The flames in the copper basin scorched the black-and-white portraits, their faces melting from the center, with the skin dripping down.
A hoarse voice intertwined with the flickering firelight, accompanied by coughing, as a man cloaked in a black robe turned around.
"Lu Cang."
Compared to the last meeting, Lu Cang had aged greatly; his hair was gray, and his wrinkled skin revealed ugly characters. A wound stretched from his chest to his abdomen, unhealable, crudely stitched with symbolic threads.
"We meet again, Gao Ming." Lu Cang's gaze rested on the fire basin, wisps of black smoke rose from the burnt figures in the portraits, swirling around him: "I know you hate me, the suffering you endured originates from me, but I also altered your fate. Altering fate comes with a cost; for every step you take forward, someone must sacrifice their life. It's fair. Without such awareness, one can never confront the Destiny Giant Tree."
