Meng Duo’er had been trying desperately to break through the purple glow, but she simply couldn’t manage it. In the end, she collapsed weakly to the ground, with nothing left to do but wait for it to disperse on its own.
As time passed, the purple glow faded faster and faster, and Meng Duo’er’s heart clenched tighter and tighter.
A whole floor soaked in blood—she didn’t even dare imagine what exactly had happened within that glow, yet she couldn’t stop herself from wondering.
Whether it was the body bearing the Five Elements, or the one drawing power from it, if interrupted midway, there was only one possible outcome: a death with no proper end.
A death with no proper end!
What a terrifying phrase. Even Meng Duo’er had no idea what kind of death that would actually look like.
She only knew it wouldn’t be a peaceful one!
So much blood—surely it couldn’t all belong to Xuanyuan Lige and Meng Wanyue, could it? Yet even so, it seemed like too much.
Could it be Baili Weisheng’s?
Nearly half a day had already passed. No matter whose blood it was, after such prolonged blood loss, even a body forged from a human Gu surely couldn’t hold out!
Meng Duo’er’s hands twisted together so tightly she nearly wrung her own fingers off, her eyes wide as saucers, staring fixedly ahead. Whether from panic, fear, or sheer exhaustion, tears kept streaming down her face without end.
At last, she saw it!
A figure gradually emerging within the purple glow, sprawled on the ground. She couldn’t make out any details, only that it was a person—but Meng Duo’er recognized him at a glance.
“Baili Weisheng!”
Meng Duo’er cried out and, heedless of everything, lunged forward, only to find the purple glow hadn’t fully dispersed yet, its remaining power still formidable.
Meng Duo’er was thrown back. Only then did she truly grasp just how powerful Xuanyuan Lige’s Five Elements body really was.
But she had no time to dwell on that—her whole attention was fixed on Baili Weisheng, lying unconscious on the ground.
“Baili Weisheng!”
“What’s wrong with you, wake up!”
“Baili Weisheng, don’t scare me like this!”
…
Gradually, everything came into clearer focus. Baili Weisheng’s white robe had already been dyed red, soaked through with blood.
He looked as though he’d been steeped in a pool of blood, even his face dotted with drops of it.
Where had all this blood come from?
Where was Baili Weisheng injured?
Why was there so much of it?
Meng Duo’er stared at it all in a daze, and finally realized something was off. Where was Xuanyuan Lige? Where was Meng Wanyue?
Why had they both disappeared?
Meng Duo’er’s eyes swept back and forth over the pool of blood, growing more and more frantic, more and more terrified.
They weren’t there!
Not even a body, even in death.
Suddenly, Meng Duo’er’s gaze stopped. A good distance from Baili Weisheng, there lay a pile of clothing, its color no longer distinguishable, though she could tell it belonged to a woman.
Meng Duo’er sucked in a sharp breath, an indescribable terror instantly flooding her mind.
Nothing left but the clothes?
Could it be…
“Xuanyuan Lige?”
Meng Duo’er cried out, forcing down an unspeakable dread, her eyes darting back and forth over the pool of blood!
At last, she found it.
Right beside Baili Weisheng, pressed close against him, there was another pile of clothing, so thoroughly soaked in blood that she hadn’t even noticed it at first.
By now, the purple glow had completely dissipated, yet Meng Duo’er stood frozen in terror, unable to move forward for a long while.
After a good while, she finally came back to herself, goosebumps immediately rising all over her skin.
“Baili… Weisheng! Baili… Baili Weisheng!”
Whether trembling from fear or choking back sobs, her whole body shook, her heart shook, and her voice shook too, as she scrambled desperately toward Baili Weisheng!
The moment she reached his side, she saw everything clearly.
It was Xuanyuan Lige’s clothing! That purple long robe of his! Even soaked red with blood, she could recognize it.
The sleeve was still draped over Baili Weisheng’s arm, but… but where was the person?
He was gone, just like that!
Meng Duo’er had never been close to Xuanyuan Lige at all, but seeing such a wretched sight, such an ending with no proper death, she couldn’t hold back the grief welling up inside her, and burst into loud, wailing sobs.
At this point, who would play the Lishang, whether anyone could take Xuanyuan Lige’s place in performing it—none of that mattered anymore!
The man was gone—what else could possibly matter?
However terrible this man had been, he hadn’t deserved an end like this!
However terrible he had been, he had still saved her and Baili Weisheng!
This man had no relation to her whatsoever, and yet, gazing at that empty pile of clothing soaked in blood, Meng Duo’er simply couldn’t hold herself together—the whole world seemed to fall silent, desolate, so sorrowful.
Lige—was a song of sorrow all you were ever fated to become?
She had no idea how much time had passed before Meng Duo’er finally pulled herself back from that uncontrollable grief.
“Baili Weisheng!”
She cried out, hurriedly rolling the prone Baili Weisheng over so he faced upward.
Meng Duo’er didn’t even dare check for his breath at first, only watching, until she saw his abdomen still faintly rising and falling, and only then did she gather the courage to reach out and check his breathing.
Thank goodness! Thank goodness!
He was still alive!
Meng Duo’er didn’t dare even call out to him, afraid that pushing him even slightly might cost him his life.
She hurriedly took out the life-saving pills she always carried with her, unsure whether they’d even work, and fed them all to Baili Weisheng anyway.
After dragging him out of the pool of blood and propping him against a wall, she finally let out a breath, feeling just the smallest bit calmer.
Wiping away her tears, she sat beside Baili Weisheng, one hand tightly clasping his, the other pressed against her own wildly pounding chest, swallowing hard several times, forcing herself to calm down.
Only then did she gather the courage to look again at the two piles of clothing in the pool of blood.
Those two piles of clothing were exactly what a death with no proper end looked like—not even bones remained, reduced entirely to a pool of blood.
Meng Duo’er had thought she could keep herself under control, but for some reason, the moment she looked at Xuanyuan Lige’s purple robe, the tears welled up uncontrollably and kept falling.
What should she do?
How could she tell Han Ziqing—how could she possibly explain that from now on, there would never again be a Xuanyuan Lige in this world? He was simply gone…
“Baili Weisheng, what do we do?”
Meng Duo’er choked out the words, and once she started, she couldn’t stop crying. “Baili Weisheng, wake up! Please wake up!”
Baili Weisheng’s eyes remained tightly shut, deep in unconsciousness, utterly unaware of everything around him, except that his right hand was still clenched tight—the very hand that, before he’d lost consciousness, had been gripping Xuanyuan Lige’s falling hand. Only now, it grasped nothing at all.
The sky gradually darkened, and inside the cave, darkness fell even faster.
The smell of blood lingered heavy in the air, darkness slowly swallowing everything in sight, the entire cave falling into silence, the atmosphere turning eerie and grim.
Meng Duo’er instinctively curled up closer against Baili Weisheng—she was afraid, afraid that if she couldn’t hold herself together, she might bolt straight out of the cave.
When would the sky ever brighten? And once it did, would Baili Weisheng wake up?