As for whether this 'doubt' was something Feixiao had truly once felt, or merely Hoolay's manipulation... no one could say for sure.
----------------------------------
Hoolay was very cunning.
He looked at the silent Feixiao.
Wanting to imprint his own thoughts on Feixiao. Especially his thoughts about the law of the jungle.
"The so-called survival of the fittest you speak of is just oppression and deception!"
Feixiao suddenly spoke, a storm sweeping around and erasing all the illusions: "You cannot shake me, Hoolay!"
...
: Hoolay, this bastard wants to reverse the concept of the feud between the two factions, turning it into the law of survival of the fittest.
: Social Darwinism huh, quality determines who eats whom.
: To shake Feixiao's hatred toward the Borisin? To tell Feixiao that slaughter is normal, unrelated to hatred?
: Damn it! He's trying to attack the mind! Luckily Feixiao isn't stupid!
: Hoolay's view is way too one-sided!
: What makes this guy think he can shake Feixiao's spirit?
: Who gave him the courage and confidence?!
...
The audience watched.
On the screen.
As those illusions disappeared. More illusions appeared.
"In the Wrath of [Moon Rage] you rampaged and slaughtered, causing comrades to die in vain. Vanquishing General, you have let down the expectations of the Alliance." General Huaiyan's voice appeared.
That familiar line, the one from the trailer that everyone cared about most.
However, the Huaiyan in the illusion gave the audience a strange sense of unfamiliarity.
This simply didn't sound like something Huaiyan would say.
Feixiao approached the illusion and noticed that all these illusions were Cloud Knights.
They were armed and ready, firmly surrounding her.
"You are a monster too!"
"Enemy of the Xianzhou!"
"Fear…"
"You betrayed our trust …"
As Feixiao drew closer. Big letters formed of bubbles flickered in the air.
Those were the deepest fears in her heart.
"Your actions are no different from those monsters."
"With the blood of a Borisin in you, in time she will surely become an enemy of the Alliance. Cloud Knights, form up!"
Huaiyan and Jingyuan's words sounded one after another. Feixiao looked on silently.
And at this moment Hoolay let out a cold laugh.
"You think by resolutely throwing yourself into a new army you have gained freedom, respect, and recognition."
"But you are wrong. They know very well, a limit is always a limit."
"Now your greatest fear is about to come true: to become the enemy of the Xianzhou."
"So this place is your fear." Hoolay spoke word by word.
Drawing out the deepest fear in Feixiao's heart and presenting it like evidence. Especially the most crucial point, Hoolay believed he had already seen through everything.
What he had to do now was to tell Feixiao step by step.
Kill or be killed. It has nothing to do with justice or positions, only survival.
And the Xianzhou never truly trusted you either; they fear you just the same for being a part Borisin.
When cracks appear in the heart and trust falters, Feixiao will understand that the only place truly fitting her is to return to the Borisin or roam alone in the universe.
"These are nothing but shadows!" Feixiao waved her hand, sweeping away the illusions.
Hoolay didn't care. He continued to summon more illusions. It was a group of Borisin crawling before Feixiao.
They showed absolute respect, submission, kneeling before Feixiao, shouting together.
"Lady Feixiao! The war chief has returned!"
"Long live the war chief! Lady Feixiao will grant us a future!"
These shouts were full of emotion. And above these Borisin's heads appeared large floating words as well.
They were the inner voices of the Borisin and Hoolay.
"War chief of the Borisin."
"Your future."
"Return to the nest."
"A brand-new path."
Feixiao didn't know what to think. But the audience was already in an uproar.
...
: This is definitely Hoolay slipping in his own agenda!
: Feixiao would never think this way! Hoolay is trying to guide Feixiao, to make her mistakenly think she has these thoughts.
: If he succeeds in planting this idea in Feixiao's heart, making her think it's her own, then it's over!
: These three illusions are all connected!
: First present the idea of survival of the fittest, then claim the Xianzhou doesn't trust you either, and finally show the Borisin, implying the Borisin are your true home!
: Hoolay's trick is ruthless! But also deliberate!
: Feixiao absolutely won't fall for it, right? Absolutely not, right?
: If she really falls for it, her character will collapse!
...
Comments flashed across the screen.
The audience had already sensed something was wrong.
That is, what Hoolay showed absolutely couldn't shake Feixiao.
Yet he looked very confident.
And on the screen.
Hoolay launched his final persuasion.
"No matter how deep your hatred of the Borisin, no matter how much enmity stands between you and me."
"I will show you a path you have never imagined, because you made a choice…"
"You swallowed the Crimson Moon; you have the right to become the Borisin War Chief."
"Those descendants who came to rescue me all longed for the moment I regained my freedom to reverse the battle, to change everything."
"To let all the Borisin packs flourish again."
"But this is just a dream manipulated by others."
"They would rather place hope on an illusory savior than have even a shred of dying courage. Such Borisin are better off annihilated completely."
"And I, a prisoner locked up for seven hundred years…"
"Once I return to the tribe I'll become a puppet manipulated by others."
"I will never accept such a fate!"
"For a truly strong person, Foxian or Borisin is just a name. A strong person can decide their own path!"
Word by word, Hoolay finally bared his fangs: "I will open a brand-new path for myself, hand the pack's fate over to you, once a Borisin war slave…"
All the temptation finally condensed into a perfect value cycle in Hoolay's words.
The grudge between Borisin and Foxians doesn't belong to the strong. Because they are too weak; their law is the weak devoured by the strong.
The hatred born from this is just as fragile, able to be dispelled at any time.
And the home you think you've found, the Xianzhou Alliance. They too will fear your Moon Rage, and will not truly accept you.
Only the pack is your true home. For this I, Hoolay, even dug out my own heart to give to you.
Is such an act not the most convincing?
The illusions had already vanished, and Hoolay once more appeared before Feixiao, speaking slowly:
"That's right, your healer Jiaoqiu was so loyal in healing you, because of you spared no effort."
"And now as long as you nod, all the things born of Moon Rage will disappear, fear, madness, none of it will trouble you anymore."
Feixiao met Hoolay's gaze and asked lightly: "So this is the path you've prepared for me? To become another you?"
Hoolay nodded: "That's right, after all you and I are so alike, we are monsters born for war, to die in war."
Feixiao closed her eyes, a faint expression on her face: "The answer need not be said any further."
Hoolay fell silent. The crucial choice had arrived!
The audience was extremely nervous, waiting for Feixiao's final answer.
Things had come to this.
Feixiao seemed… To have no reason to refuse!
Yet, the next moment, Feixiao opened her eyes and said coldly: "Get lost, Borisin!"
"..." Hoolay clearly hadn't expected such an outcome.
He thought Feixiao hadn't fully grasped his meaning, so he reiterated: "Foxian and Borisin are just names. You can make them merge and become one."
"Accept everything, the Borisin will submit to you. Destroy them, leave nothing but bones, or educate them and make them vassals of the Xianzhou, it's all up to you."
"Your name will be carved into the history of the Xianzhou, or into the register of great enemies. It's all your choice." Hoolay's cunning and intelligence were on full display at this moment.
When he realized that his values had not been accepted, Hoolay immediately changed his rhetoric.
From making Feixiao the master of the Borisin, to letting her decide freely. Whether the Borisin perished, or joined the Xianzhou, it was all up to her.
Feixiao's resolve for the Xianzhou ran even deeper than the weight of desire. But this too was a verbal trap.
If Feixiao really accepted, and became the de facto ruler of the Borisin, she would absolutely never allow the Borisin to become vassals of the Xianzhou.
Because the history of the Borisin was not caused by any single war-chief. It was the collective choice of their entire people!
And once she accepted, the seed would be planted in her heart, and one day in the future, she would end up walking the same path as Hoolay and countless war-chiefs before him.
Plunder, evolve, devour. Becoming similar to Hoolay.
Faced with Hoolay's "concession," Feixiao only said seriously: "You don't understand, Hoolay. You don't understand at all what it is I want."
"When I was still a child, to escape the shackles and whip of the head-wolf, my hands touched blood for the first time."
With Feixiao's words, the scene went black.
...
Hurried footsteps and panting could be heard.
Under the boundless starry sky, a shooting star streaked across.
And in the field beneath that star, were two ragged Foxians.
"Neergul, run! Don't stop!"
"I can't run anymore, Saran… are they still chasing us?"
"They're still there. Don't stop, Neergul! Lift your head, the shield's death is real."
"That's a shooting star, it's shining upon us! As long as we make a wish to it, we can be free!"
"All of us can escape, we'll gain freedom, and then share it with more of our brothers and sisters."
"Run, Neergul! Run with all your strength!"
In a wide shot, the two small figures fled in panic.
A group of Borisin closed in from all directions.
Feixiao's soft whisper resounded from the screen:
"We ran and ran, with all our strength, not knowing where each of us was headed."
"We escaped the hunters, and encountered three Cloud Knights."
"Yet, when I brought the Cloud Knights back to the pack…"
"I saw only a bottomless chasm."
As Feixiao's words fell, Hoolay's mocking laugh rang out: "As expected, the Arrow of Lan… the Lux Arrow fell, all things perished."
Feixiao ignored him, and continued calmly:
"Gradually I understood. That wasn't some wish-bearing meteor. Every light arrow's appearance meant the annihilation of a world and countless living beings."
"I prayed to the Reignbow Arbiter, begged Him never to let me see another Lux Arrow fall."
"But the Aeon never answered me."
Hoolay was silent for a moment, then slowly replied: "Yes, they never answer, letting us slaughter each other. That is why we battle to this day. If no one answers our prayers, then we fight for our own survival!"
"Do you see now, Saran? You and I are more alike than you think."
"You are a monster born to fight, and destined to die in battle!"
Feixiao looked back at Hoolay coldly, her eyes carrying a subtle expression.
"You still don't understand, Hoolay."
"Our similarity… is only that one point, born to fight, and to die in battle."
That shooting star, at the very beginning, it was Feixiao's only light, carrying a faint and illusory hope.
Later, that light brought her teacher, General Yueyu. Thus, the light became her sole faith in this life.
In the end, that light too fell into the carnage of War, the war against the Denizens of Abundance. Along with the Borisin, her comrades, and her teacher, it vanished.
That scene was just like the first time she saw a shooting star.
She had been delighted, wanting more people to regain freedom. But what she gained was only a giant pit.
After taking the path of hunting, such scenes were not rare. Yukong could not endure the blows and retreated back to Luofu.
Only she, remained steadfast. Did Feixiao feel fear?
Of course. On the path of chasing the stars, she feared the Moon Rage, and that tragic battle struck her faith with a heavy blow.
Yet… In the days that followed, Feixiao understood deeply.
If not for that one arrow from Lan, the battle would have been even more catastrophic. The hundreds of trillions of lives on Xianzhou Fanghu would have met the same fate as Xianzhou Cangcheng.
If that had happened, whether Feixiao or anyone else, they would already be dead in that war.
That was not a crushing defeat, but a hard-won victory!
It was countless people holding on until the light arrow arrived. It was countless people giving their lives to protect more lives.
It was their sacrifice that passed the right to survive onto her.
Therefore, Feixiao would not mourn. Because she inherited the will of countless fallen souls.
Her only task was this: if a Fourth War against the Denizens of Abundance ever breaks out, they must win it without having to pray for the Reignbow Arbiter's Lux arrow!
To rely only on herself! To grow stronger herself!
Only her own strength could prevent such tragedies from happening again!
Thus, Feixiao stepped into a new stage. The stage of the Arbiter-General.
On battlefield after battlefield where Cloud Knights faltered, Feixiao no longer feared the Moon Rage, but let it tear at her body, descending like a meteor from the sky!
Vanquish!
Vanquish!
Vanquish!
With her own power alone, she forced the enemy lines to contract again and again.
Like the sharpest spearhead of the hunt. More and more Cloud Knights were inspired by Feixiao, shouting the name of the Vanquishing General.
And Feixiao, in the blood and slaughter, roared:
"I vow, one day, to be faster than the Reignbow Arbiter's Lux arrow!"
"One day, we will no longer have to witness meteors fall!"
In the mental space, Feixiao walked step by step toward Hoolay, and solemnly asked:
"Pray to the Aeons, Hoolay. Though They never answer."
"May the spearhead of the hunt pierce the Abundance's heart!"
As her words fell, a meteor suddenly appeared in the mental space, crashing downward!