Gu Yuena's Regret

"Why... why did it have to be like this?!"

The woman collapsed to the ground, her three thousand strands of silver hair spilling across the earth. Her peerless face was filled with agony, and her bright purple eyes had long since dimmed, brimming with endless grief and disbelief.

Within her field of vision, the entire Star Dou Great Forest was drenched in blood-red. The once lush trees now looked as though they had been stained by crimson paint.

Scattered throughout the forest were corpses and severed limbs, all of them the remains of Soul Beasts!

A corpse the size of a small mountain was nearly buried beneath scattered rubble. The faintly visible Dark Gold fur had been soaked in blood. It was a bear—a Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear, a kingly existence among Soul Beasts. Yet now, he no longer showed any sign of life. Even his proud, razor-sharp giant claws had been forcibly cut off.

The Swan that had once given the Soul Beasts hope now lay among the corpses as well. Her snow-white feathers were stained with blood, no longer sacred, while her body, once brimming with life energy, was deathly still. With her wings spread, she could once have given the Soul Beasts the warmest light and healed all wounds. But now, her broken wings could never unfold again, and even her unparalleled healing ability could not make her stand back up.

Other beings of similar strength had also died here. The five-meter-long Giant Mastiff had three heads and thus six eyes, yet every one of those six eyes had been cruelly gouged out.

There were countless other Soul Beast corpses as well, brutally slaughtered, their broken limbs scattered throughout the forest. The blood of every kind of Soul Beast flowed across the woods. This was no longer the Soul Beasts' final paradise. It had become a veritable hell for Soul Beasts!

Most eye-catching of all was the black giant dragon, nearly a thousand meters long. Its enormous body lay sprawled in the middle of the forest. The abyss-like aura it had once possessed was still terrifying, but there was no longer the slightest trace of life. What drew the eye was not merely its massive size, but its miserable state. The once lifelike scales covering its huge body had lost their former luster. About half its tail had been severed, and its body had been cut apart three times into four pieces: once at the tail, once across the waist, and the final cut had sliced along its neck, severing its entire head.

Yet its enormous dragon head still had its eyes open, unwilling to die! Its Dark Gold pupils were filled with indignation and rage, without a trace of fear, despite the brutal torment it had suffered before death.

The bright moon hanging in the sky no longer retained a hint of white, radiating only a murderous red glow. Beneath the moonlight, the blood-red rivers reflected the crimson moon, creating an exceptionally eerie sight.

The mournful night breeze, mixed with the stench of blood, gently brushed against Gu Yuena's pale face. Only then did some life return to her vacant expression.

"Must you really exterminate us all?"

Several streaks of blood still marked Gu Yuena's exquisite face, but at this moment, she no longer cared.

A man stood atop the giant dragon's head. Under the moonlight, half his face was exposed. His handsome features were splattered with blood that did not belong to him, his expression cold and contemptuous, his eyes filled with frenzied killing intent.

One foot was pressed fiercely against one of the dragon head's horns, while one hand held a blade. The blade's original color had long been obscured by blood, though its distinctive Dragon Clan patterns remained clearly visible. Blood continued to drip from its tip.

'Tang Wulin' shook his head coldly. "I never intended for this to happen. If you had obediently listened, you could still have become our Tang Clan's daughter-in-law, and your Soul Beast race could have been spared a sliver of hope. But now that you seem to have remembered something, I can only do this."

"As for exterminating you all?"

'Tang Wulin' snorted, then lowered his head slightly and looked at the massive dragon corpse. "These Soul Beasts aren't as easy to fool as you are. They're much smarter. If one day they start whispering in your ear again and ruin our plans, that would be troublesome."

Gu Yuena did not reply. She merely looked at the figure in her arms. It was a man, but a bloody hole had been carved through his chest, and he no longer had any breath.

Gu Yuena's body trembled without stopping. She stared blankly at her blood-covered palms and muttered, "I... I'm sorry..."

'Tang Wulin' looked at the man in Gu Yuena's arms and said disdainfully, "Regretting it now is a little late, isn't it? When you chose between him and Wulin just now, you didn't act like this."

"If you hadn't sealed my memories, how could this have happened? This is the despicable nature of you human gods!" Gu Yuena raised her grief-stricken eyes. Her eye sockets were blood-red as she shouted herself hoarse.

"Despicable? Hahaha!" 'Tang Wulin' laughed and shook his head. "You are the dignified Silver Dragon King. Even if I am a God King, how could I so easily seal your memories?"

He swept his gaze over Gu Yuena with amusement before lowering his head and speaking softly. "If you had fully accepted the memories of your human incarnation, Na'er, perhaps you would have remembered long ago. What a pity. Because you feared becoming entangled with the man in your arms and affecting your feelings for Wulin, you voluntarily filtered out those memories when you fused with her, didn't you?"

After a pause, he added teasingly, "And besides, you killed him with your own hands. What is there to regret now?"

Seeing the mockery in 'Tang Wulin's' eyes, all of Gu Yuena's anger vanished in an instant. She immediately became dejected, staring lifelessly at the man's face in her arms.

How earnestly had the man before her once tried to persuade her!

"Gu Yuena, you are merely attracted by the Golden Dragon King bloodline, not by so-called love. If you continue down this path, the Dragon Clan will only become pawns."

But she had only looked impatient and replied coldly, "What I love has never been the Golden Dragon King bloodline. It is him!"

"And what happens to the Dragon Clan has nothing to do with an outsider like you!"

And in the end, she had stubbornly acted alone. Without even investigating, she had subjectively concluded that he was slaughtering Soul Beasts. Between Tang Wulin and him, she had chosen the former instead of him, and had even killed him with her own hands!

Yes. He had approached her countless times. If only she had taken a single step forward, there would not have been this ending today. Yet the countless steps he took toward her had been met only by her endless retreat. She had not awakened until her feet stood at a cliff's edge and her back faced the Abyss—but by then, it was far too late...

"Enough. There is no need to be sad." 'Tang Wulin' chuckled. "Be Wulin's woman obediently and forget all of this."

But as 'Tang Wulin' continuously approached her, Gu Yuena did not react. Only when he arrived before her did she raise her head, her purple eyes filled with resolute sorrow.

"The Dragon Clan will never be slaves!"

Gu Yuena seemed to have made up her mind. She gently laid down the man in her arms, rose to her feet, and seven-colored light began to flicker around her body.

'Tang Wulin's' expression changed, and his face darkened. "Even if I erase your memories, I would at least spare your life. If you do this now, you won't even be able to preserve the Soul Beasts' final foundation."

"The mistake I made can no longer be remedied, but I will never yield the Dragon Clan's final dignity!"

Under the moonlight, Gu Yuena's figure seemed even more desolate. Her three thousand silver strands floated gently in the air as the seven-colored light around her gradually enveloped her body.

"Stubborn fool!"

'Tang Wulin' cursed angrily. Seeing that there was no way to save the situation, he swiftly flew into the distance.

Gu Yuena took one final look at the corpses strewn across the Star Dou Great Forest, tears filling her purple eyes.

She turned back for one last glance at the man lying on the ground. A tear fell from her eye, cycling through nine colors as it descended, until it struck the ground and shattered into countless Nine-Colored droplets.

Countless memories flickered continuously through Gu Yuena's mind:

There had been his protection during all those competitions in their youth, and how her excessive attention toward Tang Wulin had caused him to be injured time and again.

There had been his desolate back whenever he was rejected time after time, whenever he was not chosen.

There had been the relieved look in his eyes during their final exchange of glances.

Only to repay a debt, he had protected her so many times, even losing his life in the end. But he had never owed anyone anything!

At that moment, the seven-colored light spread instantly, quickly enveloping the entire Star Dou Great Forest.

"Xiuran, if there is a next life, let me be the one to walk toward you, okay?"

Let me explain first: the protagonist of this book is no longer a simp. Those were merely Gu Yuena's subjective assumptions. And in truth, the protagonist had not died in his previous life either. Everything was only what Gu Yuena believed.