Beneath the city wall, everyone waited quietly. Ouyang Yan suddenly saw Bai Hao descend from the wall and quickly went to greet him, asking softly,

"How did it go? What did you and your fellow disciples talk about up there for so long?"

A gentle smile appeared on her face as she asked softly.

But Ouyang Yan suddenly noticed that Bai Hao's expression was very downcast. He had his head down and seemed unwilling to face anything. Sadness was fermenting on him and spreading to the surroundings.

"Where is your junior brother Zheng Long?" Duan Qiyun noticed that Zheng Long did not come down with Bai Hao.

"He's dead." After a long silence, Bai Hao slowly uttered these three words, as if he had used up all his strength.

"Dead...?!"

Everyone looked up at him in surprise.

"Weren't you just fine a moment ago? How come suddenly..." Duan Qiyun paused abruptly, looking at Bai Hao's expression. She knew that Bai Hao wasn't lying to them, and that Bai Hao was in even more pain than they were.

“He was injured, cursed, and lost his humanity. There’s no way to save him.” Bai Hao’s words were bitter. He looked down at the ground, but his mind was filled with everything about Zheng Long, that boy’s face, so innocent and pure.

"How could this happen..." Duan Qiyun covered her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I need to be alone for a while."

Bai Hao suddenly turned around, leaped away from the royal city, and ran wildly into the forest.

"Bai Hao!" Ouyang Yan quickly followed.

“Let’s go back to the city wall and wait…” Duan Qiyun’s voice choked with emotion as she led the rest of the people back to the city wall.

...

In the forest, Bai Hao ran wildly for dozens of miles before finally stopping, panting heavily, and leaning against a tree to catch his breath.

He didn't cry, but his heart ached more than if he had cried. He gripped the tree beside him tightly, his fingers sinking deep into it.

He had considered many possible scenarios. He knew that casualties were inevitable in such a world, and this proved to be true. Both the Falling Sea Sect and the Pill Sect lost many disciples.

In the end, only he and Zheng Long remained in the Luo Hai Sect.

After the Zhenmo Sect's sneak attack, all the disciples of the Luohai Sect except Zheng Long died.

At that time, he wondered what would happen to him if Zheng Long died one day? What could he do?

He had never found the answers to these two questions because Bai Hao always felt that such a thing would not happen. After the Zhenmo Sect's sneak attack, he secretly made up his mind that there should be no more casualties.

He will do everything in his power to protect everyone until he returns to the Divine Radiance Continent.

But now, Zheng Long is dead.

She died in front of him, and he killed her himself.

The promise I once made in my heart has come to this.

Why on earth!

Ouyang Yan had been following behind Bai Hao, and seeing his lonely and pained figure at this moment, her heart ached.

"Bai Hao, please don't do this..."

She went up to Bai Hao, gently hugged him, held his head in her arms, and comforted him with a sobbing voice.

Seeing you like this breaks my heart.

The familiar scent brought Bai Hao back to his senses. He hugged Ouyang Yan tightly, his voice trembling slightly, yet also filled with stubbornness, as he said:

“I once said that I would protect them all… that I wouldn’t let anything happen to them… but now, Ah Qi is dead, Xiao Si is dead, Zheng Long is dead, everyone is dead… I clearly promised them that I would bring them home…”

"But they wouldn't want to see you like this in heaven. They hope you can go back, carrying their last wishes... back to the home we all share..."

Ouyang Yan gently patted Bai Hao's back to comfort him.

“I think Zheng Long definitely didn’t want to see you like this. The reason he chose to say goodbye to you alone in the end was because he believed that you could turn your grief into motivation and return to the Divine Radiance Continent with his last wish.”

"I know, I just can't accept it... but I will definitely bring Zheng Long, and all the deceased fellow disciples, with their last wishes, back to the Divine Radiance Continent." Bai Hao gradually calmed down and slowly raised his head.

"Yes, that's enough. I believe Zheng Long and the others will help us from heaven." Tears welled up in Ouyang Yan's eyes, but a smile appeared on her face.

"Ouyang, thank you..."

...

Duan Qiyun and the others waited on the city wall for half an hour before Bai Hao and Ouyang Yan finally returned.

"I'm sorry for making everyone worry," Bai Hao apologized.

"It's alright, don't be too sad. I believe Junior Brother Zheng will be watching over you from heaven," Duan Qiyun comforted her.

She knew the pain of losing a fellow disciple, and everyone else did too, so they understood Bai Hao.

"Yes, there are some things we need to know now," Bai Hao said in a deep voice.

“Zheng Long is like this because he was injured by the Imperial Guards below the city. He ate the Holy Luo Fruit and I used the Solar Lightning to heal him, but it didn’t work. In other words, we can’t be injured by the Soul-Separated Phantoms in the Royal City again, or the consequences will be unimaginable.”

He looked at everyone with a serious expression, on high alert.

"This information was obtained at the cost of Zheng Long's life. I hope everyone will remember it."

"clear!"

The atmosphere among the crowd was quite heavy.

Part of the reason was that Zheng Long's departure instilled fear even in the people of the Dan Sect.

This time it was Zheng Long, but who knows if it will be them next time?

Moreover, Bai Hao has made it clear that once they are stabbed or wounded by the soul separation of the royal city, there is basically no way to save them, and the curse will corrode their bodies in the shortest possible time.

Facing such danger ahead, they couldn't even manage a smile.

Finally, Bai Hao concluded: "The road ahead is full of unknown dangers. We don't know what we will face next, but this is our only path. If we don't take it, there will only be one outcome for us—that is, to become those helpless, aimless wandering souls outside, never to be reincarnated."

As for the road ahead, though we don't know where it ends, I believe that as long as we persevere, we will definitely find our way home!

"Of course I can!"

The crowd's emotions were stirred up.

As Bai Hao said, they had no way out; moving forward was their only option.

In order to avoid becoming a departed soul and to be able to return home, they must keep moving forward and cannot stop.

"Let's go!"

Bai Hao looked up, his eyes revealing an unprecedented determination.

Behind him were not only Ouyang Yan and Duan Qiyun, but also the hopes that Zheng Long and the others had placed on him. With these hopes in mind, he could not back down!