"Why… why did it have to be like this?!"
The woman collapsed onto the ground. Three thousand strands of silver hair spilled down, trailing across the earth. Her peerlessly beautiful face was twisted in agony, her once-brilliant purple eyes now dim, filled with endless sorrow and disbelief.
Within her field of vision, the entire Star Dou Great Forest was soaked in crimson. The once-lush, verdant trees now looked as though they had been drenched in red paint.
Scattered throughout the forest were corpses and severed limbs—and every single one of them belonged to soul beasts.
A corpse as massive as a small mountain lay half-buried beneath scattered rocks. Faintly visible patches of dark-golden fur had been completely soaked in blood. It was a bear—a Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear, a king among soul beasts. And yet now, it lay lifeless. Even the enormous claws it once took pride in had been brutally severed.
The swan that once brought hope to the soul beasts now lay among the dead as well. Its snow-white feathers were stained with blood, no longer holy. Its body, once brimming with vitality, was now steeped in deathly stillness. With wings once spread wide, it could have bathed the soul-beast race in warmth and healed all wounds. But now, those broken wings would never open again, and its unrivaled healing power could not even save itself.
Other beings of comparable strength had also perished. A massive hound five meters long, bearing three heads and six eyes—yet all six eyes had been cruelly gouged out.
Countless other soul-beast corpses lay everywhere, slaughtered with savage brutality. Severed limbs littered the forest, and the blood of countless soul beasts flowed throughout the land. This place was no longer the soul beasts' final sanctuary—it had become their hell.
Most striking of all was a black dragon nearly a thousand meters long.
Its colossal body lay sprawled in the heart of the forest. The abyssal aura it once radiated was still terrifying—but now there was no trace of life left within it. What drew the eye was not merely its size, but the sheer brutality of its death. The scales that once gleamed with vitality were now dull and lifeless. Roughly half its tail had been severed. Its massive body had been cut three times, split into four parts—one cut at the tail, one through the waist, and the final strike along the neck, completely severing its head.
Yet its enormous dragon head still stared wide-eyed, unwilling to rest in peace.
Its dark-golden pupils were filled with resentment and fury—yet not a trace of fear. Even after enduring such merciless slaughter, it had never cowered.
Above, the moon hanging in the sky had lost all purity, replaced by a chilling red glow. Beneath that blood-red moon, rivers of blood reflected its light, creating a scene of eerie horror.
The night wind, carrying the stench of blood and sorrow, brushed gently across Gu Yue Na's deathly pale face, finally jolting her out of her numb stupor.
"Did you really have to exterminate us completely?"
Several streaks of blood marred Gu Yue Na's exquisite face, but she no longer cared.
Standing atop the massive dragon's head was a man. Under the moonlight, half of his face was revealed. His handsome features were splattered with blood that did not belong to him. His expression was cold and contemptuous, his eyes filled with frenzied killing intent.
One foot was planted firmly on one of the dragon's horns. In his hand, he held a blade whose original color had long since been drowned in blood—yet the unique draconic engravings along the blade remained clearly visible. Blood continued to drip from its tip.
'Tang Wulin' shook his head indifferently."I never wanted things to end this way. If you had obediently listened, you could have become a daughter-in-law of the Tang family. That way, your soul-beast race might have been spared a sliver of hope. But now that you seem to have remembered something… I had no choice but to do this."
"As for extermination?"
'Tang Wulin' snorted coldly, then glanced down at the colossal dragon corpse beneath his feet."These soul beasts aren't as easy to fool as you are—and they're much smarter. If one day they whispered a few words in your ear and ruined everything, that would be troublesome."
Gu Yue Na said nothing. She merely lowered her gaze to the figure cradled in her arms.
It was a man.
His eyes were closed forever, a bloody hole torn through his chest. There was no breath left in him.
Gu Yue Na's body trembled uncontrollably. She stared blankly at her blood-soaked hands and murmured,
"I… I'm sorry…"
'Tang Wulin' glanced at the man in her arms and said mockingly,"Regretting it now? Isn't that a bit late? When you made your choice between him and Wulin earlier, you didn't hesitate like this."
"If you hadn't sealed my memories, how could things have turned out this way?! This is the despicability of you human gods!"Gu Yue Na lifted her grief-stricken face, her eye sockets bloodshot as she shouted hoarsely.
"Despicable? Hahahaha!"'Tang Wulin' laughed loudly and shook his head."You are the Silver Dragon King. Even if I am a God King, how could I possibly seal your memories so easily?"
His gaze swept over Gu Yue Na with amusement before he leaned closer and spoke softly,"If you had fully accepted the memories of your human incarnation, Na'er, you would have remembered everything long ago. But unfortunately, you were afraid of forming ties with the man in your arms—afraid it would affect your feelings for Wulin. So when you fused, you voluntarily filtered out those memories, didn't you?"
After a pause, he added with a playful sneer,"And besides—it was you who killed him with your own hands. So what is there to regret now?"
The instant Gu Yue Na saw the mockery in 'Tang Wulin's' eyes, all her anger drained away, leaving only exhaustion. Her gaze became empty as she stared at the man's face in her arms.
How many times had he tried to persuade her with heartfelt words?
"Gu Yue Na, what draws you isn't the so-called Golden Dragon King bloodline—it isn't love. If you continue down this path, the dragon race will only become a pawn."
And yet she had responded with impatience, coldly saying,"What I love has never been the Golden Dragon King's bloodline—it's him!"
"And whatever happens to the dragon race has nothing to do with you, an outsider!"
In the end, stubborn to the extreme, she didn't even investigate. She subjectively concluded that it was him slaughtering the soul beasts. Between Tang Wulin and him, she chose Tang Wulin—not him—and even killed him with her own hands.
Yes.
He had stepped toward her countless times. If she had taken just one step forward, today's tragedy would never have happened. Yet his countless steps forward were met only with her endless retreat—until her heels reached the edge of a cliff, her back against the abyss. Only then did she awaken.
But by then, it was already far too late.
"Enough. There's no need to be sad."'Tang Wulin' chuckled lightly."Be a good woman for Wulin. Forget all of this."
As 'Tang Wulin' continued to approach her, Gu Yue Na remained motionless. Only when he stood before her did she slowly raise her head. In her purple eyes was resolute sorrow.
"The dragon race will never be slaves!"
Gu Yue Na seemed to have made up her mind. She gently laid the man in her arms onto the ground and stood up. Seven-colored light began to shimmer around her.
'Tang Wulin's' expression changed, his face darkening."Even if I erase your memories, I was still willing to spare your life. If you do this, you won't even be able to protect the soul beasts' last foundation."
"The mistakes I made can no longer be undone. But the dragon race's final dignity—I will never yield it!"
Under the moonlight, Gu Yue Na's figure appeared even more desolate. Her three thousand strands of silver hair floated gently in the air as seven-colored light gradually enveloped her body.
"Hopelessly stubborn!"
'Tang Wulin' cursed angrily. Seeing there was no stopping her, he immediately fled into the distance.
Gu Yue Na cast one final look at the corpse-strewn Star Dou Great Forest, tears pooling in her purple eyes.
She then turned back one last time to look at the man lying on the ground. A single tear fell from her eye. As it descended, nine colors cycled through it in turn, until it struck the ground and shattered into countless droplets of nine-colored light.
Endless memories flashed through her mind:
The times he protected her during competitions in their youth—and how her excessive focus on Tang Wulin had caused him injury again and again.
The lonely, desolate figure of his back as he was rejected repeatedly, chosen over time and again.
That final exchange of gazes—his eyes filled with release.
He had protected her countless times, solely out of gratitude, and in the end even lost his life.
Yet he never owed her anything.
At that moment, the seven-colored light surged outward, rapidly enveloping the entire Star Dou Great Forest.
"Xiuran… if there is a next life, let me be the one who walks toward you. Okay?"
Author's Note:
Let me clarify first, this book's protagonist is no longer a "simp." Those were merely Gu Yue Na's subjective assumptions. And in fact, the protagonist did not die in the previous life. Everything described was what Gu Yue Na believed to be true.