This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder - Chapter 660

Daoyi’s first thought was that Gan Xuehua wanted to leverage the two’s relationship in order to obtain something from Tianyi that would extend her life, like an immortal official position in the Heavenly Immortal Court. In fact, if Gan Xuehua voluntarily joined, the Heavenly Immortal Court would likely have handed her a position owing to her connection with the Nine Heavens Sovereign, but it would likely be a small one.

Yes, to this day, Tianyi’s ascension to godhood remained known to only a few people. With his previous personality, he would have wanted to hold a ceremony to announce it to the world. As for the reason he didn’t, it was obvious.

Just as quickly as she thought about the reason, Daoyi refuted it. Although she was closer to Gan Xuehua, that was just because of gender. This little relationship could not compare to Tianyi’s generosity.

It would have been more successful if Gan Xuehua had asked Tianyi directly instead of having her convey the plea.

“It’s like usual,” Daoyi said.

Gan Xuehua nodded, showing no surprise. She held Daoyi’s hand in hers. “I thought I would put down a lot of things when I neared death, but I discovered that it was not the case. Perhaps it's my body catching up with my age, but I feel very meddlesome lately.”

Daoyi didn’t answer, not knowing where Gan Xuehua was going with this.

“I think you can try closing the distance,” Gan Xuehua said. “It doesn’t have to be to the point of a red-hot, passionate love. Even a little bit is fine. You just have to open your heart. If you can’t treat him as a lover, that’s also fine, but a family member should be doable, right?”

When Daoyi didn’t answer, Gan Xuehua sighed and glanced toward Gan Linyou, who swiftly turned away when he saw his sister notice his secret glances.

Daoyi blinked and covered her mouth with her free hand. “Don’t tell me you and Linyou…”

“No, no!” Gan Xuehua quickly rejected. She appeared aghast at the very thought. Finally, her shoulders slumped, and she released a breath.

A complicated expression appeared on the face of the Gan Dynasty’s princess. “You should remember that this body wasn’t originally mine. Even though I lived with the identity of a princess for over ninety-nine percent of my life, I’m not her.”

Daoyi nodded. However, she always treated Xuehua as the Immortal Gan Dynasty’s princess because that was the identity she used when entering the group.

“After I killed the original princess, I got used to my current identity. Although I had a secret that I could never tell them, some part of me thought that going on like this would not be bad. I’m a fool. In truth, the emperor and the other siblings had already noticed. They only pretended not to because of the benefits I brought.”

“Are you sure it’s not because of your identity as a reincarnator?” Daoyi asked. She knew that many people would find it unacceptable.

Gan Xuehua stayed still before finally replying, “No.”

She continued, “My fantasies were shattered on the emperor’s deathbed. I didn’t really care about the position of emperor, but that man directly told his ministers that I was the only one who could not be crowned emperor.”

A mocking smile appeared on the princess’s lips. “I thought about forcibly taking the throne out of spite. And I did take action. The emperor had been guarding against me all these years, but no amount of scheming could defeat hard power.”

Gan Xuehua’s eyes turned blurry, as if she were lost in memories. “I rounded up my competitors for the throne. I didn’t intend to kill them because they posed no threat to me and because of the small amount of feelings I’d developed over the years, but those damn things were so foolish. They openly revealed the truth to me, as if that would change anything.”

Daoyi knew the story. Gan Xuehua didn’t kill her siblings and simply sealed their cultivation base and imprisoned them in an immortal grotto. They would have servants at their beck and call, but no true power.

Although they were alive, how could the royal princes and princesses withstand such humiliation? They were once high and mighty cultivators who could determine life and death with but a word, especially with Gan Xuehua’s connections. And now, they were canaries raised in a cage, at the mercy of their master.

“Had it not been for Linyou’s pleading, I would have tortured them before killing them to vent my anger.” Although the emperor’s children survived, the ministers who went against her didn’t. Neither did their families.

Originally, Gan Xuehua hadn’t planned on this, but she wanted to vent. So what if the world knew she possessed the original thirteenth princess’s body? Who would dare to attack her with her power and connections?

“Linyou is so foolish, but he is also sincere. In all these years, only he treated me as his sister,” Gan Xuehua said. “I didn’t cherish it in the past, but now I regret it.”

Daoyi felt that the reason Gan Xuehua's willpower reached its limit faster than Gu Chuan’s and Gao Chushi’s was because of this event. Perhaps if the shadow had turned into an inner devil, she would have lived longer and achieved more. At the very least, it would have given Gan Xuehua a goal to overcome, which would have allowed her to fortify her willpower.

“I don’t know how Tianyi treats you privately, but it should be quite good, no?”

Daoyi couldn’t deny that Tianyi treated her well, but the back of her mind kept whispering to her: if this were the apocalypse, Tianyi would never have been so generous. It was only because it was so easy that Tianyi treated her well.

Gan Xuehua could guess some of Daoyi’s thoughts. After all, both of them had experienced Earth’s apocalypse, and she suspected Daoyi had suffered more than her. “Just treat it as advice from a dying woman. Although many would consider me unlucky, I still consider myself a little lucky.”

She gazed out the window, admiring the scenery. “I lived longer than I ever imagined I would. Most of my life was filled with struggles, but I am proud of the height I reached in this life. And I have someone accompanying me in my final moments.”

Her gaze returned to Daoyi. “Don’t die alone.”

It sounded like a joke, saying those words to the divinity who mastered the Divine Law of Life and Death, but Daoyi was clear that even divinities died from age. Compared to immortals, their lifespan seemed infinite, but that had its own downsides.

Either a divinity kept true to their original heart and died when their willpower faded, or the long years distorted their minds, making their new selves exaggerations of their former personalities. They also ran the risk of the law they mastered adversely affecting their mind.

For example, Daoyi might become obsessed with the cycle of life and death, viewing anyone who disrupted it as her mortal enemy. If she allowed love to overtake her personality in the future, would she become like God Queen Hera of Greek mythology?

“That’s all I have to say,” Gan Xuehua said. She stood up and walked back with the others.

Daoyi stood there, ruminating over Gan Xuehua’s words. It would be a lie to say that she was not shaken. She turned her gaze toward Tianyi.

Perhaps it was a coincidence or guided by fate. Or, more likely, Tianyi’s senses detected her attention, and the two’s gazes connected.

Daoyi nodded with a smile before naturally looking away and walking toward Gan Xuehua. Tianyi also didn’t sense anything amiss and continued to talk with Yan Nie and the two other reincarnators.

The husband-and-wife duo spent a year at this paradise-like resort. During this time, most of the guests put down their cultivation and spent their days like mortals, chatting and playing with Gan Xuehua.

It was a short time for the immortals, who had lived at least tens of thousands of years at the very latest, but it transformed them.

All of them stood in a field of flowers and stared mournfully at the figure inside the crystal casket. Only one person cried his heart out in front of the deceased.

Gan Xuehua looked as if she had returned to the vibrancy of her youth, with her supple skin and ink-black hair, but her eyes would never open again.

Daoyi gazed at Gan Linyou’s back. Although Gan Xuehua felt nothing but familial love for him, the opposite might not be true. Or perhaps it was just a deep familial love, as she claimed.

She would never know.

No matter how Gan Linyou stalled, what was to come would eventually arrive. The crystal casket’s lid slid closed, encasing Gan Xuehua. Lying on the bed of white flowers, she appeared to be asleep, encased in ice.

The crystal casket slid on the ground until it plunged into the crystal-clear lake. The reincarnators and Gan Linyou mourned the departure of their friend in silence.

Days later, everyone left, leaving behind only Tianyi, Daoyi, and Gan Linyou.

“Don’t you have to return? You are the emperor, after all,” Tianyi said.

“I just want to stay here a bit longer.” As for how much longer, only Gan Linyou knew.

Tianyi felt like Gan Linyou might stay here for too long. At that point, the Immortal Gan Dynasty might change its name.

He wasn’t completely clueless. In the recent past, Gan Xuehua had actually contacted him, requesting resources. From what he knew, those resources were obviously prepared for Gan Linyou.

Although she was dead, with no chance of reincarnation, Tianyi felt he had an obligation to look after Gan Linyou—at least until he got out of his sadness.

Tianyi placed a hand on Gan Linyou’s shoulder. Before the latter could react, he discovered that he had appeared outside the island and was staring at it from the sky. Of course, Tianyi didn’t forget about Daoyi.

Before Gan Linyou could erupt, Tianyi placed a finger in front of his lips. “Just watch.”

He reached out and made a grabbing motion. Under Gan Linyou’s shocked eyes, the entire island floated up. No, it was as if someone had scooped out the island and the sea around it, as the bottom was a perfect hemisphere. It flew toward Tianyi. As it did so, the island shrank until it fit perfectly in his palm.

Tianyi wasn’t done with it quite yet. Silver and gold currents swirled around the miniaturized island, forming a perfect sphere. That lasted for a few minutes before they vanished—at least to the naked eye. He handed the island water globe to Gan Linyou. “I turned the island into an immortal grotto. You can enter and exit as you like. If you run into danger, you can also hide inside. As long as your enemy has not crossed the threshold of the divine level, he won’t be able to discover you inside.”

Gan Linyou held the water globe-shaped immortal grotto in his hand. It trembled as tears pooled at the corners of his eyes, but they never fell.

“I already tuned it to your immortal sense. No one else can control it except you. Only a divinity can usurp its control, and even they will need a breath to forcibly control it,” Tianyi added. “As for the name, you can decide it yourself.”

The current emperor of the Immortal Gan Dynasty cradled the immortal grotto to his chest. “…Thank you.”

Tianyi looked away. “Do you want me to take you back to the Trinity Continent?”

Although Gan Linyou was an immortal monarch, the endless seas actually contained some existences that could threaten him. If he were killed instantly before he could react, the immortal grotto would have been useless.

After some hesitation, Gan Linyou nodded. Tianyi waved his sleeve, and before Gan Linyou knew it, he had returned to his chambers in the Immortal Gan Dynasty palace.

With Gan Linyou gone, Tianyi turned to Daoyi. “Do you want to check out the current Immortal Xi Dynasty?”

Perhaps moved by Gan Xuehua’s words, Daoyi, who had never lingered on the past, nodded. “Okay.”