Chapter 131: Lei Chen's Chosen Candidate, Zhang Lexuan
Lei Chen's words, thunderous in their impact, reverberated within the golden space constructed from the laws of emotion. Each syllable seemed imbued with the power of the Dao, assailing the defenses of the God of Love's heart, which had been frozen in silence for tens of thousands of years.
The golden energy mass representing the God of Love's consciousness fluctuated violently under Lei Chen's direct and heartfelt rebuttal. Its light flickered erratically, sometimes coalescing, sometimes dispersing, revealing that its inner state was far from the deathly stillness and calm it projected outwardly.
Lei Chen's words were like a sharp chisel, attempting to pry open the hard shell she had built for herself—a shell solidified from despair and pessimism.
"Craving sweetness... enduring bitterness... misunderstanding and desecration..."
The God of Love's divine sense murmured these words, laced with the fluster of having one's heart exposed and an instinctive urge to refute, but more than that, it carried a deeply buried, forcibly awakened pang of pain from the depths of memory.
She remembered, before her fall, she had also witnessed countless living beings struggle and persevere in love. Those scenes, which she had deliberately forgotten, became clear once more because of Lei Chen's words.
Yes, even at the final moment of her own betrayal and the collapse of her divine kingdom, her most devout followers, those ordinary and insignificant beings, still used their lives amidst war and disaster to illustrate what it meant to never abandon one another, to sacrifice and dedicate...
The brilliant flashes of emotion from those moments had once been the cornerstone supporting her divinity.
However, her personal tragedy was too devastating, like a massive shadow that tainted all her perceptions with shades of gray, causing her to selectively ignore the light that still existed—the light of those who dared to choose love even knowing its bitterness.
Seeing the violent fluctuations and ensuing silence of the God of Love's divine sense, Lei Chen knew his words had taken effect. Cracks had appeared in the ice. He ceased applying pressure with intense language and, seizing the moment, decided to substantiate his point with facts.
The sharp aura around him gradually receded, returning to a state of calm, yet the light in his eyes grew even more profound. He raised his right hand, palm upward, where the seven-colored light of the Plane swirled, swiftly coalescing into a smooth, mirror-like screen of light.
"Mere words are not proof. Since you hold such a pessimistic view of love's outcome, why not witness for yourself what it means to have 'the courage to choose love even after understanding its bitterness'?"
Lei Chen's voice regained its former steadiness, yet carried a guiding power.
As he spoke, the scene on the light screen rapidly clarified, presenting a real-time image from the Douluo.
The image showed a corner by the Lakeside of the Sea God within Shrek Academy. The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the lake surface golden-red, its waters shimmering. Under an ancient tree by the lakeside, a woman in white martial attire stood quietly, her posture tall and straight.
Her beauty was exceptional, her demeanor cool yet with a trace of imperceptible gentleness. This was none other than the senior sister revered by the inner court disciples of Shrek Academy—Zhang Lexuan.
However, the usually composed and capable senior sister now wore an expression of extreme complexity instead of her customary heroic air. Her gaze was not fixed on the vast, shimmering lake, but rather, she stared absently into the distance.
There, a young man and woman walked side by side. The man, handsome and scholarly with a gentle smile, was Bei Bei. Leaning against him was a lively, charming young girl—Tang Ya, the leader of the Tang Sect.
The two conversed in low tones, with Tang Ya occasionally letting out clear, bright laughter. Bei Bei would turn his head to look at her, his eyes filled with doting affection and care. The setting sun elongated their shadows, intertwining them to form a picture brimming with youthful love.
Zhang Lexuan watched quietly like this. Her eyes held no jealousy, no resentment, only a profound, indescribable complexity.
Within them were concern, blessings, a sense of release, but more than that, a melancholy sedimented deep in the years—impossible to erase—and a faint trace of loneliness.
Her hands unconsciously clenched slightly, revealing that the turmoil within her was far from the calm surface she presented. She was like an outsider, silently observing a story that had nothing to do with her, yet had once deeply tugged at her heartstrings.
"It's her..." The God of Love's cool divine sense, tinged with surprise, resonated as soon as the scene on the light screen stabilized, clearly recognizing Zhang Lexuan. "This girl named Zhang Lexuan..."
The God of Love's tone carried a detachment that seemed to have long seen through fate, even a trace of barely perceptible... pity? She spoke coldly to Lei Chen:
"Why show her to me? I've'seen' her situation before by chance. She and that boy named Bei Bei had a childhood engagement. She long ago set her heart on him, silently giving and waiting for many years."
"And the result? The flower is willing, but the stream is heartless. Bei Bei's heart already belongs to that Tang Ya. For her, he feels only the affection of a younger brother and respect, not the love between a man and a woman. Her heartfelt feelings are destined to be in vain, receiving no response, let alone any happy ending."
The God of Love's divine sense held a hint of mockery, as if confirming her assertion that "love is tragedy":
"For such a pitiful soul destined to be wounded in love, perhaps the greatest mercy for her is forgetting. To forget that misplaced obsession, to forget the one who does not love her—only then can she find inner peace."
"You show her to me. Do you wish me to witness another destined tragedy? This only further proves my point."
Hearing the God of Love's words, far from being disappointed, Lei Chen's lips curved into a meaningful smile. He had already grasped the situation.
'Indeed, she had been paying attention to Zhang Lexuan before...' Lei Chen pondered inwardly.
As the Plane Master, he had previously been searching for a suitable candidate to inherit the god of love divine seat, which was no easy task.
Because the successor not only needed an extremely high affinity with the "love" law of the god of love divine seat, but their innate talent, temperament, and potential were also crucial. They needed to have the possibility of reaching the divine realm through their own efforts alone, without relying on the divine seat, to bear the weight of a First-level God.
Across the entire Douluo, those meeting these conditions were exceedingly rare. Zhang Lexuan, bearing the title of Shrek Academy's inner court senior sister, possessing top-tier talent, temperament, and experience, and having personally undergone profound emotional trials, was naturally one of the key candidates under consideration.
Moreover, after discerning the God of Love's passive idea of "preventing the successor from repeating her mistakes," Lei Chen felt even more that Zhang Lexuan's unique experience—having suffered emotional setbacks without succumbing to despair, maintaining her true heart, and even sublimating her emotions into another form of protection and blessing—might be the best example to break the God of Love's pessimistic argument.
It seemed now that he had played this move correctly.
Therefore, upon hearing the God of Love's fatalistic assertion, the smile on Lei Chen's face grew even more composed. His eyes shone brightly as he looked at the golden energy mass, slowly shaking his head, and refuted with a clear, firm voice:
"You think forgetting is the greatest mercy for her?"
"But I don't think so."
He paused, his gaze turning to Zhang Lexuan's complex yet still clear and resolute profile in the light screen, his tone carrying an undeniable certainty: "And she would never think so either."
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