During the day, she cultivated, and at night, she slept holding Tang Bao's egg. Sha Qian Mo would occasionally visit the stone chamber to see her, not saying a word, just leaning against the doorframe for a while before leaving.
"Is His Majesty being too good to that mortal?" the Demon Servants grumbled in private.
"Hush, do you want to die?"
Hua Qian Gu couldn't hear these whispers. Her entire attention was focused on two things—Tang Bao's egg, and the dormant Godhead within her body.
The cracks on the eggshell were too numerous to count, and the green light illuminated the entire stone chamber as if it were daytime. She could feel the little life inside the egg moving, occasionally nudging the shell, as if saying, "I'm coming out."
But on the Godhead's side, there was still no movement.
"It only awakened after I became the Demon God in my previous life," Hua Qian Gu sat cross-legged on the stone bed, closing her eyes to observe her Dantian. "Without the Power of the Demon God in this life, how can I activate it early?"
She tried to guide her Spiritual Power using the Cultivation Techniques from her past life's memory, but the Spiritual Power entering her body was like a clay ox entering the sea, with no reaction.
The Godhead was like a dormant seed, buried deep within her Dantian, unmoving.
Hua Qian Gu sighed and opened her eyes.
"I can't rush it," she told herself.
But just as she was about to get up—
A sharp pain suddenly surged from the depths of her Dantian.
It felt as if a hand had reached into her body, gripped her internal organs, and twisted them violently.
"Ah—" Hua Qian Gu let out a scream, rolling off the stone bed and curling up on the ground, trembling all over.
Pain.
Not physical pain, but pain from the depths of her soul, as if someone were carving out her memories with a knife, slice by slice.
The world before her eyes suddenly changed.
The stone chamber disappeared, and the Demon Emperor Palace vanished. She saw—
Chang Liu Mountain.
Jue Qing Hall.
Bai Zi Hua.
He stood before her, his white clothes like snow, his expression stern. He rolled up the sleeve of his left arm, revealing a shocking scar on his forearm—it was left by the Pool of Despair Water, which she had used in her previous life to scald herself to prove her love for him.
He glanced at the scar, his expressionless face unchanged, then raised his right hand, his fingers together like a blade, and forcefully sliced off the flesh bearing the scar.
It was bloody.
The piece of flesh fell to the ground with a dull thud.
He didn't even frown.
"Master..." Hua Qian Gu heard her past self's voice, trembling, pleading, "Why..."
"A scar from the Pool of Despair Water should not exist," Bai Zi Hua's voice was as cold as ice. "I have no feelings for you beyond that of master and disciple."
Hua Qian Gu knelt on the ground, watching the fresh wound on his arm, blood dripping onto the floor, drop by drop.
Her heart bled with it, drop by drop.
"Why... why would you do this to me..."
The scene vanished.
Hua Qian Gu lay on the ground, tears streaming down her face, trembling uncontrollably. She curled into a ball, covering her head with her hands, muttering the same words repeatedly—
"Why... why did he do that to me..."
It wasn't that she didn't know the answer. She had known it in her past life—Bai Zi Hua didn't love her, never had. What he wanted was the safety of All Living Beings, Chang Liu Mountain, his Dao.
She was just unwilling.
After giving so much, loving for so long, in the end, she didn't even deserve to have a scar left behind.
"Hua Qian Gu!"
Sha Qian Mo's voice came from afar, growing closer.
The stone chamber door was kicked open.
Sha Qian Mo rushed in and saw Hua Qian Gu, curled up on the ground, trembling all over, her face streaked with tears. His pupils contracted sharply.
"What's wrong?" he crouched down, reaching out to touch her.
Hua Qian Gu didn't react, still trembling, muttering the same words.
Sha Qian Mo had never seen her like this before.
From their first meeting until now, Hua Qian Gu had always given him the impression of being calm, strong, and fearless. But now, she was like a wounded little beast, curled into a ball, so fragile it ached the heart.
"Hua Qian Gu!" He scooped her up from the ground and pulled her into his embrace. "Wake up! Look at me!"
Hua Qian Gu buried her face in his chest, her tears soaking his collar. She heard the Sound of his heartbeat, strong and powerful, thumping like a drum.
That heartbeat pulled her back from the abyss of memory.
She slowly raised her head, looking at Sha Qian Mo with tear-blurred eyes.
His purple eyes were filled with anxiety and heartache.
"Sha Qian Mo..." Her voice was hoarse.
"I'm here." Sha Qian Mo tightened his embrace. "What's wrong? I sensed a fluctuation in your Spiritual Power, did your cultivation go awry?"
Hua Qian Gu shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head again.
She didn't know how to explain.
Should she say she saw memories from her past life? That she remembered the scene of Bai Zi Hua cutting off the scar? That she still felt heartache for that man even now?
"It's nothing," she said hoarsely. "Just... had a nightmare."
"A nightmare?" Sha Qian Mo didn't believe her. "The Spiritual Power fluctuation on you can't be explained by a dream. Something inside your body is vibrating, like... like some Seal is loosening."
Hua Qian Gu froze for a moment.
She observed her Dantian—the Seal on the surface of that dormant Godhead had a faint crack. A wisp of Divine power seeped out from the crack, flowing slowly within her body.
The Godhead vibrated for the first time.
Not because of cultivation, not because of a breakthrough, but because of the painful memories of her past life.
"Your body is glowing," Sha Qian Mo looked down at her arm. Faint golden light patterns were flowing beneath her skin. "It's very faint, but it's there. This is not the Power of a Mortal."
Hua Qian Gu saw it too.
It was the Divine power.
"Sha Qian Mo," she looked up, meeting his eyes. "Do you believe in past lives?"
Sha Qian Mo was taken aback.
"Past lives?"
"That is... after a person dies, they are reborn, carrying memories from their previous life." Hua Qian Gu's voice was soft, as if asking him, but also as if asking herself.
Sha Qian Mo was silent for a few seconds.
Then he said, "I didn't believe it before. But seeing you, I'm starting to."
Hua Qian Gu's eye sockets reddened again.
"What did you see in that nightmare just now?" Sha Qian Mo asked. "What made you so sad?"
Hua Qian Gu was silent for a long time.
"I saw someone," she finally said. "Someone who hurt me in my previous life."
Sha Qian Mo's gaze turned cold. "Who?"
"You wouldn't know them."
"How do you know I won't know if you don't tell me?"
Hua Qian Gu looked at his persistent expression and suddenly smiled. As she smiled, tears fell again.
"Sha Qian Mo," she called his name.
"Yes."
"Thank you."
"You're thanking me again today."
"Because you are truly good to me."
Sha Qian Mo looked at her, saying nothing. He simply reached out and gently wiped away the tear tracks on her face with his thumb.
"Hua Qian Gu," he said. "No matter what happened in your past life, in this life, I am here."
Hua Qian Gu buried her face in his embrace and closed her eyes.
In this life, you are here.
It's so good.
【End of Chapter·Comment Section Discussion: Do you think Bai Zi Hua cutting off the scar was heartless or helpless?】
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