Chapter 92 - 92 - Past mistakes are immutable... or are they?

"Power... I can bestow upon you immense power, to rewrite all those tragedies you wish to change! Accept all that I am, accept my power! With my strength, you can alter anything you desire!" A strange voice echoed in his ears. Ever since Xin Yu had snatched the woman's soul from the grasp of some entity, this voice had been persistently ringing. The voice carried a bewitching quality, capable of swaying one's mind, making them more inclined to believe its words. "Damn it!" A loud cry suddenly came from not far ahead. Subsequently, an object enveloped in light was forcefully kicked by a centaur-like monster that had broken free from the ice at some unknown point, sending the object hurtling towards Xin Yu. Xin Yu watched the approaching object. He could sense the colossal energy contained within it, an energy whose nature far surpassed that of any Herrscher he had encountered, with the sole exception of Kiana, the Herrscher of the End. If he could absorb all of that entity's energy into his body, he might be able to directly transcend his current realm and reach Nascent Soul... perhaps even Soul Formation might be within reach. However, Xin Yu did not attempt to make contact with the incoming light, nor did he heed the continuously resounding, seductive voice in his ear. He dodged the flying light with a swift movement, then altered the surrounding physical laws, reversing the object's forward momentum and sending it hurtling back whence it came. He already had two extremely dangerous energies within his body. If he were to devour this energy, which clearly possessed a degree of self-awareness, the resulting changes could become even more complicated, and the hard-won balance within his body would be disrupted once more. "The Star Core is flying back!" a young girl with pink hair shouted. And because this Star Core had suddenly behaved erratically, everyone present had now noticed Xin Yu, who had arrived behind them at some unknown moment. "Greetings, everyone." Xin Yu floated down from mid-air. He first looked at the young girl with tear-streaked cheeks. This girl really did resemble Bronya, though her temperament and build were quite different. (Indeed, she looks a lot like Bronya. But the Bronya of the past probably wouldn't grow to this extent,) Kiana, on the moon in the past timeline, thought to herself, wishing she could show Bronya that there was someone so similar to her in the world, yet no longer a little pipsqueak. "Hello... You're not from Belobog, are you?" A young man wielding a long spear stepped forward, choosing to engage with Xin Yu. He seemed to have a rather composed demeanor, giving off a reliable impression. "Correct. To be precise, I'm not even from this planet. I'm not entirely sure how I got here myself. In short, I just closed my eyes, opened them again, and inexplicably found myself on this planet." "Eh! Isn't this just like transmigration in those storybooks?" the pink-haired girl exclaimed in surprise. "By the way, although I don't know your relationship with that woman earlier, I saw you seemed very sad about her death. I've preserved her soul. Although there were some... mutations, I've treated it a bit." Xin Yu raised his hand, and a phantom-like, semi-transparent, upper-body-only figure materialized in the air. "It's fortunate that the inside of my Golden Core has begun to nurture a Nascent Soul, and critically, it now has a heart. Otherwise, many aspects of soul manipulation would truly be beyond my capabilities at this level." Although Xin Yu had indeed saved a part of this soul, it had, after all, been mutated and twisted. Its thoughts and memories might still be rather chaotic and confused, but this was the extent of what he could currently achieve. If he wanted to heal it completely, he would have to ask Sage Qitian for help. ...Sage Qitian? "Bronya..." The ethereal soul opened her eyes, looking at Bronya not far in front of her. The coldness and brutality she possessed as an enemy were gone. At this moment, she was purely a mother looking at her child. "Mother..." Bronya looked at Cocolia, whose soul floated in mid-air, at her seemingly restored, gentle, and loving gaze. Her nose couldn't help but sting with unshed tears. "...You did well, Bronya. You defeated me, an unqualified Guardian, and an unqualified mother. I abandoned the Will of Preservation that generations of Great Guardians upheld, choosing to believe in that power, believing it could carve out a new future for us." "Although I could use 'having no other choice' as an excuse to lessen the mistakes I've made, wrong is wrong. Because of my choices, a rift appeared between the Overworld and the Underworld... causing many innocent people to die under my high-intensity campaign orders." "Bronya, do not hide the mistakes I have made. On the contrary, you must denigrate me as much as possible, exaggerate the mistakes I have committed as much as possible, so that the conflict and contradiction between the Overworld and Underworld are transferred onto me. As the next Great Guardian, by thwarting my schemes and defeating the me who was led astray, you can also quickly accumulate a certain amount of prestige... This will allow Belobog to unite more quickly." "But Mother! Doing so will make you bear eternal infamy in history..." "This is the consequence I must bear... I'm sorry, Bronya. This is the only thing I, as a mother, can do for you, child. From now on, you must walk your own path well... Don't be like me, lost along the way." "...I love you, my daughter." The woman smiled as she gazed at her daughter. Finally, her face grew increasingly blurry, eventually losing all features, and simultaneously, she lost the ability to speak. "Mother! Mother!" Bronya tried to embrace her mother, but her hands could only pass helplessly through the air, unable to touch the ethereal soul. She collapsed to her knees in the snow and ice, covering her face and weeping bitterly. Xin Yu silently watched this scene. Of course, if he wanted to, he could completely return to the past, reverse everything, and rewrite all the tragedies. But... he had promised Kiana not to casually pay the price to rewrite the past history of others anymore. "Dan Heng... I kind of feel like Cocolia wasn't that bad after all?" the pink-haired girl whispered to the young man beside her. "A person's good or bad qualities are not judged by what they say, but by what they've done. No matter how well she speaks now, the mistakes of the past are facts that have occurred and cannot be changed." Xin Yu scratched his cheek, looking down at the snow on the ground. Ah, this snow is so white.