In Darkness, Heart Toward the Light

"They had already killed themselves when the two benefactors came in. Those beasts usually kept us chained up, only releasing us when they wanted to use us. They forced us to eat every day, so we had no way to kill ourselves."

"What about you? How did you—" Bibi Dong recalled what had happened to her and felt immense sympathy for the woman before her.

The gaunt woman shook her head, coughed twice, and only continued after catching her breath.

"I was one of the first ones taken. It has been nearly half a year. The women captured with me died long ago. Even the women taken afterward have all died. But I didn't want to die. I couldn't die. I had to live!"

"My child is still waiting for me at home. My family is still waiting for me to return. If I die, what will happen to them? His father was already killed by them, but he is still so young. My child can't lose his mother too."

"So I kept holding on, holding on, hoping someone would come save us and kill all those beasts. I always believed that there was more light than darkness in this world. Fortunately, I waited long enough. The two benefactors came..."

At that point, the woman could no longer hold back her grief and broke down sobbing.

A mother's love was great. Her incomparably powerful will to survive had kept this mother alive.

Women may be weak, but mothers are strong!

Though she was trapped in a darkness that devoured hearts and souls, she had never stopped yearning for the salvation of warmth and light.

Bibi Dong patted the poor woman's back and used her Spiritual Power to put her to sleep.

They had shared similar experiences, yet this woman had suffered far more than she had. She possessed the Twin Martial Souls of supreme talent, was a Super Douluo favored by the gods, and could personally slay her enemies with her own strength.

But what about this woman? She was merely an ordinary woman without the strength to even tie up a chicken.

Yet she was far stronger than Bibi Dong...

Was there truly more light than darkness?

Xia Tianling stepped forward and hugged Bibi Dong, whispering into her ear.

"Godmother, you still have me, Sister Xue, and Senior Sister Hu Liena. Promise me you won't give up on yourself, all right?"

Bibi Dong felt the powerful heartbeat of the person before her, her expression somewhat dazed.

Six years ago, he had only been a child reaching her waist. Now, he had nearly become a "man" as tall as she was.

Yes, he was right.

That beast was already dead, but she still had Little Xue, Lena, and Tianling. There was still so much beauty in this world.

Was the obsession I had clung to for more than ten years really right?

Perhaps I really should try letting it go.

"Rakshasa's Sixth Trial: Comprehend the true meaning of [evil]. Passed. Reward: Rakshasa affinity increased by twenty percent. Current total affinity: one hundred percent."

"Rakshasa's Seventh Trial."

A cold voice rang out in Bibi Dong's mind.

So she had been walking the wrong path all along. Rakshasa should be a god who controlled and judged evil, not a god who became evil.

Just like the Asura God—using evil to restrain evil!

The Rakshasa's Sixth Trial that had troubled her for a full six years had turned out to be this.

"Ding. Bibi Dong's life trajectory has undergone a drastic change through the host's actions. She has perfectly inherited and surpassed the original Rakshasa God Position, obtaining a massive amount of Fate Power. A special notification has been issued due to the excessive amount."

Perfectly inherited and surpassed it? It seemed Bibi Dong had finally come to terms with it?

Still holding Bibi Dong, Xia Tianling looked utterly stunned. He had never expected that, by sheer coincidence, he would resolve Bibi Dong's inner turmoil. From what the system said, it seemed that Bibi Dong in the Original Work had not perfectly inherited the power of the god position?

"Yes, Host. In the original timeline, Bibi Dong incorrectly understood the concept of Rakshasa, resulting in an imperfect fusion with the god position. The god position, originally a dimensional singularity, had undergone certain changes in nature after being impacted by the immense Power of Faith accumulated over tens of thousands of years. This affected Bibi Dong's thinking, and combined with the evil within her, ultimately turned her completely into a puppet of Rakshasa Divine Power."

"So, after Bibi Dong inherits the god position now, there won't be the drastic personality change she had in the later stages of the Original Work?"

"Yes. Bibi Dong has correctly understood the meaning of Rakshasa. Her understanding of power even surpasses that of the previous Rakshasa God."

Whew, that was good. Xia Tianling let out a long breath in relief. His efforts had not been in vain after all.

Six full years of effort had finally resolved the ticking time bomb that was Bibi Dong.

After a long while, Bibi Dong pushed her disciple away, and her aura surged.

Having let go of her obsession, her thoughts now flowed freely, and her Soul Power rose by an entire rank.

Unlike before, there was no longer that unsettling malice surrounding her.

"Thank you, Tianling. If it weren't for you, I probably would have walked down a very dark path." Bibi Dong looked at the youth before her, immensely grateful that she had accepted him as her disciple in the first place.

"It's good that you let it go. People always have to look forward." Xia Tianling smiled. "Since you've let it go, why not have Sister Xue cancel her undercover mission as well?"

Bibi Dong rolled her eyes at him and said irritably,

"Have you trained yourself stupid? Wasn't that canceled years ago?"

Xia Tianling hurriedly checked the system records and, sure enough, found a notification from four years ago about Qian Renxue's altered life trajectory. At the time, he had been preoccupied with the failure to condense his Nascent Soul and the absence of heavenly tribulation. Qian Renxue seemed to have mentioned it to him, but he apparently... forgot.

All he could do was scratch his head awkwardly and stand off to the side, grinning foolishly as he played dumb.

Thinking about it carefully, whenever he had gone to the Worship Hall over the past few years, he could always see Qian Renxue there. Yet he had never once found it suspicious.

"After the undercover mission was canceled four years ago, we had Little Xue fake her death and withdraw. Not long afterward, news came from the Heavenly Dou Empire that Crown Prince Xue Qinghe had died in an accident, and that the imperial family's only direct heir, Fourth Prince Xue Beng, had been named crown prince."

"Still, it's rather amusing. After Xue Beng became crown prince, he seemed like a completely different person. He went straight from being an idle, good-for-nothing playboy to a diligent and studious imperial son. Tsk, tsk. He was probably afraid Little Xue would kill him. It really wasn't easy for the kid to keep up the act for so many years."

Eh? Xue Beng had reverted to his true nature after becoming crown prince? Without him and Prince Xue Xing standing in their way, Little San and the others would probably become students of Imperial Dou Academy.

Hehe, now that would be interesting. He wondered whether Yu Xiaogang and Flender would still meet Liu Erlong again.

With everything settled, there was no reason to remain here any longer.

The master and disciple left that filthy place with the sleeping woman.

Before leaving, however, Xia Tianling burned those small houses to ashes with a single fire.

First, it was to clean up the battlefield and prevent the corpses from rotting and causing infectious diseases later. The Black Death on the Europa Continent during the Middle Ages and the plagues of ancient Huaxia had both been terrifying.

Second, it was to completely incinerate the blood, corpses, and everything else belonging to those Evil Soul Masters. Who knew whether there were any Evil Soul Masters who could manipulate corpses like Necromancers? Wouldn't the bodies of powerful Soul Masters make perfect materials?