***
Wu Guanyue froze.
In that instant, it was as though she had suddenly lost the ability to think. Her mind went utterly blank. A buzz filled her ears, and as blood surged through her body, the sound struck her eardrums like a thousand-pound bronze hammer.
Her pupils contracted sharply. She stared blankly at Wenren Ying, as though she had been frightened senseless.
“Brother... Brother Ying...”
Her lips trembled, but she had almost lost the ability to make sound with her voice. The words that escaped were broken and faint, so easily swallowed by the rain.
His voice, meanwhile, was choked by the blood rising in his throat.
Blood kept spilling from his mouth... so much, so much blood. It had stained half his face red.
Those eyes of his—always so gentle, so deep—were now webbed with bloodshot veins. He stared at Wu Guanyue, stared at her desperately, his gaze filled with pain, longing, and unwillingness.
Of course he was unwilling!
How could he be willing to die like this?
How long had he and Little Yue even been together? He... they still had so many happy things left to do. Little Yue had once said that she wanted to visit a hot spring with him... They would soak in the water together, watching the first snowflakes drift down...
He did not want to die... He did not want to leave Little Yue... He had only just—only just—begun to taste the joy of being alive...
His lips opened and closed as he struggled to speak, forcing out the last words he wanted to say to her.
“Don’t... avenge... me...”
Those were the last words he wanted to leave her with.
It was useless... That bastard Perfected Renhua was already an earthly immortal, only one step away from ascension. The gap between them was as vast as the distance between heaven and earth. Little Yue was clever, but this time, they could not solve the problem with the same little tricks they had used before.
Even if Verdant Cloud Adept of Cuiyun Grotto-Heaven came, he still would not be a match for that bastard Renhua!
And besides... he himself had lived in hatred. He knew how tormenting hatred could be. He... he did not want Little Yue to become like him.
Wenren Ying’s voice was barely audible. He did not want to die, but at last, he had lost even the final trace of his strength. The light in his eyes slowly, slowly faded. Until the very last moment, those eyes were still looking at her... looking at her...
“Ah... ah... Brother... Brother Ying...”
A sound like someone drawing their last breath came from Wu Guanyue’s mouth. It was hideous, like the wail of a vengeful ghost. She fell to her knees in the rain as Wenren Ying’s body lay on its back upon the ground, staring hollowly up at her...
Brother Ying... Brother Ying... was... was dead?
Only then did Wu Guanyue’s mind seem to grasp what had happened. Yet before she could truly understand, her body had already reacted with brutal honesty—her heart constricted, her hands and feet turned icy cold, and she began to shake violently...
“Brother Ying! Brother Ying!!! Wake up—wake up!!!”
She let out the most piercing cry of her life. She howled like a wild beast, screaming madly beneath the rain...
No... no, no, no... Don’t, don’t, don’t!!!!
Don’t take Brother Ying away. Don’t do this... Don’t do this, don’t do this!!!
But what good was refusing? What good was it to deny reality? The dead could not be brought back to life... But why couldn’t the dead be revived? Wasn’t this a world of immortals and martial arts?! Didn’t worlds like this have things like three lives and three lifetimes?!
So Brother Ying couldn’t really be dead, right? He definitely couldn’t be dead—
Wu Guanyue suddenly bit down on her own hand.
She bit hard—so hard that it was almost like a wild beast tearing into flesh. Her teeth sank deep into her skin, filling her mouth with the taste of blood and sending wave after wave of sharp pain through her hand.
Pain was the best way to force herself calm—calm down, Wu Guanyue. Calm down. There had to be a solution, there had to be. You’re the only one who can save Brother Ying now. You can’t waste time like this!
She desperately tried to convince herself, desperately suppressing her body’s instinctive reactions. She forced her mind to start working—
Soulfire. Right, she had soulfire—couldn’t soulfire do anything? Then why couldn’t she use it to save Brother Ying, to give him another life?!
Something exceedingly vague flashed through her mind. Still biting down hard on her hand, Wu Guanyue opened her system panel. Then, at a glance, she saw the thing at the very top—the most conspicuous entry.
Life! That was it—Life!
Once, when the inn had leveled up, she had received a second life—and she had never used it!
“I want to give my second life to Wenren Ying! Give my second life to Wenren Ying, now!!!”
She had no idea how to make such a thing happen, but—if soulfire could place her soul inside the Donghua Spirit Puppet, and could even grant her a second life, then surely it could do the same for someone else!
And Brother Ying had just said something. He had said—Perfected Renhua and Wu Guizhen are old acquaintances. He wants to capture you!
In an instant, it was as though Wu Guanyue had understood everything. Her thoughts raced at lightning speed, clear and precise, her words flowing without hesitation—
“Wu Guizhen! Everything you’ve done was to stop Perfected Renhua, wasn’t it? And the key to stopping Perfected Renhua is me, isn’t it?!”
The moment those words left her lips, she felt herself suddenly being enveloped.
Faint blue flames drifted out from her body in tiny sparks. They wrapped around her—she had seen these flames before, on Miao Langjun. This was soulfire.
Wu Guanyue knew that this body of hers was powered by soulfire, but soulfire could neither be seen nor touched. She had never truly seen the source of her own strength before.
Soulfire had once burned Brother Ying. According to him, the pain of being scorched by it felt as though even one’s soul were being wounded.
Yet now, as the soft blue soulfire wrapped around her, she felt no pain at all. Instead, she felt as though she were held within an immensely warm, gentle cloud. The rain was shut out by the soulfire, and she slowly began to float upward, borne back into the inn by the flames.
And Wenren Ying, too, had already been wrapped up and sent back to the inn.
The long blade that had pinned him firmly to the ground was slowly pulled free. A piercing wound should never have been treated this way—it could cause massive bleeding. Yet under the soothing, restorative touch of the soulfire, not a single drop of blood flowed from the wound in his chest.
Soulfire entered through his mouth, making his eyes and the inside of his mouth glow with a faint, ghostly blue light. He was like a puppet being controlled by the soulfire… controlled, yet his head still hung low and his arms dangled limply. He was utterly weak, still… still as though he were dead.
Had it… had it worked?
Had her second life truly been given to Brother Ying?
Wu Guanyue opened her game system panel and checked the place where her health was displayed… The two hearts representing her lives had become one. In her frantic, panicked shouting just now, it seemed she really had triggered something.
Wu Guanyue’s whole heart was fixed on Wenren Ying. The moment she landed, she staggered toward him, wanting to feel for his breath.
The faintest whisper of breath brushed against her fingers.
Alive… he was alive…
Wu Guanyue’s legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed to the floor.
Wenren Ying still had his head lowered. His half-open eyes showed no pupils—only a cold, dim blue glow.
He had no consciousness. He could not see Wu Guanyue.
Wu Guanyue immediately grew tense again.
She could not relax. She could not speak, could not manage even a single word. She was terrified, her thoughts filled with only one question—
What happened next? Would Brother Ying gradually recover… gradually wake up?
But no one could answer her.
The inn was silent. At this moment, there were only the two of them… Wu Guanyue stared blankly at Wenren Ying. As the soulfire ceased to envelop him, his body slumped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Wu Guanyue hurried to catch him, but he fell completely onto her, knocking her down as well.
His breathing was so faint… His eyes remained half-open, but the emptiness within them was heartbreaking.
Had the soulfire… had it saved his life?
But then… why did he look as though he would never wake again?
Wu Guanyue was terribly worried… Yet there was nothing she could do. She simply could not stop herself from worrying.
At some point, Wuyun came over. It had apparently heard the commotion in its sleep and, still drowsy, had crawled out to look for its Little Shopkeeper Wu and Yingzi, who could make several kinds of cat food.
“Meow… meow…”
Wuyun let out a weak cry and cautiously approached, rubbing its fur against Wu Guanyue, trying to become a soft, highly absorbent towel that could dry its drenched Little Shopkeeper Wu.
Little Shopkeeper Wu sat on the floor, holding Wenren Ying, seemingly lost in thought.
After a long while, she gathered Wuyun into her arms as well. The three of them stayed like that, quietly leaning against one another for a time.
“Wuyun, could I trouble you to carry Brother Ying back to my room?”
After another while, Little Shopkeeper Wu said this.
“Meow! Meow!”
Wuyun gave a solemn meow, then transformed into a pool of pitch-black waterweed. It flowed beneath Wenren Ying’s body, slowly carrying him up the stairs and into Wu Guanyue’s room, where it gently laid him on her bed.
Wu Guanyue entered the room and removed Wenren Ying’s clothes. With a clean, warm towel, she carefully wiped him down, inch by inch.
Wenren Ying lay completely naked before her, without the slightest covering.
If he had been awake, he never would have allowed this. He was easily embarrassed… They both were. Though they had done everything together, they still so often found themselves blushing and trembling with racing hearts.
Wu Guanyue thought of the small, sweet moments of happiness they had shared… Yet those moments now pierced her heart like needles, leaving her in unbearable pain.
She forced herself not to think, and slowly cleaned every trace of rainwater from Wenren Ying’s body.
When she had finished, she climbed into bed as well and gently held Wenren Ying in her arms—holding the empty shell of a body whose soul had already fallen asleep.
