Huo Yuqing quietly leaned against her mother's grave. After a while, she continued speaking: "Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Last night, my soul power broke through to level ten."
"I should go find a soul ring. With a soul ring, I can become a soul master. Only by becoming a soul master, a powerful soul master, can I rise above and seek justice for you."
She paused for a moment, resting her head on the tombstone and smiling. "I know this journey will be dangerous, so I'll disguise myself as a boy. A lone boy is safer than a girl, so you don't have to worry about me!"
"Look, I'm quite slender now, my figure is almost like a boy's. Maybe I can even try to tan myself a bit?" She counted on her fingers, "My voice is a problem… but I probably don't need to keep pretending to be a boy the whole time. I can hide it for a few years, two or three years should be enough to get a soul ring, find a safe place, and settle down. Once I gain strength, even as an orphan, my situation won't be as dangerous! So, mom, you don't need to worry about me!"
"Mom, didn't you say if I were a little boy, you'd name me Huo Yuhao? Then, my name will be Huo Yuhao from now on."
"Mom, if you don't speak, I'll take that as your agreement," Huo Yuqing whispered. She smiled, but her eyes had reddened.
A gentle breeze blew, and the shadows of the trees moved. The shadows on the ground, for a moment, looked like a graceful woman nodding with a smile.
"Mom, I miss you so much…"
"Plop."
A tear fell onto the ground, stirring up the dust, which soon settled again.
"By the way, I should cut my hair short to pretend to be a boy…" Huo Yuqing smoothed out her ponytail, her delicate and soft hair wrapping around her hand.
A short knife appeared in her hand. It was the white tiger dagger her mother had left her.
Huo Yuqing carefully started cutting her hair, beginning at the base of her braid, cutting her hair bit by bit.
She felt reluctant. Looking at the cut strands in her hand, she recalled the few moments of beauty she had spent at the Duke's residence, the only shining memories in her life.
Her mother would stand behind her, holding a rough wooden comb, carefully styling her hair. Without pretty hairpins, she would pick flowers from the forest and pin them in her hair.
Then, her mother would kiss Huo Yuqing's cheek and smile, saying, "My girl is going to be so beautiful."
But in the last week of her life, every time her mother woke up, she would cry while holding Huo Yuqing.
"It's my fault… it's all my fault. If I had raised you as a boy, you wouldn't have to suffer like this."
The pain and fever took away the last of her mother's sanity, and the guilt that had been hidden in her heart for years poured out.
"If you were a boy, it would have been so much better…" Huo Yuqing's mother lay on the cold, hard bed, her lifeless eyes staring at the chipped ceiling of the woodshed. Her murky tears ran down from the corners of her eyes, which had already developed fine wrinkles.
"I wanted to name you Huo Yuhao. You could inherit the White Tiger martial soul… only boys can inherit the White Tiger martial soul. If you awakened a powerful White Tiger martial soul, you could get the Duke's support, and the Duchess wouldn't dare to hurt you… It's all my fault…"
With guilt and concern for her daughter, Huo Yuqing's mother left the world in pain.
Even today, the woman's tortured whispers seemed to echo in Huo Yuqing's ears.
But Huo Yuqing knew in her heart that the tragedy her mother and she had suffered had nothing to do with whether she was a boy or a girl.
How could this be her mother's fault?
The girl lowered her eyes, the intense hatred, burning like a fierce fire, was concealed beneath her gaze.
That man… He was already a Soul Douluo. By now, he must have become a Title Douluo, right?
No matter the price—ten years, twenty years, thirty years… fifty years—someday, I will return to the Duke's residence to seek justice for my mother.
Huo Yuqing loosened her grip, and her cut hair was carried away by the wind.
The feeling of cutting her hair with a dagger wasn't pleasant, but the girl seemed not to feel the pain of her hair being tugged. With a blank expression, she cut one strand after another until her hair was of a manageable length.
At this age, the difference between a boy and a girl isn't very significant if their development is a little late. With the new "boyish" hairstyle and her dark blue rough cloth clothes, Huo Yuqing didn't look like a little girl anymore.
She hugged the tombstone and gently kissed her mother's name.
"Mom, I'm leaving. I'll come back to visit you in a few years."
The girl stood up, not caring about her numb legs, and staggered forward.
"Chi chi."
A small sound suddenly came from at her feet.
A mouse, as long as Huo Yuqing's forearm, pure white with a silver-grey stripe across its back, was looking up at her with its small black eyes, seeming to scold her.
Next to it, there was a large green leaf, and on it, some berries.
"Eh? Aunt Mouse?" Huo Yuqing said, surprised as she looked at it.
This mouse had been saved by Huo Yuqing's mother when she was six, and it was older than Huo Yuqing.
At that time, Huo Yuqing's mother had just completed her martial soul awakening. Though she had an Eye Martial Soul, she had no soul power, so she was assigned to be a maid for young Dai Hao. Her life was a little better than other servants.
The white mouse had been no bigger than a palm back then. It had fainted from the sun and lay near Huo Yuqing's mother's residence. Huo Yuqing's mother, noticing how special it was, clean and white unlike the other mice, took it in, gave it some food and water.
The white mouse was quite intelligent, and after being released, it would often return to visit Huo Yuqing's mother, bringing small things like nuts or bird eggs.
The woman and the mouse became friends.
Over the years, the white mouse had grown bigger and bigger.
Typically, mice only live two to three years, so Huo Yuqing's mother had sometimes wondered if the mouse was a soul beast.
But soul beasts usually lived in the forests, not where humans lived. Huo Yuqing's mother had just thought that the mouse lived unusually long.
After Huo Yuqing was born, her mother jokingly had her call the mouse "Aunt Mouse."
After the Duke left the manor, and Huo Yuqing's mother was persecuted by the Duchess, the white mouse became the only remaining friend of mother and daughter.
Over the years, the white mouse had become even smarter, seeming to understand the difficult situation of the mother and daughter. Every time it brought some food, it made the two of them feel better during the hungry nights.
If the white mouse was Huo Yuqing's only remaining family, it wouldn't be an exaggeration.
"Aunt Mouse, I'm leaving." Huo Yuqing bent down and patted the mouse's back. "I told you last night, right? I'm going to a faraway place, and we have to part for now."
Aunt Mouse squeaked a few times, dragging the large leaf with the berries over to Huo Yuqing's hand, as if saying she couldn't leave without accepting it.
"Thank you." The girl helplessly took the berries, put them in her mouth, and as soon as she did, the berries turned into sweet juice, with a cool sensation as she swallowed.
Aunt Mouse squeaked a few more times, took two steps forward, and placed her small paw on Huo Yuqing's pant leg.
"Do you want to come with me?" Huo Yuqing asked tentatively.
Aunt Mouse nodded in a very human-like manner, then crawled up Huo Yuqing's pants and into her pocket.
Bringing Aunt Mouse along wasn't so bad. Huo Yuqing gently stroked the small head of the white mouse that poked out of the pocket. If she never saw Aunt Mouse again, she would miss her too.
Then, she left the place, holding back her reluctance, not looking back.
She didn't notice that the swallow-sized swift bird that had been perched on a branch took flight and disappeared into the light.
And she didn't know that not long after she left, a group of mice, looking just like Aunt Mouse, with silver lines on their backs, emerged from the surrounding trees.
They dug a shallow hole behind Huo Yuqing's mother's tombstone and pulled out a round ball that glowed faintly, etched with strange symbols.
(End of Chapter)