125: The first time I was scared

The crowd fell into a dead silence.

Immediately after, there was an uproar that reached the sky.

"This... how is this possible!"

"Who is he? Who exactly is he!"

"Monster! This is definitely a monster!"

Elder Ji Xuan's mouth hung open, his jaw almost dislocated.

He rubbed his eyes, barely daring to believe what he was seeing.

He knew Lin Gou had secrets, but he never expected his secrets to be beyond his comprehension.

Lin Gou no longer paid attention to the clamor behind him.

He pulled Su Meier, without the slightest hesitation, and stepped into the deep, unknown crack.

A dizzying sensation.

When Su Meier regained her vision, she couldn't help but gasp.

The sight before her was unforgettable for a lifetime.

Here, there was no sky, no ground.

As far as the eye could see, there was an eternal, gray-white void.

Countless broken, shimmering fragments of consciousness floated silently like dust in this void.

Further away, translucent "Divine Souls" of various forms, composed of pure Soul energy, wandered aimlessly.

Some resembled ferocious beasts, others looked like ghosts.

They had no sentience, only the most primitive instincts of devouring and destruction.

The air was filled with countless fragmented, overlapping wails and murmurs.

Those were the last obsessions left by countless Souls before their complete dissipation.

This was the burial ground of Divine Souls.

Su Meier's face instantly turned pale; she tightly clutched the protective magic sword in her hand, her expression extremely wary.

But Lin Gou beside her once again showed that look of seeing a Treasure Trove.

His gaze swept across this gray-white world, his eyes filled with uncontrollable excitement and agitation.

He took a deep breath.

The Qi of Soul energy, mixed with countless negative emotions, was poison to others.

To him, however, it was the sweetest, most fragrant air.

"Meier, look."

He pointed to a black vortex not far away, more than ten zhang in diameter, formed by countless resentments, emitting a terrifying devouring aura.

In the center of the vortex, a huge Divine Soul, shaped like a Dragon, was vaguely visible, in deep slumber.

"That is our first 'experience package'."

His tone was as casual as if he were saying, "Let's go pick the biggest apple."

Su Meier's mouth twitched involuntarily.

Experience package?

She didn't understand the term.

But she could understand what the man meant.

He was going to actively provoke that big guy, who clearly looked the most troublesome.

She was already starting to adapt to this man's rhythm.

She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing all her worries and fears.

She gripped her magic sword, guarding herself and Lin Gou's side.

Her eyes became incredibly resolute.

"I will be your Protector."

She looked at him and said, word by word.

"You... take it easy."

This admonition carried a hint of doting helplessness that she herself hadn't noticed.

Lin Gou smiled.

He turned his head and looked at Su Meier's beautiful face, which was clearly etched with "I've given up trying to cure you, do as you please."

His heart inexplicably warmed.

He reached out, habitually wanting to ruffle her head.

However.

Just as he raised his hand, at the very moment he was about to charge into that black vortex.

An unexpected change occurred!

The "ground" beneath his feet, which looked no different from its surroundings, paved with countless fragments of consciousness.

Without any warning, came alive!

The gray-white ground instantly turned into a quicksand-like vortex.

Immediately after, a colossal mouth, formed by thousands of twisted, pained human faces, blotting out the sky, burst out from the vortex!

That giant mouth was indescribably huge.

As if it wanted to swallow this entire void in one gulp.

All of this happened too quickly, too suddenly.

Su Meier's pupils sharply contracted to the size of needlepoints.

She didn't even have time to gasp.

She could only watch helplessly.

Watching that giant mouth, composed of endless resentful Souls, close with an unstoppable momentum.

In one gulp, it swallowed the man in front of her, along with the look of surprise on his face that he hadn't had time to retract.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Su Meier's entire world collapsed into a dead, black-and-white silence the moment that sky-blotting giant mouth closed.

Her breathing stopped.

Her heart stopped.

The string of sanity in her brain let out an unbearable wail.

Then, with a snap, it completely broke.

That man.

The man who had just been laughing softly in her ear, saying he would take her to dismantle an "experience package."

The man who, with his warm hand, led her in a breathtaking dance of two in the storm of death.

Disappeared.

Swallowed in one gulp by that giant mouth, condensed from endless resentment and pain.

Along with the slightly bewildered smile on his face that he hadn't had time to retract.

Erased completely.

"No--"

A broken, almost inhuman sound squeezed out from deep within Su Meier's throat.

The spiritual energy within her body completely lost control at this moment.

Madly, violently, it rushed through her limbs and bones.

She didn't even think.

Her body had already transformed into a resolute streak of light, clutching the protective magic sword, rushing desperately towards the giant mouth that had just swallowed Lin Gou and was slowly sinking into the ground.

To live together.

To die together.

This was the only thought in her mind.

She didn't want to experience that helpless waiting again.

She didn't want to face a cold world without him, alone again.

However.

Just as her fingertips were about to touch the edge of the giant mouth, composed of resentment and as sticky as a swamp.

A sudden, scorching heat emanated from her chest.

The heat penetrated her clothes, directly branding her heart.

Burning hot.

Yet incredibly clear.

It was the half-Phoenix-patterned "concentric soul jade."

It was heating up.

It was vibrating.

It was conveying a message to her in the most direct, most forceful way.

A ridiculously absurd message, enough to overturn all her sensory perceptions.

He was still alive.

Su Meier's charging figure suddenly froze in mid-air.

She was like a statue instantly petrified, maintaining that desperate posture, unmoving.

Her eyes were fixed on the area that had completely sunk into the ground, leaving only a stretch of gray-white quicksand.

There, there was nothing.

There, not a trace of Lin Gou's life aura could be felt.

Her Divine Sense, her spiritual perception, all her senses, were madly, sharply, screaming the same fact at her.

He was dead.

Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

Not even a trace of residue remained.

But the warmth of the jade pendant on her chest was like a stubborn light, piercing through all despair and darkness.

Stubbornly, it told her.

He was still alive.

"Trust me."

Lin Gou's deep and serious voice echoed in her mind once again.

"Every time I court death, it's to live better."

"I need you to hold it."

"That way, you can always perceive my existence."

"You'll know I didn't lie to you."

"You'll know that no matter what I go through, I'm still alive."

Reason and emotion, reality and promise, engaged in a fierce internal struggle in Su Meier's mind.

Her body trembled violently because of this extreme contradiction.

Tears silently streamed down from her wide-open peach blossom eyes.

This time, it wasn't because of fear.

Nor was it because of despair.

But an indescribable sourness, mixed with heartache and grievance.

She slowly put down the magic sword in her hand.

Then, with her cold, trembling hand, she tightly clutched the burning jade pendant on her chest.

She forced herself to calm down.

She forced herself to believe.

To believe in that man who always created miracles.

She stood still, nervously, unblinkingly, gazing at the empty ground.

She was waiting.

Waiting for an answer that would overturn her entire cultivation world view...