“Xinran, are you really going to kill me?!"

Cardilla abruptly stopped in his tracks and glared at her murderously. He shouted, “Are you really going to give up on your G.o.dhood just to keep one Floating Ice City and these lowly humans alive?"

Xinran replied indifferently, “I had given up on G.o.dhood the day I destroyed the Holy Domain and saw the suffering of humanity, witnessed Fia"s death at the foot of the Nether City, and saw the souls of the dead being crushed against their will! I will not walk the same path as those abominations!"

Cardilla whipped his hand to the side and pulled out a dark sword from thin air. He laughed sinisterly at her while saying, “Haha, you don"t deserve to be a G.o.d, traitor! I, the protector of the Netherworld, shall end your sinful life!"

“Heh…"

Xinran actually smiled a little. “Come at me!"

……

Rumble!

Suddenly, the entire royal palace started shaking, seemingly for no reason. A general on a black warhorse rode in with a brigade of soldiers. He raised his spear and shouted, “Stark of the Black Cavalry Legion at your service, princess!"

Karinshan turned around and stared at the general with complicated emotions of fear and hope. She shouted urgently, “Retreat from Floating Ice City now! This isn"t a battle you can fight!"

Unfortunately, it was too late. Cardilla raised his hand to the sky and shouted, “Meteor, come to me!"

BOOM!

A burning meteorite fell from the sky and landed in the middle of the human soldiers. Almost a hundred poor souls were either crushed into a sticky mess or burned into ashes, and even more people were sent flying by the impact. Clearly, Cardilla wasn"t someone the normal soldiers could fight against.

Normal undead mages were already given leaders.h.i.+p positions in the Night Creature faction, but undead magi were given control over entire armies. It was because they had the power to match the authority, and Cardilla was the prime example of it.

Cardilla laughed loudly, seeing the burning flesh and hearing the bloodcurdling screams. “How does it feel, Xinran?"

Xinran merely sneered at him. “Cardilla, do you seriously think that you can weaken my resolve by killing these human soldiers?"

“You!"

Cardilla was shocked. He didn"t expect Xinran to remain this cool-headed even after that gory display. It was almost as if the deaths of those soldiers had nothing to do with her at all.

Suddenly, Xinran acted and tossed out her spear. It turned into a bolt of lightning that looked like it could penetrate anything.

Cardilla gritted his teeth and summoned two dark s.h.i.+elds in a row, but the spear penetrated both of them before plunging into his chest.

Swhoos.h.!.+

Xinran then dashed behind him, grabbed the spearhead peeking out of his back, and pulled. She pulled out the entire Dragonbone Spear from his back and a purple heart with souls circulating around it!

Xinran grabbed the heart immediately and smiled. “Cardilla, your undead soul spark truly is an ugly thing."

Cardilla"s shock grew even bigger. “You dare to kill me, Xinran?!"

“Why wouldn"t I?!" Xinran clenched her hand around the purple heart, causing it to deform and the circulating souls to screech in pain.

Cardilla couldn"t help but laugh loudly. “Do you know what price you have to pay to destroy an undead magus"s soul spark? It may be nothing when you"re at your full strength, but your G.o.dhood is mostly sealed right now! The moment you destroy my soul, the backlash will crush your fragile G.o.dhood as well!"

Xinran smiled again. “So what? I—don"t—care!"

Bang!

Xinran clenched her fist with all her might. Cardilla"s soul spark finally exploded with a loud bang, and his body turned into dust as let out his death throes.

However, Cardilla"s death resulted in a h.e.l.lish scene no one was expecting!

Rumble!

The earth beneath the royal palace suddenly split asunder, and lava started pouring all over the place. The royal palace was crumbling all around us, rubble from the roof falling onto our heads!

I hurriedly grabbed He Yi and Beiming Xue and pulled them out of the building.

But Xinran was immobilized where she stood. Countless b.l.o.o.d.y tentacles had emerged from the ground—no, from h.e.l.l itself—and wrapped themselves around her legs. At the same time, a shrill wail resounded beside everyone"s ears, “Come and be destroyed, Xinran…"

“What?"

Xinran"s surprise quickly turned into shock.

After pus.h.i.+ng both He Yi and Beiming Xue out of the crumbling building, I hurriedly turned back to save Xinran. However, giant rocks were falling from my head at every second, and blood-red lava was all over the place. One misplaced step, and I would fall into h.e.l.l and be burned into a crisp!

I swung the Purgatory Sword, shattered a giant rock falling toward me and made my way toward Xinran. She stared at me with grim determination. “Leave me! The cracks of h.e.l.l are about to open, and if you don"t leave they… they"ll kill you!"

Unbothered by her persuasion in the slightest, I crossed the sea of flames and finally arrived next to Xinran. I tried to tear apart the b.l.o.o.d.y tentacles with my bare hands, but they were surprisingly tough despite their appearance. I immediately changed tactics and cut Xinran loose with the Purgatory Sword.

The shaking suddenly grew even worse as a deep, dark tunnel appeared beneath both our feet. I could see lightning and an infinite abyss on the other side of it. The terrifying scene made me feel as if the apocalypse was about to devour both of us alive.

“What is that?!" I exclaimed in shock.

“The cracks of h.e.l.l!"

Xinran gritted her teeth and pushed me suddenly, shouting, “Watch out!"

Boom!

Suddenly, a sword made of pure, dark light burst out of the cracks of h.e.l.l and penetrated Xinran"s chest armor. It instantly shattered into pieces as she groaned and collapsed weakly into my arms.

“Ru… run…"

Xinran stared at me helplessly as blood dripped from the corner of her lips.

I hurriedly picked up Xinran and ran outside. The black hole behind me was growing bigger and bigger, and it wasn"t long before it grew powerful enough to swallow the entire royal palace!

……

Thump!

I crashed heavily at a gra.s.sy land outside the royal palace with a grievously wounded Xinran still in my arms, feeling like I had just run a marathon. Although the giant sword had already vanished, the wound it left behind was as visible as day. Besides that, her metal armor was still falling off her body and revealing the unblemished skin beneath.

He Yi and Beiming Xue were dumbfounded by the sight. None of them said anything for a time.

Meanwhile, Stark exclaimed in shock as he watched the vanis.h.i.+ng palace with Karinshan beside him, “Heavens, is this the end of the thousand-year history of Floating Ice City?"

Karinshan said calmly, “Send word to Sky City, Wind City, and Vanished G.o.d City and tell them to send over their Holy Domain magi as soon as possible. If we don"t seal these cracks of h.e.l.l quickly, it is only a matter of time before they devour the entire continent!"

“Yes, Your Majesty!"

Stark climbed onto his warhorse and galloped away.

……

“Uuuu…"

Xinran"s body felt as hot as fire for some reason. After letting out a groan of pain, she pressed her cheeks to my chest and murmured, “Big brother, I don"t… I don"t want to remember… please take me home… Uuuu, Xinran wants to go home, Xinran misses mommy…"

A tear slid down her cheeks when she suddenly raised her hand and touched my face. She whispered, “Big brother, you"re not a Night Creature anymore, are you? Xinran is so, so scared that you"ll turn into them…"

I felt a tingle in my nose. Did the Xinran I know finally return?

I bent slightly and wrapped her naked body with the b.l.o.o.d.y Purgatory Cloak. Then, I started walking toward the exit.

Behind me, He Yi asked, “Where are you going, Lu Chen?"

I said, “I"m going to fulfill a promise. Eve, you should go to Princess Karinshan with the others and take your reward. I"ll see her myself after I"m done with this!"

“Okay!"

……

I started running toward Frost Mound after I stepped out of the palace. A lot of players were staring at me when I pa.s.sed through the eastern square. “Who is that? Why is he carrying a beautiful NPC? Wait… is it just me, or is she naked?!"

A lot of people started following behind me. Some of them even flashed their weapons and threatened me, “Hey kid, stop right there and put down that girl, or I will teach you a lesson!"

I simply displayed my ID and freed an arm to pull out the Purgatory Sword. I then said in a low tone, “You can try if you want to die!"

Everyone fell silent after that. I was the number one player on the Floating Ice City Heavenly Ranking and the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. How many players truly dared to challenge me?

Xinran"s home was located in a village not far away from Frost Mound. I didn"t know if her mother was still alive, but I still carried her into the village.

Right now, my appearance looked the same as any human warrior out there, and the only real thing that stood out was my b.l.o.o.d.y eyes. That being said, this could be explained away as my racial attribute. For example, Lin Yixin had purple eyes because her chosen race was a succubus. There were countless other unusual things on this continent, and it was impossible to explain them all in one sitting.

The villagers looked as busy as usual. The hunters were bringing in prey from outside, and the women were gathering fruits and grains. Everything looked quiet and peaceful.

“Ah!" A hunter carrying a wild boar suddenly exclaimed in surprise, “Heavens, isn"t that Xinran? Xinran is back, Xinran is finally back!"

I hurriedly asked him, “Uncle, do you know where Xinran"s house is?"

It"s the last house on this path. Just walk straight ahead and you"ll find it. Oh right, who are you to Xinran?"

“I… I"m just an adventurer from Floating Ice City. I was tasked to bring her home."

“Oh, I see. Well, I shan"t delay you any longer, sir!"

I ran toward Xinran"s house after bidding the hunter goodbye. Soon, a small, normal house entered my view. When I got close to it, I suddenly heard the nearby women saying, “Xinran is finally home, but… it"s such a shame that her mother pa.s.sed away just a month ago…"

Xinran couldn"t stop herself from crying when she heard this. She struggled free from my arms and curled into a ball at a corner of the house like a frightened deer. She kept sobbing again and again, “Mother… mother…"

I wanted to say something to console her, but I didn"t know where to begin.

Suddenly, purple light appeared from Xinran"s pure white skin, and a gigantic magical formation enveloped us both.

Ding~!

System Notice: Your pet “Xinran" has officially awakened. Your contract with Xinran is officially canceled because your level is too low. You have completed the quest [Karinshan"s Request]. You have gained 400000 EXP, 5000 gold, 5000 Reputation and 2 Luck. You have also triggered the update patch 1.20 “World Famous Generals”. In 30 minutes, the game will enter a 10-hour system maintenance!