26 The Song of the End (1)

"He is suffering from the Cold Affliction; only by staying in the water can he ease the pain," the little girl murmured.

Jiang Xiaoman gazed at the figure in the black sea for a moment, then turned to the little girl in red. "And you? Have you come to bring him food again?"

The little girl nodded. Jiang Xiaoman looked over and saw that beside the girl sat a small bowl of snacks and fruits. The fruits were dark in color, unlike anything usually seen.

"Bilang cannot find food on his own, so whenever he is hungry, I bring it to him."

Jiang Xiaoman sighed, walked over, and sat beside the girl. She gently stroked the girl’s smooth hair and the small horns atop her head. "Although you were born together and look after one another, you must understand that he is different from you. He lacks the 'Blessing.' Sooner or later, the Cold Affliction will erode his entire being, turning him into a walking corpse to wither away in this Hanyuan Abyss... You must prepare yourself for that day."

The little girl lowered her head, silent. Jiang Xiaoman could not help but blame herself; she wondered what she had said to make the poor child look as if she were about to cry.

Yet, she did not truly know what she was saying. Though the words came from her own lips, she felt more like a mere spectator.

The little girl whispered, "Then... can he be saved?"

"Yes," Jiang Xiaoman replied decisively. She pointed toward the crack in the horizon. "Go beyond the heavens. The spiritual energy beyond the sky is infinite; there must be a way to heal him."

"Beyond the heavens..." the little girl repeated softly. "That must be the place the Sovereign spoke of, where there is beautiful music and brilliant light. The Sovereign gave me this name because my singing is like the melodies from beyond the sky."

*The Sovereign...*

Jiang Xiaoman repeated the word in her heart. It felt so familiar. Why did someone else call her by that title?

But she only nodded calmly, her tone slow and peaceful. "I promise you. One day, I will let Bilang roam freely in the clear, blue lake, and I will let your voice ring out to its heart's content under the light of day."

The little girl remained silent, her voice thick with unshed tears. She nodded and managed a choked, "Mm."

Jiang Xiaoman gently patted the girl's head. "So, Tianyin, sing for the Hanyuan Abyss. Whenever they hear your song, your comrades will come; your voice shall guide the way forward for us all."

***

"Sovereign... Sovereign..."

The severely wounded demon creature muttered, her bare feet stumbling, her gait uneven and swaying as blood streamed from her body.

Earlier, when she had confronted that ant from the Immortal Sect, her mind had raced, analyzing the situation. One thing she was certain of: the man from beyond the heavens would not harm the Sovereign. Though she did not know why the Sovereign was trapped in the body of a mortal or why she had lost all her memories, that man would save her. Being with him, the Sovereign was safe for now.

For her, that was enough. What she needed to do now was survive. To stay alive was to have a chance at resurgence—this had always been her creed.

She had finally escaped the villa, limping through a forest on the mountainside, resting against a tree every few steps to catch her breath. She knew that at the foot of the mountain lay a village full of mortals—in her eyes, they were nothing more than delicious vessels of stored spiritual energy.

She only needed to persist a little longer.

Still reeling from the recent impact, her body trembled. Abruptly, she stopped. She reached behind her back, finally realizing what she needed to do most, and began to hum a short, familiar tune. It was a melody the former Sovereign had taught her, claiming to have heard it from beyond the heavens.

Her voice was low and melancholic, the melody haunting and lingering.

Guiyin stopped and looked up at the sky, waiting in silence. The comrade she trusted—the general who had led their scattered forces after the Sovereign’s fall, the top-tier "Blessed One" who could sense sound vibrations from a thousand miles away—should, in theory, follow her song and come to her rescue.

***

"Clap, clap—"

Instead of her comrade, she was met with two or three crisp claps from behind.

She turned like a startled bird, her eyes filled with murderous intent.

"Truly beautiful." The newcomer clapped his hands, his lips curled into an eerie smile beneath a half-mask. "Tianyin, it must have been five hundred years since I last heard you sing."

Master Baihua pulled out the folding fan tucked under his arm and began to wave it slowly.

The monster with the broken horn was furious. She spread her arms, revealing ghastly scars that looked like cracks across her shattered skin. She gritted her teeth, "You madman, is this the result you wanted?"

The Iron-Masked Gentleman clicked his tongue twice. His tone was playful, as if teasing. "Why have you become so fragile? To be beaten into such a miserable state by a mere novice from an Immortal Sect?"

Guiyin remained silent, watching him with wary eyes.

Master Baihua shrugged leisurely. "I spared your life once before, and I could make an exception to save you again. But you must show some sincerity, must you not? It is about time you fulfilled your promise." His expression shifted, and a piercing, lethal glint shone through his mask. "Give the object to me."

Guiyin did not answer; instead, she let out a low, warning growl.

Master Baihua ignored her, stepping closer. "Be a good girl. Give the Frozen Essence to me."

Guiyin backed away until she hit the tree behind her. She squeezed the words through her teeth: "I... will not give it to you." Her bare feet sank into the soil, blood and mud caking her skin. She finally crossed her arms in front of her, barely managing a weak defensive stance.

Master Baihua tilted his head, his eyes vacant yet filled with murderous intent. "Why must you be like this? With Linguang gone, the Frozen Essence is useless to you."

As he finished speaking, Guiyin let out a mocking laugh, like a candle flickering in a dying wind.

Her gaze turned resolute. She lowered her voice and hissed, "The Sovereign... has descended to this realm. You are destined to lose!"

"What did you say?!" Master Baihua froze, stunned, his eyes filled with shock and doubt. His lips moved beneath the mask as he muttered to himself, "Could it be..."

Guiyin ignored him further. She threw her head back and began to sing at the top of her lungs. Her voice was majestic, soul-stirring, piercing the heavens and echoing throughout the forest. Rabbits hid in their burrows, tigers and leopards trembled, flowers closed their buds, and the branches shook.

Above, the sky was quietly blanketed in a pervasive, chilling frost.

Whoosh—

In the distance, a giant bird wreathed in pale blue demonic energy streaked across the high sky, diving toward the forest. Its feathers were covered in frost, its talons were sharp as ice blades, a patch of snow-white marked its forehead, and its long beak was as sharp as a tempered war halberd.

Every beat of its wings carried snow, and every sweep of its tail whipped up a gale.

Hearing the roar of the air, Guiyin’s lips curved upward as she sang, and tears streamed from her eyes. She put even more effort into her song, guiding the giant bird.

Master Baihua was drawn by the whistling sound. He looked up, his shock replaced by unbridled rage.

He snapped his fan shut. A flame ignited on the handle, forming a sharp blade. He charged toward the blood-stained woman, who continued to sing at the top of her voice.

Guiyin, tears of blood falling, sang recklessly. Even as the blade in the masked man's hand pierced through her chest, her voice did not tremble in the slightest.

She smiled.

In her mind, the Sovereign’s voice echoed:

*【Sing, Tianyin. Sing! Your song shall guide our comrades forward!】*

The giant blue bird’s eyes flickered. It swooped down, its shadow passing over the two in the forest. In the blink of an eye, it used its talons to precisely snatch a blue orb of ice embedded in Guiyin’s back, then soared away on a gust of wind. It was so fast that the masked man could not even react.

"Yanjue, catch her!"

At his roar, thousands of sand grains rose, swirling into a cyclone that sped after the bird.

Master Baihua turned his fan-blade, ripping a large hole through Guiyin’s chest. With his other hand, he gathered a mass of dark gray energy and struck the broken-horned woman, piercing through her and the tree behind her.

Guiyin slid to the ground like a broken ragdoll.

With her final breath, she looked at the furious man and let out a weak, mocking laugh.

"You will never find her... and you will never be able to hurt her..."

Her voice was a thin thread, her mouth full of blood, but she used her last ounce of strength to grit out, "Even if we are torn to pieces... we will never let you harm her!"

Having said this, she breathed her last. She did not close her eyes, staring unblinkingly at the man before her, a smile still gracing her lips.

As the sunlight streamed into the forest, her body began to crack, starting from her fingertips, turning into dust.

Master Baihua exhaled, as if venting the rage pent up in his chest. The "blade" in his hand returned to the shape of a folding fan. He opened it and fanned his face, the breeze stirring the locks at his temples.

For a long time, he suddenly snapped the fan shut and touched his half-mask. His fingers tightened involuntarily, causing a crack to appear on the iron mask. He began to chuckle to himself, a chilling, somber sound.

"Linguang, you have come? You have finally come... Hahahaha!"

After laughing for a long while, he stood still, his composure returning. He gazed at the floating dust and said calmly, "Silly child, who said I wanted to harm her? On the contrary, I want her to live... very well."

***

The commotion caused by the ice-blue giant bird flying over the mountain was significant. Everyone in the villa stopped what they were doing and looked up, gasping in wonder.

Most of them had no concept of a Great Demon, especially one that looked so beautiful. Before the creature actually harmed anyone, they could only marvel at the magnificent spectacle.

In the garden in front of the west wing, the young man in white, who had been resting at a stone table, was startled awake by the whistling sound. When he looked up, his pupils constricted in horror.

He whispered, "Yushuang..."

It was the fourth-ranked Earth-level Great Demon. It had not been seen for a hundred years—why had it suddenly appeared here?!

He could not worry about that now. He stood up to give chase, but suddenly heard the sound of a door opening and a maid’s voice behind him:

"Young Master, the young lady has awakened! She is awake!"

Coughing could be heard faintly from inside the room.

In that moment of hesitation, he looked up again, but the demon was already gone.

He clenched his fists and turned to run toward the wing room.