Chapter 1165: Lost Things

"I truly can't remember anymore."

Xuanwu said softly, "If only I could remember everything."

How incredibly long that period must have been...?

No, perhaps it wasn't long at all, because every time Xuanwu looked back at the path, she found nothing behind her.

Even the Bodhisattva in her heart had vanished along the way.

Fortunately, she had preserved the last fragment of her memory.

It was from before she came to this place, the days she spent hiding on the hillside.

"People can die, but memories cannot." Xuanwu slowly extended her hand. "If even the last memory in my heart is destroyed, I will be completely undone."

In the next second, an eyeball appeared at her fingertip.

"This eyeball was clearly on my back... but now no one can take it. You can kill me, but don't undo me."

She gently flicked the eyeball away, and Song Qi reached out to catch it in his palm.

Turning it over, the eyeball was clean and clear, lying quietly like a delicate glass artifact.

At that moment, Su Shan descended from the roof to the ground, coming up behind Song Qi.

She glanced at Song Qi's palm, where pure "Bumie" ripples were shimmering.

Xuanwu said no more. She lowered her head, picked up her severed arm from the ground, and walked step by step to the wall of a low building, where she slowly sat down.

Baihu also approached her side, quietly watching this pitch-black, non-human creature.

"Hu Dage," Xuanwu called out.

"What is it?" Baihu replied.

"I've lost the Bodhisattva."

Baihu paused slightly at her words, then came to her side and knelt down slowly to sit.

Just like the first time they met years ago.

"Silly child... what are you saying?" Baihu shook his head. "Even if the Bodhisattva isn't in your heart, it's still in someone else's."

"Oh..." Xuanwu buried her head. "I hope the Bodhisattva can forgive me... forgive me for my deep sins and unyielding obsession."

"It will." Baihu nodded. "It certainly will."

Song Qi had originally planned to directly "burst burn" the eyeball in his hand, but after staring at Xuanwu for a long time, a trace of pity flashed through him. He turned and handed it to Bai Jiu.

Bai Jiu understood immediately, nodded, took the eyeball, and gently rotated it in his hand. It gradually turned into a murky liquid.

A few drops of liquid slid from Bai Jiu's fingertips, brushed his skin, fell to the ground, and seeped into the soil.

With that... Xuanwu wouldn't suffer too much, would she?

Glancing back, the blackness on Xuanwu's body began to change. She didn't revert to her original skin; instead, her feet started turning to charcoal.

The charcoal spread across her body like a plague. She instinctively hugged her severed arm.

"Hu Dage, I heard that when people die, they must leave a complete body." Xuanwu said through choked sobs. "That way, they can reincarnate and find new parents. Otherwise, with an incomplete soul, they'll just wander in hell forever."

"Is that so..." Baihu said absentmindedly. "Xuanzi, hold your arm tight. From now on, you won't have to suffer anymore... You'll find new parents, and they will..."

"But Hu Dage..." Xuanwu's crying grew more anguished. "I can only go to the next hell..."

"How could that be..." Baihu was stunned. "Xuanzi, you've found your arm. You'll reincarnate whole."

The black charring began to cover Xuanwu's legs and abdomen, and finally her chest.

She was frozen in place, unable to move, with only faint sobs echoing from some ethereal space.

The sound was so distant, as if millions of people were crying, as if millions of worlds were weeping.

"Hu Dage..." Xuanwu said desperately. "But I haven't found my heart... My heart is lost."

"Wha—"

Baihu stared blankly around, noticing that the ground was indeed covered with charred fragments.

It seemed Xuanwu's heart had scattered everywhere, impossible to piece back together.

"Xuanzi... go on..." Baihu said. "I'll find your heart for you, every single piece, without missing any."

Xuanwu hugged her arm and slowly lowered her head.

"But my heart..."

The charring covered her chest, and then her neck.

"It's already lost."

Her cheeks turned completely black, her features impossible to make out. She huddled quietly in the corner, her long hair draping over her body like stone, ceasing all movement.

She merged into the dark red background.

No one could find Xuanwu anymore, and no one could see her form.

She sat quietly by the wall like a stone Bodhisattva, becoming part of the "Zhongyan Zhidi."

"Ha..." Jiang Shi slowly landed and knelt down, coughing lightly twice as he said, "It's hard, hard, hard... Daode Xuan, not to a kindred spirit... cannot speak..."

"Xiao Jiang Shi!" Bai Jiu hurried to his side, reaching out to help him up, but a left hand grabbed his arm while the right hand slipped into the space of the arm.

"To a kindred spirit, speak a few words; not to a kindred spirit... what a waste of the tongue..."

Before they could even help Jiang Shi up, Luo Shi Yi staggered in the distance and collapsed to the ground.

It seemed that making Jiang Shi forget such widespread pain wasn't easy either.

Luo Shi Yi fainted, and Jiang Shi instantly burst into screams. The immense pain made his dark body thrash wildly on the ground.

"Xiao Jiang Shi..." Bai Jiu stood by, helpless, his eyes welling with anxious tears.

All the members of the "Mao" team rushed forward to surround Jiang Shi, while Song Qi's face turned cold as he stepped out of the crowd and walked straight to Baihu.

Before dealing with Xiao Jiang Shi, there was a more pressing issue to resolve.

Baihu lifted his pair of bloodshot, sorrowful eyes to look at Song Qi.

"Baihu, are you planning to fight us?" Song Qi asked.

Baihu didn't answer; he just shook his head.

After seeing Xuanwu die quietly, he had regained some of his lost sanity.

He knew his enemies were never the participants.

"Are you going to come after me?" Baihu asked.

"This strike plan doesn't include Baihu," Song Qi said.

"Then go ahead," Baihu replied.

Song Qi nodded slightly in relief, saying nothing more, and turned back to look at Jiang Shi.

Jiang Shi's screams echoed across the small square, and amid the cries, he kept shouting one thing—

"Don't let me die alone."

"Don't worry... Xiao Jiang Shi..." Bai Jiu said from the side. "Everyone is here with you. You won't die alone."

But he couldn't hear anything; he just kept screaming in agony.

The people around watched quietly until large burns appeared on his body, and he finally stopped moving.

When Jiang Shi lay still on the ground, smoke billowing from him, the "Mao" team members all bowed their heads in salute.

Xuanwu's strike was successful.

The "Mao" team had three deaths and several serious injuries.

Song Qi didn't hesitate at all. He turned back and gave orders to the others. The remaining members quickly formed into seven teams and prepared to head to the second ring mission without delay.

Baihu saw their actions and sighed softly. "So... are you going after Zhuque?"

Song Qi looked back, untied the braid on his head, letting his hair fall messily over his forehead and around his cheeks. The hair tie in his hand sparked with flames.

"Is that okay?" he asked.

Baihu found Song Qi's right hand amusing: "How will you kill? With your 'Bao Ran'?"