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The Snow Empress beside her was also dressed in white, with a cold and aloof temperament, but at this moment her lips were slightly pursed, clearly restraining some kind of emotion.

"His mother is a good person."

Hyotei suddenly spoke, her voice cold and clear, as if stating a fact: "Even on her deathbed, she was still speaking up for that man, wanting her son to let go of his hatred. Such magnanimity is not easy to come by."

Xue Di nodded gently, her gaze falling on the sentence in the diary: "Both women are using love to resolve hatred."

She remained silent for a while before speaking: "Whether it's Huo Yuhao's mother or Ju Zi, they both understand one thing."

The grudges between adults are adults' business and children shouldn't have to bear them.

Huo Yuhao's mother tried to untangle the knot in her son's heart until her death, and Ju Zi didn't plant seeds of hatred in her son because of her own hatred for Huo Yuhao. They were both good mothers.

"But Huo Yuhao is not a good father."

Hyotei quickly responded, his tone carrying a hint of barely perceptible disdain: "He transferred his resentment towards Tachibana onto the child. The child understands nothing and should not bear anything, yet he made the child bear the burden of an empty father."

Xue Di didn't speak, but simply turned another page of the copy of the diary in her mind.

She and Hyotei had seen too many dramas of fathers and sons turning against each other and brothers fighting amongst themselves; they were used to it.

But Huo Yuhao's case still made them feel particularly sad, not because it was so tragic, but because it was so ironic.

A man who was hurt by his father's absence his whole life ultimately chose to hurt his son in the same way.

"Xue'er, tell me."

Ice Emperor suddenly turned to look at Snow Emperor, a rare hint of confusion flashing in her icy blue eyes: "Does the future Huo Yuhao know what he's doing?"

Xue Di thought for a moment and gently shook her head: "He probably feels that he has a good reason. Ju Zi schemed against him. The child is not what he wanted, so he doesn't acknowledge it."

He believed this logic to be self-consistent.

But he didn't realize that this logic was exactly the same as the logic behind his hatred of Dai Hao.

Dai Hao could also say, 'I didn't know you existed, so I don't acknowledge you,' but could Huo Yuhao accept that reason? Obviously not.

But he himself was treating Xu Yunhan with the same reasoning.

"So Lin Ye is right."

Hyotei turned his gaze back to the copy of the diary: "He has become the very thing he hates most, but he himself has not realized it."

The two exchanged a glance, said nothing more, and continued reading.

What is Huo Yuhao's proudest identity in his life?

He is not the Spirit Ice Douluo, nor the God of Emotions, but the founder of the Spirit Pagoda.

He was the one who established the Spirit Transmission System, which transformed humans and spirit beasts from a blood feud spanning thousands of years to a symbiotic relationship.

This is his greatest achievement in life, without exception.

He changed the underlying rules of the entire Douluo Continent, eliminating the need for Soul Masters to hunt Soul Beasts to obtain Soul Rings, and making it possible to resolve the hatred between humans and Soul Beasts.

How big of a deal is this? For ten thousand years, the blood feud between humans and soul beasts has been an intractable knot that no one has been able to untie.

Before Huo Yuhao, countless Title Douluos, Limit Douluos, and even gods had tried to solve this problem, but none of them succeeded.

But Huo Yuhao succeeded.

He founded the Spirit Transfer Tower and established the Spirit Transfer System, fundamentally changing the way Soul Masters obtain Soul Rings.

Soul beasts no longer need to be hunted, and humans no longer need to commit murder; both sides can benefit from this system.

This achievement is not an exaggeration.

Although from a future perspective, the Spirit Pagoda is merely a stopgap measure, merits and demerits are separate matters, and we cannot use the sword of the future to condemn people in the present.

The Spirit Pagoda is still commendable, and I won't engage in any targeting or discrimination.

However, there is a contradiction here that makes people more and more conflicted: Huo Yuhao can understand the pain of soul beasts, he can understand how pitiful those soul beasts hunted by humans are, and he can understand how deep the resentment accumulated over thousands of years of blood feud is, so he does his best to resolve this resentment.

He did so much for the soul beasts; you could even say he treated them as part of his own life, protecting them as if they were his own.

This is an immense capacity for empathy; he can feel the suffering of another species and is willing to give everything for it.

But at the same time, he couldn't feel his son's pain.

Xu Yunhan grew up without a father and struggled to survive in the ruthless court of the Sun Moon Empire. Was his suffering any less than that of the soul beasts?

Huo Yuhao went to great lengths for a complete stranger in the Star Dou Great Forest, so why couldn't he lift a finger for the piece of flesh that fell from his own body?

He was worthy of all the spirit beasts in the world, but unworthy of his own son.

He was worthy of every soul in the Spirit Pagoda, but he failed Xu Yunhan's longing eyes.

What kind of behavior is this? It shows great love for all people, but no love for one's own people.

He's a saint to outsiders, but a stranger to his family.

Huo Yuhao's empathy is like a switch; when the switch is on, he can save all living beings, but when the switch is off, he doesn't even care about his own son.

Who holds the control lever for this switch? He holds it himself. If he doesn't want to press it, no one can force him.

To put it more bluntly, establishing the Spirit Pagoda saved countless soul beasts, which is a great merit that no one can erase.

But if a person doesn't even love their closest relatives, how much of their love for outsiders is genuine, and how much is just self-gratification?

Is it because saving the world is easier than being a good father that he chose to save the world?

After all, the spirit beasts wouldn't question him about why he didn't go home, wouldn't cry in front of him, and wouldn't make him confront his most vulnerable side. Being a good father is much harder than saving the world.

Starry Sky Forest, by the Lake of Life.

The lake was as calm as ever. Gu Yuena sat by the lake, her long silver hair falling onto the water and swaying gently in the breeze.

She saw Lin Ye's questioning.

"If a person doesn't even love their closest relatives, how much of their love for outsiders is genuine, and how much is merely self-gratification?"

A complex emotion flickered in Gu Yuena's silver eyes.

Gu Yuena is the ruler of all soul beasts, and from the perspective of soul beasts, she should be grateful to Huo Yuhao.

The establishment of the Spirit Transmission System ended the endless hunting of spirit beasts by humans, a debt of gratitude greater than the heavens.

But precisely because she is the ruler of all soul beasts, she understands the weight of the word "responsibility" better than anyone else.

Chapter 300 is very fresh.

Gu Yuena bears the fate of the entire Soul Beast Clan on her shoulders. From the day she awoke, she has never lived a single day for herself.

Everything she did was for the future of the soul beasts, and for the people who trusted her and followed her.

She knew that if a person chose to take responsibility, they would have to pay a price, including sacrificing their personal feelings, freedom, and even their life.

But what about Huo Yuhao? He chose to take on the responsibility of the Spirit Pagoda, but refused to take on the responsibility of his father.

He selected some and discarded others. Gu Yuena couldn't understand this selective responsibility.

In her view, responsibility is not a menu; one cannot simply order what one likes.

You either take the responsibility or you don't; there's no middle ground.

Gu Yuena's voice was very soft, as if she were talking to herself: "Huo Yuhao, I remember everything you did for the soul beasts in the future, but I also remember your attitude towards that child."

The greater Huo Yuhao's contribution to the Spirit Pagoda, the more despicable he was in his relationship with Xu Yunhan.

These two points are not contradictory; they are both there for anyone to see.

Ultimately, Huo Yuhao's greatest tragedy in life was not that he hated a father he shouldn't have hated, nor that he abandoned a son he shouldn't have abandoned, but that he was never able to escape the shadows of his childhood.

He spent his entire life competing with Dai Hao, trying to prove that he could live well without his father.

His relentless cultivation, his desperate efforts to become stronger, and his relentless pursuit of achievements were largely a way of calling out to the father who never appeared: "Look, I can manage without you."

However, if a person spends their whole life trying to prove themselves to another person, then they will forever live in the shadow of that other person.

Dai Hao never appeared in Huo Yuhao's childhood, but Dai Hao's shadow loomed over Huo Yuhao's entire life.

All of Huo Yuhao's choices, all his persistence, and all his inner turmoil can be found in that shadow.

The more he tries to prove that he doesn't need a father, the more it shows how much he cares about the identity of "father".

He hated Dai Hao not because Dai Hao wasn't important, but precisely because Dai Hao was too important—so important that he could never let go of him in his entire life.

His final attitude towards Xu Yunhan was also part of this tangled mess.

He dared not face Xu Yunhan, and dared not be a father, largely because he did not know how to be one.

He had never been a son, at least not during his childhood, so he didn't know how to be a father.

He was afraid of not doing well, afraid of becoming another Dai Hao, afraid that the child would look at him with the same eyes when he grew up.

Out of fear, he chose to run away. But the more he ran away, the more he resembled Dai Hao.

Fate drew a circle for him; he went around in circles, and in the end, he stood in the exact same position as Dai Hao.

The difference is that Dai Hao had a chance to make amends, while Huo Yuhao didn't even give himself that chance.

After learning the truth, Dai Hao took the initiative to find Huo Yuhao, but Huo Yuhao, after learning the truth, took the initiative to distance himself from Xu Yunhan.

One took a step forward, the other a step back; their directions were opposite, so the outcomes were naturally different.

Huo Yuhao, you hated Dai Hao for half your life, but in the end you're not even as good as him.