Chapter 770: A Trace of Life
Xu Meijing's body flickered several times in the air, arriving outside the forbidden barrier protecting Yang Haoran's corpse.
The area near the forbidden barrier had long been utterly destroyed; not even a blade of grass could be seen, leaving a barren expanse.
However, the green grass inside the forbidden barrier remained untouched, still lush and vibrant, naturally due to the barrier's protection.
Yet, within this lush green grass, one area was stained red with blood, and a corpse lay there.
Looking at the corpse inside the forbidden barrier, Xu Meijing found it incredibly jarring, and tears rolled down from her ink-black eyes.
The battered armor on her body transformed into wisps of Yin Qi and dissipated. In the distance, her Soul Armament, Life Ender, which was plunged into the ground, also turned into Yin Qi and vanished.
Xu Meijing's body gradually became visible, and her pair of ink-black Ghost Eyes no longer emitted visible Yin Qi, subsequently returning to normal.
After gazing at Yang Haoran's corpse for a moment, she couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood, unsure if it was due to the severity of her injuries or the overwhelming grief in her heart.
Xu Meijing spoke softly, shedding her usual cold demeanor. Her voice became gentle, though beneath that tenderness, a trace of unconcealed sorrow lingered.
When she had first arrived, though she hadn't had the chance to thoroughly inspect Yang Haoran's body, as an Underworld official, with her keen sensitivity to souls, she had detected that Yang Haoran's soul remained within his corpse and had not been extracted by the Great Spirit Caller.
For her, this was a silver lining in misfortune: as long as his soul remained, Yang Haoran wasn't truly dead. It simply meant that from now on, he would have to cultivate the ghost path and would not possess a physical body again until he broke through to the Ghost King realm.
Although he could still cultivate the ghost path, Yang Haoran would lose many things because of this. For instance, the items in his independent space would scatter the moment his physical body died, and their whereabouts would become unknown.
Even if he cultivated the ghost path in the future and one day attained a certain level of power, re-establishing his own independent space, it would bear no relation to his former one, and his previous collections could absolutely not reappear in his new independent space.
Various precious collections were merely one of his losses. Besides his collections, there was also his strength, which was on the verge of opening his Earth Soul.
Once he cultivated the ghost path, he would have to start from scratch. Although his strength in life wasn't weak and his soul after death was far more powerful than that of an ordinary person, this was only relative to ordinary people. Compared to his peak power, there was a world of difference.
If he wanted to restore his strength to its peak, it would be manageable with abundant resources, but without them, the time required would be extensive. Rebuilding his physical body would take even longer.
Besides his strength, his former status and position would also change. The head of the Lecheng Underworld Division would certainly be replaced, and the people or forces he had cultivated would likely fall apart due to his death, each going their separate ways, pursuing their own paths.
In short, Yang Haoran's death, even with his soul preserved, resulted in extremely heavy losses.
What Xu Meijing cared about at this moment wasn't the various losses Yang Haoran incurred after his death; what truly mattered to her was that Yang Haoran had died.
Even if his soul was preserved, from now on, he could only be a ghost, no longer a human.
Moreover, if he were to die again, it would be Soul Transformation, and he would cease to exist in this world, neither in the mortal realm nor in the Underworld.
If the corpse lying before her at this moment had been that of a stranger, whether their soul still existed or not, it would not have stirred even a ripple of emotion within her.
But Yang Haoran was different.
Even knowing that Yang Haoran's soul was preserved, seeing his corpse, she still couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache.
Besides heartache, there was also self-reproach.
Because she felt that Yang Haoran's death was all because of her; if not for her, Yang Haoran's corpse wouldn't be lying here now, nor, of course, anywhere else.
Although Xu Meijing wasn't wildly screaming or showing overly intense grief on her face, at this very moment, her heart was a sharp ache, as if being twisted by a knife.
She forcibly suppressed all her sorrowful emotions deep within her heart, causing her chest to tighten. She desperately wanted to cry her heart out and release all the grief inside, but she didn't; her nature simply wouldn't allow it.
The tears rolling from her eyes were evaporated by a surge of power, leaving only faint traces where they had fallen. She gently waved her hand, dispelling the forbidden barrier that enveloped Yang Haoran's corpse.
Taking a deep breath, she struggled to suppress the grief that was on the verge of breaching her defenses once more, then walked towards Yang Haoran's corpse.
Arriving beside Yang Haoran's corpse, she knelt down and gently lifted his body from the ground. Her movements were very light, very careful, as if fearing that too much force might harm Yang Haoran's corpse.
After picking up Yang Haoran's corpse, Xu Meijing prepared to leave the place immediately, taking Yang Haoran with her.
Her success in opening her Earth Soul today should have been a cause for joy, but Yang Haoran's death left her utterly unable to feel happy.
She had successfully opened her Earth Soul in this place, which, in a sense, could be considered her blessed land. Yet, she didn't see it that way; Yang Haoran's death had turned this place into a land of sorrow for her.
Though she was a woman, with her strength, not to mention holding a man, she wouldn't even tremble holding an elephant.
Yet now, as she held Yang Haoran's corpse, she felt it was both incredibly light and incredibly heavy.
Without any apparent movement from her, a rift opened in the space before her, rapidly forming a spatial crack.
Her gaze wasn't directed at the spatial crack before her, but at Yang Haoran's corpse in her arms. Finally, her eyes settled on his blood-soaked face.
"At this moment, I only wish to see that hypocritical smile of yours," Xu Meijing whispered. "If only you could smile for me now, how wonderful that would be. What a pity, I want to see it, but I cannot."
Xu Meijing spoke softly; no matter how much she tried to suppress her emotions, her voice couldn't help but betray a hint of sorrow as she uttered those words.
As her words faded, she retracted her gaze, preparing to step into the spatial crack and leave the place with Yang Haoran's corpse.
However, just as she took a single step, she suddenly sensed something, and her expression instantly changed. She abruptly looked down at Yang Haoran in her arms, her gaze, which had just left him, falling upon him once more.
"Am I hallucinating?"
Xu Meijing halted, suddenly speaking as she stared at Yang Haoran's corpse in her embrace. Her tone was uncertain, but even more so, filled with surprise and delight.
In that very instant she had taken a step, she seemed to have sensed a faint ripple of life emanating from Yang Haoran in her arms.
A corpse absolutely could not emit life fluctuations again, not even a trace, so she instinctively wondered if she was hallucinating.
She wasn't certain if this trace of life fluctuation was real, but she yearned for it to be true!
Having been ready to immediately leave with Yang Haoran, she now halted, then quickly and carefully placed Yang Haoran's corpse on the ground. With hopeful anticipation, she began to meticulously examine his body. She needed to be one hundred percent sure whether she was hallucinating or if Yang Haoran truly still possessed life fluctuations!
A few seconds later, an expression of delighted surprise appeared on Xu Meijing's face. But after the surprise, she seemed to recall something, and the delight instantly transformed into anxiety!
She quickly scooped Yang Haoran from the ground back into her arms, then with a flash, darted straight into the spatial crack before her, terrified that any slowness might cause a fatal delay!
The reason for her reaction was that, upon her careful examination, she had indeed discovered an extremely faint ripple of life still present within Yang Haoran's body. This trace of life was so incredibly weak that it was very difficult to sense; if she hadn't been holding Yang Haoran, she likely wouldn't have detected it at all.
This extremely faint ripple of life could disappear at any moment. With no healing medicine left in her independent space, she had no choice but to immediately take Yang Haoran away from here and find a way to save him. If they were too late, Yang Haoran might truly die.
Anxious in her heart, she dared not waste a single second, which was why she appeared so desperate.
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