The breathing was very close.
So close it was almost within reach.
Evan Lin's eyes flashed with firelight.
Blazing flames shot through the entire corridor, illuminating everything brightly.
Yet as he looked around, there was nothing there.
"An illusion?"
Evan frowned, glancing back at the corridor scorched by fire.
That breathing sound gradually faded away as well.
He followed the corridor to its end, arriving once again in the spacious stone cavern inside Thornridge Mountain.
Inside the now dried-up Four Spirits Blood Pool, the corpses of spiritual beasts that once died there were still visible. Previously, the pool had been filled with Four Spirits Blood, but now it was completely dry.
Looking around, only the empty stone chamber remained.
Evan walked forward a few steps, stopping in front of the throne.
The emperor puppet who used to sit there was now nowhere to be seen.
"Where did he go?"
Evan frowned, about to search the area, when he suddenly heard faint breathing.
There was also the sound of water droplets hitting the ground.
Evan abruptly looked up toward the ceiling of the stone chamber, which was shrouded in darkness, no light escaping.
With a twist of his fingers, Evan conjured a fire dragon. The dragon soared upward, illuminating the darkness.
What appeared before Evan was a person whose body had shriveled away.
That person was hanging from a stone hook suspended from the ceiling.
The blood dripping onto the ground was flowing from his body.
"Who hung you up here?"
Evan waved his hand, slicing through the stone hook with a burst of force, letting the man down.
Though his blood had been drained and his face had collapsed inward, the outline still faintly showed that this was the emperor puppet from before.
"She's coming back soon..."
The emperor puppet's eyes were empty and clouded, mumbling endlessly: "She didn't lie to me..."
"She's coming back soon."
His voice was weak, and there wasn't the slightest trace of fear on his face.
"Who exactly is the 'she' you're talking about?"
Evan patted his face and sent a strand of spiritual qi into him.
But as the spiritual qi entered his body, it was like a stone sinking into the sea—completely ineffective.
Evan probed a bit further and suddenly realized—the emperor puppet's chest was empty! His heart was gone, and no one knew when it had happened.
"She told you to wait here, to be kept here, so your blood and body could nurture that heart!"
"You shouldn't have been able to live this long, but you managed to survive for thousands, even tens of thousands of years!"
"You had your heart replaced!"
Suddenly, Evan realized something.
A formation was set up here in Thornridge Mountain, designed to guide souls into reincarnation!
But this emperor puppet, along with the Four Spirits Blood Pool—
—were completely unnecessary existences!
"No wonder, no wonder you were placed here. Who took your heart?"
Evan couldn't shake the feeling that there was some sinister plot behind all of this.
When he'd come here before, Evan hadn't paid much attention to him. Now, seeing him again, it was already too late.
The emperor puppet's blood and vitality had almost completely faded.
Even immortals couldn't save him now.
And the aftereffects of nurturing a heart with one's blood and body were truly horrific.
"She's back... she's almost... back."
His shriveled face was full of longing, and he kept mumbling to himself.
His gaze was fixed in one direction, never shifting.
Evan followed his line of sight.
It was a wall inside the stone chamber.
The fire dragon moved with the moment, illuminating the entire stone wall.
Under the firelight, Evan saw a pair of eyes carved into the stone wall.
Cold, lifeless eyes, isolated on the stone, and though it was just a drawing, those eyes seemed to possess a chilling sentience.
The emperor puppet weakly stretched out his hand, as if wanting to touch those eyes on the wall.
But in the end, his time was up.
"Though a puppet, he truly had the bearing of an emperor."
"Not only did your blood and body nurture that heart, but the fortune gathered by your ancestors and yourself was used to nurture it as well!"
"Just what sort of heart was it, and now that someone has taken it, where did it go?"
Evan muttered to himself, watching as the emperor puppet before him turned to dust and vanished from sight.
As if he had never existed at all.
He died without ever seeing the woman he wanted to wait for.
Or maybe he had already seen her.
But when that woman came, her only purpose was the heart inside his body.
Evan stood there for a long time.
He thought again of the Demon-Culling Finger.
He tried to communicate with Lyria Zhao inside the Soul-Sacrifice Beauty Scroll, but there was no response at all.
"Lyria, just how much do you know?"
Evan took a deep breath and didn't linger any longer in this place.
He was a step too late.
Staying any longer would be pointless.
Leaving Thornridge Mountain, Evan recalled the strange breathing sound in the corridor.
He searched the corridor thoroughly both before and after, but found nothing at all.
After leaving Thornridge Mountain, Evan tried to call Damon Wang.
Given that Damon Wang managed to acquire the Demon-Culling Finger, he might know something useful.
But when he called,
No one answered.
Damon Wang had vanished from the world once again, as if he’d evaporated.
The Spring Festival was already approaching.
Evan temporarily put these matters aside.
He first made a trip back to Whitewood.
Lin Yan had already started her holiday, but instead of coming to Whitewood, she went straight back to Jingzhou.
Lv Shu only decided to head to Jingzhou to spend the New Year with Chen Qiangshan after Evan returned.
"Xiao Yi, I heard you plan to spend the New Year in Pu Hai this time, so I went back to Jingzhou first."
"After the New Year, remember to come visit Lin Yan when you have time."
"Also, I know you have your own business and affairs now, but you must be careful out there. Stay alert."
"Oh, right, here's your red envelope."
Lv Shu gave her reminders while taking out a prepared red envelope and forced it into Evan's hand.
"Aunt Lv, I really don't need a New Year's money anymore."
Evan held the red envelope, looking at Aunt Lv with helplessness.
Every year during the New Year, Aunt Lv would use the excuse of giving Evan a red envelope as New Year's money to give him quite a bit.
Back then, Zheng Jiayun was really short on money.
But Lv Shu couldn’t just give money openly—it would hurt his pride. So she usually focused on buying milk, food, and other necessities.
Thinking back...
Lv Shu had really gone to great lengths to protect Evan’s self-esteem.
"New Year's money is still New Year's money—even if you don't need it now, the meaning is different."
Lv Shu shook her head and looked at Evan, full of emotion. "Time flies—look how grown up you are now."
"You're a college freshman now—maybe it's time to think about dating, or even marriage."
"So, what do you think of Lin Yan?"
As Lv Shu talked, the topic drifted further and further away.
She used to be more subtle, but now she was suddenly quite blatant.
Evan stood listening, unsure what to say, scratching his head.
Zheng Jiayun didn’t chime in, just watched and smiled.
It felt a bit like they were trying to arrange a marriage.
It wasn’t until Lv Shu finished talking, got in the car, and left that things finally quieted down.