Accept his fate?
Dai Lingfeng looked down at Huo Yun'er, his heart undisturbed.
This woman had accepted her own fate,
and she urged him to accept his, too.
He had to reassess this NPC mother Tang San had arranged for him.
Tang San had worked out a fine little scheme.
Unfortunately,
he had his own convictions, and no one could shake them.
"Lingfeng, this is fratricide!"
"I'm begging you, let your brother go! He's your own brother!"
"I'll get down on my knees for you!"
Weeping, Huo Yun'er started to kneel.
Dai Huabin was Dai Lingfeng's half brother, the duchess's son.
She had finally managed to come down from the Divine Realm again to be with Dai Lingfeng;
she couldn't stand by and watch him do something foolish!
Dai Huabin breathed a sigh of relief, too.
Though he didn't know how Huo Yun'er had come back from the dead,
now that Dai Lingfeng's own mother was kneeling to plead for him, Dai Lingfeng surely wouldn't kill him, would he?
His life was safe...
Crack!
But the next moment,
a sharp crack of breaking bone rang out.
Expressionless, Dai Lingfeng held Huo Yun'er up with one hand, keeping her from kneeling, while the other crushed Dai Huabin's neck without hesitation.
Dai Huabin was dead.
A coward didn't even dare seek revenge.
If they counted on Huo Yuhao,
Dai Huabin would never be punished.
But as soon as Dai Huabin fell into Dai Lingfeng's hands, he killed him on the first day of school!
"Huh?!!!"
Huo Yun'er's sobs stopped abruptly. She stared at the scene in disbelief, her eyes blank.
Dai Lingfeng had really killed Dai Huabin!
He had killed him just like that,
and even her pleas hadn't helped?
"He only made a small mistake. Why did you have to kill him?"
"He didn't deserve to die!"
Huo Yun'er looked at Dai Lingfeng as though he were a monster, her eyes filled with fear and disappointment.
She was afraid,
afraid of the power her son wielded so recklessly.
Dai Lingfeng frowned deeply, too.
Huo Yun'er was different from the other Chang Ghosts. She could come out on her own, beyond his control.
It seemed Tang San was determined to make him carry an old mother on his back.
"Dai Huabin once sent people to beat you. As far as I'm concerned, that's a capital offense."
Dai Lingfeng's voice was cold.
He wasn't Huo Yuhao, all talk and no action, putting on a show,
forgiving someone who had beaten his own mother.
Huo Yun'er might be an NPC, but the kindness she'd shown in raising him for six years was real enough.
Dai Huabin had to die!
"But I don't mind. I'm fine. Why did you kill him?"
Huo Yun'er was on the verge of breaking down.
"Mother, you're tired."
"Go back and rest."
Dai Lingfeng had run out of patience to answer her.
Boom!
Huo Yun'er was shaken to the core and staggered.
Dai Lingfeng was sending her away?
Just because she didn't want Dai Huabin killed?
But she was doing it for Dai Lingfeng's sake!
People couldn't live in the past, mired in hatred. They had to learn to let go and forgive.
"All right, I'll go back."
Huo Yun'er gave a bitter smile, then vanished and returned to the Sea of Consciousness.
With Huo Yun'er no longer interfering,
Dai Lingfeng began to take control of Dai Huabin's soul.
He had killed Dai Huabin so decisively because when he killed a Soul Elder-level Soul Master and refined him into a Chang Ghost, the ghost could retain his full cultivation from life.
A Chang Ghost could disguise himself as the original and carry on living without anyone being the wiser.
"Master!"
Chang Ghost Dai Huabin appeared before Dai Lingfeng, his face full of fear.
Chang Ghosts retained their memories from life,
and he remembered clearly how Dai Lingfeng had just snapped his neck.
Did he hate Dai Lingfeng?
Naturally.
But a Chang Ghost could not disobey his master. That was an iron law, and Dai Huabin could only become a ghost in lucid despair, to be ordered about by another.
"Mm. Just carry on as usual."
Dai Lingfeng nodded.
Dai Huabin had decent talent and was suitable enough as a natal Chang Ghost.
Unlike Huo Yun'er, who hadn't given him a single skill, Dai Huabin gave him three: White Tiger Protection Barrier, White Tiger Fierce Light Wave, and White Tiger Demon God Transformation.
With those three skills, Dai Lingfeng's White Tiger Martial Soul was no longer a blank slate.
As for Dai Huabin,
he had also grown stronger after becoming a Chang Ghost,
gaining three abilities: brief invisibility, disguise, and bewitchment.
However, his whole body had taken on an evil presence. If he used his Chang Ghost abilities, people would definitely mistake him for an Evil Soul Master.
"Yes, Master."
Dai Huabin gritted his teeth and nodded, then left the dorm room.
At the door, he ran into a sturdy youth.
"Are you assigned to this room?"
"The heir of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion is inside. Go ask the school for another room."
Dai Huabin had a foul temper, and he spoke irritably.
Dai Lingfeng had to have a room to himself. No one else was qualified to share a room with their White Tiger heir.
"The Star Luo Empire's number one genius?"
When Huang Chutian heard that Dai Lingfeng was inside, he wisely followed his heart and went to find somewhere else to stay.
Downstairs in the dormitory building.
Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong were locked in a fierce fight,
while Mu En's mind was elsewhere.
Dai Lingfeng had killed Dai Huabin with such brazen arrogance, then extracted and refined his soul.
Should he pretend he hadn't seen it,
or pretend he hadn't seen it?
Forget it.
He was already over two hundred years old. It was perfectly reasonable for his old eyes to be a little dim, wasn't it?
"Had enough?"
Huo Yuhao pinned Wang Dong to the ground, a fierce look on his face.
Wang Dong was just about to give in
when a familiar figure, much taller than before, walked past them.
"Dai Lingfeng!!"
Both of their eyes turned red at once, and they began panting like bulls.
It took them only another 0.01 seconds to recognize each other.
"Huo Yuhao... you're Dai Yuhao!"
Wang Dong's voice rang with delight.
Though Huo Yuhao had grown up and changed a great deal, the boy from six years ago was still clearly recognizable in his features.
"You're the one who spoke up for me back then?"
Huo Yuhao was delighted, too.
After all, very few people had spoken up for him back then, and Wang Dong had left a deep impression on him.
After recognizing each other,
they felt at once like fellow wanderers cast adrift at the ends of the earth, comrades reunited.
"My name is Wang Dong."
"Come on, let's go discuss a plan."
Wang Dong was eager to get started.
"Okay!"
Huo Yuhao readily agreed.
Tang San and Dai Mubai were silent.
They looked at each other, neither speaking.
They had watched with their own eyes
as Dai Lingfeng killed Dai Huabin.
Huo Yun'er had tried to stop him, too, but she couldn't persuade him at all. Dai Lingfeng was frighteningly decisive and obstinate.
This child was too stubborn.
Once he made up his mind, he would never change it.
"Mubai, this descendant of yours is a bit fierce."
Tang San's heart grew heavy.
Brothers killing one another was an old tradition of the White Tiger Lineage,
so it was hardly surprising. But with a personality like Dai Lingfeng's, he would undoubtedly be the most terrifying kind of enemy.
Fortunately,
he had sent Huo Yun'er to brainwash Dai Lingfeng from childhood, making him obedient, trusting, and loyal to both him and Dai Mubai.
Otherwise, they probably wouldn't have been able to bring Dai Lingfeng to heel.
"Sigh."
"Blue truly comes from indigo yet surpasses it. I'm ashamed I can't compare."
Dai Mubai sighed.
This child had ideas of his own.
Dai Huabin had beaten Huo Yun'er, and even though he had helped take the blame, remained utterly loyal, and had Huo Yun'er plead for him, he had still been killed.
A blow from a stick followed by a sweet date
simply wouldn't work on Dai Lingfeng.
They had beaten Huo Yun'er, too. Dai Lingfeng wouldn't settle the score with them later, would he?
Why did it feel as though he and Tang San were raising a tiger that would one day bring them trouble?
He hoped he was overthinking it.
Huo Yun'er had brainwashed Dai Lingfeng from childhood to believe in the greatness of the Tang Sect and Shrek. Dai Lingfeng might kill Dai Huabin, but he would never defy him and Tang San.
Huo Yun'er and Huo Yuhao had already confirmed that.
Dai Lingfeng was the Tang Sect's most faithful believer,
wasn't he?