Huai was still hanging in the sky above Shadow Star.
His voice had just finished tearing through the Red Lotus Galaxy. Beside him, the scream of Ancestor Gui Wuyang was still echoing. Every major sect, every ancestor, every common disciple was looking up at him in pure fear.
Everyone except one person.
On the ground, Wuhe was not looking at the traitor. He was not looking at the sky. His eyes were locked only on Huai.
His pupils had turned a deep, luminous green. They did not blink. They did not waver. No matter where Huai moved in the void, Wuhe's gaze followed him, as if pulled by an invisible string. He was in a trance.
Tears were flowing from his eyes. Not normal tears. They had been flowing silently since the battle started, but now they were different. They were thick, and they were turning red like blood.
This was not a normal reaction. The reality was completely different.
Huai did not know. He was still looking out at the galaxy, his face calm and cold.
Then it rang in his head.
[Ding!]
[Warning! Warning! Warning!]
[Host, Save Yan Wuhe. He's losing himself!]
Huai's head snapped down. In an instant his divine sense found Wuhe in the courtyard.
His eyes widened.
Wuhe was standing among the others, but he was not with them. His green eyes were fixed on Huai. Red tears were running down his cheeks without stopping. His body was trembling.
Huai vanished from the sky. He appeared on the ground in front of Wuhe in a single step.
Wuhe looked up at him. A slow, gentle, and heartbreakingly sad smile spread across his face. He lifted a shaking hand and unconsciously touched Huai's cheek.
Then his eyes closed and he collapsed.
He fell forward, straight into Huai's arms.
Huai caught him. For the first time since the battle began, his calm broke. Panic flooded his face.
"Wuhe! Wuhe!" he shouted, holding him tight. His voice was shaking. "Open your eyes! What happened to you..."
His heart was sinking. He did not wait for anyone. He scooped Wuhe up into his arms and turned toward the inner courtyard. Yan ran after him, his small legs pumping.
Nexus, Ling Zhan, Ling Tian, Ancestor Ling Wei, Yao Shen, and Yao Lingxi all followed, confused. Just a moment ago Wuhe had been their perfect shield.
Yan grabbed the edge of Huai's robe with teary eyes. "Master! What happened to Grand Elder?"
Huai shook his head. He did not know. He forced his voice to be steady. "He'll be okay, Yan. Wait here. Don't come with me."
Yan stopped. Huai took one more step and disappeared. He took Wuhe to the Sword Planet in a single step, to the quiet courtyard Ling Tian had given them before.
He laid Wuhe gently on the bed.
In his mind, he shouted, "System! What is happening? Why did he suddenly fall unconscious? What is that red tear..."
[Ding!
Host, Wuhe is out of danger now. During your fight against the enemies, he fell into the world of consciousness. He tried to force himself to remember something he forgot long, long ago.
His soul gave him back the memories he held as treasures. He hid them inside his very soul.
His system activated 10% of those memories. He saw something that he forgot long ago.
And for those tears... It's better for you to not know about them.
If you were a bit late, he would have delved too deep into that memory and lost his sanity. Only you could pull him back from that world. Be careful next time. Now that his memories have returned, they will fully recover little by little.]
Huai let out a long, shaky breath. He sat on the edge of the bed.
He looked at Wuhe's peaceful, sleeping face. He reached out with a trembling hand and gently wiped away the trails of red tears that stained his cheeks.
He brushed his thumb softly across Wuhe's cheek.
"You don't know just how much I became worried just now," Huai whispered. His voice was low and raw, only for Wuhe to hear. "Wuhe, you're the only one who gave me the love I wanted... Don't do that again!"
Huai stepped out of the quiet room on Sword Star.
Before he left, he left a small piece of his consciousness in the courtyard. It was like a silent lamp. If Wuhe needed help, or if his breathing changed, Huai would know instantly and he could return in a single step.
Then he turned and left.
He appeared on Shadow Planet a moment later.
Nexus was waiting at the front of the courtyard. Behind her stood Ling Zhan, Ling Tian, Ancestor Ling Wei, Yao Shen, Yao Lingxi, and all the elders of the Shadow Sword Sanctuary. Their faces were still pale from the battle. When they saw Huai, they all lowered their heads and bowed deeply.
"Welcome back, Your Highness!" they said together.
This was the first time Nexus had ever bowed to anyone. As a peak Galaxy Sovereign, she stood at the apex of this plane. She had never seen a person who could erase other peak sovereigns with a single wave of his hand. Now she knew Huai was a hidden powerhouse far beyond her understanding.
Ling Wei stepped forward with Ling Zhan and the elders. They bowed again, their backs bent low.
"Your Highness! Thank you for saving our little sect," Ling Wei said, his voice shaking with respect. They now understood. If even the goddess Nexus could not see through Huai, then Huai was something terrifying.
Huai waved his hand gently, lifting them up.
"They betrayed humanity," he said calmly. "I already promised Ling Tian. If anyone betrayed humanity, I would step up. And I promised I would not show myself until humanity faced turmoil."
"They did both," he continued. "They brought catastrophe to humanity, and they betrayed humanity. That is the reason I took action myself."
Nexus bowed again, deeper this time.
"Thank you for saving humanity, Your Highness!"
Huai smiled at her. His next words were soft, but they hit Nexus like thunder.
"You did a great job too," he said. "You sacrificed your own consciousness and became a tool for humanity. I'm really thankful to you."
Nexus froze in place. Her silver eyes went wide. Only she knew what Huai meant.
She let out a slow sigh. "For how long have you known about it?"
Huai chuckled. "From the moment I saw you. You were the only AI in the world who has her own consciousness. So it is really easy to guess."
Nexus looked down. Then she looked back up at him, her voice serious. "But what about you? How could a being even above this plane be here?"
Huai's smile became mysterious. "Do you think I'm alone here? Nexus, you can't sense them, but I can. Except for me and Wuhe, there are others who live in this plane too."
Nexus's eyes became even bigger in surprise. She had never thought that many powerful beings were hiding in this lower plane.
A realization hit her. "Citizen Wuhe is also not from here? So that was the reason I can't see through him either..."
Huai nodded. He lifted one finger and pointed up at the sky, far beyond the stars. "Yes. He's from a realm high above."
Nexus became serious again. "But about those people you just told me about. Why are they here?"
Huai's expression turned cold. He frowned and shook his head. "I don't know. But I'll wait until they reveal themselves. Until then, let's wait."
He looked directly at her. "And don't leak my information to those other galaxy sovereigns. Only North Star knows for now."
Nexus was surprised again. "So that was the reason North Star used his own authority the last time. He wanted to hide you."
Huai looked confused. "What did he use?"
Nexus answered truthfully. "Oh, we sovereigns have three chances in our lifetime to use our authority. We can use it to hide something, or to get exempt from punishment. He used one of those chances to hide your identity inside the Red Lotus Galaxy. Something happened a few days ago, and the Nether Bats retreated to their territory before they could attack again."
Huai nodded slowly. He did not speak out loud, but a thought passed through his mind.
So it was during that time on Canglan Star.
He looked up at the sky where Gui Wuyang's endless scream was still echoing across the galaxy. The warning was complete.
Inside the bedroom on Sword Star, Wuhe was not sleeping. He was drowning.
His body lay still on the bed, his breathing shallow. But his consciousness had sunk deep into the vault he had built inside his own soul. The memories he had hidden as treasures were opening, one by one, and each one cut deeper than the last.
It was quiet. Sunlight fell on a simple training ground.
Young Wuhe was practicing with a wooden sword, lazy and smiling. Beside him stood a tall figure in a plain white robe, wearing a silver mask.
"You're slacking off again, Wuhe," the masked man said, his voice calm but stern.
Wuhe laughed and stepped closer, shameless. "Master! Why don't you take that mask off? You're so beautiful, so why do you always hide behind silver mask?"
The man reached out and pinched Wuhe's forehead with two fingers. "You mischievous little thing."
He sighed. A soft, tired sigh. Then his hands lifted. The silver mask slid back through long black hair.
It was Huai.
Not the Huai with the veil. This Huai wore no ornaments, no bright silks. Just white cloth and a face so clear it made Wuhe's chest ache. Wuhe stared, mesmerized.
Huai chuckled at him. "Wuhe. You turned eighteen this year. Be serious, or else..."
He stopped. His eyes drifted up to the sky, and a sudden, heavy sadness took over his face.
Wuhe did not let him finish. He threw his arms around Huai's waist and held on tight. "Master! Why should I think about the future when you are with me? You are not going anywhere. So why should I worry?"
Huai's expression broke. He softened. He rubbed Wuhe's head gently, the way he always did. Then he picked up the silver mask and put it back on, hiding his face again.
"Wuhe," he whispered. "You need to be strong. Strong enough to survive alone. Even though I am here with you now, you must learn to stand again."
Wuhe kept hugging him, his face pressed into his master's robe, while Huai continued to teach him, stroke by stroke, as if he was trying to pour a lifetime of lessons into a single afternoon.
***
The scene shattered.
Wuhe was standing alone on a broken world. The sky was black. The ground was covered with thousands and thousands of corpses. The air stank of death.
In the distance, Huai was fighting. He still wore the silver mask. In his hand was a black sword. Around him swarmed millions of dark creatures. Some were unknown , but some were recognisable. Nether bats shrieked. Nether wraiths howled. Nether shadows crawled. They came like a tide.
And in the middle of that tide, Huai was protecting one person. Wuhe. Every swing of his sword kept the monsters away from where Wuhe stood.
Then Huai unsheathed the sword fully. The black blade hummed, as if it recognized its master.
He moved once. A single, precise sweep.
The sound was not a clash. It was a silence. In that silence, millions of dark creatures died. Their bodies fell at the same time, piling up around Wuhe until they became mountains.
On top of the highest mountain of corpses, Huai stood alone.
His long black hair was soaked with bloodlust. His white sleeves and white robe fluttered in the cold wind, stained at the edges. Blood still dripped from the tip of his black sword.
From the eyeholes of his silver mask, two trails of red tears were running down. Not water but Blood.
He looked up. "Come out!"
The sky tore. An ethereal figure descended, so vast that its face could not be seen. Only its voice, male and furious, filled the world.