Sui Qi, the seventh princess, walked silently to the back of the heavily wounded Sui Yi. Her slender hand reached out and lightly touched the center of her sister's back.
"Sigh... I really hate the Lower Realm. Why are there so many restrictions here... how annoying," Sui Qi muttered in a voice filled with boredom.
Suddenly, Sui Yi's body trembled. A mysterious red spiritual energy spread out from Sui Qi's palm and seeped into Sui Yi's body. In an instant, her wounds began to heal. Scars faded, muscles and bones mended themselves, and her expression returned to calm. Yet her eyes now shone colder and sharper than before.
"Now!" Duan Lingchen's voice rang out inside Ye Lin's mind.
Receiving the signal, Ye Lin flicked his wrist and activated the warp stone. A silver ring of light flared to life, surrounding him and Wu Wen. The warp process began. The ground beneath them trembled.
But leaving so easily was impossible. The seven princesses charged toward them at full speed without hesitation. Their intent was clear: to force Ye Lin and Wu Wen out of the warp formation.
"Letting you go this easily would be boring..." Sui San, the third princess, said in a flat tone. She snapped her fingers, and an intricate array of spell patterns rose from the ground. It clashed with the space manipulation of the warp stone, slowing its activation dramatically.
Wu Wen, who had just readied himself to fight, suddenly collapsed as blood poured from his mouth. His voice rasped weakly.
"Damn it... give... give me more power..."
The system's voice echoed in his mind.
[Where do you expect me to get it from?]
"Screw it... just give it to me!" Wu Wen roared, blood spraying from his mouth.
Suddenly, demonic energy began to flow back into his body. Wu Wen's form trembled violently, as if his soul was on the verge of shattering, but his eyes remained firm. He braced himself for the incoming attacks from Sui Yi, Sui San, and Sui Qi.
Boom!!
Ye Lin took the simultaneous strikes from the Fifth and Sixth Princesses head-on. His black flame sword blocked as hard as it could, but the impact was so intense that his bones trembled from the shock. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he dropped to one knee. The effects of the Emperor's Elixir were fading, and taking it repeatedly had drastically weakened its potency.
Even so, the gazes of the two princesses remained cold. Not a hint of mercy could be seen in their eyes. The red flames conjured by the Sixth Princess scorched Ye Lin's arms until they were entirely burnt.
In the same instant, the Second and Fourth Princesses darted in from either side. Their long spear and curved dagger gleamed under the shattered sky.
"It's over, boy," said the Second Princess as she thrust her spear straight toward the center of Ye Lin's chest.
Thud!
A spike of hardened earth surged from the ground, intercepting the attack at the perfect moment. The two princesses twisted their bodies, narrowly evading, but the force still sent them flying.
Ye Lin seized the opening. He unleashed a wide burst of black demonic flames, forcing the Fifth and Sixth Princesses to retreat just in time.
But then...
Thud!
Thick, muddy clay erupted from beneath him, driving itself into his side with brutal force before he could react.
At that moment, the warp stone embedded in the ground began to activate. A pale bluish-white light surged into the sky. The dimensional ring glowed faintly, rotating slowly before shattering into a miniature spatial gate.
Ye Lin, battered and barely standing from the recent assault, was sent drifting toward the portal. His face was pale, blood streamed from his lips and the side of his head. His eyes were blurry, but they refused to close. He kept his gaze fixed on the figure behind him.
There stood a middle-aged man with a sharp tongue. The very man he had longed to kill, the one he hated more than anyone else... yet in the end, it was that man who saved him.
Wu Wen was drenched in blood from head to toe, yet even that couldn't stop Sui Qi from charging at him. Her fist drove straight through his body with such crushing force that it stilled his frame for a long moment. He collapsed to the ground, but instead of pain, a faint smile appeared on his lips.
Ye Lin clenched his teeth tightly. His mind was in turmoil, an overwhelming surge of emotions crashing into him all at once.
"Why…"
Wu Wen raised his hands once more. A towering wall of earth began to rise, sealing off one side of the spatial gate. He let out a thunderous roar.
"Yaaaaaaaah!!"
The wall expanded rapidly, attempting to completely encase the portal. But just before it could close, Sui Yi surged forward. The silver sword in her hand gleamed with chilling light, aimed straight at him without a shred of hesitation.
To Wu Wen, time seemed to slow.
Images from the past flowed into his mind one by one...
A young boy, sobbing alone in the training hall.
"Father… am I really unable to cultivate?"
The soft sound of crying muffled beneath a blanket.
"Father… are you going to abandon me?"
A clumsy little smile as the boy held up a hand-drawn picture of his face.
"Father, this is you. I drew it… Do you think it looks cool?"
That same boy stood beside him, tears still clinging to his cheeks as he spoke.
"You said… real men don't cry easily…"
"Father…"
"Father…"
"Father…"
…..
…..
…..
…..
"Thank you, Father…"
Those voices began to blend, forming a melody without words, without source. Yet it brought a gentle smile to the face of the dying man.
He remembered the first day his son was born. The faint cries on a rainy night, the tiny body cradled in his trembling hands that day, and the promise he once made.
"As long as I still draw breath, I will never let anyone lay a hand on you."
Every memory surged into his mind as though his entire life was being replayed in the final moment.
The first tear slowly rolled down Wu Wen's cheek. He looked at the incoming sword and whispered hoarsely,
"It should be me... who says thank you..."
He stared at the blade as it approached like a scene frozen in time. Every second stretched into eternity. His eyes held no fear, no hesitation, only the image of his son filling his heart.
Slash!
Sui Yi lunged forward and struck Wu Wen mercilessly. The silver sword in her hand cut through the air at a speed too fast for the eye to follow. It sliced diagonally from his left shoulder down to his right hip. His body was split into two, blood pouring endlessly from the gaping wound.
His body fell slowly to the ground. But before his final breath faded, he moved a single finger. Just one fingertip... and the earthen wall he had summoned shifted once more.
Thud!
Wu Wen's body hit the ground with a heavy thump as blood gushed from the wide gash. Muscles torn, ribs exposed and trembling. He lifted his head slightly, his gaze drifting far ahead, as if he was seeing the future of his son.
The bloodstained corners of his lips curled into a faint smile before they moved for the last time.
"I'll leave the rest to you, kid..."
At that moment, the earth dome sealed itself completely. Bang! The sound thundered like a bolt from the heavens.
No one could enter the spatial gate any longer.
Sui Yi shouted at the top of her lungs, "Destroy it! Destroy that earthen ball now!!"
An onslaught of energy from all seven fairy maidens surged toward the earth dome. Blade waves, flames, spear intent, deadly formations, all rained down without pause.
But... it didn't flinch in the slightest. That dome wasn't made of ordinary soil. It was forged from the last remnants of a man's power... using every final breath... to protect someone he cared for.
Everything before Wu Wen's eyes gradually faded away, returning to that familiar meadow of lush green grass, the very place where he had spent only a handful of moments with his son throughout his life.
But this time... it was no longer the same.
The vibrant grass began to wither, turning brown. Leaves dried and curled. The ground cracked like a heart that had been squeezed until it broke. A soft breeze blew slowly past, cutting through the air like needles against bone. Amidst the meadow that had once been full of laughter and light, the landscape now seemed drenched in sorrow.
The grass wilted further. The wind whispered like it was crying. Flowers withered until only bare stems remained. The warm sunlight that had once bathed this place grew dim and grey, as if the heavens themselves were mourning someone's fate.
Wu Wen stood alone at the heart of that fading vision, his body swaying as if about to collapse, his heart barely strong enough to beat.
He slowly raised a hand and wiped the tears from his cheek, only for more to stream down, endlessly.
His voice trembled, no longer sounding like a voice that belonged to a man.
"I... failed..." he said, the words rising from the depths of his soul. "My entire life... no matter how hard I tried... no matter what I did... in the end... I couldn't protect a single thing…"
He dropped to his knees, as if the weight of all his sorrow had finally crushed him. Both hands pressed tightly against the fractured ground.
"I'm sorry... I truly am sorry..."
But the truth was merciless. No one heard him. No one answered. Nothing changed. Yet in the moment his heart was about to break completely...
A soft voice rose gently, barely above a whisper, yet it pierced into his heart with effortless clarity.
"...Father..."
Wu Wen froze for a moment, his tear-blurred eyes widening once more. He turned slowly, as if afraid that what he had heard was just an illusion.
And there... bathed in a gentle light behind him, stood a little boy. Not a grown man, not an enemy, not a demon... but his child, just as he had been in his youth.
That pure smile. Those wide, innocent eyes. That voice, it was a voice he had never forgotten.
"Father... do you remember? You once told me that if one day I disappeared, you would search for me, even if it meant crossing the skies or climbing through valleys. Even if it took going beyond the land of the dead, you would never stop looking…"
Wu Wen raised his hands and covered his face. His entire body trembled. The sobs he had held back burst forth like a broken dam. He wept without shame, without concern for the world, without pride or dignity.
Only one word filled his heart.
"My son... my child…"
He knelt before the boy, reaching out slowly as if afraid that even the lightest touch would make the image vanish.
But he could feel it. Warmth. He held Wu Zhao tightly in his arms. The familiar rhythm of a heartbeat... it was still there.
"I... I will never let you go again," he whispered, as tear after tear fell onto his son's small shoulder. "No matter if it's hell, heaven, or the farthest reaches of the cosmos... I will follow you... until I hear your laughter once more…"
The boy gave a soft smile and reached up with his small hand to gently stroke his father's cheek.
"Heehee... thank you, Father."
Wu Wen smiled with all the tenderness in his heart, though his body had never felt so weary. Even that smile still carried the trace of tears. He lifted his son onto his shoulders like he used to when he was alive. Turning his back to the world, his body quivered slightly, and together they began walking forward... into a darkness that stretched on beyond sight.
The last light of the garden slowly faded away.
There were no farewells. No final words. Only the silhouette of a father carrying his son on his shoulders... stepping into eternal darkness with no path back.