Historically, most evaluations of Gavin are positive. He endured humiliation and hardship, destroyed his enemy—the Kingdom of Wu—and rose to become a hegemon. The praise he receives is almost universally good: his ability to bend and endure makes him a true man.
I still remember how he used his own family as leverage, forcing his soldiers to commit suicide before the Wu army. Deep down, I have always rejected this man.
"This so-called Heavenly Way, there is no such thing as karma or retribution. It’s all just wishful thinking of the living. Heh, if karma truly existed, my whole family—my sister, my parents, my brothers—would have been wiped out, while my enemies live carefree and happy. Heaven is blind. Just like me now. Ethan Zhang, do you think the Heavenly Way is truly fair?"
I neither nodded nor shook my head. My impression of Cecilia comes only from textbooks: she is one of the Four Great Beauties of ancient times. Everything else about her is a blank. In the long river of history that followed, only infamy remained—"a beauty brings disaster," "a femme fatale."
No one cares about any of that. Only her beauty is mentioned, nothing else. But the Cecilia I see is more than beautiful—she is clever and resilient. For the one she loved, she gave up everything. In just three short years, she went from illiterate and unrefined to a woman who could win a man's heart, talented and versatile, enduring humiliation and hardship. In the end, all she received was death and infamy. No one remembers her—a woman beautiful both inside and out.
I quietly watched Cecilia, reaching out to touch above my head. It felt as if something invisible was blocking all contact between this place and the outside world.
"How did those souls get in?"
I asked. Cecilia smiled faintly.
"I am the beauty, and the beauty is me. Sometimes, the souls slain by his sword drift in here. I have nothing in death, and all I can do is turn them into beautiful women to pass the endless years."
I looked at Cecilia seriously, then nodded.
"Miss Cecilia, let me take you out of here. I want to see your sword dance under the moonlight again."
As I spoke, I looked upward. This is the Heavenly Way—just wanting to survive, to be reborn as a human, yet it’s suppressed. I quietly felt everything inside my body.
"No person, no ghost can defy the Heavenly Way. Even if you managed to come in, your ghostly soul is already shattered. You only exist here because of my allure, but even then, it’s only within this place. Outside, you’re already dead, turned to dust—nothing at all."
"Ah, yes, I am already dead. Whether as a human or a ghost, I no longer exist in this world."
I understand clearly now. I am neither a ghost nor a person—I am consciousness. My consciousness still lingers, sealed within the Soulreaver Blade, while my ghostly body is already dead.
I raised both hands, pressing them against the sky, pushing hard against the invisible barrier. Cecilia lay on her side nearby, sitting down and smiling sweetly at me.
"Miss Cecilia, I once had someone as beautiful as you. But back then, I was powerless—maybe just like your Victor, weak and incapable. In the end, my lover had to stand up for me, and never once did she complain, right, Victor Fan?"
I looked at Cecilia and spoke. She laughed, a joyful, carefree laugh.
"Yes, never once did I complain. If you love, you regret nothing. I know Victor loved me too. In those times, he couldn’t help himself."
Back when Frederick suffered a crushing defeat and was captured, Victor Fan immediately arranged for an insider to help Cecilia escape, planning to take her far away. But the plan leaked, Gavin’s troops intercepted them, and both Victor and Cecilia were brought back.
Victor Fan’s entire family, young and old, had already been captured. His parents were executed first—his flight had brought disaster upon his loved ones.
On the riverbank, Gavin forced Victor Fan to make a choice—his lover or his family. In the end, Victor chose, but both his lover and his family died. Gavin spared none of Victor’s kin; he only wanted total control.
With no one left, Victor Fan became a walking corpse. He chose to leave, and Gavin let him go, saying that a dead man was nothing to fear.
After Cecilia finished telling all this, I was shocked. Before, I resented Victor Fan for betraying Cecilia, but now, perhaps if I were in his place, I couldn’t have chosen either—family or lover, both impossible to save.
"Miss Cecilia, deep in your heart, that love still remains, doesn’t it? No matter the distance, no matter the years, it never breaks—this love."
I stared blankly at Cecilia. She smiled, and waves of pink light curled around my body. Gradually, the female parts of me changed back—I returned to my original form.
"Perhaps. Somewhere deep inside, that love still remains..."
Gradually, the pink light turned green—it was ghostly energy. I felt a powerful surge of it pouring into me. Black Deathbane Aura spilled from my whole body. Slowly, I felt my strength returning—not just in my mind, but real, ghostly power.
"That’s good. This love still exists. I’ll get you out of here, Miss Cecilia."
Deathbane Aura kept pouring from my raised hands. A faint purple glow appeared, and the pendant at my neck floated up, shining with violet light.
This chapter isn’t over yet ^.^ Please click next page to continue reading!
Roxie, at times like this, you would do the same—help others without hesitation. And I would too, now and in the future...
The Deathbane Aura inside me grew stronger, surging like a river. I roared, gripping the barrier above with all my strength.
What filled my heart now was hope—the hope of seeing Rachel Lan again. I was supposed to be dead, but inside this beauty, I miraculously survived. Now I finally understand why Thousand Hands wanted this beauty so badly.
As more and more power surged from within, a black humanoid figure slowly appeared on my body’s surface.
"Instinct... unleashed..."
With a boom, a giant black demon appeared in the sky, enveloping me. My hands clamped tightly onto the invisible wall above.
I roared, desperate to return—no matter what, I wanted to go back.
A powerful force pressed down on me. Deathbane Aura turned into rain, pouring from the sky, but it could never break through the barrier above. No matter how strong the power, it seemed impossible to break through this invisible wall.
"As expected, even the strongest power is helpless before the Heavenly Way."
"Miss, are you underestimating us? Heh, Ethan Zhang, let me give you a hand."
At that moment, I felt something strange in my chest. With a crackling sound, a white hand reached out and punched the barrier with a bang, making a hole. I stared in astonishment and cried out.
A completely white version of myself, with golden eyes, appeared before me, smiling leisurely.
"Don’t be surprised. You are me, and I am you, Ethan Zhang. For now, call me Heavenly Soul, Ethan Zhang."
Suddenly, I saw this self-proclaimed Heavenly Soul Ethan Zhang reach both hands into the hole he’d punched, then tear it open wider.
"The Divine Law is just like this. We are merely aggregates under instinct, Ethan Zhang. Do not fear anything—follow your heart. Even the greatest power is but a fleeting brilliance. The path is open now. Go..."
I watched as sparkling fragments drifted around me. A brilliant light shot down from above, and Heavenly Soul stood there, smiling, reaching out a hand to me.
"Miss Cecilia..."
I turned to see Cecilia standing behind me, a radiant smile on her face, tears mixing with her laughter. I grabbed her hand. With a whoosh, six streams of black energy appeared above—my ghost souls, I could feel them.
Six streams of energy hooked onto me, slowly pulling us upward. Heavenly Soul rushed into my body with a swoosh.
"Who knows when I’ll appear again, Ethan Zhang. Rachel Lan isn’t dead, just as you wished. The path of hope is open—go find her..."
In an instant, joy and sorrow flooded me. Gradually, I sank into the soft, radiant light with Cecilia.
A biting cold wind kept blowing. In the freezing hell, I opened my eyes—only my head remained, everything below had turned to ash, frozen by the bone-chilling wind.
The beauty lay quietly beside me. I smiled.
"Beauty... Cecilia, show me. I’m leaving this place."
With a whoosh, the cold wind stopped instantly. I slowly floated upward as pink light grew brighter on the surface of the Beauty.