The commotion was significant.
The startled Little White poked her head out of the tree hollow, warily eyeing the snow pit not far away.
After one or two breaths, a disheveled young man suddenly sprang out of the snow pit.
Without even bothering to tidy himself up, he flashed away in a blur, speeding deep into the forest.
The instant the man darted off, a streak of crimson radiance descended from the sky, landing exactly where he had just leaped out.
Immediately afterward, within Bai Heng’s field of vision, the snow across the sky surged violently. Amid chaotic explosions, it seemed as if the entire ground had been flipped over…
Streaks of crimson light rained down one after another, chasing the fleeing young man and blasting everything in his path into utter devastation.
Bai Heng saw a figure in the air pursuing the young man from earlier, quickly disappearing into the distance.
In the area Bai Heng could see, trees were snapped and toppled in every direction.
Snow and soil mixed together, mountain rocks shattered into pieces, and many animals fled in panic…
Animals… Right, Little White and the others… Bai Heng tried to locate the original tree hollow, but unfortunately, the earlier explosions had also blasted the amber he inhabited away from its original position.
Moreover, the area was now a complete mess, making it impossible to tell one place from another.
Bai Heng’s “gaze” searched as best as it could.
He already had the worst premonition.
The tree hollow where Little White’s family lived had been near the center of the explosions.
With such violent destructive power that could shatter trees and rocks, there was no way mere fox bodies could have survived…
Suddenly, Bai Heng noticed a spot where the soil bulged slightly, and he immediately focused on that location.
Moments later, the soil bulged again.
Then, a fox’s head burst out, followed by a pair of front paws. They pushed with effort.
It was somewhat strenuous, but eventually an entire fox emerged onto the surface.
It was Little White. Bai Heng recognized her instantly.
Her condition looked terrible.
Her originally pure white, smooth fur was now disheveled and messy.
Large patches had been torn away, revealing bloody, raw flesh beneath.
Little White vigorously shook off the mud, withered leaves, and snow clinging to her body.
The movement aggravated her wounds, causing her to let out pained whimpers.
Whimpering, she lowered her head to sniff the ground and kept moving around.
Little White seemed unaware of her own injuries.
Once she determined a spot, she began digging frantically.
Before long, fox cries different from Little White’s rang out.
She had dug out her two daughters.
Although the two daughters looked weak, they had no obvious external injuries.
Little White, who had been guarding the entrance of the hollow, along with the tree itself, had shielded them from most of the explosion’s impact.
Little White called out, urging her two daughters to follow her and leave.
In her small fox mind, she couldn’t fully comprehend what had happened.
She only instinctively understood that this territory was no longer safe and they needed to quickly find a new one.
However, in this freezing, bone-chilling snowstorm, the heavily injured Little White had already exhausted her last bit of strength rescuing her daughters.
She had only taken a few steps before collapsing headfirst into the snow.
With their mother down, the two already weakened little foxes completely lost their anchor.
They began circling around Little White in panic, occasionally nudging her with their heads while letting out frantic whimpers that were nearly lost in the howling wind and snow.
Little White never stood up again.
The two young white foxes refused to leave on their own.
Once they grew tired of crying, they simply lay down beside her.
The falling snowflakes gradually buried them.
Were they all dead?
Watching this scene, Bai Heng’s state of mind was strangely calm.
Whether it was natural disaster or human conflict, he had long prepared himself to watch Little White’s family leave or die.
To him, even if they lived out their full fox lives peacefully, it would only be a short ten or so years… This day had simply come a little earlier than expected.
Yet although Bai Heng’s mind was calm, emotionally he still felt regret and resentment.
To those two people, this was probably just a passing encounter.
They only cared about their own fight and paid no attention to how their casually thrown attacks would devastate the area.
Perhaps the person flying in the sky was even feeling proud of his own power because of it.
But Bai Heng cared.
He had been looking forward to seeing even more beautiful scenery after spring arrived, and to seeing Little White’s family thriving once again amid the vibrant life of the new season… Such a small expectation had been completely shattered by a single casually descending red light in this pale and desolate winter.
Bai Heng was willing to accept changes he could not intervene in, but he did not completely deny his own emotions.
Although he had once warned himself not to invest too much emotion in the things he saw, witnessing Little White’s family being buried under the cold snow still made him feel hatred toward those two who had merely been “passing by.”
After all, he had personally watched Little White’s family grow up.
When Little Red had disappeared, there was no clear target for his anger, so Bai Heng had gradually let it go.
But today’s incident could only be blamed on those two!
This feeling of resentment suddenly gave Bai Heng a familiar sensation, reminding him once more of that night three thousand years ago.
Reflecting on these three thousand years, Bai Heng realized with a start just how pathetic he had been.
He had felt satisfied simply because he could see some scenery and animals.
Although objectively his consciousness was confined within a piece of amber, he had never once thought to try breaking through that restriction, nor had he ever considered investigating the real reason behind his current predicament…
Everything in the world was constantly evolving, yet he had grown complacent with the status quo, even grandly giving himself the title of “witness.”
Thinking about it now, it was truly hopelessly foolish!
However, Bai Heng was now merely a wisp of consciousness, so he really couldn’t be cured with medicine…
Once his thinking broke free from its limitations, he suddenly realized that he was not incapable of changing reality.
Three thousand years ago, he had already died, yet his consciousness still existed.
In a sense, he had already broken through the boundary between life and death.
If he could even break through the boundary of life and death, how could a mere small piece of amber possibly restrict him?!
Once he gained this realization, Bai Heng’s entire consciousness suddenly surged with unprecedented intensity.
His awareness gradually penetrated the amber and “touched” the surrounding soil…
With a slight “push,” he felt a long-lost sense of “weight.”
Using that “weight,” the piece of amber flew up from the mud.
Bai Heng controlled the amber and flew it to the spot where Little White had fallen.
Little White and her two daughters were covered by accumulated snow, their fox forms only faintly visible.
Before his consciousness moved through the snow to check their vital signs, Bai Heng still held onto a sliver of hope.
However, they were all dead.
Little White and one of the young foxes had already gone completely stiff.
The other still had a trace of body heat, but its heartbeat had stopped.
Bai Heng’s consciousness brushed away the snow, revealing the white fox that still retained some warmth.
It had died not long ago. Its body might still be able to…
A very clear idea appeared in Bai Heng’s consciousness.
He knew exactly what he needed to do.
The amber slowly descended and pressed against the white fox’s forehead. Then…
Crack!
A crisp sound rang out as a fissure appeared on the amber.
The blood that had been sealed inside the amber for three thousand years slowly seeped out, lightly staining the fur on the white fox’s forehead and forming a fresh red vertical line.
Once the blood within the amber had completely flowed out, it naturally fell onto the snowy ground.
The red line on the white fox’s forehead gradually faded away.
The moment it completely disappeared, the fox suddenly opened its eyes.
It shakily stood up in the snow.
After taking a moment to steady itself, it began shaking from its head, the motion traveling down its body and finally to its tail, flinging off all the pure white snow that matched the color of its own fur.