New Life

The Snow Empress's pressure, brimming with extreme cold and fury, and the Ice Empress's undisguised ferocity instantly drew everyone's attention.

Only then did Qian Daoliu and Bibi Dong notice the two people beside Guang Ling.

But the next second, they froze.

"Soul Beasts?!"

"Over a hundred thousand years old... No! This aura... it far surpasses a hundred thousand years!"

Shock filled Qian Daoliu's face as he stared fixedly at the Snow Empress. From her unfathomable pressure, he sensed an ancient aura.

Could she really match him, even without using Angel Divine Power?

A flicker of surprise also crossed Bibi Dong's eyes.

Guang Ling... actually knew such powerful Soul Beasts? And judging by their attitude, they had clearly come to protect Qian Qizhou.

The situation had instantly become incomparably delicate and complicated!

The shock in Qian Daoliu's eyes quickly turned into deep solemnity.

He looked at the Snow Empress and asked in a grave voice, "Who might you be?"

Just then—

"Cough... cough, cough..."

A faint, pained cough suddenly sounded from Guang Ling's arms.

Guang Ling hurriedly lowered his head. Qian Qizhou's long eyelashes trembled a few times before he slowly opened his eyes.

His gaze was filled with exhaustion and lifelessness, and his face was as pale as paper.

"Xiao Zhou! How are you?!" Guang Ling asked anxiously.

Qian Qizhou struggled to focus his eyes, slowly taking in the tense scene around him.

The Snow Empress, cold-faced and furious; the Ice Empress, poised to strike; Qian Daoliu, shocked and grave; and... Bibi Dong, whose expression kept shifting.

His eyes showed no ripples, as if he had grown numb to it all, leaving only boundless weariness and... aversion.

With difficulty, he raised a hand and gently grasped Guang Ling's sleeve. "Ling... let's go back..."

He didn't want to stay here anymore.

He didn't want to see that woman again, or get caught up in these suffocating conflicts and hatred.

He only wanted to leave, to get far away from this place that made him miserable.

Seeing Qian Qizhou like this, the Snow Empress's fury only intensified. She suddenly turned to Bibi Dong.

"Hmph!"

She snorted, raised her jade-like hand, and struck out at Bibi Dong from a distance.

A palm-shaped blast of ice-attribute Soul Power instantly appeared before Bibi Dong.

Bibi Dong froze, her pupils contracting as she hurriedly tried to retaliate.

"Boom—!!!"

On the way back, Guang Ling looked at the boy in his arms. Even unconscious, he seemed to be enduring tremendous pain. Guang Ling was filled with helplessness.

He sighed softly. "You really are a troublesome brat..."

"Every time, it's either you disappearing without a word, or you coming back covered in wounds, barely clinging to life."

"You were so well-behaved when you were little. How did you get into more and more trouble as you grew up..." Guang Ling muttered under his breath.

In such a short time, Qian Qizhou had already been hurt nearly more times than Guang Ling had been in his entire life.

As they neared the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Fengzhi and the Sword and Bone Douluo, who had already received word, hurried out to meet them.

When the three saw Qian Qizhou, once again gravely injured in Guang Ling's arms, their expressions changed drastically, and shock filled their eyes.

Seriously? How long had it been? How many times had this happened now? Why was he getting beaten up like this every day?

Ning Fengzhi sighed and immediately summoned the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda. Brilliant seven-colored light enveloped Qian Qizhou, healing his wounds.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

With Ning Fengzhi's full support, the wounds on Qian Qizhou's body had mostly healed.

The Snow Empress had also stabilized the chaotic Soul Power within him.

But he seemed to have lost his soul. Every day, he lay on his bed, unable to summon the slightest interest in anything.

His eyes remained open, but they were empty and lifeless, staring straight at the ceiling. He was like a delicate porcelain doll with no life in it.

Guang Ling stayed by his bedside every day, patiently trying to persuade him. He shared stories of what was happening across the continent and even brought up embarrassing things from Qian Qizhou's childhood.

But Qian Qizhou's gaze never wavered. He simply looked at him calmly.

The Ice Empress sometimes took human form and stood by the bed with her arms crossed, trying to encourage him in her own awkward way.

But Qian Qizhou still showed no reaction, as if her presence were no different from the air. This left the Ice Empress frustrated and strangely irritable.

Ning Fengzhi also came to visit often, bringing all kinds of rare medicinal ingredients and words of concern. But when he saw Qian Qizhou like that, all he could do was sigh helplessly.

A heart's wound could only be healed by the right medicine.

Everyone understood that Qian Qizhou's physical wounds had healed, but the wound in his heart... had festered and grown septic, rotting deep into his bones.

Now, he was like a lamp whose oil had run dry, nothing left but an empty shell.

This state left everyone who cared about him consumed with worry and utterly helpless.

Several more days passed in oppressive silence.

Qian Qizhou remained like a soulless puppet, deaf to everything around him, sunk in his own boundless darkness and despair.

Nothing could pierce that thick wall around his heart, built from pain and hopelessness.

Yet, deep in that lifeless stillness, amid the ruins of his frozen consciousness, a faint but remarkably tenacious flame began to flicker.

His father's remorse and death, his sister's disappearance, his mother's hatred, the shifting tides across the continent... All of it played over and over in his lifeless mind, like scenes in a revolving lantern.

Did it hurt?

Was he desperate?

Did he want to sink into it all and end everything once and for all?

Yes.

But... was he really going to let it end like this?

Why had all these things happened?

It was "Fate"...

Ei had said it was the "Fate" ordained by the Deities of this world.

Were they all characters on a stage, performing according to a script...?

Was he supposed to let those false Deities remain high above it all?

Let the people who cared for him and protected him keep worrying over him and risking their lives for him?

Let himself... rot away silently in this bed like a coward?

No!

An exceedingly faint anger, carrying a searing heat, suddenly sprang up from that frozen sea of despair!

Why?!

Why should he have to endure all this?!

Why should he give up like a failure?!

Why could those false Deities live carefree, freely deciding the script?!

He suddenly recalled the scene when Ei had appeared all those years ago.

He remembered Guang Ling's hands, trembling with panic as he carried him out of the Pope Palace.

He also remembered the Snow Empress's unwavering figure as she stood in front of him.

He couldn't fall!

He still had promises to keep and debts of gratitude to repay! He had to change all this!

"Ugh..."

An extremely hoarse groan suddenly escaped Qian Qizhou's cracked lips.

At his bedside, Guang Ling, who had been keeping watch all along, jerked his head up. In his eyes, an unbelievable light burst forth.