"Pfft..." With a choked sound, a mouthful of blood erupted from Leng Yueying's lips, and her body was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string...

Dugu Bachan's form returned to its normal size, and by the time he arrived, he had only just managed to catch Leng Yueying's nearly shattered body...

She was only at the Eighth Heaven realm, relying on Zhuge Zhengwo's aid to even keep the Jade Orchid pinned down. Being ambushed by Fang Zhentian, who had unleashed his full power, there was no chance she would survive.

Blood spurted out like a fountain, and her consciousness began to fade...

As if sensing the embrace of a body catching her, Leng Yueying slowly opened her eyes and saw the resolute, cold face of Dugu Bachan. Yet, across that cold facade traced a long streak of tears...

Had he been crying?

Was he weeping for her?

Was he worried about her?

Countless thoughts flashed through Leng Yueying's mind, and a faint smile touched the corners of her lips...

Nestled entirely in Dugu Bachan's arms, she struggled to lift her head, yearning to look upon the man who had broken her heart for three hundred years yet whom she still deeply cherished...

"Yueying..." Dugu Bachan held the woman he had once cast aside tightly, feeling the rapidly dissipating warmth of her body. He felt as if his very heart had been savagely torn apart, not just torn, but seared with molten iron—such was the agony...

He, who had felt little emotion for three centuries, could not suppress the agony consuming him in this moment. Tears, dry for countless years, now overflowed his eyes.

Yes, he was suffering, a profound torment. Three centuries ago, to avenge his family and perfect his saber technique, he had resolutely severed the thread of affection between them; he had abandoned her...

Three hundred years later, still striving for his ideals, she had joined their ranks, only to take this devastating blow. Her life was ebbing away. What had it all been for?

She was merely a young woman, a young woman of unparalleled talent, who harbored no grand ambitions. All she ever desired was to be with the man she loved. But now? Look at what she had paid for his sake...

Gazing into Leng Yueying's eyes, still so clear even now, Dugu Bachan yearned to slap himself senseless...

"Bachan..." A blissful smile bloomed on Leng Yueying's face. Her slender, pale, and delicate fingers gently stroked Dugu Bachan's resolute features, painstakingly wiping away the tear tracks.

"I am here... Yueying, I am here!" Dugu Bachan tried to stifle his sobs, but his tears were utterly disobedient. In this moment, he was not the supremely powerful Martial Venerable, nor the domineering Dugu Bachan who commanded battlefields. He was like a small boy, a boy about to lose the dearest thing in his life—so helpless, so filled with pain...

"You... still... love... me, right?" Leng Yueying's voice was soft, light, and thin, like a wisp of sound in the wind, ready to vanish at any moment...

"Mm... I love you. From beginning to end, my love for you has never wavered!" Dugu Bachan spoke without thinking, the words bursting forth directly from his soul. From the start, his love for her had not changed in the slightest; if anything, it had deepened.

All this time, she had thought of him, yearned for him. But how often had he not thought of her, yearned for her? There were times he had nearly sought her out, but having cast her aside three centuries ago for the sake of the Martial Path, he carried a deep guilt. He didn't know how to face her, so he could only use indifference to shut out the entire world...

He was Dugu Bachan, one of only two Sovereign-level powerhouses on the Douhun Continent. The future of the entire continent rested upon his shoulders. His personal emotions had to be hidden, borne by himself alone...

Three hundred years—the words he had suppressed for three centuries were finally spoken in this moment. The emotions he had contained for three hundred years were now fully unleashed...

Listening to Dugu Bachan's voice, gazing into his steadfast eyes, the smile on Leng Yueying's face grew ever brighter, the radiance in her eyes more captivating...

All the grievances, all the resentment from three centuries vanished without a trace. The three centuries of waiting had been worth it.

Yes, he still loved her. As long as he loved her, nothing else mattered.

"Bachan, I love you too. From beginning to end, it has never wavered..." Leng Yueying gathered her final strength, forcing herself up to gently press a kiss upon Dugu Bachan's lips...

After the kiss, her body slumped, falling into Dugu Bachan's embrace. Her eyes slowly closed, and the faint spark of life within her completely vanished at that instant...

Dugu Bachan held Leng Yueying's body blankly, watching in horror as her form dissolved before his eyes into specks of faint light, slowly dissipating, impossible to grasp no matter how tightly he reached...

On his lips lingered the last trace of her warmth...

Had she gone? Had she really left just like that? Had she departed from him forever?

Tears streamed ceaselessly from the corners of his eyes, the once crystal-clear drops now turning into blood-red tears of gore...

Clutching the figure in his arms tightly, feeling her body gradually growing cold, his own heart began to cool...

Colder and colder...

Utterly frigid...

"Aaaah..." When Leng Yueying's body completely vanished into the void, Dugu Bachan let out a roar that shook the heavens. The bloody tears on his face instantly vaporized, and streaks of lightning erupted from his entire body. Seen from afar, he resembled a Thunder God descending...

At that exact moment, Fang Zhentian had just sent Xuanyuan Jue flying with a single grab, and Yu Luosha had struck and shattered Xiao Cangtian's skull, only to be impaled through the heart by Zhuge Zhengwo's Star Spirit Arrow...

His body began to burn incessantly, his soul combusting in tandem. An ever-strengthening aura formed around him, and an increasingly potent Saber Intent erupted completely...

The mournful cry still echoed between heaven and earth, and Dugu Bachan's body had transformed into a Saber, a genuine Saber hundreds of feet long—a saber forged entirely from Saber Intent, Saber Radiance, and Saber Qi. It was the Void-Shattering Saber, a single strike capable of breaking the void and crossing into another realm...

This was undeniably the strongest blow in all existence, this peerlessly powerful strike, which now slammed fiercely towards the gigantic form of Fang Zhentian...