It was impossible for him to be buried too deep. Qing Xia pressed her temples, forcing herself to calm down. If she became too agitated and panicked at this moment, it would only accelerate their deaths.

Night gradually enveloped the earth, and the temperature in the air grew colder and colder. Last night, for ease of movement, Qing Xia had only worn a thin night outfit. Now with the cold wind howling, constantly blowing against her body and face, she knew that if this continued, she would soon freeze to death.

Taking out her fire lighter, its weak flame dispelled a patch of darkness. Qing Xia hugged her shoulders with chattering teeth and slowly walked forward, gradually expanding her search area.

Nothing, nothing, nothing anywhere!

Qing Xia’s entire face had already frozen stiff. She stood in the snow with both feet completely numb from the cold. The cold wind in the deep chasm howled, even colder than outside. Qing Xia was frozen through, but a thread of willpower still stubbornly supported her, making her shuffle forward step by step.

She couldn’t just disappear without explanation like this. She couldn’t live with guilt toward him for the rest of her life. Even if it was just a corpse, she had to dig it out.

The pale woman’s face was resolute. She slowly drew in a deep breath, pulled out the dagger from her boot, rubbed her hands fiercely against her face, and searched the ground with her eyes. She immediately spotted the winding trail left by the small beast’s escape.

Two people fell together—it was impossible for one person to simply vanish into thin air, unless they had been dragged back to the beast’s den.

Tracking had always been Qing Xia’s specialty. Moreover, in such vast snowy terrain, it didn’t take long before she discovered drag marks. Following the snow tracks, she gradually moved forward. After walking for most of an hour, she finally saw the wild beasts’ nest by the weak firelight. Several pairs of green gleaming eyes suddenly appeared in the darkness. Qing Xia gripped her dagger, completely focused as she stared intently at those beasts, crouching slightly. Before she could prepare herself, those beasts howled and charged at her collectively.

Sharp cries immediately rang out in the air. Sharp claws and teeth rushed toward Qing Xia like blades. The previous stiffness and cold instantly vanished. Years of primitive jungle combat experience gave her elite fighting ability against any wolves, tigers, or leopards. The petite woman’s eyes were sharp. Listening for sounds and changing positions, she immediately leaped into the air. Her legs formed scissor shapes, fiercely clamping around one wild beast’s neck. With a twist of her waist strength, a crack sounded and one beast was immediately finished. A nearby beast howled mournfully, opening its mouth wide to bite fiercely. It bit down on Qing Xia’s calf. Qing Xia snorted coldly, her dagger plunging down from above, piercing straight through the small beast’s skull. Large amounts of fresh blood splattered out. Qing Xia shook her bitten calf forcefully, and with a clang, a shattered tooth fell from her leg. The wild beast had actually bitten the knife sheath bound to her calf.

Three slightly larger wild beasts still surrounded her. Qing Xia’s gaze was coldly murderous as she slowly walked toward the cave. The beasts slowly retreated with Qing Xia’s steps, seeming to be cautiously on guard against something. However, seeing that Qing Xia was about to approach their cave, they immediately attacked en masse, including one with blood around its waist and abdomen—the very one Qing Xia had injured earlier.

Unable to worry about gratitude and repayment, Qing Xia silently apologized. Her expression was fierce, both hands gripping cold daggers. Sharp mournful cries rang out continuously, and in moments, only a ground full of fresh blood and beast corpses remained.

With no more obstacles, Qing Xia lit her fire lighter and strode toward the cave. The closer she got to the cave, the less wind there was. Without strong winds stirring up snow, the drag marks here became increasingly obvious. Since living creatures could survive here, this definitely hadn’t been an underground abyss before—it must have been some kind of mountain cave. Qing Xia pushed aside the blocking snow, and a pitch-black, deep mountain cave immediately appeared before her eyes.

This cave was about half a person’s height. As soon as Qing Xia crouched and walked in, a pungent bloody smell suddenly rushed into her nose. The woman’s face turned white, and she immediately began running inside the cave. Several pairs of dark green eyes slowly appeared before her. When Qing Xia held up her torch to illuminate them, she saw three young beasts watching her from afar, whimpering while baring their teeth threateningly, but not daring to approach.

Qing Xia paid them no mind. Seeing no danger, she walked toward the interior. But just as she took one step, her foot suddenly stepped on something—something sticky and soft. Qing Xia frowned, bent down, and leaned close to the firelight to look. Her face immediately turned deathly pale.

On the blood-red stained snow lay a severed hand, torn beyond recognition, lying broken and tattered in the snow, emitting a nauseating stench.

Like a thunderbolt exploding in her mind, the woman’s eyes immediately widened. Her breathing gradually became rapid, her heartbeat like drumming. She stared at that severed limb in disbelief as all the blood in her body turned ice-cold.

“It can’t be, it can’t be,” Qing Xia shook her head while murmuring softly, “There’s definitely still time, there’s definitely still time.”

Like a crazed madwoman, she staggered forward. But just after turning a corner, the thin woman collapsed to her knees, trembling uncontrollably all over. It was as if countless thunderbolts had all crashed down on her head at once. She stared at the scene before her like a fool, completely stunned.

Her heart cooled inch by inch. Corpse remains scattered everywhere—hands and feet had been torn off, half the skull was gone, the entire face was chewed to a pulp, the chest and abdomen were ripped open with intestines spilled all over the ground, one thigh had been eaten until only white bones remained. The Southern Chu black armor, always renowned as the continent’s finest, was thrown aside like a pile of scrap metal.

Everything around was so quiet, only the soft low growls of those young beasts slowly echoing in the air. The pale woman seemed to have lost her mind. She sat alone on the chaotic ground, staring blankly without speaking, her eyes unmoving, gazing at everything with lifeless eyes, as if in a dream.

With a roar, a young beast suddenly charged up and bit into Qing Xia’s calf with a tearing sound. Fresh blood immediately flowed out, splattering everywhere. The intense pain stimulated the stunned woman. She turned her head and saw that young beast looking at her with vicious eyes, desperately pulling backward to tear at her leg flesh. In a flash, overwhelming anger and despair swept through all her nerves like a bursting dam. She suddenly jumped up and stomped fiercely on that young beast’s head.

The continuous sounds of cracking bones rang out. Qing Xia was almost mad. She picked up stones from the ground and frantically smashed them again and again on that young beast’s corpse. Blood and flesh became mangled, fluids burst out. The sharp cries of the other two wild beasts mixed with the woman’s crazed roars like the night wailing of ghosts in hell, filled with tragic despair and shattered pain.

“Kill you! Kill you! I’ll kill you all!”

Her fierce gaze suddenly fixed on the other two young beasts cowering in the corner. Qing Xia was like a starving wolf. She drew her dagger and with agile movements swift as lightning, grabbed one pure white young beast and stabbed fiercely into its belly. Blood splattered, screams and wails echoed throughout this place that had never been touched by humans for thousands of years. Qing Xia’s hair flew wildly, her eyes bloodshot, like a hell asura. That wild beast quickly became unrecognizable, turned into a blur of bloody flesh.

Throwing aside the dead beast’s corpse, Qing Xia’s ruthless eyes focused on the last remaining creature. When humans become truly vicious, even ghosts must retreat. That young beast was no bigger than a month-old puppy, trembling continuously all over, desperately squeezing toward the wall corner. Its two green gleaming eyes looked at Qing Xia in terror, whimpering softly with a voice that trembled uncontrollably.

Qing Xia’s blood-stained hands slowly reached toward that young beast like a soul-claiming ghost, even her eyes were blood-red.

Sharp wails suddenly rang out. The snow-white young beast struggled continuously in Qing Xia’s hands, its eyes filled with terror and despair, carrying tremendous, undisguisable pleading and desire for survival. Qing Xia’s rationality instantly returned. She stared blankly at that tiny wild beast, her heart feeling as if someone had smashed it to powder with a giant hammer.

A single tear fell in that instant, rolling down her blood-covered face like a crystal pearl. She suddenly remembered the yellow earth palace of years past. In that deep, foul-smelling snake pit, she had also lost all reason in such madness. Now time seemed to have reversed, but facing Chu Li’s torn and shattered corpse, would anyone still rush out to tell her that all of this was just a nightmare?

If it’s a nightmare, please let me wake up quickly!

This dream is too long. I’ve been struggling through it, desperately fighting against fate, but heaven seems intent on toying with me, piling all possible pain and despair upon my body. I always thought that as long as I was strong enough and tried hard enough to endure all the suffering, there would eventually be a day when the clouds would part and the sun would shine through. But now I realize that my entire life has been that of a puppet unaware of the strings binding me, performing plays chosen by others, never knowing when the show will end.

“Whimper…” Soft whimpering suddenly sounded. The snow-white young beast extended its pink tender tongue, gently licking Qing Xia’s hand. Qing Xia was slightly stunned and slowly lowered her head. Seeing this, the young beast exerted great effort to lift its short little neck from Qing Xia’s hands, its tender tongue licking Qing Xia’s face as if trying to wipe away her tears.

Painful emotions instantly burst like a dam. Qing Xia held the snow-white young beast tight and could no longer contain herself as she wailed aloud.

The pain in her heart expanded and expanded. She had originally thought she hated him, resented him. He was like a lofty tyrant who had dominated everything about her. He had pushed her into the abyss of despair again and again, using barbed whips to lash her heart to pieces. He had never been willing to believe her, doubting her repeatedly, disappointed in her repeatedly, repeatedly using that cold gaze to whip her self-respect and rebelliousness. Those harsh words, those heartless phrases, were like bullets that shot her full of holes, leaving her bloody and mangled.