Reborn Together

High above, wind and clouds churned furiously.

Two figures of overwhelming might were locked in fierce combat.

Yun Ming's white robes snapped in the wind, his Heavenly Spear spanning the sky. Its tip blazed like the sun, the supreme will of his light-infused spear dao pressing down in every direction. His reserves as a Limit Douluo were boundless; every thrust carried the might to shatter the void. Spear light crisscrossed the sky, sealing every route of advance and retreat available to Qian Chenyue.

Qian Chenyue's eight gray Fallen Angel wings vibrated at tremendous speed, fallen divine power surging around her. Her figure flitted lightly through the impenetrable spear shadows, twisting and dodging, yet Yun Ming's spear offensive kept her firmly suppressed.

Pfft!

A sharp streak of light from the Heavenly Spear tore through the air and swept precisely across her shoulder armor. The holy, overbearing spear force instantly breached her fallen defenses and ripped through flesh. Agony shot straight into her soul, and a thread of crimson blood slid down her pale shoulder.

Yun Ming's gaze turned piercing, his spear offensive swelling again. "Anyone who stands in my way will fall!"

Before his words had faded, his figure flashed forward, the Heavenly Spear thrusting straight at her with the might to pierce heaven and earth. He had not used his full strength; after all, she was Qian Gu Fenfeng's second wife.

Qian Chenyue's eyes abruptly chilled, and she stopped merely dodging and enduring his attacks.

The great fallen axe originally held in her palm, peerless in slaughter, suddenly erupted with black light, its shape changing drastically!

The axe dissolved, its baleful aura drawing inward, and a pitch-black balance engraved with mysterious Fallen Angel runes slowly floated before her.

Both ends of the balance hung in empty space. One reflected Qian Chenyue's own bloody injuries, while the other locked onto Yun Ming as he approached with his spear.

This was the ultimate soul skill of her Fallen Angel martial soul-Causal Balance Transfer, equal division of damage!

"Pavilion Master Yun Ming, brute force has never decided victory or defeat."

Qian Chenyue's cool voice rang through the clouds as she poured all her fallen divine power into the balance. The black balance trembled faintly, glimmers interweaving between its two pans to forge an invisible, traceless contract of cause and effect.

The very next second!

The Heavenly Spear's killing force crashed into the soul power barrier before Qian Chenyue. Its terrifying penetrative power tore her defenses apart, and the violent impact instantly sent stabbing pain through her meridians and shook her soul.

But a bizarre scene suddenly unfolded.

Every new injury on Qian Chenyue's body, every internal injury caused by the shock, and all the pressure of the spear dao she bore were instantly divided and stripped away by the balance!

Half the damage remained with her, while the other half crossed the distance between them and was forcibly transferred to the unsuspecting Yun Ming!

"Humm-!"

Yun Ming's figure abruptly stalled as an equal burst of agony suddenly struck his chest.

Half the attack he had just unleashed rebounded upon him! The bizarre balancing force sent his blood and energy churning. Shock filled his eyes, and blood instantly stained the front of his robes.

He had roamed Douluo for half his life and seen countless martial souls and soul skills, yet he had never encountered an ability so bizarre-using one's own injuries as stakes, balancing offense and defense, transferring damage, sharing the same wounds and pain!

The wound on Qian Chenyue's shoulder swiftly stopped bleeding. Healed by her Fallen Angel soul power, it returned to its original state in the blink of an eye.

Controlling the Fallen Angel Balance, she spread her wings and hovered steadily in the sky, no longer showing the slightest sign of being suppressed.

"What a bizarre ability," Yun Ming murmured gravely. The Heavenly Spear trembled slightly in his hand as he gathered strength to fight again.

The struggle that followed descended into a complete stalemate.

Every time Yun Ming severely wounded Qian Chenyue with his spear, equivalent damage rebounded upon him without fail; every crushing assault from his spear dao domain had most of its power balanced out and negated by the balance. His Heavenly Spear offensive was incomparably overbearing, but before the rule of absolute equilibrium, it simply could not overwhelm her.

Relying on the balance's secret art, Qian Chenyue defended steadily and counterattacked. She sought neither to break her enemy nor to win, only to bar his path.

Whatever injuries she suffered, Yun Ming would inevitably suffer the same wounds. Their injuries remained in precisely identical balance.

Spear light flashed high in the sky, colliding with black feathers that filled the heavens.

After hundreds of exchanges, both had exhausted more than half their soul power. Blood stained their clothes, and their auras grew weary at the same time.

Yun Ming stood with his spear in hand, his gaze heavy and solemn.

He had already seen clearly that the Fallen Angel Balance's rule of restraint had no solution. So long as the balance remained intact, he could never severely wound Qian Chenyue, much less break through her obstruction and enter Star Dou's core to rescue the soul beasts.

Qian Chenyue hovered opposite him, her breathing steady. The balance's faint glow remained, firmly maintaining the equilibrium of cause and effect.

Below, the sounds of capture in the Star Dou Great Forest gradually subsided. Every high-ranking soul beast had been captured, and the dust had settled on the battle.

Qian Chenyue spoke mildly. "Pavilion Master, Star Dou's fate is already decided. Your reinforcements have come too late."

Yun Ming gazed at the forest below, now completely fallen, then looked at the powerful Fallen Angel restraining him. At last, he slowly withdrew and lowered his spear.

His violent spear aura receded entirely, and the wind and clouds across the sky slowly calmed.

The two faced each other across the sky, both wounded and evenly matched, neither gaining the slightest advantage over the other.

Several months later.

Aolai City.

Six-year-old Tang Wulin abruptly sat up in bed, his small body shaking violently and his tender hands clenched tight. The innocent ignorance of childhood was gone from his eyes.

He had returned.

He had been reborn with the complete memories of his entire life.

He remembered his lifetime of turmoil and displacement, remembered forging and Na'er, remembered the Shrek explosion, the thousand-day dragon burial, his confession at Sea God's Fate, bloody battles in the arena, the abyssal invasion...

And what he remembered most deeply, what hurt the most-

Ten thousand years sealed in ice in the Far North, piercing his beloved's chest with his own hands, separated forever by life and death, a lifetime of regret.

The little boy's pupils abruptly contracted, and towering waves surged in his heart.

"Wulin, time to eat!"

The reborn Tang Wulin froze, tears flowing before he knew it. He climbed out of bed and rushed toward the dining room. "Dad! Mom! I missed you so much!"

Although he knew they were not his birth parents, their years of nurturing and daily companionship left him unable to contain himself.

"My good boy, did you have a nightmare?"

"Oh, don't cry, don't cry..."

The lowest level of the Spirit Pagoda's secret laboratory.

The Sea God Helmet floated quietly in the center of the hall. Countless streams of ocean power surged ceaselessly toward it from every direction, its divine radiance filling the dim laboratory.

Sealed by layer upon layer of divine shackles, her head bowed and eyes closed, powerless to struggle, Gu Yuena suddenly shuddered.

Her formerly dull silver eyes abruptly blazed with clarity and searing pain that spanned the ages.

This was not a brief revival bought by overdrawing the Dragon God's Heart. Her soul had returned to its place, her past life lived anew.

Countless memories sealed in ice for ten thousand years smashed through her currently weakened divine essence like a tsunami-their joint death for love in the Far North's ice cavern, the collapse of the plane during the great abyssal war, the endless grievances between humans and soul beasts, the peace she had sought all her life finally dissolving like a bubble, and the slaughter that had descended early in this life, her unforeseen capture alive, the fate of total defeat.

"I... have returned."

Gu Yuena murmured, her voice trembling. Her eyes no longer held the exhaustion of hastily facing battle, but the cold resolve of someone who had lived through a lifetime of life and death and seen through every ending.

At that same moment.

Six-year-old Xie Xie jolted awake. He lowered his head and looked at his two martial souls.

"Huh? I have to start over?"

"No matter what, I can't let Tang Wulin beat me up this time."

Five-year-old Xu Xiaoyan's Star Wheel martial soul trembled faintly. All the foreknowledge of her previous life, every tragedy, every irreversible ending in death, branded themselves upon her soul.

Young Ye Xinglan clenched her little empty fist, Stargod Sword intent hidden within her childish body. The broken sword, blood, desperate battles, and Shrek's destruction remained vivid in her memories.

Little Xu Lizhi sat in a daze. For the first time, his honest eyes filled with heaviness. He remembered every time he had supported his teammates, every time he had shielded them from disaster with his own body, every time he had been powerless.

Yuanen Yehui and Yue Zhengyu awoke from their ignorance one after another. Memories of two lives overlapped, the fates of the original story intertwining in their hearts.

"Reporting to the Councilor! The data is in chaos! The data is in chaos!"

His injuries not yet healed, Qian Gu Fenfeng slumped in the Councilor's office, frowning. "All this panic-where is your decorum!"

"Councilor, the six children you ordered monitored through big data have behaved extremely strangely today! Among them is Lord Order Messenger Yuanen's daughter."

"Hmm?"

Qian Gu Fenfeng froze, inwardly sensing trouble. Of all times, it had to happen while his severe injuries were still unhealed. He had just tried to stand when a crack rang out.

"Ow... my back..."

"Councilor, you..." As he spoke, Secretary-General Pan Changwen moved forward to support him.

"It's fine. Keep monitoring them. Don't beat the grass and startle the snake."

"Yes!"

Qian Gu Fenfeng carefully settled back into his chair, thinking:

At this rate, I'm afraid they've been reborn...