" You!" Liu Feng snapped, slightly angered.
Prince Ying paid him no further attention, turning instead toward the white-robed youth before him.
Prince Ying looked at Su Mo, yet seemed not to see him... His expression was grief-stricken as he spoke hoarsely:
"You... carry her aura..."
"Could you... tell me... what you saw there?"
Who could have imagined that the mighty Prince Ying would speak with a note of pleading in his voice!
No sorrow was greater than a heart that had died...
The spring wind swept in, its chill biting!
It stirred Prince Ying's hair at his temples, sending the disheveled strands fluttering.
Su Mo watched the middle-aged man who had blocked that killing blow for him. The powerful aura emanating from him seemed bowed beneath a weight of sorrow. In his dim eyes, Su Mo saw a trace of pleading.
The sight was heartbreaking!
Su Mo sensed carefully and discovered an exceptionally familiar aura on Prince Ying as well!
Su Mo froze for a moment...
"You are..." Su Mo began, stunned.
"...A father who has lost his daughter..." At that moment, Prince Ying was no longer a prince of Great Hua, nor a genius of cultivation.
He was only a father, a father who had lost his beloved daughter...
"My daughter's name was..."
"...Tongtong!"
Boom!
Memories surfaced before Su Mo's eyes, instantly blurring his vision. They were of that sweet, thoughtful, yet pitiful child...
"Older Brother, I'm scared..."
"Older Brother, can you take me home?"
"Older Brother... I want... to hear... a song..."
Su Mo's eyes reddened as he looked up into the middle-aged man's eyes.
And those dim, lifeless eyes caught the change in Su Mo's expression too!
"You... saw... her?" Prince Ying asked, his voice trembling.
Su Mo nodded silently and took the Memory-River Spirit Jade from his robes. Light flowed across its surface...
Su Mo looked at this grief-stricken, utterly heartbroken man. He could let him see her one more time!
Within his memories...
Prince Ying froze at the sight. He understood Su Mo's intention: Su Mo wanted to let him see for himself...
Prince Ying instantly grew frightened and uneasy. He was afraid-afraid of seeing scenes he dared not face. Yet the chance to see Tongtong one last time was right before him. Agony twisted the father's expression. After a long, painful struggle, he drew a deep breath and nodded to Su Mo.
Silently, Su Mo raised his hand, holding the spirit jade between them.
The Memory-River Spirit Jade seemed to respond. Two rays of light flew out, linking the two men's spiritual senses.
In an instant, Prince Ying's consciousness sank into that memory of Su Mo's...
Beside them, Liu Cheng watched their actions with a dark expression. One hand supported Liu Feng, while the other secretly crushed a jade slip inside his sleeve...
The Memory-River Spirit Jade began working, and Su Mo's recollection began from the moment he encountered Tongtong's departed soul.
Tongtong's thoughtfulness... her sweetness... her endearing ways...
Tongtong's nursery rhyme...
Tongtong's fear and unease...
Tongtong's terror in the face of death...
Tongtong's regret as she faded away...
Through Ghost Communication, Su Mo experienced the feelings of departed souls as though he had lived through them himself. That was why he could empathize with them more deeply than others. It was not excessive sentimentality; he simply felt what they felt.
And after the Memory-River Spirit Jade began working, Prince Ying...
Sank into darkness...
Suddenly, light appeared. He saw a thin, black-clad Su Mo with a Heavy Crossbow strapped to his back, shivering in the darkness.
Then a tiny figure appeared and caught hold of Su Mo's ceaselessly trembling hand.
"Older Brother, I'm scared..."
"Older Brother, where are we? It's so dark here. I walked for so long... so long before I found you. There's nothing here... only darkness!"
That tiny figure was anxious and utterly terrified.
With a boom, Prince Ying felt as though lightning had struck him, leaving his mind blank.
"Tong... Tongtong..."
Prince Ying watched the tiny figure, his voice choking.
Prince Ying rushed forward, desperately trying to speak to the tiny figure.
Sadly, memories... could only ever be memories...
Memories were poison, tearing the heart apart!
Memories were clouds, pursued but never reached...
That pitiful little figure could not see him. No matter how wildly he shouted or flailed, she only clung fearfully to black-clad Su Mo's trembling hand...
His heart torn to shreds, Prince Ying slowly quieted. He stared at the little girl, not daring to miss a single glance, wanting to carve her into the depths of his soul...
"Older Brother, I want to go home... I sneaked out so long ago. If I don't go home soon, Father and Mother will worry..." the tiny figure said.
"Tong... tong..." Tears misted the towering man's eyes, their rims swelling.
"Older Brother, can you take me home?"
Within that darkness, little Tongtong looked up and asked...
"All right... Older Brother will take you home!"
Within that darkness, black-clad Su Mo took little Tongtong by the hand and led her out...
Prince Ying immediately stumbled after them.
He followed them out of the tunnel into a courtyard, where he saw three black-robed Foundation Establishment cultivators blocking their way.
Three Foundation Establishment cultivators barred those two frail figures' path home...
Prince Ying flew into a rage, wanting to kill those three cultivators.
But... those three cultivators were still only memories...
And memories could not be reached!
His fury accomplished nothing. Prince Ying stopped, trembling as he looked at those two frail, pitiful figures...
At those two figures halted in the rainy night.
Sorrow welled up within him...
"They... only wanted to go home..."
"They only wanted to go home..."
In the rainy night, black-clad Su Mo unleashed an uncanny power. It stripped the three Foundation Establishment cultivators of their ability to move, leaving their faces filled with terror.
Seeing the terror and unease on the three black-robed men's faces, Prince Ying laughed loudly, his eyes red.
A nursery rhyme rang out. The childish voice pierced the rainy night, echoing through this tiny world...
"That was... what her mother taught her..."
Black-clad Su Mo began dancing with little Tongtong in his arms, though his steps were somewhat strange.
Yet Prince Ying did not find them ugly in the slightest. Instead, he found them pleasing to watch.
Following the song, Prince Ying watched black-clad Su Mo's strange dance steps as he held little Tongtong in the rain, and slowly began dancing along with them.
One black-robed man fell dead, but Prince Ying could not be bothered to spare him a glance. His gaze remained fixed on the two children-one singing, the other holding her as he danced-afraid to miss even a moment.
Gradually, little Tongtong's singing grew intermittent, until it finally stopped...
The remaining two black-robed men fell dead!
"Tongtong feels so weak... Tongtong feels like... she can't go home anymore..." little Tongtong said...
Prince Ying drew close. Seeing little Tongtong so weak, he felt as though a knife were twisting in his heart!
"How could that be? Older Brother promised Tongtong... he'd take Tongtong home." Black-clad Su Mo lifted his head. There was not a single star in the vast, rainy night, only endless desolation...
"Older Brother is lying to... Tongtong... Tongtong... died long ago. How can Older Brother... take Tongtong... home?"
Little Tongtong's body grew dim, and strands of rain began passing through her to fall upon the ground!
A departed soul!
She was only a departed soul...
At those words, Prince Ying sank dazedly to the ground. The towering prince finally could no longer hold back, and two trails of bloody tears spilled from his eyes.
There was wind within the memory, and that remembered wind made Prince Ying tremble all over.
"Are you scared, Tongtong?" Black-clad Su Mo lowered his head and hugged little Tongtong tightly, pressing his cheek against her forehead.
"Tongtong... is very scared..."
"Tongtong is afraid Father and Mother will be sad and worried... when they can't find Tongtong..."
"Tongtong is afraid the other world will be pitch-black... Tongtong is most afraid of the dark..."
"Tongtong is also afraid there'll be nothing in the other world. Tongtong is most afraid of being alone, too..."
"Older Brother, tell me... what is the other world like?"
"When Grandma died, Mother said... the other world was very beautiful..." Little Tongtong hugged black-clad Su Mo's neck tightly.
Prince Ying watched little Tongtong shiver and tried to shield her from the cold wind with his body, but it was futile!
"Your mother was right. In the other world, there's more food than you could ever eat, and pretty little flowers everywhere."
"Everyone in the other world is kind. They'll treat Tongtong well, just like her father and mother..." black-clad Su Mo said softly.
Prince Ying watched black-clad Su Mo gently comfort little Tongtong, his heart filled with helpless agony.
"Older Brother... I want... to hear... a song..." Little Tongtong's voice grew ever weaker.
"All right!"
Black-clad Su Mo agreed.
An operatic melody rose, singing out the desolation that covered the ground...
As the opera's final notes fell, all vanished like smoke and scattered clouds...
Before you continue