Novel Full Chapter 2377 - Father and Son Meet
Chapter 2377 – Father and Son Meet
Lu Qingmei looked tenderly at Yi Chen.
Thoroughly, too, as if she feared she’d never see him again.
It was just that Yi Chen was covered in blood, dust, and dirt. His whole body was riddled with startling wounds.
The sight of him was like a knife twisting in Lu Qingmei’s heart. It infuriated her, but it also made her heart ache.
“Your father’s disposition has changed a bit in this incarnation, but his Dao Heart is just as firm and unyielding as it was back then,” Lu Qingmei said tenderly. “You’re his son. Even if there’s no bond between you two now, blood is thicker than water. I’m sure he’ll acknowledge you.”
Yi Chen’s lips shifted as if to speak, but he hesitated. A long time passed before he said, “Mother, do I… really have to go? If my choices are recognizing a father I’ve never met or going with you, I’d rather go with you! Even if I die, I’m not afraid!”
Lu Qingmei felt gratified, and her heart filled with warmth. However, outwardly, she remained firm. “You have to go!”
Yi Chen’s eyes instantly dulled. He said nothing.
“You’ve always liked the Dao of the Sword, haven’t you? Well, your father is the unparalleled greatest sword cultivator in all of the God Domain!” said Lu Qingmei, a hint of pride on his face. “When it comes to the Dao of the Sword, you could search the world and all ages past and present without finding another like him!
“Stay by his side, and you can take on his mantle and walk even further down the path of a sword cultivator. I can picture it already. Chen’er, your attainments in the Dao of the Sword will be enough to dazzle the heavens and attract worldwide attention!”
“Mother…” Yi Chen opened his mouth to say something.
“Let me finish,” Lu Qingmei said gently. “If… If anything happens to me, remember this: you are not to avenge me no matter what.”
It was as if Yi Chen had been struck by lightning. His eyes widened, and his heart clenched. “Mother, I won’t let anything happen to you! There’s no way! Rest assured. I’ll go meet with Father soon. I… I’ll ask him to help you!”
Indescribable bitterness welled in Yi Chen’s heart. Wasn’t he proud and self-confident, too? He too had an unyielding spirit!
If she’d told him to beg the father he’d never met for help, he’d struggle to get the words out. No, he’d rather die than lower himself like that!
But… He couldn’t lose his mother. For her sake, he was willing to cast aside his dignity and pride and beg another for help!
It was just like how his mother had risked her life to save him earlier. He… would throw everything away if it meant saving his mother!
Whap!
Suddenly, Yi Chen felt a hot, stinging pain in his cheeks.
He looked at his mother in disbelief. This was the first time she’d ever hit him, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to make of it.
“I told you not to ask him to help me!” said Lu Qingmei, utterly severe. There’s nothing he looks down on more than spineless cravens. Even if you’re his son, you can’t let him look down on you!”
Yi Chen’s expression shifted. He could tell that his mother really was angry.
A moment later, Lu Qingmei’s expression softened. She sighed. “I know that it will be hard to convince you not to get revenge if something happens to me. But you have to promise me to endure until you have the strength necessary to succeed. Understand?”
Yi Chen lowered his head, clenched his fist, and said nothing.
“When a great man lives his life, he must know both honor and disgrace, and he must understand when to retreat and when to advance. He must endure what ordinary people cannot endure, and do what ordinary people cannot.
“People shouldn’t just exist. They must live with pride! Even if you die, you cannot lose your pride, nor can you lose your spirit.”
Yi Chen listened in silence, and with the utmost seriousness.
But his heart was full of lingering grief. Try as he might, he couldn’t get rid of it, as these sounded like his mother’s last words to him before their final farewell.
After leaving the Bamboo Mountain Hidden Realm, Yi Chen’s mind was blank. He was completely despondent. Only his mother’s words lingered in his ears, echoing repeatedly.
Indescribable grief, bitterness, fury, and helplessness coursed through him, like fierce waves assailing his heart.
But in the end, as difficult as it was, he regained control of his emotions and continued on his path.
……
A day later.
A treasure ship flew over the Endless Ocean, riding through the waves.
“This is the Endless Ocean?” Yi Chen watched the scenery go by. The blue waters seemed endless, interrupted by the occasional island.
More common than the islands were all manner of perils.
Raging storms blanketed the sky and blotted out the sun. Turbulent spacetime rifts ripped open and devoured entire stretches of ocean. Strange gray mists spread, turning all of the oceanic beasts lurking beneath the surface into dried up bones…
This place was dangerous! Never mind ordinary people; even ordinary gods risked their lives traversing this place.
But the ship traveled steadily through the wind and waves, passing through all manner of danger zones with ease.
The man steering the boat was dressed in gray, with ordinary features and an ordinary air about him. Toss him into a crowd, and there was no way anyone would notice him.
But Yi Chen knew that he was an expert!
“Forgive this junior’s poor manners. Even after all this time, I’ve yet to ask your honorable name and surname, senior,” said Yi Chen, breaking the silence on board.
After leaving the Bamboo Mountain Hidden Realm, he arrived at the nearest Qilin Trading Company branch, then borrowed their transmission formation to reach the Southern Flame Divine Continent. Only a day had passed between then and entering the Endless Ocean.
Yi Chen had remained silent the entire time. This was his first time addressing the gray-robed man steering the treasure ship.
“Li Sanjiu,” said the man in gray. He, too, was obviously a man of few words.
“Senior Li, how much longer until we arrive at Sunset Perch Island?” asked Yi Chen.
“Two days,” said Li Sanjiu.
Yi Chen nodded silently. He could tell that Li Sanjiu wasn’t the talkative sort, so he said no more. He just stood there in silence and thought about everything weighing down on him.
The thought of his mother’s precarious situation still filled his heart with undisguisable grief and anxiety.
And when he thought of his father… he instead felt indescribable bewilderment.
In the past, he took himself for an orphan his “adoptive mother” had chosen to take in and raise. Only now did he learn that his origins were so extraordinary. It felt absurd.
His adoptive mother was, in fact, his birth mother, and his father was the long-dead Yi Daoxuan, who’d returned through the cycle of reincarnation as Su Yi.
Yi Chen had heard rumors and legends about Yi Daoxuan. He knew that his mother had once been his Dao Partner, and that everyone in the God Domain said that she was responsible for Yi Daoxuan’s death.
She herself had admitted as much.
Back then, Yi Chen was an outsider in all this. Even after learning all that, he felt little.
But now, he was no longer an outsider! He was Lu Qingmei and Yi Daoxuan’s son!
His mother had hurt his father badly, yet now, it was his mother who told him to seek out his father’s protection.
Yi Chen didn’t know what to feel or how to handle this.
His father saw his mother as an enemy, and according to his mother, she was the one responsible for his father’s death. In that case, what… kind of position should the father he’d never met have in his heart?
This was why Yi Chen felt so bewildered.
He suddenly recalled Yu Xun’s mockery. Perhaps I really was destined to be a tragic figure from the moment of my birth?
“Your heart is in turmoil,” Li Sanjiu said suddenly. “That’s a taboo.”
Yi Chen froze, briefly stunned. Then, his expression grew complicated. “Tell me, then, Senior. How should I go about settling my heart?”
Li Sanjiu looked at him. “If you have fetters, sever them. If you have doubts, break through them. If you run into a problem you’re unsure how to resolve, look into your heart and stay true to yourself.”
It was a dull response, but it came as a shock to Yi Chen, who stood there in a daze. Look into my heart and stay true to myself? Look into my heart and stay true to myself?
As he silently repeated the phrase, his bewilderment faded away, and his eyes gradually filled with determination.
He’d made up his mind!
“Senior, might I trouble you to send me back?” Yi Chen said calmly.
“Back?” asked Li Sanjiu.
“That’s right. I want to go back,” said Yi Chen, this time with extra emphasis and incontrovertible determination.
Could he really just stand back and do nothing as his mother faced disaster?
He couldn’t!
Could he really seek refuge with a father he had no relationship with just to stay alive?
He couldn’t!
His mother had done everything she could to save him, but if she died, what was the point in him living on?
As for asking his unknown father for help… Well, in Yi Chen’s eyes, his father was just a stranger.
Besides, his father saw his mother as a killer. Would he even help him? It was just as his mother said. Begging his father for help… would only be inviting a rebuff.
Thus, Yi Chen had decided to return. He wanted to be by his mother’s side. Even if he died, he’d die without regrets!
“Forgive me, but I cannot agree to that,” said Li Sanjiu. He took out a jade slip, then passed it to Yi Chen. “These are your mother’s instructions.”
Yi Chen took the slip. Its contents left him stunned.
They were simple. Lu Qingmei had asked the Qilin Trading Company to send Yi Chen to Sunset Perch Island no matter what. She even specifically said that if he refused to go, they were to ignore his objections!
“It’s easy to seek death,” said Li Sanjiu. “It’s living on in the face of adversity that’s… truly difficult.”
Li Sanjiu said no more on the matter.
Yi Chen clutched the jade slip in a daze.
Two days later, at dusk.
The blazing light of busk surged throughout the once blue skies, casting their radiance onto the surface of the ocean. The waters churned with orange waves.
The sea of peach blossoms on shore was extraordinarily enchanting, bright, and red.
The waves lapped against the shore where a man sprawled out in a wicker chair, fishing near a reef.
The fiery light illuminated his blue robes, and his shadow was extraordinarily long.
When Yi Chen saw the distant island bathed in fiery light, he couldn’t help but feel overcome by its sheer beauty.
It was a blessed land, as pretty as a painting.
But when he saw the man leisurely fishing on the shore…
He wasn’t sure if the sunlight were too bright or if the wind were too intense, but Yi Chen squinted and looked away.
Yi Chen would soon meet with his father, who’d died and returned through reincarnation, but the way he saw it… this wasn’t a good thing.