Sheng Cai’er’s gray-white pupils narrowed slightly.
Her hand gripped the dagger at her waist.
One of the assassins stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and spoke respectfully.
“Your Highness Saintess, please stop being willful.”
“Come back with us.”
Sheng Cai’er did not speak.
The aura around her only became more guarded.
Seeing this, the other assassin sighed and slowly spoke.
“Your Highness, do you really think these past few days of peace were natural?”
“You were planning a home here, roasting sweet potatoes, and enjoying a brief warmth.
But do you know what Long Xuanye has been doing after you fell asleep?”
“The first night, two third-rank demon squads, eighteen demons in total.
He annihilated them all.
The price was seven new wounds on his body.”
“The second night, two squads led by fourth-rank demons.
He annihilated them again.
The price was using some kind of secret method, overdrawing his spiritual power and damaging his internal organs.”
“Last night, the enemy was even stronger.
He almost fought purely on willpower.
He drained the life force of a fourth-rank demon to barely win.
By the time we found the battlefield, only broken limbs and remains were left.”
“Every day, he changed into clean long-sleeved clothes just to hide the new wounds.”
“The reason he collapsed with a fever today was not an accidental cold.
It was the inevitable result of repeatedly overdrawing his life and spiritual power over these past few days until his body could no longer endure.”
“Your Highness Saintess, he has been using his life to protect the so-called ‘home’ you imagined.”
There was a trace of respect in the assassin’s tone.
If their positions had been reversed, he could not have done as well as Long Xuanye.
Nor could he have been so tenacious.
But Cai’er…
Froze.
All the details she had ignored surged wildly into her mind at this moment.
Why did Xuanye always wake later than her?
Why did he always lie down only after she had fallen asleep?
Why would he sometimes lose focus for a brief instant while eating?
Why did he always wear that unsuitable long-sleeved shirt?
So…
That was why.
When she was describing a beautiful future, he was fighting in the darkness, covered in blood.
When she made porridge and changed medicine for him, feeling satisfied that she could take care of him, what he endured was pain and pressure she could not even imagine.
Unbearable heartache drowned her.
Crystal tears could no longer be held back.
They rolled from her gradually dimming eyes, sliding over her pale little face in silence.
Sheng Cai’er raised her hand and wiped away the tears on her cheeks.
The sadness and heartache on that pale face faded.
What replaced them was firmness.
“I’m going back.” Find the original chapter at g.com.
The assassin trying to persuade her frowned tightly.
“Your Highness Saintess, calm down!”
“If you two keep hiding like this, avoiding our Temple’s tracking, you can only live like fugitives on this border.
But the situation is different now!”
The assassin’s voice turned urgent.
“Because of that boy’s previous awakening, the demon border has already increased its search intensity.
Their sentries and patrol squads are ten times denser than before!
The two of you cannot survive!”
He tried to move her with reason and emotion.
Sheng Cai’er remained silent.
She lowered her head, her long lashes trembling slightly, as if she were weighing something.
Seeing this, the assassin secretly relaxed, thinking she had listened.
After all, no matter how willful Her Highness Saintess was, she should understand what a desperate situation meant.
However.
In the next instant, gray light suddenly flashed.
Fast.
Too fast.
The assassin’s pupils shrank.
Every hair on his body stood on end.
Without thinking, he exerted force through his feet and retreated violently.
Even so, a strand of his hair was still silently cut off by that gray light and drifted down.
He stabilized himself in shock, only then seeing that Sheng Cai’er had somehow arrived before him.
In her hand was that gray dagger.
A primal form of the Samsara Holy Sword.
A terrifying aura of extinction and rebirth lingered around it, making one’s heart tremble.
“Move.”
Sheng Cai’er raised her eyes.
In those gray-white pupils, there was no longer the slightest trace of gentleness.
Only pure indifference remained.
“Xuanye is still waiting for me at home.”
“Your Highness Saintess!”
“Xuanye… is still waiting for me at home!”
The aura of the Samsara Holy Sword made both assassins’ breathing stop.
Being struck by this divine weapon was not as simple as being injured.
In that brief opening, Sheng Cai’er’s figure turned into an afterimage, bypassed them, and rushed back the way she came.
Her speed was frighteningly fast.
In just a few breaths, only a vague silhouette remained on the forest path.
The two assassins froze in place.
A moment later, one of them gave a bitter smile.
“What now?”
The other assassin, the one who had been forced back earlier, fell silent for several seconds.
“Follow her.”
“We cannot disobey Her Highness’s order.
But at the very least… we must see with our own eyes that they can survive.”
At the same time.
In the open space before the thatched hut.
The smell of blood filled the air.
Long Xuanye supported himself with his short blade and half-knelt on the ground, gasping heavily.
Sweat mixed with blood slid down from his forehead.
Around him lay three demon corpses.
Even more demons surrounded him, cruel light flashing in their eyes.
A particularly tall demon pushed his companions aside and walked out.
He was nearly three meters tall.
His skin was gray-brown like stone and covered in hideous cracks.
His arms were thick like stone pillars.
He was a fifth-rank war general under the Seventh Pillar Rock Demon God Samigina.
Rock Demon, Gore.
“Step back.”
Gore spoke in a muffled voice, rough like rocks grinding together.
“This human boy is mine.”
His earthy yellow eyes locked firmly onto the staggering young man on the ground, filled with greed and excitement.
A demon subordinate asked in confusion, “Lord Gore, if we attack together, we can tear him apart in an instant!”
Gore split his mouth open, revealing a savage smile.
“Idiot.”
“Haven’t you noticed?
At such a young age, he already has this level of strength.
He can even kill our kin above his rank.
With talent like this, other than the legendary human genius who awakened the power of light, who else could he be?”
“Even if it is not him, he is definitely one of humanity’s top rising talents!”
Gore’s voice was filled with excitement.
“Capturing him alive or killing him and bringing him back beneath the Demon God Pillar will both be a heaven-sent achievement!”
He stepped forward.
His heavy footsteps made the ground tremble slightly.
“Boy, state your name.
Rock Demon Gore does not kill nameless people.”
Long Xuanye supported himself with the blade and slowly straightened his body.
The violent movement of his chest pulled at his wounds, making his face grow even paler.
He raised his head.
In his black eyes, a faint chaotic light began to burn.
“You want to know my name?”
The boy smiled.
There was madness in that smile.
“When you’re dead, go ask King Yama.”
“King Yama?”
Rock Demon Gore split his mouth open and laughed like stones grinding together.
“Interesting.”
“It has been a long time since I saw such a spirited human brat.”