Cangshu Taotian's eyes were filled with shock. "He actually broke through to the next realm!"
His meridians and bones, which had just been repaired by Mu Ran's spiritual blood, violently shattered their bottlenecks amidst this extreme grief, breaking through in an instant and ascending to the absolute pinnacle.
How ridiculous.
Originally, Cangshu Bai had experienced all sorts of worldly emotions, yet he had never experienced romantic love. Thus, he had wanted to use the opportunity of spending a mortal century with Mu Ran to finally see through this last emotional barrier, severing his mortal ties so he could peacefully enter seclusion and prove his Dao.
Now, his Grand Dao was finally achieved.
Yet, when it came to the trial of love, he could not see through it, could not let it go, could not break free from it, and could not forget it.
Even worse, a monstrous hostility had bred deep within his bones.
The people around him suddenly felt an intense, deathly aura of malevolence. Their blood seemed to freeze instantly, and even their souls trembled.
Cangshu Bai lowered his eyes, gazing at Mu Ran in his arms, who no longer had a trace of breath. There were no ripples in his eyes, only a dead, absolute resolve.
Suddenly, the crisp, piercing sound of bones cracking rang out, flesh tore apart, and blood splattered.
To everyone's disbelief, Cangshu Bai had forcefully torn off one of his own arms!
Blood gushed like a fountain from the severed limb, merging with the undried blood on his body to form an ultimate taboo blood-red array. The severed arm transformed into a bloody light, revealing a wisp of Mu Ran's soul that had left her physical body.
It was a forbidden technique. By sacrificing a cultivator's arm, it forcibly locked the deceased's last wisp of a remnant soul, defying the heavens to extend their life.
Ignoring the backlash of the Grand Dao and the tearing of his own soul, Cangshu Bai formed hand seals. Little by little, carefully, using a dense net woven of blood threads, he forcibly trapped that faint wisp of soul—which was almost scattering with the wind—back into her body.
He was using his own flesh and blood to nourish her lifeless soul.
The onlookers only felt their hair stand on end, not even daring to breathe. They had never seen anyone act in such a crazed, demonic manner.
He had just proven his Dao, yet he severed his own arm; he had just reached the pinnacle, yet he cast a heaven-defying forbidden technique.
It was just a woman, just a woman...
Outside the crowd, Hong Fu, hidden in the shadows of the trees, involuntarily clenched her hands.
Her veil fluttered in the wind, faintly revealing a pink peach blossom mark beneath her right eye.
She cultivated the Dao of Ruthlessness; her Dao heart was meant to be pure and quiet, untainted by the mortal world. Once this peach blossom mark appeared by her eye, it meant her Dao heart was broken, the roots of love had stirred, and she could never turn back.
And ever since she came out of the secret realm two hundred years ago, this peach blossom mark had appeared on her face.
She saw it as a disgrace!
Yet, when The Green-Clad Guest removed her restrictions back then, ensuring she would no longer be used as someone else's cultivation cauldron, she had faintly felt a surge of secret joy.
However, seeing Cangshu Bai use a forbidden technique for Mu Ran with her own eyes now, she suddenly felt like she had become a joke.
At the summit of that high mountain, where the color of blood and a dangerous aura permeated.
The one-armed young man lowered his head, leaving a light kiss on the face of the girl who looked as if she were merely asleep. "I won't let you leave me."
In the next instant, he tightened his only arm, locking her firmly in his embrace, as if trying to embed her into his remaining flesh and blood.
In mere breaths, his long hair—which was just pitch-black and stained with blood—faded inch by inch into a frosty white at a visible rate. Intertwined with his paper-pale complexion and bloodstained black clothes, it was so glaring that no one dared to look directly at him.
A fierce wind suddenly rose, sweeping up shattered light and wet blood mist, wrapping the two in a deathly, silent darkness.
Only his eyes gleamed with a bone-chilling coldness.
"Zhenyue Mountain City."
"Tianyu Palace."
"And all of you present here—"
Wherever his gaze swept, the crowd involuntarily felt a surge of unease.
Holding the sleeping person in his arms, his figure gradually blurred in the darkness, leaving behind only a vow that pierced through eternity, shaking the mountains to collapse and making all living souls tremble.
"The day I, Cangshu Bai, return, will be the time your heads are separated from your bodies."
The fierce wind suddenly grew violent, swirling up a sky full of blood mist, completely swallowing the last bit of their afterimages.
All that remained in place was a patch of cracked earth and that pool of blood that lingered for a long time.
The entire scene was dead silent; no one dared to breathe.
Cangshu Taotian frowned deeply, knowing in his heart that if this boy was not eliminated, he would definitely become a massive threat.
Li Mohan, however, gritted his teeth. "Cangshu Bai, sooner or later, I will kill you!"
On another mountain peak.
Cangshu Fenming said: "Cangshu Bai has already broken through to the Void Piercing Realm. He will hardly have any rivals from now on. His speed of breaking through was even a step faster than yours."
Cangshu Linfeng remained silent.
Mu Shuqing had already left Zhenyue Mountain City. She looked back in the direction she came from, where dark clouds covered the sky and the scent of blood filled the air. She figured that Mu Ran had already reached her end, just as she had wished.
At that time, Mu Ran's eyes had revealed a pleading look.
Mu Shuqing only felt that since Mu Ran had made her decision, she should bear the karma herself. Mu Shuqing had already done everything she could and shouldn't involve herself any further.
Even today, Mu Shuqing still couldn't understand why cultivators, who always put their own interests first, could sacrifice their lives for each other.
Thinking of Mu Ran again, a faint sense of contradiction arose in Mu Shuqing's heart. Should she not have let Mu Ran go back in the first place?
For the first time, her mind lost its clarity. In her daze, her vision was occupied by a red figure appearing before her.
Cangshu Qihua, no matter when or where, was always a flamboyant and eye-catching presence, as if he were born to be the most dazzling one. Wherever he was, everyone would naturally notice him at first glance.
Just like Mu Shuqing at this moment.
His red hair and red robes danced in the wind. He leaned against a tree, his gaze careless, wearing a half-smile that seemed rather frivolous.
"My fiancee, where are you planning to go, leaving me behind?"
