"The danger Xiao Li and the other Xiao Clan members faced—it was all my fault for failing to protect them. I betrayed Brother Xiao Yan's trust. I wronged you..."
Xun Er's voice choked with sobs, filled with guilt and anguish that moved all who heard it. She even stood timidly some distance away from Xiao Yan, not daring to approach him.
"Xun Er never expected Brother Xiao Yan to forgive me. I only ask that you do not drive me away. The Heavenly Tomb is extremely dangerous this time! Let me stay by your side and make sure you return safely..."
It felt as though an invisible hand had viciously clenched Xiao Yan's heart, filling him with unbearable pain. He was not blind; he naturally understood the immense sacrifice Xun Er had made by publicly renouncing her identity as a member of the Ancient Clan and representing the Xiao Clan. Such devotion weighed too heavily for him to ignore.
He opened his mouth, but the comforting words, "None of this has anything to do with you," caught in his throat, impossible to say. Yet he could not bring himself to utter harsher reproaches either as he looked at Xun Er's tear-streaked face. His second brother's death and his clan's suffering pressed upon his chest, leaving him unable to offer Xun Er any warm response. There was only silence.
However, just as Xiao Yan and Xun Er fell silent, a disturbance arose from the Soul Clan's ranks.
"Cough, cough!"
At the front of the Soul Clan's group, the figure who had stood silently behind and to the side of Hun Yu, completely shrouded in a voluminous black robe, slowly stepped forward. The enormous robe concealed nearly his entire body. Yet this had previously drawn no suspicion, as the Soul Clan had