ETR | Chapter 100

Qin Lou's words, "willingly," made Xiao Xueman feel even worse.

Why are things always like this for them? It's as if there's always something happening, causing them to miss each other time and time again.

In the past, their missed chances could still be considered regrets, with opportunities to make amends.

Back then, life seemed long, and even if they were awkward for a few years, there was always more time and possibilities ahead.

But this time, he didn’t even dare to have regrets.

Qin Lou, for his sake, would never come back.

Xiao Xueman couldn’t be content. He and Qin Lou had been through ups and downs, and if you think about it, they never really had a single day of carefree, worry-free time together.

Clearly, they had the strongest bond and had endured countless hardships—so why not even a single day?

“It’s not just the past,” Xiao Xueman whispered in Qin Lou’s ear, “not just the past… Qin Lou, you’ve always been, and will always be, the most important person to me. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I realized it too late.”

He was held in Qin Lou’s embrace, with spiritual power surging into him more and more.

His mind was becoming increasingly muddled in the process, but he still thought of Qin Lou, stubbornly clinging to a bit of clarity, tightly wrapping his arms around Qin Lou’s neck, refusing to let go.

Qin Lou held him, knowing that as Xiao Xueman was caught in the vortex of spiritual power, his perception of the outside world was not very clear, so he said nothing more.

Everything that needed to be said had been said. To hear those words from Xiao Xueman, Qin Lou felt he had no regrets left.

This moment was the closest he and Xiao Xueman had ever been, as if they were one, flesh and blood intertwined, inseparable.

"You can't..." he heard Xiao Xueman still trying to speak, with a bit of a sob, sounding pitiful, "Qin Lou, what will I do in the future? I can't go on, I can't get through this..."

Qin Lou couldn't help but kiss his soft cheek again, soothing him with a few gentle words, but soon he couldn't hold on any longer himself.

Xiao Xueman's face gradually blurred before his eyes, but Qin Lou still tried to keep his eyes wide open, unwilling to miss a thing.

One more look was good.

His Xueman was about to become someone amazing.

After breaking through the constraints of the small world, he could do anything, and he would... remember him for a lifetime, right?

This was a bit of Qin Lou's selfishness. After Xiao Xueman's breakthrough, he would forever exist in this universe, and Qin Lou would forever remain in his heart. This was a kind of eternity.

The pain became more and more intense, and Qin Lou couldn't control it and fainted, resting his head on Xiao Xueman's shoulder, still with a faint smile on his face.

The words Xiao Xueman whispered in his ear later, he didn't hear.

"Wake up, stop..." Xiao Xueman murmured, "You, you asked me what I was afraid of back then. I've figured it out now, I'm not afraid anymore. Qin Lou, let's be together again, okay?"

"We won't mention the past, all those bad things... we won't mention them."

"Don't do this, don't leave me, okay?"

But Qin Lou didn't answer him.

Xiao Xueman kept rambling, hoping for a response.

Though his mind was muddled, he never fainted. As the one receiving the spiritual power, he was actually growing stronger, but the spiritual power entering his body needed to be digested and couldn't be used immediately.

No matter how hard Xiao Xueman tried, he couldn't stop the flow of spiritual power.

Qin Lou was indeed a quick learner. He not only copied Yuan Shu's method but also improved it perfectly.

Yuan Shu's method was even weaker because Yuan Shu treated Xiao Xueman as a long-term medicine. The method could be stopped, giving Xiao Xueman a breather, and he could recover after a while.

But Qin Lou left no way out for himself. He and Xiao Xueman couldn't control this thing. It would only stop naturally when Xiao Xueman successfully broke through.

The spiritual power needed to break through to Spirit God Tier 9 was immense—much greater than when saving Xiao Xueman’s life.

Saving a life wasn’t difficult in the Spirit Realm Continent, with many examples of reviving at the brink of death, but breaking through was a legendary, elusive thing.

Xiao Xueman clearly felt how Qin Lou was becoming weaker bit by bit.

But at the same time, the bottleneck of Spirit God Tier 9 was really loosening.

The power of two Spirit God Tier 9s was already immense, and even compared to Spirit God Tier 8, the difference was vast.

So when Yuan Shu, a dual-attribute Spirit God Tier 8, faced Qin Lou, he knew his chances were slim.

Qin Lou’s expectation that they could break through smoothly was reasonable. After all, two Spirit God Tier 9 were rare—and one was even willing to sacrifice himself.

This success condition was almost impossible to replicate.

When Xiao Xueman finally broke through that bottleneck, he didn't feel any joy, only the pain of being cut by a dull knife.

Qin Lou disappeared in his arms, slowly becoming transparent, leaving him grasping at nothing.

Gone.

The feeling of loss was so strong that he couldn't even cry, his eyes blank, reaching out to touch the air, but finding only emptiness.

Qin Lou's plan was right. After breaking through Spirit God Tier 9, the "rules" of the Spirit Realm Continent no longer applied to him. Xiao Xueman became someone independent of this world, and all the talents previously taken from him returned.

Having broken through, he began to float, drifting towards the Cosmic Tree.

Previously stuck in The Layer, after his breakthrough, the thin barrier in The Layer was no longer an obstacle. An invisible force was pulling him out.

But Xiao Xueman didn't want to leave. He struggled with all his might to stay.

"Qin Lou!" he shouted in a low voice, his voice tinged with a hint of despair, "Come out! Come out and see me, look, I'm really okay..."

Does it really have to completely consume Qin Lou?

With a glimmer of hope, Xiao Xueman felt that Qin Lou might have left something behind, even just a trace, so there would be a chance for life.

He had broken through and should go outside to undergo a new transformation of power on the Cosmic Tree. Xiao Xueman refused to leave, and the force pulling him grew stronger.

Until, in his near despair, he noticed something different beneath the clouds.

After Xiao Xueman's breakthrough, all the spiritual items on him automatically fell off, as ascension leaves no external possessions. Since Xiao Xueman was no longer a person of the Spirit God Continent, these things were no longer suitable for him.

His storage spirit instrument not only fell off but also naturally broke the spiritual contract, causing everything inside to spill out.

The same happened to Qin Lou's items, but because he disappeared, his things and Xiao Xueman's scattered here, hidden by the clouds. Xiao Xueman hadn't had time to care about such trivial matters, as they were indeed insignificant in the current situation.

But he saw something emitting a red light beneath the clouds, faint and easy to overlook.

High-quality spirit instruments emit light, but only this one shone through the thick clouds, and the light resembled Qin Lou's firelight. Xiao Xueman could tell with a closer look.

At the moment when the external force from the Cosmic Tree was pulling him out, Xiao Xueman quickly snatched the object from beneath the clouds.

He looked down and saw it was a stone.

The one Xiao Wan had given him, which he hadn't used before, so Xiao Xueman had kept it.

Now the stone was different. Perhaps it had absorbed something, turning from its original dull gray to red, like Qin Lou's red, with a state resembling flowing lava, as if... alive.

The stone lay in Xiao Xueman's palm, radiating a scorching heat.

He carefully cradled it in both hands, his face once tear-streaked, now unable to suppress a slight smile.

Is this a kind of cycle?

Before, the most precious gift Qin Lou gave was mistakenly given to Xiao Wan, and the gift Xiao Wan worked hard to prepare for him unexpectedly gave Qin Lou a chance at life.

These were the two best gifts Xiao Xueman had ever received.

In the vast universe, anything is possible, and there's always a chance for a twist of fate.

Lovers who give their all will receive rewards from the unknown, finding a chance for life in despair, waiting for the next embrace.

At the same time Xiao Xueman broke through the barrier of the Spirit Realm Continent, there was a noticeable tremor within the continent.

In every heaven where people lived, they could see it—and the higher the heaven, the clearer the view.

The First Heaven naturally felt it most strongly, with a spiral wind vortex appearing in the sky, colorful rays spreading across the sky, and even some spiritual beasts and plants responding to the call, revealing special states.

Although it was clearly a good omen, everyone was bewildered.

What's going on?

It had been a long time since anyone had ascended by breaking through Spirit God Tier 9 on this continent, so not knowing what it meant was normal.

Even Xiao Wan hadn't expected it, and no one in the First Heaven would associate it with Qin Lou and Xiao Xueman, who had been missing for a long time.

Yes, missing for a long time.

The flow of time in The Layer was different from the world below. Time in the Cosmic Tree passed much slower than in the small world; one year in the small world was just a day in the Cosmic Tree.

The time ratio in The Layer wasn’t as extreme, but it was still significant, and indeed, a long time had passed inside.

The phenomenon lasted for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick before disappearing.

Although they didn’t know why, Xiao Wan, who was deeply immersed in cultivation, still detached from his cultivation state, staring blankly for a long time.

Seeing this scene, he inexplicably felt good. Having been in a gloomy mood for so long, only at this moment did he feel a bit of vitality.

They will reunite, right?

He thought, when he became someone really powerful, he would see the people he missed.

Author’s Note:

I’m done with the angst [peeks out quietly]

It’s kind of strange, but when I posted these chapters, my work in the real world suddenly increased, and it was both troublesome and urgent. Last night, I was even called back to the office by my boss to work overtime alone until midnight. This might just be karma [balding]