"Then do you hate her?" Snow Empress asked. But as soon as she did, she already knew the answer. If he truly hated her, he wouldn't have been keeping Xiao Wu so well fed and comfortable.
Lin Ye slowly shook his head, his voice low. "I wouldn't say I hate her.
"To be honest, I even admire her a little. How could someone do so much for another person, to the point of not caring about her own life?"
Influenced by the society he had lived in during his previous life, Lin Ye had always scoffed at romance, vows of eternal love, and all that.
He believed that when men and women got together, it was nothing more than dopamine secretion driving biological instinct, with emotion overpowering reason.
Put plainly, it meant thinking with your lower half and getting carried away.
But Xiao Wu's story had deeply moved him.
Had Xiao Wu's sacrifice helped? Yes, but not by much.
Even so, she had still chosen to do it.
What is love, that it makes people pledge their lives to one another?
Lin Ye suddenly thought of that line, but immediately afterward, he laughed at himself.
What the heck? How could he have such a ridiculous thought?
That rabbit was simply stupid. Someone had sold her, and she'd been happy about it—then turned around and complained that they hadn't gotten enough money for her.
"Hey, what did you mean by 'Original Historical Trajectory' just now? And the thing you said about Xiao Wu—shouldn't that happen in the future?" Lin Qiu'er asked.
She'd been wondering about it earlier, but she'd been listening to the story and hadn't had the chance to ask.
Lin Ye: "..."
This girl didn't seem very bright.
After thinking for a moment, Lin Ye started making things up.
"In the future, I'll master peerless divine arts, stand alone throughout the ages, and be invincible across the universe. But having no opponents will be pretty dull, so I'll shatter the void and return to the present to experience life's colorful variety all over again."
"Pah, what a load of nonsense. Aren't you afraid the wind will blow so hard it'll make you bite your tongue?" Lin Qiu'er curled her lip.
She said that, but in truth, she didn't think Lin Ye's words were entirely unbelievable.
After all, she'd met Lin Ye a thousand years ago, and back then, he'd already been an adult.
After that encounter, she'd never seen him again. A thousand years had passed, and she'd assumed he'd long since died of old age.
She hadn't expected to see him again—and this fellow had even returned to his youth, becoming a child.
So she thought there was some truth to Lin Ye having come back from the future.
"Then tell me what happens to me in the future." Once Lin Qiu'er believed that Lin Ye had come from the future, she eagerly wanted to hear about her own future from him.
After recalling the plot of Douluo Dalu II, Lin Ye said, "For a long time, your life in the future doesn't change at all. Every day, you eat and sleep, then wake up and eat."
Lin Qiu'er's face darkened. The way he put it made her sound like a useless glutton.
"One day, ten thousand years from now, while you're hunting in the Star Dou Great Forest, you'll run into an old man and a child. The old man will beat you up badly."
"Impossible! Who would dare beat me up in the Star Dou Great Forest?" Lin Qiu'er leaped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
Lin Ye spread his hands. "But that's what happens."
"Then why does he beat me up? And what about Scarlet King? What about Di Tian and the others?" Lin Qiu'er pressed him.
"That old man is a level-98 Titled Douluo. Scarlet King is no match for him, and by the time Scarlet King reacts, you've already been captured.
"As for why he beats you up, that's a long story. Basically, the child traveling with the old man gets lost. You happen to show up just then, so the old man thinks you killed the child and beats you up badly.
"But really, he plans to kill you with a single slap. Luckily, you've got some ability, or you'd have been turned into a meat patty."
"Damn humans!"
Lin Qiu'er was furious. Anyone would be upset at being beaten up for no reason, and that old man had even tried to take her life.
"Don't get too worked up. That's not the end of it. After the old man captures you, the child comes back, too.
"The misunderstanding is cleared up, but the old man still has no intention of letting you go. He uses you as a hostage to force Scarlet King to catch a Soul Beast and give it to the child as a Soul Ring.
"After that, the old man forcibly makes your attributes resonate with the child's, and takes some of your power of destiny."
"Damn it, bastard..."
By this point, Lin Qiu'er was utterly enraged.
Every hair on her body stood on end, her Killing Intent surged, and her eyes held a ferocity she'd never shown before.
Her power of destiny was her Reverse Scale. No one was allowed to touch it. Anyone who dared would die.
"Lin Ye, tell me the names of that old man and the child, and where I can find them in the future."
Lin Qiu'er decided she would go and eliminate those two damn humans herself.
They hadn't known each other, and neither had bothered the other. But the moment he appeared, the old man had tried to kill her. How could she not be furious?
Her reaction was intense, but Lin Ye thought it was perfectly understandable.
Throughout the whole incident, Lin Qiu'er was the victim. She'd done nothing, yet she'd been beaten up for no reason.
And afterward, the most precious thing she had was taken from her.
Lin Ye said, "The old man's name is Xuan Zi, and his Martial Soul is the Godly Taotie Bull.
"Never mind the child. He's a poor soul, too. Let him off."
That meant the old bastard Xuan Zi was probably in for trouble.
Lin Ye didn't feel much guilt about it. That old fellow wasn't a good person, either.
As for Huo Yuhao, Lin Ye didn't feel much either way about him, but he couldn't say he disliked him.
Huo Yuhao had some problems with his own personality, and later Tang San would torment him mercilessly. The worst was when Huo Yuhao was repeatedly humiliated in Qiankun Asking Love Valley. It was truly miserable.
Xuan Zi, the Godly Taotie Bull. Lin Qiu'er silently repeated the name, etching it into her memory and deciding that ten thousand years later, she would make sure to kill that old dog.
After calming herself down, she continued asking, "What happened after that? What happened next?"
"After that, you get the child's memories and see how colorful the human world is. You're mischievous and playful, so you take human form and enter the human world."
Lin Ye paused, then looked at Lin Qiu'er meaningfully. "Years later, you sacrifice yourself for that child."
"What? That's impossible!" Lin Qiu'er cried out, her face full of disbelief.
Even Snow Empress, who had remained as calm as still water beside them, was startled. What had she just heard? The Auspicious Beast had sacrificed herself?
"Oh, right. Tang San had noticed that child long ago. Later, the child became Tang San's son-in-law," Lin Ye added.
Tang San. Tang San again.
Lin Qiu'er's gaze turned dangerous. Soul Beasts connected to Tang San had all ended up sacrificing themselves.
The first time could be an accident, the second a coincidence—but could the third still be called a coincidence?
"And that's not all. After you die, Tang San takes action and strips away your bloodline and soul, giving them to his daughter. As he puts it, you were originally a part of his daughter."
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