Before the ice dais at the head of the hall, Huo Yuhao stood with his hands behind his back, silver-white hair falling over his shoulders. His gaze rested on the purple-robed figure below the steps.
"So the Demon Codex has been perfected, right?"
Violet's deep-purple formalwear was impeccably tailored, and he stood straight as a pine. At the question, he bowed with a gentleman's precision. "Of course, my great master. Had you not brought this cultivation method to perfection, how could I have achieved what I have today?"
Huo Yuhao raised a hand to rub his nose, looking somewhat helpless.
Violet's reverence seemed etched into his bones. Every other word was "my master," as though he stood before the supreme being who ruled over all things.
But Huo Yuhao knew he was still far from becoming his future self. Receiving such grand honors under the identity of "himself" made him uncomfortable all over.
"Uh... I'm not him yet."
It sounded convoluted, but Huo Yuhao had no better way to put it.
His present and future selves were the same person, yet they occupied different points in time. He could not separate them completely, so a vague explanation was all he could offer.
"But you will return one day. Violet will loyally stand by your side forever." Violet shook his head gently and bowed deeply again, without a trace of doubt in his voice.
To him, the boy before his eyes was his master, and the one who had laid out the grand plan ten thousand years ago was also his master. They had always been the same person, merely at different points along the River of Time.
"As you like..." Huo Yuhao waved a hand, unwilling to dwell on how Violet addressed him.
He turned toward the Ferocious Beasts standing