Chapter 411 Cutting Apart, Living Up to Youthful Years, and Knowing the Way.
However, it was too late.
Zhan Li, with an unexpected burst of strength, pried off Hua Li's hand, declaring, "I'm serious!"
"I'm serious!"
Huali roared back.
"You're so young, why don't you have any higher ambitions? Set yourself a small goal first—inherit the Witch Clan Group and become the next generation's president!"
"Diligent cultivation and early ascension, aren't those better than romance?"
Zhan Li was taken aback by her shout and blurted out, "Then why didn't you ascend to immortality and instead agreed to stay with those people?"
"Are you trying to debate me?" Huali rolled up her sleeves. "Is it wrong for me to have double standards?"
"......"
What should have been a heartwarming confession scene could turn into a fight in the next second because of someone's lack of romantic understanding.
Zhan Li was completely stunned.
He opened his mouth, his double pupils filled with deep grievance, and his voice trembled almost imperceptibly:
"W-why? I just wanted to tell you that I like you. Is there anything wrong with that?"
Huali rubbed her temples, her head aching. "Of course it's not right. I didn't mean to say you were bad, but you... Qi Ran has only been gone for less than a year."
That's a very straightforward statement.
Like a needle, piercing into the heart of the one who was cut apart.
The urgency and grievance on his face froze instantly, replaced by a pale expression that was a mixture of embarrassment, hurt, and inability to defend himself.
Zhan Li suddenly remembered the day Qi Ran left.
*
The black energy surged in like a tidal wave, and everyone, with the determination to die, desperately protected the array's core.
The world lost its color, and the spirits cried out in despair.
The foul black energy seemed to possess a life of its own, constantly coalescing into terrifying black shadows that assaulted the array's light barrier.
Zhan Li stood upright at the core, and wherever his double pupils reached, any black energy that he locked onto would reveal its vulnerable points.
He made a grasping motion in the air with his left hand, while drawing his bow and shooting an arrow with his right.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" Ten arrows were fired simultaneously, and the black mist was suppressed once again.
After doing all this, Zhanli exited the barrier.
The exhaustion of his spiritual energy caused him to sway. Just as his steps became unsteady, a hand reached out from the side and steadily supported his arm.
Zhan Li looked up, his double pupils still brimming with unquenched energy, which met a pair of complex eyes.
"slowly?"
Qi Ran, with swift, precise movements, placed a pill into his slightly parted lips.
The pure and gentle medicinal power from another world quickly stabilized Zhan Li's almost depleted breath.
"Take it." Qi Ran didn't stop and directly handed the medicine bottle to Zhan Li. "Among these people, your cultivation is currently the weakest. Hua Li doesn't even know if she can successfully get out of the Causal Tree. Although these medicines can't save lives, they can at least help a lot."
Without a second thought, Zhan Li pushed it back, saying, "Keep it yourself..."
"Zhan Li, I'm going back."
Qi Ran looked at him and said, "I have no reason to stay any longer."
Zhan Li was slightly taken aback.
...
After a few breaths, he smiled with relief, "It's good to go back. Who knows what the future holds... It's good that I can leave."
Qi Ran looked at the boy's pale face, which showed no resentment whatsoever, and her fingers curled up almost imperceptibly.
"All of this... in the end, is also related to me. Zhan Li, don't you blame me?"
Is that strange?
Zhan Li shook his head.
"Everyone has their own unavoidable circumstances, and their final stance is the standard by which to define whether a person is good or bad. Ranran, you ultimately chose this place, and that is enough."
The boy's smile remained unchanged. "Besides, this isn't your world to begin with. You can leave, and no one will blame you."
Qi Ran's eyes suddenly reddened slightly.
As they were talking, Zhan Li noticed the moisture in her eyes and immediately became flustered.
"Hey, Ranran, you..." Zhan Li subconsciously took half a step forward, reaching out as if to wipe away the tears that were about to fall, but then stopped in mid-air and slowly withdrew his hand. "You, you shouldn't cry."
Qi Ran stared intently at Zhan Li.
The image of him shielding her from a fatal blow kept flashing through her mind.
The boy's blood was scalding hot and sprayed all over her body and face.
She asked him why he did it, and he replied that he was thinking about the time when they first met, and how she helped him out of a difficult situation...
But he had no idea.
He could have avoided so much torment back then, because she had arrived much earlier, but she chose to remain on the sidelines.
It wasn't until... when he was almost in despair, that hand was reached out.
Even so, he was willing to risk his life for her.
Qi Ran took a deep breath and looked at the handsome face in front of her, which was filled with helplessness. A thought that she knew was impossible, but still wanted to grasp, broke out of its cocoon.
"Zhan Li, if... I mean if, I could take you away from here."
Would you like to come with me?
Zhan Li was completely stunned.
"Walk with you?"
“Yes, let’s go together.” Qi Ran reached out her hand, the wood-element card spinning continuously in her palm. “Back in the Starfall Ruins, according to the predetermined fate of this world, you should have died.”
“I used the Wood-type card to deduce the result hundreds of times, and found that no matter how I tried to stop it, the outcome was the same. It was Karin... She saved not only you in the present, but also you in this world.”
The double pupils contracted instantly upon being severed.
"And because she changed your cause and effect, freeing you from your original constraints, you now have a new choice."
Zhan Li stood frozen in place, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information. But amidst the chaos, one thought emerged with unusual clarity: "Does... does Hua Li know?"
Qi Ran was taken aback by his immediate question about whether Hua Li knew about it, and asked without hesitation, "Are you very concerned?"
These words were like a key, instantly unlocking the hazy door in Zhanli's heart.
He looked at Qi Ran in front of him, his mind racing.
He once genuinely believed he loved Qi Ran, so he went to great lengths to find the divine artifact for her and repeatedly put himself in danger for her, believing that this was a way to prove his worth.
Even when he first met Karin, he favored her without asking why.
But now, standing on the edge of life and death, listening to the temptation of escaping everything, Zhan Li suddenly realized—
He didn't love Qi Ran.
It's not even about romantic love between men and women.
But... it's more like a form of repayment.
To repay the kindness she showed him when they first met. And to harbor a blind, mysterious, and powerful longing for him that was beyond her comprehension and understanding.
This feeling, though superficial, never touched the depths of the soul.
But when his thoughts turned to Karin, a completely different, almost panicked feeling suddenly seized him.
His first thought was—
If he just leaves like this...
The chain reaction of those ten array points will completely collapse, and the Witch Clan, Hua Li, and everyone else will fail at the last moment.
This world...
Karin loves this world so much...
The mere thought of her suffering any harm because of him, even just imagining it, caused a deep, soul-deep pain that made it hard for Zhanli to breathe.
Silence speaks louder than words here.
The last glimmer of light in Qi Ran's eyes was extinguished completely with Zhan Li's silence.
She stopped there, saying, "It's too crowded around Karin."
"Wen Jin, Buddha, Shen Yu, the mermaid, the demon king, which one of them isn't incredibly talented and deeply connected to her? Even if you fight tooth and nail for her and give it your all, in that galaxy, you might not be able to keep her looking back even for a moment."
Zhan Li nodded, trying to curl the corners of his lips into a smile, but ultimately failed.
“I know, but all of this depends on her living.”
"Ranran, I have to keep Huali alive."
“A hundred years, a thousand years, it doesn’t matter if she can’t see me now, but she has to live.”
Qi Ran remained silent for a moment, all her complex emotions ultimately turning into a barely audible sigh.
She looked at Zhan Li.
The boy stood against a backdrop of swirling black mist, his figure upright yet possessing a youthful slenderness.
His once handsome and clean face was now stained with dark red blood, as if he would be swallowed up by the brutal battlefield at any moment.
But those eyes alone were both fragile and resilient, clear and mad, like the fully drawn bowstring in his hand, or like a weak yet strong candle flame in the wind.
Qi Ran just looked at him, at this boy she once thought she could control, but now he was out of reach.
Little Copper reminded, "Host, it's time. Let's go."
Qi Ran nodded, as if she had made up her mind, and suddenly took a step forward. Before Zhan Li could react, she tiptoed slightly, intending to place a farewell kiss as light as a butterfly's wing on his face.
However, just as her lips were about to touch his skin—
Zhan Li abruptly turned his head, avoiding contact between the two.
"Ranran, now that you've decided to leave, just forget about everything that happened here."
Qi Ran: "..." Slowly clenched her fist.
She ultimately said nothing.
With a simple turn, his figure faded completely and vanished.
Zhan Li also did not see her off.
The instant her figure disappeared, he turned back, concealing all his vulnerability and exhaustion in his double pupils.
All that remains is the resolute determination to live and die with this land.
*
Memories flow gently into this moment like water.
Inside the Miaoyin Pavilion, Zhan Li stared blankly at Hua Li.
Yes, in everyone's eyes, Zhanli is probably the one who quickly fell in love with someone else after Ranran left, a shallow person.
Zhan Li's double pupils appeared somewhat unfocused due to the intense emotional turmoil, with even clear red marks appearing at the base of his eyes: "So, you think that me standing here now, saying these things to you..."
Each word he uttered seemed to be squeezed out with difficulty from between his teeth, carrying a scorching heat, "Is it because Ranran left that I... I started to 'like' you?"
Huali: "..." She chose to mute herself. Because she felt that if she dared to nod, Zhanli could die on the spot in front of her.
Seeing that the girl remained silent, Zhan Li wiped his eyes and stubbornly said, "Think what you want, but I will never..."
"Stop!" Huali raised her hand and made a pause gesture. "First, I don't like you. And apart from my family, I will never like anyone else."
"Secondly, Zhan Li, I'm not trying to be mean, but you could broaden your horizons a bit."
"Look at Fen Yu. You're also a prince of the Witch Clan, but you're always out there causing trouble. How come Fen Yu can settle down and work diligently..."
"Fen Yu has been put in solitary confinement by her grandfather."
Karin: "Huh? Why?"
Zhan Li glanced at the culprit with red eyes, but said nothing.
"Let's put him aside for now and talk about you. Think about it, the Witch Clan has such good resources, and there's also the Burial God Abyss. If I were you, I would immediately focus on promotion and making money."
"Once you become the undisputed and incredibly wealthy tycoon of the Witch Clan, what kind of fairy wouldn't you find? Why bother hanging yourself on my tree?"
Huali spoke quickly and urgently, her words filled with earnest concern, as if she were not rejecting a confession, but rather advising a wayward youth to turn back from the wrong path.
Zhan Li was completely stunned by this theory of "establishing a career before starting a family." After a moment of blankness, he suddenly grasped the "key point" of the statement!
Having money/becoming a big shot = having opportunities?
Is this...is this pointing him in the right direction?
Is she implying that she will see him once he becomes strong and outstanding enough?
This thought, like a flash of lightning in the darkness, instantly illuminated Zhanli's previously gloomy mood.
The boy's still somewhat dim and aggrieved double pupils, like dry tinder thrown into a spark, suddenly burst into new vitality.
Seeing his expression, Huali immediately said, "I'll say it again, I don't like you."
Zhan Li nodded: "I know."
"But don't worry, Huali, I will! I will definitely become the most powerful prince of the Witch Clan! No! I will be more powerful than anyone else, and I will let you see it with your own eyes!"
"?? No... what you understand..."
However, Zhan Li didn't give her a chance to speak at all.
He was like a warrior who had already obtained the secret manual to clear the game, full of high spirits.
He glanced at Huali for a moment, said "Wait for me," and rushed out the window.
"Wait a minute, what do you know? I don't know!" Hua Li suddenly lunged to the window, Er Kang grabbed her arm, and shouted, "Come back! Explain yourself!"
"Come back quickly! I can't bear this alone!"
"Come back soon!!"
Tang Wanwan laughed heartily.
The young lady stepped forward and leaned against the windowsill with Huali. "It's much more interesting to have something to do than listening to ditty."
Karin: "...I'm tired."
"I want to go home."
As soon as she finished speaking, the communication stone at her waist flashed.
Click on the rosewood.
[Target: The Richest Person in the Cultivation World] requests to add you as a friend.
Huali: "......"
reject.
Damn it, all that chatting turned him into a business rival.
Huali got angrier the more she thought about it.
Little bird, where is her little bird?
We can't let the pearl trade stop!
*
Yan Xi leaned lazily against a chair carved from a single piece of moon coral, her long, silver-blue hair swaying gently in the water like seaweed.
He looked at Shrimp Bro's message on the communication stone, and his thick eyelashes trembled slightly.
"Heh..." The mermaid gently stroked the communication stone with her fingertips, the movement as tender as if she were caressing a lover's face.
But his eyes gleamed with undisguised possessiveness and an unwavering determination.
"Lian Zhuo, Luo Chuan, Wen Jin..."
"My little benefactor, you're being naughty."
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