Gu Yuena

"Who crushed someone else's hand before making a request..." Huo Yuhao crouched down as well, sitting beside her by the Life Spring and sharing its faint emerald glow.

"And why me? You saw it too—I'm so weak right now, I can't save anyone..." As he spoke, Huo Yuhao clenched his fist.

If not for Di Tian's Inverse Scale earlier, he would not even have had a chance to escape the Assessment District.

The silver-haired girl did not answer. Her eyes remained fixed on the lake as she extended her right hand before Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao was baffled and asked strangely, "What is it?"

"You can crush my hand too. Then we'll be even." The silver-haired girl continued staring quietly at the Life Spring without looking away.

What kind of little hand was that? Tender, fair, adorable, and small—how could anyone bear to crush it?

Huo Yuhao laughed helplessly and put her hand back. "That's not the point. What's your name?"

"My name is Gu Yuena. Just call me Na'er... What about you?" The girl curled up slightly, looking timid.

She really is the Silver Dragon King. She's rather different from the one in the book.

"My name is Huo Yu... My name is Huo Yuhao." This was the first time Huo Yuhao had used his real name since meeting Xu Tianyao. "Just call me Yuhao... Where is this place? Why is it so dark?"

He knew that the name Huo Yuhao carried the meaning of commemorating Dai Hao, but it was also the name his mother had left him.

According to the legends of Douluo Continent, those who had passed away would one day follow names to find their living relatives. He feared his mother would not be able to find him.

"Are you afraid of the dark?" Gu Yuena turned her head and looked seriously at Huo Yuhao.

"No, I..."

Gu Yuena tilted her head and stretched out her little hand. A glimmer of light rose from her palm. It was faint at first, but as it rose, the entire world seemed to awaken gently and brighten.

Huo Yuhao looked around and realized that he was beneath a massive tree. Its towering crown formed an emerald dome that blocked out the daylight. Dense vines hung all around them, so thick that even sunlight could not penetrate. As the light appeared, those vines glowed emerald in response. At the center of the trunk was an enormous hollow, as though something had been dug out of it.

"So beautiful..." Huo Yuhao cried out unconsciously, slightly dazed.

"Well? Are you still afraid now?" Gu Yuena asked softly.

"I'm not..." Huo Yuhao's face reddened slightly. He was not afraid of the dark!

"Then... Huo Yuhao, will you save us?" Gu Yuena curled up again and buried her face in her knees. "Soul from another world, bearing destiny... Will you be our hope?"

"Oh? As expected of the lord of all soul beasts. You can even see that." Huo Yuhao raised his brow. He had not expected the Silver Dragon King to be able to tell who was a transmigrator. Then Qiu'er...

At his words, Gu Yuena buried her head even deeper, her voice carrying a hint of tears.

"I'm not..."

But she quickly stopped herself and asked instead.

"Do you think I'm stupid, placing the future of soul beasts in the hands of a human?"

Without waiting for Huo Yuhao's answer, she continued on her own.

"Because I can't do it. I can't. One night, I saw a future. No... It could not even be called a future."

"Our homeland was occupied, our living space devoured, and soul beasts were all raised in enormous metal cages."

"I staked everything on creating a future for soul beasts, but in the end..."

At that point, tears the size of beans burst from her eyes and soaked her delicate face.

"I'm not the lord of all soul beasts. I can't do it... I don't have the ability to save everyone."

"I never inherited the Dragon God's wisdom. All I have are these complicated, fragile emotions. I've endured for so, so long. Why did I have to see such a future?"

Gu Yuena, the Silver Dragon King and lord of all soul beasts, wept like a human child.

"But I can't tell anyone. Why was I the one who escaped? It would have been better if the Golden Dragon King had escaped. Why? Why?"

Huo Yuhao reached out and patted her head in comfort. He remembered that the book had said the Asura God split the Dragon God in half with a single slash, creating the Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King. The Silver Dragon King escaped, while the Golden Dragon King was sealed in the God Realm.

The original story said that Gu Yuena had developed two personalities. One bore the mission of being the lord of all soul beasts, while the other saw herself as human. Perhaps her original personality had never been that strong; she had merely been forced to be strong by responsibility.

The Gu Yuena of the original story endured until the very end, only to develop a new personality while integrating into human society, causing the great plan for the revival of soul beasts to collapse.

And now, she had probably seen the future she herself would create for some reason, yet could not accept it. Drowned by hundreds of thousands of years of loneliness, she could no longer hold on.

"But I still saw hope." Gu Yuena finally stopped crying. "A soul from another world... bearing destiny."

"The Auspicious Beast bears the destiny of the Star Dou Great Forest. The person she chooses will give soul beasts hope. In the original future, the person she chose truly gave soul beasts a new path, but..."

Gu Yuena looked at Huo Yuhao, her eyes full of pleading. "Huo Yuhao, will you save us?"

"I don't know." Huo Yuhao looked toward the sky hidden by the canopy. "Right now, I'm only a one-ring Soul Master. I don't know how to answer you."

"But... if one day I truly have the power to save everything, I will definitely save you."

"Because shouldn't the strong save the weak, and geniuses protect the ordinary, as a matter of course?"

"Don't fear those complicated, fragile emotions. Perhaps in the future you saw, you failed because of them, but I must say..."

"...Those complicated emotions are the source of human wisdom. It is precisely because humans possess such emotions that they yearn for beauty and can possess wisdom."

"I will keep moving forward until I can surpass everything and bear everything. Then, I will surely be able to save everyone."

This... was the charm of a fantasy world.

Huo Yuhao gazed at the Life Spring, lost in thought.

Huo Yuhao turned to glance at Gu Yuena. "But by then, there will no longer be any need for the lord of all soul beasts."

"Mm." Gu Yuena nodded. "Then I'll become your soul ring and serve as the foundation for your ascent to the divine throne. That way, I can..."

Bam!

Huo Yuhao reached out and flicked her forehead:

"If I still need soul rings by then, what soul beasts would I be saving? When that time comes, just be an ordinary girl."

Gu Yuena stood and pounced on Huo Yuhao, knocking him to the ground. Her three thousand strands of silver hair fell like a curtain of water, shutting out the world beyond the two of them.

"I understand."