Shi Sheng was sent flying by the aftershock and slammed into the city wall behind her. Her ears were buzzing and she only recovered from the shock a while later.

Her heart thumped wildly, as if it was about to leap out of her chest.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

Her heartbeat raced like thunder.

She stared dumbly; her gaze landed at the epicentre of the explosion. It was completely empty. The only thing visible was the black ash raining from the sky.

Quite a few people had been caught in the explosion, collectively producing a cacophony of wails and shrieks.

Everything seemed to move in slow-motion as various scenes flashed before Shi Sheng’s eyes.

The sky suddenly turned overcast. She seemed to hear someone call “Hallmaster!”

The voice was hoarse and full of panic.It pierced her ears and rung into the deepest recesses of her soul, shocking her out of her stupor. Shi Sheng glanced up with difficulty, but everything had turned grey.

“Hallmaster’s here! Hallmaster…”

At the mention of this, Shi Sheng suddenly shot up and bolted over, shoving aside the people in her way. She saw someone supporting the red-clothed man on the ground by the back of his head.

He appeared exceedingly dishevelled, but the slight rise and fall of his chest gave an indication that he was still alive.

“Bu Jingyun.” Shi Sheng’s voice was trembling slightly. She quickly squatted down and looked at the blood-covered man on the ground. She suddenly felt at a loss as to what she should do. In this moment, her usual calm shattered like glass .

She didn’t need anyone to take hits for her.

It wasn’t necessary…

Bu Jingyun’s eyes opened slightly. There seemed to be a blinding light illuminated within his eyes, brilliant to the extreme.

The Sentinel frantically poured a large variety of pills into his mouth, but to no avail.

“Hallmaster…” The Sentinel was nearly in tears. ‘These are the best healing pills in the Nine Provinces, why are they useless?’

“Yao…” Bu Jingyun suddenly reached his hand out towards Shi Sheng, who hurriedly held on to it.

“Don’t speak. I won’t let you die,” she spoke while taking out an array of rare items from her space. But no matter what she used, Bu Jingyun showed no signs of recuperating. Those things were useless to him.

Shi Sheng stared dumbly at him. ‘Why is it like this?’

This was probably the only time Bu Jingyun had ever seen her this shaken, and he was the reason behind it.

The thought made him feel quite honoured.

A smile bloomed on his face, and he spoke in a voice so small, it was nearly inaudible, “Can… Can you kiss me?”

Shi Sheng blanked out for a bit from this request, but a moment later, she seemed to have thought of something aslowered her body to kiss him, sending an endless flow of spirit energy into his body in the process.

Her spirit energy was pouring into Bu Jingyun’s body when suddenly, she felt a palpitation within her heart as a familiar aura engulfed her.

Shi Sheng widened her eyes in disbelief.

But the man she was kissing had already stopped breathing, peacefully reclining in her arms. There was still a ghost of a smile on his face, as if he was merely sleeping.

Only after a long, long while passed, did Shi Sheng manage to mutter a name, “Feng… Feng Ci…”

Afterwards, Shi Sheng didn’t allow anyone else to touch Bu Jingyun. Her fierce demeanor made even the Sentinel reluctant to approach.

She disappeared with Bu Jingyun in her arms.

……

Atop a mountain, a young girl stood tall, allowing the surging winds to beat against her cheeks.

Beside her, a red-clothed man was silently laid out on top of a rock, his head tilting slightly to the side as the wind buffeted his red robe.

Had one not already known that he was dead, most people’s first impression would be that he was still alive, merely sleeping.

Shi Sheng’s body was cold from the wind. She stared out over the distant city, he gaze empty. A strange sensation surged through her body like lightning, leaving her mind a blank.

[Host?]

“Feng Ci…” Shi Sheng’s lips opened slightly, and she seemed to have trouble forming words, “Is it him?”

[……] System fell silent for a bit. [Host, how did you know?]

Shi Sheng’s breathing hitched as something seemed to burst from within her brain. She seemed to be able to hear the world crumbling around her, a tight feeling building up in her chest.

How did she know?

When she was pouring her spirit energy into Bu Jingyun’s body, there was a resonance. She’d only felt that kind of resonance with one person before:

Feng Ci.

Because of that strange object he’d made her swallow, her spirit energy and Feng Ci’s had developed a resonance between them. It was a very comfortable feeling.

Whenever Feng Ci had nothing to do, he’d loved to pour his spirit energy into her body, so she was extremely familiar with this sensation. There was no way she would ever forget it.

But now, she was feeling the same sensation from Bu Jingyun.

“Why… is he here?” Shi Sheng did her best to control her emotions, but her voice was still trembling somewhat.

She had thought she’d be able to treat Feng Ci as just another virtual character, like how she treated everyone else as strangers.

But she’d found that no, she couldn’t do it.

Every time the night reached its deepest, and she was immersed within her dreams, he would always silently appear.

The scene of him jumping off a cliff with her in his arms repeatedly tormented her like a never ending nightmare. She’d even felt an insane temptation to return to that world sometimes.

But in the end, her logic always triumphed.

[I’m sorry Host. I don’t have the authority to answer your question. You’ll have to rely on yourself to find the answers.] System was quite relieved actually. ‘Fortunately Host isn’t really that emotionless. She just hid them so deep even I couldn’t feel them. But… I don’t know why Feng Ci is different to her. And how did she find out? She clearly…’

Shi Sheng didn’t speak, merely quietly staring off into the distance. The surging emotions in her eyes were repressed once more, and she regained her eternal calm.

It was as if the person who had lost control of their emotions just now wasn’t her.

The sky was dark and heavy. Bean-sized drops of rain smashed down from the sky and soon it was pouring. The heavy rain blurred the girl’s petite form.

She suddenly squatted down and buried her face in her arms. The rain drowned out all the noise of the world as she simply sat in silence.

After who knows how long, the rain was still pouring, but the girl had now stood up and walked towards the red-clothed man’s side. She picked him up and turned slowly, walking directly towards the cliff edge.

She stepped out into mid-air, and their bodies fell downwards.

[……] ‘Is Host seeking death?’

Shi Sheng naturally wouldn’t seek death. When she’d fallen halfway down the cliff, her sword appeared and caught her.

Shi Sheng brought Bu Jingyun back to Nine Silences Hall and organised a funeral for him before departing on her sword.

Soon, news of her spread throughout the continent.

She had promised to give him the Nine Provinces.

Even if he was no longer here, that promise was still in effect.

Everyone who saw Shi Sheng felt that she was insane; she didn’t care about her own wellbeing. Whether or not she died didn’t matter, as she only continued on with her mission.

Even when she was injured and severely bleeding, or her life was hanging by a thread, she remained as placid as ever.

It was as if everyone was dead to her, as if they didn’t register as living beings in her eyes. She couldn’t hear their curses, couldn’t see their anger, couldn’t feel their hate.

Jun Hanlin had just ascended the throne when Shi Sheng launched her attack, nearly causing him to puke blood from anger.

She used three years to unite the Nine Provinces.

Once everyone saw her carrying a tablet to the throne, they nearly went mad. ‘This woman is simply a lunatic! All that trouble just to make a dead person the ruler of the Nine Provinces?!’

And the name on the tablet shocked them once more.

Bu Jingyun.

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