A waning moon rose over the mountaintop, spreading silver light through the mountain woods.
Amid its shimmering, wavering glow, another year had passed.
Su Mo grew ever weaker, spending far more time lying asleep in bed than awake...
His Divine Sense, his vitality, and his soul power were all being consumed by some unknown Power of Rules. Now he was already at death's door.
Prince Ying and his wife, Little Girl, and Luo Yin kept close vigil at Su Mo's bedside. Watching him barely clinging to life, all four remained silent.
They did not know what Su Mo was plotting. No matter how they pressed him, Su Mo would not tell them.
Yet they could see that whatever Su Mo was plotting or setting in motion, he could no longer hold on...
Su Mo's scheme had exceeded the limits of what he himself could bear.
A scheme nearly nine years in the making had drained all of Su Mo's vitality and cultivation. Yet they did not know what purpose it served... They knew that for a scheme laid by Su Mo with his Inquiry Realm cultivation to exhaust everything he had, it must be truly terrifying.
Only, he himself seemed unable to wait for it any longer.
Little Girl lay in Su Mo's arms, filled with countless unanswered questions. Pressed tightly against his chest, she murmured to him in a daze, "Older Brother, you said you wouldn't leave me, didn't you?"
But Su Mo gave no response. He had only sunk into the sleep of one at death's door.
Su Mo's breathing grew fainter and fainter, and the warmth of his body had long since vanished. Lying against him, Little Girl felt that his body was somewhat cold.
The dim candlelight beside them swayed like Su Mo's vitality, wavering before