Dong'er's voice cracked.
"I saw the ugliest side of myself. I saw all my foolishness. I saw why I lost."
She paused, her dark red eyes turning toward Fang Mo.
"And you. Someone from another world who treated all our fates as stories to be read.
"You would laugh, sigh, and grow angry, but those were merely a reader's reactions—not the reactions of someone who had truly lived through all this."
Fang Mo did not argue, because he knew Bibi Dong was right.
Before crossing over, he had indeed been nothing more than a "reader."
He could pity Bibi Dong's suffering, ache over Qian Renxue's sense of loss, and leave comments like "Bibi Dong had it so hard."
But before a woman who had truly experienced it all, those words were something entirely different.
"But..."
Fang Mo spoke.
"I'm standing here now."
Dong'er's phantom trembled slightly.
"Yes, I was once only a reader. I knew this world's plot. I knew every one of your endings."
Fang Mo's gaze met those dark red eyes head-on.
"But that was before. I'm not reading a story now, because I'm inside it.
"You are not words on a page. You are a real soul before me—warm, capable of tears."
The Spirit Sea fell silent for a moment.
Spirit Dong'er's phantom swayed faintly, as if something had touched her.
"Stop saying pretty things."
Her tone remained icy, but Fang Mo noticed that the barrier keeping everyone at arm's length in her spiritual fluctuations had thinned somewhat.
"You answered your question. Now it's my turn to ask you."
"Ask."
"What are you planning to do?"
"What do you mean, what am I planning to do?"
Dong'er's phantom suddenly surged closer, her eyes nearly pressed against Fang Mo's nose.
"Don't play dumb. You know what I'm asking."
She said each word slowly:
"In your memories, there is far too much about me and Xue'er—far too many plans for winning over us mother and daughter."
"Those aren't my memories." Fang Mo immediately retorted. "They're fanfictions I read in my previous life."
"Memories are memories." Dong'er said coldly. "I don't care whether you wrote them or someone else did. They're in your head, which means you've seen those things."
Fang Mo opened his mouth, only to find himself speechless, because she was absolutely right.
"So." Dong'er's voice lowered, carrying a hint of warning. "I need an answer from you."
"What exactly are your intentions toward me... toward her... toward Xue'er?"
The question was like a sharp blade, stabbing straight into Fang Mo's most secret corner.
He did not answer immediately.
Because he knew that before a soul possessing Rakshasa Divinity, any lie was meaningless.
She was no ordinary person.
She had once been a god.
Even though she was now a Remnant Soul, her insight into the human heart remained sharp as a blade.
Fang Mo remained silent for ten breaths.
Then he slowly spoke.
"My original intentions... truly weren't pure."
Dong'er's eyes narrowed slightly.
"After crossing over, my first thought was to use my knowledge of the original work to survive.
"You were my Martial Soul, Bibi Dong was my teacher, and Qian Renxue was the core of the Worship Hall.
"I wanted to scheme against every one of you, to treat every one of you as pieces on a chessboard."
Fang Mo suddenly paused, his gaze falling upon Dong'er's phantom.
"But later, that changed."
"It changed?"
"When I saw Bibi Dong crouch down and look a six-year-old child in the eye.
"When I saw her use Whale Rubber for me, saw her worry over adding a Soul Ring for me, saw her fingers tremble slightly."
Fang Mo's voice became very soft.
"I knew she wasn't a chess piece. She was a real person.
"They were all like me—people who could hurt, fear, and grow tired."
The Sea of Consciousness fell silent.
Dong'er's phantom hovered where she was, her eyes fixed motionlessly on Fang Mo.
She was judging him.
Judging whether he was telling the truth or delivering a carefully crafted lie.
Fang Mo did not evade her scrutiny.
"As for you..."
He looked into those eyes, identical to Bibi Dong's yet completely different.
"You were the character I pitied most in my previous life. You may not believe that, but it's true."
Dong'er's spiritual fluctuations trembled faintly.
"I watched countless people discuss your life, your choices, and why you lost.
"Some said you were obsessive, some said you were foolish, and some said you deserved it."
Fang Mo's voice became firm.
"But I never thought that way. You were merely forced to the end of the road by fate, and no one reached out to pull you back when it truly mattered."
Dong'er's phantom suddenly shuddered.
"So after I came to this world, the first fate I wanted to change wasn't my own."
"It was yours."
Fang Mo's gaze was calm and sincere.
Because he truly was not lying, and Bibi Dong had also been the first woman he listed as his top harem choice.
The Spirit Sea sank into a long silence.
Dong'er's phantom slowly drifted back a step, her voice so hoarse it was nearly inaudible.
"You..."
"You think a few nice words can..."
"I don't need your trust." Fang Mo interrupted her. "Trust is earned through time, not spoken into existence."
He paused, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.
"But we can start with cooperation."
Dong'er's phantom froze for a moment.
"You help me grow stronger, and I'll help you change your fate. You want to see Xue'er? I'll create an opportunity.
"You don't want the tragedy at Jialing Pass to happen again... then walk forward with me."
Dong'er remained motionless where she was.
Within those dark red eyes, anger, resentment, pride, and vulnerability—every emotion surged.
In the end, all those emotions receded.
Only one voice remained, hoarse and weary, carrying a faint, nearly imperceptible tremor:
"Fang Mo."
"Mm."
"If I find out you're lying to me..."
"What will you do?"
Dong'er's phantom slowly drew closer until those dark red eyes were right before him.
A frigid Rakshasa Divinity washed over him, carrying the aura of death powerful enough to shatter an ordinary person's soul.
But Fang Mo did not retreat even half a step.
"I'll gnaw away at your soul bit by bit from the depths of your Spirit Sea."
Dong'er's voice was icy to the bone.
"I'll drag you down to death with me!"
Fang Mo looked at Spirit Dong'er, the corners of his lips curving slightly.
"Fine."
He nodded gently.
"Deal."
Dong'er's phantom stared at him for a long time.
Then she slowly drifted backward, eventually sinking into the darkness.
Before vanishing, she left him with one sentence.
"Those fanfictions of yours... those messy plots written in them—you'd better not tell her a single word."
Fang Mo froze for a moment.
"Her?"
"The one outside."
Fang Mo suddenly understood that Dong'er meant the Bibi Dong of the present world.
The corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
"Don't worry."
"And remember to keep a close eye on her. Don't let that Yu Xiaogang deceive her again."
With that, the Spirit Sea returned to tranquility.
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