Before the spatial rift healed, Tangxue flipped through the air and burst out, like a snowflake cutting a clean arc. Her wounds had already sealed.

Besides the first few exchanges that nicked her, the rest of the fight pressed her like a light breeze on a frozen lake.

With the God of Heart Realm gone, the sky’s tantrum calmed like a storm-beast caged. Tangxue opened her palm and reeled the lingering cold back like silk thread.

The heavens smoothed to blue, but the city below bled red; those lives were beyond her hands.

She walked toward Flora Eina. Aunt Eina bowed her head and clutched Daiya tight. Her bangs veiled her eyes; pale skin was flushed ice-red.

“We can still bring her back. At the instant the cut fell, Frostwhisper froze her completely.” Qingsheng Tangxue crouched and touched Daiya’s neck.

Under Flora Eina’s stunned gaze, she resealed the severed edge in crystal frost, then released the freeze, like thaw bringing spring to a buried seed.

Life’s breath seeped in. Color returned to Daiya’s face. She coughed, thin as a reed stirring in wind.

“W-where am I…”

“Heaven. Answer my question before you sit up.” Tangxue tapped her forehead, calm as still water. “You know what the God of Heart Realm planned, right?”

Liar… this is clearly Hell.

“Planned what…” Daiya’s face went paper white. She didn’t dare meet Tangxue’s eyes.

“Destroy ‘Hell.’”

“!?”

Daiya’s pupils snapped tight. Tangxue leaned in, gold eyes burning like sun on ice.

“Did you tell anyone before you did it? No, or their eyes wouldn’t drown in fear. They wouldn’t beg like devils in Hell.”

“Because of your wish, two races almost went extinct. Satisfied?”

“I… that’s not it…” Daiya squeezed her eyes shut and tried to stand. Tangxue pressed her down with one hand.

“Living in this world has no future. Give it a few years, and we all die!”

This world once touched the Lower Realm, a prison for the most vicious of gods. The gods abandoned this land largely because of that thing.

Here, the dead don’t reincarnate. Souls get drawn down and caged. So people call this world Hell.

“So, your plan is letting everyone die a few years early to rush the line for rebirth?” Tangxue’s smile held frost and a joke.

“If it were the Lord of Blazing Flame, the God of Heart Realm, They’d find a way to lead us out!”

“You mean the one I drove off? They couldn’t even beat me.” Tangxue glanced at the distant tear in space, voice cool as shade.

“That’s not true! The God of Heart Realm said They can’t use full power here…”

“Then that’s that.” Tangxue rolled her eyes. “Everything she can do, I can do. Why trust her, not me?”

“Because… because…” Daiya’s voice thinned, tears trembling on the rim.

“Because she almost killed you all, and I saved you?”

“...”

For Aunt Flora Eina’s sake, Tangxue didn’t push. Before this, she would’ve erased anything tied to the God of Heart Realm.

That Merfolk catastrophe? The God of Heart Realm was the hand behind it. Tangxue had died once to that god.

Her gaze softened with a flicker of rare joy. If she guessed right, she’d saved Yaya back then. Next time, she could surprise Dreamsound.

“I’ll find a way to fix the plane. If it’s tied to me, I’ll do everything I can to save this world.” Her tone was level.

She turned and headed for Hualuo Jingqing.

“Hoo-hoo~ Old one, surprised I’m this strong? Or did you know who I was all along?” Tangxue’s grin was fox-sly, her eyes bright as frost-sparks.

“I told you from the start,” Hualuo Jingqing deadpanned.

…Looks like you did.

Tangxue fell silent. They stared at each other until Hualuo Jingqing finally asked, “Are the gods really still watching us?”

“If I say I don’t know, would you buy it?”

She truly didn’t. She only knew where she came from and what she’d walked through. Hualuo Jingqing might know her better than she did.

“Little Tangxue, you still carry many sealed pages. But I’m sure you’re the key to this planar crisis. The future of this world is yours.”

“Ha…?” Tangxue’s eyelid twitched. She wanted to refuse. Saving the world wasn’t her job…

“Any questions? If I know it, I’ll answer it all,” Hualuo Jingqing said, calm as a quiet pond.

“Yeah… Last time, you said I’m tied to the god you worship. How? And what am I, really? A doll, a god’s child—I’m lost!”

“What you care about is that, huh… I thought you’d already figured it out.” Hualuo Jingqing sighed, then explained:

“You’re a divine automaton crafted by the Azure Deity—the Sea God’s younger sister, in the Merfolk’s eyes. The Azure Deity’s Authority is ice.”

“Ice is a variant of water. People call her the Ice Deity. Frost’s Authority divides two ways: water manipulation, and control of energy flow speed.”

“Push it to the limit, and it touches time and space.”

“The Sea God—Water God—leans toward space. The Ice Deity leans toward time. Together, at the extreme, they can realize ‘absolute zero.’”

“Our plane hangs on that ice-hook. The gods couldn’t undo the Azure Deity’s full power unleashed at her fall. They had to abandon this land.”

“When the seal closes fully, the temperature will truly hit absolute zero. Time and space will stop. We’ll never rise again.”

“Wait, Senior Hualuo Jingqing—if we haven’t reached absolute zero yet, absolute force can break it, right? Why won’t the gods try?”

“Because…” Hualuo Jingqing pointed at the ground, face helpless as winter sun.

“Below us lies something even the gods fear. Once one of the strongest Main Gods. To suppress It, they paid a terrible price.”

“That Main God’s name is…”

“The Gray Death-Scourge, Mingelius—madness and slaughter made flesh.”