If he were on Blue Star, Ling Huan would never have believed such an absurd thing.
But in this cultivation world, with his Level 4 Qi Refinement strength as proof…
The answer didn’t seem so ridiculous to him anymore.
He was a living example of it himself…
‘Could she… also be a fellow countryman?’
With this question in mind, Ling Huan stayed by the bedside, waiting for Yin Luoling to wake up.
After about two or three hours, when the night had grown deep, Yin Luoling finally let out a sleepy murmur, seemingly about to wake up.
However, she suddenly snapped her eyes open.
She grabbed the quilt covering her and instinctively tried to throw it outward.
Ling Huan was quick.
He lunged forward and pinned it down instantly!
In their simulated sparring sessions, Yin Luoling had used the trick of throwing her outer robe to obstruct his vision before circling behind for a throat-slit more than once or twice.
Even though he had pinned the quilt down in time and kept his eyes on Yin Luoling, Ling Huan felt a slight chill on the back of his neck.
At the same time, Ling Huan shouted, “Calm down! No one is trying to do anything to you!”
This finally brought Yin Luoling back to her senses.
She froze for a moment, looking surprised.
Then, she remembered that she had seemingly fallen asleep while Ling Huan was massaging her feet.
“Let go…” Yin Luoling said coldly.
Only after seeing that she was fully awake did Ling Huan slowly release his grip.
If nothing else, his fear of Yin Luoling outweighed everything else in that moment.
After all, for several consecutive days in the [Simulation Space], he had died at her hands in countless mysterious ways.
Yin Luoling slowly sat up.
She lowered her head and quickly checked to see if her clothes were disarranged.
The more magnificent a woman’s clothing was, the more complicated and tight the layers were.
Because of this, she could immediately tell if Ling Huan had defiled her while she slept.
Fortunately, he hadn’t.
Otherwise, she could have just killed him.
“Where is the cultivation technique you promised?”
“Here, take it.”
Ling Huan handed the book to Yin Luoling.
‘Tsk… why is he being so well-behaved?’
Yin Luoling felt a slight wave of dissatisfaction, but under the allure of a God-grade cultivation technique, that annoyance quickly vanished.
She took the book and immediately began to flip through it.
She read with such focus and intensity that it seemed as if she wanted to press her eyes against the pages.
Though he had many questions, Ling Huan was tactful enough not to disturb her.
He felt that being able to immerse oneself in something was a happy thing.
They had plenty of time, anyway.
Ling Huan didn’t make a sound.
He sat quietly, watching Yin Luoling’s complete concentration.
The only sound in the room was the rustling of pages.
“Good! Good! This is absolutely incredible!”
Yin Luoling could hardly contain her joy!
With this cultivation technique, her foundation would be as solid as it could possibly be.
Furthermore, as her realm rose, it would become even firmer than before!
Even her speed of Qi Refinement and conversion would be more than ten times faster than others!
If she were in a place with abundant spiritual energy, she could practically achieve inexhaustible spiritual power and endless spells!
Without a second thought, Yin Luoling immediately sat cross-legged, intending to cultivate.
It was only then that she noticed the quilt on her body didn’t have a familiar color or pattern.
She whipped her head around and saw Ling Huan sitting quietly nearby, watching her.
She suddenly remembered!
She was… still in Ling Huan’s room!
What surprised her even more was that he hadn’t interrupted her.
He hadn’t even made any noise to disturb her.
He had just been watching quietly?
“Do you have something to say?”
Although Yin Luoling didn’t know why Ling Huan had become so gentlemanly and refrained from disturbing her, the fact that he was staring at her meant he clearly had something on his mind.
“Did you also regress?”
The late-night silence caused even the insects to hush their cries.
Even the cold wind that usually battered the window seemed to have exhausted its strength and fallen into a deep slumber.
In the dead of night, Ling Huan’s words were like a clap of thunder exploding in Yin Luoling’s ears, leaving her stunned for a long time.
“Looking at your ‘how did you know’ reaction, it seems it’s true?”
Yet, Ling Huan didn’t look shocked at all!
He spoke casually, as if such a thing were perfectly normal.
In an instant, Yin Luoling’s killing intent flared.
But on second thought, Ling Huan hadn’t made a move while she was asleep.
That proved… one thing.
Ling Huan had no connection to those old bastards… otherwise, there was no way he would have passed up such a perfect opportunity to kill her.
Furthermore, he had said “also”?
‘Is Ling Huan… also a regressor…?’
No, if he were a regressor, there was no way he would be friendly toward her, let alone show such kindness.
He certainly wouldn’t have left her alive this long.
In Ling Huan’s perspective, the person who killed him should have been her.
In that case, during their first meeting in this life, Ling Huan should have killed her immediately.
Then… who was inside Ling Huan’s body right now?
‘Possession?’
No, if it were possession, he wouldn’t have asked about “regression.”
While Yin Luoling was thinking, Ling Huan’s voice came again.
“Odd change, even stays the same?”
Ling Huan asked, trying a test.
‘Odd? Even? what is he talking about?’
Yin Luoling had no idea what Ling Huan was saying.
Seeing Yin Luoling’s confused face, Ling Huan realized immediately that she wasn’t from Blue Star… He had thought she might at least be a fellow countryman.
“Then who are you? You aren’t the real Ling Huan, are you…? The real Ling Huan wouldn’t be this generous. He was an incredibly selfish and greedy person. If it were him, he would never have shared anything with anyone, especially me.”
Hearing this, Ling Huan was also a bit confused.
Hadn’t he been reincarnated into this body?
Why did it feel like this young girl… had a deep grudge against him?
However, hiding it any longer was pointless.
It was better to speak up and be honest to sort things out.
“I… am indeed called Ling Huan. Even in my previous life, my name was Ling Huan. Rather than regression, it’s more like the heavens allowed me to be reincarnated here to live a second time. In my last life, I almost died, but now I’m alive again.”
Yin Luoling narrowed her eyes, carefully scrutinizing Ling Huan’s words while also studying his face and his subtle facial expressions.
Yin Luoling didn’t know how to please people or flatter them, but she was very capable of discerning if someone was lying.
But after a careful look, she found no traces of deceit in Ling Huan.
He was either telling the truth, or he was a man with profound cunning.
However, this was also the first time since her rebirth that she had looked at Ling Huan’s face so seriously—without hatred, without bias, and without thinking about how to tear his hateful face apart.
For some reason, as she looked at him, she felt that this face was becoming increasingly unfamiliar.
‘It feels… a bit different?’
For example, the color of his pupils, his eyes, and even his nose… they didn’t seem to match her memory.
No, it would be more accurate to say he was better looking than the original Ling Huan?
The corners of his eyes were softer, and his nose was sharper yet still gentle.
Compared to the Ling Huan of her previous life, this face was much warmer.
“You said you were reincarnated. Where did you live originally?”
“Well… I don’t know if you know this, but besides this world, is there another world?”
Hearing this, Yin Luoling frowned slightly… ‘Is he someone from the Immortal Realm?’
“I lived in a world completely opposite to this one—”
Afterward, Ling Huan described the skyscrapers, cell phones, and the cars and planes of Blue Star in simple, easy-to-understand terms.
As Yin Luoling listened, she unconsciously became immersed in his tale.
Her eyes sparkled, and she listened with great interest, never interrupting him.
“I… I never imagined there could be such a world… How wondrous.”
After hearing everything, Yin Luoling marveled repeatedly, sighing with emotion.
Knowing that the person in front of her wasn’t the Ling Huan she knew, Yin Luoling’s mood became somewhat complicated.
She felt a bit of disappointment, but also some joy.
She thought for a moment.
Perhaps she was disappointed that she couldn’t kill Ling Huan with her own hands…
Still, it was something to be happy about.
After all, if this wasn’t the original Ling Huan, her adoptive parents wouldn’t be in danger.
She could focus on her cultivation, concentrate on ascending to the Immortal Realm, seize the Law of Time, and then go back once more.
“What about you?”
It was Ling Huan’s turn to ask.
“It seems you and I have… some history?”
“…Yes and no. Since a soul entered my adoptive mother’s womb and pushed out that beast’s soul, I no longer have any grievance with you.”
“Pushed out? What do you mean?”
“I’ll tell you what kind of person the Ling Huan of the previous life was.”
Then, Yin Luoling began to educate Ling Huan on just how much of a beast he had been!
The entire process lasted two or three hours.
The sky outside began to brighten.
The crowing of a rooster seemed to pierce through the night, pulling out a strand of morning light just as she finished detailing the original Ling Huan’s atrocious deeds.
“That beast!”
Ling Huan slapped his thigh and cursed.
“He was less than human!”
It was no wonder Ling Huan was so angry.
He could never have imagined that the other “Ling Huan” was such a monster.
He had broken a driver’s leg, making it impossible for the man to earn money to support his seriously ill parents, forcing the entire family to commit suicide by hanging themselves to escape their misery.
And the cause of it all was simply that the driver had accidentally brushed against his sleeve while pulling the carriage.
In the end, Ling Huan had falsely accused the man of trying to harm him.
He had humiliated a young girl, forcing her to jump into a river to end her life.
He then beat the girl’s parents, who were trying to seek justice from the Ling family, until they became mindless fools who could only live as beggars.
Even more monstrously, in order to make his family’s pharmacy profitable, he had poisoned the wells and monopolized a large amount of medicinal herbs in advance to sell them at high prices and make a fortune!
He had even conspired with the local officials!
Not only that, when a physician came to treat people for free, Ling Huan had actually made a move to kill that doctor!
Simply loathsome!
Rage—unparalleled rage—made Ling Huan stand up abruptly.
He truly hadn’t expected someone so vile to exist in the world!
Not to mention that he had ultimately wanted to sell Yin Luoling!
There was something seriously wrong with his head!
‘Goddammit! What did I do to deserve transmigrating into the body of such a piece of trash?!’
Ling Huan thought for a moment, wanting to smash something to vent his anger.
But then he realized the objects around him were innocent.
‘I might as well slap myself instead!’
Actually, it would be even better to let Yin Luoling beat him up!
“Sister Luoling, why don’t you hit me! Let yourself vent some of that hatred!”
Having said that, Ling Huan walked over to Yin Luoling, patted his chest, and shouted, “It must have been hard for you, being stuck with such a beastly brother!”
Pfft… “Fool.”
Such bluntness made Yin Luoling unable to hold back a smile.
Knowing he wasn’t that Ling Huan, the tension between her brows finally loosened.
Suddenly, she felt that this brother in front of her was quite fun and cute.
Even she didn’t realize that the corners of her mouth were curling up slightly.
“That’s not necessary. Besides, the person being hit wouldn’t really be him.”
Yin Luoling tapped the bed with her fingertip, her tone firm and beyond doubt.
“Strictly speaking, you are not the true Ling Huan.”
“Eh…?”
This statement caught Ling Huan by surprise.
“What do you mean? Am I not Ling Huan? Didn’t I just reincarnate into his body?”
Yin Luoling didn’t answer directly.
Instead, her tone shifted, and her gaze became as sharp as a blade.
“I ask you, do you have… any memories of being in your mother’s womb?”
“Uh…” Ling Huan thought carefully, his brow furrowing.
“No. My earliest memory is being held in someone’s arms after birth, shivering with cold, wanting to speak but only being able to cry, and even struggling to open my eyes.”
“Then there is no mistake. First of all, there are subtle differences between you and the Ling Huan in my memory. I don’t mean personality; I mean appearance.”
“Appearance…?”
“Yes.”
Yin Luoling nodded.
“First of all, your eyes, nose, and mouth are slightly different from Ling Huan’s. Although, I only noticed it just now myself.”
She paused.
“The most obvious difference is your pupils. Ling Huan’s pupils were as black as ink, but yours are bright, like amber.”
She stopped for a moment and pointed her finger at the bridge of his nose.
“And here. The original Ling Huan’s nose was slightly flat, but the bridge of your nose has sharp, upright lines, and your brow bone is deeper. These are differences carved into the very bones of the physical body; they cannot be changed after birth.”
“Legend has it that as a fetus takes shape in the mother’s body, the soul is the foundation of the physical form.”
“This is why children are never exactly the same as their parents. There will be distinct, subtle differences in their features, silhouettes, and even their skin texture.”
“There’s… such a thing?”
Ling Huan marveled.
The concepts of modern biology suddenly flashed through Ling Huan’s mind—weren’t these phenotypic differences determined by DNA?
Was the DNA of the cultivation world the soul?
Or did they perceive DNA as the soul?
“Which means—you are not the original Ling Huan. You aren’t the Ling Huan I hate. You are yourself, a brand new person.”
“You can think of it like this: the two of you should have been twins, but he unfortunately died in the womb.”
“However, you were the one lucky enough to be born.”
“Therefore, you are Ling Huan.”