236: Bloody Heartbeat, Destruction Node

【Ding!】

【The Host used their body as bait, executing an exquisite plan to place themselves in a certain-death situation, triggering a spatial storm and causing an S-rank death event!】

【Method of death: Completely annihilated by the spatial Law, Divine Soul destroyed, possessing immense impact and sacrificial beauty!】

【Comprehensive evaluation: S!】

【Congratulations to the Host, you have received the reward: Spatial Law fragment (minor), and the skill "Sky-Splitting Claw" has reached Perfection!】

The cold System notification echoed in Lin Fan's mind.

A hundred meters away, inside a pre-set, hidden tree hollow, his form condensed out of thin air.

Lin Fan stretched his limbs, sensing the marvelous connection between his body and the surrounding space.

He could clearly "see" that the space, which was originally intangible and formless, had now become like strings he could pluck.

With a thought, he raised his right hand and gently swiped at the Void Realm in front of him.

Ssh-la.

A pitch-black crack appeared silently, only to heal in an instant.

Although it was only a finger's length, it contained the purest power of annihilation.

A satisfied curve appeared on the corner of Lin Fan's mouth.

He extended a finger and touched the edge of the crack just as it was about to heal.

The next moment, his figure vanished from the tree hollow and reappeared under another tree ten meters away.

A short-distance spatial displacement.

This life-saving ability had reached a new level.

After doing all this, Lin Fan concealed all his aura and sat down cross-legged.

He was not in a hurry to leave; instead, he waited quietly.

Before the spatial storm fully erupted, he had left behind an extremely faint spatial fluctuation that could only be captured by someone with a sufficiently powerful Divine Soul who was also extremely focused.

The direction that fluctuation pointed to was right here.

He believed Yue Xi would find her way here.

...

The rocky valley was deathly silent.

Yao Tianqi, Lu Xinghe, and the others all looked at the area where the spatial storm had gradually subsided with ashen faces.

There was nothing there.

Lin Fan, along with the "supreme treasure" that might have been on him, had been completely wiped out by the spatial Law.

Everything had been in vain.

"Bastards!"

Yao Tianqi slammed his fist into a giant rock beside him, shattering the hard stone into pieces.

He had been played.

Played in circles by a clown in his eyes.

What supreme treasure, what Opportunity—it was a setup from start to finish.

A setup that used his own life to create a chance for survival for Yue Xi.

"Let's go!"

Yao Tianqi suppressed the rage and frustration in his heart, coldly glanced in the direction of Yue Xi, and ultimately chose not to continue attacking.

If a Yue Xi in an unknown state were to fight for her life, they would have to pay a significant price.

It was not worth it for a vague and illusory lotus seed.

The others shared the same sentiment; they took their subordinates and turned to leave, faces full of gloom.

Soon, only Yue Xi remained in the entire valley.

She stood blankly in that safe corner, as if her Soul had been drained away.

The sounds of the world had faded away from her.

In her eyes, only the void where Lin Fan had disappeared remained.

The brilliant smile he had shown her at the last moment was like the sharpest carving knife, slicing through her heart over and over again.

Why?

Why go to such lengths?

They were clearly just strangers who happened to meet.

Why did he keep using his own life to save her, time and time again?

Immense sorrow and incomprehensible chaos flooded her like a tidal wave, completely drowning her.

Regret, guilt, and a kind of heartache she couldn't even name churned wildly in her chest.

Her body swayed slightly.

Everything before her eyes began to blur.

Just as her consciousness was about to be swallowed by this flood, a trace of an extremely faint, almost non-existent fluctuation traveled from the center of that void into her Divine Soul perception.

The fluctuation was very peculiar, carrying a familiar aura that belonged to Lin Fan.

Yue Xi's body stiffened abruptly.

Her unfocused pupils suddenly contracted, bursting with a gleam of disbelief.

She closed her eyes, immersing all her focus, frantically capturing that fleeting trace of movement.

There was a direction.

It was pointing in a direction.

An absurd thought, one she herself couldn't believe, ignited like a wildfire in the bottom of her heart, which had already turned to ashes.

She did not hesitate at all.

Her figure turned into a stream of white light, not even bothering to deal with the injuries on her body, and rushed out like a madwoman, following that faint, extreme guidance.

Through the jungle, over mountain streams.

Finally, the guidance vanished in front of an inconspicuous cave.

Yue Xi stopped, her breathing becoming rapid, her chest heaving violently.

She looked at the pitch-black cave entrance, her heart beating so fast it felt like it would jump out of her throat.

A kind of near-timidity made her outstretched hand tremble slightly.

She was afraid.

Afraid that this was just her last hallucination.

Afraid that the cave was empty, shattering her last hope.

She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in her heart, and walked in, step by step.

The cave was dim.

Only a few rays of light spilled in from the cracks in the cave ceiling.

A figure was leaning against the stone wall, eyes closed, as if dozing.

His clothes were still tattered, and the dark red bloodstain on his chest was still glaringly bright.

But his breathing was steady and powerful.

He was still alive.

The moment she saw that face clearly, the string in Yue Xi's mind that had been stretched to the limit finally snapped.

She could no longer maintain that cold and indifferent facade.

All her strength, all her pretenses, were shattered by the impact at this moment.

She hurried forward, and the moment Lin Fan opened his eyes, she stretched out her arms and hugged him tightly, so tightly.

Warm liquid uncontrollably slid from her eyes, quickly soaking the clothes on Lin Fan's chest.

Her body was trembling violently.

Lin Fan's body froze instantly.

He could feel the softness and trembling of the body in his arms, and he could feel the damp heat coming from his neck.

The ten thousand lines he had prepared were all stuck in his throat at this moment.

After a long while, he awkwardly raised his hand and gently patted her back.

"I..."

"Don't speak."

Yue Xi's voice, thick with a nasal tone and a hint of hoarseness, interrupted him.

She didn't press him, nor did she probe.

She just held him, as if she wanted to knead him into her own body.

She only knew that he was still alive.

That was enough.

After a long time, Yue Xi's emotions slowly calmed down.

She let go, turned her head away in some embarrassment, and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

An unnatural flush appeared on her stunningly beautiful face.

"My ancestors left behind a life-saving jade pendant that can die in my place when I am in mortal danger."

Lin Fan looked at her and said the excuse he had prepared long ago.

"Hmm."

Yue Xi just responded softly, not asking further.

She raised her head, her clear, water-like eyes fixed on Lin Fan, filled with unprecedented trust and a certain complex emotion.

"Where are we going next?"

She naturally bound her actions to Lin Fan's.

Lin Fan took out the old animal skin map from his chest.

"To the true core of the Burial God Valley."

The two did not linger, and after tidying up their state, they left the cave.

Yue Xi tacitly followed half a step behind Lin Fan, her gaze never leaving his back.

Led by Lin Fan, they passed through a swamp shrouded in thick fog and finally arrived under a huge cliff.

The map's guidance ended here.

Lin Fan channeled his Nether Bloodline Power into the map.

On the animal skin map, the blood-colored skull suddenly lit up, casting a beam of blood-colored light onto the stone wall in front.

Hum.

The stone wall emitted a dull roar and slowly moved to the sides, revealing a huge, bottomless cave.

An ancient, desolate aura, mixed with endless blood and resentment, rushed out from the cave entrance like a tangible cold current.

Yue Xi's expression instantly became grave.

This aura made even her feel a palpitation.

The two looked at each other and stepped inside.

The space inside the cave was far larger than they had imagined.

The further they went, the more intense the aura that made the Soul tremble became.

At the same time, a low, throbbing sound, as if coming from the heartbeat of an ancient giant beast, began to ring in their ears.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Each beat struck heavily upon their Divine Soul.

Finally, they reached the end of the cave.

The sight before them made their pupils constrict suddenly.

In the center of the cave, there was a huge blood-colored altar.

The altar seemed to be cast from some kind of flesh and blood, its surface covered with twisted, blood-vessel-like patterns that were still slowly pulsating.

Every pulsation emitted that heart-palpitating world-ending aura.

And at this moment, around the altar, a dozen black-robed figures were kneeling on the ground, chanting ancient and evil spells.

Countless pale bones had been arranged by them into a massive Formation, continuously extracting the resentment of this world and injecting it into the altar.

Leading them was Blood Shadow.

The arrival of Lin Fan and Yue Xi instantly broke the ritual here.

Blood Shadow turned his head abruptly.

His gaze first fell on Yue Xi, flashing with a hint of surprise and cruelty.

But the next moment, the instant his gaze met Lin Fan's.

His blood-colored pupils contracted to the limit.

The morbid fanaticism on his face was instantly replaced by a shock and greed that was beyond belief.

"Impossible..."

His voice was dry and sharp, staring fixedly at Lin Fan, as if looking at a peerless treasure.

"On your body... you actually have such a pure ancestral Bloodline!"

"You are the one... you are the best sacrifice to awaken the Holy Master!"