“Is it really going to end in failure at the last moment?” Henry Wallace cried out in utter despair to the heavens. Originally, he had kept a sliver of strength in reserve, just in case, to protect William Carter's life. But at the final stage of the marrow cleansing, his profound energy ran out, so he used up even his last reserves. Yet even so, he still couldn’t complete the final cleansing—the progress stalled at less than the last 1%. If he stopped now, William Carter would be doomed to die.

“I had wanted to say a final goodbye, but now there’s no time.” Henry Wallace said slowly.

“Remember, inherit my legacy and make the Yin-Yang Sect flourish.”

“Remember, when you are strong enough, you will be able to see all my secrets within the Flame Ring, and you will know why I was trapped beneath this endless glacier.”

“When you are strong enough, walk the path I could not finish, challenge the order of this world to the end, and see whether so-called gods truly exist.”

“Remember, take care of your shiniang, take care of your wife, my daughter…”

“Remember, never let anyone know about your Nine Yang Profound Veins—anyone…”

“Farewell forever…”

Henry Wallace let out a wild roar!

“Boom…” A surge of blazing flames suddenly burst from within him, and his entire body was engulfed in a raging inferno.

“Boom…” The deep icy cave suddenly exploded, blue light erupting like a colossal missile detonating within the cavern.

The blue light swept through everything in the cave, and the crystal-clear icy cavern instantly cracked apart. The more than ten thousand icy steps that William Carter had spent a year crafting shattered in an instant.

“Boom…”

Henry Wallace was utterly reduced to ashes.

An incomparably powerful shockwave suddenly lifted William Carter up, shooting him skyward, blasting him thousands of meters into the air. Not only did he leave the cave, he was hurled so high that only after soaring over a thousand meters above the ground did the force finally dissipate, and then he crashed heavily to the earth.

At the same time, the once deep icy cave completely collapsed and shattered, and countless layers of snow on the ground surged like a tide, burying the site of the collapse.

“Hurry, leave here as fast as you can—my enemies will soon come looking for me.”

“Child, farewell forever. Carry my ideals and will, and continue on in this world…”

Henry Wallace’s final voice echoed in William Carter’s ears! He had completely detonated his own qi sea, helping William Carter complete the last 1% of the marrow cleansing, then utterly destroyed the entire icy cave, and at the same time blasted William Carter out to safety.

“No, no…” Only after lying in the snow for several minutes did William Carter regain the ability to speak and move. He desperately crawled toward the collapsed cave.

But by now, the cave was gone, completely buried under the snow. Everywhere the eye could see was a vast expanse of snow.

Henry Wallace had never planned to leave here alive, nor had he ever intended for the icy steps that William Carter had painstakingly made to be used. He had planned everything long ago, using all his remaining strength to help William Carter. By detonating his own qi sea, he blasted William Carter out, and most importantly, erased every trace of William Carter’s presence here, lest his incredibly powerful enemy discover him.

“No…” William Carter cried out hoarsely, his mind replaying the moment when Henry Wallace exploded and turned to ashes, Henry Wallace’s proud yet gentle voice echoing again and again in his ears and heart.

For more than a year, day and night, they had been together. The old man was the closest person to him in this world, his only family. In William Carter’s heart, he was not only a strict master, but also a loving father. William Carter had worked desperately to make over ten thousand icy steps, all so that one day he could carry the old man out of this icy cave.

But now…

The person dearest to him had sacrificed his life and everything else.

He had fulfilled him, entrusted his life’s work to him, and betrothed his beloved daughter to him.

Such a debt of gratitude is greater than the heavens and earth!

Grief overwhelmed him, but he had to move on quickly. Because his master had said that his enemy would soon arrive to fulfill the ten-year promise. Although William Carter desperately wanted to know who this enemy was, he knew with clear reason that what he should do was to flee as far as possible before that enemy arrived.

William Carter wiped away his tears, knelt in the direction of the buried cave, and kowtowed three times.

“Master, rest in peace. I will do everything you said!”

“I will make myself strong as soon as possible, I will make the Yin-Yang Sect flourish, I will walk the path you could not finish, even though I don’t know what that path is. I will kill your enemy, even though I have no idea who that person is, whether man or woman.”

“I will make myself strong enough to challenge the order of this world, to see whether so-called gods truly exist, even though I have no idea what you meant by those words.”

“I will take good care of shiniang, I will protect my future wife, your daughter!”

“I will fulfill my promise to you with my life!”

“Master, farewell, rest in peace!”

……