"Grandfather also said... he guessed that your father left back then because of the poison in his Martial Soul."
Yu Tianheng's voice grew lower and lower, as if he were speaking of something unbearably difficult:
"When your mother was pregnant with you, she was infected by that poison too. Old Master Dugu held on for so long because he was a Title Douluo and could forcibly suppress it with Soul Power. But you're different, Yanzi. You don't have that kind of strength yet. The poison will only accumulate deeper and deeper in your body. Your time is running out too."
Yu Tianheng paused and tightened his arms around her, as if she would vanish the moment he let go:
"If we're together, it won't just be me. In the future... our children will be in danger too."
That final sentence was like an ice-tempered dagger, piercing straight through Dugu Yan's last line of defense.
The disappointment that had weighed on her heart moments ago was instantly drained away, replaced by overwhelming despair that crashed over her like a rising tide and swallowed her whole.
So it wasn't that he didn't love her. It was that he couldn't love her. It wasn't that he didn't want to be with her; being together meant Destruction.
The exhaustion she had always attributed to cultivation was actually a countdown to death. The Martial Soul she had been so proud of was a curse passed down through generations.
"Wah..."
A suppressed sob squeezed from her throat, like the mournful cry of an injured beast in the dark of night.
Dugu Yan could no longer hold herself up. Her body went limp as she collapsed fully into Yu Tianheng's arms.
The emotions she had bottled up for so long burst forth like a breached dam, instantly