Chapter 1953 - 1949: The Substitute
Zhao Lina didn’t meet Li Zhaojun, so her dislike for Ye Fan wasn’t that strong. If she had seen Li Zhaojun, she would definitely have lost her temper.
Zhao Lina was about to test if she was the chosen one. When her hand touched the hammerhead of Ta-Ning, there was no special reaction, and even after channeling her Spiritual Energy into it, there was still no significant response. It was as if Ta-Ning neither rejected nor attracted her.
"Ye Fan, did I do something wrong?" Zhao Lina asked curiously, looking at Ye Fan. She wondered if she had made a mistake somewhere.
Ye Fan looked at Zhao Lina and shook his head, "You did everything right. It’s strange. I don’t know where the problem lies. Could it be that there’s something inside this weapon? Or are you like me and Zhaojun?"
Ye Fan thought of the scene when he and Li Zhaojun first came into contact with Ta-Ning. There was no reaction from Ta-Ning, as if it neither recognized nor rejected them, indicating that Ta-Ning was somehow related to them, or rather, the owner of Ta-Ning was related to them.
"What do you mean, I don’t quite understand." Zhao Lina said, "I feel something’s off, can you tell me what it is? You asked me to test it, but the result was... nothing. That’s the most frustrating thing, Ye Fan. Should I just let it go?"
Zhao Lina sounded a bit anxious. Now that Ye Fan mentioned Li Zhaojun and said she was like him and Li Zhaojun, she felt a bit displeased. But she didn’t want to admit she was jealous, so she questioned Ye Fan’s meaning.
Ye Fan said, "Nana, this matter doesn’t have much to do with you. It’s confirmed you’re not the chosen one, but you have some connection to this chosen one. As for why, I can’t explain it. Let’s do this, I’ll take you home first, and we can talk about it at your place, okay?"
"No need; this is Hua Hai City, and it’s not far from Mingde County. I’ll take a taxi back myself." Zhao Lina, very upset, turned to leave.
Given her current cultivation, she didn’t need a taxi at all. She could easily leave, whereas Ye Fan was pondering his past small grudges with Zhao Lina, unsure if he should accompany her. Even if he did, it wouldn’t bode well, but not accompanying her might make Zhao Lina feel even more upset.
In the end, Ye Fan decided to see Zhao Lina off, but by the time he rushed out, Zhao Lina had already disappeared in the blink of an eye. With her current cultivation level, flying away from Hua Hai City in the dark was very easy.
"Ye Fan, I can feel her love for you." A person appeared behind Ye Fan and spoke.
This person was none other than Li Zhaojun, who had been upstairs without showing herself. This time, Min Shang wasn’t with Li Zhaojun, indicating Li Zhaojun wanted to speak with Ye Fan alone.
Ye Fan sighed, "I know what she’s thinking, but many things are out of our control. Can I let such an independent woman accept these things? Zhaojun, don’t overthink it. Since she’s not the chosen one, I must hurry to find them. If I don’t, many things will go awry..."
Li Zhaojun looked at Ye Fan, unsure of what to say, feeling a mix of apology in her heart for Ye Fan.
Ye Fan said, "Don’t think too much about it. Go back and cultivate. I need to attend to my own matters first. Please keep Ta-Ning safe."
Ye Fan handed Ta-Ning over to Li Zhaojun and intended to go first to the Pan Gu secret realm because there was something he urgently needed to do, something that had been causing him regret and discontent.
...
...
When Ye Fan left Earth and returned to the Pan Gu secret realm, he went directly to a small city. Inside a tall tower here, a woman was cultivating.
She was a young girl, seeming very young in age, but her face showed some maturity. This woman, who looked almost identical to Li Zhaojun, was Huan’er, whom Ye Fan brought back from the Zuo Domain star system.
After being possessed by Ye Fan, Huan’er had been kept in the Pan Gu secret realm by Ye Fan. Her goal was to surpass Ye Fan in cultivation, even to kill him, yet she didn’t know how to gain freedom. So she had been following the methods Ye Fan taught her to cultivate, yet her rigid cultivation approach would never allow her to surpass Ye Fan’s level.
"Is it you?" Huan’er was curious when she saw Ye Fan, for it had been a long time since she had seen him.
Ye Fan walked over without saying much. When Huan’er saw Ye Fan in front of her, she wanted to ask more questions but saw an expression on Ye Fan’s face that she couldn’t understand. Suddenly, she felt her body lighten as Ye Fan lifted her up.
"Aren’t you being a bit too domineering?" Huan’er moderately protested, but inside, she didn’t truly resist Ye Fan.
Huan’er had an almost obsessive infatuation with powerful figures, especially Ye Fan. She adored Ye Fan like a fangirl with her idol, longing to devote herself to him.
Ye Fan carried Huan’er over to the edge of the bed. Huan’er continued blinking at Ye Fan and said, "Are you going to possess me again?"
Ye Fan didn’t bother to respond. Instead, he answered Huaner’s unspoken question with his actions. When Ye Fan pressed her with a way Huan’er wasn’t quite accustomed to, she offered little resistance, merely closing her eyes and saying, "Next time, can I be the one in charge?"
Still, Ye Fan offered no response, nor did he treat Huan’er as her own person at that moment. Ye Fan saw her as a substitute for Li Zhaojun. In Ye Fan’s heart, the one he most longed to possess was Li Zhaojun. However, there were too many uncertainties between him and Li Zhaojun, preventing Ye Fan from fully pursuing a loving relationship with her.
Huan’er appeared like an eternally youthful angel, but she wasn’t her own angel; she was Ye Fan’s angel, substituting Li Zhaojun.
In Ye Fan’s mind, Huan’er could never compare to Li Zhaojun. Not even during his loneliest times did he think of her. But now that Li Zhaojun had returned, Ye Fan couldn’t possess her, so he could only find some psychological balance in Huan’er.
After a long while, Huan’er seemed uncomfortable, laying there and looking back at the motionless Ye Fan, asking, "What’s wrong? Have you fallen asleep?"
At that moment, Ye Fan seemed to have entered a meditative state, completely still. Huan’er didn’t know why Ye Fan had become like this, but it took a long time before Huan’er realized that Ye Fan wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon.