Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

The cold winds of the North cannot penetrate the desolate cave beneath this bottomless abyss.

Su Chang'an sat cross-legged on the cold stone bed, the cluster of crimson phoenix true fire at his fingertips just extinguished.

She exhaled a long breath, and the quasi-emperor aura surrounding her slowly receded into her body.

The five bronze chains hung silently on the ground, the runes on them much dimmer than they had been three months ago.

Life is getting a bit boring.

Aside from cultivating, all I do is sleep.

But sometimes, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I feel an emptiness in my heart, as if something is missing.

Perhaps it's because the cat that used to rub against her legs is gone, or maybe it's because the silly boy who used to draw her eyebrows in the morning is gone.

【Ding. 】

[Urgent System Notice.]

A cold, mechanical voice suddenly exploded in his mind, shattering the tranquility of the cave.

Su Chang'an frowned. This damn system has been causing more and more trouble since it upgraded to version 2.0. Before, it would play dead; now it's come back to life.

"Speak your mind, or shut up." Su Chang'an shifted to a more comfortable position against the stone wall, his tone languid. "If nothing major is disturbing my cultivation, I'll dismantle you and sell you for scrap metal."

[A significant shift in the fateline of the key strategic target "Gu Xiang" has been detected.]

[Death countdown: Unknown.]

Location: Unknown (obscured by celestial phenomena).

Su Chang'an's fingers, which were playing with his hair, suddenly stopped.

She sat up straight, the languid look on her face vanishing instantly, replaced by a serious expression.

"Gu Xiang?"

That idiot?

Didn't he integrate the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, awaken the Righteous Qi, and become the guardian deity of the Great Zhou?

Logically speaking, as long as he doesn't do anything reckless, there are very few people in the world who can kill him. What's more, he still has half of the Heavenly Fox Essence left by her within him.

"What happened?" Su Chang'an asked in a deep voice, "Who did this?"

Insufficient system permissions to investigate the specific cause and effect.

[The system detected that Gu Xiang's life force is like a candle flickering in the wind, and could be extinguished at any moment. If Gu Xiang dies, the host will lose the crucial storyline of "Redemption by the Confucian Sage" and will suffer a severe karmic backlash.]

[Emergency Mission Triggered: Rescue Guxiang.]

[Mission Reward: Redemption Points +20%, Unlocks the second stage of "Phoenix True Fire".]

Su Chang'an ignored the rewards.

What came to mind was the poor scholar who emptied his pockets on the streets of the capital to buy her a string of candied hawthorns.

He was that fool in the ancestral hall who, knowing full well she was a demon and that she was deceiving him, still smiled and gave her his heart.

"That idiot..."

Su Chang'an cursed under his breath.

She thought that as long as she gave him her heart, let him live, and let him forget her, that would be the best ending.

But she forgot that the scholar was stubborn and inflexible. He said he would live on with her heart and kill all the unfaithful men.

He must have encountered some insurmountable obstacle.

Su Chang'an stood up, the bronze chains rattling crisply.

[The host's true form is suppressed by the five-colored seal. Forcibly breaking the seal will result in a backlash from the seal, and may even invite annihilation by the Heavenly Dao.]

"Who said I was going to leave in my physical form?"

Su Chang'an raised his right hand, his gaze falling on his fair fingertips.

Last time, she used an avatar to save Bai Yin.

Rebirth through a drop of blood.

As long as a single drop of her essence remains, she can separate a wisp of her divine soul and reshape her physical body.

Although her strength would be greatly reduced, and although it would consume her own essence, she couldn't care less.

That heart was given to me by her.

She was the one who saved that scholar.

If she were to die without knowing why, wouldn't Su Chang'an have suffered a huge loss in this deal?

"You idiot, just wait for me." Su Chang'an's voice was soft, but it carried an undeniable determination.

Su Chang'an did not hesitate at all.

She raised her hand, put her index finger in her mouth, and bit it hard.

A drop of golden-red blood seeped from the fingertip.

This drop of blood was unlike ordinary blood; it emitted a dazzling light, and within it, one could vaguely see the phantom of a nine-tailed celestial fox howling to the sky, while a fire phoenix circled and danced.

This is the essence of blood that combines the bloodlines of the Celestial Fox and the Phoenix.

"go."

Su Changan flicked his finger.

The drop of blood essence hovered in mid-air, slowly rotating.

She closed her eyes, and a powerful spiritual force surged from between her brows, transforming into a stream of light that entered the drop of essence blood.

excruciating pain.

That was the pain of a soul being torn apart.

It was as if someone was sawing away at her brain bit by bit with a dull knife.

Su Chang'an's face turned pale instantly, and fine beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

But she didn't say a word.

She just stared intently at the drop of blood essence, watching it constantly change in the void, slowly stretching into the outline of a human figure.

"Gu Xiang, you have to hold on."

"If you dare to die, I'll go to the underworld and drag your soul out, making you copy the 'Admonitions for Women' for me every day."

Su Chang'an gritted his teeth and poured the last wisp of his divine sense into it.

boom.

The cave was filled with light.

The drop of blood essence instantly pierced through the void, transforming into a streak of red light invisible to the naked eye, and vanished into the vast darkness.

Su Chang'an's true form swayed and fell onto the stone bed.

She felt weaker than ever before.

That feeling of being drained was even more unbearable than when I was on the altar.

"We've suffered a huge loss this time..."

She gave a bitter laugh, slowly closed her eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.

……

I don't know how much time passed.

It may be a moment, or it may be ten thousand years.

Su Chang'an... no, it should be Su Qing now.

She suddenly opened her eyes.

The first thing you see is a blinding ray of sunlight.

She subconsciously raised her hand to cover herself, only to find that her hand had become somewhat transparent, a sign that her body had just been reshaped and was not yet fully solidified.

A faint, pleasant fragrance filled the air.

It smelled of earth mixed with fallen leaves, and a hint of... a familiar burnt smell?

Su Qing struggled to sit up.

Her whole body ached. The intense, bone-resetting pain made her gasp involuntarily.

She looked down at herself.

Dressed in red, barefoot.

Her appearance remains the same, stunningly beautiful, yet capable of bringing ruin to a nation.

However, the power within his body was pitifully weak.

"After decades of hard work, we've gone back to square one."

Su Qing made a comment.

She tried circulating the spiritual energy within her body and discovered that although her cultivation level was low, the foundation of her body was excellent.

After all, it was formed from the essence and blood of a quasi-emperor, and its meridians are wide and resilient. Given time, it will not be difficult for it to restore its cultivation.

The key question is, where is this?

Su Qing looked around.

This is a desolate, wild place. It's quiet all around, not even a bird's call can be heard.

Above her head was a huge tree.

The tree trunk is so thick that it takes ten people to encircle it.

The bark has an ancient bluish-gray hue, covered with cracks from the passage of time. The broad leaves, like palms, overlap, blocking out the sun.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

"The parasol tree?"

Su Qing was taken aback.

This is a sycamore tree.

The phoenix will not perch on anything but the parasol tree.

Gu Xiang possessed the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, which was the Dao Fruit of the Phoenix.

Now that she has been reborn, she has fallen under this sycamore tree.

Is this a coincidence?

Or was it some kind of divine guidance?

Su Qing leaned against the tree trunk and stood up. The moment her palm touched the bark, she felt a faint warmth.

That wasn't the temperature a tree should have; it was more like... the body temperature of some kind of creature.

Is this tree alive?

Or rather, what is hidden inside this tree?

Su Qing narrowed her eyes and probed with her divine sense.

However, the moment her consciousness touched the tree trunk, it was bounced back by a gentle yet resilient force.

"That's interesting."

Su Qing withdrew her hand.

Her current strength is too weak; forcibly investigating will only result in losses.

Su Qing closed her eyes, trying to sense the half of the Heavenly Fox's essence.

That was her heart for Gu Xiang; as long as they weren't too far apart, she could sense it.

Take a breath.

Two breaths.

Unfortunately, I didn't feel anything.

"fool……"

Su Qing's heart sank.

My bare feet rustled as I stepped on the fallen leaves.

The wind rustled through the treetops, making the sycamore leaves whisper like a sob, or perhaps telling a story of an unfinished dream.

"Linjiangxian: Rebirth"

Blood stains the mortal world, transforming this body; dreams return to the deep sycamore trees.

Where can I find a kindred spirit among old friends?

The setting sun casts a lonely shadow, and the wind stirs up a troubled heart.

Reborn as a different person, I cannot let go of the true feelings of the past.

Life and death are beyond our control.

A thousand strands of longing, all poured out in this morning and evening.