Cold wind blew from the north, carrying coldness to all living beings, covering the world with frost.
Winter had arrived.
Perhaps after winter, countless frozen corpses and bones would appear in the mortal world of the Yinghuang Province.
Life was as fragile as it was worthless.
Perhaps one day in the future, all living beings in this world would gradually wither and be buried, becoming dust.
This dust might only exist in the memories of the wind.
The cold wind that blew over at this moment carried the breath of death and drifted to the edge of the forest.
The fallen leaves of the trees swirled and fell with the wind. In the end, they were dry and wet. They found their own grave and buried it with the mud, making the soil harder and harder. //
Because it was night, the cold was even stronger.
The tree was swaying in the wind because it felt the changes in the seasons.
The person under the tree was trembling because he saw the face of the head under the moonlight.
Lord Sixth.
Lord Sixth's head was no longer dripping with blood. Even the blood on his beard was no longer bright red. Instead, it had dried and turned purple-black.
However, his eyes were still open. His pupils were already dilated and lifeless, but the dazed expression in them, as well as the confusion and relief before death, could not be blown away by the wind. They could only sway his beard slightly.
Xu Qing fell silent.
He didn't have much interaction with Lord Sixth. They had only interacted with each other due to the incident with Bai Li. However, after that incident, Lord Sixth cared a lot for him.
Regardless of whether it was the protection jade in Bai Li's incident or the background support provided when he eliminated the Night Dove organization, Xu Qing had avoided many troubles and dangers.
The protection jade was one of the important supports in his first battle with Saintly Star in the Phoenix Forbidden. It could be said that if he didn't have the protection jade given by Lord Sixth, that battle would have been even more difficult.
As for the background support, Lord Sixth's full support not only allowed Xu Qing to take actions more conveniently, it also intimidated those in the sect who were related to Night Dove's organization, making Xu Qing safer.
Lord Sixth's protection was different from Old Master Seventh's.
Old Master Seventh was vigorous. He took in disciples and became a deterrent. He was like a spear that pierced through the clouds.
Lord Sixth's personality and past experiences made his protection more silent. It was like a shield that gave Xu Qing room to retreat.
In this cold and indifferent world, in this cruel world, Xu Qing valued this silent care and concern very much.
He was a person who valued sentiments. He was decisive in killing his enemies and was even extremely cruel most of the time. A high wall had been erected in the depths of his heart, filled with vigilance towards the outside world.
He had fully armed and sealed his heart in order to protect himself from harm.
This was a change in Xu Qing's personality caused by his experiences since he was young. However… underneath all of this, hidden behind the high walls and in the depths of this ice mountain, there was a warmth that very few people would get from him.
To his enemies, Xu Qing was ruthless and wouldn't rest until one side died.
To his benefactors, Xu Qing would never forget them.
This was Xu Qing.
In this cold world, he had met very few people who had given him care and warmth. He cherished every one of them.
However, Captain Lei had left, Grandmaster Bai had left, and now, Lord Sixth had also left.
His heart was filled with intense pain.
His body was trembling.
His eyes slowly turned bloodshot.
In the end, it turned into a force that lifted his head slowly.
It was very difficult to raise his head.
Because at the instant this group of people appeared, Xu Qing's body seemed to have frozen. He couldn't move anymore.
It was caused by pressure formed by the condensation of life level!
However, he still struggled to raise his head because even if he died, he didn't want to lower his head against his enemies.
He stared at the group of people in front of him. He looked at the masked black-robed man walking at the front and the candied hawthorn in his hand that was the same color as Lord Sixth's blood when he was alive.
The masked black-robed young man stopped in his tracks. A hint of nostalgia appeared in his eyes as he looked at Xu Qing with a gentle and affectionate gaze.
This gentle gaze caused Xu Qing to be stunned as his heart trembled intensely.
That gaze of family affection caused his memories to surge.
As the young man stopped, the three people behind him also stopped.
A strange expression appeared on Night Dove's face under the mask. He recognized Xu Qing as the little fellow who had participated in Bai Li's death and escaped death under his hands.
The scene in front of him made him feel that things were far from simple, so he did not say anything.
As for Saintly Star's father, his eyes shone with a strange light, and he seemed to be deep in thought. He, who was good at enduring, didn't say anything either.
However, Saintly Star's expression turned malevolent as he glared at Xu Qing. A sinister smile appeared on his face. From what he knew, Xu Qing would definitely die this time around.
"Milord, I…" Saintly Star instinctively opened his mouth to speak, but in the next moment, his father glared at him fiercely. Saintly Star stopped talking.
He could see nervousness and confusion in his father's eyes.
Saintly Star might be very brilliant, but in the end, his temperament was inferior to his father's.
At this moment, Saintly Star's father was no longer as nervous and confused as he had been before. In the depths of his mind, he was shocked because he felt that something was wrong.
The mysterious and terrifying lord who could release the gaze of the god could clearly teleport away, but he insisted on walking.
Moreover, he had been moving toward this direction.
When Saintly Star's father saw Xu Qing, he suddenly had a strong guess that Illuminate's lord took this path because he wanted to meet Xu Qing!
This guess made him shudder.
Amidst the howling of the cold wind, the black-robed young man wearing the god mask noticed Xu Qing's gaze on the head in Night Dove's hand.
"I know about your relationship with him, but he killed Bai Li and I took his head. This matter is reasonable and will not change because of you."
As he spoke, the black-robed young man walked toward Xu Qing step by step. His footsteps weren't fast, and his gaze was still gentle. It was sincerely gentle, without any falseness.
Although Xu Qing was frozen solid, at this moment, his trembling was even more intense.
He stared in disbelief at the black-robed man's eyes under the mask as he walked towards him. The voice that echoed in his ears sank into the deepest part of his memories, and a sense of familiarity rose within him.
This feeling made his breathing gradually quicken. His pupils constricted, and he even instinctively let out a whimper.
It wasn't fear, but disbelief. He didn't want to believe it, and he insisted that it was impossible!
Until the black-robed young man walked up to Xu Qing. He stared at Xu Qing, who was almost as tall as him, for a very long time.
Finally, under Xu Qing's trembling and cracking sounds coming from his bones, the young man raised his hand and placed it on his mask.
Gently… it was removed.
It revealed a face that was 70% similar to Xu Qing's!
Under the misty starlight, although his face was pale, his eyes were clear and bottomless.
He had sharp eyebrows, thin lips, and well-defined facial features. All of this made the black-robed young man look like an eagle in the night, cold and proud.
Compared to Xu Qing, he seemed colder and more evil.
A rare gentleness could be seen in this eagle's eyes as it spoke softly.
"Brother, long time no see."
Xu Qing felt as though he had been struck by lightning. It was as though countless bolts of lightning had exploded in his mind, transforming into the sound of heaven and earth being split apart. His soul and body trembled intensely.
Everything in front of him seemed to have disappeared. All that was left was the incredibly familiar face in his dream, and the voice that was resonating with his memories, behind the high wall, in the ice mountain, in the most fragile and precious place in his heart.
Like how he felt disbelief when he got the sense of familiarity, there seemed to be a trace of emotion in his heart that he had thought was impossible.
But now, with the mask taken off and the word 'brother', the last bit of determination in Xu Qing's heart was mercilessly destroyed.
The place that was destroyed was the deepest part of his heart. It was a place that outsiders could not reach, and it was also the area he wanted to protect the most, but at this moment…
It collapsed.
His belief was to survive in this chaotic world. It would be even better if he could live a good life. If he could meet his family in the end, he would be completely satisfied.
When he was young, he had thought countless times about the scene of him meeting his family one day in the future. All those scenes carried beauty and warmth.
This was his determination to avoid freezing to death in the cold winter.
But now…
A whimper escaped Xu Qing's mouth. Veins popped up on his forehead, and his eyes were filled with bitterness, confusion, and pain. A crutch that he held in the depths of his heart slowly disappeared.
An indescribable pain came from the softest part of his heart.
He felt so… so cold. Even his soul seemed to be shivering.
"Brother, actually, what I miss the most are the times we had when we were young." Xu Qing's older brother lifted his head and stared at the cold moon in the night sky as he mumbled softly.
Xu Qing's chest heaved up and down as he forcefully shifted his gaze away. He then looked at the head in the hand of the black-robed man not far away. The sorrow in his heart transformed into tears that slowly flowed down.
It was unknown if he was crying for Lord Sixth, his brother, or himself.
At this moment, the cold wind came again. It couldn't dry his tears, but it stirred the minds of the father and son, as well as Night Dove.
When the three of them saw this, their minds were filled with unprecedented waves of shock!
Saintly Star's eyes widened with extreme terror.
His father was breathing heavily, and his mind was spinning.
As for Night Dove, he lowered his head and looked at the head in his hands. He then looked at the struggle and madness in Xu Qing's eyes that were filled with tears. In the end, his gaze landed on his master and became even more fanatical.
