Legendary Person: I brought my skills back to reality!

Xu Hao stared at Qiao Xi, momentarily speechless.

The image of Qiao Xi kneeling beside Luo Ming, crying her heart out and trembling all over, was still lingering in his mind. That grief and despair was so real that it almost dragged everyone around her into it.

However, even though she still had tear stains on her face and her eyes were red and swollen after seeing Miaoyu off, her expression had already regained some of her usual cynical and cunning.

It was as if the woman who had just collapsed was merely a fleeting illusion. The change was too rapid, so rapid that Xu Hao felt an indescribable sense of unease.

Seemingly sensing the confusion in Xu Hao's eyes, the playfulness on Qiao Xi's face slowly faded, replaced by a deep weariness.

She sighed softly, the sound particularly clear in the silent corridor, carrying a hint of desolation. "Don't you think I'm pretty strange?"

She casually wiped her face, mixing the remaining tear stains with dust. The movement was somewhat rough, yet it carried a calmness born of experience. "You were crying your eyes out just now, and now you can joke with me?"

She paused, her gaze not fixed on Xu Hao, but drifting towards the bottomless darkness ahead of the group, as if looking through that darkness at some distant memory.

“Xu Hao,” her voice lowered, with an almost soliloquy sigh, “you have to understand, we…should have died a long time ago.”

These words, though spoken lightly, struck Xu Hao's heart like a boulder.

They had been fighting against an opponent so powerful it was suffocating for thousands of years, with no hope in sight, only their comrades falling one by one.

You must be very tired...

Qiao Xi twitched the corners of her mouth, revealing a complex, indescribable smile that seemed both mocking and helpless:

"Being alive until today is a bonus every day. Luo Ming... he just left us first."

She turned back to look at Xu Hao, her eyes eerily calm.

"In our eyes, this is not a real sacrifice. At most, it's just... going ahead to scout the way for us old guys."

Her tone was as flat as if she were talking about something perfectly ordinary, without sadness or excitement, only a deep-seated numbness and acceptance.

“He’ll go first, and prepare the best food and wine for the brothers,” she added finally, her voice so soft it was almost swallowed by the air.

"We... will be there shortly."

Qiao Xi took a deep breath, as if trying to suppress the lingering sadness and exhaustion in her heart. She turned around, her gaze refocusing on Xu Hao, her still red and swollen eyes flashing with a calm, almost cruel, rational light.

"That witty girl..."

"She has to leave. Not because she's weak, you understand?"

Qiao Xi reached out, her fingertips slightly cool to the touch, and gently pressed them against Xu Hao's shoulder armor.

"We old bones, if we die, we die; we rot in the ground, so what? But the resistance can't be without Liyue Pavilion, and Liyue Pavilion can't be without Miaoyu."

The continent of Fama… and all of us, cannot lose hope.

"Wonderful words have their responsibilities and their future."

If... I mean if, we really do fail here this time, someone has to take the experience out and keep the spark of hope alive.

She's young, has potential, and is the best candidate.

The conversation abruptly shifted, and Qiao Xi's eyes suddenly sharpened like knives. She leaned closer to Xu Hao, lowering her voice even further, with an almost commanding seriousness: "And you, Xu Hao!"

Her fingers almost dug into his chainmail. "Listen! The road ahead will only get harder. If, and I mean if, it really comes to the worst, we will do everything we can to create an opportunity for you."

Her gaze was piercing, fixed intently on Xu Hao's eyes. "When the time comes, you don't need to worry about anything, you don't need to look at us, and you're not allowed to hesitate! Leave immediately, get out of here as fast as you can! Understand? This is an order!"

"We will buy you time, even if it costs us our lives! You only need to remember one thing—survive, then leave! Remember that!"

……

No one said anything more; the grief was temporarily suppressed in the deepest recesses of their hearts. In this perilous environment, there was little time for mourning and sorrow.

Several experienced veterans walked tacitly to one side of the passage, where the rock wall was slightly recessed, forming a relatively hidden small space.

None of them had pickaxes in their backpacks, so they pulled out their own weapons, or even used their hands, to start digging into the hard rocky ground.

The sound of digging was particularly jarring in the silence; metal scraped against the rocks, and gravel fell in a rustling sound. Xu Hao wanted to go forward to help, but he found that his movements were far less skillful and effective than those of the veterans. They seemed to have done this countless times before, their movements precise yet numb.

Qiao Xi knelt beside him, silently tidying up Luo Ming's tattered armor, gently wiping his blood-stained and dust-covered face, and then closing his eyes. Her movements were very light, her face expressionless, only her slightly trembling fingertips betraying a trace of lingering grief.

Soon, a simple pit was dug. With everyone's help, they carefully placed Luo Ming's body into it.

There was no tombstone, no eulogy, only silence. Qiao Xi planted Luo Ming's Judgment Staff next to the pit, the larger end facing upwards. Combined with the unique appearance of the Judgment Staff, it resembled a silent tombstone.

Subsequently, stones and soil were covered back up, completely burying that young life deep underground where the sun never shines.

Everyone stood silently before the simple mound of earth for a moment. The air was thick with the chill of death and a heavy, oppressive sorrow.

"Let's go." In the end, Qiao Xi spoke first, her voice hoarse but carrying an undeniable determination. She didn't even glance at the mound of earth again, turning her gaze to the darkness deeper into the passage.

The group regrouped and moved forward silently.

Footsteps echoed through the narrow corridor, carrying a heavy rhythm. Everyone gripped their weapons tightly, their nerves taut, alert to any potential danger. The pain of losing comrades transformed into deeper vigilance and a more resolute determination.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the passage ahead began to widen, and the smell of sulfur and blood in the air became increasingly strong.

The color of the rock face gradually deepened, turning into an ominous dark red, as if it had been stained with blood for countless years.

The ground beneath my feet was no longer hard rock, but had become somewhat soft, and I could even feel a slight warmth when I stepped on it, as if I were stepping on the skin of some huge creature.

A faint, chilling growl and the sound of some viscous liquid dripping came from ahead, carrying a nauseating, malevolent aura.

At the end of the passage, a vast, seemingly boundless, dark red space unfolded before them. Jagged rocks stood like fangs, and massive stone pillars supported a dome that seemed to reach the sky. Dark red specks of light floated in the air, and the entire space was shrouded in an eerie and oppressive red glow.

This is the deepest part of Crimson Moon Canyon, the legendary heartland where the Crimson Moon Demon is said to reside.

Their final destination was the Crimson Moon Lair. The almost tangible sense of evil and power made everyone's hearts sink.

Meanwhile, in the Crimson Moon's lair, Thursday had been waiting for their arrival.