Lu Li slumped to the ground, his face streaked with tears, his limbs cold and almost unable to move.
He was only eleven years old and had never left the village, so how could he have seen such a Hell-like scene?
Relatives, piles of corpses, monsters, cries, mystic smiles… everything weighed him down, making it hard to breathe.
And at this moment, he watched with wide eyes—
Lu Yuan, who had just been hugging him and crying, "Brother is here," suddenly stopped struggling and trembling.
He stood up, his gaze becoming extremely unfamiliar.
It was indifferent, icy, as if he viewed people like stones and plants.
He didn't even glance at Lu Li, walking straight to the corpse of the white-clothed woman, which had already been cut open by a blade.
"Brother…?" Lu Li's voice was as soft as a mosquito's, filled with trembling and unease.
Lu Yuan did not respond.
He squatted down, looking down at the corpse.
Suddenly, his small hand reached out, directly inserting into the woman's ruptured abdomen, his finger bones sinking into the flesh and blood, searching and stirring among the intestines and blood.
"Chila—"
Impatient with the speed, he picked up the bone knife from the ground, and with a "ka" sound, he tore open the already shattered abdomen again, the blade pulling out intestines and liver along with it, blood gushing like a spring, splattering all over his face.
Lu Li began to retch, his vision blurring, yet he still dared not blink, only staring fixedly.
Suddenly, Lu Yuan's lips curled into a grin, revealing an abnormal ecstasy.
"…Found it."
From amidst the flesh and blood, he slowly pulled out a black, curved bone, shaped like a beast's claw, yet bearing strange runes, emitting a cold, eerie glow under the reflection of the blood light.
"The mystic bone is still here… Hahahaha, I can still cultivate… I can still cultivate!"
He threw his head back and laughed wildly, his voice hoarse, like a piece of iron ground with sand laughing, or like the delirious words of a corpse after Rebirth.
After that laugh, he suddenly fell silent, looking down at the bone in his hand, a twisted sense of desolation and resentment appearing in his eyes.
"What a pity… my originally beautiful Physical Body born of my mother. Ten years ago, how magnificent was I, Fairy Qiuyue?"
"Now, in this cave, I was backlashed by the Earth Fiend King I cultivated myself, imprisoned as a blood bag by a group of beasts, having my flesh cut and blood taken daily… I… am finally… free…"
His hand tightly gripped the bone, his knuckles white, yet a tear shimmered in his eye.
"Father… will you come to save me? Didn't you say that I would be the brightest star of the Ascension Immortal Gate in the future…? I don't want to sink."
Then, he smiled coldly.
"The Blood Refinement Sect… Old Daoist Mo Ya, actually dared to try and take me as a Cauldron? Hmph… once my cultivation reaches Major Achievement, I will slaughter your entire sect."
This series of self-mutterings, spoken from the mouth of a twelve-year-old child, sounded utterly alien and maddening to Lu Li's ears.
He knew that was no longer his brother.
That was not the Lu Yuan he knew.
Lu Li froze in place, his eyes filled with his brother's blood-soaked back, his ears filled with that strange mad laughter and malevolent whispers.
He slowly retreated, step by step, inching towards the cave entrance.
His small hand was clamped over his mouth, preventing him from making the slightest sound.
He only knew that he had to escape.
—If he didn't escape soon, even this "brother" whom he no longer recognized would personally kill him.
The cave entrance was right ahead.
Lu Li stumbled backward, his small face pale, his teeth chattering, his eyes bloodshot.
But before he could take a step, a cold sneer came from behind him:
"Trying to run?"
The voice came from a familiar throat, yet it carried a bone-chilling coldness, like a knife tip piercing his heart.
Lu Li spun around abruptly, only to see Lu Yuan—no, now it was unclear who—approaching with the bone knife in his hand, step by step.
There was no longer any hint of humanity in his eyes, only killing intent.
"Brother…" Lu Li's voice choked, and he stammered out the word, his legs already too weak to stand.
Lu Yuan suddenly flickered, and the bone knife slashed down fiercely!
"Boom!!"
Lu Li was sent flying to the ground, crashing heavily against the rock wall, a mouthful of blood spewing from his mouth.
Before he could react, the bone knife was raised high, its cold gleam like a hook, stabbing directly towards his chest!
Lu Li's eyes widened, only the blade remaining in his vision, and he instinctively closed his eyes.
He thought he would die.
But—the knife did not fall.
Instead, a trembling whisper replaced it:
"Lu… Lu Li… quickly kill me… kill me… quickly kill brother… Ahhh!!!"
Lu Li opened his eyes, only to see Lu Yuan holding the bone knife high, his body trembling violently as if he had a stroke, his mouth twitching, his expression constantly contorting.
Two consciousnesses were frantically tearing at each other within his body.
His eyes, at one moment crimson and ferocious, at another reverted to his brother's familiar gentleness.
The moment that gentleness appeared, tears streamed from the corners of his eyes, his voice hoarse and low:
"Brother… can't protect you anymore… can only let you go on by yourself…"
Lu Li's lips were white, his pupils constricted, and tears mixed with blood flowed down his face.
He knew—this was not a dream. Nor was it an illusion.
He raised his trembling hand and snatched the bone knife from Lu Yuan's hand!
The bone knife was heavy, almost pulling at his thin arm.
But he closed his eyes, using all his strength—and stabbed down!
"Puff!"
The bone knife pierced through his heart.
Lu Yuan trembled violently, falling to his knees, blood gushing from his chest.
His lips parted, revealing a tired but gentle smile:
"…Don't cry, Lu Li… Brother… took the darkest step for you…"
In his eyes, Lu Li's face was reflected.
It was the face of an eleven-year-old child, full of collapse and sorrow.
Life was ebbing away.
But it wasn't over yet.
The next moment, Lu Yuan's smile suddenly vanished, his face twisting into a furious, ferocious grimace!
"Unwilling!! I am unwilling, ahhh—!!"
That voice was no longer Lu Yuan's, but the resentful curse of the Fairy Qiuyue's demonic soul.
He threw his head back and roared like a beast, his eyes cold, mad, stubborn—
Even though his Physical Body was shattered, his heart broken, his consciousness was still struggling!
"How could I, Fairy Qiuyue, die at the hands of a mere mortal child… Unwilling! Unwilling!!"
But this time, Heaven did not answer, and Earth did not respond.
The black Qi in his eyes dispersed, his head slumped, and he finally perished.
The corpse fell, and the dust settled.
Lu Li knelt on the ground, holding the blood-soaked bone knife, his lips trembling, tears falling uncontrollably.
His brother's blood was still on his hands, his brother's gentle smile still in his mind.
Who knows how long passed.
Lu Li still knelt on the ground, covered in blood, his tears long since dried.
The corpse was right before him, his brother's face still bearing that trace of affection from before his death. But that smile seemed to remind him—
This world was never a place for mercy.
He was dead, and his second brother was also dead.
Only he was left alive.
Gudong—
A sound came from his stomach.
Hunger, cold, and the smell of blood mixed into a heart-piercing pain. Lu Li hugged his thin body, struggling to stand up little by little from beside his brother's corpse.
He dared not cry anymore.
If he cried any more, he was afraid he would die here too.
His gaze inadvertently caught sight of Lu Yuan's stiff fingers, still tightly clutching something.
It was a strange bone—completely black, curved like a snake, with purple runes flowing on its surface like veins, as if it were alive.
Lu Li hesitated and reached out, his fingertips just touching the bone, when a chill surged from the bone into his skin, like a drop of water entering the depths of his bone marrow, making his whole body tremble.
He subconsciously wanted to let go.
But the next moment, he saw—
Lu Yuan's hand, even in death, still seemed to be protecting this bone, holding it firmly.
He gently pried open his brother's stiff fingers, his heart aching repeatedly, and his eyes moistened again.
Lu Li looked at the blood-stained mystic bone, suppressing his nausea, and clutched it in his hand.
He looked down at the strange bone in his palm, muttering to himself:
"That woman… desperately protected this thing before she died… it shouldn't be an ordinary item."
"I didn't find the Immortal Plant today… but… I can't go back empty-handed."
"No matter what this is, even if it can help Grandpa a little… just a little is fine…"
Saying that, he wrapped the mystic bone in a torn cloth and tucked it into his embrace.
As he turned, he looked back at his brother's two corpses again.
He wanted to bury them, but he had no strength left.
He wanted to cry, but his tears had dried.