Xiao Rangchen’s spear carried a fierce, chilling battle intent, and the entire ice valley trembled beneath its ringing cry.
The sword in Cangya Xun’s hand erupted with dazzling azure light at the same moment, cleaving the sky in two.
The Yanxiang Cube around Lou Yue’s wrist transformed into dozens of chains that coiled toward Cangya Xun. Behind her, countless ice spikes condensed from thin air. With a light curl of her finger, they crashed toward their target with the force to destroy anything in their path.
Ice shards flew in every direction. Spear shadows swept across the sky, while azure radiance pierced the sun.
Ice walls rose from the ground, ice spears tore through the air, and layers upon layers of spell barriers materialized. The cries of spears and the ringing of swords intertwined as shock waves whipped up a thousand layers of snow and wind.
The battle raged from the bottom of the valley to the icy peaks, from the skies down to the ground. After the long struggle, all three had expended a tremendous amount of spiritual power.
Forced back by the two of them, Cangya Xun staggered several steps before barely managing to steady himself. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and sneered. “Do you really think you can defeat me by joining forces? What a fool’s dream.”
He straightened, rapidly forming hand seals. Spiritual energy surged around him as a blue-gold radiance shot into the sky. His sword swelled to several dozen feet in length, and his sword intent solidified into something seemingly capable of crushing the entire ice valley.
“Today, I’ll show you the uncrossable chasm between the Divine Transformation and Void Insight realms!”
Lou Yue manipulated the surrounding ice and snow, which slowed the gathering of spiritual energy, and sent layer after layer rolling toward Cangya Xun.
Yet even with that restraint, the sword intent of a Divine Transformation cultivator still carried the might to shake heaven and earth and shatter all things. It came crashing down.
Lou Yue snorted coldly, then leaped from above and slammed one palm against the ice—
In the next instant, a dragon and a phoenix suddenly burst from beneath the ice.
A resounding dragon’s roar and a clear phoenix cry rang across heaven and earth. The ice dragon and ice phoenix, bearing the might to destroy the world, charged together toward the descending sword shadow.
Xiao Rangchen leveled his spear. Dark flames ignited along its shaft as it transformed into a streak of black light and shot through the air after them.
The ice dragon, ice phoenix, spear, and dark flames—four supreme forces advanced side by side and collided head-on with the sword descending from above—
“Boom!”
The devastating power of the impact exploded outward. Violent shock waves swept across the entire ice valley. Ice peaks collapsed, layers of ice shattered, and snow and wind rolled backward into the heavens. Even space itself seemed to twist beneath the force of the collision.
Crack—
A fissure appeared in the center of the sword suspended in midair.
Cangya Xun’s eyes flew wide.
In the next second, cracks spread like a spiderweb, crawling densely across the blade. Blood instantly began streaming from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and his body shook violently.
“Impossible… Impossible!”
He gritted his teeth and roared, pouring every ounce of his spiritual power into suppressing the damage, but he still couldn’t stop the cracks from spreading.
“Impossible!” The composure and confidence on Cangya Xun’s face vanished completely. He glared fixedly at Lou Yue and screamed hoarsely, “How can you wield the power of heaven and earth? That’s something no Void Insight cultivator should be capable of!”
Lou Yue swallowed the blood rising in her throat, raised her brows, and smiled lightly. “Oh, there’s something I forgot to mention.”
“The ground beneath your feet, the air you breathe, the wind brushing against your face—in this world, everything is under my control.” Her tone was casual, as though the matter were of no importance.
Cangya Xun froze for a moment. Then his expression changed as realization struck him. “You obtained the inheritance!”
Lou Yue’s lips curved into an arrogant, dazzling smile. “Bingo. Correct.”
Cangya Xun suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Crack—
A crisp sound rang clearly through the air.
The famous sword that had accompanied Cangya Xun for thirty-five years shattered completely down the middle.
The murderous sword intent instantly collapsed.
The ice dragon, ice phoenix, and spear wreathed in dark flames pierced through his body at the same time.
Cangya Xun dropped heavily to one knee. He braced himself against the ground with his broken sword, stubbornly refusing to fall.
Blood poured from wounds all over his body, soaking through his clothes.
The arrogance and conceit on his face had been replaced entirely by a twisted, gloomy fury.
“I can’t die. I can’t die… Cough, cough… I can’t!”
Xiao Rangchen landed before him. Looking at the man who still refused to accept reality, he said coldly, “Cangya Xun, you should have known this day would come.”
Cangya Xun raised his eyes. They were as red as blood. “Xiao Rangchen, from the moment you appeared before me, I had a feeling you would become a thorn in my side. As expected, you grew far faster than I anticipated.”
“But so what? I was born the Young Lord of Cangya. You’re nothing but a lowly commoner. What right do you have to stand beside me as an equal?”
He coughed up more blood, his expression growing increasingly unhinged. “If not for her, do you think you could have killed me? Cough, cough… You’ll pay for this!”
“The Cangya clan will never let you go!”
Cangya Xun laughed as blood spilled from his mouth. His gaze slowly shifted from Lou Yue to Xiao Rangchen standing beside her, and his voice gradually weakened.
“Looks like… you still don’t know her identity. Otherwise, cough, cough… otherwise, you wouldn’t still be stuck at the… Void Insight realm…”
By this point, Cangya Xun finally understood why Xiao Rangchen had rushed out to throw away his life when he was pursuing Lou Yue.
But he could say no more.
“Xiao Rangchen… I’ll be waiting… for you… underground…”
The light in Cangya Xun’s eyes completely faded. He remained in that half-kneeling position as his life force vanished.
Dark flames instantly erupted from his body, engulfing him. In the blink of an eye, they consumed him without leaving even a trace of ash.
Xiao Rangchen stared at the empty space before him. Only then did he lower his spear and allow his sharp edge to fade, revealing the exhaustion he could no longer conceal.
Lou Yue watched as he put away his spear, then turned and knelt.
“Bang—Bang—Bang—”
He struck his forehead against the ground three times.
“Father, Mother… I’ve avenged you.” His voice was low and hoarse, heavy with restrained emotion. “I… can finally give you an explanation.”
A grief too deep to dissolve flowed into Lou Yue’s heart through the Heart-Link Seal.
In the novel, the overpowered male protagonist, Xiao Rangchen, was a commoner. Yet because of his extraordinary talent, he was exceptionally accepted into the inner sect of the Cangya clan. At first, he enjoyed boundless glory, but his brilliance also aroused the envy and resentment of countless people. Cold and unyielding by nature, he refused to curry favor with the powerful and soon offended Cang Wu.
After repeatedly failing to trip Xiao Rangchen up himself, Cang Wu turned to Cangya Xun for help. Cangya Xun had already harbored resentment because his own father had praised Xiao Rangchen and even compared the two of them.
He tacitly approved of Cang Wu’s schemes and secretly sent people to help Cang Wu make a move against Xiao Rangchen during a trial. As a result, when Xiao Rangchen was seriously injured, he had no choice but to take the risk of absorbing a demon core by force.
At the time, he had no idea that the spiritual medicines provided by the Cangya clan had been tampered with. He was destined to be unable to refine the demon core, and would instead pay for it with his spiritual meridians.
With his spiritual meridians damaged and his cultivation severely reduced, Xiao Rangchen was framed by Cang Wu, who accused him of stealing a secret belonging to the clan. With Cangya Xun secretly fanning the flames from behind the scenes, and Xiao Rangchen’s spiritual meridians already ruined, the clan head, Cangya Lan, expelled him from the Cangya Heights without hesitation.
An expelled disciple whose cultivation was nearly crippled—everyone who had once kept their distance now came forward to trample him.
He was unyielding and refused to bow his head. In return, he suffered beating after beating. After a while, his tormentors grew bored and redirected their malice toward his family.
His father died on the spot during one such fight while shielding him from a sword thrust into his back.
Afterward, Xiao Rangchen was seriously wounded and went into hiding for several days. His mother believed he had been captured by Cangya Xun and stormed the Cangya Heights. In the end, she died by Cangya Xun’s sword.
Xiao Rangchen risked his life to kill the trusted subordinate of Cangya Xun who had stabbed his father. He then fled from place to place with his younger sister, enduring a life of hardship and displacement.
Deep in his heart, he had always believed that he himself was the true culprit behind his parents’ deaths.
Lou Yue gazed at him after he finished bowing to the ground, as though he had become utterly still.
That suffocating sorrow kept surging through her.
She walked over slowly.
Xiao Rangchen’s arms hung limply at his sides, and he remained on his knees. His lashes were half lowered, the air around him steeped in a heavy silence, as though he were about to freeze into frost along with the ice valley.
When she reached him, she gently raised a hand and cradled the back of his head. With a soothing pressure, she slowly guided him toward her waist, while her other hand settled over the tense muscles at his shoulder and drew him into a gentle embrace.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Lou Yue said, her voice soft and steady. “They were proud of you.”
“But I… I caused their deaths…” His voice was hoarse and muffled, a tremor barely contained in the final syllables.
Lou Yue’s fingers stroked lightly over the back of his head. “It was an accident. If they had to choose all over again, they would still make the same choice.”
“Xiao Rangchen, your parents loved you dearly. Even if it meant sacrificing themselves, they only wished for you to live well. So you have to live happily. Only then can they rest easy in heaven.”
Xiao Rangchen suddenly lifted both arms and wrapped them tightly around her, burying his face deep against her waist.
Lou Yue simply stood there in silence, letting him hold her as she stroked the back of his head and his shoulders again and again.
The ice valley was utterly still. The world was a vast expanse of white, and all that remained was the warmth where the two of them touched.
She did not know how much time had passed. Only when she felt the grief in his heart gradually ease did she speak again.
“Would you like to come with me somewhere?”
Lou Yue reached behind his waist and took hold of his wrist. “Come on. I’ll take you there.”
Xiao Rangchen slowly pulled away from her embrace and looked up at her.
Lou Yue glanced over his reddened eyes, then pulled him to his feet and led him away. Qinglin tactfully followed at a distance.
Lou Yue brought Xiao Rangchen to the highest point of the neighboring ice valley. Endless snow and ice stretched beneath their feet, while above them lay a vast, open sky.
Without bothering with any particular decorum, she simply pulled him down to sit beside her on the ground.
“Going by the days since I arrived in the Wilderness, these two days happen to be the New Year.”
She gazed into the distance and said softly, “In my hometown, this is a very important day—a day to bid farewell to all the sorrow and pain, carry hope with us, and run toward the light of a new year.”
She turned to the person beside her. “Xiao Rangchen, close your eyes.”
Xiao Rangchen obediently turned toward her and lowered his long lashes.
The world fell silent in an instant. There was only the soft breeze brushing past his ears, carrying the faint, sweet warmth of flowers from her scent and slowly wrapping itself around his taut heart.
After a moment, her voice sounded again. “You can open your eyes now.”
The instant he opened his eyes, the bright sky above transformed into a deep, star-filled night. The lowered darkness suddenly erupted into a sky full of dazzling fireworks.
Red, gold, blue, and violet blossoms burst into the air one after another, their radiant colors illuminating the entire ice valley and turning the snowy ground white as day.
“Farewell to the twilight of the old year, fireworks year after year. May every morning and evening bring peace, and may every year be filled with happiness.”
Lou Yue gazed at him, her brows and eyes curving into a smile.
“Xiao Rangchen, Happy New Year. May everything you seek come to you, and may every road you walk be smooth and bright.”
Xiao Rangchen stared blankly at the woman before him, her smile radiant.
The fireworks continued to bloom overhead. Their brilliant light fell across her face, reflected in her eyes, and sank into the barren depths of his heart.
“Everything I seek…” he murmured softly.
“Mm.” Lou Yue answered. “The future you will be grateful to the you of the past and the present—for never giving up.”
Xiao Rangchen fell silent for a moment. At length, he planted his left hand beside him and leaned slowly toward her.
His eyes held the reflection of the fireworks filling the sky. His expression was quiet and reverent. Lou Yue neither retreated nor moved.
A slightly cool hand lifted her chin. The next moment, he lowered his head and touched his lips to hers.
The movement was gentle.
After the briefest touch, he slowly drew back.
Still close enough for their breaths to mingle, he looked into her eyes and spoke in a voice so soft it seemed to melt into the wind.
“What if what I seek… is you?”
“Can that wish come true as well?”
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