WTYTIAAN Chapter 272

Chapter 272

Chapter 272

The [Life Source Stone] emitted a soft, fluorescent glow, unexpectedly transforming into a pool of glistening white, semi-transparent liquid in Yan Yunqing’s hands. It flowed through his fingers and into the churning blood pool.

Yan Yunqing instinctively reached out to scoop it up, but found nothing.

The liquid that slipped through his fingers left no trace, its texture like a strange gas. It merged into the blood pool without causing any change.

Yan Yunqing waited silently for five minutes. The blood pool continued to churn, occasionally a wave of blood splashed against the edge, scattering bloody foam.

It didn’t work?

Yan Yunqing lowered his eyes, not having placed too much hope in the [Life Source Stone]. After all, resurrection items were too much of a fantasy. Besides, Daina and Yuli hadn’t even left behind their bodies, having melted completely into the blood pool. Even if the [Life Source Stone] could truly resurrect the deceased, what form would Daina and Yuli take after resurrection?

They couldn’t possibly become undead, could they?

Yan Yunqing sighed, lowered his stiff hand to his side, and stood up.

“Arrange for some people to… collect the bodies of the villagers from the small mountain village,” Yan Yunqing said, turning slightly to those around him.

The small mountain village… Those who died violently also needed arrangements. Since it was winter, they wouldn’t rot so easily. So many corpses piled together was fine for now, but once the snow stopped and the weather warmed up, an epidemic would break out sooner or later.

In this other world where medical care relied entirely on mages and alchemists, an epidemic was a terrible thing.

Besides…

It wasn’t right to leave those villagers who died violently exposed in the wilderness.

Yan Yunqing was preoccupied. He was a very strong person at heart. Some time had passed since he learned of Yuli and Daina’s deaths, and he had adjusted. He knew he wasn’t a god and couldn’t have everything his way. Besides, even gods couldn’t have everything their way!

However, those complex emotions still needed time to process.

Yan Yunqing hid the confusion in his eyes and prepared to turn around and help collect the corpses of the villagers, but in that instant, he keenly raised his head.

A glimmering white light flowed from the mist rising above the blood pool. It wasn’t obvious, but upon closer inspection, one could immediately discern the difference from the dark red blood mist.

Yan Yunqing’s spirit lifted. His steps, originally turning to leave, paused, and he watched the scene intently.

The flowing light rose slowly, interweaving, overlapping, and converging, gradually forming the shapes of two children before Yan Yunqing.

Those eyebrows and faces, weren’t they Daina and Yuli, who had fallen into the blood pool?

Yan Yunqing’s eyes widened, watching the scene in disbelief.

Could the [Life Source Stone] really resurrect the deceased?

However, contrary to his expectations, the flowing light gradually stopped after forming the shapes of the two children. It didn’t solidify into physical bodies but seemed more like semi-transparent soul bodies.

Undead?

No… This didn’t seem like the undead.

Instead, it was more similar to the form of the Zephyra race.

Zephyra, also known as Phantom Spirits, were elemental spirits born from the faith of the human race. Unlike Sylphs, Zephyra had no physical bodies and usually appeared as balls of energy or wind.

The current headmaster of Sigrid Academy, Penelope, was a descendant of Zephyra.

However, Yan Yunqing could also see that Daina and Yuli hadn’t become Zephyra. Perhaps they were just… pure soul bodies?

At the same time, Daina and Yuli, who had been tightly closing their eyes, opened them one after another, looking around in confusion.

“I…?” Yuli only felt light and airy. With a blink of an eye, all the pain turned into ethereal wisps of smoke and dissipated, leaving only peace and tranquility.

She looked around blankly, and when she saw Daina’s semi-transparent body, she belatedly looked down at her own equally semi-transparent hands, stunned for a moment. “Am I… dead?”

Yuli wanted to pinch herself, but it didn’t hurt at all. Pinching herself felt more like pinching a mass of air, light and without any substance. She subconsciously reached out to grab Daina’s hand, but Daina grabbed hers in return.

The two little hands clasped together, as if in the churning waves of blood, and that sense of security immediately returned.

Yuli was stunned. The feeling of holding hands was indeed different from before when she had a body. So she really was… dead, wasn’t she?

Yuli was a little lost. The definition of death was still a bit vague to her. After all, she hadn’t really witnessed much death before.

“Yuli…” Daina snuggled up to Yuli, nestling by her side.

Yuli blinked, then realized that there was another person in front of them. When she looked up and met Yan Yunqing’s dark red eyes, her momentary daze turned into surprise. “Brother A-Yan!”

Yes, at this moment, Yan Yunqing had stripped away all his disguises and masks, leaving only the face he had when he first crossed over to this other world.

The A-Yan brother that Yuli knew.

Yan Yunqing softened his expression. “Yuli, long time no see.”

Yuli looked extremely surprised. In fact, she was really happy. After all, when this big brother stayed temporarily at the blacksmith shop, he would occasionally give her some silver coins to buy sweets. Not to mention that the knot in the hearts of Grandpa Jason and Uncle Rosen was also untied by this big brother.

Yuli knew that Grandpa Jason’s decision to leave Sunset Village with her was also influenced by Brother A-Yan’s intentions. She even knew that her parents’ revenge, Grandpa Jason’s revenge, and Uncle Rosen’s revenge had all been taken care of by Brother A-Yan. Yuli had extremely high regard for this big brother.

“Brother A-Yan! How did you end up here? Does Grandpa Jason know? He would be so happy if he knew. We all wanted to see you again…” Yuli babbled on, chattering like a cheerful little bird.

This Yuli, compared to the Yuli in the dungeon who was clearly afraid but still trying to escape, was more like a child of her age.

Yan Yunqing looked at the semi-transparent Yuli, a trace of dimness flashed in his eyes, but he still smiled and listened to her chattering.

As Yuli spoke, she gradually stopped. She belatedly looked around again. There weren’t many people around, just a few unfamiliar big brothers standing not far away, but one of them looked a little familiar, as if she often saw him near her home. Was he also a Sky Wanderer brother?

Yuli looked left and right, then lowered her head to look at her semi-transparent hands. After hesitating for a long time, she finally asked, “Where’s Lillian? Isn’t she with you, Brother A-Yan?”

Yan Yunqing thought she would ask about her own situation, but he didn’t expect that after hesitating for so long, she would ask about Lillian.

Yan Yunqing paused and glanced at the white-gold Sylph not far away, but he didn’t tell Yuli that Sylph was Lillian. It was too complicated to explain, and he was still waiting for Sylph’s explanation.

Yan Yunqing simply said, “Lillian has returned to the Elven Forest. She is going through a growth period.”

Yuli seemed to understand. She didn’t know much about the elves’ various growth stages, but the growth period was easy enough to understand. It probably meant that Lillian had returned to the Elven Forest to work hard and grow up.

Grow up…

Yuli quieted down. She looked back at Daina and found that Daina was still hiding behind her, holding her hand tightly, like a frightened kitten.

Would she and Daina not grow up anymore?

Yuli felt a little sad, just a little bit. After all, she had once looked forward to growing up so that she wouldn’t need Grandpa Jason to take care of her anymore and could let Grandpa Jason live a better life.

But…

Yuli wanted to sigh but felt embarrassed because every time she sighed like an adult, the aunt next door would tap her forehead and ask her where she got so much worry at such a young age.

Without Yuli’s chattering, it was much quieter for a while.

Yan Yunqing was a little unaccustomed to it. He looked at Daina behind Yuli. “Daina.”

Daina was still hiding behind Yuli. She didn’t come out in response to Yan Yunqing’s call but simply gave a light reply. She poked half her head out from behind Yuli, revealing a pair of eyes, and stared at Yan Yunqing for a while before saying, “Kitty.”

Yan Yunqing wasn’t surprised that Daina would recognize him. After all, he had performed a great cat transformation in front of Daina when he investigated the Light Church’s bishop’s house in the small mountain village, changing from a cat to a human and then from a human to a cat. The face revealed when he canceled the disguise skill was naturally this face.

Yan Yunqing’s feelings for Daina were also complex.

Daina was a descendant of the Sylvia tribe and also a descendant of the Imperial Remnants. The tragedy of the small mountain village clearly happened right under his nose. If he had left just a little later, perhaps this tragedy wouldn’t have happened.

And Daina, the only surviving child, had fallen into the blood pool because he hadn’t arrived in time.

The regret of two missed opportunities filled Yan Yunqing’s heart with mixed feelings.

He knew it wasn’t his fault. Some things couldn’t be entirely blamed on oneself. The person who truly committed the crime was still at large. What he should be doing now wasn’t self-blame but getting stronger as soon as possible to avenge these innocent people.

However, the emotions that lingered told him that reason and emotion could sometimes coexist.

Yan Yunqing opened his mouth, but in the end, he only sighed, “I’ll have people collect… the villagers and your family. Do you want to see them one last time?”

Daina was stunned. She grabbed Yuli’s hand and hesitated before nodding.

Yan Yunqing looked at Yuli again. “Grandpa Jason will be here soon. Let’s go take a look together.”

Yuli was also stunned for a moment, blinking her eyes. “Okay.”

When Grandpa Jason came and saw her like this, he would definitely be sad, right…?

But she really wanted to see Grandpa Jason!

Just… one last look.

Yan Yunqing watched the two little girls hold hands, lowering their heads and falling silent in unison. He also fell silent and turned his gaze away.

He didn’t want to see Daina and Yuli’s bodies becoming more and more transparent over time, as if telling him that time was running out.

The miracle brought by the [Life Source Stone] turned out to have a time limit.

The bitterness in his heart spread. Was it snowing again outside? Why were his eyes so cold and sore?

Winter here wasn’t easy to get through. He hadn’t seen sunlight for quite some time. Occasionally, the sky would clear up for a while, only to be overwhelmed by new dark clouds, like a haze covering this land, making it hard to breathe.

Yan Yunqing closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had returned to a gentle demeanor, as if nothing had happened. He smiled at the two little girls.

“Let’s go. I’ll take you home.”