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"HAHAHA--!!"

Above the Life Altar, the humanoid demon opened its blood-red maw and let out a wicked laugh.

A black and red hexagram formation lit up, making Yuyan outside the Mountain Temple widen her cold eyes. She summoned her sword, forming an ice-blue barrier. At the same time, the demon raised its right arm, its pale bone-armored claw slowly grasping the Abyss Core floating in the hexagram--

BOOM BOOM BOOM--!!!

The core erupted with heat waves in the demon’s grip, but it felt no pain, only mad joy.

"Success!!! I did it! The Mother Goddess still favors me!"

The terrifying abyssal energy melted the pale exoskeleton and turned half the demon’s arm into a bloody mess. But even with just a skeletal right arm, it kept laughing, enduring the pain to clutch the core.

It swallowed the core whole, its gaze darting to the white-robed lady--

[If I can’t have it, I’ll destroy it completely!]

With a hoarse demonic laugh, it opened its abyssal maw at her with lightning speed.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM--!!!!!

A beam of demonic energy burst out, its destructive radius like a hundred bulldozers, instantly sweeping away half the forest in a fan-shaped area centered on Yuyan. Such a large-scale AOE self-destruct attack could only be avoided through spatial transmission.

"Maa..."

On a tree branch, the spirit deer watched in shock, almost instinctively wanting to rush over.

"Stay put. You jump down now, the whole village will be eating roast venison tonight," Yino said calmly, grabbing Wangxue’s antlers.

Seeing the deer’s worry for its senior sister, Yino sighed. He waited for the fan-shaped breath to weaken before pointing at the ice-blue sword barrier standing strong in front of it.

Wangxue looked closely and indeed saw a white-robed woman inside the barrier.

"Don’t worry. Yuyan is this world’s top powerhouse. She can easily handle this attack from Gu Wanglan, who sacrificed half his lifespan after demonizing to the Nascent Soul stage. How could she not withstand it?" Yino said confidently.

But as if jinxed, the moment he finished speaking, the nine-colored deer beside him widened its eyes and cried out again.

"Senior Sister’s shield broke!"

The deer tugged at Yino’s sleeve, reminding him.

Yino looked and saw the ice-blue barrier in front of Yuyan shatter. The terrifying attack sent her flying.

"Damn, it really happened!"

Yino’s heart sank as he recalled the differences from the game. There, Gu Wanglan would fight the protagonist in stages, pushing him to awaken a hidden power and defeat Gu’s human form. Then Gu Wanglan would enter a second demonic stage, fighting the powered-up protagonist to a draw.

At the critical moment, Gu would angrily swallow the Abyss Core and unleash an AOE breath, which Yuyan would block to save the protagonist. But now...

Without the protagonist to push Gu to the final stage, Yuyan seemed to be struggling to solo him from start to finish.

"This won’t do. Wangxue, you really need to go help."

Seeing Yuyan using her body to tank the attack, worry flashed in Yino’s cold eyes.

He patted the nine-colored deer’s butt. It let out a bleat and leaped into the air, turning into a golden flash heading toward Yuyan. At the same time, seeing Gu Wanglan’s life force nearly depleted, Yino leisurely jumped down from the branch.

His left arm was covered in a blood-colored armlock as he walked toward the Life Altar in the center of the temple.

"Gu Wanglan, you sacrificed well..."

"Time to reap the rewards!"

....

.?.

-Hehehe-

-No matter how talented you are, how can you block this attack that I sacrificed half my life for?-

On the Life Altar, the demon’s breath finally ended. Its demonic exoskeleton gradually receded, revealing the blood-soaked gray-haired man.

Gu Wanglan was now covered in wounds, his right arm burned to the bone, and his jaw and mouth filled with hideous scars from swallowing the Abyss Core. But he didn’t care. At least in his final defeat, he had severely injured Yuyan, evening the score. His life was finally worth it.

-Bet you didn’t expect this. I still had one last trick!-

Having just consumed half his lifespan, Gu Wanglan was exhausted, but his eyes weren’t giving up yet.

He took out a small Western Region forbidden pill with his left hand, put it in his mouth, and gently bit it, letting the liquid slide down his throat.

In an instant, the medicine’s effects revitalized Gu Wanglan’s originally scattered and tired eyes.

His body temporarily recovered its functions. Although his legs were still uncoordinated, at least he wouldn’t stagger like before.

-As long as the green hills remain, there’ll be wood to burn! After escaping to the Western Region, I’ll kill hundreds or thousands of righteous cultivators to make up for the lifespan I lost today!-

Thinking of this, Gu Wanglan couldn’t help but sneer as he strode down from the altar.

But because his legs were still uncoordinated, he took too big a step. The moment he jumped off the altar, he lost his balance and tumbled to the ground.

"Heiyaya!"

"Brother Gu, why give such a big greeting to a junior like me?"

At some point, the boy’s voice came from not far in front of Gu Wanglan. That familiar, mocking tone made Gu’s eyes widen in an instant.

The black-robed boy stopped in front of him. Gu finally realized something, his pupils shaking uncontrollably like an earthquake.

But unlike the despair Gu imagined, the boy didn’t take revenge and stab him. Instead, he extended a helping hand to Gu with a merciful look

"Get up quickly. Senior Sister Yuyan will catch up soon after healing her wounds," the boy said gently.

Gu Wanglan looked up, his face full of shock. But the boy’s help didn’t wait. Before he could react, the boy grabbed his left arm and pulled him up without ceremony.

"?"

Gu stood there, dazed, unable to understand the situation. He tried to ask, but the boy ignored him. After helping Gu up, he quickly brushed past him, chanting blessings as he walked toward the Life Altar behind Gu.

"Why..."

Gu was completely confused. He looked back and saw a new crimson fruit of the opposite sex blooming and bearing fruit among the countless vines on the altar.

The boy ascended the altar, bowed humbly, casually picked the fruit, and swallowed it bite by bite.

"..."

Gu suddenly realized something. This was a fruit nurtured by the Mother Goddess after his self-sacrifice on the altar--

"?!"

Gu Wanglan was utterly baffled. Why did a junior righteous cultivator understand the laws of sacrifice better than him, an evil cultist?

For so many years, Gu Wanglan had never tried to sacrifice himself to the Goddess. He only knew sacrificing others could nurture fruits. He never imagined the Goddess would still produce a fruit of life after sacrificing his own life.

Obviously, the Goddess would consume most of the sacrificed life force, so this fruit couldn’t make up for Gu Wanglan’s lifespan loss. But even a mosquito leg is still meat!

Moreover, this was a fruit born from Gu Wanglan’s own life sacrifice. He never thought Yino would snatch away even this last bit of his achievement!

"Damn it..."

The more Gu Wanglan thought about it, the angrier he got, almost unable to suppress his rage. But a sharp pain in his chest made him realize his current state. He no longer had any extra life force to fight Yino.

Let alone killing Yino, if Yino turned around to take revenge now, Gu would almost certainly die!

"..."

Realizing his situation, Gu Wanglan felt a surge of panic. He didn’t dare show any hostility in his eyes when looking at Yino.

He tiptoed back silently, afraid to disturb the boy chanting on the altar. Only after confirming the boy wasn’t chasing after him did Gu hurriedly run away without looking back.

"That was close! So close!"

"Luckily that kid was obsessed with singing to the Goddess. Otherwise I’d probably be stabbed to death!"

Deep in the forest, Gu Wanglan broke out in a cold sweat. Instead of anger at being robbed, he felt grateful to have escaped with his life!

Although he couldn’t understand why Yino didn’t kill him before taking the fruit, whether it was carelessness or intentional, being able to escape alive was still the greatest fortune in misfortune for Gu Wanglan!

"He ran quite fast."

On the altar, Yino wiped the bloody fruit juice from the corner of his mouth, glancing at Gu Wanglan’s fleeing figure. His lips curled into a meaningful smile, but he didn’t chase after him. Instead, he turned and jumped off the altar, walking toward the heavily injured white-robed woman not far outside the temple.

"Senior Yuyan--!!"

Yino called out, quickening his pace. He saw Yuyan still had her beautiful eyes closed, looking unconscious under the spirit deer’s natural aura.

Yuyan’s white dress was burned short by the annihilating breath. Not only did her upper body reveal some burnt skin under the tattered clothes, but even her fair legs, usually covered by a long skirt, were vaguely visible through the burnt holes in her black stockings.

Yino first swallowed, silently taking in this defeated CG that would never appear in the original game. At the same time, he put on a tearful voice. He quickly took off his coat and draped it over the immortal’s exposed body, then snatched his senior sister from the deer and held her in his arms with heartache--

"Senior Sister! How are you?"

"Senior! Say something! Don’t scare me!"

"I came to Wuji Sect just for Senior Sister! Without you, what’s the point of me living in this world alone?"

"Wuwuwu... It’s all my fault for implicating Senior Sister..."

The boy hugged the immortal with her eyes closed, pouring out his heart with increasing sadness. As the atmosphere intensified, a few large teardrops fell on Yuyan’s pure, jade-like face.

At some point, the boy gently pursed his lips, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes with determination:

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"Wangxue, you’re right! CPR! Yes, CPR might still save her!"

"Maahh?"

[When did I ever mention CPR?]

The deer looked up in confusion, completely unable to understand what its master was doing. It had just told him through spiritual communication that Senior Sister was fine, just suffering from some internal injuries that needed to be slowly healed with natural aura. But Yino seemed to not hear it at all, immediately hugging Yuyan and crying while talking to himself.

-And... What the hell is CPR? Wangxue had never heard of this treatment method either-

-Also, this is strange!-

-She was clearly still awake and told Wangxue she was okay. But the moment she heard Yino’s footsteps from afar, she suddenly closed her eyes and lay silently in the spirit deer’s arms-

-Human society is too complicated. Wangxue felt its head itching, wanting to grow a brain, but its little hooves couldn’t scratch the back of its head-

"Wangxue, help me hold up Senior Sister!"

Yino didn’t pay attention to Wangxue’s confused expression. He rolled up his sleeves and ordered seriously.

For a moment, Wangxue was also influenced by this strange atmosphere. It quickly nodded and let Yuyan lean on it.

At the same time, Yino pressed his hands between the two upper hemispheres on Yuyan’s chest, pumping continuously.

After a few presses, just as Yino secretly swallowed and bent down to kiss her, the stunningly beautiful immortal with closed eyes finally couldn’t keep pretending. She pursed her red lips, raised her hand, and covered the boy’s mouth--

"I am not dead yet! Just resting with my eyes closed for a bit!"

"Yino, shut your mouth. A real man shouldn’t cry anymore!"