The Son Who Understands His Father and Forgives Him (Continued)

In the center of the room stands a memorial tablet, a newly erected wooden shrine inscribed with "The Spirit of My Beloved Huo Yun'er".

The child knelt on the prayer mat, his back taut in a stubborn arc. He looked no more than seven or eight years old. Despite having the blood of the Dai Family, he didn't even wear the lowest-grade Soul Tool at his waist, and his clothes were tattered.

"I am Dai Yuhao..."

The voice was childish, yet it resonated throughout the room.

"I swear here today: My birth mother, Lady Huo, died in a power struggle between my stepmother and the clan, and my father stood by and did nothing to help. This is an irreconcilable hatred!"

"From now on, I will change my surname to my mother's."

"Huo Yuhao"

"I will avenge my mother in this lifetime. If I break this vow, may my soul be scattered and I be condemned to eternal damnation!"

As the last word fell, the boy kowtowed fiercely, his forehead hitting the ground with a dull thud like a drumbeat.

Qian Xunji silently emerged from the shadows.

"Interesting."

Huo Yuhao turned around abruptly, his hair standing on end. He hadn't sensed anyone approaching at all—no, he couldn't even sense the presence of the person in front of him.

"Who are you?" Huo Yuhao's voice was tense as he instinctively protected his mother's memorial tablet.

Qian Xunji did not answer, but looked down at him, a slow smile curving his lips.

There was no malice in that smile, yet it sent a chill down Huo Yuhao's spine...

"You just said you would definitely avenge your mother?"

"Yes."

Even if your enemy is your father, your father's legal wife, and your half-brother?

"Yes."

Even if they deliberately neglect and exploit you now, but later extend an olive branch and say, 'Your family will always be your support,' how would you react?

Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth. "I will not accept it."

Qian Xunji chuckled softly.

"Then guess," he said casually, as if discussing the weather, "ten years from now, twenty years from now, when you've witnessed the glory of the Soul Master Tournament, the thrill of being cheered by thousands, when you've met the girl of your dreams, when she smiles at you and says, 'You're actually a gentle person'—"

He paused, looking down at the prickly child as if he were looking at a pebble destined to be smoothed out.

Will you still feel the same hatred and unwavering determination for revenge as you do today?

Huo Yuhao suddenly stood up, his thin chest heaving violently.

He stared intently at Qian Xunji, his eyes reddening, but no tears fell; only an almost burning stubbornness remained.

What makes you say that?

"You have no idea what my mother has suffered!"

"You have no idea what I've been through all these years!"

He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms.

"I will not forgive!"

Qian Xunji did not refute.

He simply took a step back.

"Then let me see."

The voice came from the shadows, its tone unreadable.

"Let's see how long you can last."

Huo Yuhao's vision blurred...

·····································

Qian Xunji did not leave.

He followed Huo Yuhao at a distance, observing him.

Although Huo Yuhao couldn't see him or sense him, he would always feel a chill down his spine at certain moments—it was the feeling of being watched.

Qian Xunji watched as Huo Yuhao resolutely left the Duke's Mansion and entered the Soul Beast Forest alone.

But he was rescued.

He looked at Huo Yuhao, who used to be prickly and unapproachable, and saw that he was starting to make friends.

Watching Huo Yuhao join his desired academy and work hard to become stronger.

Qian Xunji felt a flutter in her heart for the first time as she watched Huo Yuhao, her ears turning bright red.

Huo Yuhao is accumulating more and more possessions.

Qian Xunji could see clearly that although there was still hatred in Huo Yuhao's eyes, it was slowly fading away.

Qian Xunji stood calmly in the shadows ten steps away.

Huo Yuhao began to feel reluctant to part with it.

He couldn't bear to part with the warmth he had finally received, he couldn't bear to part with the girl whose smile was as dazzling as the sun, and he couldn't bear to part with the first time someone genuinely called him "Yuhao" instead of "that guy from the Dai Family."

The hatred remains.

It's like a nail buried in my heart, causing a dull ache every night.

But around the nail, soft, fresh, and painful flesh had already grown.

·································

At the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Huo Yuhao stood alone, leaning against an ancient tree, gazing at the distant forest bathed in the pale gold of the setting sun.

His strength is now vastly different from what it used to be. His Spirit Eyes Martial Soul Evolution, his Soul Power has broken through to the Titled Douluo, and he has even faintly touched the legendary threshold.

He now has the power to avenge his mother.

However, he sat there, motionless.

Qian Xunji appeared beside him, this time without concealing his presence.

Huo Yuhao was not surprised, nor did he turn around.

"... You knew from the very beginning." The boy's voice was very soft.

Qian Xunji remained silent.

"You know I'll waver, you know I can't do it, you know that one day I will..."

He didn't continue.

The night wind swept through the forest, carrying the low howls of Soul Beast from the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Huo Yuhao remained silent for a long time, so long that Qian Xunji thought he wouldn't say anything more.

Then he spoke, his voice seeming to drift from a very, very far place:

I dreamt about her that day.

"Mother."

She stood at her doorstep. She smiled at me and asked how I'd been all these years.

His voice began to tremble.

I said... I'm fine.

"I told them I got into the best college, made a lot of friends, and..."

He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"And someone I really like."

"My mother was still smiling. She said, 'That's good.'"

Then she asked me... Yuhao, do you still hate me?

Tears silently streamed down the boy's cheeks.

Huo Yuhao didn't wipe it.

He raised his hand to cover his eyes.

I said...

I said...

His voice shattered into fragments that could never be pieced back together.

Qian Xunji stood quietly, just like she had for many years before, merely an observer.

He doesn't need answers.

He has already seen it.

Under the moonlight, the boy's huddled figure overlapped with the silhouette of another boy from twenty years ago who swore revenge.

He dreamt of his mother, whom he had always longed for, but his guilt outweighed his longing and joy.

The eldest son, Dai Huabin, had been beating him and his mother for a long time, causing his mother to develop a hidden illness and die. He let the other son go because of his tragic experience and blood ties.

The father was forgiven because he was "unaware" of the situation.

During his childhood, Huo Yuhao suffered a lot with his mother and developed a deep empathy for her.

Raised by her mother, she grew up and developed empathy for her father, who had been missing and never appeared.

Huo Yuhao forgave his father, Dai Hao was unaware of his existence.

And forget that the mother was abandoned after having sex with him.

He is completely unable to empathize with his mother.

He only resented his father for abandoning him, but ultimately chose to forgive him.

But they forgot that their father had also abandoned their mother...