Divine Flame Crystal

Chapter 676 Heartbeat

Monica looked up at Xingluo with a smile in her eyes: "You have both of these."

"You can retreat from this path," Xingluo said calmly, "but you can't."

"Understood." Monica raised her hand, as if offering a private and unspoken salute. "Master."

Xingluo frowned slightly: "Don't call me that."

"Then I'll call you Xingluo." She laughed and seemed happier.

Monica stood on the top of the bone tower, her long hair messed up by the wind. She raised her hand to tuck it behind her ear and shouted to the falling stars in the valley:

"Remember! The external soul bones are just the hands! You are the heart! I am responsible for keeping you alive, and you are responsible for making the gods bow their heads!"

Xingluo looked up and plucked the silver bell softly. The clear sound was carried by the wind through the cracks in her bone armor and struck her chest.

"Don't waste time." He replied to her with two words.

Monica smiled, the corners of her eyes curved like a scabbard: "I will grow up in a sleazy way, Xingluo."

She turned around, and the lights in the bone tower lit up simultaneously. Hundreds of leaf-folding skeletons "put on" human bodies in just ten breaths, spreading out like a piece of armor. She stood at the end, pressing down with one hand—

"Bone Team, step out!"

Bone wings spread out. A dragon's shadow loomed in the wind, and Orlos roared thunderously in the clouds. Monica glanced back at the figure at the bottom of the valley and whispered something so soft that only the Bone Tower could hear:

"As long as you're alive, I'll always be by your side."

She also knew that this feeling was always one-sided. But she didn't ask for a response. All she wanted was to stand by his side—to use every fiber of her being, every thorny path she'd walked, her remorse, her entire experience, to shield him from some of the attacks from the gods.

The requiem bell rang in the distance, and the valley wind cut the bell sound into tiny fragments.

Monica leaped down, and her external soul bones were like outstretched wings, carrying her into the sky illuminated by the gods.

In the dark wilderness, the wind blew ice chips across the ground.

Renata slowly stood in the wind, her long hair disheveled by the wind. Her eyes were cold and silent, like a frozen lake.

Opposite her, an old man in a thick robe stood with a cane. His eyes were cloudy, but still held the familiar greed and arrogance.

"Heh... little girl, I never thought you'd come this far." The old man's voice was as hoarse as a snake's tongue. "Back then, when you knelt at my feet and begged me to take you in as my apprentice, you cried your eyes out. Now? You dare to draw your sword against me?"

Renata's fingertips trembled slightly, but her voice was surprisingly cold: "The day you die should have come long ago."

Xingluo stood quietly in the distance, not intervening. His cape fluttering, his eyes fixed on the scene, but he knew clearly in his heart: this was no ordinary revenge, but a tribulation that Renata must overcome.

A sinister grin played across the old man's lips. "I taught you the fighting technique, and now you want to use it to kill me? How ironic! Do you think ice can overcome fire? Have you forgotten who made you feel power for the first time?"

Renata's chest tightened, and countless nightmarish images flashed through her mind - when she was a teenager, she was forced to train at the feet of the old man, humiliation, fear, tears and fire.

"Shut up," she muttered, frost gathering in her palms.

"You've wavered." The old man sneered, a ball of fire rising from his feet. "The people I chose back then never disobeyed me! Do you think you could have survived until today without me?!"

Boom! Flames rushed towards him.

Renata raised her sword fiercely, and icy blue fighting spirit soared into the sky. Cold air and blazing flames collided in the night sky, exploding into countless white vapors that instantly enveloped the entire wasteland.

In the distance, Xingluo's eyes moved.

——Her fighting spirit is several times stronger than before.

After a brief confrontation, Renata was forced to retreat two steps, with blood oozing from the corner of her lips.

The old man sneered, "You will always be my work. You want to kill me? You are not worthy!"

Renata's chest heaved violently, her breathing became rapid, and the humiliation and anger in her heart surged like flames.

At this moment, a calm voice was heard.

"Renata."

She looked up suddenly and saw Xingluo's figure looming in the snow. There was no blame or pity in those black eyes, only calmness and expectation.

"Don't let his words carry you away. Ice was never meant to suppress anger; it was meant to control it."

Renata froze, her breathing slowing down a little.

Ice is the source of her fighting spirit. She always thought she chose ice because she wanted to be calm, otherwise she would have committed suicide long ago, but she never considered that the true meaning of ice is not indifference, but control.

"Control the fire within me..." she murmured softly, her eyes suddenly lighting up.

The old man was stunned: "Little bitch, what have you figured out?"

"I figured it out. You should have died a long time ago."

Renata suddenly drew her sword, her fighting spirit surging, and the frost beneath her feet transformed into a hard, crystal-like surface. With one footstep, she rushed towards the old man like a meteor.

Fire and ice collide again.

This time, Renata's fighting spirit was no longer chaotic, but like a net woven from countless fine threads, firmly trapping the old man's flames inside.

"How is this possible?!" The old man was horrified. He kept gathering flames in his hands, but the flames were cut into pieces bit by bit by the ice silk as soon as they ignited. His figure gradually became blurred under the steam.

Renata's voice came from the wind and snow: "Today, I will return all the pain you have caused me."

The sword flashed, and frost rolled up, directly sealing the old man's feet.

"Renata! I'm your master! How dare you kill me?!"

"You are not worthy to be my master."

Boom! The sword thrust straight down, and the frost instantly exploded into dozens of sharp blades, completely tearing the old man's body apart.

Blood splattered, but was instantly frozen into crystal fragments, falling to the ground like broken rubies.

The wilderness was silent, with only the sound of the wind.

The moment the old man's body fell, Renata's body shook violently.

Invisible icy energy surged out of her body, and the origin of heaven and earth seemed to be attracted by her, flowing madly into her meridians.

"This is..." Her pupils suddenly shrank as she felt a new power awakening in her body.

Frost blanketed the wasteland, instantly freezing miles of land. Snowflakes froze in mid-air, and the sound of the wind froze in an instant.

Xingluo looked at this scene with a serious gaze.

——This is a sign of a demigod.

Renata let out a long roar towards the sky, her fighting spirit and the source of power merged, and her figure was wrapped in countless ice.

After a moment, the light faded and her figure reappeared.

Her eyes were even colder, but with a hint of freedom and brightness.

"I...finally cut off the past."

She murmured softly, tears sliding down from the corners of her eyes, but were instantly frozen by frost.

-

Xingluo walked slowly towards him, and the frost and snow on his cloak fell at his feet.

Renata looked at him, feeling complicated.

"I did it," she whispered.

"You didn't kill him, but the shackles in your heart." Xingluo said calmly.

Renata's eyes trembled and she lowered her head: "If you hadn't reminded me, I might have been consumed by hatred."

Xingluo shook his head: "You have walked this path on your own. No one else can walk the path of demigod for you."

The wind and snow started to blow again, and Renata raised her eyes with a firm gaze.

"Xingluo, from now on... I will follow you until the gods are destroyed."

Xingluo just nodded lightly, without responding to the emotions hidden behind her words.

But Renata knew in her heart that he had tacitly agreed to her standing by his side.

That night, the wasteland was completely frozen.

Renata became the new demigod, with ice-type fighting spirit surging in her body. Wherever her sword pointed, the wind and snow would stop.

She stood quietly on the ice field, her back stern, yet carrying a power that could not be ignored.

She was no longer the girl trembling in humiliation, but a demigod who could fight against gods.

And her sword will always follow Xingluo's footsteps.

Luoshen Village—a name so unremarkable on the mainland that it's not even marked on most maps. It's just a small settlement nestled among the hills, with a few hundred households, a few streams, and a few weathered stone bridges. The villagers farm and herd cattle, leading a quiet life that's almost forgotten. But deep within this land lies the continent's most terrifying secret.

Xingluo stood at the village entrance, the stone pavement beneath his feet mottled by time. His palm rested on the wall of an ancient stone well, engraved with runes so fine and intricate that it looked like a galaxy from heaven, fallen to earth. The wellhead was icy cold, emitting a faint, oppressive aura. As the night breeze blew, the runes lit up, like the pulsation of a heartbeat.