Their gaze returned to the devastation left by the evil cultivators.

Because of the attack by the evil cultivators, the third line of defense lost almost half of its personnel.

"Treat the injured first!" Shen Sangruo said sternly.

In reality, there were only a few dozen wounded in total. The evil cultivator was extremely ruthless, and most of them were killed with a single blow.

While treating the injured person's wounds, they also checked the specific extent of the damage.

The first people Shen Sangruo saw were the old wizard and Zhu Miao.

The old wizard's arms were empty, severed below the elbows, and blood stained the nearby sleeves red.

He was looking sadly at the little ball of flesh lying limply on the ground, a stark contrast to the black and white landscape.

He kept calling out Zhu Miao's name, wanting to pick up the little guy like before, but he no longer had arms.

He could only kneel before Zhu Miao, weeping bitterly.

Shen Sanruo felt a sharp, throbbing pain in her heart.

Sensing the emptiness on the other side of the soul connection, her heart trembled uncontrollably, as if she were falling rapidly into a bottomless pit.

She walked slowly forward and gently picked up the little one.

The black and white short fur is still as soft as ever.

It's just that it's not as mischievous as before; it won't climb up her arm and find a comfortable spot to hang on her anymore.

They look exceptionally obedient.

But at this moment, Chen Sangri wished it would make a ruckus.

She took a deep breath, and even though she already knew the answer in her heart, she still reached out her hand to the area below the little guy's black nose.

There was no breath.

Even the faintest breath was gone.

Her fingertips remained there, refusing to move, as if she was still unwilling to give up.

But the string in his heart had already snapped, and his rapidly falling heart finally hit rock bottom, shattering into pieces on the hard stone slab.

Zhu Miao is gone.

Overwhelming grief swept over me like a tidal wave, making even breathing difficult.

He recalled the time in the Misty Realm when the silly little guy suddenly appeared, unable to even climb the stone wall.

She helped it get the bamboo it had been longing for, but it became attached to her and forced her to make a contract with it.

It was her first contracted beast, and even after the contract was dissolved, it still held great significance for her.

She broke the contract with it to protect it, so why did the little guy end up falling in front of her?

Shen Sangruo's eyes reddened as she struggled to suppress her inner grief.

When the old wizard saw her like this, he understood everything and was heartbroken.

"Zhu Miao! Zhu Miao!" The voice was almost a roar.

Coupled with the loss of his arm, the old wizard couldn't bear it any longer and fainted.

Without his hands, the old wizard will probably no longer be able to tinker with those strange and wonderful things as before.

She put the little dumpling into her Qiankun bag, which cannot hold living creatures.

Shen Sangruo's heart was pierced again.

He whispered, "Once this is all over, I'll send you back to the Misty Realm and plant your favorite bamboo all around you, okay?"

Her other contracted beasts were equally grieving over Zhu Miao's departure.

The atmosphere was somber and oppressive.

Ye Huai and the others stepped forward and patted her on the shoulder, about to offer some comfort, when two almost overlapping, heart-wrenching cries came from not far away.

"Master!"

It was Fang Yu and Ji Zicang's voices.

Everyone's hearts sank, and the images of Liu Ruyan and Yuan Jin flashed through their minds.

Judging from their shouts, the situation is probably not good.

Sure enough, when they arrived at the two of them, they saw Liu Ruyan and Yuan Jin lying in a pool of blood.

Fang Yu and Ji Zicang held the bodies of their respective masters, their faces filled with helplessness and pain, and wept loudly.

"When I rushed over just now, I clearly saw you fighting. How could this happen!"

They didn't even have a chance to say hello or a word.

"Master, Master, wake up!"

Both the Hehuan Sect and the Beast Taming Sect had their own hardships in the past. These two pairs of masters and disciples depended on each other for survival. Later, they came to the Ninghua Sect, where things became a little smoother.

The sudden passing of my master, who had been with me for many years, was still unbearable, even though I had prepared myself mentally. It was truly hard to bear seeing him lose his life.

Shen Sangruo and Ye Huai, along with the other four, could understand the emotional breakdown of the two.

Liu Ruyan and Yuan Jin are both elders of Ninghua Sect, and they have had many interactions with these two.

Shen Sanruo had a closer relationship with these two. Liu Ruyan always called her "little sister," and Yuan Jin was practically her teacher on her beast-taming journey.

How could they not feel pain in their hearts?

Moreover, they thought that if Immortal Lord Changli were to die in battle, their grief would probably be no less than that of Fang Yu and Ji Zicang.

He couldn't help but recall the prophecy of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion Master, and his heart was filled with sorrow.

Perhaps one day, Immortal Lord Changli and Daoist Wuwei will also fall before them.

But for the sake of the cultivation world, they still have to move forward.

Just like Fang Yu and Ji Zicang at this moment, after a moment of sadness, they forced themselves to detach themselves from their emotions.

She wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, nodded to the comforting words of the crowd, and could say nothing more.

After saying a few more words to his family that he would give them a proper burial, he composed himself, stood up, and had the other cultivators collect the bodies of Liu Ruyan and Yuan Jin.

Then he went to help clean up the mess on the battlefield.

When I'm busy, I don't have time to dwell on those painful memories.

Shen Sanruo sighed and began to arrange the various matters.

Finally, her perspective returned to Feng Heyun, who had shielded her from injury.

The medicine practitioner who treated Feng Heyun said that his condition was very poor and he estimated that he only had half an hour left.

When she found Feng Heyun, he was sitting in a corner, surrounded by people coming and going, and no one noticed him.

It looked as if it had been forgotten by everyone, and it appeared particularly desolate.

But Feng Heyun had a faint smile on his face.

Upon seeing Shen Sangruo, he merely gave her a forced smile and asked, "You...you came to see me off?"

"I'm sorry... Sang Ruo, we've done so many terrible things to you in this life, and this is the only way I can atone for my sins..."

"You deliberately made yourself look like this, just for the sake of your so-called atonement?" she asked, her gaze sweeping over them indifferently.

The smile on Feng Heyun's lips froze for a moment.

“You’re not doing this to atone for your sins, you’re doing this to free yourself,” she continued, her words like sharp blades, cutting through Feng Heyun’s self-deceptive pretense.

"You know that attack couldn't hurt me at all; it was just an excuse to die in front of me."

“No, that’s not it…” Feng Heyun’s voice suddenly rose, “I once seriously injured you… I sacrificed my life to shield you from a fatal attack… that is my atonement.”

"It's my retribution...it's my destiny...I'm returning my life to you!"

Shen Sangruo shook her head, "It's not that you shielded me from the attack, it's not that you gave your life back to me, it's that you couldn't go on living."

Second update delivered! Thank you everyone for updating! *tweet*