Listening to Huo Yuhao's analysis, Gu Yue was speechless for a long time. In her heart, she couldn't help but sigh that her past self from Ten Thousand Years ago was still too "naive," actually getting tricked into spilling the truth so easily.
She lowered her eyelids and remained silent for a moment, as if digesting the subtle mood after being exposed.
A moment later, she raised her head again. When she looked at Huo Yuhao, her gaze trembled slightly, and her heartbeat involuntarily quickened a bit.
She was unclear whether, now that her identity had been completely laid out, Huo Yuhao would hold any grudges in his heart.
At that instant, although the expression on her face remained calm, a trace of barely perceptible nervousness flashed deep within her eyes.
Yet Huo Yuhao happened to notice it. The corners of his mouth curved slightly, and his tone carried a feigned lighthearted teasing: "What? Our Lord Silver Dragon King can also get nervous?"
Hearing this, Gu Yue's face couldn't help blushing, but her heart relaxed slightly.
Because his tone was no different from before, without the slightest bit of estrangement or guardedness.
She couldn't help letting out a soft hum, her tone carrying a feigned composure and arrogance: "What am I nervous about? Shouldn't the one who is nervous be you? After all, I am the Silver Dragon King!"
Huo Yuhao smiled: "Then what do I have to be nervous about? Whether you are Gu Yue or the Silver Dragon King, you are both my girlfriend."
Hearing this, Gu Yue's heart, which had been hanging all along, finally dropped completely.
Her expression also softened a bit, and her tone carried an ease akin to a sigh of relief: "You're quite smooth with your words now."
She could feel that ever since her identity was made clear, that thin, faintly existing barrier between the two of them seemed to have completely dissipated.
Watching her slightly relaxed brows and eyes, Huo Yuhao then pulled the topic back to business and asked: "Now you should seriously answer my question, right? Is Na'er coming to the Spirit Pagoda? Are you two... going to merge into one?"
Speaking of business, Gu Yue's expression also became a bit more serious.
She leaned back in her chair, her hands folded over her knees, her tone steady yet carrying an understanding of Na'er's temperament: "Na'er has her own thoughts and might not be willing to come to the Spirit Pagoda."
Na'er's figure surfaced in Huo Yuhao's mind. Compared to Gu Yue's calm and introverted nature, Na'er was indeed much more lively and unrestrained.
He was actually somewhat curious; as the two halves of the Silver Dragon King, how could the personality differences between Gu Yue and Na'er be so great?
But he did not ask about this, instead changing perspective: "Between the two of you, you should be the dominant one, right?"
Hearing this, Gu Yue slightly raised her chin, her tone carrying a matter-of-fact pride: "That goes without saying."
When she finished saying these words, she did not notice that the smile on Huo Yuhao's face had slowly receded a bit.
Looking at her with a rare complexity in his gaze, he suddenly asked: "As the Silver Dragon King, do you hate humans?"
Hearing this, Gu Yue was slightly stunned, and her originally relaxed sitting posture stiffened for a split second.
The previously relaxed and harmonious atmosphere between the two of them seemed to be gently tugged at the edges by something at this moment.
She looked at Huo Yuhao's serious face, confirming that his question was not a joke, but a genuine inquiry into her innermost thoughts.
Gu Yue was silent for a moment. Emotions surged within those purple eyes for a second, and then they returned to calm.
She did not evade nor prevaricate, but slowly opened her mouth to ask in return: "You should know what the situation of the Spirit Beasts is better than anyone. Do you think... I should or should not hate humans?"
Huo Yuhao did not answer immediately. He put himself in their shoes; standing from the perspective of the Spirit Beasts, he truly should hate.
But he was human, an unchangeable fact, and he could not betray his own race.
Moreover, the entanglement of interests and the chain of hatred involved here were extremely complex, and many humans themselves were not direct participants.
He remained silent for quite a while before opening his mouth to say: "The original intention of establishing the Spirit Pagoda was to resolve the conflicts between humans and Spirit Beasts..."
Before Huo Yuhao could finish his words, Gu Yue interrupted him, her tone carrying an edge that had been suppressed for a long time: "But obviously, the Spirit Pagoda has not done so."
"The Star Dou Great Forest is almost gone, and now only the Core Circle remains, while those few surviving Spirit Beasts are penned up by humans."
"After human strength overwhelmed the Spirit Beasts, human greed became completely unrestrained."
"The Spirit Beasts on the land are already on the verge of extinction."
Her voice was not loud, yet it carried a heavy weight.
The office fell quiet for a split second. Huo Yuhao looked into those slightly flickering eyes of hers, neither rushing to refute nor rushing to chime in.
He just sat there quietly, as if listening intently to every word she said, and earnestly pondering what he should say next.
After a moment of silence, Huo Yuhao looked straight into Gu Yue's eyes and asked: "So, you still have hatred in your heart."
Gu Yue did not avoid his gaze, even slightly raising her chin: "Shouldn't I hate?"
After her voice fell, the office once again fell into an eerie silence.
Gu Yue suddenly realized that her previous thought—that the barriers between the two of them had completely dissipated once secrets were gone—was merely her own imagination.
The greatest obstacle between them had never been her identity as the Silver Dragon King, but the things she had to do for the Soul Beast Clan as the Silver Dragon King.
Those matters would inevitably put her on the opposite side of humanity, and would inevitably put her on the opposite side of Huo Yuhao.
This time, it was Huo Yuhao's turn to break the silence.
His voice was not loud as he said: "Therefore, you developed the Myriad Beast Platform. Any Spirit Master who enters it will subsequently be under your control, right?"
When he spoke these words, it was already equivalent to laying everything on the table.
The tacit understanding and evasion that had always been hanging unresolved between the two of them were finally stripped of their last layer of cover at this moment.
Only by thoroughly resolving this matter could there be no obstacles between him and Gu Yue, and could they truly be together.
A flash of extreme shock swept across Gu Yue's purple eyes. She did not answer immediately, just quietly looking at Huo Yuhao, as if rapidly re-evaluating the extent of his understanding of this matter in her heart.
A moment later, Gu Yue took a deep breath, her gaze falling straight onto Huo Yuhao's face as she asked: "When did you find out?"
Huo Yuhao did not conceal it, replying truthfully: "Not long after the Myriad Beast Platform officially opened, I went inside and discovered the anomaly."
Hearing this, Gu Yue's gaze trembled slightly. She looked at Huo Yuhao and asked: "Then what do you want to do now? Report it to the Spirit Pagoda? Or report this matter to the Federation?"
Huo Yuhao shook his head: "Do you still not understand my intentions? If I wanted to tell the Spirit Pagoda and the Federation about this matter, I wouldn't be saying all this to you."
Hearing this, the expression on Gu Yue's face did not ease up because of it.
She lowered her eyelids slightly, as if pondering something. A moment later, she raised her head again, her voice a few degrees lower than before: "Now that you know what I am going to do, the Soul Beast Clan and humanity are destined to be enemies. Are you going to stop me?"
Huo Yuhao's expression also grew solemn at this moment. He knew that the future direction between the two of them depended on the outcome of today's conversation.
He spoke up: "Even if your plan succeeds, it will merely reverse the situation between humans and Spirit Beasts. The Spirit Beasts will be strong while humans are weak, and the problem still won't be thoroughly resolved."
Gu Yue said calmly: "But this is enough. Now the Spirit Beasts have reached the verge of extinction, and the situation must be reversed."
Huo Yuhao was not angry because of these words. As early as when he decided to lay his cards on the table, he had already guessed she would say this.
His tone carried a well-thought-out seriousness as he said: "Even without my obstruction, even if you truly succeed, all of this is only temporary. What about after the Divine Realm returns? Have you considered that?"
Hearing this, Gu Yue did not answer immediately. Of course she had considered it.
Earlier, when she persuaded Na'er not to be so aggressive toward humans, this was the exact rhetoric she used. However, right now she did not voice her true thoughts.
She secretly decided in her heart to take this opportunity to test Huo Yuhao and see what kind of choice he would make between humanity and herself.
----------------------------------------------
A/N:
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.