Chapter 91 - 90: Parents Are True Love, the Child Is an Accident

Chapter 91: Chapter 90: Parents Are True Love, the Child Is an Accident

Gu Qingyin was left speechless. There was only one method recorded in her notes for suppressing a ghost with flesh and blood.

Using the flesh and blood of a close relative to suppress an Evil Ghost, preventing it from ever being reborn and slowly wearing it down through time until it vanished completely.

But looking at Huo Yunjing’s condition, it was obvious Huo Xingchen’s spell had failed.

The ghost soul had remained, but it hadn’t been worn down in the slightest. Instead, some step in the process had gone wrong, turning the suppression into a nurturing, making Huo Yunjing stronger and stronger.

Before long, Huo Yunjing would likely be able to break free. If he could still recognize Huo Xingchen then, things might be fine. But if he couldn’t, it would lead to a fight to the death between father and son, and Huo Xingchen would most likely be killed by his own dad.

Gu Qingyin felt a little relieved. It was a good thing she had come along today, otherwise the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Seeing Gu Qingyin remain silent, Huo Xingchen grew more and more anxious. "I’m sorry, I..." He wanted to explain further, but he didn’t know what else to say.

Gu Qingyin had been furious at first, but Huo Xingchen was only a ten-year-old kid when he made that decision, with no adult around to guide him. ’A child just wants his father to stay by his side. What’s so wrong with that?’

Now, Gu Qingyin was both angry and guilty, and her anger even started to shift toward the Mystic Association.

Before, she’d felt that asking for a Divine Artifact was a bit of an outrageous demand, and she had been uneasy about it. Now? ’Heh, that Divine Artifact is as good as mine!’

"Besides your dad, have you suppressed any other ghost souls?" Gu Qingyin asked, pinching the bridge of her nose, feeling mentally drained.

Huo Xingchen looked up at her and shook his head. "No."

Gu Qingyin stared at him, her face devoid of expression. "Are you sure?"

Huo Xingchen nodded emphatically. "I’m sure!" He paused, nervously rubbing his fingers together, and added, "But I have captured a ghost before."

"It was last season. An opponent played a dirty trick and sent a ghost to scare me in the middle of the night, but I turned the tables on it. They didn’t show up for the official match the next day. A little while later, their team’s ace player retired."

When Gu Qingyin didn’t respond, Huo Xingchen racked his brain for anything else he might have done. "Also... I have a habit of using a talisman to clear out Yin Qi wherever I go, I put a peace charm under my pillow, and I carry vermillion and yellow paper with me..."

"Alright," Gu Qingyin said, glancing at Huo Yunjing, who was still holding her hand and playing with her fingers. She looked back at her son and said bluntly, "Since you made this mess, you have to take responsibility for it."

Huo Xingchen glanced at his dad, then back at his mom, a look of utter confusion on his face.

’Take responsibility for what?’

Gu Qingyin chuckled softly and explained the correct method and effects of the flesh-and-blood suppression ritual from start to finish.

The more Huo Xingchen listened, the paler his face became. If his practice hadn’t been so lacking back then, his father would have been utterly destroyed at his hands.

The thought that his father’s soul had nearly been scattered and destroyed by his own hands made his vision go dark, and he gasped for breath. ’It’s terrifying!’

"I..." Huo Xingchen’s voice was unusually hoarse. He swallowed past a dry throat and asked, "What do I need to do?"

"First, tell me exactly what you did," Gu Qingyin said. She swatted at Huo Yunjing’s hand and then glared up at him, snapping, "You’re hurting me."

Huo Yunjing immediately looked down at her hand in a panic. Sure enough, two red marks had appeared on her slender, pale fingers. He quickly brought her hand to his lips and blew on it gently. "Sorry, my love. Hooo, hooo. Don’t be angry."

He then suddenly looked up at Huo Xingchen. "Did he make you angry, my love? I’ll kill him for you."

Huo Xingchen’s face turned even paler at his words.

Gu Qingyin was growing more and more exasperated. She reached up and pushed Huo Yunjing’s head down a little, saying testily, "Play with your own hands." She then gestured with her eyes for Huo Xingchen to continue.

It took Huo Xingchen a few seconds to remember the question. He started to explain as he recalled the events. "When I was little, I was scared of pain. I didn’t dare cut myself, so I... I pulled out a tooth."

Gu Qingyin’s expression went blank for a second. She asked, almost unconsciously, "You pulled a tooth?"

’The Magic clearly states to use flesh and blood, and you used a *tooth*?’

Thinking back on it now, Huo Xingchen also realized how ridiculous it was. He didn’t dare look at Gu Qingyin or Huo Yunjing. He mumbled an affirmative and lowered his gaze. "At the time, I thought that a tooth root has blood and nerves, so why wouldn’t it count as flesh and blood?"

Gu Qingyin snapped back to her senses and looked at her younger son with a complex expression. "You’re really something else," she said with heartfelt sincerity.

Huo Xingchen cleared his throat and continued, "The rest of the steps were more or less by the book. At first, my dad’s ghost soul was unstable, so I nurtured it in a bottle. Later, as he grew stronger, the bottle couldn’t hold him anymore, so I switched to a jar... The containers kept getting bigger. After I moved out, I switched to a coffin."

Gu Qingyin listened intently. ’The problem most likely lies with the suppression tool,’ she thought. ’And a small part is probably due to Huo Xingchen’s own obsession. His desperate wish to keep Huo Yunjing here would have latched onto Huo Yunjing’s ghost soul, naturally making it stronger.’

Only powerful ghost souls can remain in the mortal realm for long.

"Come here."

Gu Qingyin beckoned. Huo Xingchen skirted the coffee table and walked over, his heart pounding with trepidation.

"Hold out your hand."

Huo Xingchen not only held it out, but he also dutifully turned his palm upward. ’I never got my palm smacked as a kid,’ he thought wryly, ’but it looks like I’m about to experience it as an adult.’

Seeing this, Gu Qingyin paused, nonplussed. Exasperated but also amused, she gave his hand a light pat before grabbing his wrist and placing it in Huo Yunjing’s hand.

Father and son held hands again after many years. One was human, the other a ghost, and the feeling was vastly different.

Huo Xingchen shuddered from the bone-chilling cold. Huo Yunjing, for his part, curled his lip in disgust, but since it was his wife’s request, he had no choice but to keep holding the hand.

The father and son stared at each other, wide-eyed.

Gu Qingyin, meanwhile, was observing them. Logically, there should be a very distinct karmic thread between a Heavenly Master and the ghost soul they suppressed. But strangely, the karmic connection between this man and this ghost was incredibly faint.

This could only mean one thing: Huo Xingchen’s attempt at suppression had been an even bigger failure than she had imagined.

The reason Huo Yunjing had remained was that he had wanted to stay all along. It just so happened that someone else wanted him to stay too, so he went with the flow and found himself a place to shelter.

"Can I let go now?" Huo Xingchen couldn’t help but ask. It was just too cold. ’How on earth did his mom manage to hold on without flinging their dad’s hand away?’

Huo Yunjing looked at Gu Qingyin. The moment she nodded, he instantly let go, shaking his hand as if he’d touched something foul. Specks of black mist scattered, as if he really had flung off some filth.

Huo Xingchen: ...

’Talk about double standards.’

He rubbed his freezing fingers and looked at Gu Qingyin. "Mom, how do I take responsibility?"

Gu Qingyin looked up with a faint, ironic smile. ’So now he knows to call me Mom.’ But before she could get a sarcastic comment in, Huo Yunjing frowned, expressing his displeasure. "My love, why is he calling you ’Mom’?"

Completely exasperated, Gu Qingyin patted his handsome face. "Hush, don’t talk for a second." Then she turned to Huo Xingchen. "First, destroy the suppression tool. Set your father free."

Huo Xingchen reached up, hooked the black cord around his neck, and pulled out a small, silver filigree ball. "It’s right here."

Gu Qingyin glanced at it and gave a slight nod. "Go find a place and get rid of it. Once you’re done..." She trailed off, her brow knitting in pain. She whipped her head toward Huo Yunjing. "What is wrong with you?" ’He’s going to break my hand.’

Huo Yunjing turned to look at her, his face expressionless, a hint of crimson glowing in the depths of his eyes. "My love, did you marry someone else?"

He had suddenly remembered. He was dead. He had slept in a very, very dark place for a long, long time. Before he died, his wife had disappeared. Maybe she had married another man and had children with him somewhere else long ago.

The more he thought, the redder his eyes became. Black mist billowed from his body, instantly snapping the strand of hair tied around his wrist. His sanity was hanging by a thread, and it looked as if he might lash out and attack at any second.

"Is he the son you had with another man?" Huo Yunjing demanded, pointing at Huo Xingchen, his killing intent palpable.

Huo Xingchen’s first instinct was to run, but his body wouldn’t obey. This was different from the numb, electrified feeling from before; this time, it was pure, paralyzing fear that caused his nervous system to temporarily shut down.

In that moment, Huo Xingchen truly felt as if he had one foot in the grave.

But in the next second—SMACK!—the entire world fell silent. Even the flowing Yin Qi seemed to freeze in place.

Huo Xingchen’s fear vanished in an instant, replaced by a flicker of excitement in his eyes. He wanted to look but didn’t dare. His mom had just mercilessly landed a huge slap across his dad’s face!

"Sobered up?" Gu Qingyin asked, her voice devoid of emotion.

Huo Yunjing whipped his head around and snarled at her, baring his teeth.

Gu Qingyin clicked her tongue, raising her hand again as if to deliver another blow.

The already unhinged Huo Yunjing suddenly flinched, showing a flicker of fear. But after shrinking back, he seemed stunned by his own reaction. His crimson eyes filled with confusion. ’Why am I afraid?’

"I’m only saying this once, so you listen to me good," Gu Qingyin said, jabbing a finger toward him, her face a mask of indifference. "His name is Huo Xingchen. He is your son. You’ve been dead for many years, and he’s grown up."

Huo Yunjing listened quietly, but he clearly hadn’t regained his senses yet. He just stared with those crimson, bewildered eyes, looking utterly clueless.

Gu Qingyin felt a pang of sorrow mixed with an urge to laugh. She cleared her throat, her voice softening slightly. "It’s okay if you don’t understand." She took his chin and tilted his head, forcing him to look directly at Huo Xingchen. "Look at him closely. Of our three sons, he’s the one who looks the most like you."

Stared at by those emotionless eyes, Huo Xingchen couldn’t help but feel nervous. He tried to muster a friendly smile but failed. Giving up, he simply met Huo Yunjing’s gaze with a cold expression of his own.

He didn’t know that when Huo Yunjing was young, he had also worn a perpetually cold expression. It was only when he smiled that he looked out of character.

It took a full half-minute for the confusion in Huo Yunjing’s eyes to shift to contemplation. He frowned slightly as he studied Huo Xingchen, and the crimson glow in his eyes slowly receded.

He stood up, walked over to Huo Xingchen, and raised a hand to measure his height. "You’re almost as tall as Dad now," he remarked.

It was such a simple, ordinary sentence, but it made Huo Xingchen’s eyes well up with tears.

’After all these years, his dad finally recognized him! He thought this day would never come.’

"Dad!" Huo Xingchen cried out, overcome with emotion. He spread his arms, ready to give his father a long-overdue hug.

But unexpectedly, Huo Yunjing zipped back to Gu Qingyin’s side in a flash. He took her hand, clinging to her. "My love, our son is so big now, but you’re still as beautiful as the day I last saw you."

Huo Xingchen suddenly understood that popular saying online—the parents are the true love story, the child is just an accident.