Lou Yunxiao gazed at Ning Ke's photograph in the mourning hall, the emotions accumulated inside him threatening to crush him.
Why... had he come too late again?
He had learned that the people in this world lived for a hundred years at most.
He had pleaded with Jiu Yuan on the Qianyuan Continent for over fifty years, then searched the Divine Realm for several more. He had finally managed to reach this world, yet still... he had not even seen A Ke one last time!
Dazed, Lou Yunxiao braced himself against the wall and looked up. He could see many people dressed in black coming to pay their respects to Ning Ke.
They went up one after another, forming a long line inside the funeral home and laying flowers beside Ning Ke, one stem at a time.
Lou Yunxiao followed them inside on unsteady feet, his gaze settling on Ning Ke's gaunt face. Like knives and axes, the years had worn the young man he once knew down to nothing but a frail skeleton.
Wrapped in burial clothes.
Old scars showed on the exposed skin.
Lou Yunxiao's pupils contracted at the sight. Instinctively, he reached out to touch him, only for someone behind him to catch his wrist.
"Please don't touch the body." Ning Xiao, now in her early seventies with graying hair, looked up at Lou Yunxiao. "I don't recognize you. Are you a fan of my brother's?"
Rather than answer, Lou Yunxiao asked, "Why... does he have so many scars?"
"Who hurt him?"
"Why are you asking about that?" Ning Xiao had spent the past two days crying over Ning Ke's death and was already in low spirits. Now she had to deal with someone as baffling as Lou Yunxiao.
She could not help saying, "Are you an