In the Star Dou Forest's Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast region, a small secluded house stood.
Xiao Wu was gnawing boredly on a carrot. After breakfast, her mother had left to look for food, and she was debating whether to venture deeper into the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast zone to play with Da Ming and Er Ming.
Suddenly, the "Zhao Ling Diary Replica" appeared before her, indicating that the diary had been updated.
Bored out of her mind, Xiao Wu immediately flipped to the latest entry, and a man's voice rang in her ears.
At first, as she listened, Xiao Wu noticed the entry didn't mention her and lazily slumped over the table, uninterested.
But as she kept listening, her big rabbit eyes widened. The diary unexpectedly mentioned her—and said something about her being the "Sheath of the Asura God Sword"? What the heck did that mean?
She wasn't some sword sheath! She was just a cute, gluttonous little bunny!
Still, the man mentioned wanting to find some kind of godhood to supplement her. Though Xiao Wu didn't understand what a godhood was, anything that would benefit her must be something good.
She really wanted to ask if he could swap that so-called godhood… for a house full of carrots.
If he could give her a house full of carrots, she'd feel like she was dreaming.
Carrots were the most delicious thing in the world. If she had a house full of them, she'd laugh herself awake from her dreams.
But before she could feel happy, the following content made her frown. As expected, the man knew of her mother's existence—and he had even wanted to venture into the depths of the Star Dou Forest to find them.
Thankfully, he'd been deterred by Da Ming and Er Ming's strength and hadn't entered the Hundred-Thousand-Year core zone.
What?! He was planning to come to the Star Dou Forest in a few days to find her and her mother? And wanted to take them away? No way!
What?! Her father had already perished? And her mother, a few years after she took human form, would venture into the perilous land to find him—only to meet a tragic end?
The carrot she was hugging fell from her arms onto the table. Her eyes were filled with fear.
No. That couldn't happen. According to what the man said, since her father had already fallen in that so-called Dire Land, she absolutely couldn't let her mother go searching for him.
She'd already lost her father—how could she stand by and watch her mother fall into the same fate?
Xiao Wu secretly made a firm decision: no matter whether what was written in the diary was true or not, she would never allow her mother to go looking for her father. She couldn't accept a future where she was left utterly alone.
Now, she even found herself hoping that the voice's owner would really come to the Star Dou Forest and take her and her mother away. Best case, he'd even make her mother fall in love with him.
If her mother could love someone else, then even if she found out her father had died, she wouldn't be so heartbroken—and she wouldn't end up throwing herself into that Dire Land, ultimately meeting a tragic end.
She knew that would be unfair to her father, but what choice did she have? Her mother didn't have this diary. If she did—if she knew the truth—she surely wouldn't venture into that place or perish there.
Xiao Wu's long rabbit ears drooped down, her red bunny eyes misty with tears. Her body trembled—she was clearly crying. But the man's final words made her feel like she might explode.
What the hell??? What did he mean by rabbits maturing in six months and producing six to eight litters a year, with six to eight babies per litter?!
What kind of nonsense was this guy spouting?! Xiao Wu didn't know how it worked for other rabbits, but their Soft-Boned Demon Rabbit clan was nothing like that!
Her mother had only given birth to her—she didn't have any siblings.
And she herself was still a pure, untouched maiden rabbit! That despicable man—how dare he shamefully slander her and her mother's purity! Bastard! Bastard!
Xiao Wu leapt up and clawed wildly at the Zhao Ling Diary Replica with her little paws, trying to teach that shameless man a lesson.
But no matter how angry she got, it was useless. Frustrated, she slumped dejectedly over the table.
In her heart, she muttered, "You awful guy, just wait—Xiao Wu will definitely make you pay for what you said today. Hmph."
At the same time, several kilometers away atop an apple tree, Xiao Rou stared at a floating phantom diary hovering half a meter in front of her with a tightly furrowed brow.
"Zhao Ling Diary Replica? What the hell is this? Can you get lost? Stop bothering me while I'm picking apples. I need to make sweet and sour apples for Xiao Wu tonight."
She didn't bother looking at the diary. Mysterious little notebooks appearing out of nowhere? That reeked of a trap.
But she couldn't make it go away. The diary stayed stubbornly in front of her, endlessly annoying.
In the end, Xiao Rou decided to take a look. The moment she had that thought, the diary opened itself to the first page, and a strange man's voice began to play in her ears.
She had to admit, the man's voice was very magnetic—pleasant to the ears.
But that wasn't the point. Her eyes scanned the contents of the diary as the voice read aloud.
"Xi'er? Sea God? Tang Chen? Tang San? Dong'er?" What kind of chaotic mess was this?
What did "the sheath of the Asura God Sword, Xiao Wu" mean? Was that referring to her daughter?
Xiao Rou felt completely lost.
As she kept reading and saw both her name and her daughter's mentioned together, she was finally certain—that so-called sheath of the Asura God Sword referred to her daughter.
She kept reading. When she reached the part about her long-lost husband already died—devoured by a beast in the Dire Land—she could no longer hold back her tears.
The diary also said that she, not long after Xiao Wu took human form, would head into the Dire Land searching for him—and also perish.
It was a gut punch. Because in truth, she had been planning all along to search for Xiao Wu's father after her daughter transformed. He'd been missing too long, and she worried about him constantly.
Which meant… the diary was very likely real. Her husband might have already died—and if she ventured into the Dire Land, she'd likely share the same fate.
Xiao Rou couldn't bear the thought. If she died too, leaving Xiao Wu without either parent, how could that air-headed child survive alone in the human world? Life would be unbearably hard for her.
She absolutely could not abandon Xiao Wu.
Even if Xiao Wu was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast now, once she took human form, she'd be no stronger than a frail child. If anyone targeted her, she could die at any moment.
No. She must live. She had to stay alive to protect her daughter—to raise her well.
Even if her husband could see from the afterlife, surely he would agree with this decision.