Chapter 178 : A spring without you is coming, too.

As the system won the resurrection match.

When she opened the light screen, it no longer just displayed “System Under Repair.”

The completion status of the second simulated reincarnation now appeared before Lu Mo.

[Task 1 (Normal): Help Cecilia find her true self. (Completed)]

[Task 2 (Hard): Kill the Demon King of this era together with Cecilia. (Completed)]

[Task 3 (???): Sever… fate… (Completed)]

Seeing that all three tasks were completed, Lu Mo couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

Although the system had crashed when she was saying goodbye to Cecilia, at least it had auto-saved for her.

That feeling of both soul and body burning, almost breaking apart—she never wanted to experience that again.

“But, since the system auto-repaired itself, Task 3 is still a bunch of garbled text?”

Lu Mo glanced at Task 3.

When she first entered the second simulated reincarnation, Task 3 was a string of question marks.

The first time she swung her sword to cut the golden threads behind Cecilia, those question marks had briefly changed, vaguely revealing some text.

Later, when she severed the golden threads behind Cecilia, the system directly errored and crashed amid the burning of the Illusory Divine Kingdom.

Was this a fundamental bug?

Now, even though the system had been repaired and Task 3 was completed,

its content still had a lot of garbled characters.

“Sever…”

“Whose fate was severed?”

“Or rather… what kind of fate was severed?”

Lu Mo murmured in a voice only she could hear.

“Chirp?”

The little fat bird didn’t hear what Lu Mo said.

It just felt that Lu Mo had suddenly stopped petting it, so it curiously lifted its head and made a confused sound.

[The system is performing settlement.]

[During the settlement process, the host may re-enter this simulated reincarnation as an observer to watch Cecilia’s subsequent life.]

[Once the settlement is complete, this simulated reincarnation will be permanently closed.]

[Do you wish to re-enter this simulated reincarnation?]

Lu Mo now had the option to enter the second simulated reincarnation again.

However, this would also be the last time.

And she could no longer intervene in Cecilia’s life.

Lu Mo looked at the options that appeared before her.

After a moment, she stood up and walked toward the stairs.

“Miss?”

“Chirp?”

“I’m a little tired. Going to the bathroom… no, going to my room to rest for a while. I’ll be back soon.”

Lu Mo replied as she climbed the stairs.

Let’s go in.

It was time to say a proper goodbye.

To Cecilia, and to the second simulated reincarnation…

And so, space and time twisted around her.

Her consciousness was once again pulled back into that world.

On the last wall.

She returned to the room and lay down on the bed.

In the end, she chose to enter.

***

Cecilia suddenly woke from a dream.

The twilight had vanished.

The Illusory Divine Kingdom, the sea of flowers, the towering tree—all gone.

She found herself lying at the very top of the Sacred Demon Wall.

Tears still stained the corners of her eyes.

“Miss Lu Mo?”

She instinctively called out Lu Mo’s name.

But this time, no one answered.

She propped herself up with some difficulty and looked around.

There was no one around her.

Beyond the wall hung a huge setting sun.

Desolate and majestic.

The whole world at that moment seemed vast and lonely.

No one was there to stand on this wall with her anymore.

And beside her, there was only a broken sword.

“This is…”

Cecilia reached out and picked up the sword.

It was a divine-quality sword, now covered in multiple cracks.

The divine power circuits inside were nearly shattered.

As if it had just gone through an earth-shattering battle.

“Is it over?”

The shadow of the deity was gone.

The newborn Demon King had been eliminated.

After the deity’s wrath, nothing remained?

At that moment, voices came from afar.

It was a few Heaven’s Defiance Realm cultivators who were relatively close.

They had been ordered to investigate the situation after the battle ended.

Even as top-tier combatants, they were now cautious and extremely wary.

“Wait—”

Suddenly, one of the Heaven’s Defiance Realm cultivators exclaimed.

“There’s… something on the Sacred Demon Wall!”

As the words fell, the other Heaven’s Defiance Realm cultivators immediately retreated, gasping.

What could it be?

Had the deity’s shadow also failed?

Was the Demon King still holding a trump card?!

“No, it’s not the Demon King.”

Another Heaven’s Defiance Realm cultivator spoke.

Because she didn’t sense even a trace of demonic energy.

Instead, on the Sacred Demon Wall, she felt an extremely powerful aura of sacred power and divinity.

That power was too pure, too strong.

Even the most pure-blooded God-descendants could barely compare.

The few Heaven’s Defiance Realm cultivators finally arrived at the top of the Sacred Demon Wall.

And there, they finally saw the figure of the girl.

“I remember her—she’s the Saintess of the Holy Sanctuary… Cecilia!”

“She’s alive?”

“And she’s emitting such pure divine energy?”

They looked at the girl sitting weakly on the ground, tears still at the corners of her eyes.

And at the broken divine artifact in her hand.

“What exactly happened just now…”

It suddenly occurred to them.

Could it be that Cecilia had, in the end, killed…

Cecilia could clearly feel that she was different.

Something that had always restricted her seemed to have disappeared.

The wounds to her body and soul caused by the sacrifice had also healed.

Not only that.

She could also feel a vast and powerful force surging within her.

It was the power of the deity’s shadow.

Pure…

divine power.

As the deity’s shadow fell, the Illusory Divine Kingdom collapsed, scattering into a sea of masterless divine power.

And after Lu Mo severed the golden thread,

those divine powers converged toward the golden thread.

As if they regarded the golden thread as some kind of deity.

Seeing this change in the divine power,

Lu Mo, in her final moments, burned her last trace of soul and power, guiding that divine power toward the golden thread on Cecilia’s side.

And she accompanied Cecilia through the last stretch of the road.

This was Lu Mo’s final gift to her.

The divine power that the human world had accumulated for over a hundred years through the divine-level grand formation.

Even just a fraction of it would drive the various God-descendant families to madness.

And now, that power was contained within Cecilia,

slowly transforming into her own.

And once Cecilia fully absorbed this divine power,

her strength…

would be no less than those Starry Sky Realm cultivators at full power!

But…

Cecilia didn’t want this gift.

She only wanted Lu Mo to come back.

She only wanted to keep running wildly with Lu Mo.

Facing the sun, in a grand escape.

Continuing…

to cross one wall after another.

Cecilia stood on the Sacred Demon Wall,

refusing to leave for a long time.

This was the last wall she and Lu Mo had climbed together.

She…

didn’t want to let this wall disappear from her world.

How long did she stand there?

Nine days?

Or several weeks?

She didn’t know.

Gradually, the leaders and the strongest of the human factions came to the Sacred Demon Wall.

They looked at Cecilia.

At the broken divine sword.

They felt the terrifyingly pure divine power flowing within Cecilia.

In that moment, they were stunned and awed, speechless.

The newborn Demon King was dead.

The power of the deity’s shadow should have dissipated into the world.

But…

why did such a terrifying power appear on a Saintess?

Had the deity’s shadow acknowledged Cecilia and bestowed the remaining power upon her?

But under what circumstances would it acknowledge a mortal?

“She helped the deity’s shadow kill the newborn Demon King.”

A human high-ranking official spoke.

“She dealt the final blow to the newborn Demon King.”

A Starry Sky Realm cultivator judged.

“That sword explains a lot.”

Lu Mo’s soul, body, and spatial ring had all been burned away in that great fire.

This sword was one of the few things she left behind in this world.

It was the way out she had prepared for Cecilia.

“Miss Cecilia was never an accomplice of the Demon King.”

“She was forcibly taken away.”

“And she always stood firmly on the side of the human world, seeking opportunities to turn the tide.”

“She succeeded, and earned the acknowledgment of the deity’s shadow.”

“She is not just the Saintess of the Holy Sanctuary, but the Saintess of the entire world.”

“No, she is not a Saintess.”

“Rather, she is the one acknowledged by the deity…”

“The Divine Maiden!”

“Lady Divine Maiden!”

Someone shouted this honorable title for the first time.

“No, I’m not.”

Cecilia refuted softly.

“Lady Divine Maiden!”

Many people shouted at once.

The voices were loud, echoing above the Sacred Demon Wall.

“No, I’m not.”

Cecilia continued to refute, covering her ears.

“I did not… kill Miss Lu Mo!!”

She turned her back to them and shouted loudly.

“Miss Lu Mo and I were on the same side!”

“I am the demon you speak of!”

“The existence you all clamor to kill!”

However—

“Yes, you did not kill Miss Lu Mo. You killed the Demon King.”

“Lady Divine Maiden, you need not blame yourself.”

“She was not Miss Lu Mo. Miss Lu Mo was devoured by the demons long ago.”

No matter how she refuted,

everyone always made excuses for her.

It seemed that as long as she was acknowledged by the deity,

everything she said was correct.

Everything she did was justified.

The world would not doubt her.

The deity was always right.

It had always been this way.

At that moment, Cecilia asked the same question Lu Mo had asked.

“But just because it has always been this way, is it right?”

Back then, Lu Mo had looked up and asked this question to the world.

And now, Cecilia stood on the Sacred Demon Wall, rejecting the world’s acknowledgment.

Rejecting…

everything behind her.

“Cecilia…”

But then, Cecilia heard a familiar voice from behind.

She turned around.

And saw her father, the head of the Helovit family, staring at her blankly.

Then, he walked toward her as if unable to control himself.

“Father…”

Cecilia spoke.

For the first time, her emotions stirred again.

The head of the Helovit family stood before Cecilia.

And Cecilia, once again, took a good look at her father.

He had aged a lot, with many new wrinkles on his face.

Those eyes that were once sharp and fierce were now cloudy.

He frowned, speaking with concern:

“It’s over, Cecilia.”

“It’s time to leave here.”

“We should go home.”

That home she had wanted to return to so many times.

The home in her memories.

“But…”

Cecilia still wanted to stay here.

“Lady Cecilia.”

At that moment, the head of the Kallis family also stepped forward.

Gaunt and haggard.

Seeing the head of the Kallis family again, Cecilia’s emotions grew complicated once more.

“Mr. Kallis…”

If even the head of the Kallis family thought that she had done something to Miss Lu Mo…

“I really… didn’t do anything to Miss Lu Mo…”

“I didn’t…”

But then, the next words of the head of the Kallis family made her freeze slightly.

“I know.”

She looked at the head of the Kallis family.

And saw that gaunt man speaking softly to her.

Very earnestly, very sincerely.

“I believe in my daughter, and I believe in you.”

“So, please, Lady Cecilia, accept all of this.”

“This is the last thing Lu Mo left for you.”

The head of the Kallis family bowed his head to Cecilia.

The head of the Helovit family silently watched Cecilia, waiting for her answer.

Cecilia didn’t speak.

She just remembered the words Lu Mo had said to her at the end of that dream.

“Keep moving forward.”

“Turn this imperfect world into the one you desire.”

“Go to places farther than this wall.”

“Meet more people, see more distant scenery, and let your world stretch infinitely onward.”

At that moment, Lu Mo also stood beside her, whispering softly.

“Go on.”

“Keep walking, and for me, see more of this world.”

She knew.

She and Cecilia were now separated by a layer of time and space.

Her voice could never reach her.

But she still wanted to speak.

To comfort the fool in front of her a little.

And in that moment,

Cecilia suddenly felt a tremor in her soul.

After a brief silence, she made her decision.

She turned around.

For the first time, without Lu Mo’s push, she took a step forward.

Facing the entire human world.

Facing the Starry Sky Realm cultivators, the human leaders, and the strongest.

Facing the head of the Kallis family.

And facing…

her father.

“Yeah.”

She smiled at her father.

“Let’s go, Father.”

“Let’s… go home.”

She walked toward the human world beyond the Sacred Demon Wall.

Step by step.

Firmly, without relying on anyone else’s strength.

And Lu Mo stood behind her, watching.

Watching Cecilia’s retreating figure grow farther and farther away.

Watching her, with her own strength, cross the Sacred Demon Wall and step into that hazy human world.

Cecilia walked across the plain below the wall.

At that moment, the wind blew again.

Bringing the faint scent of flowers, carrying scattered petals.

This was not a dream.

It was reality.

It was spring.

“The spring we looked forward to together has come.”

“And the spring without you has also come…”

The girl whispered softly in the wind.