Chapter 1282 Finale 2

"Look," she smiled softly, tears glistening in her eyes, "we held on."

Di Xuanming lowered his head, brushing the tip of his nose against the top of her hair. His voice was low and clear: "It was you who protected us."

The moonlight penetrated the thin clouds, illuminating the remaining ravines on the battlefield and the dim lights that were gradually lighting up in the camp.

A tentative roar of a monster was heard in the distance, as if confirming the situation on the battlefield, but it was quickly dispelled by the orderly response of the spiritualists.

Luo Li closed her eyes, feeling the real body temperature beside her. The cold loneliness she had felt in the wilderness for hundreds of years instantly disappeared.

She knew that the road to reconstruction was long and that new crises might lurk, but at this moment, as long as these people were still by her side, she had nothing to fear.

Di Xuanming felt the steady breathing of the person in his arms and slowly tightened his arms.

The crackling bonfire stretched the two people's shadows very long, overlapping on the cracked ground, just like their destinies that had finally been re-intertwined.

After counting the pills, Shen Fuzhou came over and said, "Ali, there are enough pills for now, but..."

Luo Li opened her eyes when she heard the voice, "What's wrong?"

Shen Fuzhou whispered, “Wanbai is looking for Xiaoxiao.”

He looked bitter, "No one dared to tell him about Xiaoxiao's death. He is still looking for her."

Luo Li bit her lip and suddenly stood up, "I'll go talk to him."

When Luo Li stood up, Di Xuanming gently supported her from behind. Without saying anything, he just followed her silently.

The campfire in the camp was flickering in the night wind, reflecting the broken blades and bloodstains on the ground that had not yet been cleaned up. Every step felt like stepping on the heavy past.

Song Wanbai was sitting under a broken tree at the edge of the camp, clutching half a blood-stained jade pendant in his hand.

That was when Lan Xiaoxiao pestered him to pick it out for her birthday last year, saying she wanted to make a pair of zodiac pendants, half for each of them.

"Xiaoxiao must be hiding," he muttered to himself, his voice drifting.

Luo Li stood behind him, watching his fingertips stroking the half jade pendant over and over again, the thin calluses on his fingertips making the edge of the jade pendant shine.

She took a deep breath. The air was filled with the mixed smell of blood and pills, which made her throat tight.

"Brother Wanbai." She called softly.

Song Wanbai turned around suddenly, his eyes lit up instantly, like a drowning man grabbing a piece of driftwood: "Ali! Have you seen Xiaoxiao? Did she, did she go back to the city first? She..."

His voice became more and more urgent, with a tremor that he didn't even notice.

Luo Li looked at the fragile hope in his eyes, and her heart felt like it was being gripped by something.

In the hundred years in the wilderness, she had seen too many separations and deaths, but now facing such a pair of eyes, those wounds that had long been scabbed seemed to be torn open again, and warm blood flowed out.

"Brother Wanbai," Luo Li slowly squatted down, looking him in the eye. Her voice was extremely gentle, yet it carried a firmness that left no room for escape. "Xiaoxiao, she..."

"She'll be fine, right?" Song Wanbai interrupted her, her hand clenching the jade pendant so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "She promised me that after this battle, she would go with me to see the evening primroses all over the mountain. She also said..."

When he said the last few words, his voice broke, like sand blown away by the wind.

Luo Li reached out and gently placed her hand over his, which was holding the jade pendant. The hand was cold and still trembling slightly.

"sorry……"

Luo Li lowered her head and a tear fell, "She did this to protect me..."

Song Wanbai's hand trembled violently, and the half jade pendant hurt his palm, but it was far less painful than the sudden chill that exploded in his heart.

He stared blankly at Luo Li's hand covering the back of his hand. The hand was warm, but this warmth could not dispel the ice rising from the soles of his feet.

"To... protect you?" he murmured, as if chewing on a completely unfamiliar word.

The light from the campfire flickered on his face, reflecting the rapidly extinguishing light in his pupils.

The eyes that were bright with hope just now now seemed to be splashed with ink, leaving only thick darkness and the pain that was churning in the dark night.

"She's always like this." Song Wanbai suddenly laughed, and the laughter was as dry as two stones rubbing against each other. "She always likes to show off."

As he was speaking, his voice broke off.

The hand holding the jade pendant suddenly loosened, then tightened suddenly, with the fingertips deeply embedded in the gap on the edge of the jade pendant. Blood seeped out along the lines of the jade pendant, dyeing the half-carved evening primrose red.

"How could she be so stupid..." He lowered his head, his hair falling down to cover his eyes, and he could only see his shoulders trembling violently. "If she wants to protect you, she should also take care of herself first. She promised me, she promised..."

The last few words were almost squeezed out of his throat, with a heavy nasal tone, like a lost child crying.

Luo Li's heart tightened even more. She remembered Xiaoxiao's eyes when she stood in front of her for the last time. They were clear and resolute, like a burning spark.

At that time, she felt dizzy, and it was not until she looked at Song Wanbai's appearance at this moment that she realized how much unspoken concern was hidden behind that sacrifice.

"She's not stupid." Luo Li's voice was tearful, but unusually clear. "She knows what she's doing. She said you're the one she wants to protect, and we're all her family."

She paused, then reached out and gently brushed away the sweat-soaked hair from Song Wanbai's forehead. "She kept the half of the jade pendant you gave her close to her body. She was still clutching it right before the explosion."

Song Wanbai suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot, like a wolf trapped in a desperate situation. "Really?"

"Really." Luo Li nodded, her fingertips wiping the tear marks on his cheeks. "She was thinking of you until the end."

This sentence was like a key that suddenly opened Song Wanbai's taut strings.

He couldn't hold on any longer and buried his face in his knees. The suppressed sobs finally broke through his throat and spread in the silent night.

The cry was not loud, but it carried a heart-wrenching pain, like a blunt knife cutting the hearts of everyone present.

Luo Li didn't say anything else, but just stayed with him quietly, her hand always covering the back of his hand.

Di Xuanming stood not far away, his figure stretched out by the bonfire. He didn't approach, but silently added a piece of wood to the fire, making the flickering flames brighter and illuminating the small corner.

The wind blew through the branches of the broken trees, whimpering as if responding to the suppressed crying. The low conversations of those treating the wounded in the distance also became blurred at this moment.

After an unknown amount of time, Song Wanbai's crying gradually subsided, leaving only her shoulders twitching.

He raised his head, his eyes were red and swollen like walnuts, and the half blood-stained jade pendant in his hand was rubbed until it shined.

"Evening primrose..." He said hoarsely, his voice thick with fatigue, "She said that when the evening primrose blooms, it looks like stars scattered all over the ground."

Luo Li looked at him and said softly, "When spring comes, we'll go see it together. Bring her share with us."

Song Wanbai was silent for a long time, so long that Luo Li thought he didn't hear her. Then he slowly nodded, carefully stuffed the half jade pendant into his arms, and pressed it tightly, as if pressing the suddenly empty hole in his chest.

"Okay." He said, his voice as light as a sigh, but with a hint of heaviness, "Let's go together."

The bonfire gradually died down, and a little paleness appeared in the sky.

When Luo Li stood up, her legs felt a little numb, and Di Xuanming reached out and helped her up at the right time.

"Go back and rest." He whispered, the warmth of his palm coming through his sleeves, so comforting and reassuring.

Luo Li looked back at Song Wanbai who was still sitting under the broken tree. He had his back to the fire and his figure was thin, but no longer as shaky as before.

She knew that the wound would not heal immediately, but at least he began to learn to hold the pain in his arms and move forward with it.

Just like all of them.

The morning light spread over the broken walls of the City of the Gods and shone on the cracked earth.

In the distance, Bei Mingyu was directing the spiritual masters to clean up the battlefield, Shen Fuzhou was busy in the temporary Dan Pavilion, and several young spiritual masters squatted on the ground, carefully arranging the spirit tablets of their comrades.

Luo Li leaned against Di Xuanming, watching all this, and said softly, "It will be fine, right?"

Di Xuanming held her hand, interlocking their fingers, and looked into the distance with a determined gaze: "It will. As long as we are still here, as long as we remember those who have left, everything will definitely get better."

Yeah, it's going to be fine.

What is lost cannot be retrieved, but those who remain will live well with their share.

She turned around, leaned in Di Xuanming's arms, and looked at the first ray of light rising in the sky.

The light pierced through the night sky, fell on the devastated earth, and also fell into the eyes of every survivor. Like a seed, it quietly planted hope on the ruins.

The morning light deepened, painting the broken walls of the City of Gods with a layer of warm gold.

Luo Li looked at the crack that ran through the city wall. It was the mark left by the energy impact when Yan Ye self-detonated. It was like a hideous scar, reminding her of the brutality of that battle.

"Let's start with the city walls," Di Xuanming's voice echoed beside him. In his hand was a scroll of blueprints, the architectural drawings of the City of the Gods, the edges scorched black by the flames of war. "The basalt in the northern border is very hard. Send Bei Mingyu to lead a team to mine it. They should be able to bring it back within three days."

Luo Li's fingertips traced the direction of the spiritual veins marked on the blueprint. Those veins that had been contaminated by demonic energy still retained a faint tingling sensation in her perception.

She pressed her forehead and said, "Don't rush to rebuild the outer wall. Everyone needs to rest well. We don't know what the situation is like in other main cities yet."

Di Xuanming followed her gaze towards the cracks on the city wall, his fingertips gently rubbing the edge of the blueprint. "You're right. The most urgent task is to stabilize people's hearts and clarify the situation on all sides."

He turned to look at Luo Qingzhu, who was feeding medicine to the wounded not far away, and called out, "Count the spiritual masters who are not seriously injured and divide them into three teams. Team one will follow Bei Mingyu to explore the surrounding area, team two will follow Shen Fuzhou to clean up the remaining demonic energy on the battlefield, and team three will stay to take care of the wounded."

Luo Qingzhu looked up in response. Although there were bloodshot eyes, the fragility of last night was gone. "Okay, I'll do it right away."

An Shuxue just happened to walk out of the Alchemy Pavilion, holding a few bottles of pills with a light green halo in her arms. "I just refined three furnaces of Soul Purification Pills. Although their effectiveness is limited, they are enough to deal with the low-level demonic energy remaining on the battlefield."