"Xie Xie" was overwhelmed by memory after memory with Lin Wanqing, and his eyes grew increasingly sore.
A second before he could no longer hold back, Xie Xie sprang to his feet.
"I... I need to step outside. I'll be right back!"
His voice tightened. He could barely bring himself to look Tang Wulin and Gu Yue in the eyes. Before he had even finished speaking, he turned and hurried out of the shop.
His retreating figure was so rushed it was almost pathetic, his every step betraying panic and helplessness.
Tang Wulin and Gu Yue instinctively started after him, but Uncle Li, emerging from the kitchen, stopped them.
"Wait!"
They turned around. Uncle Li had already set three steaming pots of beef stew and bowls of white rice gently on the table.
Looking in the direction Xie Xie had disappeared, Uncle Li sighed helplessly. "Ah, let him be alone for a while."
Xie Xie ran wildly for a while, without any destination in mind.
Only after he was sure no one was following him did he slowly slide down against the cold wall and sit.
Even though he had already absorbed all the original owner's memories, he still couldn't tell whose pain this turmoil in his heart belonged to.
Was it the pain of a lonely soul from another world, or that of the original Xie Xie?
He had grown up in an orphanage, and through sheer grit, had managed to get into a top university.
Xie Xie had always thought he'd forged an impenetrable heart, and had long grown used to the loneliness of having to endure life's warmth and cold on his own.
But in the original owner's memories, the briefest glimpse of his mother Lin Wanqing's gentle smile had instantly shattered the hard defenses he'd built over so many years.
His nose stung, and scalding tears welled uncontrollably in his eyes.
He had never known such tender, warm motherly love.
No one had ever brushed his stray hair aside, or left a light on for him at night. No one had ever treasured him and held him close to their heart the way Lin Wanqing had.
That unfamiliar, searing tenderness belonged to the original owner's past, yet it was a dream he had never once touched in his entire life.
He yearned for the motherly love in those memories, but knew all too clearly that it wasn't his.
Xie Xie buried his face in his knees. His shoulders shook uncontrollably, but he bit down hard on his lip, refusing to let even a single sob escape.
"Ah..."
A soft sigh suddenly sounded in his mind.
The voice wasn't loud, but carried a steadiness that pierced the soul, instantly dispelling the chaos and confusion in Xie Xie's mind.
Xie Xie froze. He raised his head and looked around through tear-blurred eyes, but there wasn't a soul in sight.
"Who?"
He spoke in alarm, his voice still hoarse from crying.
There was no answer. Instead, his consciousness seemed to be pulled by an invisible force, plunging abruptly into a silence-filled darkness.
It wasn't a terrifying gloom, but a pure, utter white, empty of everything.
At the center of that white chaos, space gently "split open."
It wasn't a violent rupture like an explosion. It was more like a crack being drawn across the surface of water, as a divine dragon, its entire body seemingly formed from moonlight, slowly emerged.
Its body was enormous and still. Its scales weren't the color of ordinary metal, but had the texture of jade, with a gentle silver sheen flowing across them.
In the endless white space, its white dragon armor was neither dazzling nor dim. Instead, it was like a pure-white giant beast guarding time and space.
Its dragon wings were folded behind it, their membranes transparent, faintly crisscrossed with silver-gray patterns of time.
Its eyes were deep as a white night, two silent silver nebulae gazing steadily at Xie Xie.
And deep within the giant dragon's eyes, Xie Xie clearly saw his own reflection, along with every moment of his life.
It was like a movie playing at fast-forward.
From his solitary life in his previous world to the three of them together in this life, everything flowed through his eyes.
The astonishing sight before him made Xie Xie forget his sadness. His Adam's apple bobbed slowly as he swallowed, then he asked with difficulty, "Y-you are... who?"
[I have had many names.]
A voice sounded in his mind without warning.
It wasn't the deep, rumbling dragon's voice typical of the Dragon Clan. Instead, it was calm and clear, carrying a divinity and distance that seemed to rise above all living things.
[Jormungandr, Zhu Jiuyin, Chronos... In the Space-Time River, I have countless names.]
[But to you, there is only one that is most familiar, most real—]
The voice paused, then continued slowly:
[The Space-Time Dragon.]
[The Dragon God's only shadow guard.]
"I... holy shit?" Xie Xie's brain had completely crashed.
He knew he would awaken the Space-Time Dragon Martial Soul in the future, but nobody had told him the Space-Time Dragon was still alive!
Before Xie Xie could digest this information, the Space-Time Dragon dropped another bombshell.
[I was also the one who used the origin of space and time as a guide to cross the barriers between worlds and bring your soul to this realm.]
"What?!" Xie Xie's eyes widened.
"S-so, I didn't choke to death on water and win some kind of transmigration lottery?"
[...Of course not.]
There was now a trace of human exasperation in the Space-Time Dragon's eyes.
[No matter how frail a human body might be, it wouldn't be so frail as to choke to death on a mouthful of water.]
"Uh, haha... is that so?"
Xie Xie laughed awkwardly and scratched his head. After all, there seemed to be no shortage of stories where someone choked on water and ended up transmigrating.
"So, it really was you who brought me to this, um... plane?" Xie Xie asked again, just to be sure.
[That's right.]
The Space-Time Dragon slowly nodded, its wings fluttering gently. Silver-gray light flickered across their transparent membranes.
After the shock, a complicated rush of emotions welled up in Xie Xie once more.
"The thing is, my soul came over, so it kind of feels like I possessed someone else's body, haha..." Xie Xie scratched his cheek, his tone carrying a weight he couldn't quite put into words as he managed a strained smile.
It wasn't just like it. That was exactly what had happened.
He wasn't Great Love Immortal Venerable. Even if he had transmigrated by taking over someone else's body, he still couldn't help feeling guilty.
"Ah..."
The Space-Time Dragon sighed again.
[Do you know? Every soul in existence is unique.]
It extended one enormous claw, formed from the flow of time, and pointed gently at Xie Xie's chest.
Xie Xie stared down at it.
That was where his heart was, and where his soul dwelled.
[Among all the living things in the world, unless they share the same origin and roots, unless they were originally one person, their souls could never fuse perfectly.]
The Space-Time Dragon's voice carried a serenity and solemnity that seemed to transcend the ages.
[What gave you the right to occupy this body?]
[And what gave you the right to feel its memories?]
[You can become part of this body, inherit its memories, feel the tenderness of its mother, Lin Wanqing, and form true bonds with this world—]
[There is only one answer to all of this.]
The pure-white giant dragon lowered its enormous head slightly. Silver nebulae swirled in its eyes, reflecting Xie Xie's figure with perfect clarity.
[You are Xie Xie, and Xie Xie is you.]
Before you continue