I'll Never Leave You! Never!

Lin Xia stretched out her fingers, carefully and with utmost care, gently brushing the edge of Bibi Dong's rapidly healing hands, avoiding the still-repairing wounds, her fingertips carrying the warmth of new life.

His movements were gentle, yet full of soothing power.

"Look."

Lin Xia's tone carried a childlike air of boasting and satisfaction.

"These are the most beautiful hands in the world, aren't they almost healed? If I were left with even a scar, I would become a sinner of the Spirit Hall, and Sister Qian Renxue would definitely blame me!"

Lin Xia tried to ease the atmosphere with lighthearted words, a sly smile in her eyes.

Bibi Dong's lips opened and closed several times.

Reason told her that she had to severely reprimand this self-destructive behavior!

He must understand the preciousness of his semen!

We must find out everything that's at the bottom of that spring!

However, when her gaze met Lin Xia's clear eyes, filled with genuine concern and affection for her, all the rebukes, all the majesty, and all the Pope's demeanor melted away instantly, like thin ice under the sun.

My heart was filled with an unprecedented Limber and bittersweetness, almost overflowing from my eyes.

All her tough exterior crumbled completely in this moment of reunion, after the Abyss almost truly losing him, in the face of his desperate attempt to heal her.

A long, heavy sigh, carrying endless complex emotions, escaped from Bibi Dong's lips.

In that sigh, there was helplessness, heartache, lingering fear, and even more so, an indescribable dependence that came from the depths of the soul.

She didn't scold him harshly again, nor did she pull her hand away. Instead, her right hand, which was less injured and healed faster, trembled slightly as she slowly raised it, and finally, with an almost reverent tenderness, she used her fingertips to very, very lightly touch Lin Xia's smooth and full forehead.

The fingertips still carried a slight tingling sensation from the wound, yet felt incredibly warm to the touch.

"You... you troublesome little brat..."

Bibi Dong's voice had completely changed. It was no longer the Pope's majestic and clear voice, nor the previous desperate roar, but a tender whisper that Lin Xia had never heard before, with a heavy nasal tone, Limber to the point of being fragile, yet containing a thousand words.

The call, like a feather gently tickling Lin Xia's heart, brought tears to his eyes.

The tears in Bibi Dong's purple eyes gathered again, this time not a surge of despair, but a release of some deeper and more profound emotions.

She gazed at Lin Xia, as if trying to etch his image into the deepest recesses of her soul, speaking each word with extreme slowness and clarity, carrying a heartfelt sincerity:

"Xiao Xia... remember this... remember it well..."

"Master... in this world... now... it really... it only has you and Xue'er left..."

Her voice choked with emotion; the dark past, buried deep in her heart and never fully revealed to anyone, now transformed into the deepest confession.

"It was you... you troublesome little brat... with the purest heart... little by little, you pulled Master out of that... cold, dark Abyss that only wanted to drag the whole world down with it..."

"You made Master realize... that in this world... besides hatred and power... there is still warmth worth protecting..."

Her fingers unconsciously caressed the slightly damp strands of hair on Lin Xia's forehead, the movement as gentle as if she were handling the most precious glass in the world.

"So..."

Bibi Dong's voice suddenly trembled uncontrollably and softened with an almost broken Limber; it was her most vulnerable plea, one she had never shown to anyone before.

"I promise, Master... I promise you!"

"From now on... no matter what you encounter! No matter what you want to do! No matter if what lies ahead is a mountain of knives and a sea of fire, or a deadly situation!"

Bibi Dong suddenly tightened her fingers, not with force, but with an almost desperate longing, gripping the fabric of Lin Xia's shoulder tightly.

"Never... do something like today... leave your master alone... to face that... that darkness of thinking you've lost me..."

The last few words, as thin as a spider's thread, carried a heavy sob in their voices, almost melting into the wind, yet striking Lin Xia's heart with tremendous force.

It was not a Pope's command, but a humble plea from a lonely soul, born of the very instinct of life, after grasping the only light.

She was no longer the empress who ruled the world, but just a wounded woman who was afraid of being abandoned again.

Lin Xia felt as if she had been hit hard in the chest, her chest aching and throbbing. A warm current mixed with a huge sense of responsibility surged through her body, instantly washing away all her playful thoughts.

Lin Xia clearly felt the heavy weight in Bibi Dong's words, the profound bond that transcended master and disciple and was almost like kinship, and the huge wound in her heart that had never truly healed.

Without hesitation, Lin Xia straightened her small spine. Her eyes, which had just undergone a divine transformation and contained the birth and death of stars, now shone with an unprecedented solemnity and determination, like the purest obsidian, reflecting Bibi Dong's tearful face.

"I know, Master!"

Lin Xia's voice was resolute, with the clear tone unique to young people, yet it contained a promise as firm as a rock.

"I, Lin Xia, swear to you!"

He extended his small hand, not as a courtesy from the Spirit Hall, but as if making the most precious promise, and gently covered the back of Bibi Dong, which was gripping his shoulder and was covered in wounds but rapidly healing.

"I will never abandon you! Never!"

Lin Xia's every word was firm and resounding.

"No matter what the future holds, no matter what we face, I will always be by your side! Just as you have always protected me!"

"I will become stronger! Strong enough to protect you, protect my senior sister, protect everyone in the Spirit Hall we care about! Strong enough... that I will never again make you worry about me, never make you shed tears for me!"

The boy's vow echoed in the silent valley, carrying a power that Infiltrator the heart.

Ivysaur seemed to sense the solemn atmosphere as well. The Four-Colored Light Wheel on its back shimmered, emitting a soft and warm glow that enveloped the embracing master and apprentice, like a silent witness and blessing.

Bibi Dong listened to the naive yet incredibly firm vow and saw the unwavering seriousness in Lin Xia's eyes, the taut string in her heart finally snapped and slowly relaxed.

A wave of exhaustion mixed with a profound sense of relief at having regained what she had lost swept over her tense nerves.

Tears fell silently again, this time not with the icy chill of despair, but with a scalding warmth.

She could no longer restrain herself, and opened her arms to embrace Lin Xia's small, yet seemingly infinitely potential body tightly, once again.

This embrace lacked the despair and madness of the past, leaving only a settled, deep-seated cherishing and reliance.

Her chin rested gently on Lin Xia's head, inhaling the cool spring water lingering in his hair and a faint, peculiar fragrance belonging to his newborn blood—the scent of life and hope.

The moonlight gently bathed them, the spring water whispered, and the Four-Colored Light Wheel in turn; time seemed to slow down and become eternal at this moment.

All the thrills, all the despair and ecstasy, settled and sublimated in this silent embrace, transforming into an unbreakable bond that transcends words.