Chapter 695: Chen Ling's Anger

Chen Ling was stunned.

He looked down again at the girl in his arms. She was clutching him tightly, a blood-stained golden bangle swaying gently in the wind. Clouds drifted past them, and the world was utterly silent.

This time when he looked down, he no longer saw the blush on the girl's cheeks, nor her shifting gaze.

Only a pale, small face, buried in his embrace.

Huang Suyue was still.

Blood rained down from the sky, staining Chen Ling's hands and his theatrical robe crimson. The girl no longer had any breath; her body was growing cold.

It all happened so suddenly that Chen Ling couldn't react. The girl who had just been arguing with him spoke her last words and then fell silent forever. It was as if the last spark of life she had gathered blazed brightly for a moment before scattering and burning out, releasing an unparalleled brilliance.

Ink-dark clouds brushed past his crimson robe. Beneath his feet lay a city shrouded in thick smoke, its walls ravaged by war.

In the end, Huang Suyue was unable to leave the main city of Hongchen.

"I am willing to spend my entire life to redeem you."

Even amidst the surrounding silence, this sentence echoed in Chen Ling's ears like rolling thunder.

He held the cold body and stopped.

Chen Ling was lost at this moment. His perfectly rational thoughts were shattered by that single sentence. He stared blankly at Huang Suyue in his arms, motionless, like a robot with a malfunctioning algorithm.

After an unknown period, a thought slowly surfaced in his mind, much like an error message popping up after a program crash.

She likes me?

Crack—

The moment he realized those three words, a soft sound echoed from the void around him. It was like a crack appearing in a solid wall.

"Liking" is a sensibility that transcends rationality. When Chen Ling acknowledged its existence, it signified that his soul was beginning to shift towards emotion. The fourth wall, which separated him from this world, was now shaking due to the presence of "liking."

Audience Expectation +3

Current Expectation: 48

Chen Ling had never noticed Huang Suyue's affection for him. Before this, his attention had been entirely focused on the Twilight Society, the Hongchen Base, and the realm war. He hadn't seen the light that often flickered in the girl's eyes, nor had he realized her selfless help.

If life were a script, Huang Suyue's role in Chen Ling's storyline was not significant. From his perspective, she, like other supporting characters, was merely a "passerby" who had appeared at a certain period. However, in Huang Suyue's life script, though Chen Ling's presence was brief, those few strokes illuminated her entire life.

Since his transmigration, Chen Ling had never received "liking" from others. Looking back further, he had received love letters in high school and college, but what did that feel like back then?

Chen Ling seemed unable to recall.

Crack—crack—

As the first crack appeared, more and more fissures began to spread across the fourth wall. Chen Ling stared blankly at Huang Suyue's body, his mind continuously shaking. Strands of emotions he had once been cut off from were now returning to his body.

He seemed to remember.

As Chen Ling looked into Huang Suyue's eyes, the "audience's" indifference gradually receded, and a gentle softness slowly emerged.

He had never felt romantic love for Huang Suyue, only admiration, acknowledgment, and a pity for her talent. Huang Suyue's final confession draped their connection in an indescribable veil, a feeling impossible to articulate. Chen Ling didn't even know what he was thinking himself.

He only knew that he now felt intense guilt and anger.

But now, all that remained in his arms was Huang Suyue's lifeless body. Whatever had been, had vanished like smoke.

Chen Ling's fists involuntarily clenched.

Just then,

Chen Ling vaguely saw a faint wisp of white mist drift from Huang Suyue's corpse, as if clutched by an invisible hand and violently dragged towards a massive alchemy array in the distant sky!

It all happened too suddenly. Chen Ling had only seen the moment the white mist left the body, and he didn't immediately grasp what was happening, standing frozen in place.

But the next moment, when he saw the intricate array hidden in the clouds, his pupils suddenly constricted!

Soul Refining Stone!!!

Chen Ling had almost forgotten. The Boundless Domain had initiated the realm war precisely to swiftly refine the Philosopher's Stone, allowing Lord Boundless to return to his optimal state. The material for the Philosopher's Stone was the souls of humans who died unnatural deaths.

This meant that the soul of anyone who died in the Hongchen Domain would be dragged away, crushed into material for the Philosopher's Stone, never to be reborn – including Huang Suyue.

A chilling sensation came from his fingertips. Chen Ling looked at the pale, small face nestled in his arms, and a long-suppressed fury blazed within him. The ice field was melting, and beneath layers of frost lay a raging sea of fire!

Rage, an unprecedented rage!

Chen Ling had only just recovered a portion of his emotions when Huang Suyue died in his arms. His guilt and anger were accumulating, and now, Lord Boundless was about to drag away the girl's soul right before his eyes, trampling it like a piece of rag.

How could Chen Ling remain indifferent and watch all of this happen?

"Boundless! Domain!!!"

A frantic murderous intent surged from Chen Ling. It was an eruption of long-suppressed emotions, so potent that it materialized, making his large crimson theatrical robe flap violently.

Crack—

Countless cracks spread wildly across the fourth wall as his rage erupted. The ethereal wall seemed to be violently hammered repeatedly, shaking unstably.

The fourth wall was about to collapse.

Chen Ling's chest heaved violently. He knew that, as he was now, he was no match for the Boundless Domain. He forced himself to calm down, his mind racing. Finally, his gaze fell upon the ravaged main city of Hongchen.

As if he had seen something, a glint of sharp light flashed in his eyes.

Holding Huang Suyue's body, Chen Ling stepped through the void, approaching a certain street.

Eventually, he arrived before a dark abyss in the ruins.

It was a grey abyss, the size of a basketball court. A thin membrane covered its surface, with occasional geometric patterns drifting across it. This was a seal left by the Second Hall, but with the death of its members in battle, the seal had long become fragile.

Chen Ling took a deep breath. His large crimson theatrical robe swayed as he walked to the edge of the abyss, slowly raised his foot, and stomped down hard!

Boom—!!

The immense force caused the seal's surface to shake, emitting a roar.

But even weakened, the seal couldn't be shattered by a single stomp from Chen Ling. After a brief roar, the seal fell silent again. However, Chen Ling hadn't intended to shatter it with one kick.

The roar resonated down the abyss, extending directly into its darkest depths. After a brief silence, pairs of scarlet eyes opened one after another in the darkness!!

His large crimson theatrical robe whipped wildly in the wind. Chen Ling looked down at the scarlet eyes and slowly uttered two words:

"—Come out."