Chapter Fifty-Five: Like Falling Snowflakes

Mo Yun desperately wanted to know why.

He prided himself on his understanding of the human heart, but even if given ten thousand more guesses, he would never have imagined that Xie Yanluo would choose to sever her own heart meridian on the spot.

The reason he hadn't immediately restrained her after abducting her here was, above all, to avoid putting her under excessive pressure. From beginning to end, Mo Yun had treated Xie Yanluo with courtesy—after all, she was already like a bird with clipped wings, with no hope of escape; there was no sense in keeping her bound and interrogating her indefinitely.

Yet why would Xie Yanluo choose to end her own life?

The question Mo Yun sought to ask was nothing more than the whereabouts of two people—it was not some earth-shattering secret. He had thought it would be easy to extract the information, and taking two more members of the Snowfall Society hostage was merely a precaution.

In truth, to Mo Yun, Xie Yanluo was a minor figure. It was only because of the influence of the Leaf Night Institute behind her that he exercised such caution; after all, he had dispatched even those with as solid a background as Beizhou without a second thought.

But never had he expected Xie Yanluo to make such a choice.

“Why?” he murmured bitterly, gazing at the young girl’s lifeless form, crumpled on the ground.

As a student of the Leaf Night Institute, she had the brightest future in this world awaiting her—how could she treat her own life with such disregard?

“This isn’t your fault.” A man in black emerged beside him. In fact, he had been present the entire time, but even he had not anticipated, much less prevented, Xie Yanluo’s action.

No one could have foreseen it.

If there were a next time, Darkstar would never make such a mistake again—but there would be no next time.

“Is there any way to use necromancy?” Mo Yun asked softly.

“That’s forbidden knowledge, and I’ve never had the chance to learn it,” the man in black replied calmly. “Besides, extracting precise information from a corpse is extremely difficult.”

Before he had finished speaking, the darkness around them began to shake violently.

It was as if they were adrift on a furious sea—the ground swayed left and right.

“What’s happening?” Mo Yun exclaimed in shock.

He couldn’t fathom why this was occurring. They were in an imaginary space, not on an actual continent; notions of up and down, left and right were indistinct here, and earthquakes were an impossibility—there was no crust in this place.

The man in black stood steady on the quaking ground, but even he had no answer. This was far beyond anything he had encountered. The imaginary space, formed from a seed of unreality, was a remarkably stable little world—crafted by the mighty figure behind Darkstar. Throughout the world, those capable of creating such a thing were exceedingly rare.

Perhaps the number could be counted as zero.

But in the next instant, a terrifying realization surged into the man in black’s mind.

“We need to leave—now!” he barked at Mo Yun. “Someone is invading this imaginary space!”

“Invasion?” Mo Yun found the words hard to comprehend.

Who could possibly invade this place? It was a fortress separate from the world itself—supposedly the safest, most impregnable location.

He did not linger on the question. If the man in black said it was an invasion, he believed him.

“Fine, let’s go.” Mo Yun glanced back at Xie Yanluo’s corpse, his feelings complicated.

If she hadn’t ended her life so swiftly, what would he have done with her?

He already knew the answer.

He would have dealt with her himself, quickly.

“I’ll take care of these two, then we’ll leave at once,” the man in black said, turning to look at the two unconscious members of the Snowfall Society.

In fact, even if Xie Yanluo were still alive, if this imaginary space was invaded, Darkstar’s protocol was to eliminate all three captives before withdrawing.

Now that Xie Yanluo was dead, there was no reason to return with two people and a corpse.

The seeds of hatred had already been sown—it would not be so easily erased.

The man in black gazed silently at the two people bound to the pillars, then calmly raised his hand.

His manifestation was Void Flame—a black fire born from nothing, capable of consuming nearly all things in this world.

A mere snap of his fingers, and both would be devoured by the flame, vanishing into a wisp of smoke.

He had no time for hesitation or regret. The snap of his fingers would take but a moment.

But just as he raised his hand, he felt a finger press quietly against the back of his head.

“Be careful,” said a voice from behind.

The man in black did not hesitate. His hand moved, and the snap rang out—yet on the two before him, no Void Flame appeared.

“How is this possible?” he muttered.

He could not believe that his most practiced skill had failed him.

And in the next instant, he himself began to shrink rapidly towards a single point.

His bones, his flesh, his hair, his clothing—

Everything, all at once, compressed into a thumb-sized black sphere, which was then effortlessly pinched between the fingers of the red-haired Kalotes.

Without pause, the red-haired student council president crushed the black sphere. As it shattered, all trace of the man in black vanished from the world.

Mo Yun witnessed it all.

He stared at the red-haired Kalotes.

He knew this person, of course. His very purpose in coming to Leaf Night City had been to approach Kalotes and gather intelligence.

But he had never expected to face him under these circumstances.

Nor that, with a single move, Kalotes would so easily kill his guide.

Mo Yun knew well how powerful the man in black had been—just a step away from the Heavenly Realm, a candidate for legendary status. Yet in Kalotes’s hands, he had not lasted even a moment.

At that moment, countless stars spilled down from the vault above, illuminating the darkness, banishing the barren chaos below.

Mo Yun looked up—and saw a sight he would never forget.

He beheld a titanic red-haired girl, half her body standing outside this imaginary space, the boundless cosmos and night sky behind her. The starlight that bathed the earth poured forth from that infinite universe.

This red-haired girl was holding apart the very heavens of this world with her hands—as if she had just torn open the sky itself, exposing it to the void and chaos beyond.

“What kind of monster is that?” Mo Yun murmured blankly, forgetting everything else for a moment.

“Aren’t you leaving?” Kalotes’s voice sounded calmly behind him.

Mo Yun did not turn.

Just a moment ago, Kalotes had been before him; now, his voice came from behind.

Mo Yun sighed. “Do I even have the right to leave?”

The man in black—stronger than he—had been killed in an instant. Outside this place stood a being who could tear worlds apart with her bare hands.

“Your life has already been purchased by another. It is not mine to take,” Kalotes replied quietly. “You have three seconds to leave.”

“One.”

As Kalotes uttered the first count, Mo Yun pressed his chest without hesitation and transformed into a streak of light, vanishing from the ground.

“Such quick reflexes,” Kalotes sighed, then took a step forward.

In a single stride, he reached Xie Yanluo’s side, and for the first time, his expression changed.

The student council president, ever the picture of careless ease, now wore unmistakable grief.

At his side, Liu Ru and the Third Princess silently appeared.

With the world torn open by brute force, the Third Princess herself had descended. Now, the three of them stood before Xie Yanluo’s body.

Liu Ru rushed over in disbelief. She realized that Xie Yanluo’s body was still warm, but when she checked for a pulse and heartbeat, she found only utter silence.

“What happened here?” Liu Ru stared blankly at the corpse before her.

She remembered just recently sitting with this same girl at a sweets shop in the western market—Xie Yanluo eating honey cakes with a spoon, chatting about her dreams and plans for the future.

Xie Yanluo was the first Leaf Night student she had come to know, and Liu Ru had grown truly fond of her.

So why did she now lie dead here?

Liu Ru turned tearfully to Kalotes. “President, can’t you save her?”

Kalotes’s face was heavy with sorrow. “The domain of life is sacred and noble. I cannot bring back the dead.”

He looked then at the dazed Third Princess. “It’s a pity we arrived too late. Third Princess, let us return.”

But the princess did not move.

She simply stared ahead.

Liu Ru saw her open her mouth as if to speak, but no words came.

In that moment, Liu Ru was suddenly overwhelmed by sadness.

She recalled what Su Ziye had once said—that the princess seemed unable to comprehend human emotions.

Xie Yanluo was dead, and as someone who had just recently shared a meal with her, who admired the senior’s honesty and candor, Liu Ru was deeply grieved.

But she also understood why Xie Yanluo had died.

For when the Third Princess had asked Xie Yanluo to make a promise, Liu Ru had been there.

The princess had written on her board, asking Xie Yanluo to please not tell anyone—not to reveal anything that happened here: where she lived, that she brought two people to her home, how they entered.

Solemnly, Xie Yanluo had made that promise.

She had said:

“I won’t tell anyone anything about this place.”

“I swear it by every snowflake that has ever fallen on this land.”

If Xie Yanluo had known then that she would give her life to uphold that vow, would she have made it?

Liu Ru did not know the answer.

Perhaps, even then, Xie Yanluo had been prepared for this. Yet she could never have imagined that reality would demand such proof of her resolve.

Now, because of her promise to the Third Princess, Xie Yanluo was dead—and the cause stood right beside her.

Yet the princess seemed incapable even of sadness.

If so, what meaning did Xie Yanluo’s actions have?

“Third Princess.” Kalotes urged quietly.

But the red-haired girl stubbornly remained motionless.

She kept trying to speak, but nothing would come out.

At last, the girl bowed her head.

She knelt by Xie Yanluo’s body.

When Kalotes saw this, a look of shock crossed his face.

“You…” he began.

The Third Princess glanced back at him, then silently raised her hand.

She drew it down from above.

In that instant, an indescribable chasm appeared between her and Kalotes.

Liu Ru saw it too.

Perhaps “chasm” was not the right word, but that is how it felt—a division.

With a gesture, the princess traced a line in the air, and it was as if the world itself was split in two.

“What is that?” Liu Ru couldn’t help but ask.

“She wishes to prevent my interference,” Kalotes replied calmly.

“Interference?” Liu Ru echoed in surprise.

The chasm before her stretched to the sky and deep into the earth, like a thick pane of frosted glass that blocked all sound and light, leaving Liu Ru completely unaware of what was happening barely a meter away.

“The Third Princess intends to resurrect Xie Yanluo,” Kalotes told her.

“Resurrect?” Liu Ru could hardly comprehend the words.

The statement was so direct, so plain, that it struck her with overwhelming force.

“Now I finally understand when the Third Princess first awakened,” Kalotes murmured.

Liu Ru did not understand, but at least she knew this should be a good thing.

“Then why is she afraid of your interference?” Liu Ru asked.

She had just begged Kalotes to save Xie Yanluo, and he had replied that the realm of life was sacred and noble—implying he could not do it.

Yet if the Third Princess could, why would she not want help?

“I’ll tell you one thing, and do your best not to repeat it to anyone,” Kalotes said quietly.

“There is nothing in this world that can kill her, save herself.”

“The closer she comes to awakening, the more she becomes like a real person…”

“The closer she draws to her own death.”

“Many people—including myself—believe her life is worth more than most others in this world, even Xie Yanluo’s a hundred times over.”

“But only she does not think so.”

As he finished, the magnificent chasm dissolved in an instant.

Liu Ru saw the Third Princess standing calmly, gazing at her and Kalotes.

And at her feet—

Xie Yanluo coughed softly.