Long Shao's voice was weary, distant—the sound of a man who had lived too long and given too much.
"Had you come earlier, I could have given you everything… but I am no longer whole. My remnant is fading."
His glowing eyes dimmed, like the last embers of a once-roaring fire.
Eons of battle and imprisonment weighed on his soul.
Once, he had soared freely, unchallenged. A beast of legend, a divine force that ruled the skies with an iron wing and a fuck-you attitude.
And then?
Chains. Sealed, trapped, drained like a divine keg at a mortal drinking contest.
For eons, he had lingered, waiting.
Then came the humans.
Greedy hands. Filthy, mortal fingers siphoning his essence, sucking him dry one piece at a time.
Su Xiaobai swallowed hard. That phrasing did not sit right.
And yet, Long Shao had let it happen.
Not out of weakness.
Out of indifference.
