Sacrifice

"Little rabbit."

Bibi Dong's voice was soft, yet it carried a lofty disdain.

"It's over."

With that, she extended her hand.

That hand was fair and slender, its fingertips wreathed in an eerie green light.

The Death Spider Emperor's Soul Power gathered in her palm, its terrifying poison enough to claim a Title Douluo's life in an instant.

Ah Rou couldn't move.

She couldn't even blink.

She could only watch helplessly as that hand slowly approached.

That hand would pierce her chest.

It would tear out her heart.

It would end her life.

Ah Rou's heart sank to the depths at that moment.

She knew it was all over.

She wouldn't be able to wait for Xiao Wu and the others.

Nezha in her arms wouldn't survive either.

In the end, she had failed to protect this child.

He hadn't even obtained his first Soul Ring yet. He hadn't eaten enough of the meals she made. He hadn't grown up.

She would never see what he looked like when he grew up.

No.

That wasn't right.

Ah Rou's thoughts suddenly trembled.

Within that absolute stillness, a thought flashed through her mind like lightning.

There was still a chance.

There was still a way.

Nezha could still live.

Ah Rou steeled herself. In that state of Absolute Still Domain, the Soul Power frozen throughout her body surged wildly under the drive of her will, like boiling magma.

Using her life as fuel and her soul as flame.

A myriad of red rays suddenly erupted from her body.

That was—

A blood-red radiance.

Wherever the red light passed, the restraints of the Two Extremes Still Domain shattered inch by inch, and the gold-and-silver halo let out a shrill hum.

That red light was too tyrannical, too blazing, like a blood-red sun rising above the Star Dou Forest.

All stillness was broken.

Falling leaves began spinning once more.

Bent blades of grass began swaying again.

The bird frozen in midair flapped its wings again. Yet the instant it regained its freedom, it instinctively fled into the distance, as though it had sensed some immense terror.

Yue Guan and Gui Mei were both jolted by the red light and spat out blood. Their bodies flew backward in opposite directions like kites with snapped strings before crashing heavily onto the ground.

The backlash from having their Martial Soul Fusion Skill forcibly broken instantly weakened their auras by more than half.

And now, amid the red light filling the sky, everything fell still once again.

But this time, it wasn't the restraint of the Two Extremes Still Domain.

It was a deeper kind of absolute stillness, one that touched the soul itself.

The eerie green attack Bibi Dong had unleashed halted in midair, unable to advance another inch.

Yue Guan and Gui Mei's bodies froze at the exact instant they hit the ground.

The distant Soul Douluos and Soul Sages remained locked in their chasing poses.

Everyone's consciousness was stopped at that very moment.

This was the true power of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

Especially when—

She had already burned her own life energy.

Ah Rou's entire body had turned red.

It was a crystalline dark red, like a ruby steeped in ten thousand years of time.

The clothes on her body turned to ash beneath the searing red light, revealing her flawless, translucent body.

Every inch of her skin was clear as red crystal, every curve a masterpiece carved by heaven and earth.

But no one could see this scene.

Because the instant the red light appeared, everyone around her had stopped as well—their consciousness included.

Bibi Dong included.

Yue Guan and Gui Mei included.

Ah Rou lowered her head and looked at Nezha in her arms.

She had found this child in a pile of fallen leaves in the Star Dou Forest.

Three Heads and Six Arms—his own father had deemed him a monster and thrown him into the forest to die.

She still remembered how he had looked then: tiny, ugly, his six eyes filled with fear and confusion.

But when she picked him up, all six eyes had quieted at once and stared blankly at her.

At that moment, Ah Rou's heart softened.

She knew she had picked up trouble.

A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast undergoing Transformation and carrying around a human infant—no matter how she thought about it, it wasn't suitable.

But she kept him anyway.

Then, in the blink of an eye, six years had passed.

He would call her "Aunt Rou" in his childish voice.

He would clumsily use all six hands to help her pick wild fruit.

When she cooked, he would sit quietly beside her, looking at her as though she were the most important person in the world.

When she stayed up late reading, he would quietly bring her a cup of water, then pretend he hadn't done anything.

He had only just awakened Innate Full Soul Power. His Martial Soul was the Three-Headed Six-Armed Dharma Body, a top-tier Martial Soul.

She hadn't even had the chance to find his first Soul Ring yet.

She had even promised to hunt a Soul Beast over five hundred years old for him.

She had broken her promise.

Ah Rou gently set Nezha down and cradled his face in both hands.

She looked at him. There was no fear in her eyes, no resentment—only endless reluctance and tenderness.

"Nezha."

Her voice was as soft as a spring breeze.

"Aunt Rou has to leave first."

"You have to live well."

With that, she lowered her head and left a kiss on Nezha's forehead.

The kiss was light, as light as a feather falling upon water.

Then red flames ignited from Ah Rou's body.

They weren't ordinary flames.

They were an exceptionally special Blood Flame, erupting from every pore of Ah Rou's body from within.

Its fuel was her blood.

Her life.

Her cultivation of one hundred thousand years.

The Blood Flame burned ever more fiercely, gradually deepening from pale red to a dark crimson like blood.

And Ah Rou's body gradually became transparent amid the burning.

She stood there, surrounded by Blood Flame, her entire body like a piece of red crystal melting away.

More and more transparent.

More and more transparent.

A gentle smile remained on her face, and her gaze never left Nezha's face.

All the red light slowly began to contract.

It transformed into a massive red ring that enveloped Ah Rou and Nezha within it.

The ring slowly rotated, emitting a grand and tragic wave of energy.

The blood-red light grew brighter and brighter.

Within that radiance, Ah Rou's body turned into countless tiny red motes. They scattered like fireflies, then gathered together again in midair.

They condensed into a dazzling red Soul Ring.

It was a Soul Ring.

A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

And beside that Soul Ring, a crystalline red Soul Bone slowly took shape.

It was a left arm bone, entirely translucent, as if carved from the purest ruby, with a faint blood-red glow flowing across its surface.

A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.

The Absolute Still Domain formed by the burning Blood Flame gradually began to weaken.

The first thing to return was the consciousness of everyone within its range.

Bibi Dong's eyes blinked.

Yue Guan and Gui Mei's pupils focused again.

The distant Soul Douluos and Soul Sages came to their senses as if waking from a dream.

They all saw that sight.

That Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring hovered in midair, radiating a deep crimson light that drove every soul master mad.

That Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone floated silently beside the Soul Ring, clear as red crystal and breathtakingly beautiful.

And Ah Rou—

Was already gone.