"Th-this pill..."
Gu Yuena held the pill in her mouth. As she tasted that familiar flavor, a trace of confusion flickered in her purple eyes.
She remembered that taste.
In her Previous Life, when she had been gravely wounded and on the verge of dissipating, someone had fed her the very same pill.
Its warm energy had not only saved her life, but also given her the only light she could feel in the endless darkness.
Yet when she finally succeeded in taking revenge, she discovered that only the heartless husband who had killed her on their wedding night could refine this pill anywhere on the continent.
Even every stroke of good fortune she had encountered had been his doing.
Why? Why had he killed her, only to save her afterward?
Everything in her life had been part of his scheme.
Even her killing him in the end had been one part of his plan.
At the thought, Gu Yuena suddenly began struggling violently, desperately trying to spit out the pill. But Tang Yuehua held her chin and forced her to swallow it.
All she could do was lift her head and glare at Su Ling, tears silently running down her cheeks.
"Why? Why is it you again? Why do you have to save me again?"
"Hey! Shengyan, tell me, what am I to you?"
Gu Yuena desperately tried to scream, but Tang Yuehua clamped a hand over her mouth. All she could manage was a muffled, mournful whimper.
Level 3... Level 4... Level 5... Gu Yuena's cultivation surged rapidly, and the pill continuously awakened her bloodline.
At the same time, the bones in her twisted right hand snapped back into place. The swelling quickly faded, restoring its original slender, pale appearance, and the scales grew back along her tail.
But Gu Yuena couldn't feel the slightest joy. She desperately pounded her hand, trying to stop the injury from healing.
Because it all came from the man she hated to the depths of her soul.
The man who had once given her warmth, then personally cast her into the abyss.
"H-how is this possible?!" Tang Yuehua stared in shock as the Crystal Ball shattered with a crash from the overwhelming Soul Power. Her expression was a sight to behold.
She had watched a Slave with barely any Soul Power break through to Level 10 in the blink of an eye—and even surpass it.
It completely overturned everything she knew about Martial Soul cultivation.
But when she saw Gu Yuena begin to hurt herself, Tang Yuehua immediately came to her senses and hurried forward to stop her. "Stop!"
"Let go of me!" Gu Yuena cried hoarsely. "Shengyan... you liar! Butcher! Do you think this can make up for everything you've done?"
Su Ling paid no heed to Gu Yuena. Instead, he turned to Tang Yuehua and said calmly, "Her bloodline is a little unusual, so the effects will be better."
"Leave those pills with you to be auctioned. If there's nothing else, I'll be going."
With that, he turned and headed for the door.
Tang Yuehua had originally wanted to buy all the pills herself, but when she saw Su Ling's dark expression, she could only bow respectfully. "Safe travels, sir. Yuehua will not let you down."
"W-wait..." When Gu Yuena saw that Su Ling was really leaving, an indescribable panic suddenly welled up inside her.
She stumbled after him, but a maid pressed her to the floor.
She struggled to lift her head, her silver hair strewn across the ground and tears welling in her purple eyes. "Shengyan... please! Don't leave me again... I'm so scared..."
The young girl's voice broke with sobs as she gazed at Su Ling's back, her face full of misery.
Although she had hated him to the depths of her soul just moments ago, now that Shengyan was truly leaving, she felt a loneliness and terror unlike anything she had ever known.
Su Ling stopped, but didn't turn around. He merely said in an even voice:
"I'm not the Shengyan you're talking about, and I don't know anyone by that name."
At his words, the light in Gu Yuena's eyes faded completely.
She curled up on the floor, her silver hair spread out like a waterfall, her small body trembling uncontrollably.
Her tears fell like pearls from a broken string, soaking the cold floor.
"Waaah..." Gu Yuena lowered her head in anguish.
She had never felt such despair. Not even the countless torments and abuses she had suffered these past few days had hurt a fraction as much as this heartbreak.
That was right! None of it had happened yet.
To him, she was nothing but a stranger.
How could he possibly understand her despair and helplessness?
The boy who used to comfort her would never come back.
Su Ling had barely left the auction house when a man in a black robe, dressed much like him, blocked his way.
The man was tall and imposing, with a stern face. His icy, slit-pupiled eyes were fixed intently on Su Ling.
The two stood facing each other for a long while without saying a word.
Su Ling had no fondness for Di Tian. In his Previous Life, it was Di Tian's malicious goading that led Gu Yuena to decide to attack the human world.
That had ultimately caused his father, mother, grandfather, Qian Renxue, Ye Lingling, and every other person he cared about to die at the hands of the Soul Beasts.
In fact, his role in his previous life had amounted to little more than that of a despicable villain who helped Gu Yuena out of trouble early on, only to betray her at a critical moment and ultimately get killed by her.
But he would not let it happen again. He would not rest in peace until every last Soul Beast was slaughtered.
Otherwise, even if he could live through it all again, he would have no face to meet those who had died because of him.
"Move," Su Ling said coldly, a trace of murderous intent flashing in his eyes.
"What did you give her to eat? And what did you do to her?"
Di Tian's voice was low, tinged with restrained anger.
He had never seen his young mistress cry so bitterly.
These past few days, no matter how cruel the torture she endured, Gu Yuena had always maintained her haughty bearing.
But now, she was curled up on the ground like an abandoned child, sobbing her heart out.
Di Tian could no longer keep his composure.
"I'll say it again. Move! Or... die!"
Su Ling's golden eyes abruptly turned scarlet.
The Destruction God Armor sensed its Host's will and began to awaken on its own.
The blue sky was soon swallowed by a deep purple hue. Vast Destruction Divine Power surged around Su Ling, forming bolts of dark purple lightning.
He began to levitate, his robes billowing despite the still air, as a terrifying pressure spread in every direction like a tide.
The pedestrians on the street fled in terror, while the doors and windows of the shops shuddered violently in the surging energy.
"Host... Host... calm down!"
"If you kill Di Tian, the Silver Dragon King's true body will awaken very soon. Then we'll definitely be killed!"
The system's anxious voice rang out in Su Ling's mind.
"Calm down? How am I supposed to stay calm?"
"You still haven't told me why Gu Yuena is here. How much else are you hiding from me?!" Su Ling roared in his mind.
"Host, listen to me. I didn't know about Gu Yuena either."
"But after looking into it, it seems that the Silver Dragon King's Divine Incarnation and Humanity Incarnation had a falling-out."
"That's what caused the Humanity Incarnation to be separated, becoming the Gu Yuena we see now," the system quickly explained.
"Also, if this Split Soul can become a god, the true body will immediately devour it. If it can't, then at least it can sever this attachment."
"So, in theory, that child was abandoned by herself..."
Before you continue