"Just now..."
Rainn’s red lips parted slightly. Her voice was so soft it almost seed like the wind could carry it away.
"Thank you."
If Aiden had not used his overwhelming soul strength to break the trap by force, she would have already beco a walking corpse, lost inside the nightmare of her childhood.
"No need."
Aiden did not turn around. He only waved his hand calmly.
"Since we are allies, we are partners."
"I, Aiden, will never stand by and watch a teammate die in front of ."
Not far away, Cheryl held the charred staff tightly in both hands, as if it were her most precious treasure.
She hid in the shadows and secretly stared at Aiden’s sharp side profile through her ssy hair.
In her mind, the sacred golden fire that had crushed all darkness appeared once again.
Without realizing it, the corners of her pale lips lifted slightly, forming a breathtakingly beautiful faint smile.
Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.
Rumble!
The Nether Mist ahead finally scattered completely, revealing a grand building that had been silent for countless years.
The Supre Miko Temple!
A vast, ancient, and terrifying aura rushed toward them like a crashing sea. It even carried a trace of divine pressure.
The temple gate was dozens of ters tall, like two ancient black mountains rising from the ground.
It was made entirely from extrely rare Abyssal Yin Obsidian, a black stone found deep in the Abyss. Its dark surface gave off a faint, eerie glow that made the heart tremble.
The doors were covered with dense, complex ancient blood-red runes.
Just looking at them made a person feel dizzy, as if their soul was being pulled inside.
At the very center of the gate, there was no keyhole and no handle.
There was only a deep hollow groove.
It was shaped like a human hand.
Rainn slowly stood up. Her eyes locked onto the groove, and her gaze gradually beca firm.
She stepped forward with her long legs, walking one step at a ti toward the huge black gate that seed powerful enough to suppress the world.
She did not hesitate at all.
She raised her right hand and pressed her pale palm perfectly into the groove.
Buzz!
In an instant, a sharp burst of energy echoed through the entire valley.
The once silent gate seed like an ancient beast waking from a long sleep.
The complicated runes carved into the giant stone suddenly burst out with a strange, blood-red light.
A terrifying suction force rushed out from the groove with violent power.
Hiss, hiss, hiss!
The skin on Rainn’s palm split open at once. Bright red blood poured out and was forcefully sucked into the gate.
"Sister!"
Cheryl’s expression changed. She cried out in shock and instinctively raised her staff, about to rush forward.
"Don’t co closer!"
Rainn suddenly turned her head and shouted in a harsh voice.
"This is the Origin Ritual of blood sacrifice!"
"Only the pure blood of a Primordial Miko can touch this gate. Anyone else who touches it will die instantly!"
A sudden strong wind rose, making Rainn’s Miko robe snap loudly in the air.
Her face turned deathly pale at a frightening speed, visible to the naked eye. Even her aura began to weaken sharply.
Her life force was draining away wildly, but Rainn clenched her teeth and kept her body standing straight.
"Open... open for !"
She raised her head and let out a defiant cry.
Buzz!
At the center of her smooth forehead, the pure white vertical Origin Mark suddenly shone to its limit.
It was like a blinding holy sun being forced to rise in the endless darkness of the Abyss.
The violent power of the Primordial Miko rushed through her boiling blood and poured without holding back into the deepest part of the gate.
Crack—
The ancient chanism, silent for countless ages, finally made its first rough grinding sound.
Rumble!
The earth shook. Space cracked. Dust fell from above like rain.
That black giant gate, which stood for the greatest forbidden secret of the lower Abyss,
surrounded by countless blood-red runes,
finally began to slowly open to both sides.
Rumble!
With a deafening roar, the huge obsidian gate, the symbol of the greatest taboo in the lower Abyss, finally opened completely.
The blood-red runes covering the gate flashed brightly for a mont, then quickly dimd.
The terrifying suction force that had seed ready to drain everything also stopped at once.
"Ugh..."
The mont the gate opened, Rainn let out a low, suppressed groan.
Her thin body was like a dead leaf in the wind. She swayed hard, her legs gave out, and she fell straight backward.
Just before she hit the cold, rough obsidian floor, a strong arm caught her firmly around the waist.
It was Aiden.
The warm breath that belonged only to a human instantly wrapped around Rainn’s cold, trembling body.
Aiden frowned slightly. A serious look flashed deep in his dark eyes.
He could clearly feel it. The woman in his arms was extrely weak. Her life force had almost been drained dry.
"How much blood did you sacrifice?" Aiden asked coldly, his voice carrying an authority that allowed no argunt.
Rainn leaned against Aiden’s solid chest and struggled to breathe.
Her face was as pale as paper, but her beautiful eyes were unusually bright and firm.
"Enough."
Her voice was very soft, as if a breeze could scatter it, but the resolve in her tone was moving.
"Only a true Primordial Miko can sacrifice her bloodline to open this gate."
"If I were not the real heir, then even if all the blood in my body were drained... it would be useless."
Aiden looked at her stubborn expression and said nothing more.
With gentle but forceful movents, he helped Rainn sit down on a flat black stone nearby.
Then Aiden slightly raised his right hand and tapped the air with his fingertip.
Buzz!
A silver ripple spread through space.
A gemstone the size of a pigeon egg, glowing with a deep red light, appeared out of thin air in his palm.
In an instant, a vast life force burst out like a sea, forcibly driving away all the bone-chilling cold of the Abyss around them.
This was the Mythic Rank healing item Aiden had taken from the treasury of the level 90 Demon Duke Ethan after killing him—
[Lifeblood Soulstone]!
"Eat this."
Aiden held the gem glowing with tempting red light in front of Rainn. His tone was calm, as if he were offering her an ordinary piece of candy.
Rainn stared at the gem, her pupils shrinking sharply.
As a well-inford Miko, how could she not recognize its tier?
This was a priceless treasure that contained a tiny fragnt of the Law of Life.
Forget the Abyss—even on Earth, this gem would be valuable enough to easily buy a small city.
"It’s too valuable..."
Rainn shook her head without thinking. Her dry throat moved as she swallowed with difficulty.
She was only a partner. How could she deserve to use a divine item of this level?
But Aiden gave her no chance to refuse.
He directly took Rainn’s cold, pale hand, weakened by heavy blood loss, and forced the Lifeblood Soulstone into her palm.
Aiden looked down at her. His deep eyes seed able to see through her soul.
"Your life is worth more."
Those five words struck Rainn’s usually calm heart like thunder.
Her whole body trembled, and she bit her bloodless lower lip tightly.
She raised her head and looked deeply at Aiden. A light she had never shown before flickered in her eyes.
In the end, she did not refuse again. She put the Mythic Rank gem straight into her mouth.
Boom!
The mont the gem entered her throat, it turned into a hot, blood-red stream.
A warm and powerful life energy spread wildly through her body. Like rain falling after a long drought, it repaired her damaged foundation at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In just a few breaths, the color quickly returned to her pale cheeks, giving them a soft, healthy glow. Her weakened aura rose again, all the way back to its peak.
Not far away, Cheryl watched in silence.
Her hands gripped the charred magic staff tightly, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force.
Seeing Aiden treat her sister in such a forceful yet gentle way, a very complicated feeling rose in her heart.
Of course, she was happy that her sister was safe.
But...
Deep down, there was a faint bitterness she did not even want to admit.
"Let’s go."
After Aiden confird that Rainn’s aura had beco stable, he turned around.
He stood with his hands behind his back, his deep gaze fixed on the dark, bottomless passage beyond the gate.
It looked like the entrance to the underworld, giving off an ancient pressure that made the heart tremble.
But there was not the slightest trace of fear in Aiden’s eyes.
There was only the absolute confidence of a hunter who had found his prey.
"The treasure is inside."
Before his words had fully faded, he had already stepped forward with his long legs.
His black clothes snapped in the cold wind of the Abyss. He looked like a young god descending into the world as he was the first to enter that unknown darkness.
Rainn imdiately stood up and followed closely behind Aiden.
Thump... thump...
In front of this ancient temple, where everything was deathly silent, she could even clearly hear her own heart beating faster inside her chest.
Aiden’s words from earlier—"Your life is worth more"—seed to have been placed under a spell, echoing again and again in her mind.
In this cruel Abyss, in this world where the strong devoured the weak,
Rainn had always climbed upward by stepping over the bones of her enemies.
She had never shown any man even the slightest warmth.
But Aiden...
Rainn looked at the tall, proud, and even sowhat cold figure ahead of her. A softness she could not hide appeared in her eyes.
This man seed to be the exception.
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