Master, Can I... Hug You? (3.1K)

The boy's consciousness jolted awake from his coma, his eyes flying open—but this was his last moment of awareness.

The pigtail-braided girl in the Bronze Mask leaped forward and struck both men on the crowns of their heads with her palms. They died at once.

Whoosh...

The Rule Puppet merged into heaven and earth, vanishing from sight.

The girl stood where she was and instinctively reached a small hand toward where the puppet had disappeared. Her lips parted, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

Though she knew it was merely an embodiment of this place's rules, incapable of speaking or answering her, she still could not help wanting to call out to it.

To ask when her master would return.

Or, if he was here, when he would come out and see her.

Chapter 36: Master, Can I... Hug You? (3.1K)

Whoosh...

Amid the wind and sand.

The pigtail-braided girl lowered her hand and looked toward where the Rule Puppet had vanished, pursing her lips, which were full of the taste of rust.

This was not the first time she had seen such a Rule Puppet, nor was it the first time she had wanted to ask it that question.

But the Rule Puppets always disappeared too quickly, and every time, she failed to ask before they were gone.

She did not stand there for long. Silently, she cleaned up the battlefield, gathered the spoils and erased the traces of battle, then dragged the corpses into the hidden corner where she often stayed.

Thud...

After finishing all this, Li Qingjue could no longer hold on. She collapsed to the ground, without even the strength to move a finger.

Under the Bronze Mask, blood continuously trickled from the corner of her mouth.

Another day alive...

She sat cross-legged and adjusted her breathing for a while. Once she felt somewhat better, she painfully shifted her gaze toward the three... no, two corpses and the pile of mush.

At this moment, there was no joy of victory in her eyes, only icy, deathly stillness.

To her, those corpses were not corpses at all. They were merely resources for making herself stronger.

Things, nothing more...

She needed their Origin to continuously strengthen herself.

However, just as she circulated the demonic art and tried to devour and refine all the remaining Origin within that pile of mush first—

A faint sigh seemed to cross the ages, carrying an indescribably complex emotion as it softly sounded beside her ear.

"Alas..."

The sigh was soft, yet it exploded within her nearly numb state of mind like thunder, stirring up monstrous waves.

The evil flood dragon that had recently emerged above the surface of her heart, often swimming about and poking its head out, seemed to be frightened by something and instantly dove back down.

Li Qingjue's petite body suddenly stiffened. She froze where she stood, as if someone had cast a binding spell on her.

Naturally, she was not unfamiliar with that voice.

Once, she had felt that its owner was too strict and too demanding toward her. Later, through certain details, she came to feel that he treated her well, that he merely had a sharp tongue but a soft heart...

Later still, she had grown accustomed to that faint tone and stern manner.

Until the day they parted, when she could no longer hear it.

Over the past year and more, she had silently hoped countless times that this voice would once again sound in her ear as it did now.

Was I hearing things?

"Could the demonic art have already corroded my mind... Have I lost control...?"

Still dazed, Li Qingjue incredulously turned her neck little by little, looking toward where the voice had come from.

Her movements were exceedingly slow, as if she feared that when she saw the source of the voice, there would be nothing there, and it would prove to be another illusion.

However.

This was clearly different from the illusions that had appeared whenever loneliness surged within her before.

When she completely turned around, she saw an illusory yet incomparably familiar figure silently appear not far away.

Though he was only a remnant soul, he still exuded a towering presence, an aura that made her feel utterly at ease as it washed over her little face.

His eyes remained as deep as a sea of stars. Meeting his gaze, she felt as if everything about her had been seen through.

It really was Master!!

It really was Tan Lin...

He simply stood there, his illusory figure seeming as though it had existed there since time immemorial.

At this moment, his deep gaze calmly fell upon Li Qingjue's petite body, covered in wounds and blood, before finally sweeping over the Bronze Mask concealing her face.

"M-Master?!"

Under the Bronze Mask, Li Qingjue's voice trembled uncontrollably.

Tears welled in her eyes, blurring her vision.

Yet over the past year, aside from when she had found her brother's remains within Cang Yuhang's Feather Artifact, no matter how severe or painful her injuries had been, tears had never appeared in her eyes.

But now, she truly could not control her emotions. Her nose stung with soreness.

When she had first entered the tower, she had thought Master would return within a few days after their parting. Yet she had waited for one year, three months, and seven days!

During that time, she had accumulated too many questions and too many experiences she wanted to share with him.

She had wanted Master to witness every transformation of her Mortal Body.

Every trial, every time she had grown stronger—if she could receive even a word of approval from Master, then no amount of suffering or exhaustion would matter.

"Master, this disciple has disappointed you. I think... I'm crying again..."

Li Qingjue removed the Bronze Mask. Her small face was tear-streaked and miserable. She wanted to smile brightly at Tan Lin, but her voice was still choked with sobs, making her even more dejected.

She remembered that on the day after the Relay Station Incident, she had sworn before Tan Lin that she would never cry again in this life.

But it seemed she had failed to keep that promise...

Thinking of this, she gently bit her lower lip, dissatisfied with herself. She lowered her head before Tan Lin, as if waiting for his criticism.

Perhaps she had long forgotten that, even now, she was only an eleven-year-old girl. It was perfectly normal for her to be unable to control her emotions.

Even Great Emperors and Ancient Emperors would shed tears at certain times when they thought of sorrowful people or sorrowful events.

Whoosh...

Tan Lin's remnant soul slowly drifted closer. His gaze passed over the corpses beside her, lingering for a moment on the pile of mush in particular.

He fell silent for a moment and looked at Li Qingjue. He had wanted to say that she had already done very well, but when the words reached his lips, he merely said faintly,

"A year apart, and you've barely made some progress. You've also become more ruthless."

His calm tone made it impossible to tell whether he was praising or criticizing her.

His tone was so indifferent, as if he were evaluating something that had absolutely nothing to do with him, as if the girl hanging her head before him was not his disciple at all.

Even so, Li Qingjue keenly caught a faint, extremely faint trace of some other emotion in his words.

As for what kind of emotion it was, she could not grasp it for the moment. Still, she guessed that she had not done too badly...

With that thought, Li Qingjue cautiously raised her head and looked up at Tan Lin.

"Master... You've been gone for so long. This disciple... missed you..."

Her cracked lips moved. A thousand words, endless grievances, all the hardships she had endured along the way, and every day of longing ultimately became only this one cry, tinged with a faint sob.

At that moment, all her strength, all her disguises, all her protective layers crumbled the instant she saw Tan Lin.

At that moment, she seemed to return to being that little girl in the abandoned brick kiln, with nothing at all except the Bronze Ring she clutched tightly.

At that moment, what ruthlessness?

What coldness?

What viciousness...

All of it temporarily receded at this moment of reunion.

Seeing this, a slight ripple passed through Tan Lin's deep eyes.

Naturally, he could sense the genuine emotion in the girl's expression and words. But he would not express too much. At this moment, a slight nod to her was already his greatest response.

However, the girl's next request truly left him unsure how to respond.

"Master, can I... hug you?"

Li Qingjue's clear eyes were filled with the pure affection and yearning she felt for an elder and loved one. Looking at Tan Lin, she asked uneasily.

Tan Lin's remnant soul remained silent, his expression indifferent as he gave no response at all.

Rustle... rustle...

Wind and sand swept everywhere, and this hidden corner fell silent for a moment.

"Can't I...?"

Li Qingjue pursed her lips, disappointment and dejection flashing through her eyes. At some point, she had begun to see him as another family member besides her brother.

Though Master was strict and cold, during the days he had been with her, her heart had never felt too burdened.

In the silence, she slowly held up the Bronze Mask she had been wearing on her face lately and softly said to Tan Lin,

"Master, I know you made this. This disciple..."

"You talk too much!"

Before she could finish, Tan Lin coldly interrupted her.

"It is merely an artifact that conceals one's aura and appearance. If there is nothing else, then do what you should be doing."

After speaking, Tan Lin's remnant soul turned into a wisp of green smoke and entered the void within the ring where it had remained for nearly a million years.

Three months had passed since his clash with Formless, Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao's incarnation.

Over those three months, he had traveled throughout the Big Dipper, recovering and merging the fragments of his true soul scattered outside.

Now that he had returned to the Drill Tower, he had naturally completed that step, at least roughly.

Next, once his remnant soul had stabilized and he had rested for a while to recover from the damage to a wisp of his remnant soul's consciousness caused by entering and leaving Undying Mountain, he could begin stripping away the last batch of true soul fragments remaining here.

Because those fragments had fused into the bodies of certain monsters, he had previously used them as eyes, ears, and pawns.

Later, when he prepared to depart for the Central Plains for one final attempt, he would retrieve them regardless of whether those pawns still held any value.

After all, whether his remnant soul was complete directly affected the process of reincarnation and unraveling the mystery within the womb.

"Too talkative... But it's been so long since we met. Nannan really wanted to talk to you more, Master..."

Outside, Li Qingjue stared blankly at the Bronze Ring in her palm.

Seeing Tan Lin's remnant soul take shelter within the ring once more, she "felt" the ring become a little heavier, and an inexplicable sense of reassurance rose in her heart.

Though she knew that the ring's weight had not changed at all. It was only her illusion.

"Do what I should be doing... Right, do what I should be doing. No matter what, Master has returned..."

As she murmured, her gaze shifted back to the corpses beside her.

She sat cross-legged with her five centers facing heaven, and the rudimentary form of the Heaven Devouring Demonic Art quietly began to circulate.

Whoosh...

At that very moment, Tan Lin's remnant soul silently reappeared from within the ring.

He raised a finger and pointed through the air. A wisp of Clear Radiance shot from his fingertip and entered Li Qingjue's brow.

Li Qingjue's body trembled, and she moved to rise.

"Do not open your eyes. Close them, focus your mind, and carefully comprehend the ancient scripture I am passing on to you."