Fang Qi braced himself on the ground with both hands, staring blankly at the earth that had turned back to dirt.
His mind was a complete mess.
…Huh?
That hand just now… what exactly was it?
It looked like Liguang’s hand, didn’t it?
It looked exactly like it.
Exactly!
He couldn’t find the slightest difference!
There was no way he could have mistaken it!
The curve of those nails, the slenderness of that wrist, those delicate joints…
On countless mornings, he had watched the same pair of hands lift a white porcelain teacup and offer it to him.
That was Liguang’s hand!
So…
He stared blankly at the ground.
Liguang… she wasn’t actually somewhere up in the heavens?
She had been here all along?
Right beneath this patch of flat ground?
In the depths of that pitch-black void?
She had never left?!
She had been trapped here the entire time?!
That sense of attraction and familiarity he had felt while standing on the ground just now…
Was that her calling out to him?!
Calling him to come save her?!
His breathing immediately quickened!!
…Calm down. Calm down…
There was no way he could calm down!!!
“Liguang!!!!”
“Bang!”
He slammed his fist into the ground and roared at the dirt that had already returned to normal!
His voice echoed through the empty mountain forest, startling several birds in the distance!
But…
There was no response.
Sunlight continued to pour down from above, while the shadows of the trees swayed gently in the mountain breeze.
The weather remained perfectly calm. There wasn’t even a trace of wind or a single cloud in the sky.
Liguang…
There was no response from her at all.
…?
Fang Qi stared blankly at the ground.
He lay there for several seconds—only several seconds.
And then…
He actually calmed down.
Liguang’s authority had forced him to calm down.
The sensation was strange. There was clearly still a ball of fire burning in his chest, and his heart was still pounding wildly…
But his mind felt as if someone had poured a basin of ice water over it!
All his emotions were instantly forced down to the deepest level of his consciousness!
He could feel that they were still there, but they could no longer affect his thoughts.
He was calm again.
This ability had been given to him by Liguang, which meant that Liguang wanted him to remain calm.
He had to stay calm.
He had no choice but to stay calm.
So Fang Qi took a deep breath, slowly got to his feet, then raised a hand and brushed the dust from his legs.
Then…
He lowered his head and stared at the ground, his eyes trembling slightly.
Liguang, was that you?
Were you the one who dragged Lin Xiaoyou down?
Why…?
Why did you drag her down?
Why did those two hands cover Lin Xiaoyou’s eyes and abdomen before pulling her into the darkness…
Yet didn’t touch him at all?
Why…
Why didn’t you drag me down too?
I…!
I had clearly thrown myself toward you. My fingertips had clearly almost reached you!
But before he could touch it, that patch of darkness…
had turned back into dirt?
Liguang, you don’t want me to go in?
Or can you only let Lin Xiaoyou go in?
Tsk…!
Wife, what exactly do you mean by that?!
A trace of irritation welled up in him once more!
Then it was suppressed once again.
He slowly calmed down.
Tsk.
You won’t even let me get angry, huh?
Fine.
Very fine.
…Just wait until I catch you!
He raised a hand and rubbed the space between his brows.
Forget it.
There was no point getting angry.
If that really was Liguang, then…
His wife must have had her reasons for doing this.
She had never acted without a reason.
Even at her most reckless, every decision she made had a reason behind it.
Although… he didn’t always understand those reasons.
But…
Fang Qi narrowed his eyes slightly.
What if that wasn’t Liguang?
Then Lin Xiaoyou… should be safe, right?
…Forget it.
He couldn’t possibly mistake those hands.
…He’d wait.
Drawing a deep breath, he lifted his foot and began walking away from the flat patch of ground, one step at a time.
Stick to the plan.
On the way here, he and Lin Xiaoyou had indeed settled on a plan.
He would give Lin Xiaoyou an hour.
According to their guess, time inside had been stretched for her.
At least tenfold.
Within his one hour, Lin Xiaoyou might spend a very long time inside…
But since it was only an hour, the time she experienced wouldn’t be long enough to drive her mad—and it would still be enough for her to accomplish something.
After that hour, if Lin Xiaoyou still couldn’t get out—or if she had already been lying dead in there for who knew how long…
Then Fang Qi would act on his own.
Whether that meant going down to investigate or simply rewinding time.
That was their plain and simple plan.
It relied entirely on Miss Genius’s personal abilities and Fang Qi’s power to rewind time after death.
Still, it was a fairly reasonable plan.
It was just that…
This sudden appearance of a slender, jade-like hand that had dragged Lin Xiaoyou down was truly…
Plans never survived contact with reality.
He took another step, staring at the muddy ground beneath his feet.
He still hadn’t left the flat patch of land.
Beneath him was nothing more than ordinary mud.
He could feel the powerful attraction beneath the ground—that familiar, almost intimate sensation…
It was still calling to him in silence.
He was momentarily lost in thought.
Liguang, are you really down there…?
Suddenly, his pupils contracted once more!
His intuition had kicked in again!
That two-second glimpse of the future flashed through his mind once more!
And then…
He knew.
Two seconds from now, when his right foot stepped onto a certain spot on the ground…
That patch of earth would turn pitch-black again!
And then…
A slender hand would reach out from the darkness, seize his ankle with pinpoint accuracy, and lock onto it!
Fang Qi was dazed for a split second.
…What was he supposed to do?
His body reacted before his mind could.
He instinctively raised his right foot, then…
Stomped down on that very spot!
His foot sank.
The sensation of hard-packed earth vanished in an instant!
Pitch-black nothingness spread upward from the sole of his foot, swallowing his shoe!
Then, just as he had expected—
A slender hand shot out from the darkness!
It wrapped around his ankle!
All five fingers tightened, their strength immense!
His ankle was squeezed until it made a faint cracking sound!
But Fang Qi had been ready.
His other foot was still planted firmly in the mud!
It supported his body without wavering!
The moment that hand seized his ankle, he not only avoided being dragged in—he bent down sharply instead!
Then he grabbed the wrist of that hand!
Got you!
He yanked upward with all his strength!
Come out!!
“Splurt—”
Black fragments flew everywhere, churning and scattering through the air like shattered ink!
The hand, along with the entire arm attached to it, was dragged out of the void by him!
Then came the shoulder, and then…
Fang Qi’s eyes shook violently!
A cascade of silver hair burst apart through the black fragments!
Her crimson-and-amber mismatched eyes stared straight at him the instant she was pulled free!
Fang Qi’s breathing stopped.
Those eyes!
The amber eye was dull and lifeless…
But the crimson eye was flashing wildly!
Scarlet light dyed half her face the color of blood—
and turned her long silver hair a vivid red!
Fang Qi’s mind went blank for a moment.
And then…
All his calm, all his authority, all the emotions he had kept suppressed—everything collapsed in that instant!
“Liguang—!!”
He wanted to call her name, pull her into his arms, and…
But before he could say a word…
the silver-haired girl suddenly tore herself free of his grasp!
She twisted both hands around and pressed them against his shoulders. With tremendous force…
she slammed him toward the ground!
What…?!
The world spun before his eyes!
Then his back crashed into a patch of soft darkness!
The void caught him, sinking slightly like a viscous liquid.
He wasn’t hurt.
But before he could struggle, two delicate hands had already clamped around his neck!
Her ten fingers tightened!
The force was so great that he instantly lost the ability to breathe!
Fang Qi: “?!!”
Something heavy settled on top of him!
The silver-haired girl was straddling him!
Those mismatched eyes stared down at him, utterly crazed!
The amber eye was dull and empty, like a hollow glass marble!
The crimson eye continued to flash wildly!
Scarlet light seemed almost ready to spill from its socket, bathing both their faces in blood-red light!
Yet Fang Qi felt no fear whatsoever. Instead, he was a little dazed, a little…
nostalgic?
It felt like he hadn’t seen Liguang like this in a very long time…
She even seemed a little cute.
“Bang!”
The impact of their foreheads colliding made his whole body tremble!
The silver-haired girl had slammed her forehead against his!
Her mismatched eyes stared directly into his!
Forehead pressed to forehead!
The tips of their noses were nearly touching!
In her crimson eye, he could see his own face, flushed red from lack of oxygen!
Liguang, you…!
“A… Qi…!”
She stared at him and spoke in a trembling voice.
“Who… allowed… you…”
The words seemed to be forced out from the deepest part of her throat!
“To… stay… with Lin You… all… this… time…?!”
Every word trembled. Each one sounded as if she were on the verge of collapse!
“Who! Allowed! You!!!!”
Her fingernails dug into the skin of his neck!
It hurt a little, but he couldn’t breathe!
…?
Fang Qi’s mind had truly gone blank.
…What did she mean?
Wasn’t it you who told me to…?!
With his throat firmly constricted and his breathing completely cut off, he could only open his mouth with difficulty and force out three words:
“It… was… you!”
The silver-haired girl continued staring straight at him, her head tilting to one side.
“Me…?”
she murmured, her voice softening slightly.
“Me…?”
But…
the madness in that crimson eye didn’t diminish in the slightest!
If anything, it burned even more fiercely!
She tilted her head a little farther, her long silver hair falling across Fang Qi’s face.
Yet the corners of her lips slowly curled upward!
“Ah…”
“So it was me…”
Her lips trembled.
“It was me…”
“I did allow it…”
She murmured in a trembling voice:
“It was…”
“I gave you permission, but…”
“I gave you permission, and you… were actually going to listen?”
She murmured, her voice trembling terribly.
“Were you really going to… keep meeting her…?”
“Were you really going to… keep being with her…?”
“Were you really going to keep riding in the same car with her, alone together…?!!”
Her hand began to tighten!
Again and again, she forced the back of his head down into that patch of darkness!!
Fang Qi could feel the nothingness beneath the back of his head sinking inward with every push!
Like the ever-widening maw of an abyss, ready to swallow him whole!
“Aqi…!!”
Suddenly, she exerted even more force, clamping her fingers around his throat and shoving him hard into the darkness!
Fang Qi’s vision began to darken!
Liguang, wait…!
What’s wrong with you…?!!
He desperately gripped her wrists with both hands, trying to pry her fingers loose…!
But deprived of oxygen, he had already lost most of his strength.
The darkness behind him seemed to be devouring his strength as well.
And those slender fingers were like precision-engineered locks, utterly immovable!
His consciousness finally began to blur.
Darkness started eating away at the edges of his vision.
His head was held firmly in place, leaving him no choice but to stare at those mismatched eyes before him.
Liguang continued to stare straight at him!
That crimson eye shone brighter and brighter in the darkness—redder and redder!
Like a blood-red spotlight burning in the night!
Her lips moved, but her voice grew softer and softer.
“Aqi who won’t listen…”
“Must be locked away forever.”
“Forever.”
Everything before his eyes gradually sank into darkness.
Fang Qi’s consciousness slowly blurred from the lack of oxygen.
But…
Because of the “authority,” because of the authority Liguang herself had granted him…
He managed to hold on to the last thread of his reason.
He was still struggling to think.
Why…?
Liguang…?
Why…?
Weren’t you the one who wanted Lin Xiaoyou to help me…?
You were the one who kept Lin Xiaoyou by my side…
You were the one who tacitly allowed all her little schemes…
You were the one who made her my brain, my sword, my teammate…
I clearly…
I was only following your plan…!
But why…?
Why were you suddenly acting so irrationally…?!
You…
…Ah.
In the final second before everything before him vanished completely and he lost consciousness…
He suddenly realized something.
Something terrifying.
Liguang’s rationality seemed to be…
…on his behalf?
…?
He slowly widened his eyes, wanting to take one last look at her, but…
His vision had already been swallowed completely by darkness.
The next moment, a gentle yet trembling voice sounded beside his ear:
“Aqi, I’m sorry…!”
His consciousness sank into a complete, warm darkness.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
