Di Wu looked at Naris with grief in his eyes as he told Naris, "Naris, I was once a Beast Tamer, but because of an accident, I fell into the Black Eye. At the bottom of the cliff, I met you, who had climbed out of the Black Eye."
Noticing that Di Yong had used the word 'climb', Yu Huang couldn't help but think of Mo Xiao, who climbed out of the abyss.
Yu Huang immediately asked Di Wu, "She climbed out of the Black Eye herself?"
Nodding his head, Di Wu said, "Yes. At that time, I was falling into the Black Eye, and Naris happened to climb out while covered in blood. I remember that her wings and skin were stained with blood. As soon as she met the sun, she emitted an ice-blue light. She climbed out of the Black Eye covered in blood, like a demon that had escaped from the depths of hell, scaring me so much that I almost lost my wit's…"
As Di Wu recalled that scene, his shoulders trembled uncontrollably. "I thought she was a demon, but she caught me and climbed out with me."
At this point, Di Wu smiled in relief and said to Naris, "Naris, you're not my daughter. You're actually my benefactor. It's just that after you saved me, we both fainted. When I woke up again, I realized that you didn't remember anything. You didn't even remember that you saved me."
After knowing how Di Wu and Naris met, Sheng Xiao's doubts were finally explained. He said, "So, in order to repay Naris' kindness, you treated Naris as your daughter and took care of her. In order to take care of her, you hid at Five Lakes Street and became the owner of this tavern?"
Nodding, Di Wu said, "That's pretty much it. In order to avoid being hunted by my enemies, I had no choice but to cancel my identity card and bring her to Five Lakes Street to live."
Di Wu looked at the dilapidated tavern with a melancholic gaze as he said, "The residents on this street are all unregistered people with no past or future, so we won't attract attention here."
"I see."
After knowing her true identity, Naris had mixed feelings.
She grabbed the basket tightly and said in fear, "I'm going back to my room." Then, she left in a hurry.
Di Wu stared at Naris' back as she fled. He felt a sense of heartache.
He lowered his head and drank all the wine in the bottle in frustration. Then, he sighed in relief and muttered to himself, "It's good that I revealed the truth early on." Otherwise, he would always feel uneasy, for fear that the truth would be exposed and that he would see Naris' hurt expression.
After figuring out Di Wu's true relationship with Naris, Yu Huang finally believed Di Wu. "Uncle Di, no matter what, I have to thank you for taking care of Anna all these years."
Upon hearing this "Uncle Di", Di Wu froze for a moment before realizing that Yu Huang was addressing him.
He raised his head and looked at Yu Huang with a complicated expression, as if he had many words to say, but in the end, he let out a long sigh. "What are you thanking me for? She gave me my life. I'm living to repay her kindness."
* *
Naris locked herself in her room for a day and night before finally coming to terms with her identity.
She found Di Wu first and expressed her intentions to him. "Even if I'm Anna, this doesn't affect the fact that you're my father. Dad… Uncle Di Wu." Naris asked him uneasily, "Can we still be father and daughter?"
Naris had lost her painful memories from when she was Anna. Di Wu occupied more than 90% of her current memories.
Di Wu was someone Naris cared about very much.
She didn't want to lose Di Wu.
Di Wu's eyes turned red when he heard this. He turned around and secretly wiped his eyes with his sleeve. Then, he turned back around and nodded heavily. "Of course, Naris!"
After talking it out with Di Wu, Naris went to Yu Huang's room.
Sheng Xiao left the room when he saw Naris.
Naris and Yu Huang stood by the window. In the beginning, no one took the initiative to speak.
"Naris."
"Yu Huang."
The two of them had a tacit understanding and called each other's names at the same time.
Then, they looked at each other and smiled.
Yu Huang said, "You can speak first."
Naris asked Yu Huang, "Was I very unhappy in the past?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Huang was momentarily at a loss for words.
When Naris saw Yu Huang's hesitant attitude, she guessed that she must have had a difficult life in the past and felt conflicted. On the one hand, Naris wanted to know what kind of person her past self was. On the other hand, she didn't have the courage to face her past.
But in the end, the brave Naris decided to get to know her former self.
"Go ahead. I'm a very resilient person."
"Of course I know how strong you are." Yu Huang admired Anna very much.
On the Holy Spirit Continent, Anna had suffered too much.
She wasn't from a happy family to begin with. Later, because of her weak ant beast form, she was bullied by the students of the Divine Eagle Academy.
When she went out with her classmates to train, she fell into the Broken Cliff and was almost eaten by the Nightmare Spider. Later, Anna was schemed against by Su Xuanye and Na Luo and became a fiendish cultivator that everyone in the cultivation world wanted to kill.
When she thought of all the humiliation that Anna had suffered, Yu Huang felt angry for Anna.
But Anna had never given up.
She didn't turn to the dark side or become depressed. She remained tough and clear-headed.
Anna's unwavering determination made Yu Huang feel admiration.
"Then tell me about Anna in detail. Even if I don't remember my past, I'll only feel more complete knowing what kind of person I was in the past."
Naris' almond-shaped eyes curved as she smiled and said, "In the past, I always felt that my life was missing something. Now that I think about it, I think I'm missing twenty years worth of memories."
Yu Huang no longer hesitated and decided to tell Naris about Anna's past.
Yu Huang took half a day to tell Naris everything that had happened to Anna.
After listening, Naris remained silent for a long time.
She felt very heavy-hearted, as if a huge rock was pressing on her chest.
She couldn't imagine how such a young and helpless girl withstood all the injustice and grievances.
Naris suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly and said, "Even as a listener, I feel pained and dismayed when I hear about Anna's past. Yu Huang, how pained was Anna?"
Yu Huang couldn't answer this.
The pain in Anna's heart couldn't be explained with words.
Naris suddenly said, "But I don't think Anna is a saint. At least, I'm not. If someone treated me like that, I definitely wouldn't be able to repay them kindness. But…"
Naris sighed again. "She must have loved Mentor, the Icy Night T-Rex, and your group of friends very much. Her love for you guys suppressed her hatred for that world, so in the end, she was willing to sacrifice herself to save the five capital cities."
Yu Huang completely agreed with Naris.
"You're right."
Yu Huang held Naris' hand and said, "Naris, being able to meet you here is the best gift the Cang Lang Continent has given me. Naris, promise me that even if your body is incomplete and you don't have a beast heart, you have to live on."
Naris said, "Of course I'll try my best to live on." Even when she was despised by the people of the small town, Naris never thought about ending her life.
Life was indeed very tough, but she only had one life. Naris would never give up on herself.
Yu Huang's worries were actually unnecessary.
However, Naris liked the feeling of being cared for and doted on. It made her feel like she was cherished.
With someone cherishing her, her bitter life was sweeter.
Yu Huang promised Naris, "My mentor and I will definitely help you heal your body's incompleteness. I will work hard to find a way to help you recover your beast heart. In the future, I will definitely bring you back to the Holy Spirit Continent and help you reunite with your mentor!"
Grand Mentor had lost his proudest eldest disciple and his youngest disciple, whom he cared the most about. If Anna could reunite with Grand Mentor, even if he died, he would die in peace.
Naris nodded and hugged Yu Huang tightly. "I believe you. I'll wait for you."
"Okay."