She saw it clearly—the red-haired girl who had been charging forward unstoppably suddenly had an extremely unnatural pause in her movements.

The crimson flames that had been blazing fiercely around her body flickered weakly like a candle in the wind, instantly dying down.

A sense of exhaustion, as if she could no longer hold on, surged forth.

—She had run out of power.

The red meteor traced a powerless parabola in her vision, crashing heavily into the endless black fog and forest below.

"It's safe once you go in."

The silver-haired girl's reminder came from beside her. If Su Fang had turned her head at this moment, she would have witnessed the most spectacular sight of her life—that wall of light connecting heaven and earth.

Yet, Su Fang remained motionless.

Her gaze crossed the gradually widening distance, fixed tightly on that slender figure slowly descending, bit by bit being devoured by the darkness.

In this silent gaze, two streaks of tears finally slid down Su Fang's cheeks.

In her memory, there was a phrase from an unknown source, as if someone had told her in childhood, but it had only now been unearthed from the corner of her mind.

—A person's memory is like a mechanical hard drive prone to demagnetization; past events are like a drawing on the sand—time passes, the wind blows the sand away, and eventually, it all becomes a vast, empty expanse.

But…

Some things, no matter how many times they are formatted, those memories smashed, washed, and erased over and over, will stubbornly remain.

That was something she absolutely did not want to forget and could not afford to forget.

Even if the flesh remembered nothing, it still carved with all its might into the soul.

"Wah…"

Su Fang stared blankly at the red meteor, her tears refusing to stop.

It was as if…

Something incredibly important to her was leaving her side at this very moment.

……………

"Cough…"

In the midst of falling, the red-haired girl exhaled a puff of flames, no longer able to maintain her transformation. Her spirit outfit dissipated, the red light faded, revealing the soft, cherry-blossom-colored strands of hair beneath.

There was now obvious cloudiness and fatigue in her eyes.

She was nearing her limit.

Every time the cycle began, Mengmengxiang's body carried too little initial magic power.

Even though the absorption rate of the Fragments of Hope's blessing had been elevated to an abnormally high level through so many trials, the initial magic power reserves were still only at a D- level.

And Airwen was at D.

Even if the two were evenly matched in magic power enhancement, magic output, and their respective magical techniques,

the difference in total magic power was nearly half. The outcome of this battle was already sealed.

Lin Guang was barely holding on through precision in magic manipulation alone.

The sound of wind came to her ears as the forest below approached rapidly.

The girl's expression tightened.

Crack!

The next second, with red light enveloping her palm, she reached out and grabbed a thick, horizontal branch. Inertia caused her body to spin a full circle around the branch mid-air.

Accompanying the ear-grinding sound of breaking deadwood, Lin Guang landed lightly on the muddy ground covered in rotting leaves.

Without a single second of pause or stiffness, the girl's slender, beautiful legs stepped on the ground. Her whole body rose and fell gracefully, black heeled-ankle shoes tapped lightly, and she set off once again in the direction Airwen had left.

However, before she had run far, she suddenly froze and stopped in her tracks.

—For Lin Guang, who possessed the [Precision Operation Engine], forgetting something was very difficult, unless she actively deleted the memory from her mind. Otherwise, she could be said to have so-called perfect memory.

And she had already experienced a full seventy-seven cycles in this world. Counting this one, it was the seventy-eighth.

Excluding the eighteen times she had gotten lost in the black fog, over the course of the previous fifty-nine cycles, Lin Guang had to undergo ten-day-long special training in this black fog forest.

She could recite the terrain here even with her eyes closed.

Even though she had just entered the trial and engaged in a fierce battle with Airwen, Lin Guang's sense of direction had not been disrupted in the slightest.

But now, having truly arrived here, she discovered…

Something had disappeared.

The light barrier that pierced the heavens and the earth—the symbol of the Sacred Tree's domain—was not in her field of vision.

Although due to the heavy obstruction of the black fog, one usually had to come within a certain range to see the colossal barrier of light.

Lin Guang was very certain that, based on her current position and coordinates, even with the interference of the black fog, she would absolutely be able to see that magnificent barrier.

Yet, the cherry-blossom-haired girl's pupils reflected nothing.

"..."

The conversation with Airwen just now flashed rapidly through her mind.

[Sacred Tree authority].

Airwen, Amber, and Phoenix all possessed the authority of the Sacred Tree.

And in the previous cycle, when the Sacred Tree, having gathered the last of the Fragments of Hope, had fully recovered and attempted to expel the Abyss, the golden light on Airwen's body was definitely not a fake.

In other words…

She could be considered a Sacred Tree Spirit like Phoenix.

And a certain famous detective once said:

After eliminating all impossibilities, no matter how unlikely the remaining option may seem, it must be the truth.

—The Sacred Tree had disappeared.

At least, for Lin Guang, it had disappeared.

Perhaps it could be understood this way…

The Sacred Tree's barrier was not a physical separation between two realms, but on a spatial level. Thus, stepping into the barrier meant literally stepping into another world.

So, as long as Lin Guang was prevented from observing this layer of space, she could also not enter the Sacred Tree's domain.

The entire Sacred Tree Barrier had "rejected" Lin Guang. It had been imbued with a certain rule, specifically to keep her from entering the barrier.

In simple terms, Airwen had directly overturned the entire chessboard.

—You are not allowed in.

The cherry-blossom-haired girl stood in place, deeply inhaling the cold, turbid air, and let out a sigh.

"Heh… a dead end?"

Her magic power was at about 3%.

Her stamina and energy were almost completely scattered; transformation had become a luxury. Moreover, this Misty Forest was filled with endless Claw-types and occasionally appeared lower-ranked dangerous species.

According to common sense, there was basically nothing she could do. She might as well lie down and wait for death.

But at this moment.

Looking at the dark, endless forest before her that seemed to have no end, the girl, who appeared utterly exhausted, suddenly extended her slender right hand, her nails painted with orange nail polish.

Crack!

The head of a sneaking puppet minion, lunging from the side, was instantly crushed.

There was not a hint of wavering or despair in Lin Guang's cherry-colored eyes.

Don't count on me to give up so easily.

She leaned her back against a nearby tree, sat down, closed her eyes, and in an instant, her entire presence was suppressed to the extreme—not a trace of magic power or life force was emitted.

—I have to restore my magic power as quickly as possible.

She slipped into a state of light slumber like this.

And so, the Claw-types that had been approaching nearby, as if their perception had malfunctioned, turned back in confusion to their original trajectories.

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