time, there was no longer any confusion in her eyes, only determination.

For the sake of seeing them again sooner, she too had to become stronger.

Silver light flickered.

Na'er's figure gradually became transparent, eventually turning into countless motes of silver light that vanished above the horizon.

Tang Linyuan was the only one left by the sea.

He stood there for a long time without moving.

Until the sea breeze dried the tearstains on his clothes, until the bitterness of parting fermented and swelled within his chest, finally becoming an unbearable sense of regret.

"Strength..."

Tang Linyuan let out a low roar.

In his previous life, he had been too weak to shatter the Void. In this life, he was too weak to keep his loved ones by his side.

That sense of powerlessness enraged him, but it also awakened him.

Buzz!

The Tyrant Profound Divine Spear appeared in his hand out of nowhere.

At that moment, his state of mind underwent a wondrous transformation.

It was an understanding of "parting," a longing for "reunion," and fury toward the heavy shackles called "fate."

This crushing emotion perfectly aligned, in that instant, with the profound meaning of the fourth style of the Nine Calamity Annihilation Styles.

"A heart tangled in countless knots, heavy as ten thousand mountains."

"Threads of feeling cannot be severed; only Falling Star can descend."

Tang Linyuan moved.

He danced upon the beach.

The spear in his hand was no longer as sharp and exposed as before. Instead, it became incomparably slow and heavy.

Every thrust seemed to bear a burden weighing a thousand jin.

The air around him began to grow viscous, and the gravitational field distorted around his body.

The beach beneath his feet began to sink soundlessly, while the seawater was pressed away by an invisible force, unable to draw near.

This was—gravity.

Or rather—inescapable fate.

"The fourth style..."

Tang Linyuan's eyes suddenly opened wide. Within his ink-dark pupils, a massive black Falling Star seemed to be plummeting down.

Holding the spear with both hands, he slowly yet irresistibly smashed it downward at the Void.

"Falling Star."

Boom—!

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

Yet the sea before him suddenly caved in, forming a gigantic semicircular depression dozens of meters wide!

The seawater was forced outward by the terrifying gravitational field, exposing the black seabed below.

It felt as though an invisible meteorite had truly crashed into the sea.

To lift heavy as though it were light; true mastery appeared without artifice.

This was the true essence of the fourth style.

Tang Linyuan withdrew his spear and stood still. Watching the seawater slowly flow back, he let out a long breath of turbid air.

Na'er was gone.

But his spear had become heavier—and sharper.

"Just wait."

The youth turned around, his lonely back walking toward the darkness before dawn.

"The next time we meet, I'll use this spear to clear away every obstacle for you."