Chapter 316: Little Brother, Long Time No See

The cold wind blew from the north, carrying an indifference toward all living things, blanketing the world in frost.

Winter arrived at this very moment.

It was a bitter winter; perhaps after this season passed, the mortal world of the Yinghuang Province would once again be filled with countless skeletons frozen to death.

The fragility of life, much like its worthlessness, was insignificant.

Perhaps one day in the future, all living things between heaven and earth would gradually wither, buried one after another beneath the gods, turning into dust.

This dust might exist only in the memory of the wind, scattering bleakly as it drifted away.

Just like the cold wind blowing at this moment, it carried the breath of death, scattering at the edge of the jungle, seven days' journey from the Eight Sect Alliance.

Tree leaves curled and fell in the wind, finally finding their graves in the damp dryness, buried together with the silt, making the mud grow harder and harder.

Especially in the dead of night, the cold grew even more intense.

The trees in the wind swayed, for they felt the changing of the seasons.

The person beneath the tree trembled, for he saw the face of the head under the moonlight.

Sixth Uncle.

No more fresh blood dripped from Sixth Uncle's head; even the bloodstains stuck to his whiskers were no longer bright red, but had turned a dark, purplish-black.

Yet his eyes remained open, the pupils already dilated and devoid of vitality, but the blankness within, a blend of confusion and relief before death, could not be blown away by the wind, which could only stir his whiskers slightly.

Xu Qing was silent.

He had not spent much time with Sixth Uncle, having only crossed paths since the incident with Bai Li, but since that affair, Sixth Uncle had shown him much care.

Whether it was the gift of protection during the Bai Li incident or the background support during the purge of the Night Dove organization, both had helped Xu Qing avoid many troubles and crises.

The former was one of the key supports in his first battle against Sheng Qing Yunzi and the Phoenix Prohibition; it could be said that if he hadn't had the jade slip given by Sixth Uncle during that first fight, that battle would have been even more difficult.

The latter, Sixth Uncle's full support, not only made Xu Qing's actions smoother but also deterred those within the sect who had ties to the Night Dove organization, keeping Xu Qing safer.

Sixth Uncle's protection was different from Seventh Uncle's.

Seventh Uncle's was grand and spectacular, creating a deterrent by taking on a disciple in front of the world, like a long spear piercing the clouds.

But Sixth Uncle's personality and past experiences made his protection tend toward the silent and unobtrusive, much like an edgeless shield, giving Xu Qing room to retreat.

In this indifferent world, in this cruel life, Xu Qing valued this silent care deeply.

His personality was one that valued loyalty and affection; he was decisive and even ruthless toward enemies, and deep in his heart, he had erected high walls, filled with vigilance and caution toward the outside world.

He armed himself completely, sealing everything off, just to protect himself from being hurt.

This was a personality change caused by Xu Qing's childhood experiences, but... beneath all this, within these high walls, in the depths of this iceberg, lay a warmth that very few could ever experience.

Toward enemies, Xu Qing was ruthless and relentless.

Toward benefactors, Xu Qing would never forget, keeping them in his heart forever.

This was Xu Qing.

In the cold winter night, he had not met many people in his life who had given him care, warmth, and a hearth; he cherished every single one of them.

But, Captain Lei was gone, Master Bai was gone, and now Sixth Uncle was gone too.

So his heart felt a sharp, intense pain at this moment.

His body trembled in the cold.

His eyes slowly began to bloodshot.

Finally, it turned into the strength to look up, and he slowly raised his head.

This act of raising his head was extremely difficult.

Because, the moment this group appeared, Xu Qing's body felt as if it had been frozen; he could not move.

That was caused by the pressure, formed by the condensation of life levels!

But he still struggled to raise his head, because even if he were to die, Xu Qing did not want to face it with his head bowed.

He stared at the black-robed person walking at the very front of the group, looking at the God's Remnant Face mask on the other's face, and at the candied hawthorn in the person's hand, stained with the same blood as Sixth Uncle's.

The black-robed youth wearing the mask paused his steps, a trace of reminiscence appearing in his eyes, his gaze toward Xu Qing gentle and filled with familial affection.

This gentle look made Xu Qing freeze, a violent tremor rising in his heart.

That look, so like familial love, caused his memories to churn in a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering way.

And as the youth paused, the three people behind him also stopped.

The face beneath the Night Dove mask showed a strange expression; he recognized Xu Qing as the little fellow who had participated in the death of Bai Li and had escaped death under his own hand previously.

And the scene before him made him feel that things were far from simple, so he did not speak.

As for Sheng Qing Yunzi's father, his eyes flashed with a sharp light, lost in thought; skilled at enduring, he also did not speak.

But Sheng Qing Yunzi, standing to the side, had his expression turn ferocious, staring fixedly at Xu Qing with a cruel grin on his lips; in his mind, Xu Qing was undoubtedly going to die this time.

"My lord, I..." Sheng Qing Yunzi instinctively started to speak, but the next instant, his father glared at him with a fierce, stern look, and Sheng Qing Yunzi's voice cut off; he did not speak again.

From his father's eyes, he saw nervousness and confusion.

Sheng Qing Yunzi might have been brilliant, but ultimately, he was inferior to his father in temperament.

At this moment, Sheng Qing Yunzi's father was no longer feeling the nervousness and confusion Sheng Qing Yunzi saw; the true feeling deep in his heart was horror, because he felt that this matter was not right.

Throughout this journey, that mysterious and terrifying lord in front, who could release the gaze of a god, could clearly have teleported away, yet he had been moving at a leisurely pace.

And he seemed to have known this direction all along, walking this way the entire time.

Until the moment Sheng Qing Yunzi's father saw Xu Qing, a strong guess suddenly arose in his heart: the reason that lord from the Candlelight had taken this path was specifically to meet Xu Qing!

This guess made him shudder.

Then, amidst the wailing of the cold wind, the black-robed youth wearing the God's mask noticed Xu Qing's gaze fixed on the head held by the Night Dove behind him, and he spoke softly.

"I know his relationship with you, 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 youth walked toward Xu Qing step by step; his pace was not fast, and his eyes remained gentle, without a hint of pretense, radiating from the bottom of his heart.

And though Xu Qing's body was frozen, it trembled even more violently now.

He stared in disbelief at the eyes beneath the mask of the black-robed person walking toward him, the voice echoing in his ears falling into the deepest part of his memory, where it constantly stirred a sense of familiarity.

This feeling made his breathing gradually quicken, his pupils contracted, and he even instinctively let out a whimpering sound in his throat.

This was not fear, but an inability to believe, a refusal to believe, and even more, following this feeling, it was his final strength in believing this matter was impossible!

Until the black-robed youth arrived before Xu Qing, looking at Xu Qing, who was almost as tall as himself, and gazed at him for a long time.

Finally, amidst Xu Qing's trembling and the cracking sounds coming from his bones, the youth raised his hand and placed it on his mask.

Gently... he took it off.

Revealing a face that was strikingly seventy percent similar to Xu Qing's!

In the light, as elegant as misty starlight, that face was pale, yet the eyes, which seemed to contain the spirit of heaven and earth, held no impurities, clear yet bottomless.

The heroic, slanted sword-brows above his eyes, the thin, tightly pressed lips, and the sharp, well-defined contours—all of this made the black-robed youth look like an eagle in the dark night, cold, proud, and solitary.

Compared to Xu Qing, he seemed colder, and seemed more evil.

And at this moment, the solitude within those eagle eyes carried a rare gentleness as he spoke softly.

"Little brother, long time no see."

Xu Qing felt as if he had been struck by heavenly lightning; his mind seemed to have ten thousand thunderbolts exploding, turning into a sound that split the heavens and the earth, his soul shaking violently, his body trembling endlessly.

Everything before his eyes seemed to disappear, leaving only that face, so familiar from his dreams, and the voice that had echoed in the depths of his memory, behind those high walls, within that iceberg, in the most fragile yet precious place in his heart.

Just like the disbelief he felt when he first sensed the familiarity, only now, he no longer held that sliver of thought that it was impossible.

But now, with the removal of the mask, with that word "little brother," the last shred of persistence in Xu Qing's heart was ruthlessly destroyed.

This place of destruction was the deepest part of his heart, a place unreachable by others, and the area he most wanted to protect, but at this moment...

It collapsed.

His belief was to survive in this chaotic world; if he could live a little better, that would be even better, and if he could see his family one last time, he would be completely satisfied.

When he was young, he had thought countless times about the scene of meeting his family one day in the future; in all those images, there was beauty and warmth.

This was the persistence that kept him from freezing to death as he shivered in the cold winter.

But now...

A whimpering sound came from Xu Qing's mouth, the veins on his forehead bulging; his eyes were filled with bitterness, confusion, pain, and a slowly dissipating reliance.

An indescribable pain, like a tearing sensation, came from the softest part of his heart.

He felt so cold, so cold, that even his soul shivered at this moment, from the inside out, from soul to body.

"Little brother, actually, what I miss most is the scenes from when we were young." Xu Qing's brother raised his head, looking at the cold moon in the night sky, murmuring softly.

Xu Qing's chest heaved; he forced his eyes away, looking at the head held by the other black-robed person not far away, his sorrow turning into tears that slowly streamed down his eyes.

These tears, he did not know if they were for Sixth Uncle, for his brother, or for himself.

At this moment, the cold wind came again; it could not dry his tears, but it could stir the hearts of Sheng Qing Yunzi, his father, and the Night Dove.

The three of them, having witnessed this scene with their own eyes, already had unprecedented, heaven-surging waves rising in their hearts!

Sheng Qing Yunzi's eyes widened, filled with extreme horror.

His father's breathing quickened, his mind in a state of earth-shattering turmoil.

As for the Night Dove, he lowered his head to look at the head in his hand, then looked at the struggle and madness radiating from Xu Qing's tear-filled eyes, and finally, his gaze landed on his master, becoming even more fanatical.