Chapter 1259: Outside the Heart

“Yeah.”

The dorm keeper didn’t immediately go into it. Gao Yang’s gaze landed on the wavering candlelight, his eyes losing focus as he quickly digested the information.

He breathed softly. “I was wondering why Overlord was so strong. Of course, it should be the strongest as the top-ranking Talent, but it’s in a league of its own compared to other Talents. And even you couldn’t inspect it. But it turned out you stayed silent on purpose.”

“Yes, Dragon’s Overlord had inherited my energy.” She held her fist to her chin like she was acting cute on purpose. “To tell you the truth, I’m super strong.”

“I’ve seen that.”

She gave Gao Yang an approving look. “You’re not bad yourself. You inherited my fate.”

Gao Yang looked at her.

She knew what he was thinking. “A fate does not have a concrete existence. This is an image you gave me. I quite like it.”

She paused before adding, “Energy doesn’t come with a concrete existence, either. It doesn’t even have a personality or a will. It’s simply an inheritance. Use some of it, and it’ll never regenerate. Dragon treasured the inheritance and never wasted any of it, or he wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

Gao Yang made a thoughtful sound. “So did Dragon open the Gates of Closure, or your energy did?”

“I helped, but Dragon was the decisive factor. He chose to become the Gates.” The dorm keeper’s smile faded. Her soft eyes grew serious. “Remember, Gao Yang, nothing precious in the world exists outside of the heart.”

Gao Yang nodded and remembered the advice.

Then he said, “Dragon always believed that he and I were the head and tail of the Heavenly Way.”

The dorm keeper shook her head. “It’s a misunderstanding, albeit a poetic one. It is Heavenly Way’s principle to guide and never lead. You and Dragon did receive special attention. That happened for every round. However, it’s merely in the way of a teacher asking the grade A students to answer a question in class, helping them review what they’ve learned and making them more confident.”

“So the Talent Pantheon and the Wishing Fountain are the special attention?”

She chuckled. “Yes, the Heavenly Way gives different preferential treatment to different good students. The Talent Pantheon and the Wishing Fountain were what it gave me. I lent it to you, but you had to pay the price yourself.”

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Gao Yang’s eyes dimmed.

“You and Dragon are special because you were born special. Heavenly Way’s attention and the buff of the first Divine Scion’s fate and energy are only bonuses.”

She clenched her fist and shook it in encouragement. “You’re also super strong, Gao Yang. Have faith in yourself.”

“What about the transmigration?” Gao Yang asked.

“There is no transmigration,” she answered.

While Gao Yang had entertained the possibility, it was still shocking to hear the confirmation.

“Then what happened to me?”

“Hm.” The dorm keeper tapped on her lower lip with her index finger and middle finger as she considered the question. “Side effect of the melding of fates, I’d say.”

Gao Yang shuddered. Firelight danced on his face.

“Gao Yang, something with a zero probability still exists.” She placed a gentle hand on Gao Yang’s forearm. “You are the probability infinitely approaching zero, but never actually becoming zero. That’s what makes you lucky.”

“But that alone isn’t enough. You need help from many—including me.”

“You may wonder why I know all that. It’s because Qilin wasn’t the only one to have glimpsed the index. I got lucky, more so than Qilin. I saw more and forgot less.”

“As the first Divine Scion, I came to your side at the price of my soul’s death, integrating my fate into yours. Only then could I help you without interfering with causality. In the Mist World, my fate is yours, and your fate is mine.”

“Gao Yang, you’ve always been your parents’ child. You’ve always been you.”

“You have never transmigrated.”

“I did. I ‘transmigrated’ from ten thousand years ago, finding you when you were six and becoming the hidden side of your fate. I woke up when you turned eighteen.”

Gao Yang was shocked beyond words. He suddenly remembered the dream: he was back in the orphanage. The children around him played, but no one paid Gao Yang any attention. He felt lonely, helpless. He cried and didn’t know what to do.

Why?

Because Gao Yang was the odd one out in the orphanage. He never belonged there. He belonged to the Li City in the Mist World, to the family of six.

“But...why...” Gao Yang struggled to breathe, his head a mess. He felt as if his soul was peeling away from his body and disintegrating.

“Come back, Gao Yang.” The dorm keeper squeezed his hand. Her fingers were soft, warm, and brimming with a strong will.

Gao Yang returned to the present.

“When my fate became part of yours, it couldn’t help but create a sense of alienation, no matter how discreet I went about it. You would feel a strong sense of you not belonging to the world.”

“But that’s not the case. It was my fate that did not belong here. But I am you, and you are me. You were forced to bear the sense of alienation with me and justify it somehow—that’s the truth of your transmigration.”

She pulled back and smiled proudly. “I’m the strongest Divine Scion, but you’re the realest one.”

“Real?” Gao Yang looked up with confusion.

She nodded, picking up the cupcake on the table with both hands. The candlelight lit up the Gao Yang in her eyes, as well as her figure in his eyes.

“If there’s anything humans should be proud of, it’s being real.”

Gao Yang didn’t say anything to that.

“We still have the last path to go down, Gao Yang. Let’s go.”

“Where is the path?” Gao Yang asked.

“Where is the path?” The dorm keeper repeated.

“What should I do?”

“What should I do?”

“I...” Gao Yang stopped asking. He realized that the answer did not exist outside his heart.

The dorm keeper smiled approvingly and took a breath.

She blew out the candle.