A Happy Reunion? Not Necessarily!

Huo Yuhao was standing next to Dai Mubai when Dai Mubai was scolding Dai Hao.

He watched as his father was humiliated and unable to lift his head after being scolded by the ancestor, and he didn't know what to feel. Perhaps he felt mostly irony.

On the surface, Huo Yuhao's ascension to the Divine Realm was a perfect ending.

He became a god, saw his mother, and the family was reunited.

But this fulfillment came at the cost of changing his surname; he gave up his own surname and the only thing Huo Yun'er had left him.

He gained a place in the Divine Realm, but lost a part of himself. Whether it was a worthwhile trade-off, only Huo Yuhao himself knows.

On the surface, Huo Yuhao's ascension to the Divine Realm was a perfect ending.

He became a god, saw his mother, and the family was reunited.

But this fulfillment came at the cost of changing his surname; he gave up his own surname and the only thing Huo Yun'er had left him.

He gained a place in the Divine Realm, but lost a part of himself. Whether it was a worthwhile trade-off, only Huo Yuhao himself knows.

However, that's not what I want to talk about today.

What I want to talk about is something else, something even more chilling than changing one's surname.

Why was Huo Yun'er there? Her timing was too perfect.

Huo Yuhao had just finished being chased by Tang San, had just broken ties with Dai Mubai, and was just about to fight to the death when Huo Yun'er appeared.

A person who has been dead for so many years, just like that, is resurrected at that exact moment, just like that, just like that, just like that—what a coincidence!

Zhang Lexuan sat in her office in the Inner Court, holding a report she had just approved.

She noticed Lin Ye questioning the timing of Huo Yun'er's appearance, and her fingers tightened slightly as she held the report.

Zhang Lexuan had never had a good impression of Tang San; the things he wrote in his diary were enough to disgust her.

The direction Lin Ye was referring to was one she hadn't considered before.

Huo Yun'er's resurrection was indeed too coincidental, so coincidental that it seemed like it was planned by someone.

Who is Tang San? He is the enforcer of the laws of the Divine Realm, the one who controls the rules.

He could have resurrected someone at any time, but he chose that particular moment.

Huo Yun'er was only released when Huo Yuhao was being hunted down to the point of having nowhere to go and when Dai Mubai forced him to change his surname.

This is not a coincidence; it is a plan.

Tang San was using Huo Yun'er as leverage. He knew how deep Huo Yuhao's feelings for his mother were, and he knew that a single word from Huo Yun'er was more effective than any threat.

Xiao Xiao was touched when Huo Yun'er appeared, thinking that the reunion of mother and son was a good thing.

But after Lin Ye analyzed it this way, she realized that things were not so simple. If Huo Yun'er's resurrection was arranged by Tang San, then Huo Yun'er's words might not necessarily be entirely her own.

Xiao Xiao felt a little uncomfortable. She wanted to refute Lin Ye, but she couldn't find a reason to do so. The timing was indeed too coincidental.

No one knows how long Huo Yun'er's soul stayed in Tang San's hands.

Souls are different from living people. If a soul is controlled by a God King for a long time, won't it be tampered with? Won't it be implanted with certain suggestions? Tang San is capable of doing these things.

He's the kind of person who'll use any means necessary to achieve his goals, as the events described earlier have already demonstrated.

Huo Yun'er advised Huo Yuhao to change his surname, speaking so calmly and rationally, as if she had planned what she was going to say beforehand.

When a mother sees her son being chased, her normal reaction is to protect her son first and ask who is chasing him.

But Huo Yun'er didn't; her first request was for Huo Yuhao to change his surname. [The order is wrong.]

Wang Dong'er pondered, and when she noticed Huo Yun'er's strange reaction, she realized that something was indeed wrong.

Seeing your loved one, your son, being hunted down, and the first thing you do is make him compromise with the enemy—that seems a bit too strange.

Wang Dong'er now has every reason to suspect that this was orchestrated by Tang San, or that he had threatened Huo Yun'er beforehand, saying things like, "If you don't make Huo Yuhao change his surname, then your son will die," or something like that.

Wang Dong'er felt that Tang San was definitely capable of doing this. Now, she didn't need any more reason to hate Tang San, but every time she saw new evidence, that hatred would still rise again.

A God King controlling a mortal's soul and forcing her to act as a lobbyist—such an act would be outrageous to anyone.

Wang Dong'er thought of herself, of her life being arranged by Tang San from childhood to adulthood, and she was all too familiar with that feeling of being manipulated.

Huo Yun'er and she are the same kind of people; they are both pawns in Tang San's hands.

[As for Dai Hao, Dai Hao was also brought to the Divine Realm. On the surface, this was Huo Yuhao being filial and bringing his father up to enjoy a life of comfort.]

But what kind of life did Dai Hao lead in the Divine Realm? Dai Mubai scolded him for only knowing how to fight and not caring about his family, making him feel ashamed.

Huo Yuhao stood by and watched without saying a word.

Dai Hao has no status or voice in the Divine Realm; anyone can lecture him.

If Huo Yuhao truly wanted him to enjoy a comfortable life, why didn't he give him a respectable position? Why didn't he let him live a more carefree life?

Ma Xiaotao didn't like Dai Hao at all; her diary entries about his actions towards Huo Yuhao and his mother were already despicable enough.

She hadn't expected the angle Lin Ye mentioned.

Huo Yuhao's decision to send Dai Hao to the Divine Realm may not necessarily be out of filial piety.

Ma Xiaotao pulled the towel off her neck and clenched it in her hand.

If Huo Yuhao truly hates Dai Hao, keeping Dai Hao under his nose and forcing him to live at his mercy every day would indeed be more satisfying than simply killing him.

What are Huo Yuhao's feelings for Dai Hao? This question has been addressed before. Dai Hao was unaware of Huo Yuhao's existence until Huo Yuhao had already grown up.

There is no affection between father and son, only blood ties.

Dai Hao had no marital affection for Huo Yun'er, nor paternal love for Huo Yuhao; these feelings were nonexistent from beginning to end.

Huo Yuhao knew this too; he had witnessed too much of the coldness and indifference of human relationships. He knew that Dai Hao had no place for his mother in his heart.

But he still sent Dai Hao to the Divine Realm. Why? Because by placing Dai Hao in the Divine Realm, Dai Hao had to show his love for Huo Yun'er and his guilt and concern for Huo Yuhao.

This was the rule Huo Yuhao set for him. As long as Dai Hao was in the Divine Realm, he had to keep up the act.

It's an act for Huo Yuhao, an act for Dai Mubai, an act for everyone.

This is exactly the effect Huo Yuhao wanted.

In the Divine Realm, Dai Hao is nominally Huo Yuhao's father, but in reality, he is a prisoner under surveillance.

He had to be good to Huo Yun'er, he had to feel guilty towards Huo Yuhao, and he had to act like a repentant husband and father.

But Huo Yuhao didn't care at all what he was really thinking.

Huo Yuhao wanted Dai Hao Dai Hao act for the rest of his life, to live under a pressure he could never escape.

Dai Hao was a high-ranking duke in the White Tiger Duke's Estate, but in the Divine Realm, he was just an old man who could be manipulated at will. This disparity itself was a cage.