"Hello, Yun Ming."

"Is there something you have to say to me?"

"Do you have any plans recently?"

...... 

The voices were clearly audible across the entire battlefield, so Leng Yulai was naturally also able to hear them, and her body began to tremble uncontrollably.

"You bitch! That was the time you betrayed me! Even in death, you're going to taunt me one last time?"

Despite what she was saying, her eyes were firmly fixed on Yun Ming's face.

Yali was completely rooted to the spot upon seeing this, and tears were also streaming down her face at the sight of Yun Ming.

...... 

Yun Ming smiled, and said "I might go on a long journey for a while. Gaining knowledge through reading is one thing, but experiencing the world is a different thing entirely. I plan to go to the Dou Spirit Continent and Star Luo Continent to see them for myself and to further my training."

"How long will you be gone for?"

"Who knows? Three years? Maybe five years? In any case, I'll be setting off in a few days."

"What's going on with you today, Ms. Leng?"

"Call me Yaozhu."

"I've loved you for quite a few years now. Perhaps we won't have a chance to be together, but I hope to at least be on a first-name basis with you."

"You..."

"That's right, I've loved you for a very long time. Yun Ming, I love you. I know I shouldn't have fallen in love with you considering the relationship between our Spirit Pagoda and your Shrek Academy. However, emotions are not so easy to control. I've loved you for many years already, and sometimes, I'm actually very envious of Yulai; at least she's able to express her feelings, but I can't. I didn't dare to say anything as I represent not just myself, but my entire family, but if I continued to keep quiet, perhaps I would never get another chance. Yun Ming, I…

All of a sudden, she stepped forward before locking him in a tight embrace, holding on with all her might as if she were afraid of being pushed away.

...... 

Leng Yulai's teeth had already bitten into her bottom lip, and due to her fury, her circulation was being quickened, causing blood to flow incessantly out of her chest, but she paid that no heed. She could still clearly recall that this was the scene that had made her turn to the darkness and join the Holy Spirit Cult.

Meanwhile, the mental manifestation continued, and Leng Yulai was forced to relive the rest of this painful memory...

...... 

"Thank you for not pushing me away."

"I can tell that Yali is the woman you love. She really is the most kind-hearted woman in the world, and she is deserving of your love. Hence, I'm not saying all of this with any expectations; I just couldn't hold back the urge to get all of this off my chest before I turned 30. Please don't give me a response; there's no need to reject me because I already understand everything, I just don't want to hear it from you. Please leave me with this final beautiful memory."

Yun Ming heaved a faint sigh as he shook his head in a forlorn manner. "What's so good about me anyway?"

"I told you not to say anything; please. Listen to what I have to say, and once I'm done, I'll leave. Yulai is different from me; her love for you is more intense than mine. In the eyes of others, she's very extreme in her personality, but I know that her heart is very brittle. She should've been the heir to our family, but our seniors didn't understand her, so they passed the position down to me. She's very vulnerable and requires more care. After you rejected her, it was as if she had become a completely different person. 

"If it's possible, please make some room for her in your heart; even the tiniest bit of space is fine, as long as you can afford her some love and compassion. She's my little sister, and I don't want to see her continue to be tormented like this. I can sacrifice and discard everything, but I don't want to see her keep living like this."

Leng Yaozhu's face was slightly pale as she continued, "I don't know what's come over me today, but this what I've been harboring in my heart all this time. If you can squeeze out any additional love for any other woman, then please give it to Yulai; I beg of you."

...... 

The image gradually began to blur, and even Leng Yaozhu's last sentence wasn't clearly conveyed. Right at this moment, Gu Yuena suddenly let loose a grief-stricken cry. "Teacher!"

The pristine white flames vanished, and with it went Leng Yaozhu's body as well. The vice-chairman of the Spirit Pagoda and the woman who had loved Yun Ming all her life had left this world forever.

Yali stared blankly at the spot in the sky where the projections had been unfolding, and her heart was filled with complex emotions.

Truth be told, there was a point where she had been very jealous of Leng Yaozhu, all because Yun Ming had once made the remark to her that Leng Yaozhu was a fine woman. At the time, she was still very prone to getting jealous as her man was simply far too exceptional.

Now, she finally understood why Yun Ming had said that; Leng Yaozhu truly deserved such praise!

Leng Yulai was also staring blankly up at the sky, and she was completely rooted to the spot like a wooden statue.

No one could empathize with her current emotions. Never did she think that the event that had ruined her life and filled her heart with so much hatred would be nothing more than a misunderstanding.

Her sister had worked up the courage to approach Yun Ming not just to confess, but more so for her sake! She was trying to leave that final shred of hope for her!

"How could this be? How could this be?" Leng Yulai shook her head vigorously, unable to come to terms with what she had just seen. She felt as if her brain had completely shortcircuited.

She had always thought that her sister's kindness was feigned, that it was nothing more than a facade that she used to please their seniors so she would be made the next family leader. Due to her extreme personality, the more she delved into those thoughts, the worse her perception of her sister became.

However, mental manifestations couldn't lie, particularly not mental manifestations conjured up by her sister's last remaining life force.

In her condition, there was no way she would've been capable of fabricating those projections; all she would've been able to do was project her memories exactly as they were.

As such, this was the undeniable truth, and her reason for turning to the darkness simply didn't exist.

Everything that her sister had done was for her sake.

A heartbroken look appeared on Leng Yulai's face as she cast her gaze toward the spot where her sister had just disappeared, and she suddenly heaved a long sigh.

In the next instant, a burst of bright purple flames erupted over her body, burning violently to incinerate her into ashes in the blink of an eye.

Mental manifestation projections appeared in the sky once again, depicting two little girls running over a massive grassland as their tinkling laughter echoed over the landscape...

With that, both Heavenly Phoenix Douluo Leng Yaozhu and Dark Phoenix Douluo Leng Yulai had perished.

This sudden turn of events was astonishing to everyone on the battlefield, and no one had anticipated that this would happen.

Gu Yuena's eyes were burning with fury.

Having just killed the Spirit Sovereign, she had intended to conceal her power again in order to draw less attention, but Leng Yaozhu's death had dealt her an extremely heavy blow, and her heart was filled with hatred toward the Holy Spirit Cult.