[Xiao Wu herself did beat Xiao Chenyu to the ground, but they had no martial honor. A whole group ganged up on her and trapped her.]
[I stepped in and dealt with them.]
[Honestly, seeing Xiao Wu bullied left a bad taste in my mouth.]
[Because I knew that in the original story, this rabbit's fate was ten thousand times worse.]
Chen Mo's pen paused before he continued writing.
[In the original story, Xiao Wu was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit who took human form. Her mother was hunted down by Spirit Hall, and she went alone into the human world, taking human form and cultivating anew to avenge her mother.]
[And what happened? She met Tang San at Nuoding Academy. They grew up together, and she genuinely loved him.]
[But what happened later?]
[Spirit Hall discovered her identity, and Bibi Dong personally led people to hunt her down.]
[Tang San couldn't protect her at all back then.]
[In the Star Dou Great Forest, Xiao Wu chose to sacrifice herself to save Tang San.]
[She gave Tang San her Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, all of it, turning into a rabbit without intelligence herself and lying in Tang San's arms, waiting to die.]
[Tang San kept saying he would resurrect her, but in reality, he later killed Xiao Wu's two closest brothers-Da Ming and Er Ming-and took their Soul Rings and Soul Bones.]
[Da Ming and Er Ming were Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest, the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape, the two little brothers Xiao Wu had taken under her wing.]
[They willingly sacrificed themselves so Xiao Wu could be resurrected.]
[But after Xiao Wu was resurrected and learned that her two brothers, along with her own Soul Ring and Soul Bone, had all become Tang San's power, how did she feel?]
[Even more ironically, when Tang San killed Soul Beasts for their Soul Rings, that was carrying out heaven's justice; when others killed Soul Beasts, that was slaughtering innocents.]
[He enjoyed the power granted by Soul Beasts' sacrifices while constantly declaring that he would avenge Xiao Wu and wipe out Spirit Hall.]
[Yet he himself was drenched in Soul Beasts' blood.]
[Was this the so-called righteous path?]
[Put plainly, it was double standards.]
[Unfortunately, Xiao Wu in the original story had her head turned by so-called love and didn't even blink when she sacrificed herself.]
[This life was different.]
[She saw all this. She would make her own choice.]
Chen Mo put down his pen and looked at the diary page, remaining silent for a while.
Then he closed the diary, stood up, and returned to his room.
[Ding! Diary published successfully.] [Daily diary reward: 3 free attribute points.] [Major plot revelations (Xiao Wu's sacrifice, Da Ming and Er Ming, Tang San's double standards), additional reward: 5 free attribute points.] [Detected an increase in Xiao Wu's affection toward the host: 25 → 35.]
Chen Mo raised an eyebrow.
Today's fight hadn't been for nothing. Her affection had risen by 10 points. After adding his attribute points to mental power, Chen Mo turned over and lay down.
(Mental power allowed better control of Soul Power!)
Meanwhile, elsewhere-
The work-study students' dormitory, Dorm Seven.
Xiao Wu huddled beneath her blanket, reading the diary in her hands by the moonlight streaming through the window.
Her tears had already soaked a patch of her pillow.
Sacrifice. She had seen her own ending.
Giving away her Soul Ring and Soul Bone, everything, for Tang San, and becoming a rabbit without intelligence.
And Da Ming and Er Ming.
Those two younger brothers who had protected her as she grew up.
Da Ming, the Sky Azure Bull Python, always called her "Sister Xiao Wu" with steady composure;
Er Ming, the Titan Giant Ape, was simple and guileless, beating his chest in delight whenever he saw her.
They had sacrificed themselves in the end, too.
To resurrect her, they had willingly died at Tang San's hands.
Xiao Wu covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking, not daring to cry aloud.
She was afraid of waking the others.
Tears ran between her fingers, falling onto the diary drop by drop.
"Tang San..." she said through gritted teeth, her voice choked with tears and hatred. "How could you..."
She had liked Tang San before.
The boy didn't talk much, but he was steady and dependable. He protected her and bought her carrots.
Only now did she realize how laughable all that "kindness" was in the face of her sacrifice and her two brothers' lives.
Tang San obtained her Soul Ring, obtained Da Ming's and Er Ming's Soul Rings, became a Titled Douluo, and became a god.
And what about me? What about my brothers?
Nothing more than stepping stones on his path to godhood.
Xiao Wu abruptly shut the diary and hugged it tightly to her chest.
She remembered how Chen Mo had looked when he applied medicine to her that day.
His movements had been gentle, his gaze focused.
She remembered him standing outside the crowd, rescuing her from Xiao Chenyu's grasp with a single sentence: "If I were you, I'd let go."
She remembered that after he beat those people to the ground, his first words weren't boasts, but a question: "Does your hand hurt?"
The diary said this life was different.
She would make her own choice.
Xiao Wu wiped away her tears, her gaze gradually growing resolute.
Her choice was already clear.
At the same time, the others who possessed diary copies also saw this page.
At the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Dugu Yan lay on her stomach on the bed, reading the diary and pounding the mattress in anger.
"This Tang San is such a bastard!" she said through gritted teeth. "Xiao Wu was so good to him, and he actually..."
She thought of herself. If any man dared treat her that way, her grandfather's poison would leave him so poisoned that even his own mother wouldn't recognize him.
Dugu Yan rolled over and looked out the window, the corners of her mouth lifting again.
"But Brother Mo really is amazing. He saw right through that Tang San."
Holding the diary, she tapped the words "Brother Chen Mo" and blushed.
Spirit Hall, the Supreme Pontiff Palace.
Bibi Dong read the diary, her fingers tapping lightly on the tabletop.
She was the one who had hunted down Xiao Wu's mother in the first place and had little sympathy for Soul Beasts.
But when she read that Tang San had killed Da Ming and Er Ming, taken their Soul Rings, and still filled his mouth with talk of justice, she sneered.
"Hypocrite."
She had never had much liking for people with such double standards.
What interested Bibi Dong more was this-Chen Mo even knew about things like this. Just how much more did he know?
She increasingly felt that the youth writing this diary was unfathomable.
At the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Rongrong nestled beneath her quilt, frowning as she read.
"This Tang San is just awful..." she muttered softly. "Poor Xiao Wu."
She looked again at the line Chen Mo had written, "This life was different," her eyes shifting.
"This Chen Mo... is actually a good person."
Her curiosity about this youth she had never met grew a little.
In the Star Luo Empire, Zhu Zhuqing stood by the window, reading the diary with a complicated look in her eyes.
She said nothing, merely closing the diary and pressing it to her chest.
She thought of her own fate, the Zhu Family's marriage arrangement, and Dai Weisi's pursuit of her life.
If she hadn't seen this diary, she might also have been pushed along by fate like Xiao Wu in the original story, ultimately ending up with no control over her own life.
Zhu Zhuqing took a deep breath and looked toward the Heaven Dou Empire.
She had to go and meet this person.