88: The hero returns, and the hearts are shaken

Qingyun Sect Main Peak, Main Hall.

Dead silence.

The air was thick like congealed blood, pressing down on everyone in the hall, making it impossible to breathe.

In the very center of the Main Hall, there was no one.

Only a newly erected memorial tablet, made of dark wood, heavy like an unresolvable despair.

The characters on the tablet were sharp and deeply carved, imbued with the carver's immense grief and indignation.

[Qingyun Hero Lin Gou]

Zhao Linger stood before the memorial tablet.

Dressed in a simple white dress, she looked like a fragile snowflake about to be scattered by the wind in this dead-gray space.

Two days had passed.

She hadn't slept or rested.

That once lively and charming face now only held a sickly, almost transparent pallor.

All the color seemed to have been drained from her.

Her body swayed gently; if not for her Senior Sister holding her firmly by her side, she would have long collapsed into a helpless mess.

Her eyes were fixed, staring intently at the wooden tablet.

No tears.

Her tears had already dried up yesterday.

In those eyes, once as gentle as water, there was only a terrifying emptiness, as if her Soul had been hollowed out alive.

He was dead.

That Senior Brother who was always carefree, always saying "good luck," yet time and again, he shielded her from all storms and blades.

This time.

He was truly dead.

His true spirit annihilated.

Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

Not even the chance to enter Reincarnation was granted to him.

In another corner of the Main Hall, in the shadows near the entrance, stood another solitary figure in white.

Li Hanyue.

She had also stood there for two days.

She didn't cry, didn't speak, and her face showed not a trace of emotion.

Her face was ten thousand times colder than the "Frost Moon" sword at her waist.

Strands of visibly chilling and bone-piercing Sword Qi uncontrollably emanated from her body, swirling around her, cutting fine, spiderweb-like scratches into the hard bluestone floor.

Her hand remained pressed firmly on the sword hilt.

Veins bulged on the back of her hand, like coiling, enraged Dragons.

She was waiting.

Waiting for the Sect to get through this most sorrowful moment.

Then, she would go to the Demon Suppression Abyss.

Alone.

With one sword.

She would use her own methods to make that damned Devil Head pay for Lin Gou's death.

Even if it meant mutual destruction.

In this oppressive silence, so thick that even breathing carried a scent of blood, a highly discordant voice, with three parts languor and seven parts charm, pierced through from outside the hall like a poisonous needle.

"Oh my, this atmosphere truly pains me."

"Is Qingyun Sect holding a funeral for some important figure? The scale is quite grand."

Before her words even finished.

A fiery red figure, like an untimely, burning flame, gracefully walked into this world of gray and despair.

Su Meier.

She was still in that extremely flamboyant red dress, its hem trailing on the ground, each step swaying with breathtaking curves.

A charming smile, full of interest, hung on her face.

Her captivating peach blossom eyes lightly swept over the sorrowful or numb faces in the Main Hall, finally settling precisely on the glaring memorial tablet.

She covered her red lips, letting out a feigned gasp of surprise.

"Lin Gou?"

"Are you… so sure he's dead?"

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was like a red-hot branding iron, searing fiercely into everyone's hearts!

Instantly, countless gazes of anger, disgust, and confusion shot towards her like arrows.

"Demoness!"

A cold rebuke, with a metallic clang.

Li Hanyue slowly turned around.

Her emotionless eyes locked onto Su Meier, the killing intent within them almost solidifying.

"Get out!"

"You are not welcome here."

Vast Sword Intent, like a raging, breached flood, violently pressed towards Su Meier.

Su Meier, however, seemed to feel like a spring breeze, still smiling, her body swaying like a flower branch. The air in front of her was violently distorted by the Sword Intent, but the terrifying pressure could never invade within three feet of her.

"Little sister, getting so angry will make you old, you know."

"I'm just curious, dear sister."

Her gaze, flippantly passing over Li Hanyue, once again looked at the memorial tablet, her eyes becoming meaningful, as she spoke word by word:

"Perhaps… a person who can create miracles…"

"Can do it more than once?"

"What do you know!"

For the first time, Li Hanyue's voice carried an uncontrollable, hoarse fury.

"That was true spirit annihilation!"

"Do you think this is child's play?!"

"Is that so?"

Su Meier's smile became more playful, even tinged with a hint of pity.

"But I always feel that some people's lives..."

"Are even harder than the heavens."

Just as her last word fell.

An anomaly!

It happened without any warning!

Buzz—!

Before the memorial tablet, that "Ever-Burning Soul Lamp," symbolizing Lin Gou's Soul fire, so dim it was almost invisible.

That tiny, pea-sized white flame, on the verge of extinguishing.

Suddenly, it gave a violent jump!

Immediately after.

A faint yet Soul-shattering hum, as if from primordial Chaos, echoed throughout the Main Hall!

That pea-sized white flame, in an instant, erupted!

Light!

Endless light!

Searing, pure white light, carrying a vast aura of life, burst forth from that small Soul Lamp, instantly dispelling all the gloom and darkness in the hall!

In a breath, the light had transformed from dazzling white to a brilliant, sacred gold, as intense as the sun!

The entire Main Hall was illuminated as bright as day by this sudden, otherworldly golden divine light!

Everyone was utterly shocked by this inconceivable scene, their Souls Flying Away and Spirits Scattering!

They instinctively raised their hands to shield their eyes.

Time, it seemed, was paused at this moment.

Everyone stood like clay figures, their minds blank, completely frozen.

The Qingyun Sect Leader's teacup slipped silently from his hand, shattering with a "crack" in the dead silence of the Main Hall.

Several Grand Elders were dumbfounded, their beards bristling in extreme shock.

Li Hanyue's sword, about to be drawn, stopped midway. On her ice-cold face, for the first time, an expression of "bewilderment" appeared.

And Zhao Linger.

Her once hollow and lifeless eyes, at the moment they were stung by the golden light, seemed to be infused with a glimmer of spirit.

She desperately covered her mouth, her body trembling violently at a thought so wild she dared not believe it.

Amidst this golden light, watched by all.

Under the horrified gaze of everyone.

A figure, bathed in the brilliant, sun-like divine light of the Soul Lamp, slowly walked in from outside the Main Hall, one step at a time.

He seemed not to walk, but to be born from the light.

His green Disciple robe was still simple.

His figure was still not considered tall.

On his face, there was still a perfectly timed, "weak" smile, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.

It was Lin Gou.

[Perfect. This atmosphere of sorrow and despair, this stage watched by all… the timing is just right.]

[The Oscar-level performance begins.]

Boom!!!

The entire hall was completely petrified.

Everyone's minds, at this moment, were shocked into a chaotic mush by this unimaginable scene, like a miracle descending.

Alive?

A person whose "true spirit annihilation" had been personally confirmed by several Golden Core Elders.

How could he still be alive?!

Was this an illusion?!

Or a more vicious, more cruel conspiracy concocted by the Devil Head?!

Lin Gou, amidst countless gazes of stupor, shock, fear, and ecstasy, walked to the center of the Main Hall.

He lightly coughed at the completely stunned crowd, breaking the deathly silence with a slightly hoarse voice.

His voice carried a hint of lingering fear, a hint of fortune, as he slowly spoke the words he had rehearsed thousands of times in his mind.

"A fluke, a fluke."

"It's a forbidden secret art passed down in my family, called 'Feigned Death Escape Technique'."

"Using one's life essence and blood as a guide, burning all cultivation, one can create the illusion of true spirit annihilation, thereby deceiving Soul-level detection."

"This method... can only be used once in a lifetime."

"I didn't expect it to actually deceive that Devil Head."

His words clearly reached everyone's ears.

But no one's brain could immediately process this information.

Everyone's thoughts were still stuck in the unparalleled, almost sanity-shattering impact brought by the fact that "he's back."

Suddenly.

"Waaah—!"

A cry, suppressed to the extreme, broken to the extreme, suddenly burst out.

Zhao Linger could no longer hold back.

Like a mad little beast who had found her entire world again, she broke free from her Senior Sister's support and stumbled forward, pouncing.

She rushed in front of Lin Gou, raised her tiny fists, and with all her might, yet so powerlessly, pounded on Lin Gou's chest, as if to confirm that this was not a dream.

Tears, like broken pearls, like a breached flood, streamed down uncontrollably.

"You liar!"

"Bastard!"

"Wuwuwu… Do you know… how scared I was!"

"I thought… I thought you really… really didn't want me anymore…"

Her voice was utterly broken.

The fear, despair, and grief of the past two days, at this moment, all transformed into this hysterical crying and pounding, completely unleashed.

Lin Gou didn't dodge.

He let the soft fists fall upon him.

He reached out, his movements a bit awkward, yet incredibly firm, and tightly, tightly embraced the girl who was on the verge of fainting from crying.

The girl's body trembled violently in his arms.

Her scalding tears instantly soaked the front of his robe.

Lin Gou gently patted her back, and in her ear, with a tenderness he had never shown before, a voice that could melt steel, he whispered comfortingly.

"There, there."

"Silly girl."

"Didn't I come back?"

"It's alright, it's all over."

Not far away, Li Hanyue slowly sheathed her sword.

A faint but clear "clang."

Her hand, gripping the sword hilt, also trembled slightly.

She stared intently at Lin Gou, at the figure embracing Zhao Linger.

In her cold eyes, which seemed incapable of any fluctuation, for the first time, there appeared confusion, shock, and a hint of overwhelming joy that she herself hadn't even noticed, almost spilling from her eyes.

Su Meier stood in the shadows of the corner, watching this scene, her charming smile having faded at some point.

Her captivating peach blossom eyes narrowed slightly, her gaze filled with an even richer, more intense, unresolvable curiosity.

Feigned Death Escape Technique?

Lying to ghosts.

The secrets on this young man were ten thousand times more interesting than she had imagined.

After a long while.

Zhao Linger's crying gradually subsided.

She still clung to Lin Gou's embrace, like a kitten who had found its only harbor, sobbing softly.

Lin Gou patted her back reassuringly, then his expression turned serious.

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the Main Hall who was still in immense shock.

Then, he dropped a bomb even more impactful than his resurrection.

"Everyone."

His voice had regained its calm and composure.

"The moment I 'died,' my Divine Soul touched the core of that Devil Head's Clone."

He paused, then spoke clearly, word by word:

"I…"

"Know its true weakness!"