Ye Xishui paid no attention to Huo Yuhao's questioning.
The Death God Tower had been taken from her—and even the faintest connection to it had completely vanished.
The backlash from her Spirit Power, the shock to her spirit, and the fury raging in her chest all surged together.
Her throat tightened.
A thin line of blood slowly trickled from the corner of her lips.
"You… are you truly a god descended into the world?!"
Ye Xishui's gaze trembled violently as she stared at Li Zhexian, shaking her head like someone on the verge of madness.
"No… impossible!"
"Gods are bound by the laws of the mortal realm! How… how can you act so freely?!"
Li Zhexian didn't even bother to spare her a glance.
Compared to the cunning manipulations of Bibi Dong's malicious incarnation, the woman before him was still lacking by several levels.
The fact that he had personally stepped in to confiscate her soul tool was already the greatest honor she would ever receive in her lifetime.
Ye Xishui forcibly circulated her Spirit Power, trying to fight again.
But doing so caused her blood essence to surge violently in reverse.
Another mouthful of blood sprayed out.
Even so, she ignored everything—like someone possessed—still intending to stake her life on one last desperate struggle.
At that moment—
a figure in a black robe staggered down from the air.
Long Xiaoyao grabbed her arm.
"Xishui… stop."
"The situation today is already a dead end."
"That white-robed youth is unfathomable. I doubt I could delay him even for a moment."
"You must leave. Now."
As he spoke—
he stepped forward, placing himself firmly in front of her.
His back stood straight like a pine tree, yet it now carried a faint stoop. The vast Spirit Power that once surged through him like an endless ocean had dwindled to something like a candle flickering in the wind.
Only his gaze remained unshakably resolute.
"I wonder…"
"If this broken body of mine were to self-detonate…"
"whether it could win you a sliver of life."
Ye Xishui stared blankly at the resolute and desolate figure before her.
From such a close distance, she could clearly sense the violent energy inside Long Xiaoyao's body, gradually spiraling out of control.
Huo Yuhao suddenly spoke in a deep voice.
"Ye Xishui, my teacher and Senior Long Xiaoyao are both here. Even Dean Yan Shaozhe is present!"
"Now that things have come to this… are you still going to keep hiding the truth?!"
Mu En and Long Xiaoyao's gazes froze.
Meanwhile, Yan Shaozhe, who had been listening with great interest, suddenly looked completely confused.
Wait.
How did this involve him?
Seeing that Ye Xishui remained silent, merely staring at Long Xiaoyao's back in a daze—
Huo Yuhao frowned.
His immense spiritual power wrapped around his voice.
It exploded like thunder across the sky.
"My teacher and Senior Long were deceived by you their entire lives!"
"If you won't say it—"
"Then I will!"
"Shut up!"
Ye Xishui's breathing grew ragged as she screamed to cut him off.
Those old memories she had buried deep within her heart for decades surged back to the surface, making her body tremble uncontrollably.
The truth of those years—was known only to herself.
She didn't understand how Huo Yuhao could speak with such certainty.
But when her eyes fell upon the white-robed youth, calmly watching the scene unfold like a spectator—
her heart suddenly turned cold.
The image of him reversing time was still vivid in her mind.
Could it be…
that everything she had done back then had already been seen through by this god?
Mu En's throat moved slightly.
Yet he said nothing.
He only looked at Ye Xishui with a complicated expression.
Long Xiaoyao slowly turned his head and stared at Ye Xishui's pale face.
Under those two gazes—
Ye Xishui suddenly became strangely calm.
She knew that she had reached the end of her road.
If that was the case…
then the secret she had buried for so long should finally be revealed.
She glanced once at Mu En.
Then her gaze settled on Long Xiaoyao's face.
"That year… when the three of us met during the Spirit Master Tournament…"
"It was never a coincidence."
"From the very beginning—"
"I was already an evil Spirit Master."
Mu En and Long Xiaoyao's pupils both shook violently.
Those sealed memories came flooding back—the transformation from rivals to close companions on the tournament stage, the carefree days they had spent traveling across the continent together…
The other powerful figures present also held their breath. They listened intently.
After all, this was the secret behind why three Limit Douluos had eventually parted ways.
Ye Xishui slowly closed her eyes.
Her voice was calm—calm like still water.
"Back when I participated in the Spirit Master Tournament…"
"…it was originally just to investigate the younger generation."
"You falling in love with me… was part of my plan."
"But the fact that I developed feelings…"
"…that was never part of it."
"It was my—"
Just as Long Xiaoyao started to speak, he was gently interrupted by Ye Xishui.
"At that time, the two of you were known as the Twin Dragons of Light and Darkness, the most dazzling prodigies of the era."
"Brother Mu was too good—good to the point of being mild, to the point of being flawless.
"But you… Xiaoyao…"
"You were sharp and dazzling. Bold, fearless, always eager to stand at the center of attention."
"Xiaoyao, you always believed my heart belonged to Brother Mu."
"But from the very beginning… the one in my heart…"
"…was always you."
Mu En had long believed he had let go of the past.
Yet hearing those words now felt like a heavy hammer slamming into his chest. His blood surged violently, nearly beyond control.
Long Xiaoyao's lips trembled. He stared fixedly at Ye Xishui's sorrowful face and rasped hoarsely:
"So that night…"
"That night… was it…"
"Yes."
Ye Xishui answered calmly, cutting him off.
"It was something I planned deliberately."
A murky tear slid down from the corner of her tightly closed eyes.
"The one I arranged to meet that night… was always you."
"I let Brother Mu see it on purpose—so the two of you would grow apart."
"And so that you… would carry guilt for the rest of your life."
"So that you would stay by my side forever… and serve the Holy Spirit Cult."
Mu En slowly closed his eyes.
A long breath escaped him—like releasing decades of dust and bitterness.
There was pain.
There was regret.
There was bitterness.
Yet the obsession that had weighed on his heart for half a lifetime also loosened at that moment.
"Cough…!" Long Xiaoyao coughed violently, a thread of blood escaping his lips.
When he looked at Ye Xishui, hatred and tenderness burned together in his eyes.
"You…"
"How could you be so cruel…"
The rusted lock on those old memories had finally been forced open.
After hearing the truth, the many powerful figures present felt a heavy sense of desolation spread through their hearts.
The methods of the Holy Spirit Cult were ruthless to an extreme.
Through nothing more than careful manipulation—
the two brightest prodigies of their era, the Twin Sacred Dragons of Light and Darkness, had been trapped in a web of love and guilt, wasting half their lives and never again soaring freely as they once had.
From an outsider's perspective—
Ye Xishui seemed utterly selfish.
Utterly vicious.
But from the standpoint of Mu En and Long Xiaoyao…
there remained only a bone-deep sorrow.
Li Zhexian shook his head and tilted back his head, draining the last of the wine from his gourd.
Compared to the tangled emotions of these three people's lifetimes, the taste of the wine seemed bland.
What is love in this world?
It turns every meeting and parting into a calamity—breaking hearts and binding souls, until one looks back to find half a lifetime already buried beneath frost and snow.
"Sigh…" Yan Shaozhe let out a long sigh.
Looking at Mu En's lonely figure, he suddenly felt that the old man before him no longer resembled the mighty Dragon God Douluo who once shook the continent.
Instead, he looked like nothing more than a solitary old man.
Yan Shaozhe lowered his voice and tried to comfort him.
"Teacher… the past may be painful, but now that the truth is revealed, perhaps it can finally bring you some peace."
Li Zhexian glanced at him and suddenly found himself amused.
Interesting.
Yan Shaozhe still had the mood to comfort someone else?
Under Li Zhexian's half-smiling gaze, Yan Shaozhe felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
Just as he was about to bow and ask something—
Ye Xishui's hoarse voice echoed out once more.
"Xiaoyao… I know you hate me."
"But I also did something for you."
"You and I…"
"…have a child."
The moment the words fell—the world seemed to fall silent.
Everyone froze in place as if struck by lightning.
Wait—it wasn't over yet?!
Mu En flicked his sleeve and stepped back.
Whatever came next had nothing to do with him anymore.
Long Xiaoyao's pupils shrank violently, his silver hair trembling without wind.
For some reason—
Yan Shaozhe suddenly felt a chill explode in the depths of his heart.
Then—
Ye Xishui's gaze slowly turned toward him.
"I haven't seen him for more than a hundred years."
"I didn't want him to know…"
"…that his mother belonged to the Holy Spirit Cult."
"That she was an evil Spirit Master."
"He took the surname I had before joining the Cult."
"His surname…"
"…is Yan."
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