Chapter 151: As the God of Emotions Speaks

Huo Yuqing abruptly snapped out of the trance-like state of enlightenment.

"Ti—Tianmeng-ge?"

"Xiaoqing, are you alright?" Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's voice was filled with concern. "You… Sigh, sometimes being too perceptive isn't a good thing."

"What happened to me?" Huo Yuqing felt disoriented, as if she had forgotten something.

Some intense emotion receded like a tide, leaving only a faint, lingering sensation—like seafoam left on the shore, soon to disappear—but suspicious enough to make her uneasy.

At this moment, she no longer remembered her encounter with the different version of herself from another timeline.

"Right, the fusion—" She suddenly looked up. "Ice Emperor, how is Ice Emperor? Did we succeed?"

"The fusion went quite well, and Ice Emperor… is also fine." Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's voice turned small before quickly adding, "Just maybe a little unhappy…"

Ice Emperor let out a cold snort.

"What happened?" Huo Yuqing asked in confusion.

"I hate that Three-Eyed Golden Lion." Bingdi said bluntly.

"Why?" Huo Yuqing was even more puzzled.

"Because he offended my best friend," Ice Emperor muttered resentfully.

Of course, it wasn't just for Snow Empress—what the Rui Beast had said at the end also forced Ice Emperor to confront certain truths she didn't want to face.

"Aiya, Bingbing, don't dislike the Rui Beast just because of this—he's still a good one," Tianmeng Ice Silkworm earnestly tried to mediate, sounding like a henpecked husband caught between his wife and mother. "He and Snow Empress are both the kind of people who are firm in their ways, so a bit of conflict is natural—"

"I don't care. Unless I see Xue'er safe with my own eyes, shut up or I'll chew you up and eat you." Ice Emperor snapped. "I'm going to sleep. Don't call me unless it's important."

With that, without waiting for Huo Yuqing's response, the emerald glow at the edge of her spiritual sea completely fell into silence.

"What exactly happened?" Huo Yuqing, who had just woken up and had no idea about the conflict between Ice Emperor and Wang Rui, felt completely lost.

"…Sigh, don't ask too much." Tianmeng Ice Silkworm sighed with the weight of experience.

"Alright." Huo Yuqing gave him a sympathetic glance before shifting the topic. "By the way, why has my spiritual world changed like this?"

"You've absorbed a bit of fate-related power from the Rui Beast. I don't fully understand the specifics, but it's definitely a good thing. Your spiritual world has also undergone a transformation." Tianmeng Ice Silkworm paused for a moment, his voice tinged with a trace of fear. "Maybe you can't feel it, but that eye… it's terrifying to me."

Huo Yuqing didn't respond. She simply gazed at the majestic sapphire-colored vertical eye in silence.

That strange sensation from before had disappeared.

As she looked at the eye, it was as if she was gazing directly into her own soul—or as if she were seeing her own body through it.

She saw herself lying on a bed carved from ice marrow, hugging the tail of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. The golden sun-like dragon-lion lay beside her, lowering its head and speaking gently to a small, weak soul beast.

The dragon-lion lifted its head, and she met its wise, deep red eyes.

She rose into the air, light as drifting willow fluff.

She saw treehouses woven from thick vines, golden ancient trees gently swaying, and small creatures darting among the branches.

She ascended higher, seeing a beautiful city spread in rings around the ancient tree—humans and soul beasts coexisting harmoniously. Beyond that was a vast sea of gold and green mist, undulating endlessly, with countless thread-like lines pulsating within.

Huo Yuqing withdrew her gaze. She knew she shouldn't look any further.

Was this what the Emperor Rui Beast saw? Was this what the Emperor Rui Beast wanted her to protect—the Star Dou Forest, the precious peace between humans and soul beasts?

But…

"My spiritual sea's changes… this eye… Is it related to Wang Rui?" Huo Yuqing murmured thoughtfully.

"This eye appeared in your spiritual sea after you and Wang Rui first formally used your martial soul fusion technique and gained substantial, tangible spiritual power," Tianmeng Ice Silkworm explained. "Maybe that technique significantly elevated your level, leaving this change behind."

Huo Yuqing was silent for a moment before suddenly asking, "What exactly is the relationship between Wang Rui and the Emperor Rui Beast?"

Tianmeng Ice Silkworm shuddered. If silkworms had hair, his would have stood on end.

"The Rui Beast is the Rui Beast, and Wang Rui is Wang Rui, haha, why do you suddenly ask that?" Tianmeng was sweating bullets.

She isn't going to unmask Rui Beast's disguise already, is she?! Even Tianmeng himself thought Wang Rui's disguise was unnecessary and only added obstacles to his own romantic path, but if the mask was ripped off now and Wang Rui got mad—would he take it out on Huo Yuqing first?!

Wuwuwu, Huo Yuqing has no mental defenses against Rui Beast at all—he could come in and beat me up as easily as walking through an open door!

"It just feels like the Emperor Rui Beast is a little too indulgent toward me…" Huo Yuqing muttered.

"They do know each other," Tianmeng dodged, afraid to reveal too much. The more he said, the more mistakes he might make—what if this little lady figured out even more?

"By the way, your current state is very rare. When your spiritual power is at a lower level, it's hard to observe your own spiritual sea this intuitively—before you wake up, take advantage of this and study it. It'll be beneficial for your future cultivation."

Huo Yuqing nodded, temporarily letting go of Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's suspiciously vague responses.

"Wait, what is that?" She suddenly stared intently at the massive vertical eye in the center of her spiritual sea. Deep within the sapphire-colored pupil, seven strange points of light swirled constantly.

She hadn't noticed them before, immersed in the bizarre experience of seemingly gazing at herself.

"I don't know either," Tianmeng Ice Silkworm sounded genuinely surprised.

Even he had only just noticed this subtle change in Huo Yuqing's spiritual sea.

The girl frowned, her mind stirring.

In her own spiritual sea, she was the absolute ruler. So, Huo Yuqing reached out, and as if responding to her summons, the seven points of light flew out from the vertical eye's pupil, hovering before her.

These seven points of light—now orbs—each had a different color, though some were more vivid than others. The deepest-colored one was red, blazing like burning blood flames.

Huo Yuqing extended her hand, watching as it passed through the blood-red orb.

An endless, violent fury surged up her fingertips.

She understood now.

Emotions.

Huo Yuqing entered a strange, split state—while experiencing the raging fury, she also remained detached, as if she were merely an observer, cautiously exploring the orb.

Until her fingers touched something cold and hard.

A… blade.

Huo Yuqing tried to pull it out, feeling as though a bottomless black hole had opened in her soul, draining her spiritual power rapidly—but the hilt was loosening.

She refused to give up, gripping the handle tightly and channeling all the fury within her, extracting the blade bit by bit.

It was an odd sensation—she could feel the anger and her spiritual power compressing and slowly merging through the action.

Finally, the severed warblade that had briefly appeared during the Shrek freshmen examination materialized in her hands.

"Whoa, an actual genius!"

A completely unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out in her spiritual sea.