In the entire world, only that faint, lingering trace of aura remained.
What did this mean?
Jingliu refused to think about it. She did not dare to.
Yet the answer sank into her heart like a rusty blade, slow and merciless.
Her master, like countless others in the Xianzhou Cangcheng, had fallen to Shuhu. His body devoured, his soul with no escape.
A low, strangled moan escaped Jingliu's throat, barely more than a gasp.
The next moment, she moved.
Like a woman possessed, or a vengeful spirit bent on consuming the object of her hatred, she charged straight toward Shuhu.
"Hahahaha!"
Shuhu recognized her at once—the disciple Kanzaki had always spoken of with such pride.
What a touching scene of a benevolent master and a filial disciple...
"Come. Come and join your master. I will let him merge with you..."
Countless branches burst forth, regenerating in an instant to form an impenetrable cage of thorns that threatened to engulf her.
The faces of everyone watching turned deathly pale.
"Master! Get out of the way!!"
Jing Yuan's anxious voice rang through the communicator.
Just as the cage was about to close and crush her, something changed.
An indescribable, soul-shaking impact struck Shuhu. Its movements froze abruptly.
The horrifying branches that filled the sky halted mere inches from Jingliu.
Then, piece by piece, the cage disintegrated before everyone's eyes.
"You... how could you..."
Extreme fear and distortion twisted Shuhu's once-arrogant face. A shrill scream tore from its throat.
"This is impossible!! You were clearly dead!!"
"What are you planning to do... No—how could you counter..."
Shuhu screamed wildly, clawing at its own head as if something within was being devoured in reverse.
In that instant of stagnation—
Pfft!
The muffled sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed clearly across the battlefield.
Huaiyan, who had just returned to the Desolate Planet, stood frozen like everyone else.
Jingliu, sword in hand, had passed through all of Shuhu's defenses without resistance. The blade sank deep into its body, hilt and all.
The world seemed to stop.
Teng Xiao's pupils constricted to pinpoints.
Even from a distance, even with the face twisted and deformed, his sharp eyes caught it clearly.
Just before the sword point pierced through, an extremely familiar expression had flashed in the monster's eyes.
It carried... endless relief.
Teng Xiao saw it. Jingliu, right beside it, saw it too.
She snapped out of the realization that Shuhu had stopped resisting, that it had allowed her to run it through. Her body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Her gaze locked onto the being before her, filled with disbelief.
Why had it actively stopped all attacks and abandoned its defense at the last moment?
Could it be... No... That look had not belonged to Shuhu. It was not...
The monster's massive, grotesque body began to disintegrate.
First the bark, branches, and roots. Then the horns, bone blades, sharp claws, and wings... All the inhuman parts detached and fell into the churning magma below.
What remained in the end was the figure imprinted deep in her soul.
Countless eyes took in the sight. Many people instinctively covered their mouths.
Kanzaki stood quietly in mid-air. His gaze slowly swept over the woman before him. A moment later, a tenderness that could make one sink into despair emerged in his eyes.
I'm sorry, Jingliu.
Master is a liar...
All light faded from Kanzaki's eyes, leaving only gray emptiness. His body tilted backward and began to fall.
The sound of the longsword leaving his chest rang out, startling Jingliu from the brief trance of that tenderness.
"Master...!"
She dove down instinctively, catching him in a tight embrace. Her body shook violently.
Her cheek pressed against his, but she felt no warmth at all.
Shuhu had not devoured her master at all.
Instead... her master had devoured Shuhu.
She had personally killed the monster.
She had killed her master, who had become the monster.
No wonder all attacks had vanished on their own at the last moment.
No wonder he had neither dodged nor avoided the strike, allowing the Zhanhui Sword to pierce his body.
How could Shuhu, whom even the General could not kill, fall to a single strike from her sword...?
It must have been because Kanzaki had done something at the very last moment...
Jingliu's mind reeled. The dense, icy energy radiating from her rapidly enveloped the area, creating a strange and eerie sight.
Magma swallowed the earth below. Hot vapor rose in thick clouds.
Yet high above, snowflakes began to condense and drift down, melting slowly as they met the rising heat.
The entire scene spoke of a truth known as irreversibility.
But even as the surrounding temperature plummeted, it could not freeze the tears streaming down Jingliu's face.
Drop after drop fell onto Kanzaki's face.
He showed no reaction. His eyes were vacant. His body grew rigid.
"No... don't..."
Jingliu convulsed, the pain too great for words. She could only repeat the same broken pleas.
Just as the two were about to plunge into the sea of magma, a curtain of wind swept in and carried them back into the air.
Chaotic voices echoed around her, but Jingliu heard nothing.
The cruel reality of having personally killed her master threatened to shatter her completely.
"Master... please say something..."
"I beg you... Your disciple begs you..."
Heaven and earth fell silent, leaving only Jingliu's choked sobs.
No one had ever seen her like this. No one.
Yet whether it was Jing Yuan, Teng Xiao, or even Dan Feng and the others, they all knew one undeniable truth—
The person Jingliu cared about most in this life was Kanzaki.
Even when he had severed their relationship with the coldest, most resolute words back then, her consciousness had never been this chaotic, this devoid of reason.
Since that day, from rushing to aid Yueque to defending the Luofu, and then pursuing Shuhu—no matter how severe her injuries, she had felt no pain.
But now, every part of her body ached as if it were about to break apart.
Her hand unconsciously grasped Kanzaki's hand... and touched something with a strange yet deeply familiar texture.
She looked down.
A tassel, its color fading naturally from deep crimson to light scarlet, peeked from between Kanzaki's tightly clenched fingers.
Jingliu slowly pried his hand open.
A Silver Moon Jade Pendant, covered in cracks and barely held together by countless tiny fragments, came into view.
At that same moment, the identical Silver Moon Jade Pendant fastened to her sleeve quietly slipped off and fell.
The two pendants lay side by side, reflecting the twin moons above—a perfect pair.
Unfortunately, one of them was no longer whole, covered in countless irreparable cracks.
Even in death, Kanzaki had never let go of this jade pendant.
"Aaaah—!!!"
Jingliu suddenly threw her head back and screamed at the sky.
It was a sound as if the heavens themselves were collapsing.
No one had ever seen such an expression on her face.
Grotesque. Distorted. Shattered.
Her voice was shrill enough to pierce the clouds, heartbreaking enough to make any listener weep.
Two streams of blood tears spilled from the corners of her eyes, dripping onto the shattered Silver Moon Jade Pendant.
Fine snow continued to fall on Kanzaki's face, yet it never melted.
In this place, extreme cold and extreme heat collided, turning into a downpour.
The blood tears on Jingliu's face were diluted by the rain; it was impossible to tell where the rain ended and the tears began.
Afterward, she pressed her forehead against Kanzaki's palm. Even the heavy rain seemed to wail in sorrow alongside her crying.
T/N: This is so peak (╥﹏╥)