Chapter 1736: Rebirth and Regret

"You..."

"You!!"

The child Jian Changsheng looked at the ghost shadow before him, too terrified to speak.

Pitch-black killing intent churned in the air, vaguely outlining the silhouette of a general clad in armor. He stepped forward, making no sound, and finally, in those terrified eyes, slowly reached out a hand...

And pressed it onto the child’s head.

Hum—!

Endless killing intent surged into the child’s body.

At the same time, a brilliant black Divine Path star lit up in the sky, which was thick with haze!!

Amidst the surging killing intent, one solid and one transparent soul merged into the child’s body one after another. A Divine Path grew wildly from within the child’s body, like a sword piercing the sky, extending straight toward the Divine Path star!

Just as the wind and clouds changed, a large number of figures in official robes surged into the gates of the Yan family mansion...

"Orders from the Chengtian Prefecture!"

"The Yan family has privately opened an underground pawnshop, defrauded the public into buying substandard real estate, and conducted illegal transactions. The evidence is conclusive! We are now summoning Yan Shang, Yan Dongqing, and all related personnel!!"

"All assets of the Yan family are to be confiscated! No unrelated personnel are to act rashly!"

When this penetrating voice echoed over the Yan family, Yan Dongqing in the bedroom and Yan Shang in the study both changed color, rushing to the corridor in panic.

When they saw the figures from the Chengtian Prefecture filing in, their faces were paler than the dead. Yan Dongqing stumbled to the door of the study and fell to his knees with a thud:

"Dad!! What do we do? I don't want to go to jail, Dad!!"

"Keep your voice down!" Yan Shang was still relatively calm and said in a deep voice, "When I built this mansion, I secretly built a secret passage underground... If you and I leave secretly, we shouldn't be noticed."

"Okay... okay, okay!"

A glimmer of hope appeared on Yan Dongqing’s face.

Just as the father and son were preparing to leave secretly, a child wreathed in black energy suddenly appeared in the corridor.

At this moment, Jian Changsheng seemed like a different person. His gaze was as sharp as a sword, and his face was as cold as frost. Although he was only eight or nine years old, he exuded a heart-palpitating pressure...

He was covered in a thin layer of frost formed by water. Every step he took, fine ice shards fell. He casually plucked a withered blade of grass from the edge of the courtyard and pinched it in his palm as if holding a sword.

For some reason, seeing Jian Changsheng’s eyes, the Yan father and son both felt a shock in their hearts!

"Dog... dog slave! What do you want to do?!" Yan Dongqing was extremely nervous.

Jian Changsheng held the withered grass in one hand and continued to walk forward calmly.

"Little Jian, right?" Yan Shang seemed to sense something was wrong and spoke solemnly, "How about this: I know your family owes us a lot of money. Dongqing and I are going out for a while, you can go home first... The debts we had before will be written off, how about that?"

Jian Changsheng remained silent.

He just walked forward barefoot, strolling leisurely, looking at them as if looking at two dead men.

Yan Shang didn't know what trick this child was playing, but he had already heard the people from the Chengtian Prefecture approaching behind him. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed his son with one hand and reached into his pocket with the other to clutch a life-saving ritual artifact, intending to bypass Jian Changsheng.

Woo-woo—

The cold wind blew gently through the corridor.

The moment their figures passed Jian Changsheng, a bright red line of blood appeared silently at their necks...

Yan Shang and Yan Dongqing didn't immediately realize something was wrong, continuing to run forward by inertia for a few steps until their vision began to shift uncontrollably... Their heads fell from their moving bodies like two soccer balls, hitting the ground with a thud.

Two heavy bodies fell in the corridor, and scarlet blood bloomed silently in the cold winter, never making a sound from beginning to end.

And on the other side of the corridor,

A child strolling barefoot casually threw the blood-stained withered grass into the courtyard.

"...Thank you." A complex voice sounded deep in his mind.

"Hmph."

The child snorted coldly, his black eyes glancing behind him...

"Just a small effort."

……

"Plum 8, what are you thinking about?"

In the Ancient Treasury of the Drama Path, a figure patted Plum 8 on the shoulder.

Plum 8, who was sitting on the grassland in a daze, finally came back to his senses. Behind him, many Twilight Society members had gathered, all looking at him with concern.

"...Heart 9... couldn't make it over." Plum 8 was silent for a long time before speaking slowly.

Everyone fell into silence simultaneously.

The ghosts of Heart 9 and the Gray King hadn't been able to enter the red paper umbrella; the members of the Twilight Society had long noticed this... Since they were summoned by Chen Ling using the Spirit-Medium Field, they had been deliberately avoiding this question and maintaining the original atmosphere of laughter and play, trying to dilute the sorrow in this way.

But no matter how warm and lively the atmosphere, it eventually fades. The fact that their lost companion could not return was a reality they had to face.

They all knew very well that Plum 8 and Heart 9 had the best relationship, practically like brothers... With Heart 9 left behind in the previous world forever, Plum 8 must be feeling incredibly miserable.

"Don't be too sad," Diamond 10 patted Plum 8’s shoulder. "Heart 9... chose to sacrifice himself. This was his will, and we must respect him."

"That’s right, the role he played alone was greater than all of us combined."

"Alright... I admit Heart 9 is the gutsiest man in the Twilight Society."

"I have to reserve some doubt, after all, there’s still Plum 6!"

"In any case, the Gray King is the gutsiest woman in the Twilight Society!"

"She already is!"

"I agree too."

"If Heart 9 were still here, he’d probably have his tail in the air... Every one of us would be gossiped to death by him."

"I suspect he wanted exactly this effect. Once the rest of us safely reached the new world, he would truly become the great hero who saved the world."

“……”

Everyone spoke one after another, comforting Plum 8.

Chen Ling walked over from a distance, and seeing this scene, his mood was also somewhat complex.

As if remembering something, his fingers moved slightly, and a slip of paper appeared out of thin air, held between his fingertips...

Before restarting the world, Chen Ling had collected the "regrets" of all the Twilight Society members, intending to help them make up for them one by one after reaching the new world... Among them, the slips for the Gray King and Jiang Xiaohua were blank. They were people from the Fourth Generation world, and even if they had regrets, they had already been made up for in the Fifth Generation world.

But Heart 9 had indeed left Chen Ling with a "regret" waiting to be fulfilled.

As Chen Ling slowly unfolded the slip of paper,

A name came into his view:

——Li Wanhua.