The black-robed woman’s inky eyebrows were drawn tight, a pained moan escaping her nostrils. Lying on the snow without an arm, her twisting waist rippled like a small, dark serpentine ribbon. S toyed with her for a moment before looking up at the woman’s anguished face, declaring happily, “You are quite entertaining. If time allowed, I truly would have liked to play with you longer. It’s just a shame, you’re a bit too dangerous to keep close by.” She sighed with regret, then looked up at the black-robed woman, flashing a captivating smile. “I’ll just keep your memories with me; that way, we’ll still be together…” As she spoke, she delicately flicked her slender fingers, and the black dagger spun once in her palm before settling firmly in her grip.

The black-robed woman forced her eyes open, staring in horror at the approaching figure and croaking, “No… don’t…”

“Ah—!”

A piercing, sharp shriek echoed above the forest, shaking the settled snow from the branches of the dense woods.

S held the black-robed woman’s head aloft, an elegant smile gracing her lips. She gazed down at the severed head, upon which the woman appeared in a tranquil slumber—no terror, no joy, just closed eyes, as if she might suddenly open them if one weren't paying attention.

“Beautiful,” she whispered, slowly extending a finger to press against the woman's brow, her fingertip emitting a crystalline red glow.

Just then—

“Sister, Sister…” Ling’s voice drifted faintly on the biting cold wind, sounding as if it might be scattered away.

The light on S’s finger instantly retracted. She turned her head, gazing into the swirling snow and wind whipped up by the previous battle. Through the hazy blizzard, a faint, dark silhouette was running toward her, the color gradually sharpening from a pale grey shadow.

Her eyes flashed. With a final movement, the black-robed woman’s head vanished from her hand as if by magic. She then swung her hand, summoning a gust of wind that swept up the snow, covering the headless corpse and burying the crimson blossoms of blood on the ground deep beneath the fresh fall.

Then, Ling’s figure emerged from the storm and appeared within her sight.

“Sister, Sister!” Ling’s eyes were bright, his face alight with thrilled excitement.

A genuine smile bloomed on S’s lips.

Ling watched S standing serenely on the snow ahead, her long, silver-white robe billowing in the cold wind, a gentle smile softening her exquisite features. His eyes welled up involuntarily. He sped up, nearly falling midway, finally reaching S’s side. Looking up at the beautiful woman, a head taller than him, his chest heaved violently as his eyes melted with the fire of fervent joy. He choked out, “Sister, no matter how loud I called from outside, you couldn’t hear me. Something was blocking me; I couldn’t break through. I thought something terrible had happened to you.”

S felt a warmth spread through her heart. She reached out and gently stroked his hair, saying softly, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

Ling threw himself into her embrace, clinging tightly to her waist and burying his face against her soft, smooth chest. From between those two heavy peaks, he choked out, “Sister, please don’t leave me, I beg you…”

S’s body stiffened momentarily, then, hearing his voice, her stunned expression slowly softened, her eyes filling with a motherly tenderness and affection. She gently stroked Ling’s hair, murmuring, “Rest assured, I will not leave you. Nothing will happen to me.”

Ling held her tightly, as if releasing her would cause her to vanish.

The biting wind, howling around them like the cries of ghosts through the dense forest, seemed to hush into quiet stillness here. Snowflakes drifted down, landing on Ling’s dark hair, his broad shoulders, and also on S’s hair, her long, curved eyelashes, and her cheeks.

After a long moment, Ling’s agitated emotions finally calmed. He immediately registered an anomaly: the faint, captivating fragrance filling his nostrils, and the pressure of two very soft mounds against his temples. He instinctively looked up, finding himself staring directly at two proud breasts. Behind them, S looked down at him with a gentle smile.

Time seemed to freeze for three heartbeats.

Then, nosebleeds, like small earthworms, began streaming from both his nostrils, dripping onto the collar of his tunic. He snapped back to reality, his face instantly flushed crimson, stammering helplessly, “This, that, I… I didn’t mean to, I, I…”

He was beside himself with embarrassment, his tongue seemingly tied in knots.

S smiled faintly, gently running a hand through his hair, then turned away. Her tall figure stood against the bitter wind, her robes swirling, resembling a long-exiled nun. Without looking back, her clear, elegant voice reached Ling behind her: “Let’s go.”

“Where, where are we going?” Ling was captivated, momentarily forgetting his awkwardness, and asked dazedly. “To a very beautiful place.”

South of the Ice and Snow Empire, the Dragon’s Tooth Marsh.

Rays of light pierced the dense clouds, shining down in shafts.

On the branch of a dead, withered tree, a crow-feathered Necro-Bird let out a sharp, piercing cry, as if startled, and violently took flight.

The dust on the branch shook loose as if struck by a whip.

A sharp, owl-like cry echoed through the withered wood forest.

In the viscous mud of the swamp, a scaled creature, blending perfectly with the muck, slowly rose. It opened one eye—an amber orb flashing with a cold, metallic sheen—and fixed its gaze on a thick, coiled viper lurking in the nearby reeds.

The viper was as thick as a water cask, coiled into a defensive formation, its head resting atop the coils, occasionally flicking its forked tongue. From the bright, finely detailed scales covering its body, it was clearly a venomous serpent.

At this moment, the viper’s belly was greatly distended, as if it had just swallowed something large and was quietly digesting.

Time flowed by in the silence as the creature in the swamp shifted almost imperceptibly closer, closer.

Time seemed to solidify in an instant.

With a sudden sploosh, the enormous monster in the swamp lunged upward, sending mud splashing everywhere. Its immense body blocked the weak light filtering into the marsh, plunging the area into sudden darkness.

The thick viper recoiled backward in alarm, but it was a fraction too slow. A claw from the giant monster struck its head, instantly shattering its skull, spraying blood in all directions.

The monster’s claws were incredibly sharp; it seized the still-writhing body of the viper, rapidly tearing it apart, then flung the pieces into its mouth, chewing them rapidly with teeth like churning gears, swallowing them piece by piece.

Suddenly, a person fell out of the ripped-open belly of the viper. It was a man in black, his face a bloody ruin corroded by the snake’s stomach acid, clearly dead. However, the dense, profound divine energy emanating from his body indicated he must have been a peak Divine Spirit expert in life.

The giant monster swallowed the corpse of the fallen Divine Spirit expert whole and was about to shift back into the swamp when a rustling shhh sound flashed through the surrounding brush. Immediately after, a black shadow burst forth, shooting toward the massive creature like an arrow. This fist-sized black object slammed into the chest of the mountain-sized monster, and the sound of cracking bone followed. The hard scales caved inward, lifting the colossal body, hundreds of feet high, out of the mud swamp entirely, crashing violently against a dead, old tree nearby.

The black object landed atop the monster’s chest and stabilized itself. It was a small, fluffy black rabbit. The rabbit possessed crimson eyes that gleamed with a bloodthirsty light, and two sharp incisors flashed with a keen, cold brilliance like daggers. It abruptly shot out two beams of black light that instantly pierced the monster’s brain, boring two holes through which blood gurgled forth.

The giant monster struggled twice and then became utterly still.

The small black rabbit slowly opened its mouth. Its sharp teeth easily pierced the scales on the monster’s chest, breaking through the flesh and tearing out chunks of bloody meat, which it quickly swallowed. It fed with alarming speed; in less than a minute, more than half the body of the hundred-foot-tall giant monster was consumed by the fist-sized black rabbit, leaving only a blood-veined white skeleton on its chest.

As the small black rabbit continued to feed, a sharp sense of danger suddenly pierced its mind. It convulsed and sprang sideways just as a golden beam of divine light struck the corpse of the giant monster, instantly shattering it into countless pieces of meat.

Above the spot where it had been, a tall, slender white figure materialized out of thin air. Clad in snow-white robes, his handsome, young facial contours were as sharp and cold as a dagger. He looked down at the small black rabbit, which had leaped onto the branch of a nearby dead tree, and smiled. “I truly didn’t expect to meet a God-Slaying Rabbit at the peak of the Divine Emperor realm here—one that specifically preys on Divine Emperor-level beings. Tsk, tsk.”

The four paws of the black, fluffy God-Slaying Rabbit stood poised on the branch like a wild cat ready for battle, its back arched high, its fur bristling, glaring fiercely yet warily at the tall, slender white figure. Then, it suddenly lunged forward.

That single leap seemed to span eons.

The wind appeared to choke on its breath.

Then, a flash of white light shot out from the white-clad man’s finger. It was lightning-fast and struck the God-Slaying Rabbit squarely on the forehead. As if shot dead, the rabbit’s body jerked violently, and propelled by its forward momentum, it automatically landed right in front of the tall, slender man. He smiled and casually gripped its ear.

The God-Slaying Rabbit’s body went stiff and lifeless.