From Here We See True Love

Inside the cave dwelling, the campfire was on the verge of dying out.

The flames would occasionally leap, stretching and shortening the shadows on the stone walls.

Ye Xuan sat alone at the edge of the bed, holding the half-red, half-gray Emotion-Asked Stone in his palm, which emitted the faintest trace of a dim glow.

He remained silent for a very long time.

So long that the blood mist outside churned and billowed, so long that the entire Burial Heaven Abyss seemed to have sunk into utter stillness.

Finally, Ye Xuan slowly raised his hand, bringing the stone up before his eyes.

“Since you have already reflected my heart…”

“Then let yourself be fully used by me.”

He closed his fingers, and spiritual power surged into motion.

In an instant, the red and gray within the stone trembled simultaneously, like two opposing torrents crashing violently together in the center of his palm.

If it had been any ordinary cultivator, their divine soul would likely have been shattered by the emotional obsessions contained within—at best, their Dao heart thrown into chaos; at worst, they would descend into madness and die.

But Ye Xuan was different.

He was someone who had emerged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

If he could tear open his own heart to examine it, why would he fear the lingering embers of emotional remnants left in a mere stone?

“Suppress.”

He uttered a single word, low and deep.

Within his sea of consciousness, his divine soul shuddered violently.

A tyrannical, unmatched will descended like the falling of the heavens, pressing directly onto the stone.

The Emotion-Asked Stone trembled and screeched.

Countless blurred murmurs rose from within it at once.

There were the weeping of lovestruck men and wronged women, the oaths of those parting forever, the curses born of betrayal, the obsessions of those who regretted nothing unto death…

In that moment, Ye Xuan seemed to see countless faces.

They wept, they laughed, they loved, they hated.

Ten thousand emotions converged into a flood, hammering relentlessly against his sea of consciousness.

Ye Xuan's expression remained impassive, but the depths of his eyes grew cold, bit by bit.

“Others cannot withstand you.”

“But I am precisely the one who is best at crushing things like this.”

The next moment, the aura of his [Conquest Eternal] law stirred awake once again within him.

Cold, despotic, devouring all.

That was not emotion.

It was domination that stood above emotion.

The moment the law's power manifested, the Emotion-Asked Stone, which had been struggling furiously, suddenly froze—like prey that had been locked onto by a natural predator.

Seizing that instant, Ye Xuan formed hand seals, and layers upon layers of spiritual power surged outward, transforming into thirty-six ancient runic patterns that all sank into the stone.

“Refine!”

With that single word, the outer shell of the stone began to flake away bit by bit.

Gray-white stone dust fell in a soft patter.

And at last, the true core within was revealed.

It was a drop of blood-colored crystalline liquid, suspended at the very center of the stone.

Ye Xuan stared at that drop of liquid, his gaze deep and profound.

He understood now. The Emotion-Asked Stone was only the shell; the true origin was this drop of “Heart-Questioning Marrow,” condensed from fragments of the emotional Dao's law.

By refining it, he would truly integrate this treasure into himself.

From now on, he would no longer need the stone to question emotions.

With a single glance, he could see through the truth and falsehood of love and hate in any person's heart.

“A fine treasure, indeed.”

“A waste if used on anyone but me.”

Without further hesitation, Ye Xuan opened his mouth and drew in a breath.

That drop of Heart-Questioning Marrow transformed into a streak of light and vanished straight into his brow.

In that instant, his entire sea of consciousness felt as if it had exploded.

Countless scenes and flashes surged toward him.

Bai Ning, face cold and hard, carving a blade of bone with a knife.

Luo Qingqiu, seated high above the clouds, gazing down with indifference.

Mu Qingxue, silent, and Su Xingyao, averting her gaze.

Ying'er, holding him tightly, weeping until her eyes were red.

And then—older, more unfamiliar scenes…

Atop a mountain of corpses, a man in black robes stood at the end of heaven and earth, billions of fallen bodies beneath his feet, yet in his eyes reflected the retreating figure of a woman in white.

His gaze was neither hatred nor love.

It was a fixation so deep it had pierced through the years, a stubbornness even he himself could not name.

Ye Xuan's heart shook.

“This is…”

But the scene vanished in a flash, shattering completely.

Then the Heart-Questioning Marrow dissolved into the deepest part of his divine soul.

A mysterious, profound sense of connection slowly began to surface.

From this moment on, every person in the world gained a layer of color when seen through his eyes.

Red—true emotion.

Black—malice.

Gray—indifference.

Mixed colors—hypocrisy, hesitation, scheming, wavering.

Though still vague, it was already heaven-defying.

Ye Xuan closed his eyes and slowly released a turbid breath.

When he opened them again, in the depths of his originally gray-white pupils, there was now an extremely faint crimson line, flickering once and vanishing.

He looked up at Ying'er on the bed.

The girl slept peacefully, her brows soft and gentle.

In his perception, a warm, clear, faint red glow surrounded her—pure, untainted by a single impurity.

That was love and devotion, given without reservation.

Ye Xuan gazed at her, silent for a long moment, then spoke softly:

“What a little fool.”

But when he said those words, there was, for once, no coldness in the depths of his eyes.

The next morning.

Outside the cave dwelling, the blood mist had already thinned considerably.

A faint ray of light slipped through the cracks in the stone, casting a pale gold along the edge of the bed.

Ying'er's eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly woke.

The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Ye Xuan sitting not far away, leaning against the stone wall with his eyes closed in quiet meditation.

But for some reason, the moment Ying'er saw him today, her heart felt an inexplicable urge to laugh.

She sat up, the cloak sliding off her shoulder, her hair slightly tousled, carrying the cute clumsiness of someone just roused from sleep.

Ye Xuan sensed the movement and opened his eyes to look at her. “Awake?”

Ying'er blinked but didn't answer right away.

She just stared at him for a while—long enough that Ye Xuan began to frown.

“What are you looking at?”

Ying'er's eyes suddenly curved, and she burst out laughing.

“I'm looking~”

She dragged out her words, then put on an intentionally serious tone, clearing her throat: “I'm looking at how serious a certain someone's face was last night when he was lying to me.”

Ye Xuan raised an eyebrow slightly.

Ying'er hugged her knees on the bed, smiling sweetly as she looked at him. “I just love the way you lie to me with that straight face. It's obvious your feelings for me aren't at their peak yet.”

The air inside the cave paused for a moment.

The expression on Ye Xuan's face stiffened—rare for him.

“What did you say?”

Ying'er tilted her head, her eyes sparkling, like a sly little fox. “Was I wrong?”

She hopped off the stone bed, walked unhurriedly up to Ye Xuan, crouched down, resting her chin on her hand as she looked up at him.

“You really thought I didn't notice anything last night?”

“The moment the Emotion-Asked Stone lit up, I already felt something was off.”

“Your feelings—they're there, lots and lots, I know that. But that feeling of being forcibly filled in an instant? That's not like a true surging from the heart. It's more like… more like you grabbed it by the head and forced it to turn red.”

At that, she couldn't help but laugh again.

“That stone was about to cry from being bullied by you.”

Ye Xuan: “…”

He looked at this reckless, laughing girl before him, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say.

Seeing his silence, Ying'er leaned in even closer and gave his hand a gentle poke.

“What? Not going to admit it?”

Ye Xuan was silent for a long moment, then suddenly reached out and pinched her cheek.

“You're getting smarter and smarter.”

Ying'er's cheek was squished slightly, but she wasn't angry in the least. Instead, she laughed even brighter.

“So I guessed right?”

Ye Xuan gave a cold snort. “If I can fool you, you should consider it an honor.”

Ying'er was taken aback at first, then immediately nodded vigorously, speaking with the utmost seriousness, "Indeed."

She said it so naturally that Ye Xuan found himself momentarily at a loss for words.