If they hadn't desecrated Zhao Shuning's body after her death,
perhaps Song Zhiyi would really have taken this secret to his grave.
"Previously—"
Song Zhiyi began slowly.
"When Sister Ling attacked you, I saw her calling for help from the Emperor and the others."
"That's enough."
"Hurting you wasn't little Ning'er's intention. But if this method wasn't used, not only you but also all the common people on the Nine Regions Continent might not be saved."
"Exalted One—"
"Little Ning'er might not care about these people. She did this just to let you survive. Your survival is her hope."
The several men lowered their heads.
There was a moment of silent stillness.
As the saying goes, real men don't shed tears easily.
Not to mention these men, all of whom were heroic figures roaming the martial - arts world.
Any one of them was a prominent figure in a continent.
But at this moment,
they lowered their heads.
Although there was no sound,
Zhao Huai knew that they should all be blaming themselves. From time to time, one or two drops of tears fell on the ground.
Gu Hanxun was the first to regain his senses.
"Exalted One, you've lived for a very long time. You must know a great deal. Is there any way, any way to save Ningning?"
The others all looked up.
Zhao Huai looked at the hopeful gazes of the crowd but could only shake his head.
Her spiritual power was completely destroyed.
Her mental strength had also vanished.
Even her body was barely preserved by Yan Ruyu.
If there really was a way,
Yan Ruyu wouldn't have been in such a crazy state.
"Exalted One—"
"There's no way."
The several men slumped to the ground dejectedly.
They looked up at the two.
Gu Hanxun smiled, his expression hard to decipher.
He knelt down.
Following his action,
the others all turned their gazes to him.
"Ancestor?"
Gu Hanxun said, "I've been a monk for six hundred years. I've committed too many sins in my life. This life of mine should have ended long ago. Now, it's time to return these few hundred years I've stolen."
Gu Hanxun bowed deeply three times in the direction where Yan Ruyu and Zhao Shuning were.
After that,
there was no more movement.
Gu Hanxun's body was like a statue, maintaining a pious posture and not moving at all.
Gu Zhiruo called out several times, but Gu Hanxun didn't respond.
He stepped forward to check and placed his hand under Gu Hanxun's nose.
There was no breath.
Gu Zhiruo was so scared that he took three steps back and quickly knelt down.
"Is the eminent monk...?"
"Ancestor—he—has passed away in meditation."
No one could have imagined that
previously,
the gray - robed monk who had been fighting alongside them would, in the next moment, pass away in meditation on the spot. His spiritual power and mental strength cultivation over the past few hundred years were what countless practitioners in the present world chased after.
But now,
he had left so easily.
Not dying at anyone's hands.
There was still a faint smile on Gu Hanxun's lips.
When he left,
it seemed that his entire pupils were filled with that woman from the past.
She was walking towards him gracefully.
She helped him up and said with a smiling face, "Gu Hanxun, it's just a broken leg. You still have your ambition and your spirit. There's nothing to be afraid of."
Then,
the woman stretched out her hand.
He smiled slightly and placed his hand on hers.
From then on,
Gu Hanxun's breath disappeared completely.
The mental strength in his body condensed into thousands of pear blossoms, which fell on Yan Ruyu and Zhao Shuning in mid - air.
They met, got to know each other, and spent time together in the pear orchard beside Chengxun Hall.
She said she was the daughter of a guilty official, and he said he was a prince with a broken leg and out of favor.
The sky was filled with pear blossoms.
She just stood quietly under the tree.
She said words of encouragement to him and showed the most beautiful smile Gu Hanxun had seen in these hundreds of years.
The petals of the pear blossoms fluttered down one by one.
Some of them
drilled in along Zhao Shuning's fingertips.
However,
in the sky full of falling flowers, no one noticed these slight changes.
"The eminent monk... his soul is gone."
Following this sentence,
the others quickly stepped forward to check.
Gu Hanxun's soul was indeed gone. Moreover, his body was slowly turning into nothingness.
Dongfang Yuxi frowned tightly.
Gu Zhiruo still hadn't recovered from the shock.
Zhao Huai sighed and said, "He—made a sacrifice."
A sacrifice?
A voluntary sacrifice?
Like Qian Jisha hundreds of years ago?
Is this an active sacrifice?
For whom?
"Exalted One, why did the eminent monk have to do this? Sister has already..."
Zhao Huai's eyes suddenly lit up.
However,
it was only for a moment.
His eyes
turned dim again.
Zhao Huai walked towards Song Zhiyi.
"You know there's still a glimmer of hope, don't you?"
Song Zhiyi shook his head painfully.
He didn't know.
Even if he did, he couldn't say.
"Song Zhiyi, how did little Ning'er treat you?"
"Exalted One, you don't need to remind me like this. I owe Sister Ling so much that I can never repay it in this lifetime. I only hate that I don't have the ability to practice. Otherwise, at this moment, I could also take a chance, regardless of whether the rumor is true or false, regardless of whether this method will work."
Song Zhiyi was a bit excited when he was speaking.
After he finished speaking,
he covered his mouth.
Chu Wen and Chu Nuan quickly came closer.
Dongfang Yuxi also seemed to see hope.
"Song Zhiyi, what do you mean? Explain it clearly."
"Among us, only you have some understanding of these matters of natural principles. If you have a way to save Sister Ling, even if it's just a glimmer of hope, you must tell us."
Song Zhiyi shook his head, but his eyes were looking in the direction where Gu Hanxun had disappeared.
Could he say it?
An ancient forbidden technique.
Who would dare to use it?
Not to mention whether it would be effective.
Just the sacrifice would be extremely huge. No one could predict what the result would be.
Exchange the lives of tens of thousands of living beings for Sister Ling's resurrection?
Moreover,
it might not even succeed.
How could he even open his mouth to say such a heinous thing? He could not care about his own worthless life, but what about them? They were all carefully cared for and nurtured by Sister Ling until now. If they died, even if Sister Ling came back to life, she would probably not be happy.
Song Zhiyi's thoughts were completely exposed under Zhao Huai's powerful mental peeping.
It was hard to count
how many times Zhao Huai had sighed.
"Song Zhiyi, you don't need to blame yourself. Maybe someone is willing to do this for you."
Song Zhiyi looked at Zhao Huai.
Even the others
all looked at Zhao Huai in confusion.
Zhao Huai took a step forward.
The man and woman in the huge red lotus were motionless.
"Yan Ruyu, you must consider the consequences in everything."
"Some things you can't touch."
"Even if you use all means to bring her back to life, if she sees the Nine Regions Continent she has carefully protected turned into ruins and broken walls, she will probably spend her whole life in guilt."
Zhao Huai had never thought that
he, born as a demon and cultivated to be an exalted one,
should have been on the evil side.
Now,
he was actually in this situation and could say such a thing.
It seemed that
Zhao Shuning's influence on him had already gone deep into his bones.
Yan Ruyu smiled faintly.
His hand gently stroked Zhao Shuning's pale face and said tenderly, "Our Ning'er won't remember these things."