Chapter 349: Chapter 347: Apology

Lana remained unconscious for a long time.

When she finally opened her eyes, the familiar ceiling of the apartment greeted her.

Axel, who had been sitting nearby, noticed immediately. His jaw tightened, and he clenched his teeth, but he did not speak.

Instead, he silently handed her a glass of water.

Lana blinked, still disoriented, before understanding what had happened.

A relieved smile spread across her face as she accepted the glass.

“Thank God you are alright. How are you now? Do you feel any pain?”

Axel said nothing.

But Lana was far too overjoyed to notice.

“I was truly scared when I heard you used a forbidden art,” she continued, her voice filled with lingering fear. “You were so reckless. Why would you do something like that?”

The more she spoke, the more aggrieved she felt.

She reached out and held Axel’s hand tightly. “Next time, if you dare use a forbidden art again, I definitely won’t talk to you for the rest of…”

She stopped mid-sentence. Axel was looking at her calmly. Too calmly.

It was only then that Lana realized… He hadn’t spoken to her at all.

Rather, he was looking at her coldly.

Not the usual quiet sternness she was familiar with, but a distant, chilling indifference that made the air between them feel heavier than stone.

Lana paused, her fingers tightening slightly around the blanket. “Did something happen? Why aren’t you replying to me?”

Her voice came out softer than she intended, almost cautious.

Receiving no answer, she turned her head and looked toward Mr. Crow. He was lying beside her, his black feathers unusually still, his sharp eyes fixed on her with the same numb expression.

A strange tingling spread through Lana’s scalp.

’…I messed up.’

She knew it instantly. Otherwise, neither of them would be looking at her like this.

She forced a wry smile, trying to lighten the suffocating silence.

“Even if I made a mistake, shouldn’t you at least tell me what I did wrong?”

From her perspective, she had not done anything wrong.

She had fought the ghost. She had tried to save everyone. She had even used her healing art to save Axel. So why was he acting like this?

Axel stared at her for a long moment before finally speaking. “Do you genuinely not understand?”

Lana hesitated, then slowly nodded.

Axel let out a deep breath, the kind that carried exhaustion more than anger. “You tried to overpower a ten-thousand-year-old ghost.”

Lana’s eyes widened instantly. “A… ten-thousand-year-old ghost?”

From her perspective, she had only fought a terrifying spirit that looked powerful. She had never imagined its age could be that absurd.

“I thought it was just… a strong ghost,” she muttered. “I didn’t know it was that old.”

Then, as if trying to justify herself, she added quickly, “But it’s alright, isn’t it? Even if it was that old, we still defeated it…”

Axel raised a hand to his forehead, resisting the urge to tap her head just to check what was going on inside it.

“You think that was alright?” His voice sharpened. “Do you even know what happens to Earth-ranked cultivators who try to fight something like that?”

Lana stiffened.

“They explode,” Axel continued flatly. “They go far beyond their limits and their souls collapse under the pressure.”

Her eyes widened further.

“And you weren’t even fighting it physically,” he added, his gaze darkening. “You were confronting it in spiritual form. Do you understand how dangerous that is?”

The room grew unbearably quiet.

“Once a soul explodes,” Axel went on, his tone turning grave, “it cannot be pieced back together for a millennium. Maybe longer. No one truly knows what happens after a soul completely shatters. Whether it reforms… or disappears forever.”

Lana fell silent.

The weight of those words pressed down on her chest.

Only then did she realize… He had not been angry because she disobeyed him.

He had been afraid.

’If I died… my soul would remain, and he could still reach me… But if my soul had exploded… I would have vanished completely.’

A faint warmth stirred in her heart despite the heaviness.

Mr. Crow suddenly hopped onto her lap, his claws pressing lightly against the fabric as he looked up at her seriously.

“I understand you get soft-hearted sometimes,” he spoke in a measured tone. “You feel responsible for the futures you’ve tried to change. But you must understand something.”

His eyes narrowed slightly.

“Heroic instincts do not always save you. Sometimes they destroy you.”

Lana blinked in confusion.

Axel spoke again, this time more quietly. “Do you even know the condition your body is in right now?”

She shook her head.

“You’ve damaged nearly all your internal organs,” he continued. “It’s already difficult for your body to function normally.”

Lana froze. That couldn’t be right. She quickly tried to sense her condition. At first, she felt nothing.

No pain. But when she looked deeper within herself, her breath hitched.

Her meridians were cracked. Her internal energy pathways were unstable. The damage was far worse than she had imagined.

Mr. Crow added,

“Not only that. Your soul is seriously injured. You may not feel it now, but soon you will. If you don’t begin cultivating as a soul cultivator, you will experience unbearable pain every half-moon.”

Lana’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“How… how can that be? I was just trying to save people. Why is the price so high?”

Axel looked at her steadily.

“You wanted to save everyone. That choice came at the cost of your own body. Are you satisfied now?”

Lana lowered her head.

She shook it slowly.

Seeing that, Axel sighed, some of the tension finally leaving his shoulders.

“I understand your intentions,” he murmured. “But you must understand something too. Feeling like you must destroy everything in front of you doesn’t grant you miraculous strength. Reality doesn’t work that way.”

Lana nodded quietly.

Axel reached out and rubbed her head, his touch firm but gentle.

“From now on, never think of confronting a ghost directly again. It’s far more dangerous than you think.”

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