Gu Su Die was unwilling to give up, her heart still holding onto illusions: Perhaps he was just momentarily dazzled by that woman; perhaps he just hadn’t discovered her good qualities yet; perhaps if she continued to stay by his side, one day he would value her existence! His heart belonged to her alone now. So Gu Su Die kept waiting, thinking that once the Holy Son had completely fallen to the Demonic Path, he would turn back. But in the end, she was still betrayed.
“What a heart for the Righteous Path, in the end… you still chose her.” Before her death, Gu Su Die felt immense unwillingness in her heart: Why? Why did the person who treated her best in the world still have another woman in his heart!?
The Holy Son, dying in her arms, let out a bitter, sighing laugh: “The Sovereign is above, if there is a next life, this Chu will surely return to serve you faithfully…”
“Get lost!!!” Gu Su Die’s heart burned with resentment. Damned liar!!! What next life or not, people like us in the Demonic Path, once dead, are gone forever, never to be reincarnated!!! This man! Is just! Too! Bad!!! When alive, he didn’t properly cherish her, and even in death, he had to say these lies to deceive her!
If there really was a next life… she closed her eyes, swearing silently in her heart: If there really is a next life, if you dare appear before me, I will absolutely never pay you any mind again! No matter how many delicious things you make, I won’t eat even a single piece! I’ll make you roll as far away as possible, so you can taste the bitterness of lifelong regret!
Yet, the more Gu Su Die thought this, the tighter she held the young man in her arms. As her thoughts reached this point, her consciousness gradually scattered, “You wretched man!!!” But the obsession was carved deep into the depths of her soul, impossible to disperse.
Inside the eggshell, the chaos dissipated. Consciousness rose from the distant darkness, like a drowning person finally breaking the surface. She took a sharp breath, warm and humid, carrying a faint, elusive sweetness. Gu Su Die opened her eyes. Before her was pitch black. Not pitch black, more like being inside an eggshell. She couldn’t help but wonder: Am I inside an egg? Is this the next life? Or a rebirth?
When the words “rebirth” skimmed across the surface of her consciousness, memories surged forth like a breached tide, completely submerging her. In an instant, she remembered everything. The pain of every whip mark, the cold of every iron chain… were all clearly etched deep in her soul, never having faded. She remembered the mocking, cold smile of that hook-nosed cultivator. Crying and screaming were useless, they only provoked the cultivator to whip her harder. Resistance was also useless; she was merely an item the cultivator had purchased, only to be enslaved by him.
Now, the sixth sense of a demon beast was hinting at her more and more strongly: You have been reborn, and you are about to return to the hands of that evil cultivator, to experience all of that again. The moment she realized this, Gu Su Die’s delicate body trembled uncontrollably. The fear seeped out from between her very bones. If she had never encountered that Holy Son, Gu Su Die might have been able to endure it. After all, those who live in darkness do not feel pain, because they have never known the warmth of light. That was the mark left by countless whippings, and also the nightmare of her entire life.
But once she had seen the light, darkness became the hell she least wanted to return to. Unconsciously, the figure of that cook surfaced in her mind again: She remembered the Osmanthus Cake he made; remembered how his eyes were red when he crouched before her; remembered his eyes, tender as water in his weakness, when they fell together.
Since she was reborn, when would she be able to see him again? Ten years? A hundred years? Two hundred? She didn’t know. Gu Su Die only knew that as a young dragon, she had no choice. Reborn, she had to start from the beginning. Crawl out of the eggshell, be enslaved by that hook-nosed cultivator, locked in a dungeon, chained with iron, whipped with lashes.
Gu Su Die curled up inside the eggshell, suddenly feeling very cold. In her previous life, she waited over a hundred years before one person came out to save her. How many centuries would she have to wait in this life for him to look back at her? But there was no way around it. She was still just an egg, her claws not even fully grown yet, what could she do? Even so, Gu Su Die still cried out in her heart:
Chu Yuan! My subject! You said it yourself! If there is a next life, you would come to serve me faithfully!!!
Even though Gu Su Die knew deep down that crying out like this was futile, she couldn’t help it. Like a drowning person finding a life-saving straw, once grasped, she absolutely refused to let go.
Crack! Crack, crack, crack! The eggshell split open with a fissure. At that very moment, a light appeared before her eyes, and she instinctively reached out a claw to grab it. Cracks multiplied, becoming denser and denser, like an invisible net enveloping the entire eggshell. Light poured in through the fissures, wrapping around her small body, so warm it made her want to cry.
Gu Su Die’s tiny claw stretched out from inside, damp, covered in fine scales, shimmering with a dark golden luster under the candlelight. The shell fell away with a sound, large pieces of eggshell peeled off by her. Light, seeped in. Then, squinting her eyes, she poked out her small head. Her dark golden pupils darted around in a circle, sweeping over the people outside with a look of bewilderment and wariness.
At that moment, a figure stood before her. That man, that face was clearly different from his previous life, yet those eyes were still as tender as water. Especially after smelling his scent, she immediately judged: It’s him! Chu Yuan! My subject, he’s come to save me!!! She opened her mouth and let out a soft, glutinous cry:
“Ying~!”
You came. I never thought you’d really come! I guess you wretched man still have a bit of conscience! Thinking this, she tried to drive her delicate young dragon body to pounce into Chu Yuan’s arms. However, Gu Su Die quickly stopped herself, thinking: No! If I’m too obedient, won’t I just be manipulated by this wretched man? I must be proud, make him properly reflect on his actions from his previous life!!! In this life, I won’t be a substitute! I want to be the only one!!
Thinking this, Gu Su Die pouted her little mouth, her expression turning serious. Their eyes met, and Chu Yuan couldn’t hide his joy. She stared at him, and he looked at her. The young dragon before him was covered in jet-black scales, damp and clinging to its body, like a fish just out of water. After its pair of dark golden eyes darted around in a circle, its expression became incredibly solemn, its golden pupils looking down upon all living beings, cold as an ice sculpture.
He suddenly remembered what she looked like the first time he saw her in his previous life—back then she was already the Dragon Emperor, seated upright on her throne, her black hair like a waterfall, her eyes filled with distrust. Yet now, she was only the size of a basketball, all damp, like a drenched chicken. The next moment, the young dragon shook its head, sending eggshell fragments flying everywhere.
Chu Yuan smiled and called to her softly: “Gu Su Die.”
The young dragon opened its mouth and huffed, its dark golden eyes filled with opinions about him, as if saying: This Haki Die is angry! The kind that can’t be coaxed!!!
Chu Yuan carefully examined the young dragon before him. Even in his previous life, he knew the Sovereign was a hybrid species. Now, seeing it, the young dragon before him was chubby. Besides the deer-like antlers on its head, a pair of round ears and the leopard spots covering its body revealed it to be a hybrid of dragon and leopard. Faced with the dragon-leopard’s huffing, he felt quite helpless: Alright then! First meeting, not familiar!
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