Chapter 142: The Last Return

Chapter 142: The Last ReturnToday should have been a joyous day for the Li family.

Every time someone achieved a breakthrough, the clan members would gather together, rejoicing and celebrating.

There would be a creature resembling a pet pig, carrying the Li family's children on its back as it dashed around, promising them that next year, it would definitely build a spirit pond in the Silver Iron Forest for them, so they could grow tall and strong.

For twenty years, the laughter of the old pig and the children had been a constant source of annoyance for Li Wei.

But today, as the Primordial Blood Tree underwent its transformation, the old pig was nowhere to be seen, and the children's laughter was absent.

The warmth brought by the red snow gradually faded, and the Li family members seemed to have become mortals once again, shivering in the midwinter cold as the wind whipped through the air.

Xu Cuihua clung to Li Dalong's arm. Seeing Li Tianyi in the distance, braving the wind and snow as he frantically rushed back towards the family, she could no longer hold back her tears. Burying her head in her husband's chest, she felt his heartbeat momentarily stop, then his muscles slowly tense up. This was the only way she could keep Li Dalong calm.

Li Yaozu and Li Yunbing stood shoulder to shoulder, father and son. They watched Li Tianyi's return from afar, their brows furrowed in unison, the air around them growing heavy with tension.

Their gazes fell upon Li Yaotie and his wife.

Bai Rourou's eyes flashed with fear. She shook her head in disbelief, her body swaying before plummeting from the sky. Yet, Li Yaotie didn't catch his wife. Despite the crimson landscape, Li Yaotie's world seemed to be shrouded in dark clouds, all color draining away. The fire spirit he had cultivated from years of blacksmithing blazed fiercely as if attempting to illuminate the world.

But the fire emanating from him brought no warmth to the Li family; the winter chill deepened.

"This can't be happening, it simply can't be."

Li Yundou's eyes were bloodshot, his veins bulging. He clearly understood what he was witnessing, yet his subconscious refused to accept the reality before him.

At this moment, the Seven Ironclads were unusually silent. Each of them stared blankly in Li Tianyi's direction.

That child, dressed in black, crossed the distinct boundary between the crimson-stained Li family residence and the white snow outside. He was carrying a massive object on his back, his body bent under its weight. Blood dripped steadily along his flight path, but he had no time to worry about that. His face contorted in anguish; he cried out towards his family.

He screamed for the family's physicians to come out, for the elders to go to the Thunderfire Demonic Cave and bring back his Second Grandmother, renowned for her medical skills, and for the elders to fetch life-saving pills.

Anyone could see his hysteria, the madness and despair of this moment etching itself deep into the hearts of all who witnessed it.

"Ah!!!"

Someone let out a guttural cry. It was impossible to tell who.

Li Wei felt the chill of this winter. It was hard to distinguish whether snow or blood was falling from the sky. Regardless of the season, this year would be devoid of warmth for the descendants of the Li family.

Like the Primordial Blood Tree, he closed his eyes, his jaw clenched tight.

They all saw it: Li Tianyi, dressed in black, returning from outside, carrying the Pig Demon King's lifeless body on his back!

And they heard it, too, Li Tianyi's desperate cries.

But they saw even more.

The Primordial Blood Tree had not only glimpsed the future, where the earth would be as red as the snow today, but it had also captured a fragment of the past. The red snow falling from the sky, imbued with the tree's mystical power, allowed the Li family members to witness everything.

The Pig Demon King, who had rarely ventured beyond the Silver Iron Forest throughout its life, stepped into the Li family residence. Then, during this year, it journeyed out into the world time and time again, searching for spirit objects for the Li family's children, returning home each time with its treasures, determined to personally construct a spirit pond for them.

It eagerly anticipated the future children of the Li family, hoping they would grow tall and strong, even surpassing the Seven Ironclad in stature.

This was its final journey beyond the Silver Iron Forest, its last return home.

...

In the heart of the Silver Iron Forest, a vast pit had been dug. Core fire blazed within it. All the spirit beasts of the Silver Iron Forest gathered, witnessing the fall of a generation's Demon King, its body turning to ashes.

Li Yaotie's lineage knelt, bowing towards the tomb nearing completion.

Bai Rourou had awakened from her coma, only to faint again several times, unable to accept the reality. S~eaʀᴄh the Novelƒire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The Seven Ironclad, who had never shed a tear even when their limbs were broken in their youth, now wept like children in despair.

The adult descendants were sobbing uncontrollably. Even the younger ones understood that they might never see the Pig Demon King again.

"Great-Grandmother, what... what happened to Grandpa?"

The two-year-old child tugged at Bai Rourou's sleeve, a sudden sense of loss washing over him. He didn't understand why his grandfather was asleep, why everyone in the family was crying as if they had suffered a great fall. A feeling of emptiness crept into his heart, a sadness he couldn't comprehend slowly rising from the very ground of the Silver Iron Forest, and he sobbed along with the adults.

Xu Cuihua gently stroked the child's head. "Your grandpa... he's tired. He needs to sleep for a very, very long time."

Li Wei, despite having achieved his breakthrough, didn't return.

He witnessed everything. Although he had never met the Pig Demon King in person, he had been observing its playful interactions with the children ever since it became a part of the Li family.

Generation after generation, the Pig Demon King had shown more affection for the children than even the elders of the Li family.

Li Dalong and Xu Cuihua had grown distant from their children due to the age gap, but not the Pig Demon King. It remembered every child's name, their likes, and their desires.

He looked into the distance.

There lay a spirit pond. For this spirit pond, the Pig Demon King had exhausted almost all its life savings and... ultimately, its life.

During the Pig Demon King's burial, the Li family found a spatial ring in its mouth, containing some rare spirit objects. Inside the ring were also the materials needed for the subsequent construction of a structure called the "Heavenly Net Earth Spirit Pond."

The game didn't give any notification about the Pig Demon King's death; after all, it wasn't a blood relative of the Li family.

Yet, whether it was Li Wei or any other member of the Li family, they all considered the Pig Demon King as one of their own.