"Her trauma... yeah... everything originated from that. Though I wish to know that...she is not ready to tell it." Long Yifan muttered.
The Water Dragon looked at Long Yifan with disdain,
"If you are persistent enough, she will tell you. I must say you are much more weak-willed than you were in your previous life."
The moment those words left Water Dragon’s mouth, the expression on Long Yifan’s face changed.
Little White looked at Water Dragon with a speechless expression,
’Your chatty nature is the reason why you are facing such an existential crisis today.’
Out of all the contracted beasts Gu Jin had, the Water Dragon’s dumb mouth was the reason why he got into most of the danger.
Realising that he had messed up, the Water Dragon looked at Gu Jin’s room and prayed in his heart
’Master, if you love me even an ounce, please come and save me!’
"What did you say? Did I exist in your previous life, too? Did I meet Gu Jin in my previous life, too? No...wait, what was our ending? Did we end up together?
No...wait...from how much you know... it seems as if it has become a routine for you. Did Gu Jin have the same mental illness in her past life?"
The more Long Yifan thought, the more confused he became.
How could a soul have the same mental illness in every lifetime?
"Is her soul sick? Or maybe she had developed this trauma from one of her lifetimes, and she has remembered it in each lifetime..."
Water Dragon stared at Long Yifan in surprise.
Little White was taken aback by Long Yifan’s sharpness.
Both of them exchanged a glance, and they could see the same question in each other’s eyes.
"From the looks of it, it is indeed the case. Is it possible that maybe Gu Jin’s one of the litime was too traumatizing and... now she remembers about it? No... it seemed too far-fetched."
Various possibilities churned in Long Yifan’s mind, and soon he came to a conclusion.
The Water Dragon, seeing how close Long Yifan was to trut,h tried to distract him,
"It can’t be rebirth! That is too absurd."
Little White: "..." No, go ahead and tell him everything. That is why you have retained your memories!
"Rebirth? Huh? Wait! Has Gu Jin lived this life two times?" Long Yifan asked with a shocked expression.
Both Water Dragon and Little White’s faces turned pale.
Before either of them could utter even a word, a bolt of lightning struck where Long Yifan was standing.
With a wave of his hand, Long Yifan absorbed the lightning bolt using his thunder element.
"Wow..." The Water Dragon was in awe of Long Yifan’s action.
This guy has truly surpassed his past self in this life!
Little White was impressed too.
However, Long Yifan’s little action may have triggered the heavens, or maybe the heavens didn’t want him to reach the truth, as dark clouds started to cloud the sky, covering the pale moonlight above.
A sudden gust of wind swept through the courtyard, rustling the leaves, making the shadows dance wildly. The air grew heavy, thick with pressure.
Long Yifan frowned and looked up.
"We are done for! We are done for! The heavens are angry with us for exposing those secrets!" Water Dragon muttered.
Another bolt of lightning split the sky, brighter and more powerful than the last. This time, it wasn’t random.
It struck just feet away from where Long Yifan stood, sending a spray of sparks and shattered stone into the air.
Long Yifan rolled his eyes and looked toward the sky with an arrogant expression,
"If you are truly that powerful, then fight with me. Why take out the anger on these ants? What? Were you angry that I know that maybe Gu Jin is reliving this life?"
The moment those words left his mouth, the air exploded.
A blinding bolt of lightning struck directly above him. But instead of dodging, Long Yifan raised both hands and caught it.
The impact was deafening. The earth cracked beneath his feet, wind blasted in every direction, and the glow of his thunder element flared like a miniature sun.
Little White’s eyes widened. "He actually caught it..."
The Water Dragon’s mouth dropped open. "He’s insane! Totally insane!"
Long Yifan stood in the middle of the storm, shoulders rising and falling with each breath.
Energy surged through him, but his gaze remained steady.
His voice was low and cold.
"Strike me all you want. But I’m not afraid to know the truth. Not anymore."
Then the clouds stopped moving.
The thunder paused, like the heavens themselves were reconsidering.
A strange silence settled over the garden. Even the wind held its breath.
Long Yifan’s gaze settled on Water Dragon, and he asked,
"What did Gu Jin suffer in her past life? You say that in a past life, Gu Jin was an elf, so how come when I mentioned rebrith and her about reliving this life, you both act shocked and even the heavens got shocked?"
The Water Dragon wanted to argue, but suddenly he felt as if he had lost his voice.
Long Yifan furrowed his brows and when he realised that the Water Dragon’s voice was snatched, he decided to use a different method,
"If I am not wrong... maybe Gu Jin approached me in this life on her own, even though she has a mental illness, because... I might have helped her in her previous life?"
The thunderous roar of lightning echoed in the air, but Long Yifan ignored it and continued,
"If so...then the solution you are telling me...is the one that I had made, am I correct?"
The Water Dragon nodded obediently. He was spooked by losing his voice suddenly.
It was clear that the heavens were angry with him and hence punishing him, but can’t they see that he wasn’t the one to be blamed? So he decided to go against heaven this time!
Long Yifan’s eyes brightened and he suddenly asked,
"How? Did I propose to her first in my previous life?"
The Water Dragon nodded again.
"Did I fight for my love?" Long Yifan asked again.
The Water Dragon nodded again.
"What about Gu Jin? Did she get married to me in the end?" Long Yifan asked, excitement seeping from his voice.
However, this time the Water Dragon didn’t shake his head.
Long Yifan stared at the Water Dragon, whose silence now felt louder than any thunder above.
"You... you didn’t nod," he said quietly, his voice trembling just a little. "So... that means she didn’t marry me?"
The Water Dragon lowered his head.
Little White looked away, ears twitching uncomfortably. Even the wind seemed to pause again, as if holding its breath for what came next.
"...Why?" Long Yifan asked, his voice softer than before. "Why didn’t it work out? Did I die? Did she reject me?"
The Water Dragon didn’t nod or shake his head.
Instead, he closed his eyes.
Little White finally spoke up, her voice gentle, "It wasn’t that she didn’t love you."
Long Yifan turned to her sharply. "Then what was it?"
"She... couldn’t accept happiness." Little White’s tone was heavy, careful.
"She believed that after everything she had lost, she didn’t deserve it. Not even in her next life."
Long Yifan’s throat tightened. He looked down at his hands—the same hands that caught lightning, that defied the heavens—and suddenly they felt useless.
"...She punished herself," he whispered.
Little White nodded. "And when you died protecting her... it only made her sink deeper."
The silence that followed was unbearable.
Long Yifan felt as though a hole had opened in his chest.
Pain he hadn’t expected began to leak through the cracks in his heart, not just for himself, but for her.
"Can you tell me everything?"
Little White shook his head and said,
"I can only know a little bit. Gu Jin’s first life was filled with happiness, but she made a mistake and was sent to the human world to suffer. However, the suffering got too intense, because, even after getting reincarnated again and again, she keeps on thinking that the second life which she lived, which was filled with sufferings from losing her parents to her brother and trusted subordinates, is her first life. And all the lives she is living now are her second life."
Long Yifan’s heart trembled as he asked,
"So...does that mean...that Gu Jin has already lived multiple lives, and hasn’t forgotten her second life’s suffering, which resulted in the mental illness in each life."
Little White nodded and said,
"She forgets all of her lives and only remembers the one that has caused her too much pain."
Long Yifan clenched his fist and asked,
"She has already lived this life multiple times?"
"Nope. Only two. This is the second time, which is something even we don’t understand. This has never happened before. She has never lived two lifetimes on one continent."