On the top branch of a tree not far from where Wight Wolf prevailed, two figures had been secretly observing what had eventuated so far. One of them was wearing a black cloak while another was wearing white. Their cloaks were covering half of their faces. No one would be able to identify their identities just by looking at them.
The one in black started talking in a low tone: "What an unexpected turn of events, right, Whitey?"
The one in white answered with a sissy voice: "Indeed, Blackie. Who would have thought that the famous God's Cripple Son would end up like this?"
"Heh, anyway, there is no change in our plan, right, Whitey?"
"Indeed, Blackie. One dead cripple wouldn't set any ripple to the plan at all."
"Let's keep watching how it will turn out, right, Whitey?"
"Indeed, Blackie. Our target is still not dead after all."
The mysterious duo could not hold their chuckles in the dark.
———
Both Mei Yue'er and Sun Wuji could not believe their eyes when they saw Feng Luotian disappear into the beast's mouth.
A flashback to the past, before anyone in the group had awakened yet, where Feng Luotian was still the leader of the group and protected them from any harm by either bullies or accidents, they all had made a promise to live by a "will to protect" – the teaching from God, Feng Luotian's father.
Ever since then, they would not allow anyone they loved to die before them. They would protect them with their lives on the line. Hence, every time their brothers were in a life-and-death situation such as this, they would disregard their own life in order to get them out.
Now, however, what happened before their eyes had betrayed that very promise. They had lost their brother, yet they were still standing. The feeling that they had never before imagined they would experience erupted.
Gradually but surely, their eyes turned red.
No one knew whether it was from their blood or from the deepest agony in their hearts.
BOOM!! BOOM!!
With a loud deafening burst of fury, Mei Yue'er's Theríon soared out of nowhere until she reached a breakthrough to Seven Fangs. Same with Sun Wuji, he burst his Theríon and achieved an advance to Six Fangs Fighter.
Both of their auras turned darker.
Their wounds were still opened, and their blood was still flowing out of them. Presently, they resembled two bloodied devils who were just emerging from hell. Their crimson eyes flashed as they charged straight at the one responsible for their brother's death.
Rumble!!
Wight Wolf released its suppressive force intending to restrict their movement. Yet, the suppressive force was unable to slow them down at all.
Their violent and berserk auras disrupted the natural flow of the suppressive force, rendering it negligible to no effect.
Only some distance away from the wolf, both Mei Yue'er and Sun Wuji unleashed their Theríon at the maximal level.
Sun Wuji turned into a five-meter-tall stone giant. He balled his fist and gave a powerful punch to the monster's head.
With everything he had got, Sun Wuji could finally do some damage to a Talon Monster.
Wight Wolf shook its head dizzily before its head was clutched by Sun Wuji's gigantic arm of stone, locking it down in place.
On the other hand, Mei Yue'er leaped up high, activating a more advanced skill than the previous Aurora Treading Step: Aurora Thousand Illusion Strikes.
In a blink of an eye, a thousand figures that looked exactly like Mei Yue'er came into sight, encircling Wight Wolf.
All of them had streaks of green light connecting them to opposite sides right through Wight Wolf's body.
When the real Mei Yue'er retrieved another short sword from its sheath and pointed it toward the beast, the rest of her thousand figures also did the same.
At this moment, Wight Wolf sensed a deadly attack coming. It tried to struggle out of Sun Wuji's grapple. But with another punch from Sun Wuji, its hustle was pacified.
All thousand figures of Mei Yue'er glowed in green light.
"Die!!"
With a shout from Mei Yue'er, all of her images flashed through the beast, slicing it in the process, making a thousand marks blade on its body.
"Roar!!" Wight Wolf cried out in pain before its eyes turned dim as the beast lost its consciousness within Sun Wuji's grasp.
———
Observing while staying hidden, two people in black and white had a look of surprise.
The one in black started talking: "This is? Well, as expected of pre-school's top geniuses, right, Whitey?"
"Indeed, Blackie. Who would have thought that they could fight against a One Talon Monster?"
"But that will be as far as they can do, right, Whitey?"
"Indeed, Blackie. In the end, she will be dead all the same."
Each of them took out a talisman, holding it up by their fingers.
One talisman with the word [Recover].
Another with the word [Force].
Both of them said in unison: "Activate!!"
Next, the talismans flashed and dissipated into light particles.
———
After using Aurora Thousand Illusion Strikes, Mei Yue'er dropped to the ground, gasping. She had to lean on a tree nearby, unable to stand straight. Her face was pale from blood loss and exhaustion.
As for Sun Wuji, after he confirmed that Wight Wolf was out cold, he released his grip and turned his body back to the original, completely lying down. His complexion was no better than his sworn sister.
An incredible feat of taking down a Talon Monster did not give them any joy or pride. What was left was only sorrow.
Thus, no word was uttered.
Tears started to tickle down their faces in silence. They both closed their eyes to reminisce memories of their lost brother, not noticing a sudden glow glimmering from Wight Wolf.
Mei Yue'er slowly walked toward Sun Wuji, one step at a time, and sat down next to him: "Let's go, Wuji. It's still not safe for us to be here like this."
"No. I will recover and freaking kill it with my own hands!!" Sun Wuji snarled in his utmost rage.
It appeared that although Wight Wolf was unconscious, both of them did not have the strength left to end its life.
However, Mei Yue'er thought differently: "It's not wise to wait and recover here. Let's go back and hunt it when we become stronger."
"…" Sun Wuji subtly agreed by not rejecting the idea. Still, he gritted his teeth in anger.
Mei Yue'er stood up and stretched her hand out to support him up from the ground.
Sun Wuji, in his flat position, looked up at Mei Yue'er, and suddenly his pupils shrank to a needle size in shock.
"What's wrong?" Noticing the change in Sun Wuji's expression, Mei Yue'er asked.
RUMBLE!!
An overwhelming pressure even stronger than before was crushing on them.
Mei Yue'er and Sun Wuji's expressions grievously darkened.
Wight Wolf was standing over Mei Yue'er's head without any injuries at all.
It was as if the monster was back at the beginning before they even fought, while both Mei Yue'er and Sun Wuji were completely exhausted and covered in wounds.
"H-How can this be!?" Mei Yue'er uttered with a trembling voice full of despair before a battle cry was made from below.
"YOU WILL NOT BREAK MY WILL TO PROTECT!!"
From the depth of his very being, Sun Wuji roared out and rebelled against the suppressive force descending upon him by sacrificing his own flesh and blood. He was mutilated beyond recognition, yet he still charged at the beast with everything he had got, but—
Bang.
With no Theríon left and no stone transformation, a simple swipe attack from Wight Wolf harshly blew him back to the ground as his blood splashed all over the place.
"Are you alright, Wu—"
In the same way as Feng Luotian, before Mei Yue'er could even finish her sentence, she was eaten by the beast.
And a split second before that, Sun Wuji was unlucky enough to open his eyes and witness the scene playing out again. The scenes where both of his friends were eaten were imprinted on his soul: "This can't be true. This is a nightmare."
Unable to accept this reality, Sun Wuji used his hamstrung arm to repeatedly punch his own face trying to wake himself up from this hellish nightmare.
More blood was gushing out from his mouth, where it was already quite gory, but he did not seem to be waking up from this at all.
To the ones in hiding, the one in black said: "We have finished the mission. But, just to be sure. Let's kill this guy as well, right, Whitey?"
"Indeed, Blackie. It would be too pitiful if we do not send him to meet with his brother and sister, seeing that he had suffered so much from it."
"Wight Wolf!! Kill him!!"
"Indeed. Wight Wolf!! Kill him!!"
Wight Wolf, who was walking away after finishing Mei Yue'er, immediately turned around and opened its mouth, ready to have its third dish today.
As for Sun Wuji, he continued hitting his own face, not caring whether he would live or die. Yet, at that moment, a gargantuan magic circle of light appeared in the sky right above the monster, freezing it completely.
One second later, a beam of light descended down from the magic circle upon Wight Wolf.
Rip. Boom.
As if the space itself was torn apart, the monster was split in half and exploded upon the touch of that light.
Rain of blood dyed the scene red.
The explosion caused fogs of dust to go around everywhere.
The unforeseen development gave the men in black and white a bombshell. They could sense that their monster was killed in an instant. Their expressions were all flustered compared to a placid look from before.
"What's with that magic array, Whitey!?"
"I don't know, Blackie. But it has the power to kill our Talon Monster in a single strike."
"There might be an expert around. Let's leave, Whitey!!"
"Indeed, Blackie. They must be at least a peak Warrior or even a Wing Realm Master. We are no match for them. Let's go!!"
With that, they fled the scene as swiftly as they could.
Sun Wuji was also jolted back to reality by the thunderous sound of the explosion. He tried to raise his head in his lying state to look around in stupefaction and saw nothing but fog clouding the scene around him. He wanted to go and check what was going on, but he was too injured to move around.
———
Amidst the fog, a slender figure was standing at the center of the wolf's exploded corpse.
It was Feng Luotian who was firmly standing while carrying Mei Yue'er in his arms. Both of them were completely red, wholly covered in blood.
Consciousness returned to Feng Luotian, but that was not the only thing he regained.
A new memory flushed into his mind while his eyes closed.
It was a memory of his past life.
The life of a man with the title [Blue-Eyed Phoenix Young Emperor].
The life of a man who had conquered most of the planets within this vast cultivation universe alongside his father.
The life of a man who had reached Divine Immortal Realm at the youngest age in history.
The life of a man who killed millions of enemies with a single shot of his arrow.
Combining his past memories, his knowledge, his ruthlessness, and his will with his current memory, Feng Luotian inwardly began his recollection.
"This year is Year 145 of a Phoenix Constellation Cycle."
"This is great! The ritual actually worked!! If everything stays the same as before, there will be some time for me to prepare before their first raid."
"Here is Divine Bird City, Yue'er's hometown."
"Yue'er."
"It really is a miracle that I can see you again in this lifetime. I don't even know how to describe my feeling right now."
In his past life, Feng Luotian was raised elsewhere, not in Divine Bird City. He came to this city with his father and fell in love with Mei Yue'er after he made the name for himself.
Later, they were married and roamed the universe together for a century before living a couple more on another peaceful planet far away from any conflict until a fateful war pressured Feng Luotian to act.
He did not want his wife to be implicated in this war, and thought that the planet was safe enough. Thus, he left by himself.
In his absence, news of Mei Yue'er's homeland being invaded came, forcing her to go back. Ultimately, she met her end there.
When Feng Luotian heard and confirmed the news of her death, he had been in grief for several decades, haunted by it, which gravely stagnated his growth in cultivation.
In this life, however, his father directly sent him here to be with her since he was young.
This was like his father saying—If you don't want to lose her again, protect her. I can only make you meet her faster so that you will not have any regret in this life.
Because of that, Feng Luotian only had gratitude for his old man before continuing his recollection.