The Fall

The talisman’s light faded, and Lu Qiancha crashed heavily into a desolate forest, her spine slamming viciously against an ancient tree.

“Pfft…”

A mouthful of fresh blood sprayed out.
The wound on Lu Qiancha’s chest, pierced by the frost sword qi, burned fiercely, and a bone-chilling cold mixed with intense pain spread continuously.

She slumped against the tree trunk, her soul lost, every breath pulling at the tearing pain.

Instinctively, she reached for the storage pouch at her waist—but her fingertips touched only emptiness.

Only then did Lu Qiancha realize with hindsight.

Her storage pouch, filled with pills and potions, had long been snatched away during her past wanderings.

“Wuu… wuu…”

The little wolf cub curled up, able only to futilely hug her agonizingly painful arm, letting out weak and intermittent whimpering sobs.

‘It hurts.’

‘Xun Xue…’

‘Mama…’

‘Where are you…’

‘Save me…’

Her unfocused gaze cast despairingly toward the horizon, watching the setting sun, red as blood, sink bit by bit into the distant mountains.
The boundless night, like a cold tide, surged from all directions, swallowing her frail figure inch by inch.

Just as her consciousness was about to sink into darkness—

A shout, filled with sobs and extreme panic, suddenly rang out: “Little Qiancha, where are you? Mama has come to find you!

“It’s all Mama’s fault. You won hide-and-seek, Mama admits defeat. Come out quickly, okay?”

“Wuwu~”

Lu Qiancha used the last of her strength, but could only squeeze a weak whimper from her throat.

“Qiancha!”

Xun Xue still caught that faint whimper, and a streak of deep blue light practically smashed down beneath the tree.

Xun Xue’s trembling hands pulled the curled-up Lu Qiancha tightly into her embrace.
Her face was covered in tears of fear, which fell one by one onto Lu Qiancha’s cold forehead.

She saw the stab wound on Lu Qiancha’s body and frantically took out a pill emitting a warm spiritual light from her inner pouch.
She carefully pried open Lu Qiancha’s tightly clenched teeth and fed it to her.

The gentle medicinal power quickly dissolved, dispelling the bone-chilling cold and severe pain.
The wound stopped bleeding and scabbed over at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Only when Lu Qiancha’s rapid breathing had calmed slightly did Xun Xue dare to loosen her embrace a fraction, the lingering fear of the close call making her arms still tremble slightly.
She buried her face deep in the crook of Lu Qiancha’s neck, which smelled of blood, her voice choking and broken: “Little Qiancha, Mama missed you so much.

“Next time, don’t scare Mama like this again, okay?”

Xun Xue lifted her head, looking through teary eyes at the weak little face in her arms, her gaze filled with a pleading that could almost drown a person.

“…Mama, I’m sorry.”

Lu Qiancha struggled to open her heavy eyelids.
Looking at Xun Xue’s face, from which the terror had not yet faded, her heart was filled with immense sorrow and guilt.

After returning to Xun Xue’s home.

Xun Xue held Lu Qiancha’s slightly cool little hand tightly, a complex light flickering deep in her eyes.

“Little Qiancha,” her voice was gentle, carrying a trace of imperceptible nervousness, “Mama will teach you a technique called the ‘Bloodline Link’.”

“Once used,” her fingertip glowed with a soft spiritual light as she tapped Lu Qiancha’s brow, “our minds will be connected. No matter the ends of the earth, we will be able to sense each other’s existence.”

Xun Xue tried hard to squeeze out a playful smile: “However, there is a big side effect.”

“What side effect?”

Lu Qiancha asked in confusion.

“It will make Little Qiancha feel as if she could be controlled by Mama at any time.”

Xun Xue pursed her lips, her eyes serious yet tinged with apprehension, and added, “Of course, if Little Qiancha isn’t willing, Mama will absolutely not force you.”

Lu Qiancha looked quietly at Xun Xue.
In those blue eyes, her own reflection was clearly visible, along with that almost humble cautiousness.

After a long time.

She gently leaned her head into Xun Xue’s warm embrace, her voice as light as a feather: “I am willing.”

‘After all, besides you, I have nothing left.’

Xun Xue’s body trembled slightly.
Then, a brilliant smile completely bloomed on her face.
She tightened her arms, embracing her daughter even deeper.

Hundreds of years passed in a flash, and this beauty ended too abruptly.

Lu Qiancha could feel a bone-chilling coldness, and then she saw Xun Xue fall in front of her.

“Mama, quick, wake up! We have to run!”

The heart-rending cries seemed so weak amidst the earth-shaking sounds of killing.
Lu Qiancha’s small body lay prone beside the blood-stained Xun Xue, her hands shaking her futilely.
Tears mixed with blood and dirt covered her face, and despairing tears fell like broken strings of beads, smashing frantically onto Xun Xue’s pale face.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Xun Xue struggled to lift her heavy eyelids; her life was draining away rapidly.
Using the last of her strength, she raised her uncontrollably trembling hand, her cold fingers touching Lu Qiancha’s tear-stained little face with incomparable gentleness.

Her voice was as faint as a sigh, filled with endless regret and reluctance: “I’m sorry, Little Qiancha… I won’t be able to see you grow up…”

“No, that’s not right, Mama, you can do it! Go, let’s go!”

Lu Qiancha shook her head frantically, her small body trembling violently from fear and grief, her eyes holding only a blank despair.

“It’s too late… run…”

Xun Xue used her last shred of strength to lock her gaze onto Lu Qiancha.
“Don’t let them catch… you…”

As her voice faded, Xun Xue’s eyes gently closed.

An Immortal Venerable of her generation had fallen.

In that instant, heaven and earth mourned together.

A sky full of blood rain poured down.

Crimson raindrops, like the weeping blood of the heavens, smashed coldly onto the earth, and onto Lu Qiancha’s frozen face.

“…Wuu~”

Lu Qiancha stood up slowly, like a rusted puppet.

Tears mixed with the sweet, fishy blood rain, flowing recklessly down her face.

She raised her hollow eyes to look at the figure in mid-air, shrouded in the radiance of a domain.
Her voice was as hoarse as sandpaper rubbing together: “Why…”

“Why was the one who killed her…

“You—!!”

The light of the domain dissipated.

Revealing that face Lu Qiancha was incredibly familiar with, which was now as cold as ten-thousand-year-old black ice—Gan Tang.

She hovered quietly in the air, her pink and blue robes fluttering in the blood rain, her gaze indifferently looking down at the embracing corpse on the ground and the tiny, despairing wolf cub.

“I want you all… to be buried with her!”

Lu Qiancha’s roar was like the swan song of a dying beast, tearing through the battlefield of blood and wind.
Those eyes that once reflected Xun Xue’s gentleness were now completely swallowed by despair and madness, scarlet as blood.

Her hands suddenly grasped at the void.

“Clang—!”

With a sharp sword cry, a crimson giant sword condensed out of thin air in her palm.

The sword body trembled, emitting a hum that craved slaughter.
Releasing the spiritual power of the late stage of the Integration realm, her figure turned into a crimson stream of light.

There were no more moves, no more methods.
With a pure brutality that sought to tear everything in front of her to shreds, she charged into the group of cultivators who had besieged Xun Xue.

Every swing of the sword light brought with it a frantic spray of flesh and blood.

The crimson sword qi was like an out-of-control beast, violently tearing apart protective spiritual lights, severing magic treasures and flying swords, and piercing through the chests of cultivators.