"Severing Flame is hard on the outside but soft within. To put it less kindly, it looks strong but is hollow inside. Its power is so great that it damages its own core, and in your case, what it damages is your lifespan."
In the Mirage Realm, Ling An did not keep moving. Instead, he wrote and drew in the snow.
Beside him, Short Li crouched quietly and listened.
"Then will I die very young?" Short Li asked.
"What, are you scared?"
"I'm not scared. Those Tacet Discords, and the Exiles... if I don't use my power, I'll die." Short Li shook her head, her voice firm.
At her young age, she had already witnessed life's cruelty far too early.
Partings and deaths were sights she had long grown used to.
From her, Ling An learned what had happened here.
The Tacet Discord Tide had resurged and slaughtered everyone in Short Li's village, while she had secretly been hidden away beforehand in a secluded corner of the village.
Fortunately, the Tacet Discord Tide had not killed her.
Unfortunately, by the time she emerged, she was the only one left of the village's several hundred households.
How was a girl like her supposed to survive in this snowy land, where Tacet Discords ran rampant and Exiles burned, killed, and pillaged?
Just imagining it, Ling An felt despair on her behalf.
But she had survived.
The price was constantly burning through her lifespan to force out a Severing Flame she had yet to master.
Trading away her vanishing future for survival in the present.
It was tragic, heartbreaking.
Ling An rested his broad palm on her head and ruffled her hair. "Once you've mastered Severing Flame, it'll naturally consume less of your lifespan."
"I can practice!" Short Li clenched her little fists