Grievance in Golden Eyes

Di Tian emerged from the shattered rock wall.

The wound on his left shoulder was still bleeding, and the palm print on his chest had left a silvery-white mark on the dragon scales.

He didn't cover his wound, nor did he look down at it.

His golden eyes remained fixed on Yun Jingheng, never wavering from them since that palm strike landed.

He is re-examining humanity.

Its entire body was enveloped in Moonlight, its outline was distinct, but its aura was off— the Yin Force was abnormally abundant, as if it were being poured directly from some higher source.

With this level of infusion, let alone Soul Saint, even Super Douluo's meridians wouldn't last more than half a quarter of an hour.

His golden eyes narrowed slightly.

"This state, this aura—"

His voice wasn't loud, but then he paused for a moment.

"Coming from across space... the price you'll have to pay must be considerable, right?"

The valley fell silent for a moment.

Tang Wulin looked at Yun Jingheng.

He had previously noticed that Yun Jingheng's soul swayed slightly in the moonlight, but he assumed it was a characteristic of the soul itself.

Now that Di Tian had spoken plainly, he realized that the frequency of the shaking was increasing.

That's not a characteristic of a soul.

It's the price.

Gu Yuena also looked at Yun Jingheng.

Her expression didn't change much, but her fingers curled up again inside her sleeve.

This time it wasn't hesitation, but rather a suppressed emotion that she wasn't used to.

Yun Jingheng remained silent for two seconds.

Then he smiled, a faint smile, completely different from his usual smug, raised-eyebrow expression.

"It's quite large, and it seems to be hurting a lot right now."

"You can't do anything right now, you could have chosen not to come." Di Tian's eyes were full of confusion.

His golden eyes reflected the outline of Yun Jingheng's soul body enveloped in Moonlight, and the increasingly obvious swaying.

A human, a Soul Saint who hasn't even reached the Titled Douluo, his soul separated from his body, crossed space, and descended here—just to stop him?

Just to fight for a doomed choice for their comrades who were suppressed on the ground?

He didn't understand.

The Soul Beast' tens of thousands of years of waiting, the awakening of the Lord's bloodline, the return of the Dragon God —these combined are enough to make any price seem reasonable.

But the price Yun Jingheng paid was meaningless in his eyes.

Yun Jingheng looked at him.

The confusion in those golden eyes was genuine, not feigned.

Di Tian truly didn't understand. A Beast God who had lived for tens of thousands of years and seen all the world's treasures, he couldn't comprehend why someone would go to such lengths for another.

"Di Tian," Yun Jingheng spoke, his voice not loud, but each word steady, "You trapped me so that Gu Yuena could make her own choice."

"You just attacked her to make a choice for her. Have you realized that the two things you did are contradictory?"

Di Tian's golden eyes flickered slightly.

"If she chooses to let Tang Wulin live, thus moving towards coexistence between humans and Soul Beast, would you accept it?"

silence.

Di Tian's lips moved, but no sound came out.

You won't accept it.

Yun Jingheng answered for him, "That's why you took action. From beginning to end, what you really wanted wasn't her choice, but rather for her to choose the answer you wanted."

"If you treat her hesitation as a symptom and try to eliminate it, then it's no longer loyalty—it's fear. You're not afraid that she'll make the wrong choice, you're afraid that you can't bear the thought of her choosing another option."

He paused for a moment.

"Why did I come? Because she is my companion, and because you made her decision before she had even finished making it herself."

"I'm not here to choose for her; I'm here to give her back the right to choose that you took from her."

"That's why I couldn't not come."

"Di Tian, you are a qualified loyal subject, but loyalty is not a reason for you to force a choice."

Di Tian remained silent.

He stood there, blood still seeping from the wound on his left shoulder. Dragon blood dripped down his arm, each drop burning tiny scorch marks on the Immortal Herb beneath his feet.

His hands hung at his sides, his fingers slightly curled, maintaining the posture he had used to control the chains, as if he hadn't yet come out of that position.

"A qualified and loyal minister." He repeated those five words.

The voice was very soft, as if it were being spoken to Yun Jingheng, but rather to oneself.

Then he raised his head, the confusion in his golden eyes fading, replaced by something deeper, something that had been churning for tens of thousands of years before finally being forced to the surface.

Yes, I'm scared.

His voice wasn't loud, but every word seemed to be dug out from the deepest part of his chest, carrying a roughness that had been suppressed for too long and was finally no longer restrained.

"What I fear is not that the Lord made the wrong choice, but that after she makes that choice, no one in this world will be able to speak up for those dead Soul Beast and say 'it's unfair'."

He took a step forward.

It was just one step, but when that step was taken, the ground of the entire valley trembled.

That was a Beast God who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years trying to control himself and not lose his composure.

"Tens of thousands of years ago, the Dragon God perished, and the Soul Beast lost everything."

"From that day on, humanity used Soul Tool, Soul Master legions, and the greed of generation after generation to drive Soul Beast from the masters of the continent into prey hiding deep in the forests."

"You slaughter Soul Beast for their Soul Bone, hunt Soul Beast Soul Ring, and turn our people into fuel for Soul Tool, then call this ' Soul Hunting.' Hunting. It's as if we were born to be hunted."

His voice didn't rise, but every word was like a stone scorched by fire, carrying a scorching weight.

"I watched as the border of the Star Dou Great Forest receded year after year."

"Watching the Hundred-Year Soul Beast being wiped out, watching the thousand-year-old Soul Beast being hunted to death, watching the Auspicious Beast being forced into sacrifice! Watching my companions and I fall one by one under the human wave tactics, every time I went to rescue them, all I brought back were corpses!"

Something was churning violently in his golden eyes—a deeper kind of pain that had been suppressed for tens of thousands of years and had solidified into a tangible form.

"During the years when the Lord was asleep, I was the one who guarded Him; after the Lord awoke and infiltrated the human world, I was the one who waited."

"How long have I waited? From the day she entered the East Sea, I've stood on the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest, watching her be changed little by little by you."

"Watching her start referring to humans as 'companions,' I told myself, 'She is the Lord, she has her plans, and I cannot interfere.'"

His voice suddenly lowered.

"But do you know what it feels like to watch your king start to soften?"

silence.

Tang Wulin was pinned to the ground, his knees still embedded in the rubble, but he forgot the pain.

Xie Xie forgot that he had just been gritting his teeth, Yuanen Yehui forgot that he had clenched his fists, Xu Xiaoyan's tears were half-dry on her cheeks, and even Ye Xinglan frowned slightly.

What they heard was not anger.

It was the voice of an old dragon who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years and staked everything on a single belief, when that belief began to waver.

"I'm not afraid that the Lord the wrong choice."

Di Tian said, his voice finally trembling slightly, "I'm afraid that after she makes her choice, those dead Soul Beast won't even have anyone to remember their hatred."

"If even the Silver Dragon King has relinquished his allegiance—then what do their deaths matter?"

He turned his head and looked at Gu Yuena.

For a moment, the turmoil in those golden eyes became clear; it was not anger, not hatred, not hostility towards humanity.

It is a grievance that has been suppressed for tens of thousands of years and has never been dared to be spoken aloud.

"My Lord, I have never asked you for anything."

"Today, I ask you for one thing—I don't ask you to kill him, I don't ask you to take his bloodline."

"Your subordinate only asks you to tell me, do the lives of those fallen tribesmen still hold any weight in your heart?"

Gu Yuena looked at him.

Her fingers, hanging limply in her sleeves, curled and relaxed repeatedly; the sadness in her eyes was impossible to hide.

Di Tian noticed this action, and his pupils trembled slightly.

"Di Tian".

She spoke, her voice softer than he could remember, "I've never forgotten them."

"You've guarded the Soul Beast for tens of thousands of years; you've become hatred itself. This isn't loyalty—this is being trapped."

Di Tian stood still.

The wound on his left shoulder was still bleeding, and the palm print on his chest was still glowing, but he seemed to feel no pain.

His lips moved, but no sound came out.

He suddenly felt very tired.

He trapped himself—he had never thought about it from this perspective.

He always believed himself to be the last bulwark of the Soul Beast, the Silver Dragon King's most loyal subject, and the only watchman who still remembered the blood debts of his fallen kin.

But now someone is telling him that he is not a Night's Watchman; he has simply locked himself in hatred and can't get out.

His golden eyes churned several times before finally settling into silence.

"My Lord,"

He said, his voice regaining its calm, but that calm was so thin it was almost transparent, "Your subordinate... will await my destiny in the Star Dou Great Forest."

Then he walked over to Yun Jingheng and said softly, "You're right."

Yun Jingheng remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"But have you ever considered that by coming here, you are also making a choice for her?"

"By stopping me, you've pried her hands off the butcher's knife. You think you're giving her freedom, but you're just replacing my will with yours."

"What she ultimately chooses is perhaps never something we can control."

Without waiting for Yun Jingheng's reply, he bowed and turned to step into the spatial rift.