“Linlin, stop. If you keep smooshing my face, it’s going to stay smooshed for the rest of my life.”

  Hearing his plea, Chen Linlin finally stopped prodding Xue Hui’s face with her small hands. She had been doing it for five minutes now.

  Earlier, when she poured her heart out to Xue Hui and asked him to save her, she had spoken carelessly, not truly believing that he would be able to do anything to help her condition.

  So when he began to caress her cheek and the blankness in his expression faded, replaced by a gentle and longing look, she was left stunned.

  Wanting to inspect his face more closely and make sure she wasn’t seeing things, she tightened her grip on his hands and pulled Xue Hui with all her strength. She pushed him onto her bed, climbed on top of him, and proceeded to probe his small face with her hands.

  She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. her personal attendant, Xue Hui, who usually wore a blank expression, was now showing various emotions on his face.

  At the moment, he looked awkward and helpless, likely because Chen Linlin won't stop probing his face.

  But the little girl ignored his pleas and leaned closer, bringing her face near his as she stared into his eyes.

  His usually dead looking eyes now held life. Unlike before, when they had been lifeless, they now showed a faint glow.

  Scratch that,

  they weren’t just glowing. There was an abnormal shine around his pupils. Chen Linlin found it pretty, so she kept staring.

  Xue Hui began to feel awkward in his current position. He was lying on Chen Linlin’s bed, while the little girl was on top of him, probing his face.

  He couldn’t just push her away, she was too engrossed playing with his face.

  So he stayed still and held her steady, making sure she wouldn’t fall.

  He was lying near the edge of the bed, if Chen Linlin turned the wrong way, she would end up on the floor.

  Helplessly, he waited for her to finish whatever she was doing.

  “H-Hui-hui… i-is that really you?” Chen Linlin asked.

  The Xue Hui she knew acted more like a doll than a human.

  But the one beneath her, although he looked exactly like the Xue Hui she knew, gave off a completely different vibe.

  “I still am,” he said. “I just woke up from a long dream.”

  With a gentle push, he mustered all the strength a small child like him could manage and moved Chen Linlin to sit beside him.

  “Woke up from what?”

  Now sitting next to him, Chen Linlin tilted her head slightly, looking at Xue Hui with a curious gaze.

  “From a long dream.”

  Although Xue Hui had just returned from the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL], he had already processed the flood of new information in his mind.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  First, he had returned to the past, to a time when he was still a child, about a year after Chen Zhenlong had brought him back from the orphanage.

  Second, there was a massive difference between the past he remembered and the present past he now found himself in.

  Namely, his own situation.

  Memories poured into his mind from the moment he became conscious. Events had played out the same as before: abandoned on the streets as a baby, picked up and brought to an orphanage, growing up there until the lord patriarch brought him to the Divine Family Mansion to serve as Chen Linlin’s attendant.

  The only difference was that he had experienced all of it while his soul was trapped within the domain of the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL].

  Meanwhile, his current body had gone through life on autopilot.

  It fascinated Xue Hui that he had still managed to catch the lord patriarch’s attention despite being little more than a zombie. Apparently, the condition others deemed as mental disability was precisely the reason Chen Zhenlong had adopted him.

  Chen Zhenlong likely believed that Xue Hui was disabled enough for Chen Linlin to be unconscious around him, yet capable enough to serve as her attendant.

  It was a strange reason, but it worked.

  A year later, he was still here, serving as Chen Linlin’s attendant.

  Xue Hui wasn’t complaining. At the very least, he was still by Chen Linlin’s side.

  “Is that why you always looked like you were…?” Chen Linlin bit her lip, searching for a less hurtful way to describe Xue Hui’s previous state.

  “Like a soulless boy?” Xue Hui finished for her.

  “Mhm.” Chen Linlin nodded shyly at his words.

  “Because I was,” Xue Hui said calmly. “I was trapped in my head before. But now that I’m here, things are going to change.”

  Xue Hui gently took Chen Linlin’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

  “Like I said, I won’t let you suffer any longer. I will help you walk again and cultivate. All I ask is that you trust me. Can you do that, Linlin?”

  Chen Linlin blushed when she heard how softly he said her name. Usually, his voice was always monotone.

  “Really… can you do that? Can you really help me, Hui-hui?”

  She grabbed the sleeve of his clothes tightly with her other hand, desperation clear in her eyes.

  “Like I said, all I ask is that you believe in me,” Xue Hui replied. “I will definitely help you regain everything you’ve lost. Do you trust me, Linlin?”

  With the knowledge he had gained from the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL], Xue Hui was certain he could free Chen Linlin from her condition and help her reclaim everything she had lost.

  All he needed was her trust, so that she wouldn’t push him away now that he could cultivate.

  Chen Linlin had always had very low self esteem. It was the main reason she pushed people away, she believed that once they realized their own talent, they would eventually abandon her.

  That was why he kept asking her to believe in him.

  He wanted her to know that even after he began cultivating, he would always stay by her side and never leave her behind.

  With another gentle squeeze of her hand, Xue Hui looked at Chen Linlin, patiently waiting for her answer.

  “Y-yes… I will always believe in you, Hui-hui, no matter what!”

  Seeing the eagerness in her eyes, Xue Hui smiled, causing the little girl to smile back.

  “Then in that case, I need to start now.”

  Letting go of her hand, Xue Hui stood up from the bed and stretched his small body.

  He fully intended to begin the process of freeing Chen Linlin from her condition. But to do that, he needed to strengthen himself first, from a single source to at least Bronze Rank.

  Only then would he have the confidence to face and speak with the lord patriarch.

  Xue Hui knew full well that revealing the existence of the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL] was far too risky. If news of it ever leaked, it could very well cost him his life. So instead, he would have to fabricate a believable story for Chen Zhenlong, one that explained how a seven year old boy, previously known to be mentally impaired, had suddenly regained his sanity and now claimed he could help his daughter. Not only to heal her, but even to build her a new soul realm.

  As much as Xue Hui wanted to keep his awakening a secret, he couldn’t do so without explaining the changes that had happened to him.

  It wasn’t as if he could simply walk around, smiling and high fiving people, without anyone questioning what had happened to the once blank faced boy.

  So if he was going to reveal himself to anyone, it might as well be the lord patriarch first.

  If he could gain Chen Zhenlong’s cooperation, not only would it be easier to conceal his greatest secret, but he wouldn’t have to worry about suspicion as long as the patriarch stood behind him.

  More importantly, he could also borrow Chen Zhenlong’s strength to help gather the treasures needed to heal Chen Linlin and create a new soul realm for her.

  That, above all else, was what finally convinced Xue Hui to reveal part of his secret.

  The item required to create a new soul realm was located far from Glory City. Reaching it meant traversing dangerous terrain, and only someone as powerful as Chen Zhenlong could fight the corpse guarding the treasure.

  All Xue Hui could do was hope that Chen Zhenlong would believe him and agree to help.

  If not, Chen Linlin would have to wait longer before Xue Hui could restore her ability to walk and cultivate.

  Even with all the knowledge he had gained from the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL], increasing his strength from a single soul force to the Black Gold Demon Spiritualist level would still take an extremely long time.and Xue Hui wanted to help Chen Linlin as soon as possible.

  But before he gambled everything on Chen Zhenlong, there was one thing he absolutely had to do.

  He needed to raise his strength to at least Bronze Rank Demon Spiritualist level.

  Only then would he have the ability to escape if Chen Zhenlong decided he was too suspicious to remain by his daughter’s side and decided to threw him into prison.

  One Bronze Rank was enough to use the Soul and Blood Ignition Technique.

  He would suffer terribly if he ever resorted to it, but as long as he could escape, he could recover, resume cultivating, and eventually reach the Black Gold Rank on his own.

  No matter how his conversation with Chen Zhenlong ended, none of it would stop

  him from achieving his ultimate goal.

  To save Chen Linlin and to ensure that his past would never become their future.

  End of Chapter 7