Atonement!

Ragnar Hotel

A five-star hotel built at enormous expense by Consortium B in the land-scarce western district of Shrek City. Its height was second only to the headquarters of the Spirit Pagoda, the tallest building on the Douluo Continent.

The entire hotel resembled a sharp sword thrust straight into the heavens. Its cold glass curtain walls refracted dazzling brilliance beneath the sunlight, making every passerby unable to resist looking up.

Here, even the lowest-grade standard room cost enough for an ordinary family to spend decades of savings on a single night.

As for the VIP suites on the top floor, they were luxuries that existed only in legend. Money alone could not get one in.

At that moment, within a suite on the hotel's highest floor, a slender yet tall golden figure stood quietly before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, gazing toward the distant Shrek Academy.

Night was approaching. As she looked at Shrek Academy in the distance, bathed in the warm and solemn golden glow of the setting sun—

The girl's clear eyes held an unshakable gloom, and her sorrowful gaze seemed to conceal indescribably complicated emotions.

The girl was none other than Di Qiu'er, hailed by the world as the "Goddess of Light"—a genius student of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, ranked first on the continent's genius list, and the goddess in the hearts of countless young Soul Masters.

At the mere age of fifteen, Di Qiu'er had already entered the realm of Spirit Emperor.

This time, she had come alone to Shrek City to challenge Shrek Academy, defeating both its inner and outer courts until not a single person dared accept her challenge. She had created a legend that countless Soul Masters could only look up to.

Di Qiu'er stood calmly by the window. Her long lashes cast faint shadows beneath the sunset's lingering glow. Even through the thick glass, one could sense her sharp, aloof, and unattainably proud aura.

Yet although Di Qiu'er's eyes remained fixed in Shrek's direction, her thoughts had long drifted elsewhere.

Remembering the face she had seen today—the face that had made her heart tremble—Di Qiu'er unconsciously clenched her fists.

Di Tian, the man she had always regarded as a father, could no longer hide the marks that time had carved upon his face.

The Di Tian of old had been the Beast God revered by all beasts, standing above the heavens and looking down upon all heroes, so high-spirited and proud.

But now, the radiance of Di Tian as the Beast God had long since vanished, replaced by profound exhaustion and confusion. Not even a trace of his former self remained.

And the culprit behind all of this was none other than herself.

At that thought, Di Qiu'er felt a stabbing pain in her chest, while guilt surged from the depths of her heart like a tidal wave.

If she had not been so playful, if she had listened to Di Tian's arrangements and stayed obediently within the core region, perhaps everything would not have become what it was today.

If she could do it all over again, she would certainly remain honestly in the core region that day instead of sneaking away because she wanted to have fun.

Then she would never have met Huo Yuhao, nor would she have sacrificed herself to him.

Without the Soul Bone that allowed her to resist mental attacks three times, Huo Yuhao would have died at the Evil Emperor's hands back then, and humanity's Soul Guidance Technology would not have developed so quickly.

The Star Dou Forest would not have become humanity's backyard, the Soul Beasts would not have become lambs awaiting slaughter, and Di Tian would not have become what he was now.

She had caused all of this. She had to take responsibility for it.

"Beep beep~"

The Soul Guidance Communicator in her pocket suddenly sounded, interrupting Di Qiu'er's tangled thoughts and pulling her back from self-reproach to reality.

Tyrannosaurus Warrior: "Have you acknowledged each other?"

Seeing the message Su Mo had sent, the cold expression on Di Qiu'er's face finally softened somewhat. She swiftly replied, "No. Before I have atoned for the sins on my back, I have no face to see Di Tian and the others."

"I simply felt that I needed to tell you about this."

"Sigh..."

Looking at Di Qiu'er's message, Su Mo sighed helplessly.

Though there were only a few short lines, Su Mo could feel her guilt even through the screen.

It reminded Su Mo of the day he had used Impure World Reincarnation to bring her back.

The girl who had nearly cried from guilt and Regret upon learning that the Star Dou Forest had become humanity's backyard.

If not for her Edo Tensei Body, Su Mo had no doubt that Di Qiu'er could have cried for three days and three nights.

Yes, Di Qiu'er's true identity was the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, the Emperor Auspicious Beast of the Star Dou Forest ten thousand years ago.

After being resurrected, she had abandoned that name, which filled her with disgust and shame.

For someone who had been dead for ten thousand years to suddenly return to life, Su Mo was naturally inseparable from the matter.

However, Su Mo had Di Tian to thank for being able to resurrect Di Qiu'er.

If Di Tian, that doting father, had not kept so many of Di Qiu'er's baby teeth from when she had been the Emperor Auspicious Beast—

Then even with Impure World Reincarnation in hand, Su Mo would have had no way to revive Di Qiu'er, the Emperor Auspicious Beast.

After awakening the memories of his previous life, Su Mo had once stolen a baby tooth of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion while touring Di Tian's cave dwelling, taking advantage of Di Tian's inattention.

"Whether it proves useful or not, I'll take it first." That had always been Su Mo's guiding principle.

Besides, taking the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's tooth had only been a trivial matter.

After leaving the Star Dou Forest in human form, the first experiment Su Mo conducted was to see whether Impure World Reincarnation could still be used on the Douluo Continent without the Pure Land created by that old Six Paths bastard.

Impure World Reincarnation was fundamentally a powerful summoning technique.

By collecting the deceased's bodily tissue to establish a contract, it forcibly summoned the dead person's soul, sleeping in the Pure Land, into reality.

But the Douluo Continent did not have the Pure Land established by that old Six Paths bastard.

However, while the Douluo Continent lacked a Pure Land, it possessed the Underworld, which served the same function.

At first, Su Mo had merely intended to try resurrecting Di Qiu'er.

As for whether he could successfully bring Di Qiu'er back through Impure World Reincarnation, even Su Mo himself had not been sure at the time.

There was nothing to lose if he failed, and everything to gain if he succeeded.

The conclusion was that even without the Pure Land, Impure World Reincarnation could still be used as long as the Underworld existed.

Of course, Di Qiu'er's current state was not merely the result of Impure World Reincarnation.

If Di Qiu'er had only been an Impure World Reincarnation body, then a lifeless corpse steeped in deathly aura could not have fooled the people of the Douluo Continent.

The people of the Douluo Continent might be brainless, but they were not ignorant.

Therefore, after bringing Di Qiu'er back through Impure World Reincarnation, Su Mo had also used the S-rank forbidden technique, Kishō Tensei.

That was right. Su Mo had also extorted this ninjutsu from Sunagakure by leveraging information about Gaara.

Kishō Tensei was a life-for-life forbidden technique developed by Chiyo. By transferring the caster's life to the dead, it could bring the deceased back to life.

But since it was a forbidden technique, Kishō Tensei naturally had its own flaws.

Its drawback was that it consumed the caster's own life, and the deceased's corpse also had to remain intact to ensure that they could live normally after revival.

Neither condition could be omitted. Yet before Su Mo, who possessed both Izanagi and Impure World Reincarnation, neither flaw was much of a problem.

Izanagi could help Su Mo avoid the price of using Kishō Tensei, while Impure World Reincarnation could restore an incomplete corpse.

As for why Su Mo would go so far for Di Qiu'er, someone unrelated to him?

Naturally, it was because Su Mo needed someone to draw the attention of Tang Hao and his wife.

Su Mo had no intention of remaining in a passive position in this game.

In this chess match initiated by Tang San, whoever moved first would lose the advantage.

Using a girl to draw fire for him might have been somewhat despicable, but Su Mo did not care.

In this world, the one who laughed last was the ultimate winner.