“The fire of miracles doesn't need to be much… a wisp is enough.”

After a long while, Li Qingci squeezed out a smile.

She comforted Gu Shen.

Being able to completely remove the black flowers from this mountain wall was already a miracle, something that no one other than a Divine Seat and their Apostles could accomplish… Even titled transcendents granted honors by the Federation were helpless against “order collapse points” and could only retreat.

Gu Shen could see that Li Qingci was forcing her smile.

He silently pondered for a moment and asked, "How big is this mountain?"

Li Qingci was taken aback and honestly replied, "If you eat like this every day, it might take you decades."

The two of them looked towards the higher and farther reaches of the mountain in unison.

A large shadow loomed overhead.

And at the summit, there was a suffocating sense of oppression…

"The summit that the Divine Seat once ascended is the forbidden ground where the Shen Ci Mountain prayer technique condenses the 'Divine Embryo'," Li Qingci said softly. "The order collapse flowers that grow there are a hundred times what you see now."

"How much longer can you live?" Gu Shen asked again.

The question was somewhat direct, and Li Qingci was caught off guard. She lowered her eyes, gazing at her withered reflection in the Lian Dong waterfall, and shook her head. "Qingci doesn't know…"

"On Shen Ci Mountain, no Li family protector has lived past forty." Saying this, she smiled again. "Looking at it that way, Qingci still has more than a decade of long years to pass."

More than a decade… is that long?

A towering mountain, a single grain of rice.

In this situation, ten years, twenty years, are all insignificant.

If one were to look back from the future to the present, they would find that time seemed to have passed in an instant, and this woman named Li Qingci had already become a thing of the past on Shen Ci Mountain… Like those protectors, she was submerged in the tides of six hundred years, unable to make even a ripple, and perhaps all that would remain would be the steles in the Qing Tomb, one after another, with dim names.

"Live on."

Gu Shen stared at the woman in the distant withered wall, saying each word clearly, "Live on… only then can you see the day when the fire of hope spreads."

Twenty years ago, Gu Changzhi could move mountains and fill seas alone.

Now Gu Shen… cannot do it.

But he still has time, he can grow, and the blazing fire can also grow… The fire of hope that the world expects needs to spread little by little, and eventually grow into a prairie fire (liaoyuan) .

"Live on…"

Li Qingci, sitting in the dim night, was stunned.

She silently repeated these words in her heart, and suddenly felt a ray of light shine into her lonely and bleak life.

Shen Ci Mountain has been like a long night for centuries.

And today, it has welcomed a ray of fire.

This ray of fire illuminated a small patch of mountain wall, and also illuminated… the hope in Li Qingci's heart.

Li Qingci's expression became firm. She slowly stood up, her thin and pale gauze clothes swaying in the wind, and bowed slowly to Gu Shen, performing an ancient and solemn salute.

"Thank you, Little Mr. Gu."

…

…

The valley was quiet.

The sound of footsteps echoed on the bluestone.

The distant mountain colors gradually disappeared into the darkness. In fact, you only needed to stand a little further away, and the large patches of black flowers that were intertwined would dim and fade, leaving only layers of mist.

"Gu Shen, what did my sister say to you?" On the way back, Li Qingsui asked curiously, holding a lantern.

"Nothing."

Gu Shen glanced at the little girl hopping in front of him and said indifferently, "She made an appointment with me to have a late-night snack on Shen Ci Mountain next time."

Li Qingsui's face was filled with disbelief.

"The trouble with Shen Ci Mountain… I can help with some." Gu Shen said frankly, "Even if it's just a little, it's better than nothing."

The Li family protectors and the family head are like twins.

“They” are mirror images of each other.

One stands in the light, the leader of the Li family among the five great families.

While the other dedicates themselves to the darkness, silently guarding the future of the Li family.

Li Qingsui is the future family head of the Li family. Although this little girl is not very old, she is actually very clear-minded… She knew early on the significance of Shen Ci Mountain to the Li family, and also knew what her sister was doing, and what it meant.

That's why she said that earlier sentence.

"My sister is the most hardworking and greatest person in the world."

Shen Ci Mountain is covered with order collapse flowers, untouchable, unremovable, and even a close gaze will invite panic in the soul… This is a sharp blade hanging over the Li family's head, teetering for six hundred years, and may fall at any time.

Li Qingsui began to practice desperately after knowing that her sister was spending her lifespan on Shen Ci Mountain to pray. She wanted to do her best to help her sister.

However, those flowers… Even the strong Gao Shu was helpless.

In the prophecies left by the past generations of Li family protectors, those were Divine Flowers.

And they are, after all, just mortals.

"You can help… my sister?" Li Qingsui's expression changed subtly. She looked at Gu Shen, and the firm disbelief on her face slowly turned into hesitant suspicion.

The first time she saw Gu Shen… she saw that this guy, who was only a few years older than her, was indeed "exceptionally gifted."

The small flame between his eyebrows made her mesmerized.

This was a strange situation she had never encountered before.

"Why would I lie to you…"

Gu Shen smiled helplessly.

"Besides, who wants to come to a place like this a second time?" He looked back and sighed with lingering fear, "The vast mountains are full of silence and extinction."

Gu Shen did not continue climbing the mountain tonight.

He did not see what the top of Shen Ci Mountain looked like.

But… it was clear that the entire Shen Ci Mountain was in an overloaded state, on the verge of collapse.

There was nothing left here except the black spots of order collapse.

"Yeah… who wants to come to a place like this a second time?"

Hearing this, Li Qingsui echoed softly, a hint of imperceptible sadness flashing in the girl's eyes.

Her sister has stayed in a place like this… for more than a decade.

As the family head of the Li family, Li Qingsui's world is bright. To her, time is short. She can see many, many people and see different scenery.

The outside world has spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and flowers blooming in all four seasons. There are many, many things… but her sister cannot see any of them.

"Gu Shen."

Li Qingsui took a deep breath, her face full of seriousness, and asked again, "Can you really help solve the problem of Shen Ci Mountain?"

"Of course… I'm a puppy if I lie to you." Gu Shen stretched out a finger and said casually, "But for now… I can only help a little bit."

Yeah.

A truly insignificant amount.

"A little bit is better than nothing."

Li Qingsui mustered up her courage again and said, "I am the future family head of the Li family, and I want to make a deal with you… If you can clear all those broken flowers on Shen Ci Mountain, I don't care whether a Divine Embryo can be hatched or not… As long as you can restore my sister's freedom and let her see the outside world, I'll do anything!"

The girl almost bit her teeth as she said the second half of the sentence.

"…"

Gu Shen's outstretched finger hung in the air.

He was silent for a moment, looking at this little brat helplessly.

That finger bent slightly, and then popped out with a "snap."

Li Qingsui covered her head, tears almost coming out from the pain. She looked up in confusion.

"I will help, but not because of this deal."

Gu Shen said indifferently, "You are the future family head of the Li family. Don't say such things in the future."

"Your sister will be sad if she hears that…"