523: It must be love.

In the past, he held extreme vigilance toward almost everyone.

At that time, he built high walls around himself; others found it hard to hurt him, but he was also unable to feel their goodwill.

Looking back now, he was like a skeleton curled up in a corner.

Until gradually, he opened a hole in the wall and saw the light outside.

Illuminated by the light, he was not burned; instead, new flesh and blood grew upon him.

Thinking of this, Gu Qinghan slowly replied:

"Perhaps this is human emotion. It is very complex, but it definitely exists.

The emotion that changed me, and also gave Li Zaikan this kind of obsession, should be called love."

"Love... what a complicated feeling.

Tell the Soul-Capturing Ghost General to return to the Netherworld once; it will take the souls of those two people back."

The Guardian seemed indifferent to the answer Gu Qinghan provided, merely telling Gu Qinghan what he should do.

Gu Qinghan was somewhat happy, but he still asked:

"Is this really okay? Won't it violate any rules?"

"What rules? The rules of the Netherworld were set by the God of Death. Have you forgotten why He opposed this game?" the Guardian retorted.

"The reason... He felt His workload was too heavy?"

"Yes, so forget about one or two souls; you could actually take back many more.

Put it this way, souls entering the Netherworld now might take hundreds of years to complete their transformation, according to your timeline.

Not to mention the dry bones and corpses in the various shattered worlds... I can't help you resurrect someone, but this small matter is no problem."

"Thank you."

After Gu Qinghan sincerely thanked him, he put away the Soul-Capturing Ghost General.

The moment the Soul-Capturing Ghost General vanished, Li Zaikan looked over anxiously.

His gaze swept around Gu Qinghan several times, and only after finding nothing did he ask:

"Um... do I need to perform some kind of spiritual communication to see them..."

Gu Qinghan was amused by the uncle's charming appearance and joked with a smile:

"No need. That was a little soul-capturer just now; it followed the scent to bring them back for you."

He didn't want to explain the specific reason because it was too complicated, so he simply used this easy-to-understand method.

Li Zaikan nodded and thanked Gu Qinghan repeatedly.

"Alright, the souls have been found. Let the Soul-Capturing Ghost General come out."

The Guardian's voice sounded again. Hearing this, Gu Qinghan made the Soul-Capturing Ghost General reappear here.

This time, behind the Soul-Capturing Ghost General, two slightly ethereal figures were clearly visible.

Gu Qinghan looked over and realized that the appearance of the two souls was virtually identical to the two corpses on the ground.

Unlike Gu Qinghan, the moment Li Zaikan saw the two souls, he froze on the spot as if struck by lightning.

His lips trembled, his body remained still, but his eyes instantly turned red.

"Wife... Son...?"

After a long pause, he uttered the two words, seemingly unsure.

The two souls following the Soul-Capturing Ghost General seemed to break free from a state of confusion because of this, and they looked toward Li Zaikan simultaneously.

"Old Li..."

"Dad..."

After hearing these two weak voices, tears immediately streamed from Li Zaikan's eyes.

He rushed forward, but dared not touch the two souls, which were intimately familiar to him.

"Put the bodies away first. I'll wait for you nearby."

Gu Qinghan reminded him and then consciously stepped aside.

"Thank you, thank you... Thank you!"

Li Zaikan wiped away a tear and immediately kowtowed three times toward Gu Qinghan.

Gu Qinghan sighed and slowly retreated to the side.

Looking back, Li Zaikan was talking to the two souls, snot running and tears flowing, weeping bitterly like a child.

If an ordinary person saw this scene, they would surely scream in terror.

But perhaps because he was accustomed to seeing souls and corpses, Gu Qinghan felt nothing.

A ghost that terrifies one person might very well be the relative another person longs day and night to see.

What surprised Gu Qinghan was that Li Zaikan returned to his side after only ten minutes or so.

"Finished talking?" Gu Qinghan asked, surprised.

"No," Li Zaikan shook his head, "There was too much to say, I couldn't finish it. I was afraid the Yang energy on my body would be bad for them."

The cute uncle made Gu Qinghan want to laugh again, but the seriousness in his words made him unable to smile fully.

Li Zaikan took a deep breath and asked with a strong nasal tone:

"Thank you for letting me see them again. There were so many things I never got the chance to say to them before."

"It's alright, I understand."

"Let me follow you from now on. I don't ask for anything else, just that when I miss them, I hope you can let me see them once."

Li Zaikan's words surprised Gu Qinghan; he hadn't expected the other party to actively propose joining him.

Seeing Gu Qinghan momentarily stunned, Li Zaikan thought he was being rejected for his lack of strength, so he quickly said:

"Compared to you, I'm certainly nothing, but I can endure hardship and I'm not afraid of being tired.

I will definitely live well in the future, and I certainly won't be as weak as I am now."

"Mm, I believe you. You will become stronger."

Gu Qinghan nodded, comforting the red-eyed uncle... The night passed without incident, and Gu Qinghan finally got a rare good night's sleep.

When he woke up, it was already noisy outside the tent; it seemed most people were awake.

Gu Qinghan quickly washed up and emerged from the tent, only to find that everyone had cleared a huge battleground several hundred meters in circumference.

And within the crowd, he saw familiar figures.

Wang Yan, Lu Chengfeng, and a large number of Whale Fall City members they had found.

Just then, Chu Tian quickly walked over and said to Gu Qinghan:

"You're finally awake! We thought you'd sleep until tomorrow.

This morning, we found Wang Yan and Lu Chengfeng, so we called them over too."

Gu Qinghan smiled; he had slept for at least a dozen hours, and it felt great.

"What about Ivan and the others?" Gu Qinghan asked.

"They've been ready for a while, just waiting for you.

Don't lose! While you were asleep, I sparred with him a couple of times, and I feel like his strength is definitely more than what's listed on the power rankings."

Chu Tian whispered this to Gu Qinghan, and Gu Qinghan looked at the former with some surprise.

He thought for a moment and asked quietly:

"Do you think, if you continue to unlock your seals, you could beat him?"

Chu Tian thought seriously for a few seconds, then slowly shook his head:

"It's hard to say. If I fought desperately, maybe.

But I feel like this guy is the type who gets fiercer the more he fights. Be extremely careful later."