Future Beast World: Becoming A Pampered Beauty-Chapter 283 - 222: Witnessing Nirvana

"How could it possibly be uglier than those Blood Puppet Demons?" Sang Luo interjected. She’d been through a lot; something like this wouldn’t scare her.

’Besides, Fei Yuan is only in this state because he saved me...’ A dull ache spread through Sang Luo’s heart, and she was overcome with sorrow. How could she possibly care about something so trivial?

"No, not that ugly," Si Ye admitted, relieved to see Sang Luo was prepared. He reached out and stroked her hair. "If you really want to go, shall I take you?"

Sang Luo shook her head. "No, it’s fine. I’ll just go and come right back. I want to see if Fei Yuan is all right. Undergoing Nirvana twice in less than a year must have taken a significant toll on his body."

’Fei Yuan always hides himself far away whenever he undergoes Nirvana, not letting anyone know. He must not want anyone to see him in such a wretched state... I can’t imagine how much it must hurt...’

Si Ye had only found out about the location by chance. The last time, Fei Yuan had been worried something would happen to Sang Luo while he was in Nirvana, so he’d told Si Ye where to find him in case of an emergency.

...

「A mountain ridge cliff.」

Sang Luo gazed at the surrounding mountains, which coiled around a place blessed with exceptionally rare and abundant Spiritual Energy.

A place like this should have been teeming with powerful Star Beasts, but she hadn’t seen so much as a single strand of their fur on her way here. The mountains seemed to be completely deserted.

Not far off, many trees had been incinerated by flames, and a large, dark crater marred the ground.

Sang Luo teleported over instantly. There was no one inside the deep crater, only vast patches of black ash.

Scattered over the ashes were a few enormous, jet-black feathers, faintly shimmering with a crimson, fiery energy. ’They’re Fei Yuan’s feathers!’

Sang Luo bent down, collected the feathers, and stored them in her personal space. She then noticed more feathers scattered here and there on the ground ahead, most of them broken.

She didn’t need to use her spiritual power to search. Following the trail of scattered feathers, she soon arrived before a massive stone cave.

A barrier had been erected outside the cave.

His barriers had never been effective against her.

Sang Luo paused for a moment, clutched the black feather in her hand, and walked inside.

The light from outside barely penetrated the cave’s interior. The surroundings grew progressively dimmer and more profound, and in the profound darkness, one’s senses were heightened to their absolute peak.

"Ugh..."

A suppressed gasp echoed from an inner cavern deeper inside, like the roar of a caged beast.

"Fei Yuan!"

Sang Luo’s heart clenched, and she teleported toward the sound.

But she stopped just half a step from the entrance to the inner cavern.

"Get out!"

The man’s voice was chillingly hoarse, unlike anything she had ever heard from him.

Her probing spiritual power was completely repelled, but not before she caught a glimpse of the scene within. Her pupils contracted in horror, and a terrible anguish seized her heart.

’So this is what he looks like during Nirvana... No wonder...’

The man who was normally as magnificent as the clear moon, seated high above all, was now slumped in a dark, unseen corner. His current form was neither fully human nor beast, but a grotesque mix—half-man, half-bird. His old feathers were molting, peeling away in mottled patches, while new, sharp quills tore through his flesh as they grew in. To call it hideously ugly would be no exaggeration.

Countless rivulets of blood streamed down his raw, peeling skin, converging into winding trickles that had long since soaked the ground beneath him.

The moment she’d looked with her spiritual power, Fei Yuan had sensed it. He’d shielded himself with his wings, blocking her prying gaze and revealing only a single, scarlet, beast-like eye that stared intently at the entrance.

"It’s me."

Her soft voice drifted from outside the cavern.

Hearing her voice, the scarlet in Fei Yuan’s eye faded slightly, replaced by a flicker of apprehension.

’She... how did she find this place...?’

He pulled his wings in tighter. He softened his voice, but it couldn’t hide the suppressed tremor running through it. "Little Luoruo, don’t come any closer. The way I look right now... it’s a bit unsightly."

Hearing his weak voice filled Sang Luo with even more heartache and self-recrimination. In all the time she had known Fei Yuan, she had never seen him like this. And yet, every time he was at his weakest and most wretched, he would hide himself away so no one could see.

"No matter how you look, you’re the father of my child. You’re my Beast Husband! Do you really think I’d be disgusted by you at a time like this?"

Sang Luo said in a huff.

She had no idea that her words struck Fei Yuan’s heart like a boulder hitting the surface of a lake, sending massive ripples spreading through him.

His breath caught in his throat.

"Little Luoruo, say that again. I... didn’t quite hear you."

His voice was still raspy, but it now seemed to hold a hint of a smile.

It was starting to sound more like his usual self.

Though Sang Luo couldn’t see him, an image of Fei Yuan’s usual smiling face appeared in her mind, a faint blush on his cheeks. ’You are my...’

She had never verbally acknowledged him as her Beast Husband, but in her heart... if this whole incident hadn’t happened, she would have acknowledged him as such long ago.

"You’re the biological father of the child in my belly, so of course that makes you my proper Beast Husband."

Her voice wasn’t loud, but Fei Yuan heard every word. The smile in his tone became more distinct. "But you call your other Beast Husbands so affectionately, so sweetly. With me, it’s always just ’Fei Yuan.’ Every time you look for me, you’re either ordering me to do this or bossing me to do that. It... can make a king feel a little heartbroken, you know..."

He said it in a seemingly joking tone.

Yet it held a subtle, probing question.

After he managed to get out such a "long" sentence, Sang Luo heard him draw a sharp, quiet breath.

Sang Luo’s nose tingled with emotion. In all the time she had known Fei Yuan, he had always treated everything with a detached air, as if nothing in the world could truly capture his attention. Even when he led his troops to invade the Void Demon Realm, he had been utterly nonchalant. The only time he had ever mentioned the word "pain" was when he spoke of Nirvana.

The agony he endured as his entire body regenerated its flesh and blood was beyond what any ordinary person could imagine.

"Ah Yuan, I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help you right now?"

Hearing her murmur those two words so softly, Fei Yuan’s heart fluttered. He let out a low chuckle. "What are you apologizing to me for?"

"It’s all my fault. I was reckless and fell into their trap, and because of me, you lost another Nirvana Life."

"You suffered that unprovoked disaster because you are carrying my child. This was something I had to do."

Sang Luo shook her head, her eyes growing moist. "If I hadn’t asked you to save Ah Ze, they never would have targeted you and our child. I... I still owe you a life!"

"...I gave you that life willingly. You don’t need to pay me back."

"I can’t just accept a life from you for nothing!"

"Heh, if you insist on owing me, then so be it. But there’s no need to ever repay it..." Fei Yuan’s soft laughter reached her ears. Sang Luo heard a faint rustling from within the cave; he seemed to have shifted closer to the edge, his voice now nearer, as if separated from her by only a thin stone wall. "A relationship built on a little debt is far more memorable, don’t you think, Little Luoruo?"

Before she could answer, he added in a low voice, "You don’t have to do anything. Just sit there at the entrance and stay with me for a while."

Sang Luo took a few steps forward, but looking into the cavern, all she could see was pitch-black darkness. She couldn’t make out a thing.

She felt around for a relatively flat spot on the ground, took a thin blanket out of her personal space, and spread it out. Then, she sat down, leaning her back against the cold, hard stone wall.

"Okay," she said. "I’ll stay here with you. However long your Nirvana takes, that’s how long I’ll stay."