The Heart of the Bigger Picture

Tang Liu smiled and lowered his hand from the table. "Now, let me tell you about the things you don't know."

Ye Lingling instinctively sat up straighter.

"To ensure that the Nine-Heart Begonia Martial Soul could be passed down smoothly, the previous Nine-Heart Begonia Soul Master—your mother—could only marry someone whose Martial Soul was absolutely inferior to the Nine-Heart Begonia, or even an ordinary person who was not a Soul Master at all.

"Then, one day, your mother met your father. Your father had never revealed his Martial Soul before your mother, so she believed that perhaps he was not a Soul Master at all. But she did not know that your father was not only a fairly powerful Soul Master, but also possessed a top-tier Martial Soul.

"But for some reason, they fell for each other anyway. Then one day, your mother told your father the only way the Nine-Heart Begonia could be passed down. Your father, who had a top-tier Martial Soul but had concealed it, learned of this. Do you know what he did?"

"He chose not to tell your mother. Instead, he chose a secret technique—a technique that could permanently seal away a Martial Soul. But at the time, that secret technique was controlled by a certain family. So, in order to obtain it, your father chose to make a deal with that family."

Ye Lingling immediately asked, "What kind of deal?"

"Your father had to take a pill in exchange for that secret technique."

Ye Lingling seemed to realize something. "What did that pill do?"

"It completely altered a person's personality, causing them to lose most of their self-awareness and become a puppet fully controlled by others without even realizing it."

"Did he know at the time?"

"If he had known, he would not have