"Wife, be ready. I'm about to attack the cocoon from the outside," Su Wen said calmly, gathering his strength. "And don't think about any weird things…"
Hearing her husband's voice, Du Yue instantly felt embarrassed. That brief embarrassment swept away most of the remaining negativity clinging to her soul. The black smoke inside the cocoon thinned rapidly, fading into nothing, while light poured in through the widening cracks.
She steadied herself and looked ahead. Through the fractures, she could already see Su Wen preparing to strike.
Su Wen gathered his remaining Soul Sense and activated his sword technique… Pride of the Heavens, Second Form… infused with Grade 2 Sword Intent and Space Intent. The Space Intent tightly locked the strike in place, minimizing any impact on the surroundings. This was Du Yue's consciousness; even the slightest collateral damage would be disastrous.
The moment he struck, a blinding radiance burst forth, as if the heavens themselves had descended.
'Damn…' Su Wen thought grimly. 'That single strike consumed more than ninety-five percent of my Soul Sense.'
The sword light was terrifyingly sharp, yet no energy rippled outward. There was no sound, no shockwave. Every bit of destructive force was sealed directly onto the cocoon by the Space Intent.
The black cocoon did not crack… it vanished, evaporating completely.
Du Yue felt as if a sealed door had finally been thrown open. Without hesitation, she ran toward the light, instinctively searching for her husband.
Su Wen lifted his gaze toward where the cocoon had been… and froze as if seeing an illusion.
Running toward him was a young woman in blue robes, simple yet graceful, with white cloud patterns flowing with her every movement. Her presence was pure and elegant, like fresh snow under a clear sky. Faint snow and sword-shaped petals of light swirled around her, giving her an almost celestial air, like a Heavenly Goddess descending from the clouds.
Su Wen had no strength left to react. His vision dimmed as he closed his eyes, his body tilting backward.
Before he could fall, she caught him.
Seeing him lose consciousness, Du Yue panicked. She clutched him tightly, her voice shaking.
"Husband? Husband, please don't die… Husband? What happened to you?"
Her eyes trembled with fear as tears welled up.
"…How am I supposed to live without you?"
He groaned weakly. With his eyes closed, he managed to say, "You dumb wife… this is just an avatar created by my Soul Sense. Don't kill me yet!
At least let me live a hundred years… enough to be called a mortal life."
He paused and sighed. "Thank the heavens you're fine. I'm just tired. I've used almost all of my Soul Sense in that strike. I'll call it back to my body, and after a few hours of rest, I'll recover."
Du Yue felt a mix of embarrassment, guilt, and happiness. She was ashamed that her husband had gone through so much for her, yet grateful that he had rushed to save her.
She opened her eyes and saw their foreheads touching. A sweet smile spread across her face as she lifted him in her arms like a princess, a faint blush colouring her cheeks. She gazed at his handsome profile, and her eyes suddenly turned hungry, as if she wanted to devour him completely.
Somehow, she managed to stop herself, not wanting to disturb his rest.
Su Wen shivered slightly in his sleep, a chill running down his spine, before calming a few seconds later.
She walked toward the house with Su Wen in her arms and noticed the words written beside the door in elegant calligraphy, infused with Sword Intent:
"Welcome to the Su Family"
Her heart trembled at the sight, and she went momentarily dazed. Her blue eyes sparkled like stars. She carried Su Wen inside and gently laid him on the bed, yet the distant, dreamy look in her eyes remained.
Still lost in thought, she wandered toward the back of the house. Her steps were aimless, her mind adrift, but her presence carried the aura of a heavenly empress. She didn't know where she was going, yet her feet moved as if guided by instinct.
She drifted toward the Lakeside Lodge and stepped onto the stone steps that led down to the water's edge. Without realizing it, she was walking across the lake's surface, her steps leaving no ripples, as if the water itself had become solid beneath her feet.
Her eyes, once clouded with confusion, began to brighten, and a subtle yet powerful aura radiated from her. She looked like an ethereal goddess, her blue robes fluttering in the breeze, her form surrounded by a faint shimmer of Snow and Sword Law. The lake beneath her feet turned to ice, and the air around her seemed to freeze as her presence altered the world itself.
Deep within her consciousness, the blue-robed figure stirred. The beautiful figure opened her eyes, deep and cold like an abyss, emotionless and piercing. This figure was not merely a fragment of her pure soul, but something of an even higher level.
Back when Su Wen had entered her consciousness, he hadn't realized she didn't possess a normal pure soul, having lost consciousness just before he could see her.
All the effects of the soul-nurturing pill had been absorbed by this strand of soul, yet the lingering negative emotions had blocked her breakthrough to the Soul Awakening Realm. Now, with those barriers removed, she awakened her true self… her past self, hidden until this moment.
Du Yue opened her eyes. A vast, commanding aura spread from her, and her gaze deepened, as if entire galaxies were hidden within her pupils. She murmured softly to herself,
"I am Li Xin. I was... betrayed by my family… by my elder sister, Li Shi. I remember exp… Hmm?"
Her brows knit slightly.
"I've been reborn into this body… This foundation?"
Her gaze shifted toward the house where Su Wen lay resting. In the next instant, her figure vanished from the lake and appeared before the home. Her cold, emotionless eyes fell upon the calligraphy carved into the stone wall.
For a moment, the world seemed to pause for her... her heartbeat quickened, and without her realizing it, a majesticsharp sword aura surged upward from her body, piercing straight into the heavens.
A small bird sat in its nest atop a nearby tree, basking in the winter sunlight while munching on pumpkin seeds, watching the scene unfold with great interest. It casually flicked a tiny feather… and the terrifying sword aura vanished without a trace.
No one noticed. Not even the current Du Yue.
"-Chirp. Why does dumb Su Wen have such strange family members? First his grandparents, then his wife… sigh. I'm clearly the only normal one in this family…. -chirp," Little Suzume thought to herself, before resuming her seed-snacking and waiting patiently for the next bit of drama.
Du Yue snapped out of her daze. She looked through the walls of the house, her gaze landing on the man lying quietly on the bed. A faint tingling stirred in her heart.
Her memories had now fully merged with those of her previous life, and an unfamiliar pull tugged at her chest… urging her to go to him, to sit by his side, gently brush his hair, call him Husband, press soft kisses against his face… and then eat him up…