After an unknown amount of time, Yang Ling heard the sound of the wind, and he smelled the sharp odor of blood. He opened his eyes and took a look. He discovered that he was laying on sunken ground, his whole body bathed in blood. He wanted to stand up and take a look, but he felt intense pain when he tried to move his body. The Wizard Core inside his body was cracked horribly, and it seemed like his injuries were more grave than ever before.

Could it be that I will die here?

Yang Ling shook his heavy head. For a moment, he couldn’t understand how he had gotten here. Before he’d teleported with the Teleportation Gate, his Wizard Core had sustained great damage, and he hadn’t had the time nor the energy to observe the teleportation destination. He’d just teleported with his fuzzy senses.

“Yuna, Yuna…”

After Yang Ling coughed up a mouthful of blood, his mind sobered up, and he recalled that Yuna had sacrificed herself to save him. He shouted loudly and struggled fiercely to stand up. Every moment he’d ever spent with Yuna ran across his mind. In their first meeting, she had been very bashful, and when she’d traveled with him to Livenza Alliance, she had been very warm and gentle. After they killed the Killer Flowing Venom, she’d spent a passionate first night with him on the lakeside to help him detoxify the poison. She’d also helped him manage the Magical Beast Domain’s government affairs… Many scenes passed in front of his eyes!

“Yuna, why are you so stupid? Why did you lunge at me so recklessly?”

As Yang Ling recalled how Yuna’s cold body had laid on his chest, he felt very pained. After he’d arrived in this world, he’d gone through many trials, and two of the most dangerous had been the hunt for the Killer Flowing Venom and the deadly strike of the Lord of the City Amongst the Clouds. Both times, the fox lady, Yuna, had helped him weather the crisis.

After the first one, Yang Ling and Yuna officially became husband and wife, and after the second one, they were separated by death.

“Yang, I’ll do anything for you.”

“Yang, why don’t you show love for me once again…”

…

As Yang Ling recalled Yuna’s voice and features, he also recalled the deep feelings they had for each other. He felt like his heart was dripping blood. He regretted not making a life-saving puppet for Yuna, as well as teaching her the way to enter and leave the Wizard Pagoda’s dimension… If he couldn’t stand up in one go, then he could only try to do it little by little. His hands rubbed against the hard stone, leaving bloodstains where they touched. He gnashed his teeth and tried to force himself up. Even if he had to die, he still had to take one last look at Yuna.

Over the years, he always thought about his recent experiences in the depth of the night, and he always felt like it was just a long dream. The pain of losing Yuna, however, was so real and distinct that he clearly understood that this was no dream.

Chirp!

As a soft cry echoed out, a large head appeared in front of Yang Ling. When Yang Ling saw the creature’s lantern-like eyes, he could have sworn that sparking tears were falling from them. It wasn’t clear if this was just an illusion, and when he raised his head to observe carefully, he saw something unbelievable.

The blood-soaked and heavily injured Mother Empress had arrived in front of him.

“Mother Empress! Could it be that I inadvertently teleported next to the Mother Empress, due to the wisp of Soul Imprint I left behind?”

Yang Ling shivered as he thought of a certain possibility. He couldn’t help but swallow his saliva bitterly. He’d barely escaped from a wolf only to find that he’d unexpectedly fallen into a tiger’s den. The Mother Empress was enormous; he wasn’t even big enough to fill the gap between its teeth.

Ah!

Even after a long moment, the nervous Yang Ling still hadn’t been torn apart. Instead, the Mother Empress held him in its mouth and laid him on a flat slab. The eyes of the pale-faced Yuna were closed; she lay motionless on the ground.

“Yuna, Yuna…” Yang Ling hugged Yuna intensely and poured his last remaining wisp of Wizard Power into her body. He also fed her the remaining Life Spring’s water in his spatial ring. He even started doing artificial respiration. But it was all futile. Yuna’s skin was still ice-cold, and her heart wasn’t beating. Yang Ling was forced to face reality.

“Yang, I want to give birth to a child for you. No, I want two!”

“Yang, when you go on an adventure next time, let’s go together. Okay?”

…

Even though everything he had done was useless, Yang Ling still hugged Yuna’s cold body weakly. Yuna’s voice and features emerged in his mind. His spouse was truly unlucky. Yang Ling’s Wizard Core had suffered heavy damage, and his body was exhausted and powerless. Despair welled up in his heart.

He had always struggled hard and fought against the world to find the way back home. Even when he faced strong enemies, he never cowered, and he persisted in practicing strenuously. But at this moment, he understood that finding the Ancient Wizards’ ruins was secondary; even becoming a Wizard God was secondary. The source of his happiness was lying next to him.

What was left for him to aspire to in life?

It was only after a loss that one really understood the importance of what they’d had and what they’d really pursued.

Hum!

The Mother Empress’s large head appeared again over Yang Ling’s head. Its sparkling tears dripped upon his face. They also fell upon Yuna’s body. Magical Beasts were very sensitive, and it was especially the case for an inborn Wandering Divine Beast like the Mother Empress. It understood everything. When it had been hunted down by a large number of people from the various great factions, Yang Ling had helped it. It would remember forever this unusual human, especially his black eyes, which had seemingly witnessed the vicissitudes of life.

Swoosh!

After the Mother Empress cried irresolutely for a moment, it looked at the disheartened Yang Ling and the deadly injuries in his body. The sensitive Mother Empress took a deep breath and consumed a large amount of its Divine Power to spout out a mouthful of Vital Energy. This energy entered Yang Ling’s body through the wound on his chest.

The Vital Energy was the essence of the Mother Empress’s Godhead, and it was very powerful. It could be used to kill people, but it could also be used to save people.

Once the Vital Energy entered Yang Ling’s body, he immediately detected it. It started moving within him according to some mysterious track. Wherever it passed, it nourished the damaged veins and internal organs. Even his seriously damaged Wizard Core slowly began to heal. The energy revolved cycle by cycle, moving ceaselessly. Yang Ling’s Body Honing Wizard Mantra also started working by itself, healing his injuries at a higher speed. The disheartened Yang Ling subconsciously wove a Wizard Seal and silently recited a segment of a mysterious Wizard Mantra… After a while, Yang Ling opened his eyes slowly. His Wizard Core had recovered, and he’d also recovered most of his power. He still hadn’t made a complete recovery, but his current state was completely different than before.

Hum!

The Mother Empress let out several soft cries and folded its wings. It laid next to Yang Ling and licked him several times. Yang Ling found it very dear. This might have been because he absorbed a mouthful of its Vital Energy. He took out some Golden Sore Drug that Alice had made from his spatial ring and smeared it gently on the Mother Empress’s wounds, which hadn’t yet formed scabs.

The Mother Empress had been hunted down ceaselessly by various great factions, and it had sustained serious injuries. This was especially true in the battle against Algernon Core Deity. After the Mother Empress spouted a mouthful of Vital Energy to treat Yang Ling’s wounds, it became even more feeble. It didn’t recover its power like Yang Ling. They were fellow sufferers, and this was why they empathized with each other. This was also why they found each other dear.

“Mother Empress, Mother Empress, the Mother Nest’s empress.” As Yang Ling rubbed the Mother Empress’s large head, his spirits lifted. He took out a large mountain-like black crystal from his spatial ring and started cutting it with his sharp blade. He quickly made a sparkling crystal coffin and carved an Ice Magical Formation Spell that would lower the temperature of the coffin’s interior onto the lid. He strengthened it with several Restriction Spells before he put Yuna’s body inside.

After most of his injuries healed, he recovered most of his power, and he felt spirited again. Everything had already occurred and ended, and regrets wouldn’t be useful. The future was more important, and he had to focus on finding a way to revive Yuna’s soul, as well as to take revenge against the Lord of the City Amongst the Clouds.

According to what the Sound Demon, Chakali, had said, once a person died, his soul would travel to the Death Dimension. There was only a single method for a living person to enter the Death Dimension: asking the lofty Creator or the Unending Ocean’s Heavenly Nun to use the Space-Time Wheel to create a passageway. It was extremely difficult to get the help of the Creator or the Heavenly Nun, but it wasn’t utterly impossible. Heaven would never bar a man’s way, and even if this path was more difficult than anything, Yang Ling would still walk down it to revive his beloved Yuna.

He would use any means possible to revive Yuna, and he would rather become an evildoer cursed by the mass than give up on his beloved. If he couldn’t get the help of the Creator or the Heavenly Nun, then he would have to steal the Space-Time Wheel or come up with a way to practice to the peak of the Wizard God Stage in the shortest time possible.

A high-level Soul Wizard could pose a deadly threat to an ordinary Core Deity, which was why Yang Ling didn’t believe that he would be unable to break the Death Dimension’s Worldly Rules once he’d practiced to the peak of the Wizard God Stage.

Reviving Yuna was of the utmost importance, but Yang Ling still wouldn’t forget that it was the City Amongst the Clouds’ Lord who had caused everything.

The Lord of the City Amongst the Clouds’ Lord was very powerful, and it was said that he was close to becoming an omnipotent Creator. Yang Ling surely wouldn’t forget his oath to slaughter everybody in the City Amongst the Clouds. He wasn’t yet a match for the Lord of the City Amongst the Clouds, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be a match for him in the future.

Revenge is a dish best served cold!

If 10 years weren’t enough, then he would take 100 years. If 100 years weren’t enough, then he would take 500 years. The mysterious Wizard Pagoda still had 2 floors which he hadn’t opened yet, and he still hadn’t explored the 12 Skyreach Towers in the various Main Dimensions. Yang Ling believed that as long as he continued practicing hard, he would one day become a Wizard God, maybe even an apex Wizard God. One day, he would be able to trample the insufferably arrogant Lord of the City Amongst the Clouds.

Even if the Lord of the City Amongst the Clouds became a lofty Creator, Yang Ling still believed that he could one day inflict carnage in the City Amongst the Clouds with his Magical Beast Army.