In a white snowy plain, a white light burst from the ground, and a black shadow appeared in its center.
Then Su Ming appeared and landed softly on the ground before turning toward the formation. "Guys!"
At the same moment, Liu Yan appeared, followed by Liu Yin.
After moments of traveling through the formation, they found themselves in a vast snowy plain, where cold winds blew mercilessly. Su Ming, Liu Yan, and Liu Yin looked around anxiously.
Where were Wang Fei and Zhang Yong?
At that moment, the space before them trembled slightly, and Zhang Yong suddenly appeared, falling weakly onto the snow.
He was very pale, his breathing intermittent, but he was alive. He crawled quickly and began digging frantically in the snow, searching for the teleportation formation before it closed. "Big Brother... Big Brother!"
Zhang Yong screamed in a hoarse voice as he dug into the snow with his trembling hands, but the formation had completely disappeared. Nothing remained but the cold snow and the howling wind.
Su Ming quickly approached him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Zhang Yong, calm down! Your wounds are severe!"
Zhang Yong refused Su Ming's attempt to stop him and continued digging with his hands until they were stained with blood. "You don't understand! Big Brother pushed me into the formation and destroyed it from the other side! He stayed to face that thing alone!"
Liu Yan's and Liu Yin's expressions froze. They had seen the power of that mysterious man with their own eyes. Even Zhang Yong had reached the brink of death before him. What chance did Wang Fei have of surviving alone?
"What?" Liu Yan's eyes widened before her mind felt a hammer blow. Liu Yan completely collapsed, falling to her knees in the snow, crying bitterly. "This can't be true... he..."
Liu Yin stood there in shock before some moisture appeared on her blindfold. Her eyes were wet, and she pressed her lips tightly together to prevent herself from crying.
Zhang Yong began digging more. The feeling of helplessness he hadn't felt in a long time washed over his heart once again. He had planned everything, but he never expected Wang Fei to sacrifice himself in this way.
Originally, he had planned to sacrifice himself. That person was after him. Why did Wang Fei have to pay the price for his mistakes!
Su Ming approached and grabbed Zhang Yong's arm firmly. "Stop! Even if you dig until you reach rock, you won't bring him back! The formation is destroyed!"
Zhang Yong looked at Su Ming with red eyes full of pain and anger. "But he... for my sake—" However, when he looked at Su Ming, his eyes were also brimming with tears.
Su Ming's sad and angry look at the same time stopped him
Everyone was suffering, not just him.
The scene pierced Zhang Yong's heart like arrows. He looked at their faces before gritting his teeth. The pain was not his alone. They had all lost someone dear.
He slowly pulled his hand from Su Ming's grip. Before Zhang Yong clutched his chest, he felt his chest tighten and breathing became difficult.
'Why...'
At that moment, new curses began to condense from the pain, and new black symbols began to form in his soul.
'Why...'
Zhang Yong felt a severe burning, then his hand rose to his neck and began to squeeze.
'Why did I have to be alive...'
Zhang Yong was suffocating. It wasn't his hands around his neck—although he was indeed choking himself—it was a sensation like an icy weight pressing on his throat from within.
Tears flowed silently down his cheeks, mixing with the bloodstains on his hands. He hadn't cried like this since... since forever.
Since that day he lost everything.
'No... I can't die now, or everything will be for nothing... his sacrifice will be for nothing.'
Zhang Yong pressed on his knees and raised his body with difficulty, then turned and looked at his companions with a gaze that was a mixture of despair and... something else, something darker.
"Su Ming, help Liu Yin. I'll carry Liu Yan. We can't stay here..."
Zhang Yong's voice was hoarse and full of unbearable pain, but it carried a strange determination.
Su Ming looked at him with tear-reddened eyes, then nodded slowly.
There was no time for grief. The biting cold and howling wind threatened all their lives.
Zhang Yong lifted Liu Yan, who was crying silently, her body trembling from the cold and shock.
He carried her carefully, while Su Ming helped Liu Yin, whose face was pale.
They began walking through the deep snow. Each step sank into the snow. The biting winter wind pierced their thin clothes, but the cold in their hearts was harsher.
After an hour of exhausting walking, the outline of a small cave appeared on the horizon in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't deep, but it was enough to shelter them from the snowstorm that had begun to threaten.
"There!" Su Ming shouted, pointing toward the cave.
They entered the cave, which was cold but free of the raging winds. Zhang Yong gently placed Liu Yan on the ground, while she slid against the rocky wall.
Silence fell over the place, with no one able to speak.
Within Zhang Yong's Sea of Spirit, Bing Di simply sighed. "This is utterly disgusting."
Ling Xi stared into the void for a moment before returning to the screen. "We can't do anything even if we wanted to."
Murasama looked at Yami before saying, "Did you do something just now?"
Yami looked away and said, "What makes you say that?"
Murasama's gaze narrowed at him, his look sharp. "No need to hide it. You manipulated his emotions again, didn't you? At first it was fear that you took from him , And now what?"
Yami closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "All I did was reduce his desire to commit suicide. Otherwise, if I had left him, Naoto would have been dead several times by now. But don't tell the other two."
In the cave, the atmosphere was cold and silent. Nothing could be heard but their intermittent breaths and the howling wind outside.
Liu Yan sat curled up on herself, sometimes crying silently and sometimes staring into the void. Liu Yin sat beside her, holding her sister's hand, but her expression was devoid of any emotion.
Su Ming stood at the cave's entrance, staring into the snowstorm outside, his fists clenched.
As for Zhang Yong, he sat in the deepest part of the cave, his back against the cold rocky wall.
His red eyes were open but unfocused. He felt something inside him expanding with every breath.
The new curses in his soul were accumulating, and soon the number of curses reached one hundred.
For a moment, Zhang Yong's gaze became more solid before his red eye gleamed with a different light. He had activated his Heavenly Eye.
With his vision spanning thousands of miles, far from their current location, there was a somewhat distant village.
He looked at his companions, frozen from grief and cold, and sighed deeply.
"There's a village a few miles from here," Zhang Yong said in a hoarse but firm voice. "We can find shelter there."
Su Ming turned slowly, his eyes slightly red from pain and exhaustion. "Are you sure?"
Zhang Yong nodded. "Yes. It's not far. If we hurry, we can get there quickly."
Zhang Yong rose slowly, ignoring the pain in his body. He walked toward Liu Yan and bent before her. "Sister Liu Yan, I know you're sad, but we must move. Big Brother... wouldn't want to see you like this."
Liu Yan raised her head, her eyes swollen from crying. She looked at Zhang Yong for a moment, then nodded slowly. She knew he was right.
Zhang Yong helped Liu Yan stand, while Su Ming helped Liu Yin, then they left the cave into the snowstorm again.
It wasn't easy to get over the death of someone who represented a large part of your life. The bonds weren't simple, and the pain wasn't small.
Walking in the deep snow was exhausting, especially with Zhang Yong's injuries and everyone's poor psychological state.
But Zhang Yong led the way steadily, using his Heavenly Eyes to avoid dangerous areas.
They continued walking through the deep snow, carrying the twins , their steps heavy and sluggish.
For Zhang Yong, every movement caused sharp pain in his injured body.
The snowstorm intensified, and the biting winds lashed their faces like knives.
Su Ming, who was carrying Liu Yin on the other side, began to stumble. "I... can't..." He fell to his knees in the snow, his breathing ragged.
Zhang Yong stopped and looked back, his red eyes gleaming with strange determination. Then he walked and lifted the two onto his back and began walking
Now he was carrying three people. The weight was immense, and his steps sank deep into the snow, but he continued forward. His will was all he had left. Then he deployed the Five Elements Fire technique to warm his body and the others' bodies.
After what felt like years, the outlines of the village began to appear through the storm. They were just faint shadows at first before they began to clarify.
"Look... there." Zhang Yong whispered in a barely audible voice before collapsing to his knees.
But he didn't give up. He crawled forward, still carrying his companions. Blood came from his mouth and froze on his chin, but he didn't stop. Then he fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
...
When he opened his eyes again, he was greeted by a wooden ceiling above his head, and he noticed a difference in temperature.
The place was slightly warmer.
He raised his body slowly, but he felt severe numbness. His muscles ached intensely.
"You're already awake?"
Zhang Yong turned his gaze toward the source of the voice. There was a young woman before him, with bright white skin that looked as if the sun had never touched it, long black hair extending behind her waist, and beautiful blue eyes, wearing a beautiful white winter robe.
But the situation Zhang Yong was in was different. Between him and the girl were steel bars, his hands were shackled, and there was incense causing physical weakness and lethargy.
In short, there were no good intentions.
"Where am I?" he asked in a hoarse voice.
The black-haired girl stepped forward, her blue eyes studying him with curiosity. "In Qingxi Village. You and your companions were captured trespassing into our territory. Now, speak. Are you a spy sent by the neighboring village?"
"Spy?" Zhang Yong whispered in a hoarse voice, trying to focus through the fog covering his mind. The iron shackles were heavy on his wrists, and the scent of the weakening incense made it hard to think clearly. "No... we're just travelers who lost our way."
The girl approached closer, her blue eyes glinting in the semi-darkness. "Travelers? In the worst snowstorm of the season?" She laughed mockingly, her voice like an ice bell. "Here's my final warning: confess your truth, or I'll make these shackles feel like a child's toy."
Zhang Yong slowly raised his head, his red eyes meeting her gaze. "Just a child's toy? Girl, you don't know what you're saying."
"I'm the one speaking nonsense?" the girl said, crossing her arms. "After examining your body, we found it extremely tough. So using weakening incense that weakens the body along with shackles that block spiritual energy, you're useless. So confess now, or should I kill one of your companions in front of you to make you confess?" the girl said with a mocking, confident smile.
When Zhang Yong heard that, his smile disappeared. "They're just incense and shackles." Zhang Yong raised his shackled arms, and purple flames rose around them, melting the shackles.
"W-what?!" The girl was shocked upon seeing that.
Zhang Yong stood quietly. "You can't make a prison strong enough to contain me against my will. These shackles are useless, and I can leave this place anytime I want."
Zhang Yong advanced toward her, and the purple flames devoured the bars and melted them. Zhang Yong stepped through.
The girl leaped back into a defensive stance. "You! What kind of sorcery is this?!"
Zhang Yong raised his arm, and flames gathered above his hand. "Since my body is tough and can't be destroyed by ordinary means, you can threaten to kill my friends, but you will die before that. So is there really anything you can do?"
{Forged by darkness, a roar full of anger manifested from pain, a twisted cursed vengeance, as spirits whisper, as silence speaks, ash will fall, and the sky will kneel, the absolute movement of the Demonic Devouring Flame—Eternal Annihilation}
At that moment, infinite waves of purple flame exploded in all directions.
The purple flame continued to spread like an unstoppable wave, devouring everything in its path. The wooden huts ignited in moments, and terrified sounds erupted from every direction.
The black-haired girl stood frozen in place, her blue eyes reflecting scenes of destruction, unable to believe what was happening.
But Zhang Yong didn't care about her. He manipulated the flames at lightning speed through the village toward the place where his companions were being held.
The iron doors melted before the Demonic Devouring Flame like snow before fire, freeing them.
"Your mistake was messing with me."