"Lily! Save my mom! I’ll let Evan Lan go!" Kieran Xiao turned and shouted at Lily Bai.
Lily Bai’s lips curled into a wicked little smile. "Save her? What’s the point? She’s already dead!"
Her internal organs have already burst!
Kieran Xiao gasped for breath, his eyes starting to redden.
"Your body’s been tempered by spiritual energy, so you’ll last longer than your mom did," Lily Bai said. "But... I’d advise you not to get too worked up! Otherwise, the spiritual energy will invade your body even faster."
"Just... get me out of here," Kieran Xiao gritted out.
"You two spent half your lives trying to get here, didn’t you?" Lily Bai laughed. "Now you’ve finally made it, why so eager to leave? Look around—this place is gorgeous! Spiritual energy everywhere, stunning scenery. Every leaf and blade of grass is packed with mysterious power. This is paradise! Why not just stay?"
"No... no..." Kieran Xiao turned and started crawling toward the Portal Array.
He crawled and crawled, finally reaching the Portal Array—only to realize the Spell Stone was missing.
"Where’s the Spell Stone? Where is it?" Kieran Xiao demanded.
"Right here!" Lily Bai pulled it out and showed him.
"Hurry up and activate the Portal Array! I need to get out!"
Lily Bai walked a few steps forward, picked up the painting, and came over to Kieran Xiao.
"Open it... open it!" The dense spiritual energy drilled into his body from every angle, and he was already feeling sick.
"If Evan Lan were here, he’d definitely make me send you back! Too bad you wouldn’t let him come..."
"I’m begging you..." He reached out and grabbed Lily Bai’s clothes. "Just let me go, for the sake of a disabled man! I never really wanted to kill anyone. That day on Heaven’s Gate Mountain, if you hadn’t fought back, I would never have let them hurt the Supreme Emperor, Eric Lan, or any of your people!"
Lily Bai flung his hand away and sneered, "And what about Evan Lan?"
"He... he..."
"Well, coming to the Spirit Realm has definitely opened my eyes," Lily Bai said. "You humans are so disrespectful to the divine! You even set up the Godslayer Syndicate to hunt him down everywhere! Don’t you realize he’s the god who protects you all?"
"Protects us? Ha!" Kieran Xiao threw his head back and laughed, slapping his own legs. "Did he protect me? He’s my cousin, so why didn’t he heal my legs?"
Do you know what it’s like to sit and sit until your butt literally rots away?
Do you know the despair of dreaming every night about running and jumping, only to wake up and be unable to move?
He laughed, then suddenly burst into tears and shouted, "He’s a god, but he never helped me! Why should I respect him? Why shouldn’t I mobilize the Godslayer Syndicate to weaken him, capture him, and use him to heal myself? Why not?"
Lily Bai replied, "You can! Of course you can! That’s why you’re lying here crying, right? And your mom could, too! That’s why you ended up crippled!"
"What do you mean?" Kieran Xiao froze. "What do you mean my being crippled has anything to do with my mom?"
"You want to know?"
"Tell me!" Kieran Xiao’s eyes grew even redder.
Lily Bai nodded, opened the painting in her hand, poked at the fish, and called out, "Fish! Eternal Wishfish!"
The Eternal Wishfish didn’t respond. It stayed silent.
"If you don’t talk, I’ll take you back to the Demon Realm and toss you into the demonic swamp. Do you have any idea how bad it smells there? Ten thousand years of demon beast flesh and blood rotting away..."
"Hey! Fine, I’ll talk!" The Eternal Wishfish finally spoke up.