Su Yueli frowned. Even this had not killed him?
She clenched her teeth and drove her Qi and Blood once more. The Fist Blade let out another hum.
Even if she had to burn another ten thousand years of her lifespan, she would pound this uncanny thing into dust.
Su Yueli stepped forward, the force of her punch already locking onto the desiccated corpse's head.
"Yueli... big sister..."
A voice so faint that a breath of wind seemed enough to scatter it squeezed out of that shriveled throat.
Su Yueli shuddered, forcibly stopping her half-thrown punch in midair.
The wind from her fist swept across the corpse's face, blowing aside the tangled hair matted with filthy blood.
Those eyes, once clouded with spite and despair, had actually regained a glimmer of clarity.
Within that clarity lay bewilderment, release, and a deep attachment that had endured across endless ages.
Su Yueli stared hard into those eyes, her pupils contracting sharply.
Motian Xing, the Fifteenth Realm Demon Venerable, would never have looked at her like that.
That look, that way of addressing her...
A name sealed deep within her memories, almost erased entirely by the years, suddenly surfaced in her mind.
"Shen Huai'an?"
Su Yueli could scarcely believe it. "You... didn't die?"
At that name, the corpse's lips twitched, as though he wanted to force out a smile. But his face had shriveled beyond any human semblance, and the expression looked worse than weeping.
"Cough..."
Shen Huai'an opened his mouth to speak, only to violently cough up a mouthful of foul black blood.
That cough drained the last thread of strength from his body. He went limp, about to fall back onto the scorching, charred earth.
Su Yueli stepped forward and caught his broken body.
Beneath her hands were only bones that