Chapter Two: Faith
“Sister, are you about to...?”
Huo Yuhao stared at her in shock, holding her hand. Yet her palm grew increasingly ethereal, like charred ashes left after a fire, uncontrollably crumbling and scattering.
“It’s alright~ Even if I don’t awaken today, I probably wouldn’t last more than a few years anyway,” Qian Renxue murmured softly, trying to console him.
Though uncertain whether this boy’s arrival was due to luck or a stroke of divine intervention,
she no longer had the heart to ponder or resist it.
Even if he was merely a pawn, if he could change his fate and improve his life because of her, it would all be worth it.
“*Hoo...*”
Qian Renxue clasped her hands together, then gracefully unfurled her fingers.
A golden orb of energy emerged from her palm, radiating a power far beyond human limits.
Within it surged a miraculous vitality.
Seeing the golden energy, Huo Yuhao instinctively pulled his hand back a little. Though his senses were not keen, he could still detect the dangerous aura surrounding it.
“What is this?”
“It’s a blessing I bestow upon you.”
Qian Renxue smiled weakly. “It should help you open your meridians, strengthen your body, and enhance your innate talent.”
“Ah? I can’t accept that...”
Huo Yuhao panicked momentarily. “I couldn’t possibly deserve such a treasure.”
Enhancing one’s talent!
Just those four words alone would make many forces on Douluo Continent desperately covet such power, let alone its ability to open meridians and fortify the body—its value was beyond countless gold spirit coins.
Such a favor—he couldn’t repay it even if he sold himself a hundred times over!
“Since it comes from me, you are worthy to receive it...”
Qian Renxue held the golden light orb in one hand. “Of course, there is one condition to bear this power.”
A condition?
Gazing at the orb, Huo Yuhao swallowed nervously, struggling inwardly for a long while.
But the chance to defy fate was right before him; he didn’t want to give up.
“What condition?”
Qian Renxue spread her hands, and a faint divine radiance blossomed around her. Her features blurred slightly, and the strange aura resonated with the orb in her hand.
Behind her, a radiant angel statue materialized.
The entire space seemed to awaken, suffused with a sacred and majestic presence.
“Trust me... Be willing to follow me...”
“Become my disciple!”
As she spoke, a finger emerged from the blurred light, pointing at Huo Yuhao with a divine power that brightened the soul.
“I...”
He fixed his gaze on the figure and slowly extended his finger to touch it. “I am willing!”
A faint, barely continuous white thread appeared from the void, connecting them.
The thread of faith.
Feeling the subtle power of belief through the divine energy, Qian Renxue’s expression relaxed into peace. She began to chant softly:
“God... I have heard your voice...”
Huo Yuhao paused, then suddenly understood her meaning and quietly repeated her words:
“God... I have heard your voice...”
“May your glory shine across the world... May I follow your path until my soul decays...”
“May the noble cast off their arrogance, and the lowly raise their heads... May the righteous receive blessings, and the wicked be punished...”
“May people be gentle, kind, passionate, and moderate... Let the world know virtue and despise evil, let the noble pursue wisdom rather than cruelty...”
Gradually, a light kindled in Huo Yuhao’s eyes.
“Worship purity, diligence, generosity, humility, gentleness, temperance, and tolerance, and forsake deeds abhorrent to the divine...”
“May the holy light cleanse the darkness.”
As the final words echoed, a faint spark lit inside Qian Renxue’s remaining consciousness.
It was over...
Huo Yuhao looked up, only to see a trace of shock hidden behind the haze.
“How can this be?”
Qian Renxue’s eyes were filled with astonishment as she watched the invisible power gathering above Huo Yuhao’s head.
As she ignited this fragment of residual awareness to reclaim a bit of divine authority, she also perceived the vague fate swirling above the youth and that familiar sensation—
“The watchful gaze of the World Will.”
As if sensing something, Qian Renxue suddenly raised her head, detecting a faint spying presence from beyond the void.
“I understand now...”
Her voice trembled. “You!”
“Me... me?”
Huo Yuhao was startled, nearly frightened by her demeanor. “Sister, what’s wrong?”
With a sudden *snap*, Qian Renxue grasped his shoulders, and the angel statue behind her erupted into blazing flames.
The already terrifying aura in the space surged even higher, twisting into a golden storm that shattered the entire room where they stood.
“I’ve given you all I have left.”
“I am but a failure...”
In the pitch darkness, Qian Renxue’s eyes shone brightly.
“But you! You must win! You must defeat fate, defeat that celestial...”
*Snap!*
Qian Renxue’s consciousness reached its limit, turning into invisible ashes carrying the words she could not finish.
The roaring golden flames converged, plunging into Huo Yuhao’s brow.
...
“Strange.”
A blue silhouette, suffused with the power of faith, gazed downward at the swirling fog of fate, where a single star flickered.
Yet now, that star’s trajectory had become elusive, as if tainted by something emitting a repulsive aura.
“Who is secretly interfering with my plan?”
The blue figure murmured, then roared angrily:
“Destroy!”
...
“Ah.”
Huo Yuhao startled awake on a pile of straw, emitting a strange odor.
His eyes blankly scanned the surroundings.
“Is it already dawn?”
He looked out the window toward the pale horizon, dazed.
“Was everything just a dream?”
Sniff...
“Smells awful!”
A thick stench lingered, coalescing into black smoke.
Following the scent, Huo Yuhao hurriedly looked down, finding his entire body covered in a layer of mud.
“What is this?”
*‘It can help you open your meridians and strengthen your body,’*
the echo in his mind struck him like lightning, freezing him in place.
Everything that had just happened was real.
So...
That sister who ignited herself and gave him everything was real too?
Huo Yuhao’s face paled as he stared into the empty air and slowly got up.
Like a puppet, he washed himself with water, changed into fresh clothes, and then walked along a small path to a grave mound.
He pulled some weeds and used his White Tiger dagger to carve a narrow wooden plaque.
What should he write?
“Sister? Or angel?”
After a long silence, Huo Yuhao engraved two characters meaning “God” on the plaque, split it in half, and put one piece in his pocket while the other was planted beside the grave.
He stepped back and bowed deeply.
“I will not let you down!”
Taking one last look at the grave, Huo Yuhao turned away under the fading night.