Huo Yuhao from The Peerless Tang Sect is incredibly talented.

After receiving the message from Huo Yuhao, in an instant, the stars shifted and the world changed.

"Vina, take a good look at the future. This is the future I observed using my double pupils, a timeline before I came to the Body Sect. Hehe, savor it."

Vina slowly opened her eyes, and Huo Yuhao's voice came to her ears.

What's going on, Young Sect Master? Seeing the future? There are many types of martial souls, and I wonder what the Young Sect Master's true martial soul is, that he can see the future.

In response, Huo Yuhao said, "Even if I don't have a martial spirit and can't do divination, I can still predict the future. A bunch of brutes, do they know that knowledge is power? They know the general trend of the world, they know how to analyze the situation, and the future trend is obvious."

Douluo Continent (Lower Refinement)

As Vina opened her eyes, she found herself in the study of the palace.

Vina tried to move her feet, tried to raise her hand, tried to make a sound, but she couldn't do anything. She was like a ghost clinging to this body, able to see, hear, and feel every emotional fluctuation emanating from it, yet powerless to control anything.

This body belongs to "her". Her future self.

Vina glanced around and found that her father and the elders of the Body Sect were also there, but their expressions were completely different from their usual relaxed and cheerful ones, only solemn.

At this moment, everyone's clothing was completely different from usual. They were all wearing protective gear, and the gear was not new, but rather covered in wounds.

Vina continued to observe.

There were other people in the hall. Members of the royal family, high-ranking officials of the empire, and several elders dressed in the robes of the Body Sect. Vina saw her uncle and the old ministers who had held her when she was a child.

They all wore the same expression.

It's not fear. It's something deeper than fear. It's the kind of expression only someone who knows the ending but decides to go all the way to the very end has.

There was a sound outside the main hall, but it wasn't the sound of fighting or weapons clashing; it was the sound of soul-guided fixed-position cannon shells exploding.

After seeing all this, Vina seemed to understand something, but she still didn't dare to face reality.

One sound. Then another. Each sound was separated by a short distance, muffled and enormous, as if something was hammering from deep underground.

Vina could feel the ground beneath her feet trembling slightly. The scrolls on the bookshelf swayed gently with the vibration, and one that wasn't placed properly fell to the ground with a thud. No one picked it up.

Her uncle spoke up.

"Tian Dou City is completely surrounded. In the best-case scenario, six of us can escape." His voice was calm, so calm that it didn't sound like he was talking about life and death, but rather like he was reporting a routine military matter. "The seeds of the Body Sect and the children have been arranged. We will personally cover their retreat and draw the firemen's attention."

"Six people." The Emperor repeated the number without asking why it was so few. He simply nodded, then turned around, his gaze sweeping over every face in the hall.

His gaze lingered on Vina.

To be precise, it stopped on "her future self".

In that instant, Vina felt her body tremble violently. Not from fear, but from resistance. Her future self already understood what her father was about to say.

"Vina."

Her father called her by her name.

Just as she remembered, he carried that deep and steady majesty, yet there was something else she had never seen in her father. She understood—it was the reluctance a father was desperately suppressing as he called his daughter's name for the last time.

"You go with the two elders."

"I'm not leaving!"

In the future, she finally broke free from her silence, her voice so sharp it was almost piercing.

Vina felt hot liquid welling up in her eyes; it wasn't her tears, but those of her future self. The emotion surged forth like a flood breaking through a dam.

Anger, fear, resentment, and despair mingled together, almost engulfing her entire consciousness.

"I am the princess of the Heavenly Soul Empire! Do you expect me to run away like a dog?!"

The emperor did not speak.

He simply stepped forward, extended his hand, covered in calluses and tiny wounds, and placed it on the head of the future her.

Just like when she was little, every time she was caught slacking off during practice, he would pretend to be angry and pat her on the head.

But this time, the hand was very light and very slow.

"Live on," he said.

Compared to the explosions coming from outside the main hall, those two words were as light as a feather falling to the ground.

But when the feather hit her, Vina felt as if her heart had been pierced.

"You are the princess of the Heavenly Soul Empire." His voice finally trembled almost imperceptibly. "So you must live. Not for yourself."

He withdrew his hand.

"It's for all those who died here."

After seeing all this, Vina seemed to understand something, but she still dared not face reality.

The Sun and Moon Empire has invaded, Tianhun suffered a great defeat, and the enemy is already at the city gates. Tiandou City is about to be breached.

Then Vina heard a voice.

It was Huo Yuhao's voice, calm as if stating a given fact.

"The Heavenly Soul Empire was destroyed by the Sun Moon Empire's level-nine fixed-position soul-guided cannon. Of the 372 members of the royal family, none survived except for Vina. The seven Title Douluos of the Body Sect who remained in the Heavenly Soul Empire all perished in battle, killed by the Sun Moon Empire's army."

"Vina, as a member of the imperial family, you must have expected this. After all, you anticipated the development of soul tools in the Sun Moon Empire."

"I just thought that with the Title Douluos around, even if a war broke out, despite the heavy losses, I still believed I would win, right, Vina?"

Huo Yuhao's voice was full of mockery.

"Weakness is not an obstacle to survival; arrogance is."

"But Vina, you don't think that's all, do you? There's more to come."

Vina wanted to shout.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She tried to run over, but her legs felt rooted to the ground. She tried to close her eyes, but her eyelids felt like they were being held open by something, and she couldn't close them.

The scene changed.

She saw the mountain gate of the Body Sect. It was the place she had regarded as her second home since she was six years old and her martial spirit had awakened. The stone tablet in front of the mountain gate was still there, with the three characters "Body Sect" engraved on it, the strokes vigorous and deeply embedded in the stone.

Behind the stone tablet are ruins.

The main hall collapsed. A huge crater was blasted into the training ground, with smoke still rising from the bottom. The plum blossom grove on the back hill was reduced to a pile of broken wood.

The dormitory building where she had lived for several years had long since turned to ashes, leaving only a large crater in its place.

The scene changed again.

Long Aotian rose from the ground, his figure shooting backward like a meteor, crashing straight into the falling level nine fixed-position soul-guided cannonball.

Vina saw his soul power burning like flames around him, and saw him turn around and glance at everyone with a solemn expression.

Then the light engulfed everything. Amidst the deafening explosion, his figure shattered into pieces under the extreme heat and impact, turning into countless ashes that scattered and fell into the burning night sky of the Body Sect.