After everyone left, only Qian Renxue and Qian Daoliu remained beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Qian Renxue suddenly looked up, fixing her gaze on Qian Daoliu. Her tone was certain. "Grandpa, Tang Hao wasn't the real culprit behind Father's death, was he?"
Qian Daoliu's expression shifted. A flicker of panic passed through his eyes, quickly replaced by sternness. "Who told you that? Don't listen to rumors! Tang Hao was the one who killed your father!"
Which bastard's been running their mouth? Just wait until I find out. They'll regret it.
At the sight of Qian Daoliu's deliberately stern face and shifting eyes, the last trace of doubt in Qian Renxue's heart vanished.
She lowered her head, her voice soft but clear. "My master told me. He said someone else was responsible for Father's death."
The moment she finished speaking, she looked up sharply, her eyes filled with murderous intent, like a cold blade drawn from its sheath. "Grandpa, who was it?"
Qian Daoliu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness the senior didn't spell it out.
Seeing the determination in his granddaughter's eyes, he softened his tone. "Xiao Xue, this matter is very complicated. If you want to know, wait until you become a god. Then I'll tell you."
The senior truly has boundless abilities. What happened all those years ago was so secret, yet he still managed to learn the truth after all this time.
"I'll become a god." Qian Renxue clenched her fists, her eyes shining brilliantly. "I'll avenge Father with my own hands."
She took a deep breath, calming her turbulent emotions. "Grandpa, I'm going to cultivate for a while. Wake me when Uncle Snake Lance and the others return."
With that, she sat cross-legged and closed her eyes. Soul Power slowly circulated around her, and soon she had sunk into a state of cultivation.
Qian Daoliu watched her retreating figure and sighed softly, his eyes full of conflicting emotions. "Senior, oh, senior. You've certainly given me a difficult problem."
Meanwhile, inside Qian Renxue's Sea of Consciousness, her spirit quietly took shape.
The first thing she saw was Qian Renyou clinging to Chen Qingxuan.
"Xiao Xue, come over here!" Qian Renyou raised her right hand and waved.
Qian Renxue walked over and shot her an exasperated look. "Call me big sister. You're the younger one."
"Oh, come on, Xiao Xue. Hurry over!"
Qian Renyou trotted a couple of steps, grabbed Qian Renxue by the arm, and dragged her in front of Chen Qingxuan. Pouting, she said, "I've been pestering Master for ages, but he still won't tell me who the culprit was."
Qian Renxue looked at Chen Qingxuan, her gaze earnest and resolute. "Master, I want to know."
Chen Qingxuan leaned back in his rocking chair and lightly tapped the armrest with one finger. He spoke slowly. "Right and wrong depend on the person, and on their heart. Everything has many sides. The truth may hurt far more than you imagine."
"But I have to know." Qian Renxue's tone was stubborn. "As his daughter, if I can't avenge my father, then I'm not worthy to call myself human."
"Master, didn't you say that cultivating the heart comes first in cultivation?"
"If I don't get to the bottom of this, it'll become a heart demon and obstruct my cultivation." A hint of stubbornness showed in her expression. Even knowing the truth might be cruel, she still insisted on uncovering it.
Chen Qingxuan looked at her and fell silent for a moment. "You need to find the truth for yourself."
"Master, why are you all like this?" Qian Renxue's eyes reddened, and her voice turned tearful. "You all know, but none of you will tell me! So many years have passed. Where am I supposed to find any clues?"
"Master, just tell us~" Qian Renyou came closer too, tugging gently at Chen Qingxuan's sleeve, her eyes full of pleading.
Unable to fend off their entreaties, Chen Qingxuan let out a soft sigh. "The continent you live on is called Douluo Continent. It's a small plane within a world, but a weak world is never the only one of its kind."
"The weaker the world, the more possibilities it may contain."
"Douluo Continent isn't the only Douluo Continent. You might find traces of the answers you can't find here somewhere else."
Qian Renxue and Qian Renyou looked up at the same time, confusion filling their eyes. "Master, what do you mean?"
"Time is divided into the past, the present, and the future." Chen Qingxuan patiently explained. "A Great Thousand World is unique. It has only these three states, and no one can reverse causality or travel through time."
"But Middle Thousand Worlds and Small Thousand Worlds are different. Beyond the past, present, and future, they have another form—parallel worlds."
He paused, then continued. "A world may split because of some special event, forming one parallel world after another."
"They're independent of one another and don't interfere with each other, yet because of certain inevitable constraints, they often end up at the same destination."
Qian Renyou blinked, looking utterly bewildered. "Master, could you put it more simply? I don't understand."
Qian Renxue nodded along, her eyes puzzled.
Chen Qingxuan smiled faintly and waved his hand. Dozens of glowing orbs appeared out of thin air, floating before the two of them.
Light and shadows shifted within the orbs, showing scenes from Qian Renxue's life: her cultivation in Spirit Hall, her first meeting with Tang San, even her appearance when she had become Xue Qinghe.
"Look. These orbs are like parallel worlds, each independent of the others." He pointed at the orbs. "But time flows at different speeds in each one."
"In some worlds, you may have only just been born. In others, you may be undercover in Heaven Dou City. And in still others, you may already have become gods."
A glimmer of understanding appeared in Qian Renxue's eyes. She asked tentatively, "Do you mean we should go to a parallel world to look for the truth?"
Chen Qingxuan nodded. "Exactly. The Karmic Threads in different worlds may diverge. The truth of what happened back then may not have been concealed in some parallel world."
"Then how do we get to a parallel world?" Qian Renxue hurried a step closer and grabbed Chen Qingxuan's arm.
"Of course, I'll take you there." Chen Qingxuan patted her hand, his tone gentle. "But first, you must reach the Soul Saint realm."
"I'll break through to Soul Saint as soon as I can!" Qian Renxue's eyes were resolute, her clenched fists showing her determination.
Qian Renyou nodded vigorously too. "I'll get stronger as fast as I can, so I can go find the truth with Xiao Xue!"
Looking at the two of them, Chen Qingxuan suddenly smiled. "Come to think of it, your world really is fascinating."
"Your story was written into a book in another world. There are even many different versions, and the main character isn't the same in every one."
Qian Renyou froze, eyes wide. "Does that mean we're characters in a storybook?"
Qian Renxue's expression shifted too, an absurd feeling rising in her heart. "Master, when you put it that way, I feel like I'm not a real person."
"There's no need to doubt it." Chen Qingxuan's tone was solemn. "You are who you are. You're living, breathing beings."
"It's just that your world has too many parallel worlds. Certain high-level cultivators took scenes from them, adapted them into books, and spread them to other planes. That made outsiders think you were characters in a story."
"Is that really true?" Qian Renxue murmured, still feeling uneasy.
Chen Qingxuan sighed. "The higher your cultivation, the smaller you feel."
"Among the myriad heavens and worlds, anyone could be a chess piece, as if some invisible hand were controlling everything from behind the scenes."
"What's real and what's false, what's true and what's illusion—who can say for sure?"
Qian Renxue and Qian Renyou both fell silent.
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