No matter how precocious Dai Yuhao was, he was ultimately just a six-year-old child; it was impossible for him to remain unfazed when the World was collapsing before him. The crushing weight of his secret being exposed felt like a physical blow, leaving him breathless and trembling.
Leng Yaozhu clearly captured every flicker of change on his face. The shock of having his secret discovered was absolutely genuine, which further confirmed her judgment. Every twitch of his brow and the sudden paleness of his skin told her that her theory was the only logical conclusion.
The child before her, whom she had watched grow up and taught for three years, was the legend from $10,000$ years ago—the first Pagoda Master of the Spirit Pagoda, Huo Yuhao. The realization was as terrifying as it was awe-inspiring, a bridge between history and the present.
She was in no hurry to press him. The silence in the room seemed to have weight, making one's breathing become light and slow. She gave him the space to process the impossible situation, watching him struggle with the gravity of his own existence.
Dai Yuhao lowered his head deeply. After a long while, as if he had exhausted all his strength, he slowly raised his head to meet Leng Yaozhu's complex and indescribable gaze once more. He looked like a cornered animal that had finally decided to stop running.
In those still moist and panicked eyes, there was now a mix of the fluster of having a secret seen through, and... guilt for the concealment. He felt the sting of betrayal, not from her, but from his own silence toward the only person who cared.
His lips quivered a few times, carrying a trace of imperceptible trembling: "Auntie Leng, you... you know everything?"
Seeing him like this, like a child caught doing something wrong, the taut string in Leng Yaozhu's heart inexplicably loosened a bit, and a surge of inexpressible pity even welled up within her. Her stern facade crumbled, replaced by a maternal instinct she hadn't expected to feel for a legendary figure.
She suddenly reached out and, with a bit of mock blame and intimacy, lightly tapped Dai Yuhao's forehead with her fingertip. It was a gesture of profound normality in the face of an extraordinary revelation.
"You thought you could hide this little secret of yours from me?"
This small gesture, filled with doting, instantly diluted the overly heavy sense of suffocation in the air. The tension snapped, replaced by the familiar warmth of their shared bond over the last few years.
To Dai Yuhao, in this completely unfamiliar World, Leng Yaozhu was the only 'relative' he could fully rely on and trust. In his internal calculations, she was the only variable that offered him true safety in this future timeline.
Unaware of the full truth at this moment, he naturally felt a sense of guilt for having deceived someone close to him. He hadn't meant to be dishonest; he had simply been terrified of being labeled a monster or a freak.
At Leng Yaozhu's touch, his eyes reddened slightly, and the head he had just raised quickly lowered again, not daring to look into her eyes anymore. The shame of his secrecy was a heavy burden on his small shoulders.
"Auntie Leng, I didn't mean to hide it from you!"
He explained urgently: "I don't completely understand what's going on myself!"
"I only know that sometimes while I'm sleeping, I... I come here, and when I wake up, I'm back."
"When I come and when I go back, there's no pattern at all..."
"At the very beginning, I really thought it was just a dream. Later, as I grew a bit older, I gradually realized that I seemed to have traveled through time and space to the World $10,000$ years later..."
Since the biggest secret had been exposed, Dai Yuhao simply poured out all the confusion and panic he had kept bottled up in his heart for so long with no one to tell. The floodgates had opened, and the words spilled out in a desperate rush for understanding.
He spoke very fast, somewhat incoherently, but clearly enough to describe his passive travel between two Worlds, which was uncontrollable and without any pattern. He described the fear of falling asleep and never returning, or the terror of waking up in the Duke's Mansion after experiencing the wonders of the future.
Listening to his tearful confession, Leng Yaozhu's gaze softened completely. Her heart ached for the boy who had been carrying the weight of two eras all by himself.
She sighed softly, sat down beside him, and reached out to pull his slightly trembling small body into her arms, letting him lean against her. She held him tightly, offering the only comfort she could in a situation that defied all logic.
"Alright, alright, Auntie Leng doesn't blame you."
Her voice returned to its usual gentleness as she patted his back. She spoke with a soothing rhythm, trying to ground him in the present moment.
"This matter is too bizarre. Never mind a child like you; if any adult encountered this suddenly, they would be at a loss and wouldn't know how to speak of it."
The warm embrace allowed Dai Yuhao's tense nerves to relax slightly. He sniffed, buried his face in Leng Yaozhu's side, and gave a muffled "Mhm." For the first time in years, he felt the burden of his duality begin to lift.
Leng Yaozhu looked into the Void Realm, her mind filled with a thousand thoughts. She contemplated the mechanics of his journey, trying to find a pattern where he claimed there was none.
Her expression gradually became serious. Even for a Quasi-Demigod powerhouse with the time attribute, what she could influence was only a fleeting moment; it was absolutely impossible to achieve time travel across $10,000$ years. The scale of this anomaly was far beyond the limits of mortal cultivation.
This was definitely not something achievable by human effort; only the power of a god could cause such an incredible phenomenon. It suggested a grand design, a celestial game in which they were merely pieces on a board.
After a moment, she gently released Dai Yuhao and sat back in the position opposite him, her expression more solemn than ever before. She looked him in the eyes, preparing to deliver the most life-altering news he would ever hear.
"Yuhao, listen!"
"You come from the White Tiger Duke's Mansion $10,000$ years ago. For unknown reasons, you traveled through time and space to today, $10,000$ years later, and came before me."
"And the you from $10,000$ years ago, although you are still a young child now, your future... is no ordinary figure."
The tears in Dai Yuhao's eyes had not yet dried, but they suddenly froze at these words, replaced by an even stronger astonishment as he began to rapidly integrate the limited information in his mind. He sensed the magnitude of what she was about to say.
His special eye Spirit, his name Dai Yuhao... fragmented pieces of information surfaced in his mind, and an absurd yet startling idea arose along with them. He had read the history books; he knew the name that dominated the records of the founding era.
Even if he didn't understand the history between $10,000$ years ago and now, he was currently in the Spirit Pagoda, and he still knew some information about the founder of the Spirit Pagoda, Huo Yuhao. The connection was too obvious to ignore, yet too insane to believe.
Just then, Leng Yaozhu gave the answer directly: "If I'm not mistaken, Yuhao..."
Her voice was not loud, yet it carried the weight of a thousand tons; every word seemed to strike Dai Yuhao's heart, which had suddenly stopped beating. The air in the room felt frozen.
"You are the legend from $10,000$ years ago, the pioneer of the Spirit Soul System, revered by later generations as... Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao!"
The words fell.
A deathly silence filled the room. The sheer impact of her statement seemed to ripple through the very fabric of reality.
Hearing this, Dai Yuhao's mouth unconsciously hung open. His whole being seemed fixed in place by an invisible force, and even his breathing stopped. He stared at her, his mind struggling to reconcile the weak, bullied boy he was with the titan of history she described.
$10,000$ years ago, he was currently just the illegitimate son Dai Yuhao in a corner of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, living with his mother and suffering cold looks and bullying. He was a nobody, a shadow in his father's house.
His greatest wish every day was simply for his mother to have less sorrow and for himself to grow up quickly. He wanted to be a man who could protect her, nothing more.
Perhaps... perhaps it would be even better if he had the chance to get a little bit closer to that father who was as distant as the scorching sun. He still harbored a child's desperate need for recognition.
And now, someone was telling him that he, this lowly child, would be the founder of the Spirit Pagoda, which was comparable to Shrek Academy $10,000$ years later! It was like being told an ant was destined to become a dragon.
The sense of absurdity brought by this massive shift in identity was like a monstrous wave, completely submerging his tender six-year-old heart. He felt lost in the shadow of his own future glory.
Time passed in the dead silence. It took several full minutes before he slowly closed his mouth, which had been hanging open in shock.
There was no excitement or pride for his future brilliant achievements on his face, only a bottomless sense of loss. He didn't feel like a hero; he felt like a puppet whose path had been written long before he was born.
Leng Yaozhu sighed softly and lamented, "I only barely managed to digest this information myself."
She paused, her gaze landing on Dai Yuhao's lost face, her tone somewhat complex: "To be honest, Yuhao, I'm somewhat unsure... what kind of attitude I should use to face you."
Perhaps it was precisely because he was still young and his mind was not yet bound by too many secular frameworks and heavy responsibilities. He didn't care for the title of ancestor; he cared for the woman sitting in front of him.
Dai Yuhao's bright eyes gradually regained their Spirit. He raised his head, his gaze no longer wandering, but looking seriously at the complex-faced Leng Yaozhu opposite him.
"Auntie Leng, I don't know what the future will be like."
"But in my heart, you will always be my Auntie Leng."
"The Auntie Leng who raised me, taught me, and protected me."
These words were like a warm current, instantly breaking through the invisible barrier and loss in Leng Yaozhu's heart built up by his future identity. The distance between the ancestor and the descendant vanished.
She was slightly stunned, and seeing the pure reliance and unreserved trust in the child's eyes, a bright smile gradually appeared on her face. Her heart swelled with a genuine, uncomplicated love for the boy.
Yes, regardless of who he was in the past or who he would become in the future, the one sitting before her right now was the Dai Yuhao she had cared for for three years—the one whose eyes would light up because she brought something delicious, whose chest would swell with pride because of her affirmation, and who would subconsciously move closer to her when afraid. He was her Yuhao, no matter what the history books said.
The complex emotions finally transformed into a sense of relief and a more determined tenderness. She felt a new purpose: to protect this legend in the making.
Leng Yaozhu reached out and, just as she had countless times before, naturally ruffled Dai Yuhao's hair. The simple act reaffirmed their bond.
"Silly child."
Her voice softened completely, and the last trace of hesitation in her eyes vanished. She would be his guardian, no matter which era he belonged to.