“You little fool, this might be the last meal I ever cook for you.
“Grandpa is forcing me to marry that Qi Tianyang from the Qi Family.
He is so heartless.
“Little fool, I won’t be able to take care of you anymore.
After I leave this world, you must take good care of yourself.”
Inside a simple and dilapidated thatched cottage within the Ye Family Mansion, a stunningly beautiful young woman in a white dress absentmindedly fed firewood into the stove.
Her beautiful eyes were blank as she spoke, heartbroken and dejected.
Not far from the stove, a handsome teenage boy sat blankly on a hardwood bed.
His eyes were entirely hollow, as if he hadn’t heard a single word the young woman said.
“I will not marry that Qi Tianyang.
I would rather die than marry him.
“If it were possible, I would just marry you.
If I married you, I wouldn’t have to marry the Qi Family’s notorious number one peerless genius.”
As she spoke, the young woman slowly turned to look at the boy in white sitting on the bed.
Her eyes, full of despair and helplessness, seemed to be searching for a sliver of comfort.
Staring at the boy who sat as still as a statue, she harbored a fleeting fantasy and asked, “Little fool, if marrying you meant I didn’t have to marry Qi Tianyang, would you…
be willing to marry me?”
Seeing that the boy remained as unresponsive as a wooden block after she finished speaking, Ye Qingxian’s eyes couldn’t help but dim.
She let out a self-deprecating smile.
“You’re a fool, and I guess I’ve become one too.
What’s the point of telling you all this?
It’s not like you can understand.”
With that, she turned her back to him, secretly wiped away her tears, and went back to focusing on cooking.
This was the last time she would cook for the boy, so she put her heart into it.
However, she failed to notice that when she uttered the words “after I leave this world,” a strange gleam suddenly flashed in the dull eyes of the lifeless boy.
The boy’s name was Jiang Hao.
He was not a descendant of the Ye Family, but an orphan who had been taken in and fostered by them years ago.
He wasn’t born a fool either.
Everything that happened to him was due to a Martial Soul awakening ceremony three years ago.
Three years ago, during the Martial Soul awakening ceremony, Jiang Hao became the only person in the entire Xingyue City who failed to awaken a Martial Soul, reducing him to the laughingstock of the city.
Some said he couldn’t handle the blow and had gone mad overnight.
In truth, only Jiang Hao knew that when he stood on the awakening altar three years ago, he hadn’t failed to awaken a Martial Soul.
Quite the opposite.
On that day, he had awakened Twin Martial Souls—a phenomenon rarely seen in the entire Eastern Domain in ten thousand years.
Even more terrifying was that the moment Jiang Hao’s Martial Souls were born, they autonomously developed nascent consciousnesses.
They wanted to devour everything he had and claim his body for themselves.
Therefore, at the time, Jiang Hao had no choice but to drive his three immortal souls and seven mortal forms into his Xuanhai, engaging in a life-and-death struggle of Soul Power against the two terrifying Martial Souls.
Having lost his souls to control his physical body, Jiang Hao indeed looked dull and slow-witted, indistinguishable from a fool.
However, after three years of desperate combat, when Jiang Hao finally suppressed the Martial Souls completely, he made a heart-pounding discovery.
Because of the three-year bitter struggle, his souls and consciousness were actually trapped.
They were locked within his own Xuanhai, entirely unable to escape.
It wasn’t until Ye Qingxian just uttered the words “after I leave this world” that a beam of light seemed to pierce through the dark night, pulling his consciousness and souls out.
The reason he still appeared sluggish right now wasn’t that he hadn’t heard Ye Qingxian’s subsequent words, but rather that he was processing his physical body’s memories.
Although his consciousness and souls had been locked in his Xuanhai for the past three years, his body had retained its ability to record memories; it merely lacked the capacity to read them.
At this moment, all those memories flooded his mind, and Jiang Hao finally realized what had transpired during the three years he had been a fool.
He wondered, “Has Qingxian been taking care of me all these years since I became a fool?”
It turned out that during the Martial Soul awakening ceremony three years ago, although Ye Qingxian had also awakened a Martial Soul, it was of the lowest grade, making it completely impossible for her to cultivate.
Even worse, despite having an extremely low-grade Martial Soul, Ye Qingxian grew more and more beautiful, eventually becoming universally recognized as the number one beauty in Xingyue City.
It was well known in the Celestial Martial Continent that when a young woman’s beauty did not match her innate talent and abilities, and she lacked a formidable family background, only one fate awaited her: becoming a plaything for the strong.
Unfortunately, Ye Qingxian had become one of these victims.
And the “strong man” who had set his sights on her was none other than the previously mentioned Qi Tianyang.
Jiang Hao pondered, “Qi Tianyang of the Qi Family?”
He was no stranger to the Qi Family; it was one of the three major cultivating families in Cyan Moon City.
To his surprise, during the Martial Soul awakening ceremony three years ago, Qi Tianyang had actually demonstrated the potential for Twin Martial Souls.
The man had not only awakened a top-tier Grade Seven Martial Soul but also had the potential to awaken an even higher-grade second one.
And the day for Qi Tianyang to awaken his second Martial Soul was right around the corner, in the next day or two.
The news had already been spread far and wide throughout Xingyue City.
What was even more detestable was that Qi Tianyang, relying on his blazing cultivation talent and family background, had forcefully married several gorgeous young women from Cyan Moon City to satisfy his own perverse fetishes.
These girls all shared the same circumstances: they came from second-rate families, were breathtakingly beautiful, and had awakened mediocre Martial Souls.
These second-rate families not only felt no shame but actually took pride in it.
After all, trading an unremarkable female member for family benefits was a tactic they were entirely accustomed to using.
As for whether those girls lived or died after falling into Qi Tianyang’s clutches, it didn’t seem to matter at all.
He thought, “If it weren’t for Qingxian’s meticulous care over the past three years, I might have died long ago.
How could I just watch her walk down a path of no return?”
Just as Jiang Hao was gathering his physical body’s memories, a series of faint, shuffling footsteps suddenly rang out from outside the house.
The door was pushed open, and a tall figure walked in.
However, the newcomer hardly dared to look Ye Qingxian in the eye, his tone brimming with guilt.
“Xian’Er, the people from the Qi Family are here.
They said…
they’ve come to take you away for the wedding.”
Hearing that the Qi Family had come for her, Ye Qingxian’s pretty face instantly turned deathly pale.
She instinctively tightened her grip on the vial of poison hidden in her palm.
All of this was clearly seen by Jiang Hao, who sat behind her.
After finishing his words, Ye Tiannan looked at Ye Qingxian, his eyes filled with self-blame.
“It’s all my fault for being useless and failing to protect you, Xian’Er.
If you want to blame someone, blame me.
Even if you slap me a few times or scold me, I would feel a bit better.”
“Father, this isn’t something you can control.
How could I ever blame you?” Ye Qingxian said, a hint of heartache flashing across her beautiful eyes.
To reject this marriage of convenience, her father had already done more than enough, even publicly kneeling and begging the Patriarch, Ye Canghai, for mercy.
Unfortunately, Ye Tiannan’s cultivation was weak and his status within the Ye Family was extremely low.
His words carried almost no weight at all.
Yet, the more understanding Ye Qingxian was, the more agonizing it was for Ye Tiannan, a lump forming in his throat.
Seeing her father’s utter remorse, Ye Qingxian couldn’t bear it and immediately changed the subject.
“However, Father, after I leave, I have one request.
I hope you will agree to it.”
“Tell me, Xian’Er.
I will definitely get it done for you,” Ye Tiannan replied without hesitation.
It was the only thing he could still do for her now.
Ye Qingxian said, “After I’m gone, I beg you to take good care of Jiang Hao, for the sake of Uncle Jiang saving our lives back then.
Without anyone to take care of him, he’ll starve to death.”
At her words, Ye Tiannan couldn’t help but glance at the blank boy sitting by the bed.
He nodded, his eyes brimming with despair.
Seeing her father nod, Ye Qingxian finally forced a faint smile.
She looked back at Jiang Hao reluctantly, tears welling in her eyes.
“Little fool, if you weren’t a fool, we might have been married long ago.
“In the next life, I will be your wife.”
Having said her piece, Ye Qingxian turned around, leaving Jiang Hao with a desolate silhouette.
Jiang Hao mused to himself.
Yes, if he hadn’t been a fool back then, perhaps they would have already married to avoid Qi Tianyang’s lust.
After all, Ye Qingxian was his fiancée, a marriage arranged by Ye Tiannan and his father years ago.
With everything settled, Ye Qingxian slowly walked toward the door with a heart determined to die.
Ye Tiannan also sighed in agony.
Just as the father and daughter resigned to their fate and were about to open the door, a faint voice suddenly echoed behind her.
“I am willing.”
The moment the voice rang out, Ye Qingxian was struck as if by lightning.
Her slender body trembled violently.
Even her hand, reaching out to pull the door latch, froze in mid-air.
“Qingxian, I am willing to marry you.”
Ye Qingxian couldn’t quite believe her ears, yet she clearly remembered who that familiar voice belonged to.
But how could this be possible?
Since he had become a fool three years ago, he hadn’t opened his mouth, nor had he spoken a single word.
It wasn’t until the voice sounded a second time that Ye Qingxian dared to slowly turn her head, though she hesitated to turn her body around completely.
She was terrified that she was hallucinating, and even more terrified that turning around would shatter the illusion and drag her back to reality.
However, when she finally turned around with teary eyes, she was met with a pair of clear eyes brimming with emotion.
Those eyes had been empty for three whole years, but at this moment, they were so full of feeling—as if they were declaring to the world that he was alive.