The enormous pressure descended again. Lyra was pinned into the ground, stunned and motionless, her eyes filled with disbelief.
She could not understand it. A sacrifice barrier that even a Titled Sage could not break had been shattered so easily by Wu Ling.
Now that every method had failed, Wu Ling's earlier words returned to her mind. At first, they had seemed impossible to trust. Now they were like a single speck of light in the darkness, magnified without end. Along with that light, her regret also grew.
"I was so stupid. If he can possess Titled Sage-level power as a Spirit King, what is so strange about him breaking a barrier even Titled Sages cannot break?"
Regret was no longer enough to describe Lyra's feelings. She wanted to beg again, but this time the pressure was so heavy that she could not move at all.
"Ha ha ha. That really was a touching scene. A hundred-thousand-year rabbit fell in love with a young man and risked herself to save him. And Tang San, you do seem to love her very much."
Wu Ling withdrew Rule Breaker and laughed instead of growing angry.
Everyone froze again. When they saw that pillar of light, they had already guessed something, but they still had not dared to believe that this seemingly ordinary girl was actually a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast in human form.
Even Tang San, who had not known Lyra's true body before this, stared in astonishment.
In a single day, he had learned that both his mother and the girl he loved were Soul Beasts. For one strange moment, Tang San even wondered whether he might also be a Soul Beast.
Farther back, Ghost and Yue Guan exchanged a glance. There was no mistaking it. That aura just now belonged to the daughter of the hundred-thousand-year rabbit they and Bibi Dong had hunted with Tang Hao all those years ago.
The focus returned to Wu Ling. With a mocking smile on his face, he asked, "Then, Tang San, what would you do if you learned that your Lyra might have left you with more green hats than you could count?"
Tang San and Lyra both let out muffled sounds. The former was full of doubt and fury. The latter was full of panic and unease.
"I am not making things up," Wu Ling said lightly. "Female rabbits have very frequent breeding cycles, and their pregnancies are short. A single doe can have many litters in a year, with several kits in each litter. Across a hundred thousand years, even if we cut away most of the number because she is a Soul Beast, that is still a staggering amount. Tang San, if you married her, you might suddenly gain a terrifying number of descendants."
When Wu Ling said this, not only he, but even several Titled Sages, the board members, and even Ash Flynn Hawke and Alban Regis looked at Tang San with strange expressions.
Seeing the two of them struggle with dark expressions, the merciful Wu Ling decided to give each of them one chance to ask a question.
First came Tang San. When Wu Ling loosened the restriction on him, Tang San's furious roar rang out.
"Bastard! Do not try to shake the bond between Lyra and me. If things were the way you said, this world would already be buried under rabbits!"
Wu Ling sealed Tang San's mouth again, then explained, "That? Perhaps they were eaten by the western Five Rivers provincial capital. It is said ten thousand people there can eat hundreds of thousands of rabbits in a year. If the local Soft Bone Rabbits are not enough, merchants buy them from other places. I tasted them once. The flavor truly was first-rate."
Then Wu Ling released Lyra's head. Her defense followed immediately.
"Rabbits are so cute. Why would anyone eat them? And I have parents!"
Wu Ling answered her question with a soul-piercing counterquestion.
"Then flies are so disgusting. Why do you not eat flies?
"And of course you have parents. Who in this world does not? Did you jump out of a stone?
"As for the part related to your parents, I can tell you one thing clearly. If two transformed hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts have a child after taking human form, that child is human. Tang San was born from a human and a transformed hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast, but if I killed him, I would not gain a Spirit Ring.
"You, however, still carry a clear Soul Beast aura. In other words, if I killed you, I could still obtain a hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring. That means you could only have been born while your parents were still in rabbit form.
"But if they could already transform, why would they not transform before having a child? Why remain in beast form? That means they were not hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts at the time. The father in your memories might not even be your actual sire. And you must have spent an unknown amount of time in rabbit form.
"In that muddled, beastlike state, can you guarantee nothing happened according to a rabbit's natural instincts? After all, an ordinary rabbit can mature within months. Can you be certain you became a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast within three months?"
With every word Wu Ling spoke, Lyra's inner certainty crumbled. Just as Wu Ling said, she truly had no memories from that time. And as for her own species, she did know those things.
Seeing Lyra fall silent, Tang San's expression gradually shifted from hatred to disbelief. Then, when he looked at Lyra, his gaze seemed half resentful and half forgiving. It gave Wu Ling a headache.
For a moment, Wu Ling even wondered if Tang San had been driven mad. Otherwise, how could he look as if he wanted to kill her and forgive her at the same time?
"Well, forget it. What happened today has made me very happy. Let us stop here."
As Wu Ling spoke, he stood up and walked away.
Just as everyone thought this terrible day was finally over and the calamity before them was about to leave, Wu Ling reached Yue Guan's side, then seemed to remember something.
"Right, Elder Ghost. Remember to bring that rabbit back. A transformed hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast should still have great value.
"And Elder Chrysanthemum, render the Tang boy unable to father children. If Elder Ghost wants to do it personally, that is fine too. Just do not kill him. I still have use for him later. Oh, and do the same to that Regis boy. He is not anything good either."
Hearing Wu Ling's orders, Lyra, Tang San, and Alban Regis all went pale. Alban in particular had done nothing today. How had the command turned on him too?
Yue Guan and Ghost smiled at each other. Even through the mask, one could feel the excitement on Ghost's face.
"Tang San, if you still want to see your little girlfriend, then come find me at the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Tournament in a year and a half. Do not worry. I will not bully the weak. As long as you can beat the others from Spirit Hall, I will release her."
Wu Ling's voice came from far away.
As the pressure vanished, so did Lyra. Tang San and Alban were left alive, but permanently stripped of the ability to continue their lines.
"Aaaaaah!"
At the same time, Tang San's scream seemed to echo together with Wu Ling's laughter, gradually spreading into the distance.