Shiva silently stared at Yuan with disbelief written all over her face. Never in her life had she imagined meeting a mortal like him—someone who was not only unafraid of Eternals, but who seemingly went out of his way to offend them.
’Even as Eternals, we tend to avoid offending each other, but this crazy bastard...’ she sighed inwardly.
"Fine," Shiva eventually spoke out loud. "If you’re really going to help me recover my true body, I’ll stop bothering her."
Yuan nodded, "I promise I will recover your body."
Without saying another word, Shiva relinquished control of the body back to Mu Xuelian.
"..."
After regaining control of her body, Mu Xuelian silently stared at Yuan with a confused expression on her face.
"Are you wondering why I’m doing this?" Yuan suddenly asked, as though he could read her mind.
Mu Xuelian quietly nodded in response.
"I don’t have a special reason," he calmly said. "However, if I have to give a reason, it’d be that I pity you."
"You pity me...?" Mu Xuelian’s eyes widened slightly, unsure how she should feel about being pitied by someone else, as she had never once considered herself pitiful.
"I don’t understand," she said a moment later. "Why do you pity me?"
"You were born for the sole purpose of becoming a tool for someone else," Yuan replied calmly. "Nor do you have true free will. How is that not pitiful?"
"So what if I don’t have free will? I’m perfectly satisfied serving Lady Shiva! That is my purpose in life!" Mu Xuelian exclaimed.
Yuan shook his head and sighed, "You’re just brainwashed."
Mu Xuelian gritted her teeth and shouted, "Lady Shiva! There’s no need to listen to him! I’m willing to continue training! Please... allow me to remain useful to you!"
Yuan then calmly said, "If you still want to continue training, then go ahead. However, I’m not going to let you die under my watch."
He then added, "After all, I promised your grandmother that I would take care of you."
"You heard him," Shiva spoke directly into Mu Xuelian’s mind. "You may continue training at your own discretion. After all, there’s no guarantee he’ll truly be able to recover my body, so we may ultimately have to rely on ourselves in the end."
Some time later, Mu Xuelian asked Yuan, "Lord Shiva asked what you’re doing in this place."
"I have somewhere I need to be. Want to tag along?"
"Of course," she immediately responded.
Thus, Yuan resumed his journey toward the fifth level, with Mu Xuelian following him.
"So, what’s the real reason you’re helping them?" Zi Xuan’s voice suddenly echoed inside Yuan’s head. "I highly doubt you’d help an Eternal just because you pity that little girl."
A subtle smile appeared on Yuan’s face as he replied, "It’s true that I pity her, but the real reason I’m helping them—helping Shiva—is because she can help me obtain an Eternal’s blacksmithing techniques."
"Oh?"
"Actually, it’s more like she knows someone who can help me. Unfortunately, we do not have the time for that right now."
"Then what about my upgrade? Are we not going to do it right now?"

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