The Last Witch Lord

Priest Xiu Ye's final gaze had held only anxiety, not despair.

This meant she hadn't been thinking about her own inevitable death at all; she had still been begging Cat Girl to save someone.

Save who?

The people of Yun Province, of course.

Unfortunately, there was no one left alive in Yun Province.

Priest Qian Que raised a hand and stored Xiu Ye's corpse into his Cubic Space.

"Priest Xiu Ye was a priest of the Imperial Dynasty, after all. She was missing for so long, and now that we've finally found her, even if she's gone, we can at least bring her home to rest."

Although priests didn't care much about burial customs, Xiu Ye was a priest of the Imperial Dynasty Faction who had been missing for decades. Bringing her back to the Imperial Dynasty would at least give the living some peace of mind.

"Was there really no other way to save her?" Cat Girl knew she was speaking purely in hindsight.

Priest Ai Jing patted Cat Girl's head. "Her body was riddled with holes, and her soul was completely shattered. Under those circumstances, there was nothing we could do. Even if we had recklessly infused her with spiritual rhinoceros, it wouldn't have extended her life."

Cat Girl pursed her lips and said nothing more.

She felt she had just been a bit foolish.

Although they were currently surrounded by monsters, everyone still had plenty of strength left and no one was panicking.

If they could have saved Priest Xiu Ye, they absolutely would have.

Setting aside their camaraderie as members of the White Robe, Priest Xiu Ye's experiences in the Nihility State alone would have been reason enough for them to try everything to save her.

Finally, the monsters surrounding them began to thin out, and the group arrived at another town.

"Finally, no more monsters." Priest Hao Ze breathed a sigh of relief. "There were so many just back there, but there isn't a single one here."

Chu Qi was also a little tired. "It felt like we stumbled right into a mud monster stronghold back there."

He retrieved a small medicine bottle from his Cubic Space and hurriedly swallowed a few pills.

"Casting spells here without being able to replenish energy from the outside really drains your spiritual rhinoceros."

"It's not just a drain," Priest Zhan Yan said. "The deeper we go into the Nihility State, the more spiritual rhinoceros our spells consume."

"So that's how it is. No wonder my spiritual rhinoceros reserves dropped below half so quickly."

Priest Wu Hai smiled. "You were fighting at the Unreturning Place before. There's no shortage of spiritual rhinoceros there, so naturally, you're used to spending it freely. We've patrolled the borders of the Nihility State for years, so we're accustomed to strictly calculating our spell usage."

Chu Qi laughed, not embarrassed in the least. "No wonder I'm the only one who needs to take medicine after fighting for half the day."

The mood in the group improved significantly. They entered the dilapidated town and decided to rest there for a moment.

"Cat Girl, shall I take you into the city to see if you can sense anything?" Priest Ai Jing asked.

"Alright." Cat Girl hadn't participated in any of the fighting along the way, so naturally, she wasn't tired.

Since the Chaotic Green Silk Algae within her body had grown increasingly stable, her sensitivity to the Mutated Element had dulled. Now, surrounded by so many powerful priests, she could barely detect anything at all.

Because of this, they had agreed from the start that once they entered the depths of the Nihility State, Priest Ai Jing and Priest Qian Que would take turns escorting Cat Girl alone at each new location. This would make it easier for her to sense the direction of the Mutated Element.

The two of them arrived at the tallest building in the town.

Calling it the tallest was a stretch—it was really just a collapsed tower barely ten meters high.

They stood on the broken stone bricks at the very top of the tower. Priest Ai Jing concealed her figure, and her presence vanished entirely.

Cat Girl closed her eyes. Her long hair cascaded down, extending to over ten meters in length.

The jet-black strands drifted slowly, rippling like seaweed caught in an invisible underwater current.

Fifteen minutes later, the floating hair slowly gathered together, retracting to a meter in length and automatically tying itself up behind Cat Girl's head.

At that moment, Priest Ai Jing reappeared beside her.

"How is it?"

Cat Girl shook her head in disappointment. "I'm sorry, I didn't sense anything."

Priest Ai Jing looked at her kindly and stroked her hair again. "There's no need to rush. I expected this before we even came in. The Nihility State is vast, and that guy has been hiding for so many years; we certainly won't find him easily. We've all prepared ourselves for a drawn-out battle. Just take your time and search little by little."

Cat Girl nodded and followed Priest Ai Jing down through the ruins.

"Sigh, if Priest Ban hadn't done me a huge favor, I'd really be tempted to snatch you away from the Myriad Ancient Pagoda."

Cat Girl froze. It hadn't even crossed her mind that Priest Ai Jing would actually like her.

In her past, being disliked by others had been the norm.

Furthermore, she knew very well that she wasn't a great person—she wasn't even a good person.

So when she suddenly heard Priest Ai Jing say such a thing, her first reaction was surprise, and her second was to assume that this high-and-mighty priest simply hadn't encountered anyone like her before.

Priest Ai Jing's kindness was different from Li Ban's.

Back then, she had been a prisoner, and Li Ban had been a slave serving as reserve food for the treants. They had both been in their most wretched, horrible states; there was nothing left to hide from one another.

Because of this, although Cat Girl appeared slightly embarrassed on the surface, she was secretly raising her guard.

She knew that her personality probably made her an outlier among the priests, and that she might even be better suited for the Black Robe. But what else could she do when she had spent the entire first half of her life living like this?

To her surprise, that slight shift of emotion in Cat Girl's eyes was actually noticed by Priest Ai Jing, who had been watching her closely.

Priest Ai Jing wasn't angered by Cat Girl's 'ingratitude.' Instead, she smiled. "I know what you're thinking. I also know where you came from. You and Priest Ban have supported each other all the way to this point, and you definitely won't give that kind of trust to a second person. I'm not asking you to like me."

Priest Ai Jing walked in front of Cat Girl with a smile.

"But I actually like your temperament even more because of it."

Cat Girl thought for a moment before replying, "I'm sorry, Priest Ai Jing. I've been used to keeping my guard up since I was young. I'm probably not even qualified to be a priest."

Priest Ai Jing waved her long robes. "There is no single standard answer for how to be a priest. What does 'qualified' or 'unqualified' even mean?"

She stopped and looked back at Cat Girl. "My background was even worse than yours, yet haven't I made it this far?"

Cat Girl found that hard to believe.

She was born with artificially created beast blood, raised like a Gu insect since childhood, and shaped into an assassin as an adult. If not for her skills and expertise in stealth, she would have undoubtedly been forced to use her body as a weapon.

With a background like that, Priest Ai Jing actually claimed to have had it worse?

Priest Ai Jing just smiled. She didn't elaborate on her origins, nor did she force Cat Girl to believe her.

"I'm telling you this because I like you, child. It's not because I need you to like me back."

"But I hope you'll remember this: a person's experiences will influence their character, and they will also shape their convictions. When a priest cultivates their heart, what they are really cultivating is that single breath of resolve within."

"The more trapped you are by your own origins, the more you must overcome them when cultivating your heart."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!