The Great Forest
Li Gang immediately forced all his fear deep within his heart. His expression began to calm down as he started to think of countermeasures.
"I never thought I would feel so much fear one day," Li Gang suddenly spoke calmly.
He suppressed his fear and moved towards Wang Xueyao.
He suddenly smiled meaningfully and said: "Why did you come to this place? Is that person also here?"
Wang Xueyao looked deeply at Li Gang and sneered: "Your bluff is good, but your acting is too bad."
Suddenly, she revealed a Rank 5 peak aura, completely suppressing Li Gang to his knees.
Li Gang felt complete despair at this moment. He knew he was completely at her mercy now. In front of such absolute strength, he couldn't do a thing. He just made a guess that Wang Xueyao must have someone superior ordering her, but it turns out he was wrong.
Wang Xueyao came forward and suddenly bent down. She grasped Li Gang's chin with her two fingers, pinched it, and forced him to look at her.
"What happened, my dear husband? Is that all you've got? Why don't you reveal your special abilities? I know you don't possess a Spiritual Imprint, but you must have a special ability! Come on, reveal it, or you might die!"
Li Gang was shocked. 'How did she know I don't possess a Spiritual Imprint? And what special ability is she talking about?'
He looked at her and said: "Which special ability are you talking about?"
Wang Xueyao increased her force. "Oh, do you possess more than one?"
Li Gang denied immediately. He didn't want to make her angry. "No… no, I meant I only know some Secret Techniques. Just a few Secret Techniques."
Wang Xueyao looked at him deeply and asked: "Do you not possess any other ability?"
Li Gang thought and said: "No."
Wang Xueyao frowned. 'How is that possible? Every one of them possessed a special ability instead of a Spiritual Imprint. He isn't lying, that's for sure. But if he doesn't possess any special ability, I have no use for him. This marriage isn't possible, and my secret can't be revealed. Should I get rid of…'
As she was thinking, Li Gang suddenly said: "Can you tell me how you induced fear inside me? And then you took it back. I don't believe I had the ability to resolve it."
Wang Xueyao ignored him, as if he didn't even exist. Li Gang's face changed.
'She is thinking of eliminating me! I have to prove my worth, or else she will definitely kill me.' His previous question was just a probe to test her behavior.
He immediately said: "I know you want to kill me, but you may lose more than you gain!"
Wang Xueyao looked at him and said with disdain: "Oh? Then tell me—how can you help me? Or do you think I would lose any clues by killing you?"
Li Gang looked at her and immediately found her weakness. 'She is still in adolescence, and at this age, they feel a lot of excitement. Even if she is shrewd, she is not as calm as an adult. Otherwise, she would have ignored me, just like earlier. She is competitive, but she should also have the ability to suppress her excitement.'
"I know you won't. In fact, if you hear everything I have to say, you wouldn't kill me!"
Wang Xueyao looked at him deeply and said mockingly: "Okay, I'll let you speak. I want to hear your opinion."
Li Gang didn't want to let go of this opportunity.
"You are a reborn person!"
Wang Xueyao's face still showed disdain, as if watching a play. But she didn't speak and let him continue.
"In your previous life, you were at least a Rank 7 Warrior. But you faced an enemy far stronger than you—most likely a Rank 9 Warrior. You died miserably, and then you used your Spiritual Imprint, which is a Soul-type Imprint, a very rare one, to be reborn into this young girl's body. You are currently a Rank 5 peak Warrior, with the combat strength of a Rank 6 Warrior. Your aptitude is S grade, and your Spiritual Imprint rank is at least Rank 8. The entire Wang family is under your control."
Wang Xueyao smiled. "Wrong! You are terribly wrong. Other than the type of Spiritual Imprint, which is a coincidence, everything else you said is wrong."
Li Gang showed a despairing look, but he felt confident inwardly. "Well, I have nothing else to say."
Wang Xueyao withdrew all her aura from him and caressed his cheek. She said softly:
"My dear husband, you don't have to be afraid, I won't kill you. Can you tell me the reasons for your deduction?"
She paused, and just as Li Gang was about to explain, she interjected:
"Isn't this what you wanted me to ask? But unfortunately, I know where I left clues. I don't know why, but after hearing your answer, I had an impulse to ask how you deduced it. After thinking a bit, it seems it's because you deliberately mixed some wrong deductions. They say people tend to like those who make slight mistakes within their perfections. Your answer is a perfect example."
Wang Xueyao continued, exposing Li Gang:
"First, I hid my Spiritual Imprint grade, and my father hid my aptitude. There are only two possibilities: either I was too outstanding, or too inferior. Anyone who saw my strength could immediately judge it to be the former."
"Seeing my Rank 5 aura, it's easy to guess my aptitude, given how quickly I cultivated. From this, you deduced that even with such talent, it would be impossible to reach this stage unless I had my Spiritual Imprint from the very beginning. I never revealed it during the ceremony, so you assumed it must have advanced, not that I was hiding something from the Li family. This is only possible if my soul occupied this girl's body—since Spiritual Imprints belong to the soul, not the body. It is well known that the body is just clothing for the soul."
"Having the means to occupy another's body, being able to induce fear in your heart without you realizing, and knowing about special abilities—things unheard of in this remote area—further affirmed your guess that I was someone reborn. Since I never left this place nor do Wang family has such heritage, this knowledge had to come from another life. But these alone didn't confirm your guess. What truly confirmed it was my shrewdness, which only comes with experience, not something a 13-year-old girl could possess."
"As for my past life's cultivation, the means I just pulled off aren't available to Rank 6 Warriors, and you know that, since your mother is Rank 6. So, I should be at least Rank 7."
"I was able to see through your Spiritual Imprint, so you guessed I possessed some Soul-type Imprint, which could explain how I occupied this body. But you ignored another possibility—it could also be achieved through Soul-type Secret Techniques."
"As for controlling the Wang family and having a strong enemy, you just added those details to make me think I had everything under control, so I'd be tempted to ask how you deduced it all. You wanted to impress me with your cleverness. Truly impressive. But sadly, in this world, deductions are based on assumptions. Your assumptions are limited because you are just a frog at the bottom of a well. You can never comprehend the true reality of this world. No mortal can comprehend how terrifying it truly is. If you knew those secrets, you might have succeeded in deducing most of it correctly."
Li Gang looked at her and felt despair this time, but he didn't defend himself.
Wang Xueyao suddenly frowned and her expression changed. She helped Li Gang up.
"You shouldn't work so hard, dear. You have to take care of your body too." As she said this, she took out a handkerchief and began wiping his forehead.
Li Gang suddenly felt cold all over his body at her sudden change in expression. 'It seems someone came here, maybe from the Li family. But with her shrewdness, she wouldn't wait for anyone's arrival. Perhaps she never intended to kill me from the very beginning.'
Wang Xueyao whispered softly into his ear, pitifully: "You are right, darling. If I kill you, won't I become a widow? I will never have descendants. I'll live my life completely lonely. Why would I do that? I also want you to take care of me in the inheritance. A weak and beautiful woman like me might otherwise become a target."
Li Gang felt no love in those words—only an infinite coldness spreading through his body.
He smiled wryly. 'Can I ever catch up to her?'
At that time, a few people from the Li family arrived with Li Yuxong. Li Yuxong looked at his elder brother, whose whole body was filled with bruises, and Wang Xueyao, who was supporting him intimately. His words stuck in his throat as he felt horror after seeing Wang Xueyao.
Wang Xueyao's eyes narrowed, but at that moment a hand clasped her waist. Li Gang looked at them and said coldly:
"Why are you here?"
Li Jing, one of the bodyguards and also a trainer of Li Yuxong, came forward and said:
"The Monarch Inheritance is starting soon. The family head called you to discuss something."
"I don't believe he has anything to discuss. He just wants me to help you manage the profits you obtained and do auxiliary work," Li Gang said with disdain.
Li Jing was used to his behavior, and as he was about to speak, Li Gang added:
"Go, I will come soon. My training is already complete."
Li Jing nodded and left with the others.