Chapter 324 - 322: Doubt, Uncertainty?

Chapter 324: Chapter 322: Doubt, Uncertainty?

"I’m not alone. In my heart, Nuannuan is always by my side." Luo Hongyi said with a bitter smile. "Don’t you worry. I may not have much else, but I certainly have plenty of money. In the future, even after Shengnan gets married, I’ll still have guards, nannies, and a private doctor. With a whole host of people around me, how could I possibly be lonely?"

...

’Still so good at tricking people with sappy words. Hmph, anyone can make an empty promise. It’s easy to say that now, but who knows if you’ll get tired of it and change your mind in a few years?’ Seeing her mother looking moved and her young daughter looking so dependent on him, Gu Nuan Nuan resentfully walked up to Luo Hongyi and kicked at him.

When he didn’t react and her foot passed right through his body, Gu Nuan Nuan grew even more furious. Knowing it was useless, she still kicked him several more times, a cold, unmoved sneer on her face as she muttered to herself, ’This is just some bizarre dream. It’s obviously fake. Even if you claim you never remarried in my past life, how would I know you’re not just taking advantage of the fact that I can’t verify what happened? I’m not stupid enough to believe you again. Not a single word.’

"Master, this isn’t a dream. This is what really happened after you passed away in your last life." Just as Gu Nuan Nuan was losing control of her emotions, she suddenly heard Cao Cao’s faint voice in her ear.

"Cao Cao?"

Gu Nuan Nuan was startled, only then realizing the scene before her had suddenly snapped back to reality.

It was still nighttime, and she was lying safely in her bed.

She looked at Cao Cao, who was floating in front of her, and asked, filled with shock and doubt, "What was all that just now? Where did I go? It felt just like a dream. You said it really happened... did I go back to my past life? Why couldn’t I contact you or the ring’s storage space?"

"Master, you didn’t go anywhere just now. The seal on your memories has loosened. So, what you just saw was actually all your own past memories," Cao Cao explained. "In your last life, you didn’t return to the present the moment you died. Instead, you were trapped in that villa, watching as a bystander, just like you were a moment ago... I hadn’t acknowledged you as my Master yet, and you didn’t have the ring’s storage space, which is why you couldn’t contact us."

"You’re saying I couldn’t contact you from within that memory scene? Why were my memories sealed?" Having read so many Jade Scrolls from the Cultivation World, Gu Nuan Nuan of course knew what a ’seal’ was. Wasn’t that something only a Great Power could accomplish? Where could she have possibly provoked a Great Power? She looked at Cao Cao, her heart full of questions.

"It was caused by the ’Backtrack’. Although my kind has the ability to ’Backtrack’, the process isn’t foolproof; it comes with certain risks. You were lucky that only a portion of your memory was sealed, Master. Some people even suffer soul damage during the process."

Cao Cao explained guiltily, "I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you before because, during that period of your memory, you were already in a soul state. I hadn’t acknowledged you as my Master then, so I was confined within my Companion Space, unable to see or hear what was happening outside. I don’t know the specific details either. All I know is that by the end, it seemed like you were starting to forgive that Luo Hongyi..."

"I forgave him? How is that possible?" Gu Nuan Nuan was stunned, her expression one of utter disbelief.

"It’s true. At the time, Luo Hongyi was on his deathbed, still muttering about how he had kept his promise to you. He was wondering if you would forgive him when he met you again in the underworld, and that’s when you, standing beside him, said you forgave him. After that, we formed our bond..." Cao Cao nodded eagerly from the side, rambling on and recounting everything he remembered about the process of acknowledging Gu Nuan Nuan as his Master.

Gu Nuan Nuan: "..."

She was well aware that Cao Cao might be able to hide things from her, but because of their contract, he was incapable of lying to her.

’It makes no sense. Could it be that Luo Hongyi really wasn’t lying to me before, that he truly kept his promise and never remarried for the rest of his life? But... but even if that’s true, it wouldn’t be enough for me to forgive him, would it? Did something else happen afterward that made me change my mind about him? What could it have been?’

Gu Nuan Nuan was lost in extreme confusion, her brow furrowed tightly. "Can I see the rest of the memories?"

"Yes, the seal has already loosened. Even if you don’t have a stronger desire to break it, it will eventually crumble on its own over time," Cao Cao nodded. "However, there’s no set time for when it will collapse by itself, so it’s hard to say when you’ll be able to see more memories, Master. It could be a few years from now, a few decades, or even after several lifetimes."

"Did the seal loosen because my emotions were so turbulent after I gave that medicine to Luo Hongyi today?" Gu Nuan Nuan asked. After seeing Cao Cao nod, she thought for a moment and understood. "So, in other words, if I want to see the subsequent memories sooner, it depends on how strong my desire to see them is, right?"

"Mhm~"

Cao Cao nodded again, then shook his head. "But that’s not the whole story. Breaking the seal is a process, and we don’t know if there will be any damage during it. So, it’s hard to say whether you’ll ultimately be able to see the complete memories, Master."

"Then you were just trying to scare me with that Heart Demon talk before, weren’t you?" Gu Nuan Nuan stared at Cao Cao.

"Not entirely." Cao Cao stopped nodding and looked down, awkwardly biting his little chubby fingers. "Although that portion of your memory was sealed, you had actually already forgiven Luo Hongyi at the end of your past life. So, subconsciously, you don’t reject him."

’I don’t reject him...’ Gu Nuan Nuan thought back to all her encounters with Luo Hongyi after her rebirth and couldn’t deny that it was true. She had been pushing him away, but in the deepest part of her heart, it seemed she was also refuting her own rejection. That was the source of her conflict, her turmoil, and her pain.

It seemed she had found a clue now, but Gu Nuan Nuan still couldn’t feel happy. She couldn’t see the final memories; she didn’t know how she had eventually come to forgive him in the end...

Her head began to ache from all the thinking, but Gu Nuan Nuan still couldn’t stop all sorts of thoughts from bubbling up.

Cao Cao swallowed nervously at her side and revealed an even more astonishing secret. "Master, Luo Hongyi’s rebirth might actually be related to us. I suspect his soul might have come along with the ’Backtrack’ as well. That would explain why my energy was depleted so severely—so much so that a part of your memories had to be sealed."

"What do you mean by that?" Gu Nuan Nuan felt like her brain couldn’t keep up. Everything was getting more chaotic, and she urged him on with some exasperation, "Just tell me everything you know, and stop hemming and hawing."

"Master, there’s really nothing else. That’s all I know. What I said is just my speculation. The idea that another soul, one that hasn’t formed a bond, could piggyback on my ’Backtrack’ and travel through time with us is something I never could have imagined before. There are no similar precedents in my inherited memories, so I can only suspect it; I can’t be certain." Cao Cao wrung his fingers pitifully.