The Realm of the Living and the Dead, Living Toward Death

Bang!

Jiang Hao flew backward like a kite with its string cut, his back slamming into the jagged rockery behind him.

A muffled crash erupted. The tremendous impact tore through his organs, shattering his bones inch by inch.

Blood dripped from the claw covered in dark-red phoenix feathers onto the ancient blue-green flagstones, spreading into a shocking stain of scarlet.

Jiang Hao slid down helplessly, his head hanging low as he stared through blurred vision at his abdomen.

The warmth there was rapidly cooling as his blood drained away.

"Urgh..."

A muffled groan caught in his throat.

Jiang Hao slid down the rockery, his fate unknown.

A stab in the back!

The sudden turn of events stunned even Yan Shaozhe.

Though he was a Titled Douluo, he forgot to treat Jiang Hao at once. His instinct was to summon a vast surge of light-aspected Soul Power and press it down on Ma Xiaotao, who was on the verge of losing control.

"Xiaotao! Come to your senses!"

The light-aspected Soul Power entered her body like cold water poured into boiling oil.

Ma Xiaotao shuddered violently. The frenzied brutality in her blood-red eyes gradually faded, replaced by clarity—and terror.

The Evil Fire has fused completely! I'm finished!

The instant her awareness returned, memories flooded in like a tide.

She saw her hands covered in blood,

saw the organs she had torn out herself,

and saw Jiang Hao lying in a pool of blood, his chest barely rising.

She also saw what kept pouring from Jiang Hao's wound: not bright-red blood, but a strange, viscous black liquid.

"No... no!!"

Ma Xiaotao stumbled back half a step and threw her head back with a grief-stricken howl,

her voice as piercing as a wounded, solitary phoenix's.

"What have I done!!"

Yan Shaozhe watched her, a