Back in the Star Luo Empire, Zhu Zhuyun returned with Zhu Zhuqing's body. The Zhu family held a funeral for this fallen noblewoman. After the burial, Zhu Zhuyun reported the mission's outcome to Dai Weisi.
Dai Weisi nodded in satisfaction.
"Well done, Zhuyun. With Zhu Zhuqing gone, that waste Dai Mubai now has no hope at all."
"My sister is already dead. Is that ceremony still necessary?" Zhu Zhuyun asked.
"Of course it is," Dai Weisi replied. "Anyone chosen as a successor must face that competition once they turn 25. If he couldn't even protect his partner, that's his failure. But you still have to compete."
A glint of coldness flashed in Zhu Zhuyun's eyes.
"Dai Weisi, when the time comes, can you leave Dai Mubai to me?"
"You?" Dai Weisi responded. "Of course. Don't disappoint me."
"Never."
In the Douluo Continent, death is not the end. So long as the soul remains, one can be reincarnated—or, with divine intervention, even return from the dead.
Zhu Zhuqing's soul still lingered. She saw everything after her death—her sister retrieving her body, bringing her back to be buried in the Star Luo Empire.
Only in death did she realize her sister had never meant to kill her. The one who truly ended her life was someone else. But now that she was already dead, pursuing the truth no longer mattered.
So this is how it ends for me. A touch of sadness flickered in her gaze.
Suddenly, a torrent of vast memories surged into her soul.
It was as if she had lived an entire life again.
She had a past life—in that life, despite her sister's pursuit, she successfully escaped to the Heaven Dou Empire.
In Soto City, she had seen Dai Mubai holding a pair of twins. She had lost hope in him. But due to their Martial Soul Fusion, she still joined Shrek Academy, and ultimately forgave him. Dai Mubai, too, repented and changed.
With Tang San's help, they defeated both Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun, and later triumphed in the war against Spirit Hall, ultimately becoming gods.
When Zhu Zhuqing regained consciousness, she found herself in a place both familiar and unfamiliar. Familiar, because she could sense it was the Divine Realm; unfamiliar, because she had no idea which temple in the Divine Realm it was.
"You're awake," said Huo Yuhao.
Zhu Zhuqing's soul projection turned to Huo Yuhao, a sense of familiarity washing over her. "You are…"
"My name is Huo Yuhao. Technically speaking, I should call you Ancestor," Huo Yuhao replied.
"You're Yuhao…" Zhu Zhuqing said, "Did you save me?"
"I killed you—but I also saved you," Huo Yuhao said calmly.
Zhu Zhuqing fell silent. Soon, she began to realize something—time in the Divine Realm flows differently from that of the Douluo Continent, yet the two remain synchronized. So how could Huo Yuhao from ten thousand years in the future appear in the Divine Realm of this era?
"I came here even earlier than you guys. I became a god and returned to the Divine Realm more than forty thousand years ago in Douluo time," Huo Yuhao explained.
"So… did you kill me as revenge?" Zhu Zhuqing asked.
Huo Yuhao was, after all, a junior of hers and Dai Mubai's. Tang San once proposed forming a marriage alliance and said he would personally mentor Huo Yuhao. Dai Mubai was thrilled, thinking it a great opportunity to strengthen ties between the Dai and Tang families.
But Zhu Zhuqing had her own thoughts. Could the child of fortune on the Douluo Continent ever be something simple?
The continent's ten-thousand-year fate had birthed numerous deities—Dragon God, Ice God, Angel God, Sea God, and of course, Tang San. None of them were ordinary.
A child of fortune didn't need the Tang Clan to rise; they could ascend to godhood on their own—perhaps even become a Divine Realm overlord. Entangling with the Tang Clan only created karma. Tang San's true aim was to absorb these fated prodigies into his own family, making them his.
If Huo Yuhao had grown on his own, he would have become a god of the Dai Clan. But taken in by Tang San, though he still bore the surname Dai, he effectively became part of the Tang family.
Dai Mubai couldn't see through this. Zhu Zhuqing, though she understood, had little influence and could only watch it happen.
And just as Zhu Zhuqing foresaw, Huo Yuhao was perfectly tamed by Tang San—reduced to a simp for his daughter. So long as she pointed east, Huo Yuhao wouldn't dare look west. Although he retained the Dai surname, he essentially became Tang family property. So then, was this potential future Divine Realm giant a member of the Dai family, or the Tang family? The answer was already clear.
But no one expected what happened later.
In response to Zhu Zhuqing's question, Huo Yuhao merely shook his head. "I hold no hatred toward you. Like I said—I killed you, but I also saved you."
"Saved me?"
"You regained your past life's memories after dying. But did you know? Among the Seven Shrek Monsters, four of you retained your memories from your previous life. Dai Mubai was one of them."
"He was reborn?" Zhu Zhuqing recalled how Dai Mubai had immediately left after signing a martial spirit contract with her upon awakening his spirit—completely different from how things unfolded in their previous life. In other words, after being reborn, Dai Mubai had rushed off to Shrek Academy early to train.
"Unfortunately, things didn't happen exactly the way you imagined," Huo Yuhao shattered her illusion. He asked, "Do you want to know what Dai Mubai has really been doing these past six years?"
"Would you tell me?" Zhu Zhuqing asked.
Huo Yuhao activated the Divine Eye, revealing to her everything Dai Mubai had done over the past six years.
In the visions, after Dai Mubai left the Star Luo Empire, his desires were like a tiger let loose from its cage—utterly unrestrained. In six years, he spent only a small portion of his time cultivating—sometimes not at all. So what did he do the rest of the time?
He chased women in Soto City.
At his peak, he could schedule five dates a day. His time management was impeccable.
Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao showed Zhu Zhuqing Dai Mubai's candid conversations with Ma Hongjun and Oscar.
Zhu Zhuqing stared coldly at the images of Dai Mubai's "achievements." Gradually, a dark mist began to swirl around her.
She remembered the vows Dai Mubai had made in their past life—the promises of eternal love, the oaths never to love another.
But now? He was seducing women left and right. He even complained to Ma Hongjun and Oscar that he was bored of her, didn't want to be tied to one tree, but wanted an entire forest.
In that moment, Zhu Zhuqing felt the life she had lived in her past life was nothing but a cruel joke.
"Was all that so-called love before his rebirth just an act?" Zhu Zhuqing asked, seething with fury.
"That's not something I can answer," Huo Yuhao said. "But didn't he already answer it for you?"
Zhu Zhuqing said in disgust, "Truly, a dog can't stop itself from eating shit. But what does this have to do with your saving me?"
Huo Yuhao asked, "Now that you know Dai Mubai betrayed you after his rebirth, would you still have forgiven him?"
"Absolutely not," Zhu Zhuqing said firmly.
"No, you would have," Huo Yuhao replied. "In the last life, Dai Mubai played the role of a devoted lover too well, and that became his undoing. He was forced to love only you for life. So this time around, he planned to learn from that mistake. At home, he would keep you as the 'main flag,' while flying many others outside. And even after all the betrayal, you still would have forgiven him. Do you know why?"
"Because you share a Martial Spirit Fusion Technique with him. He is the primary, you are the secondary. As long as you live, you will forever be subordinate to him. No matter what he does, in the end, you will forgive him and return to his side. That is the source of his confidence."
"Don't you think that's incredibly tragic?"
Zhu Zhuqing fell into silence. The women of the Zhu family had always been this way. The betrayers were always from the Dai family—never the Zhu family. Not a single Zhu woman had ever betrayed the partner of her Fusion Technique.
Huo Yuhao continued, "So, your death also freed you from that fate. Isn't that salvation in itself?"
"…Thank you," Zhu Zhuqing said softly, then added, "But I doubt that was your only motive."
Huo Yuhao smiled. "Of course not. Right now, the Douluo Continent has many reincarnators. Among the Seven Shrek Monsters alone, four are reborn. They all share one trait—arrogance. Given a second life, they still believe the world revolves around them."
"So I used your death to show them—the children's game is over. It's time for the adults to take the stage."
Zhu Zhuqing fell silent.
In her heart, she mourned quietly for her former companions—though not for Dai Mubai.