Ye Guyi Sees Orange's Sin—and Her Own Heart

From the main tent to the Soul Engineering Tower was only a few hundred steps, yet Huo Yuhao walked more heavily than he had in any arena duel. Silver-blue military lamps lit up one after another ahead of him, making the camp resemble a cold, iron fortress. Orange walked at the front, Ye Guyi held her sword at her side, and the Soul Tool Fragment in Huo Yuhao's palm was still burning hot. After the Kinship Inheritance Contingency Plan had been sealed with Ultimate Ice, the hidden orders remaining inside had been forced out. That was precisely why the second floor of the Soul Engineering Tower had been sealed off early.

That was not simple defense. It was silencing witnesses.

The people in the tower knew that the attempt to obtain the activated specimen had failed. They knew Huo Yuhao had seen the Third Return-Flow Collection Site, and they knew Orange had handed over the second-floor key. So before Huo Yuhao could force his way in, they intended to move the living simulation records in the advisory room, the evidence of contaminated Return Flow, and the true route to the old battlefield.

Silver-blue chains hung down from the tower's outer walls, while Soul Tool patterns crawled over the metal like living things. Every alert cannon in Sun Moon Camp turned at once, not toward an outside enemy, but toward the tower itself.

Orange walked at the front. Her military coat fluttered in the wind, her back straight to the point of cold hardness.

"There's a Holy Spirit Cult advisory room on the second floor," she said. "Officially, it studies the effects of evil soul master contamination on Soul Tool cores. In truth, it conducts living simulations of Return Flow reactions."

Ye Guyi's voice was as cold as her blade. "How long have you known?"

Orange did not turn around. "Longer than you would like."

The holy sword suddenly lit up. Ye Guyi stopped before the tower gate, platinum holy light spreading from her blade and casting her face in a chill so deep that it held not a trace of warmth.

"Orange, if you were merely the Crown Princess of the Sun Moon Empire, I could tolerate you standing here. But you knew they were using the fates of people around us as experimental material, and you still kept the evidence as leverage."

She raised her sword. "I should stop you."

The soul engineers at the gate all changed expression. Orange had no guards at her side. Nor did she retreat. Huo Yuhao wanted to speak, but Ye Guyi glanced at him. It was an extremely slight look, yet it pressed his words back down.

Ye Guyi was not acting impulsively. She was forcing Orange to reveal where she truly stood.

Orange lifted her eyes and looked at the holy sword hanging before her brow. "Then look clearly."

Holy light descended. It was not an attack, but the Soul-Illuminating Light of the Holy Angel. Orange's shadow stretched long, and countless scenes surfaced within it.

A young girl making soup in a kitchen. A crown princess lowering her head to receive orders in a palace. A woman intercepting a secret command late at night but not destroying it. Then the scene of her standing before Huo Yuhao's tent, her fingertips lingering over the flap for a long time before she finally tucked the second-floor key into her sleeve.

Ye Guyi's brow twitched faintly. She saw Orange's calculations, and she saw Orange's hesitation. But the most piercing scene was the last one. Orange sat alone beneath a lamp, the Kinship Inheritance Contingency Plan spread before her. She stared at the line, "Retain Huo Yuhao's bloodline sample," for an entire night. There was no disgust, nor was there simple greed.

It was the silence of someone driven to the edge of a cliff, someone who had truly entertained that thought.

Huo Yuhao's chest felt tight. On the other end of the communication line, Wang Dong'er and Wang Qiu'er both fell silent. They had not personally seen the images within the holy light, yet they could sense that dangerous, real emotion.

Orange closed her eyes. She was not afraid of others seeing her ugliness. What she feared was seeing clearly for herself just how badly she wanted to seize a path that would let her survive.

Yet Ye Guyi's sword did not fall.

"You are not innocent."

Orange spoke softly. "I know."

"But today, you opened the door."

Orange opened her eyes. Ye Guyi lowered her sword by half an inch.

"So for now, I will not let it fall."

Orange smiled faintly. "Miss Ye knows how to show mercy too?"

Ye Guyi said coldly, "This is not leniency. You are still useful."

There was no mercy in those words. Yet they were cleaner than false forgiveness. Huo Yuhao looked at Ye Guyi. She did not look at him, because she knew that if she met his eyes, that bit of partiality she should not have would show. She forced Orange to see her sin, and forced herself to see that partiality as well.

The tower gate suddenly shook. At the center of the second-floor chains, a black talisman face appeared.

"Your Highness the Crown Princess, opening the advisory room without authorization will be regarded as betrayal of the empire."

Orange raised a hand. Three miniature Soul Tool command tokens flew from her sleeve at once and embedded themselves in the tower gate.

"By the authority of the camp commander, I am temporarily taking command of the second floor."

The black talisman face sneered. "Insufficient authority."

The next instant, the talisman face opened its mouth, and a gray-black wave of Return Flow contamination lunged at Orange. Huo Yuhao's Spirit Detection unfolded instantly. Ye Guyi's holy sword slashed down, splitting the contamination wave in two. But the true attack was hidden behind it. A black sampling needle sprang from the ground and stabbed toward Huo Yuhao's ankle.

Huo Yuhao did not retreat. His Spirit Eyes lit up. The Soul Tool Fragment unfolded in his palm, directly reflecting the sampling needle's trajectory.

"It wants my spiritual algorithm, not my blood."

As soon as he spoke, Ultimate Ice exploded across the ground. The sampling needle froze in midair. Ye Guyi stepped forward, driving her holy sword into the center of the tower gate as platinum holy light burned its way along the chains.

Outside the camp, Wang Dong'er and Wang Qiu'er simultaneously sensed the breach in the sampling formation.

Wang Dong'er spread her Light Butterfly Wings and cut toward the left-side node of the outer barrier.

Wang Qiu'er gripped the Golden Dragon Spear, her golden destiny suppressing the military formation on the right.

They did not enter the camp. Yet they were like two nails, pinning down the outer control chain of Sun Moon Camp and preventing the second floor from sealing the external formation shut.

Ma Xiaotao stood behind them, Phoenix Flame dancing in her palm.

"Not bad." She laughed. "You finally understand that guarding a man does not mean you have to stick to his side."

Wang Dong'er's cheeks heated, but the blade of light in her hand grew steadier.

Wang Qiu'er said coldly, "Enough talk. Watch the cannon formation."

The tower gate finally cracked open. Foul black mist poured out from within. Ye Guyi was the first to charge inside. Platinum flames ignited along her holy sword.

"Holy Spirit Cult."

Her voice was low.

"Stop hiding."

On the second floor, dozens of translucent fate containers hung in the air. Each one held a fragment of human emotional fluctuation. Fear. Love. Jealousy. Greed. The Holy Spirit Cult treated those things as materials, while Sun Moon soul engineers treated them as data.

Ye Guyi's hand trembled for the first time. Not because she was moved, but because she was furious.

Huo Yuhao walked to her side.

"Save the people first."

Ye Guyi glanced at him. That look was so quick that no one noticed the softness within it.

"You break the formation. I'll clear the way."

Huo Yuhao nodded. The Soul Tool Fragment unfolded. Spirit Detection swept across the second floor, and every connection line between the containers appeared in his sight.

"Guyi, three on the left, seven on the right. Cut the Holy Spirit contamination lines."

Ye Guyi did not hesitate.

"Orange, seal the Sun Moon power supply. Don't let it draw from the outer barrier."

Orange immediately raised her hand, and three military commands flew into the control console.

Huo Yuhao's spiritual power traveled through the communication line and reached outside the camp.

"Dong'er, the third Soul Tool lamp on the left wing of the outer formation."

Wang Dong'er slashed down with her wings. The silver-blue Soul Tool lamp went dark at once.

"Qiu'er, the ground-vein anchoring ring on the right wing. Don't break the barrier, only strike the latch."

The Golden Dragon Spear struck the ground. The anchoring ring broke in response. They were not standing beside him, yet they still caught every one of his judgments.

Orange stood before the control console, watching this cooperation across the camp gates. A flicker of complexity surfaced deep in her eyes. She envied that kind of tacit understanding. She also knew she could never step into it so cleanly.

Just then, an ash-white hand reached out from the shadow behind her.

"Your Highness the Crown Princess, your old feelings for him are quite useful too."

Orange's pupils contracted. Before she could react, Ye Guyi's holy sword had already thrust in from the side. Platinum holy light pierced through the shadow. A Holy Spirit Cult advisor in a black robe emerged with a scream.

Ye Guyi did not look at Orange.

"I told you, you are still useful."

Orange lowered her head and watched the sword light pass beside her shoulder. It had been close. A little farther over and it would have wounded her. But Ye Guyi's control had been exact. Orange suddenly laughed softly.

"Miss Ye, you are more biased than I imagined."

Ye Guyi's expression turned cold.

"Shut up."

Huo Yuhao heard that and turned to glance over. Ye Guyi did not look back. But the faint flush at the edge of her ear could not be hidden.

The next moment, the black container at the deepest part of the second floor suddenly exploded. A contaminated Return Flow reaction lunged toward the Soul Tool Fragment. At the center of the formation patterns, that incomplete opening stroke lit up. Huo Yuhao's expression changed.

"It's searching for the Third Collection Site!"

Orange immediately asked, "Not here?"

"This is only a transfer point."

The Soul Tool Fragment abruptly pulled out a silver-blue line of light, pointing toward the top of the tower. At the end of the line, two words faintly appeared.

Old Battlefield.

The Holy Spirit Cult advisor grinned. "Too late."

After saying that, his body burst apart into black mist. A tremendous boom came from the top of the tower. The Soul Tool cannon formation throughout Sun Moon Camp lost control at the same time.

Every cannon muzzle turned toward Huo Yuhao.

Outside the camp, Ma Xiaotao raised her head as Evil Phoenix Flame erupted open behind her.

"Can we go in this time?"