Jade Phosphorous Fades, Grandfather and Granddaughter Fall Silent; Icefire Spring Grows Cold, No One Returns

When the flow of time returned to normal.

The lingering glow of the setting sun spilled across the ruins, dyeing the entire land blood-red.

Dugu Bo's once-proud head erupted in a torrential spray of blood as it soared into the air.

His head tumbled through the air, tracing a chilling arc.

"Gurururu..."

Dugu Bo's head rolled heavily onto the ground.

The once-unrivaled Poison Douluo had ultimately become a sacrifice to the changing of the times.

In the distance,

Dugu Yan, held captive by Porcupinefish Douluo, witnessed the scene with her own eyes.

Overwhelming grief tore apart her mind, and Dugu Yan let out an incomparably shrill scream.

"Grandpa!!!"

Scalding tears mixed with snot poured down her face.

Dugu Yan collapsed to the ground, weeping as though her heart had been torn apart.

As for that severed head lying amid the ruins, though all life had completely left it and its consciousness had sunk into eternal darkness,

those serpent eyes, glowing with an eerie green light, remained wide open.

They stared in the direction where Dugu Yan was being held.

From the corners of the severed head's eyes, two glaring red streaks slowly seeped out, whether poisonous blood or bloody tears, no one knew.

Carrying endless attachment, concern, and unfulfilled regrets for his granddaughter, they froze into an eternal unwillingness to let go.

There was no longer a Poison Douluo in this world, only a pair of sorrowful serpent eyes that could not let go even in death.

The battle came to an end.

Snake Lance Douluo She Long and Porcupinefish Douluo Ci Xue slowly withdrew their Soul Power.

The two released Dugu Yan from the pressure binding her.

For a mere Soul King with a cultivation level barely above fifty, the two Titled Douluo had no concern that she could escape beneath their very eyes.

"Grandpa!!!"

The despairing girl, freed from her restraints, let out a piercing scream.

Dugu Yan staggered toward the muddy ruins that had become scorched earth.

Scalding poisonous blood and shattered stones tore through her skirt.

Ignoring the wounds covering her body, she scrambled through the mud on all fours.

Deep within the Icefire Yin-Yang Well, there was no longer the sacred land of immortal herbs overflowing with fragrance.

All that entered her sight were broken walls and shattered ruins cleaved apart by lethal sword qi.

And an icy, headless corpse lying in a pool of bloody mud.

The jade-green robe had long been shredded by blood.

That was her grandfather, Dugu Bo, the Poison Douluo who had once roamed the continent unhindered and cherished her like a priceless jewel.

Dugu Yan's mind went blank as her whole body fell into the pool of blood.

Like a madwoman, she clawed at the surrounding mud and rubble with both hands.

She was searching for her grandfather's head.

Her nails broke and blood streamed from her hands, yet she felt nothing.

There was nothing in the ruins but cold poisonous mud.

The desperate girl could only clutch Dugu Bo's cold, headless body tightly.

"No... Grandpa..."

Her mournful cry tore through the deathly silent valley.

Images of her grandfather gently stroking her hair flashed rapidly before her eyes.

That towering figure who had always protected her had now become this cold corpse, separated from head and body.

The cruelty of reality, like an immense mountain, completely crushed her mental defenses.

"Tsk tsk, what touching affection between grandfather and granddaughter."

Qian Sha Yu tilted his head.

Holding the Slaughter Blood Sword that radiated an eerie crimson glow, he looked down impassively at the sobbing Dugu Yan below.

"Little girl, don't glare at me like that."

"If you must blame someone, blame your grandfather for serving the wrong master."

The mocking words pierced Dugu Yan's ears like steel needles.

Her extreme grief and violent emotional turmoil instantly triggered the Jade Phosphorous Serpent venom that had lain dormant in her body for years.

The violent toxin rampaged through her meridians like a wild horse breaking free of its reins.

"Argh!!!"

A heart-piercing, bone-scraping agony swept through her entire body.

Purple-black poisonous blood continuously flowed from her seven orifices.

Her flesh endured endless torment.

Her heart fell into despair.

The dual hellish suffering forcefully forged the girl's former fragility and sobbing into a twisted, frenzied rage.

She raised her face, stained with purple-black poisonous blood.

She stared fixedly at the blood-haired killing god "Qian Renxue" in the sky, with blood-red wings and a demonic sword in his hand.

Wiping away the bloodied tears at the corners of her eyes, Dugu Yan's pupils glimmered with an eerie, lifeless jade green and blood red.

"Qian Renxue!"

"You cruel demon!"

She clutched Dugu Bo's head tightly, her voice hoarse like the wail of an evil ghost.

"I curse you!"

"Even if I become a vengeful ghost, I will never let you go!"

"Even if I am denied rebirth for eternity, I will devour your flesh alive, drink your blood thirstily, and drag you down with me into Avici Hell!"

Every word was mixed with bloody foam from the venom's backlash, vicious to the extreme.

Hearing that utterly venomous oath, Qian Sha Yu merely curled his lips into a cold, wicked smile.

His gaze was as calm as if he were looking at a wailing dead thing.

Pity?

Sympathy?

Such useless emotions did not exist in his dictionary.

Toward hatred, he possessed only the purest, absolute indifference.

Deep within the Sea of Spirit, Qian Renxue's true soul could not help but speak a warning.

"Qian Sha Yu, she's only a minor Soul King who has lost her support, and she's deeply poisoned with little time left to live. There's no need to..."

"Shut up, you softhearted saintly bitch!"

Qian Sha Yu interrupted coldly within their consciousness.

"If you don't uproot the weeds, they'll grow back when the wind blows."

"My dictionary has no habit of leaving foreshadowing for the protagonist."

"Never mind that she's a Soul King. Even if she were an ordinary person incapable of cultivation, a helpless five-year-old child, as long as her eyes held hatred for me, she would have to be reduced completely to ashes."

"The proper way is to deny even an enemy's chance at reincarnation!"

Qian Sha Yu's figure vanished from where he stood in the blink of an eye.

A crimson rainbow streaked across the sky.

Without any warning!

Without allowing any time to react!

"I... urgh!"

Dugu Yan's venomous curse had not even left her throat, and her eyes still held hysterical arrogance.

"Pfft!"

A cold red gleam had already pierced through her chest.

The Slaughter Blood Sword entered through her chest and emerged from her back.

The bone-chilling destructive sword intent shredded her heart and every meridian in a single second.

"!!!"

Dugu Yan's pupils contracted violently.

She lowered her head in disbelief and looked at the enormous crimson sword embedded in her chest.

This fiend did not even bother with a single word of nonsense!

He did not even give her the chance to finish cursing him!

Qian Sha Yu gripped the hilt expressionlessly and pulled.

The Slaughter Blood Sword left her body.

Its blade was smooth as a mirror, without even a trace of warm blood clinging to it.

Such was the height of cruelty.

"Interrupting others is impolite, but killing an enemy requires no nonsense."

Qian Sha Yu sheathed his sword, his teasing tone sending chills down one's spine.

Her life force was forcibly torn away.

The agony of her ruptured heart made Dugu Yan's entire body convulse violently.

The towering hatred in her eyes suddenly froze, turning into deep helplessness and despair.

The blood oath of revenge she had just sworn seemed so laughable and pale before the absolute disparity in strength.

Her unavenged blood feud was forever halted at this moment.

The light in her eyes completely vanished, and she died with them still open.

Her unsupported body slumped limply.

She crashed heavily into the mud, face down, landing beside her grandfather Dugu Bo's cold, headless corpse.

The bright red blood of the girl mingled with the purple-black poison in the muddy pit.

At the final moment before her consciousness completely returned to eternal night,

within the depths of her mind, now incapable of thought, beyond the regret of her failed revenge, an exceedingly faint sense of relief arose.

She no longer had to endure the agony of venom ravaging her meridians like ten thousand ants gnawing at her bones.

She no longer had to wander alone and helpless after losing her only family.

Nor did she have to bear the suffocating burden of a revenge that could never be accomplished.

This was fine too...

At last, she could follow the only grandfather in the world who had truly loved her and sink with him into this eternal silence.

Jade Phosphorous faded, and grandfather and granddaughter both fell silent.

The Icefire Spring grew cold, and no one would ever return.