"What is this?" Walking a little further ahead, she noticed something strange—that is, this place seemed completely unfamiliar? Even in the experiences she had gone through before, even if she had lost all her memories, there would still be a faint sense of familiarity. Only here, there was none.
"What are you trying to do?" A young woman's voice rang out in the courtyard, making her stop and listen carefully.
"Kill her. Then everything will be fine." A man's voice followed, giving her a strange feeling, as if she had heard it somewhere before.
"Are you insane? She's the most important person to us. If you kill her, what will we do in the future?" The young woman clearly didn't want him to do it, her voice suddenly rising.
"Yes, I'm insane. This responsibility is too heavy. If I don't make up my mind now, in the future, you'll suffer terribly, do you understand?" The man's voice trembled slightly, filled more with helplessness than anything else, as if what he was about to do wasn't something he truly wanted.
"No! I will absolutely not let you do this! She's my daughter—the one I love most. I would rather die myself than let anything happen to her." The young woman was extremely emotional, her words filled with a moving determination.
"Don't I love her? But in the future, she will attract endless enemies. When that time comes, this world will inevitably fall into chaos, even entering a wasteland era ahead of time..."
"So what? Haven't anomalies already begun? Don't tell me you don't know—that would be too fake, so fake I wouldn't believe it."
"I know. I'm also discussing with them how to deal with it. But those disasters and anomalies—listen to me—they absolutely won't be greater than the trouble she will bring."
"So you're going to use your own daughter's life to let this world continue struggling on? If that's the case, I won't allow it."
"Mingxue, listen to me! If it were only this world facing problems, why would I do something like this? In my life, when have I, Chu Xiao, ever feared anyone? But it's not just this world—it includes you, Ke'er, and Xiao Ren as well!"
"I know we'll fall into danger, and it's even possible we'll die in these calamities. But that is not a reason to abandon my daughter. I can't do it, and I never will."
"If you say that, then let me ask you—she really is my daughter, your daughter?"
"So what? So what? So what? From the moment I first saw her, I decided she was my daughter—and the most precious one, even more important than myself. You know how stubborn I am. Once I make such a decision, it will never change, isn't that right?"
"I know, I know, I know! I've known you for five years—what haven't we gone through together? I understand you, so can't you try to understand me as well?" At this point, the man who called himself Chu Xiao let out a sigh. "Do you think I don't love her? Do you think I'm willing? No, no, I don't want any of this."
"But if I have to choose between you all and her, I can only abandon her and choose you. After all, she isn't my true blood. Her origins are too mysterious. The responsibility she carries is far beyond what we can bear for her."
"Then raise her so she can bear it herself! I believe she can do it. She won't disappoint me—she can achieve it, right?"
"A person destined to bring calamity is also the best one to eliminate those calamities. I know—how could I not know? But the number of death tribulations she faces is simply too many. So many that I can't even be certain she'll live to fourteen. Do you understand what that means?"
"I do. It means she'll leave behind a mess and countless enemies for us to clean up. But that's not something I'm afraid of, nor is it a reason for me to abandon her or let you kill her."
"Haha, you still doubt me even now? After all this time, don't you understand? Even though I hold this position, I've always put you all first. Even if the world falls into endless war, so what? At worst, I'll take a spear alone—just like when I charged into the Otherside to rescue you—and turn the world upside down. When have I ever feared anything?"
"No—you're afraid now. You're afraid because you're worried we'll be in danger, aren't you?"
"Mingxue... you're right. But that's only because I've lost confidence—confidence in being able to protect you while facing the trouble she will bring."
"Why not, Chu Xiao? As a descendant of the Overlord, you've always proven you deserve that title. With your strength and your achievements, you've made everyone who opposed you submit. Isn't that your ability? Why do you seem so weak now? So weak that you're almost unrecognizable—nothing like the man who stood tall against an army of millions without taking a single step back."
"Even heroes grow old."
"But not now."
"Then it will be in the future—the future me won't be able to protect you..."
"Chu Xiao, you must understand—you are a martial artist, while I am a cultivator of the immortal path. When it comes to foresight and seeing the future, how could you compare to me?"
"This isn't a spell. It's just my intuition—the feeling that I will lose you. And the source of it is her. You know it well—a martial artist's intuition is far more accurate than so-called prophecy. Even without concrete information, it can still lead to many conclusions."
"And your conclusion is to kill her?"
"... " He fell silent, unable to say anything more.
"I know what you want to say. You can't bring yourself to say it, so I'll say it for you—'Since we already know what will happen in the future, we might as well cut off the source here,' right?"
"As long as you understand." Yes... as long as you understood, why say it out loud?
"I don't accept it. That's why I said it. Lian'er is my daughter. From the moment I first saw her, she has been. If you want to lay a hand on her, then I'm sorry—after that, we'll be strangers. If you kill her, then we will be sworn enemies forever."
"She really is important—you need to understand that."
"Yes, I understand."
"Fine... I hope your intuition is right. I hope it won't make me regret this."
"Chu Xiao, I think something is wrong with you right now. Go out and train for a while. Come back as the man you used to be—the one who stood tall and fearless—not this coward who shrinks back and hesitates."
"As you wish, my wife." As his reply fell, the gate opened, and a tall, slender man walked out, holding a long spear in his hand. As for what he looked like exactly, she could no longer make it out.
"Lian'er, don't worry. As long as Mom is here, nothing will happen to you. All those so-called futures and disasters—Mom will block them all for you. You just need to grow up well."
"Mhm, your father is a bad man. Of course, he's only a bad man right now. When he comes back, that will be when he has figured things out. At that time, you won't be in any danger. You'll truly become a member of our Chu family."
"Come now, be good, call me Mom..."
Crash~ Like the sound of glass shattering, everything before her disappeared once again. She stood where she was, the cold wind and rain battering her body, yet unable to extinguish the warm flame burning in her heart.
"With someone who loves me like this, what more could I ask for? Even if Father once thought about killing me, that probably wasn't his true intention, was it? No matter what... this conversation I never knew about has let me understand something, hasn't it?"
Lowering her head, the girl's voice sounded strange—part envy, part longing. In the end, she placed herself into the role of that 'Lian'er' who hadn't spoken a single word throughout, yet also felt that it wasn't truly her.
Thunder roared, rain fell, wind howled. Her bare feet stepped across the slick grass as her gaze grew distant.
Now that she had grown accustomed to walking through wind and rain, it had become easier for her. Yet her thoughts still lingered on that scene, unable to pull herself away.
"Yes... with someone who loves me like that, what right do I have not to try? Even if her love isn't always shown, it's always there, quietly telling me... that she loves me..." She couldn't help but place herself into it—was it because that silent 'Lian'er' was her?
"What exactly will happen in the future to make someone that strong fall into such agitation? Could it be an unavoidable war that engulfs everyone? No... that shouldn't be it. Then what is it?"
Slowly moving forward, scenes appeared and vanished around her. Her thoughts sank into them, then drifted away.
Fragments of the past, one scene after another, one event after another—gradually, she began to understand who she was, recovering bits and pieces of her memories.
When the first girl, Chu Chu, appeared, the dark clouds above her suddenly began to disperse. Even if it was slow, even if the reduction in rainfall was barely noticeable, she still realized it.
"Big Sis, Chu Chu likes you the most. I like how you always complain about me clinging to you, yet when I'm weak—when I need you the most—you open your arms to me. I like how, when I'm in danger, when I might lose my life, you use your own body to block all harm for me."
"Everything you've done for me—whether I can see it or not—I know. Because I like this tsundere Big Sis the most, Big Sis... right?" The girl in front of her spoke with a smile, rushing forward to hug her, only to turn into a bolt of lightning and vanish.
"You're supposed to teach me how to cultivate. How can you just go somewhere I can't find you? Did you forget our promise? I'm your singer now—and your person. Leaving isn't that simple. At the very least, until I acknowledge it, until I allow you to disappear, you're not allowed to."
Her face was full of pride, yet as she spoke, a faint blush crept across her cheeks—a shy avoidance of her own boldness. "In short, before I allow it, you're not allowed to die! Got it?" As soon as she finished speaking, Cai Ya's body shattered like ice into countless snow-like fragments, dispersing into the air.
"Chu Lian, I'm fine now. I can stay by your side from now on. So don't keep sleeping—I'm waiting for you. We still have so many things to do, don't we? You said my physique is the most special. Once I cultivate, I'll become a top-tier genius. I'm waiting for you... to help me."
"You can't go back on your word. I've already entrusted everything to you, so in return, you should entrust yourself to me too. That's our secret... isn't it?" The shy girl spoke, tears streaming down her face as she rushed forward to embrace her, dissolving like mist as she disappeared.
"You are my motivation to move forward in martial arts—the goal I must surpass. How can you leave so weakly like this?" The white-haired girl stood barefoot before her, holding two katanas. As she spoke, she faded into darkness and vanished.
"Lian, I'm waiting for you." The pink-haired girl's gemstone-like crimson eyes gazed at her. She reached out, gently caressing her cheek, then leaned in and kissed the corner of her lips. The warmth felt so real that it melted her heart.
"Don't forget—we're all waiting for you." An orange-haired girl and a purple-haired girl appeared together, one in front and one behind, hugging her tightly. Then they stepped back, standing beside the pink-haired girl, holding her hand, and transformed into violet crystals that shattered before her eyes.
"Master, didn't you say you wanted Tina to do that kind of thing? Why aren't you coming out? Tina will be very obedient..." A small girl in a blue-and-white maid outfit appeared before her, tears brimming in her eyes. Even her usual speech habit was gone—she only wanted her to come back.
She reached out, trying to wipe away the tears on the girl's face, only to find that her hand could stop before her face but could not move any closer. "Tina will be good... I promise..." She cried, and as she cried, she suddenly disappeared from the world.
"If you must fall asleep, don't tell me how long. Two thousand years of waiting finally led to blooming. Though the result is so bitter, I'm willing to wait again—no matter how long, right? If you gave me a specific time, I wouldn't be able to help counting the days... until I could no longer count." Her smile carried happiness, sweetness, and above all, a sense of relief.
It would just be starting over once more, right? Waiting through another cycle would only make her sink deeper. She smiled, and a tear slipped down, falling to the ground and turning into a poppy flower. As the flower bloomed, she scattered into the wind.
"Hey, we're waiting for you to break the shackles that have been forced upon us for so, so long. We've always believed you can do it. Because to us, Chu Lian, you represent the impossible made possible—you're the one we've chosen to follow in this lifetime." A black-haired girl with short hair and a golden-haired girl with long flowing hair appeared hand in hand, smiling as they looked at her.
Then the two seemed to merge into one, transforming into intertwined black and gold lights that flew into the sky.
"Mommy... Anna is hungry..." A small girl hugged her tightly. Hearing those words, the tears in her eyes could no longer be held back. They burst forth like a broken dam as she covered her face with both hands, crying out loud.
"I won't... give up..." Amid her sobs, that resolute sentence was faint, yet it shone like a star in the night sky.