Chapter 2212: Sending You a Gift

"No!" Lu Ye shook his head, his eyes red. "You'll be alright, I'll heal you."

Little Butterfly gave a desolate smile: "No need. Just talk to me a bit more." Her voice grew steadily weaker, like a mosquito's hum.

Her eyelids slowly closed, and the hand that was caressing Lu Ye's face fell limp.

"Little Butterfly?" Lu Ye whispered, and in his ear, he seemed to hear the familiar reply: "I'm here, Brother Ye!"

But as a cool breeze swept past, it was nothing more than an illusion.

"Ah..." He clutched the body in his arms tightly. Even when slandered, besieged, and severely wounded, he had never shown the slightest emotion. Yet, at this moment, his heart was torn asunder.

In his mind, blurred scenes inexplicably surfaced, impossible to discern clearly...

An overwhelming sorrow surged into his heart, like an invisible hand suddenly parting a thick mist.

The blurred images abruptly became clear.

Little Butterfly, who slit her own throat with a horizontal knife in a mountain village, her body slowly turning cold as she lay upon him; Senior Sister You Die, who died tragically in the mouth of a demonic beast in a desolate mountain, the crimson blood on her white robes indelible even through many reincarnations; Little Butterfly in the Prime Minister's mansion, who bit her tongue to commit suicide to preserve her innocence, unwilling to be humiliated; Little Butterfly, who only recognized him and was forced to jump into a river...

Scene after scene, image after image, countless visuals surged relentlessly.

The vagueness of past lives suddenly became incredibly clear at this moment. Memories from those countless existences swept over him like a tide, submerging Lu Ye completely and making him feel suffocated.

So, this was already his tenth life!

So, Little Butterfly died because of him every single time!

What was this? Fate? Utterly ridiculous!

"Heh..." Lu Ye twitched the corner of his mouth. Beneath his calm gaze lay profound sorrow. He looked up at the moon, which was a crescent, incomplete, like his own many lives. "How dull!"

A ringing sound emerged. He held his long blade inverted, pointing it at his own heart, looking at the person before him, and softly said, "Little Butterfly, go slowly."

Ten cycles of reincarnation, and each time Little Butterfly died because of him. Now that the mist had finally cleared, he no longer wished to cling to life. He only wanted to reunite with Little Butterfly sooner in the next reincarnation.

Next time, he would never let the tragedy repeat!

Little Butterfly, who had already lost all signs of life, suddenly opened her eyes. For a moment, Lu Ye couldn't tell if it was his own illusion.

She smiled sweetly, raised her hand, grasped the hilt of the blade, and looked at Lu Ye with a grin: "Brother Ye, are you ready?"

Lu Ye smiled back, unwilling to even blink, and said with firm resolve, "I'm ready."

As he spoke, a pain shot through his chest as the long blade pierced him.

Little Butterfly laughed joyfully: "Brother Ye, the bond... it's complete!"

Blood spilled from Lu Ye's lips, and his face was blank with confusion: "What?"

Little Butterfly giggled, her expression one Lu Ye had never seen in ten cycles of reincarnation: "The bond, of course! Brother Ye, your willingness to die for me is the sign that the bond is complete. But your mind is truly strong; it took ten lives!"

Each separation by life and death in every reincarnation accelerated the growth of the bond. And, just as she said, only Lu Ye's willingness to actively sacrifice his life for her truly marked the completion of the bond.

The Insect Mother had previously used the Divine Source Illusory Sea to deal with captured human cultivators, primarily to extract information. Not to mention cultivators at the "Entering Dao" stage, even those at the "Fusing Dao" stage had fallen into her trap.

Yet, even that Fusing Dao cultivator from back then only endured five cycles of reincarnation.

Under her secret art, only Lu Ye had managed to endure ten cycles of reincarnation!

And he was only at the Entering Dao stage!

The Insect Mother had originally intended to kill Lu Ye after unearthing the secrets in his heart, as a mere Entering Dao cultivator wasn't of much use. But at this moment, she felt a trace of reluctance and changed her mind, secretly deciding to spare his life.

"Bond? What bond?" Lu Ye's chest ached intensely, yet despite the clearly fatal wound, he felt no sense of impending death, only a head full of questions.

"You'll know soon enough!" You Die playfully winked at him, then grasped his hands.

Lu Ye was astonished to find an incredibly close connection suddenly forming between himself and You Die. It wasn't a physical touch, but a spiritual resonance.

You Die's gaze was like an ocean, as if it could see through all the secrets in his heart at a glance.

With a boom...

A deafening roar erupted from the depths of his mind, and all confusion vanished at that moment.

With the bond complete, You Die could now probe Lu Ye's secrets. Consequently, all the illusions created earlier collapsed on their own.

Reality returned!

Lu Ye's pupils contracted sharply.

He finally remembered everything from before.

During a fierce battle at the Wind-rank outpost, he had been captured by Li Qi and taken to the Insect Nest to meet the Insect Mother!

He had been very wary of the Insect Mother, knowing she was skilled in soul power, so he had remained on guard upon entering the Insect Nest.

But he had no idea when he had fallen into her trap. The last scene in his true memory was a surge of faint blue, pure soul energy.

There was only one explanation for this: the Insect Mother was vastly more powerful than him, which allowed her to subtly draw him into those cycles of reincarnation.

He had originally thought he would meet the Insect Mother and had secretly decided that if she truly asked about the Crane Wing Array Mark, he would tell her directly. After all, preserving his life was paramount.

In any case, he was the core of the Crane Wing Formation, so leaking the array marks wouldn't be a major issue.

But he hadn't even met the Insect Mother; he had fallen into her trap the moment he entered the Insect Nest!

Although he wasn't sure what kind of secret art the Insect Mother had used, he could feel that she was currently prying into his secrets.

And this probing was something he couldn't stop!

All this must be related to the "bond" the Insect Mother had just mentioned!

There was now a very close connection between himself and the Insect Mother.

This was bad!

He had too many secrets, and others might be acceptable, but the Talent Tree absolutely could not be known by the Insect Mother. This was a treasure-level inheritance. If the Insect Mother found out, who knew what methods she might have to strip this inheritance from him.

What to do?

Although he didn't know the Insect Mother's cultivation level, from his previous experience alone, he could deduce that the gap between their strengths was too vast. And now that the bond was formed and the Insect Mother was probing him, he had no way to resist!

If he couldn't resist, how could he save his life?

In a flash, countless thoughts surged through Lu Ye's mind.

You Die in front of him was still smiling at him, clearly sensing something, but she didn't care. Instead, she spoke to comfort him: "Brother Ye, don't worry. I won't kill you. I couldn't bear to!"

An "Entering Dao" cultivator who could endure ten cycles of reincarnation under her secret art, if cultivated, had a promising future.

"I'm not worried!" Just then, Lu Ye suddenly smiled at her. "It's just that these ten lives have made me feel very sorry towards you."

You Die paused, then covered her mouth and chuckled, truly brimming with charm: "It's enough that Brother Ye has this sentiment. From now on, we won't have to be separated anymore."

"You don't want to be separated from me either?" Lu Ye raised an eyebrow, looking at her.

You Die nodded: "Of course." There was a hint of naive charm within her allure, which was truly captivating.

"Then Brother Ye will give you a gift!" Lu Ye grinned.

"What gift?" You Die was startled, then her expression changed drastically: "What is this?"

At some unknown moment, an array of intricate and complex patterns suddenly spread from Lu Ye's body. And because the two had not separated, in an instant, these patterns extended onto her body.

On Lu Ye's body, soul power surged, incredibly fierce!

You Die looked as if struck by lightning, and with a raised hand, she flung Lu Ye away.

However, it was already too late.

Upon examination, she saw that her body was covered in dense, intricate patterns, which had integrated into her very being.

Lu Ye awkwardly got up from the side, shaking his head: "As expected, the prettier a woman is, the less you can trust what she says. Just now you said you wouldn't separate from me, but now you've thrown me away. Brother Ye is very sad!"

"What exactly is this?" You Die glared at Lu Ye with a stern expression. She instinctively felt something was wrong. As a peak Fusing Dao cultivator, she naturally had studied Dao patterns, so she could confirm that the patterns on her body were indeed a type of Dao pattern. However, she had never seen anything like them.

And... how could an "Entering Dao" cultivator construct Dao patterns? And at such a speed, almost in the blink of an eye.

"Guess?" Lu Ye smiled at her, feeling quite confident and fearless.

He secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had this Dao pattern; otherwise, he might have truly been doomed this time.

Ever since he had derived the "Common Spirit, Connected Branches" Dao pattern with the help of the Talent Tree that day, Lu Ye had been focused. His previous spirit patterns were mostly unusable, not because they were useless, but because they couldn't withstand the impact of Dao power. To make them functional, he had to re-derive them, using the spirit patterns as a foundation to deduce higher-level Dao patterns.

So, in his spare time these days, Lu Ye had been continuously using the Talent Tree to re-derive spirit patterns.

Not much time had passed, and the number of re-derived Dao patterns wasn't large. The one he had just used was one of them.

Moreover, the bond played a crucial role in successfully constructing the Dao pattern on You Die so smoothly. It was precisely because of the deep bond between them that the construction was successful; otherwise, even with the Talent Tree, Lu Ye wouldn't have been able to engrave a Dao pattern on You Die.

You Die closed her eyes and probed for a moment, still unable to understand the function of this Dao pattern. Too lazy to ponder further, she raised her hand and struck a palm towards Lu Ye, sharply exclaiming, "A mere 'Entering Dao' cultivator dares to be so presumptuous!"

Although she was a mere separated soul, she was, after all, a separated soul from a peak Fusing Dao cultivator. She had previously shown some interest in Lu Ye and wanted to spare his life, but Lu Ye's action had undoubtedly angered her.

This strike was a lesson.

The palm strike seemed light, but it was actually a soul attack, as both she and Lu Ye were in soul form at that moment.

Everything around them was still just an illusion.

Under the force of the palm, Lu Ye grunted, and even his soul form became somewhat dim.

However, at the same time, a clattering sound emerged, and suddenly a chain appeared out of thin air. One end of the chain was connected to Lu Ye, and the other to You Die, like the bond of their ten cycles of reincarnation, making them inseparable.

As Lu Ye was injured, You Die's expression also changed, and her figure staggered slightly.

Her expression became incredibly complex, as half of the damage from her own palm strike had actually rebounded onto herself!