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

The moment the sword light engulfed that slender figure, only a blinding white remained in the world.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, nor the roar of colliding spiritual energies.

The sword energy, powerful enough to flatten mountains, pierced through the girl's body. All her defenses proved fragile under the pressure of the half-step Great Saint realm. As the light faded, Su Xiaojiu's body lost all support and plummeted straight down.

The once pristine white skirt was now soaked in crimson, and blood dripped from her drooping fingertips, drawing glaring red lines in the air.

"No--!"

Bai Yin let out a roar that sounded almost inhuman.

The yellow light shield formed by the substitute straw man shattered instantly as its owner's life force was cut off.

The power that had held him firmly in place vanished. Ignoring the excruciating pain of his broken meridians and even the demon core within his body that was about to shatter, Bai Yin slammed into the ground like a madman. Just before Su Xiaojiu was about to fall to the ground, he caught her with his trembling arms.

The immense impact caused Bai Yin's already severely injured knee to crack, but he remained motionless, firmly protecting the person in his arms from even the slightest further injury.

The body in my arms was frighteningly light.

The girl who always had a mischievous smile and loved to tease him was now lying quietly in his arms.

There was a horrific penetrating wound in his chest, and the blood was flowing uncontrollably, instantly staining Bai Yin's already tattered Taoist robe red.

The warm liquid flowed onto Bai Yin's arm, yet it sent a chill through his very bones.

"Little Jiu... Little Jiu..."

Bai Yin shouted incoherently, frantically trying to cover the wound.

But his hands were covered in blood, and the more he tried to cover them, the more blood flowed, and he couldn't stop the bleeding. His hands, which had never trembled before, were now shaking so badly that he couldn't even hold onto the hem of her clothes.

"It's alright...it's alright..." Bai Yin's voice was hoarse, tinged with obvious sobs. He frantically pulled out the Rejuvenating Dew that Su Xiaojiu had given him earlier, and without caring whether the stopper was removed, he crushed the bottle neck and poured the liquid into her mouth and onto her wounds. "You're a nine-tailed fox...you have nine lives...this is just the first one...right? This is just the first one!"

The medicine mixed with blood slid down Su Xiaojiu's cheeks, but not a single drop was absorbed.

Su Xiaojiu's eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Those eyes, which were always so bright and seemed to hold the stars, were now rapidly losing focus.

She looked at the big tiger crying like a child who had lost his favorite toy and sighed silently.

[System Notification: The host has suffered fatal damage, and their health has reached zero. The avatar is about to dissipate. Pain shielding has been activated to 90%.]

Su Chang'an calmly watched this scene from the depths of her consciousness. Although the body was an avatar, the feeling of weakness as life slipped away was real. She manipulated this collapsing body and struggled to raise her hand.

Blood-stained fingertips gently touched Bai Yin's face, which was covered in blood and tears.

Bai Yin froze, then frantically grabbed her hand and pressed it against his cheek, as if that would keep her body heat.

"Don't cry..."

Su Xiaojiu's voice was so weak it was almost inaudible. With each word she uttered, a spurt of blood would gush from her mouth. "Tiger...crying...it doesn't look good..."

"I won't cry, I won't cry..." Bai Yin nodded desperately, but the tears flowed even more fiercely, washing away the bloodstains on his face. "Use your supernatural powers... revive me quickly! Whether it's nine lives or whatever, use them! Please... please..."

This "Tiger Fiend," who once slaughtered countless people in the Western Continent and was regarded as a nightmare by many cultivators, was now as humble as a stray dog ​​begging its master not to abandon it.

He knelt in the muddy, bloody water, trampling all his dignity underfoot, just hoping the person in his arms would call him a "coward" one more time.

Su Xiaojiu looked at him, her lips twitching into a forced yet incredibly poignant smile.

"Silly tiger..."

She breathed softly, her chest rising and falling less and less. "I was just kidding..."

Bai Yin's pupils suddenly contracted.

"There's no such thing as...nine lives..."

Su Xiaojiu's voice was broken and intermittent, but every word was like a dull knife, sawing cruelly into Bai Yin's heart, "A fox... only has one life... I just wanted to... use this one... to exchange for yours..."

boom--!

The moment those words were spoken, Bai Yin felt his world completely collapse.

All hope, all wishful thinking, vanished in that moment.

She lied to him.

There was no Nine-Tails sacrificing itself, and there was no such thing as "there's always tomorrow."

From the very beginning, she was prepared to die, using her only life to give this sinful monster a chance to live.

Why?

Am I worthy?

Do you think I, a monster rotting in the mud, deserve your life?

Extreme grief and despair instantly overwhelmed Bai Yin's rational defenses, and his heart felt as if it had been crushed by an invisible hand.

[Ding! Target Bai Yin, favorability +1, +1, +1...]

[Ding! Target Bai Yin's favorability has exceeded 95...]

[Ding! Target Bai Yin's favorability has exceeded 98...]

System notifications flooded Su Chang'an's mind, the constantly changing numbers representing the completely shattered and reassembled soul of a great demon.

Su Xiaojiu's body began to show abnormalities.

Because it is an external avatar formed from supernatural powers, it will not leave a corpse after death, but will transform into the purest spiritual energy and dissipate into the world.

Starting from her feet, her flesh and blood gradually transformed into specks of shimmering white light, drifting outwards.

Bai Yin stared blankly at the scene, then let out a heart-wrenching howl.

"No! Don't go!!"

He frantically tried to grab the points of light, waving his hands wildly in the air, attempting to bring back the dissipating spiritual energy and stuff it into her body.

But those specks of light slipped through his fingers, through his body, and mercilessly drifted into the sky.

"Don't go...please don't go..."

Bai Yin held Su Xiaojiu's remaining upper body tightly, with such force that it seemed he wanted to meld her into his very bones.

He buried his head in the crook of her neck, letting out a desperate sob like a trapped animal, "I'll take you away...we'll go see the stars...I'll catch fish for you...I'll never eat people again...Xiao Jiu...Xiao Jiu!!"

Su Xiaojiu's body was dissipating faster and faster.

Waist, chest, arms...

She felt her consciousness rapidly leaving her body and returning to her original self.

But at the last moment, looking at the man in front of him who had completely broken down, Su Chang'an knew that the play had reached its most crucial moment.

With her only remaining hand, she grasped Bai Yin's shirt collar one last time.

Bai Yin suddenly raised his head, staring intently at her, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins and pleading.

Su Xiaojiu looked at him, her lips moved slightly, and with the last bit of strength, she spoke the unfulfilled promise between them.

"noob……"

"I want to wake up...with you..."

The moment the words left her lips, the hand gripping her clothes transformed into a shower of fireflies.

Su Xiaojiu's head, face, and smiling eyes all disintegrated into countless tiny specks of light at this moment.

My embrace suddenly felt empty.

Baek In remained kneeling stiffly in the embrace.

In his arms, there was only the blood-soaked, powerless "substitute straw doll" and an ugly, deformed, and crookedly woven flower crown.

That was a gift he had clumsily woven all afternoon, a gift he wanted to give her but hadn't dared to.

The world was deathly silent.

Even Xuanjizi, who was far away, was stunned by this strange scene and did not make a move immediately.

The white glowing lights circled around Bai Yin once, as if bidding a final farewell, before dissipating completely into the rain and mist of Yunmeng Marsh with the wind.

[Ding! Target Bai Yin's affection level has reached 100 (Unwavering loyalty/To the death).]

[Strategy complete.]

[Rewards being processed...]

Bai Yin knelt there, motionless, as if he had turned into a stone statue.

The rain fell, washing away the bloodstains on his body, but it couldn't wash away the huge emptiness in his heart.

He lowered his head and looked at the blood-stained straw doll and flower crown in his hand.

Much later.

He carefully, with trembling hands, picked up the deformed flower crown and gently placed it on his head.

The movements were so gentle, as if the item were the most precious and fragile thing in the world.

Then, he pressed the straw doll that had been used as a substitute to his heart, slowly curled up, pressed his forehead against the cold ground, and let out a low moan that was suppressed to the extreme, as if his soul was weeping blood.

"Aww—"

That wasn't a tiger's roar.

It was a lone beast that had lost its mate, uttering its final lament to this cruel world.

Xuanjizi stood in mid-air, looking down at the figure curled up in a ball, his brows furrowed.

He originally intended to kill the tiger demon and extract its bones to refine elixirs, but at this moment, an aura that made even him feel uneasy was brewing wildly within that figure's body.

That is the will to die after the heart has died.

It was also madness born of despair.

Bai Yin slowly stood up from the ground.

He didn't glance at the Taoist in the sky again, nor did he look at the sword formation around him.

He simply lowered his head, carefully tucked the straw doll into the closest place to his body, and then reached out to straighten the ridiculous flower crown on his head.

Rainwater streamed down his cheeks, indistinguishable from tears.

His eyes, which were originally clear amber, were now being gradually stained with thick ink, eventually turning into two bottomless, lifeless pools.

There was no anger, no murderous intent, only emptiness.

"Since you're no longer here..."

Bai Yin muttered to himself, his voice so calm it was chilling.

He slowly raised his hand, and in his palm, the scimitar named "Blood Drinker" trembled with excitement.

"And this human world..."

"There is no need for them to exist anymore."

boom!

An unprecedentedly terrifying demonic aura erupted from Bai Yin's center.

That aura didn't belong to the Casting Cauldron Realm; it even surpassed the Cave Profound Realm.

That was the killing intent deeply buried in his bloodline, belonging to the ancient divine beast White Tiger, which was fully awakened under the stimulation of extreme grief and despair.

The originally gray sky was instantly dyed a somber golden-white color.

This scene is just as the poem describes:

Rain falls on the banks of Yunmeng Marsh, and a foolish tiger kneels to inquire about his life.

The Nine-Tailed Fox was originally a lie, but it earned him a killing star in the human world.

……

at the same time.

A hundred miles away from Yunmeng Marsh, in a secret realm.

Su Chang'an, who was sitting cross-legged on the stone bed, suddenly opened his eyes.

She was panting heavily, her forehead covered in cold sweat—the mental backlash from the death of her doppelganger.

She clutched her chest and it took her a while to recover from the suffocating feeling of impending death.

"call……"

Su Chang'an let out a long breath, casually wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"This is a huge profit."

She opened the system panel and looked at the glittering "100" favorability rating and the series of luxurious rewards that followed, instantly feeling delighted.

Although the process was a bit grueling and the ending a bit of a waste of time, for a professional player, this level of plot-driven death is just basic stuff.

"but……"

Su Chang'an stroked his chin, looking through the system screen at Bai Yin, who was clearly engulfed in demonic energy and had gone berserk. A hint of amusement flashed in his eyes. "This silly tiger seems to have been provoked too much by me?"

She stretched, and her nine enormous fox tails spread out comfortably behind her.

"Forget it, let's just leave it at that. We're not going to see each other again anyway."

Su Chang'an jumped off the stone bed, his bare feet touching the cold ground. A lazy smile curved his lips. "Who told him to want to get up with me? I still have to give him this dowry."

"System, settle the reward."