Unable to Understand His Former Self
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Qian Xunji looked at Huo Yuhao's face, his tone somewhat sentimental, but his words were extremely cruel.
"You really deserve it!"
Huo Yuhao looked up abruptly, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"What did you say?"
Qian Xunji didn't stop, and continued, "I once heard a saying..."
"The moment you genuinely forgive and even empathize with the abuser, you deserve what you went through and don't deserve to be saved."
"Your mother shouldn't have protected you back then; she should have let Dai Huabin beat you to death. I suppose you should be able to forgive Dai Huabin." Qian Xunji's tone remained calm, but his words grew increasingly cruel.
Ultimately, it was because she was protected by her mother.
If Huo Yuhao were crippled by Dai Huabin, suffering a lifelong disability, or even killed, he would probably hate him to death and would never be able to forgive him calmly.
Qian Xunji's motto has always been "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
Blood debts should naturally be repaid with blood; murderers should pay with their lives.
However, before Huo Yuhao could say anything more, everything suddenly went black.
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When I opened my eyes again, I was still in the same house as when I was a child, and in front of me was my mother's memorial tablet.
Huo Yuhao saw his own thin body.
Everything that just happened was nothing but an illusion.
A loud "thump!!"
The door to the wooden house was kicked open.
Huo Yuhao looked up in alarm and saw a familiar face— Dai Huabin from when he was a child.
"You little bastard, come play with me!"
This time, Huo Yun, who had died, was no longer able to protect Huo Yuhao.
Chapter 361 Unable to Empathize with One's Former Self
Dai Huabin will not go easy on Huo Yuhao.
This time, Huo Yun, was no longer there to hold Huo Yuhao in her arms, shield him from the attacks, or protect Huo Yuhao.
As Soul Master, Dai Huabin was able to kill Huo Yun early, so he must have been very strong. Moreover, due to his personality and methods, he was extremely ruthless and showed no mercy whatsoever.
After a flurry of punches and kicks, he was knocked down.
Huo Yuhao's wails gradually subsided.
Until there was no sound, I truly fainted.
Without the "background music," Dai Huabin also lost interest in continuing the beating.
He glanced at Huo Yuhao, who was covered in bruises, bleeding from his mouth and nose, and unconscious, and snorted in dissatisfaction, cursing, "A piece of trash is indeed a piece of trash. He's not even as tough as his slave mother."
This is just the beginning, far from the end.
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When Huo Yuhao woke up, the first thing he smelled was blood.
A rusty, fishy smell rushed from his nasal cavity into his throat, and he coughed violently, each cough aggravating the wound in his chest.
He instinctively reached out to press his hand against his chest, but the moment his fingers moved, a piercing pain shot up his wrist—it was swollen, perhaps even cracked.
Then he remembered the dream.
No, it's not a dream.
In that past life, he wasn't being cornered in this dilapidated house by Dai Huabin today.
In that life, he fled the Duke's Mansion after his mother's death.
In that life, the more "mature" Huo Yuhao chose to forgive.
He said, after all, blood is thicker than water.
He said that hatred only brings suffering.
He reached out and pulled up his half-brother, who was paralyzed on the ground, disfigured, and missing an arm, and helped him merge with his Soul Spirit.
He thought it was compassion.
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However, reality slapped him hard across the face.
Huo Yuhao struggled to sit up, but as soon as he put his right leg up, an excruciating pain, far beyond his tolerance, exploded from below his knee, as if bone fragments were piercing his flesh and sinking into his nerves.
He screamed and fell back onto the cold stone slab, his vision blurring.
My leg is broken.
He trembled as he touched his right leg—his calf was turned outward at an odd angle, his knee was swollen like a steamed bun, and he could feel the jagged edges of broken bones through his skin.
He only touched it lightly, and a violent feeling of nausea surged in his stomach.
He recalled the image of Dai Huabin with a severed arm in the illusion.
At that time, he stood to the side, looking down at them, and even felt a pang of pity, thinking that they were brothers by blood and should help each other.
Now, Huo Yuhao finally knows what pain is.
The knife fell on his own body.
"Uh... ah..."
Huo Yuhao curled up on the cold ground, letting out a wail.
But no one came to this remote courtyard to take care of him for half a day. Gradually, he lost the strength to scream. He could only gasp intermittently, his face covered in tears and snot, which dripped into the moldy, dilapidated house.
He thought of his mother.
The woman who always saved the best for him and ate the hard bread herself.
The woman who was called "the mistress of the Dai Family" and "a stain on the Duke's Mansion" never shed a tear in front of him.
He recalled the abuse and beatings.
Every time my mother returned from the main courtyard, she would have new bruises on her body.
She said she fell on her own, and that "everything will be alright when Yuhao grows up," because she didn't want Huo Yuhao to worry.
My mother never woke up again until yesterday.
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Huo Yuhao buried his face in the cold soil, his teeth grinding together.
Huo Yuhao couldn't even empathize with the version of himself who had forgiven, pitied, and even wanted to help Dai Huabin because of blood ties in the illusion.
That version of myself, successful and smiling amidst a crowd.
That version of myself who said "I forgive you" to Dai Huabin.
That ridiculous version of myself who thought compassion could erase everything and blood ties could heal wounds.
On what grounds do you forgive?
What gives you the right to forgive on behalf of your mother?
What gives you the right to forgive Huo Yuhao, who is curled up in a pool of blood and can't even stand up?
"Idiot..."
He forced out broken sounds from his throat.
"Idiot... idiot... idiot!!"
The last sound was almost a roar, aggravating the injuries to his lungs, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood.
He was not the composed and magnanimous strongman in that illusion.
He's just a useless piece of trash who can't even climb out of this dilapidated house.
He wouldn't even be able to avenge himself—his leg was broken, and he couldn't even make it to the main courtyard. He would be thrown back like trash by the guards at the gate, or perhaps beaten to death, just like they did to his mother.
And he himself might soon be going to be with her.
Huo Yuhao was surprisingly calm after realizing this.
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He will never forgive again.
Huo Yuhao thought.
Even if, in the future—if there is a future—he possesses the power to overthrow the entire Duke's Mansion, even if Dai Huabin kneels before him, weeping bitterly, even if all the relatives come begging him "for the sake of our shared bloodline"—
He will never forgive again.
In reality, Huo Yuhao is just a cripple burdened with a blood feud.
Meanwhile, his enemy was enjoying afternoon tea in the warm hall of the main courtyard.
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Star Dou Great Forest, Core Area.
This place is completely different from the contract towns where human Soul Master and Soul Beast coexist harmoniously on the outskirts. It is still a forbidden area occupied by Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Ancient trees reach the sky, and vines hang down like pythons. Even the light that falls into this place is stained dark green by the rich primal life force. It is filtered layer by layer, and only a few strands of tired gold remain when it reaches the ground.
The small golden beast lay atop the gnarled roots of an ancient tree deep within the cave.
Her entire body radiated a pure and dazzling golden light, and her hair was like the finest metal threads, each strand imbued with the essence of fortune accumulated over thousands of years by the Star Dou Great Forest.
With the vertical eye on her forehead closed, and all three eyes shut, she looked like an overly beautiful statue sculpted by the hand of a deity.
Then, the third eye on its forehead suddenly opened!
His golden pupils contracted sharply.