Mom Will Worry

Water splashed loudly through the forest.

Huo Yuhao sprang up from the creek.

Droplets ran down his wet black hair. His coarse clothes clung tightly to his body, the sticky sensation mingling with the chill of the river water and making him shiver instinctively.

His gaze fell upon the pair of hands that still bore a trace of childishness.

Huo Yuhao raised his head and looked around in confusion.

Ancient trees towered overhead, blotting out the sky. Sunlight filtered through gaps in the branches and leaves, casting dappled shadows across the ground.

Memories surged in like a tide, scenes from his previous life flashing through his mind like a revolving lantern.

His final battle with Tang San—the earth-shattering scene, the ending where they had perished together.

A complicated look flickered in Huo Yuhao's eyes.

He took a deep breath and bent down to pick up the White Tiger Dagger from the stream.

The dagger felt icy and heavy in his hand, carrying a chilling aura of slaughter.

He walked to the bank and looked at his reflection in the water.

The creek was crystal clear, reflecting his current appearance—a ten-year-old child.

His childish face bore a pair of blue eyes, clear and bright.

A rose-gold light suddenly lit up within those blue pupils.

At the same time, golden radiance bloomed from his forehead, growing brighter and more dazzling.

Within the light, a vertical eye slowly emerged. Mysterious symbols gathered around it, constantly flowing and shifting.

Inside the vertical eye, a golden dragon phantom rolled and roared, violent and chaotic, carrying an aura capable of destroying heaven and earth.

The phenomenon lasted only a moment before swiftly fading.

"The Golden Dragon King Divine Core?" Huo Yuhao murmured, his voice low and hoarse. "And my Eye of Destiny has changed as well. Is this the effect of being reborn?"

In his previous life, it had been under the influence of the Golden Dragon King Divine Core that he broke free from that muddled state and saw the absurdity of what he had done.

Yet in the end, after he broke with Tang San, Tang Wutong had still stood with Tang San.

If not for those companions who had shared life and death with him, fighting with their lives on the line, how could he have dragged Tang San into the Space-Time Turbulence and ultimately perished together with him?

A bitter smile tugged at Huo Yuhao's lips as he shook his head.

He had thought everything was over, yet heaven had given him another chance.

He raised his head and looked into the distance.

His gaze seemed to pierce through the layers of forest and fall upon the direction of the White Tiger Duke Mansion.

"Mom..." Huo Yuhao whispered, his voice trembling slightly.

His mother, Huo Yun'er, was still alive.

She was not yet the soul Tang San had supposedly fished back from the Underworld. She was still the gentle, kind mother he remembered.

Huo Yuhao carefully tucked the White Tiger Dagger into his clothes.

He picked up several river fish from the ground, threaded them together with vines, and carried them in his hand.

Then he set off toward home.

At first, his steps were slow and cautious, as though he were testing the ground.

Gradually, his pace grew quicker and firmer.

At last, he began to run, a long-lost smile appearing on his face.

Yes, everything could begin again.

The young man held such hope in his heart.

Huo Yuhao's mother, Huo Yun'er, had once been the White Tiger Duke's personal maid and had followed him since childhood.

A personal maid was nominally a servant girl, but in truth, she was half a master's woman.

Ten years ago, on a night when the White Tiger Duke was drunk, Huo Yuhao had come into this world.

At first, Huo Yun'er and her son had been able to live relatively peacefully in an independent courtyard within the Duke Mansion.

But good times did not last.

As the White Tiger Duke went off to war, the Duchess stopped concealing her oppression of Huo Yun'er and her son.

Finding an excuse, she claimed that Huo Yun'er had contracted a grave illness and drove mother and son from their original courtyard, settling them in a dilapidated woodshed behind the servants' quarters. Huo Yuhao had been only two years old that year.

Not only that, the Duchess cut off every source of income for Huo Yun'er and her son.

Their lives immediately fell into hardship.

Then, when Huo Yuhao was six years old, he awakened his martial soul.

But what he awakened was not the Evil Eye White Tiger passed down through the White Tiger Duke's bloodline, but a mutated Spirit Eye martial soul with only rank one Innate Soul Power.

This only made the already difficult circumstances of mother and son even worse.

As the White Tiger Duke's son, he had not only failed to inherit the family's powerful martial soul, but his talent was so poor that naturally no one thought anything of him.

The servants within the Duke Mansion, eager to curry favor with the Duchess, bullied Huo Yun'er and her son without restraint.

Huo Yuhao clearly remembered that in a few months, his mother's body would completely give out.

After prolonged malnutrition and excessive labor, she would contract a serious illness and ultimately pass away.

But there was still a chance to save everything.

Huo Yuhao raced down the path.

In the past, such intense movement would have long since made his frail body unable to endure.

But now, warmth suffused his body, and streams of pure blood energy surged from the depths of his mind.

They flowed endlessly through his limbs and bones, as if he possessed inexhaustible strength.

The White Tiger Duke Mansion drew closer and closer.

Its high walls stood imposing, its halls magnificent, gleaming beneath the sunlight.

Soaring eaves and vermilion pavilions all displayed the splendor and majesty of the White Tiger Duke Mansion.

But none of this had anything to do with Huo Yuhao. As the son of a maid, he naturally could not enter through the main gate.

He turned onto a secluded path and ran toward the woodshed behind the servants' quarters.

He had walked this road countless times. Every pothole and every stone had been seared into his heart.

His heartbeat grew louder, pounding like a drum inside his chest, and even his steps quickened involuntarily.

Closer. Even closer.

Huo Yuhao slowed down. He carefully straightened his clothes, making sure there was nothing improper about them.

He took a deep breath, calmed his excited emotions slightly, and prepared to return home.

"Huo Yun'er, where is that son of yours?!"

A shrill voice suddenly rang out from the direction of the woodshed, abruptly interrupting Huo Yuhao's next movement.

"Why is today's firewood short again? What are you two, mother and son, good for?!"

"How did our White Tiger Duke Mansion end up with two useless things like you?!"

Huo Yuhao stopped. Through a gap in the trees, he saw what was happening in front of the woodshed.

A fat steward stood at the woodshed door, arrogantly berating Huo Yun'er.

The steward wore a brocade robe and had a jade pendant hanging from his waist. At a glance, it was clear that he was someone of status within the Duke Mansion.

Several strong guards stood behind him, all wearing ferocious expressions.

Huo Yun'er stood before the steward with her head lowered, not daring to show the slightest defiance. Her coarse clothes were covered in patches, her face was pale, and her body thin and haggard.

"Steward, my son went to gather firewood," Huo Yun'er said in a quiet, trembling voice.

"Gather firewood? I think he went off to loaf around!" The steward snorted, his face full of contempt. "Huo Yun'er, let me tell you, don't think that just because you used to be the Duke's personal maid, you can throw your weight around here! Now, you're nothing but a servant—useless trash, worse than a servant!"

"Yes, yes, Steward. Your rebuke is correct." Huo Yun'er nodded repeatedly, not daring to resist in the slightest.

"Hmph!" The steward looked smugly at Huo Yun'er's submissive appearance, feeling even more delighted.

Within the Duke Mansion, servants were divided into ranks as well. Being able to follow the Duchess's orders and freely berate this former personal maid, while ordering around that maid-born son, gave him a twisted sense of satisfaction.

Tree shadows swayed, and leaves rustled.

As Huo Yuhao watched his mother's humble posture and the hateful expressions on those people's faces, his pupils suddenly contracted into two thin slits.

He instinctively touched the White Tiger Dagger hidden in his clothes. The chill from its blade instantly cleared his mind.

I can't make a move here, Huo Yuhao warned himself. I can't let Mom see me kill someone. She'll worry.