Awakening

Huo Yuhao looked at the little girl before him. Her face was unfamiliar, but she gave him an incredibly familiar feeling. She was still smiling at him just as brightly as ever.

"Brother Sky Dream...?" Huo Yuhao asked uncertainly.

"Hehe, what do you think? I can transform into human form now, too." As she spoke, Tian Meng spun around in front of Huo Yuhao.

"Brother Sky Dream... when did you come out? How is your body now? Is anything wrong?" Huo Yuhao still wanted to ask about Brother Sky Dream's condition. As he spoke, he tried to sit up and take a look, but just as he braced himself with his arms, Brother Sky Dream held him back.

"Little Yuhao, take it easy a bit longer. You've been asleep for seven days. I came out four days ago. It's a pity you didn't see what happened then. After I came out, Snow Empress checked me over and said I was fine." Tian Meng spoke with the same bright smile. As though she had remembered something, she added, "You don't have to call me 'Brother' anymore, either. I'm the same as you now, so from now on, just call me Sister Tian Meng. Oh, right, I'll go get you something to eat." With that, Tian Meng left.

Watching Tian Meng leave, Huo Yuhao said softly, "All right, Sister Tian Meng."

Tian Meng returned shortly. Of course, when everyone heard Huo Yuhao had woken up, they came along, too.

"Have something to eat first." As she spoke, A Ling handed Huo Yuhao a bowl of porridge.

"Thanks." Huo Yuhao took it and drank a mouthful. The fragrance of the grains lingered on his taste buds, with a hint of a scorched flavor. The heat had clearly been too high while the porridge was cooking, but Huo Yuhao didn't mind.

"How is it? Tastes pretty good, right?" Raven asked tentatively from beside him.

"It's quite good," Huo Yuhao replied with a smile.

"I knew I had a talent for cooking." After Raven said this, Wolf King handed her a bowl of the same porridge. Raven didn't hesitate and took a mouthful, but her brows furrowed slightly, and she fell silent.

Snow Empress said, "All right, everyone, stop fooling around. Yuhao, how does your left arm feel now?"

Huo Yuhao set down the bowl and raised his left arm. Then, at the prompting of his thoughts, the Left Arm Armor of the Ice Extreme God of War Armor appeared on it. Huo Yuhao moved it around; his entire left arm moved freely. He tossed a piece of ice crystal into the air, and it exploded. After completing this series of actions, Huo Yuhao used his thoughts to retract the Ice Extreme God of War Armor, making it disappear.

"Everything feels normal. Also, I just checked, and my Soul Power has reached level twenty-eight. This may be the improvement I got from refining the Left Arm Bone," Huo Yuhao said, lowering his arm.

Snow Empress said, "That's good. Oh, right, Dugu Bo came by two days ago."

Before Huo Yuhao could ask anything, Evil Lord said from the side, "That guy came to gather herbs and ask how you were doing. Snow Empress and I chatted with him. He was pretty polite; after gathering his herbs, he left in a courteous manner."

Ice Empress grumbled, "That guy was scared by you and Xue'er, wasn't he? You two showed him the simulated Soul Rings, and I saw his legs shaking."

"They were just the standard configuration of two yellow, two purple, four black, and one red. That only proves the guy really is a coward," Evil Lord said indifferently.

As everyone was talking, Tian Meng quietly asked Huo Yuhao, "Yuhao, can you cook today?"

After hearing her, Huo Yuhao smiled at everyone and said, "I've pretty much recovered. By the way, what would everyone like to eat tonight? I'll make it."

The others gradually fell quiet. Raven had been about to say something, but she still closed her mouth. After all, the taste of that porridge was still on her tongue, and she really couldn't say, "I'll cook today."

Actually, everyone had barely cooked at all over the past few days. Aside from the first time, when they burned what they made, they had only cooked a pot of porridge today. The rest of the time, they had either picked some fruit or gone to restaurants in the city. It could only be said that none of them had any talent for cooking.

"Just make whatever. Nobody has any special requests," A Ling said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

That night, after everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they went off to do their own things. Only then did Huo Yuhao get the chance to have a proper chat with Tian Meng.

"Sister Tian Meng, where did these clothes come from?" Huo Yuhao asked, looking at Tian Meng's outfit.

Tian Meng smiled at Huo Yuhao and said, "These? Ice Empress bought them for me. You know, Little Yuhao, ever since I came out, Ice Empress hasn't forced me to cultivate anymore. She even took me and Snow Empress into the city to have fun."

Huo Yuhao thought of the past relationship between Ice Empress and Snow Empress, then thought of the past relationship between Ice Empress and Tian Meng. Maybe things were better this way for all three of them. "As long as Sister Tian Meng is happy." After saying this, Huo Yuhao asked, "So, Sister Tian Meng, what are you like now?"

"Me? After I came out, I was no longer an Ice Silkworm. I have wings now. If you don't believe me, look." As she spoke, Tian Meng changed back to her original form. A one-meter-long, half-meter-tall Snow Moth appeared before Huo Yuhao, with two pairs of glistening wings and a snow-white body that shimmered with a golden glow.

"How do I look, Little Yuhao? Am I pretty?" As she spoke, Tian Meng even fluttered the wings on her back.

Huo Yuhao looked and said, "You're very beautiful."

Tian Meng transformed into human form again and said to Huo Yuhao with some pride, "That's not all. I, Tian Meng, am a million-year Soul Beast now, too. It's just that I can't get past the million-year Heavenly Tribulation, so I'm still suppressing my Cultivation. I'll wait until you reach level thirty."

"Don't worry, I'll cultivate as quickly as I can. By the way, Sister Tian Meng, why did you become like me?" Huo Yuhao finally asked what he had been wondering about.

"Actually, I don't quite understand it myself. Let me tell you what I still remember from when I was in that cocoon." Tian Meng briefly recounted what she remembered from inside the cocoon.

After hearing everything, Huo Yuhao gently rested his hand on Tian Meng's head and said, "I'm glad you're all right, Sister Tian Meng."

"Why are you patting my head, too?"

Huo Yuhao froze for a moment, then asked, "Who else patted Sister Tian Meng's head?"

"Who else but Ice Empress? You don't know, right after I transformed into human form, Ice Empress patted my head. Then Ice Empress patted her own head, too."

After hearing Tian Meng's words, Huo Yuhao could only laugh silently. Ice Empress still cared about her height just as she had in the past.

The night continued. Tian Meng had already gone to sleep. Huo Yuhao had originally planned to meditate, but when he saw Ice Empress walking toward him, he asked, "Why aren't you resting yet, Ice Empress?"

Ice Empress sat beside Huo Yuhao and looked at Tian Meng, who was sleeping in the distance. "Could you tell me again how I fell in love with Tian Meng?"

Huo Yuhao calmly recounted what had happened in the past. Ice Empress sat quietly, looking at Tian Meng in the distance without saying a word.

Only after Huo Yuhao finished did Ice Empress speak. "Yuhao, do you know? When I first found out I would fall in love with an Ice Silkworm in the future, I was confused and didn't understand. Later, when I saw Tian Meng in Star Dou Forest, I was unconvinced. I thought my partner had to be stronger than me, but Tian Meng was weak. At the time, I just wanted Tian Meng to become stronger, at least stronger than me, so she would be worthy of falling in love with me. That was why I later forced Tian Meng to cultivate. But in my heart, I was still resistant. I didn't know whether I should let Tian Meng fall in love with me. And you should know how I feel about Snow Empress."

After hearing Ice Empress's words, Huo Yuhao fell into thought as well. He didn't know how to answer her question. It was just like after his own rebirth: before he met the Auspicious Beast, he had wondered about these things, too. If someone from the past no longer remembered those feelings, should he carry them on?

But later, when he met the Auspicious Beast, he gave up. The Auspicious Beast didn't have to face a Heavenly Tribulation like Ice Empress and Snow Empress, nor did she need him to explain why he wanted to help them. The Auspicious Beast could live a carefree life.

Ice Empress's words rang in Huo Yuhao's ears again. "Yuhao, when I saw Tian Meng emerge from the cocoon as a girl, I was happy, but I was also sad. I could reject any love Tian Meng might feel for me in the future, and I would have a perfectly legitimate reason. But I also thought, if I used that reason to reject Tian Meng, could Snow Empress use the same reason to reject me in the future?"

After Ice Empress finished speaking, both of them fell silent. A while later, Huo Yuhao asked, "Ice Empress, I want to ask you: setting aside whether you two were together in the past, how do you feel about Tian Meng as she is now?"

"That fellow is like a child. She loves sleeping and playing. Every time I teach Tian Meng to cultivate, she always tries to slack off..."

"Actually, Ice Empress, deep down, you know best. Whether Tian Meng is male or female, to you, Tian Meng is like a younger sibling. Tian Meng has never shown any romantic feelings for you, either. Since everything from the past was described by me, and neither you nor Tian Meng remembers any of it, just let things take their course. Don't trap yourself."

After hearing this, Ice Empress turned to look at Huo Yuhao and said with a smile, "I can keep myself from being trapped. But can you?"

Huo Yuhao could only return her smile. She herself didn't know, so how could she advise another?

The night sky was so beautiful. Everyone went to sleep one by one. Huo Yuhao didn't meditate, but lay down and stared at the stars, unable to fall asleep for a long time.