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

"Chang Geng".

Gu Tianhu only uttered two words.

The soul fire in Li Changgeng's eyes remained still in the wind and snow.

Above the icy abyss, the crimson thunderclouds had not yet dissipated.

A bolt of blood-red lightning struck, hitting his mangled shoulder bone.

Click.

Bone fragments mixed with black ash fell into the snow.

He seemed oblivious.

Within the Black Stone Formation, the young Li Changgeng was surrounded by nine fox tails, the black markings on his chest flashing on and off. He gripped his broken sword, his breathing rapid, as if he were hearing someone calling him in a dream.

Behind the snow slope.

The spacetime anchor point is broken.

White Bone Li Changgeng could no longer stabilize the Blood Gate, nor could he directly touch his younger self.

But he hasn't left yet.

That old man, even with his bones broken, his obsession is still incredibly strong.

Su Chang'an stared at the edge of the Cold Abyss, and didn't move.

She is now in a mortal body.

If even the slightest bit of energy is leaked out, the Heavenly Dao will press down along the river of time.

In the next round, we'll have to let Gu Tianhu decide for himself.

White Bone Li Changgeng slowly descended from the sky.

He did not go to see the boy on the black stone.

He did not raise his hand to take the person away again.

He stood on the edge of the icy abyss, the snow beneath his feet cracked under the weight of his bony feet. With each step, a layer of black ash from his spine crumbled down.

One bolt of blood lightning after another.

His body was riddled with cracks.

But he still walked step by step to the black stone.

Then, he knelt before the ancient fox spirit.

boom.

His kneecap slammed into the snow.

Li Changgeng, the skeleton, lowered his head, his half-boned palm supporting him on the ground.

"Master."

His voice was very soft.

"Come with me."

Gu Tianhu did not answer.

The nine fox tails still protected the young Li Changgeng.

She looked at the white bones kneeling in the snow, her eyes showing neither resentment nor fear.

Li Changgeng, the skeleton, raised his broken hand.

Primordial purple energy emerged from between the palm bones.

The purple aura did not transform into killing intent, but instead spread out as a phantom in the wind and snow.

Snow hangs over ten thousand peaks.

The mountain gate is like a sword.

Countless disciples in white robes ascended the long steps, their swords clanging through the sea of ​​clouds. High above, an ancient plaque displayed four characters suspended in the wind.

The highest form of detachment is forgetting emotions.

In the main hall atop the mountain, a figure sat upright on a cloud platform.

White clothes and white hair.

The quasi-emperor's aura descended, and the wind and snow of the northern region fell silent beneath his feet.

Gu Tianhu stared at the illusory figure.

A moment of hesitation crossed his fox-like eyes.

That was a relief.

Young Li Changgeng was half-awake in the fox tail.

He stared at those four words, gripping the broken sword in his hand even tighter.

"Supreme...forgetfulness?"

His voice was hoarse.

"Master, what is that?"

Gu Tianhu lowered his head and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"It's a path that will emerge in the future."

As Li Changgeng, the Bone Demon, watched her movements, his soul fire flickered violently.

"I did it."

"Master, I did not die in the Cold Abyss."

"I established a sect, took in disciples, and rose to the quasi-emperor level. I am no longer the person who could only hide under your tail."

He raised his head.

Within those empty eye sockets, the soul fire reflected on the face of the ancient celestial fox.

"I have power now."

"I can take you away."

"I can protect you."

Gu Tianhu gazed at the illusory image of the sect, its peaks draped in snow.

Silent for a long time.

Li Changgeng, the White Bone Demon, thought she had wavered.

He flipped his bone palm over.

The shattered, blood-red door behind him slowly opened.

Behind the door, a blood-red ferry appeared.

The ship's hull was pieced together from fragments of time, its gunwales were entwined with white bones, and its hull was weighed down by black and red aura of calamity. The malevolent energy surging from the abyss approached the ferry but was kept at bay by an invisible barrier.

"Get on the ship."

Li Changgeng's voice quickened.

"It can transcend the river of time."

"If you go up there, there won't be those 372 chains."

"They won't be nailed to the abyss."

"It will not have its three thousand years of vitality drained away."

He then looked at the young Li Changgeng.

"I'll take him with me too."

"Take him away from here."

"There is no extreme evil, no icy abyss, no loss."

"We can all start over."

Snow fell on the ferry.

The boat rocked slightly.

The air beneath the ship was thick with the stench of destruction, as if countless things were struggling inside.

Gu Tianhu didn't move.

The soul fire of Li Changgeng, the skeleton, began to flicker.

He bent down.

His forehead was almost touching the snow.

"Master."

"This time, don't leave me behind."

As soon as the words were spoken, the black mist in the icy abyss churned up a layer.

"You never say anything."

"You ward off evil spirits for me, protect me from calamities, and shoulder all the burdens for me."

"You said you were here."

"But what happened next?"

Where did you go?

"I've been looking for you for sixty years."

I thought you didn't want me anymore.

Li Changgeng, the skeleton, raised his head, his soul fire stained with blood.

"You could have taken me with you."

"You could have told me."

"But you still left me behind."

Behind the snow slope.

Su Chang'an's lips curled into a cold smile.

Even now, this person only chooses to believe what he is willing to believe.

He saw that Gu Tianhu was hiding it from him.

I saw the ancient fox suffering.

But he refused to see why she was hiding it.

They refuse to see how many people they've dragged into the same trap in their efforts to change their past.

Gu Tianhu raised one hand.

He placed his palm on the eye of the black stone array.

The nine tails tightened, protecting the young Li Changgeng even more.

"Chang Geng".

"You see the chains passing through me."

She looked up and gazed at the skeleton Li Changgeng.

"But do you see what's connected to the other end of the chain?"

Li Changgeng, the White Bone Demon, did not answer.

Below the icy abyss, black mist suddenly surged.

The stone wall beside the black stone, which had reflected the future, now shows signs of a broken mirror.

In the mirror's reflection, the red-clad celestial fox on chains is no longer visible.

Rather, it is the lifeblood of the Nine Provinces.

The earth cracked open, and black gas surged out from the ground.

A malevolent wind swept across the mountains of the demon realm.

Above the human city, resentment piled up into thick clouds.

Countless blurry figures fell in the black mist, only to be swallowed up by the malevolent energy.

These are locked at the other end of the chain.

Young Li Changgeng opened his eyes a crack.

He couldn't understand those images.

But he could sense that what was pressing down beneath the abyss was colder than the wind and snow, heavier than death.

He grabbed one of the ancient fox's tails.

"Master..."

Gu Tianhu lowered his eyes.

"Don't be afraid."

Li Changgeng, the skeleton, dug his bony fingers into the snow.

"You shouldn't have to bear that burden alone."

Gu Tianhu nodded slightly.

"Yes."

"It shouldn't have been like this in the first place."

The soul flame of Li Changgeng, the white-boned warrior, flared up.

But then Gu Tianhu spoke up.

"But that doesn't mean you can make decisions for everyone."

The wind and snow swept between the two of them.

"The highest form of detachment from emotions does not mean forgetting emotions altogether."

"It's not about locking the people you love away from you."

"True transcendence of emotions means having the deepest feelings, yet not daring to use one's own obsessions to live for others or choose for the world."

Li Changgeng, the skeleton, stood frozen in place.

Gu Tianhu's voice remained very soft.

There was no scolding.

She didn't cry either.

It was my mistake that I kept it from you.

"I didn't tell you about the calamity, I didn't tell you about the chains, I didn't let you know where I was going."

"But that was my choice."

"I don't want you to come back three thousand years from now and change my life."

Li Changgeng's skeletal body trembled.

The aura of calamity on the blood-red ferry began to surge wildly.

He whispered, "I just want to save you."

Gu Tianhu looked at him.

"Do you really only want to save me?"

Foxfire lit up at her fingertips.

The firelight shone on the skeletal remains.

It also revealed the extremely malevolent aura that clung to his bones.

"Don't you know what's under those chains?"

"Don't you know what will happen to Han Yuan after you take me away?"

"Don't you know that once you take this child away, the evil spirits will fall into the wrong hands?"

Li Changgeng, the skeleton, did not move.

Gu Tianhu's gaze fell on the blood-red ferry.

"You came carrying a calamity that does not belong to you."

"You come carrying the karma of the future."

"You want to take your past self with you."

"They also want to take me away."

"But who will bear the malevolent aura beneath the frigid abyss?"

"The lifeblood of the Nine Provinces, who will quell it?"

"For whom will this child die?"

Every word fell into the wind and snow.

Li Changgeng, the White Bone Demon, did not refute.

His soul fire was shaking violently.

The blood-red ferry began to tilt.

The white bones on the ship's hull made a soft, clanging sound, and black and red aura of calamity seeped out from the bottom of the ship, only to be forcibly swallowed back by the Gate of Time.

Young Li Changgeng peered through the gap in the fox's tail at his future self.

The skeleton was very tall.

It's also very strong.

But as he looked at those twin soul flames, he suddenly shrank closer to Gu Tianhu's embrace.

It's like being afraid.

Su Chang'an lay prone in the snow, without making a sound.

She saw the skeletal fingers of Li Changgeng sinking into the frozen soil.

The joints split open.

But he ignored it.

for a long time.

Only then did Li Changgeng, the white-boned warrior, speak.

There's always another way.

Gu Tianhu did not answer immediately.

She simply and slowly tucked her fox tail away.

One layer, and another.

This completely isolated the young Li Changgeng from the eye of the Black Stone Formation behind him.

"You're not looking for a solution."

"You're hiding."

Li Changgeng, the skeleton, looked up.

Gu Tianhu looked at him, and finally a hint of weariness appeared in his eyes.

"Let's go back."

"Go back to the three thousand years you lived."

"I acknowledge my choice back then."

"Admit your incompetence."

"I admit there are some regrets, and we can't do it all over again."

The soul fire in Li Changgeng's eyes shrank slightly.

Gu Tianhu said, "If you truly respect me..."

"You shouldn't have decided for me whether I should live or not."

Crimson thunderclouds rolled.

Another bolt of lightning struck.

Li Changgeng, the skeleton, did not dodge.

Lightning pierced through his shoulder bone, splitting half of his body apart.

The aura of calamity on the blood-red ferry also surged violently, with black and red mist overflowing from the ship's side, tearing at the gates of time.

But no one moved, neither above nor below the cold abyss.

Gu Tianhu was still sitting in the Black Stone Formation.

The Nine-Tailed Fox restrained the young Li Changgeng, and also suppressed the calamities surging beneath the Cold Abyss.

Li Changgeng, the skeleton, knelt in the snow.

His quasi-emperoral cruelty fluctuated.

The soul fire flickered on and off.

Su Chang'an lay prone behind the snow slope, his palm pressing against the frozen, cracked anchor point of the earth vein.

She knew that Gu Tianhu had personally rejected the old path of leaving with him.

Li Changgeng was finally forced to see the wound that he had always refused to look at.

Snow fell on the black stones.

The master and disciple gaze at each other across three thousand years.

No one spoke again.