In the dim midnight, thick layers of clouds continually swallowed the moonlight, leaving the stars in the night sky to flicker with a faint, dusky glow.
The clopping of the Nether Deer pulling the sleigh sounded exceptionally crisp against the silent snowfield, as if drumming a dark, rhythmic beat.
"Today is maybe, probably, my eleventh birthday."
Xigelei looked up toward the moon, her violet eyes reflecting the pristine moonlight as though something had just crossed her mind.
Aside from when she had been very young and her parents were still around, she had never celebrated a proper birthday; over time, she had even forgotten about birthdays altogether.
It was definitely past midnight by now—perhaps three or four in the morning.
It was indeed a new day.
"Oh?"
Lanqi blinked in surprise.
A child's birthday was a matter of considerable importance; it was something that must never be overlooked.
Yet now that the two of them had already left the city, there was no way to buy Xigelei a cake or gifts to celebrate.
"Do you have any wishes?"
Lanqi leaned forward slightly and asked.
Since he couldn't throw her an immediate birthday celebration, he might as well ask for her wish.
After all, the essence of a celebration was to make the other person happy.
Xigelei leaned back against the sleigh's seat, her expression unchanged.
She thought for a long time.
Only to realize that she didn't actually have any specific desires.
Finally...
"I wish... that there will never be anyone like me in this world again,"
she murmured softly, a puff of white mist rising from the corners of her mouth.
"That everyone could live in an age of peace and prosperity."
"Well-fed and warmly clothed, carefree and content, free to do whatever they wish."
Her subdued tone revealed that she knew full well this was a dream destined never to come true in reality.
"..."
Lanqi rested his chin in his hand, thoughtfully pondering Xigelei's words.
For a moment, he didn't know how to respond to her.
Because he did not actually belong to this era.
And as history...
Everyone he met in this era—
Their fates were, in truth, already sealed.
"By the way, Luoqi,"
Xigelei spoke, breaking Lanqi's train of thought.
"I'm only guiding you as far as the Demon Realm. Anything else has nothing to do with me."
"Mm,"
Lanqi lifted his gaze and responded.
They had agreed upon this condition before setting off, and now their journey was finally nearing its end.
"Whether you can make it back afterward has nothing to do with me, either,"
Xigelei continued.
"Mm."
Lanqi hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Although having a companion along the way had brought him genuine happiness and made these seven days fly by in a flash, every journey had a beginning and an end, and everyone walked their own path.
Lanqi never forced anyone to stay by his side.
"Still, I'm in a pretty good mood right now,"
Xigelei said calmly.
The surrounding coniferous forest rustled in the night wind, shadows swaying.
From time to time, the hurried scurry of an animal echoed from the woods—perhaps a nocturnal beast hunting for prey, or perhaps startled by some unseen terror.
The voices of the young girl and young man conversing aboard the sleigh were swept away and swallowed by the night wind.
Suddenly.
Before her words had even finished, Xigelei's eyes hardened, and she jerked the reins taut.
The Nether Deer let out an uneasy growl, their breath condensing into billows of mist in the frigid air.
Leaving no time to care about the panicked Nether Deer, Xigelei seized Lanqi's wrist from the back seat and leaped off the sleigh with him.
Their figures traced an arc through the air before landing heavily onto the snow.
Snow was kicked up by their impact like fluff caught in a gale; countless white fragments whirled and danced in the air, filling the atmosphere with a hazy flurry of snow.
The heavy roar of wind and snow, paired with the frantic thrum of her heartbeat, sent a sharp ringing sting through her ears and mind.
Xigelei repeatedly fought to stabilize her footing against the treacherous, slippery snow. Finally, over a dozen meters away, she planted her feet firmly into the thick snow layer.
Snow quickly dusted their bodies, as though they were figures freshly painted onto winter's canvas.
Clamping tightly onto Lanqi's wrist, Xigelei steadied him and pulled him behind her, her breathing ragged.
Snowflakes dusted her eyelashes, and a fierce, decisive resolve glinted in her violet eyes.
Lanqi looked at the small figure before him in slight astonishment.
Yet beneath her resolute gaze, all questions became insignificant.
Looking forward—
Across this sunless snowfield, everything seemed frozen in time.
In the distance, dark clouds began gathering along the horizon, gradually blotting out the starry sky.
These dark clouds resembled a colossal black hand, silently reaching out toward the snowfield.
"Quite sharp, aren't you, little one?"
From behind that bottomless curtain of wind and snow, a mysterious figure slowly emerged.
Tall and gaunt, clad in a long, dark cloak fluttering gently in the wind, his face was barely discernible in the shadows—save for those blood-red eyes, piercingly clear against the night.
His refined features, illuminated by the swirling snowflakes and pale moonlight, appeared pale and noble, seemingly out of place in this world.
Behind him, upon this Snowfield of Eternal Night, a vicious rift had silently torn open at some unknown moment—
The massive bodies of the two Nether Deer crashed to the ground with a dull thud, shattering the silence. Swallowed by ice and snow, crimson seeped from beneath them as snow kicked up, slowly blooming across the white ground like two scarlet roses in full flower.
Even from a distance,
the oppressive weight of his magical aura made even Lanqi feel a twinge of discomfort.
He could feel Xigelei's icy hand trembling incessantly.
Xigelei had once said she feared nothing at Tier 6.
Meanwhile, Blood Clan Progenitors of Tier 8 Marquis and above were under long-standing surveillance by the Demon Realm; had any Blood Clan Progenitor ventured north, it would have inevitably prompted prior movement from the demon race.
For Xigelei to be on such instinctive, terrified guard, the foe was unmistakably the strongest class of the Blood Clan below the Progenitors—a Tier 7 Blood Clan Count.
Evidently, Blood Clan members had already slipped into the Land of Evernight through its eastern and western flanks.
"I followed you all this way and thought I wouldn't find an opening, but to my surprise, you actually headed toward the Demon Realm."
When Count Gregory appeared, the entire snowfield sank into a heavy low-pressure front; the air thickened, and even the sound of falling snow seemed muffled.
He took two or three paces forward, each step falling into an invisible rhythm that struck Xigelei with an unspeakable dread.
The invisible coil of magic around him felt as if it could read every nuance of a person's movements; not the slightest twitch or thought could escape his anticipation.
Seemingly sensing Xigelei's feral, coiled hostility, Count Gregory chuckled and held up both hands in mock surrender.
"Don't be afraid. See? I haven't shown any intention of harming you all this time."
Count Gregory showed no intention of attacking further, pausing in place at a distance.
His eyes held a smile where playful mockery and apparent sincerity blurred together.
In truth, whether his prey resisted or fled made no difference to him.
His Authority, [Blood Shadow Pursuit], could map out vast swathes of space in any environment, accurately capturing the slightest stir or scent. No trail, no matter how concealed, could evade his senses.
That was precisely why he had been dispatched to the Land of Evernight as a vanguard.
Whether evading powerhouses of the demon race and beastman grand lords or capturing weaker enemies, putting him on the task guaranteed success.
According to the intelligence reported by Sebas, the branch manager undercover in the Prosperity Chamber of Commerce, this artisan from the Polant Empire had earned substantial trust from the grand lord. Moreover, the distances between city-states were relatively short, with beastman grand lords situated both ahead and behind.
If he intercepted them midway and the fight dragged on, it was very likely to alert the beastman grand lords and incur their wrath.
In a head-on clash, as a Count specialized in reconnaissance, he had no desire to tangle with those thick-hided, berserking beastman grand lords.
Yet as luck would have it, this imperial artisan had not chosen to turn back at Little Night City, but had instead pressed forward toward the Demon Realm.
Gregory observed the two slender figures with keen interest.
At this distance, Count Gregory was confident that no matter what transpired, the beastman grand lords would not notice a thing. Furthermore, according to the North-South Treaty, even if demons along the border of the Demon Realm noticed, they were forbidden from intervening against the Blood Clan.
With peace talks between the Blood Clan and the demon race currently imminent, and the Fourth and Tenth Progenitors soon set to travel formally to the Demon Realm, the demon race would dare even less to cross a Blood Clan Count like him.
Chapter 554