Dao Emperor Divine Palace.
Om!
A shadow flashed before Chen Xi’s figure appeared out of thin air.
“Youngest Martial Uncle.” To Chen Xi’s surprise, Qiu Xuanshu seemed to have been waiting for him a long time ago.
“What’s happened?” Chen Xi’s brows raised as he asked. “Could it be that the Sovereign Sect has come to attack on a large scale again?”
Qiu Xuanshu shook his head. He first glanced at Chen Xi with surprise before he said, “Three days ago, a young lady arrived outside the academy, and she insists on meeting you.”
Chen Xi frowned. “Could it be that there’s something different about this young lady?”
Since the moment he became the Dean of Dao Emperor Academy, countless great figures desired to meet him every single day. Perhaps they had something to ask of him, or perhaps it was for the sake of forming goodwill with him.
At the beginning, he was still willing to meet them one by one. But as time pa.s.sed, he couldn’t help but feel slightly bored by it, so unless it was an important matter, he’d stopped entertaining any outside guests.
Qiu Xuanshu was obviously clearly aware of this, yet he’d come here at this moment for the sake of a young lady, and it instantly caused Chen Xi to realize that there was probably a reason behind all of it.
“I’ve asked her about it in detail, yet she wasn’t willing to say anything. Originally, I thought she’d come here out of admiration towards you and intended to pay you a visit, yet later on, I noticed that she…” When he spoke up to here, Qiu Xuanshu couldn’t help but hesitate slightly.
“What did you notice?” At this moment, Chen Xi’s curiosity couldn’t help but be aroused.
“Youngest Martial Uncle, it’s better for you to meet her. Perhaps you’ll understand once you see her.” Qiu Xuanshu considered it over and over again, and he didn’t know how to explain it to Chen Xi in the end. So he just suggested that Chen Xi went to meet the young lady.
“Oh? Where’s she?” Chen Xi glanced at Qiu Xuanshu while seeming to be lost in thought.
“Wait a moment, I’ll go bring her over.” As he spoke, Qiu Xuanshu was about to leave hastily.
“It’s fine, I’ll go there with you.” Chen Xi thought for a moment before he immediately made a decision.
Qiu Xuanshu’s reaction was slightly strange, and it caused him to be unable to help but arouse curiosity towards the young lady.
Most importantly, after he heard all of this, a feeling had suddenly arisen in his heart, and he’d faintly sensed something. However, he was unable to deduce anything, so it instantly caused him to attach even more importance to this matter.
Once one attained a cultivation like Chen Xi’s, one would possess one’s own understanding and grasp towards the secrets of the heavens, karma, and fate. So when they faced ordinarily people, they were even able to see through the ordinary person’s fate with a single glance, and it was even to the extent that they were able to accurately determine when that person would suffer a calamity or perish.
Even if it was towards cultivators, they could rely on their ability of deduction to deduce the fortune and disasters in the cultivator’s fate.
This wasn’t divination, and it was a sort of innate ability they obtained after attaining the Immortal King Realm. They were supreme existences that had overcome the restraints of the heavens and the earth, so they were able to see through life and death with a single glance.
Just like this very moment. He was suddenly seized with an impulse, and it was a type of sign that came from his instinct. Moreover, since Chen Xi was unable to deduce the exact situation, it proved that this matter wasn’t trivial at all.
…
Outside Dao Emperor Academy and before a beautiful abode.
The setting sun illuminated the sky with a reddish orange glow, and a young woman in a violet dress sat all by herself before the abode. Her arms were wrapped around her knees as she stared blankly at the setting sun in the distance.
She had wine red long hair that was soft and wavy. It was tied in a bundle behind her head with a silk ribbon, and it revealed a pretty and fair oval shaped face. Moreover, her pair of ink black brows above her eyes were dense, pitch black, and fine and long like a sword, and she revealed a lively and heroic aura.
However, at this moment, her beautiful brows were tightly knit together, and her thin, red, and tender lips were puckered together tightly and drew out an unyielding arc. Besides that, the expression of worry on her pretty and fair oval face was impossible to conceal.
Such a beautiful young woman in a violet dress sat all alone beneath the setting sun with her arms wrapped around her knees. When looked at from afar, she was like a bamboo which allowed others to sense the strength in her heart, yet others couldn’t help but pity her at the same time.
“Martial Uncle, look, that’s…” In the distance, Qiu Xuanshu pointed at the back of the young woman as he spoke in a light voice.
Along with this voice, the young woman’s figure seemed to stiffen, and she swiftly turned around while her pair of clear eyes looked over towards Qiu Xuanshu like two sharp swords. After that, her gaze moved and descended onto Chen Xi that stood at the side.
At the instant she laid eyes on Chen Xi, even the young woman’s breathing stopped while her eyes opened wide and revealed emotions like excitement, happiness, bitter hatred, struggling… All sorts of emotions appeared within her eyes, and in the end, all of them transformed into wonder.
She seemed to have been stunned and forgot everything.
On the other hand, practically at the instant the young woman turned around, Chen Xi’s pupils constricted uncontrollably as well, and he felt as if his heart was struck by a sledgehammer. He was extremely shocked, and the usual calm and composed expression on his face was replaced by a wisp of astonishment, surprise, and disbelief at this moment. In the end, all of these emotions transformed into wonder.
Time seemed as if it had stopped at this instant.
Chen Xi and the young woman gazed at each other, and both of them felt wonder towards each other.
Qiu Xuanshu noticed this scene, and his mouth opened yet closed once more because he didn’t know what to say.
Or perhaps, when he met the young woman for the first time three days ago, shock had arisen in his heart, and he was unable to refuse her request, nor could he bear to kick her out of the academy.
Even if he didn’t know this young woman at all, but her appearance…was truly too alike to his Youngest Martial Uncle!
…
Yes, the appearance of this young woman in a violet dress was 70% similar to Chen Xi!
Especially her brows that were pitch black like inch and straight like sharp swords and her straight nose, they simply seemed as if they were cast from the same mold as Chen Xi.
No matter who laid eyes upon this young woman, Chen Xi’s appearance would float into appearance in their minds at the first possible moment. Under such circ.u.mstances, there was probably no one that dared deny any relations.h.i.+p being present between her and Chen Xi!
Who is she?
What sort of relations.h.i.+p does she have with Chen Xi?
For three whole days, Qiu Xuanshu had been constantly thinking over these questions. He’d been constantly questioning her in a roundabout way with the intention of obtaining the answer from the young woman. Unfortunately, no matter how he asked, she wouldn’t answer him at all.
“You’re…” Chen Xi suddenly spoke while his face carried a wisp of an indescribably complicated expression. He seemed to be excited yet didn’t dare confirm his suspicions, and only after he spoke did he notice that his voice had actually become hoa.r.s.e and was trembling at this moment, yet even he himself was unable to control it.
The young woman seemed as if she’d awakened from a dream. She took a deep breath and stood up while her red lips were puckered together tightly, and she seemed to be stubborn as she raised her head and stared at Chen Xi, yet she still didn’t speak a single word.
It seemed as if…she wanted to confirm that the man before her was that figure that she’d always been thinking about and looking forward to meeting in all these years.
The fiery red glow of the setting sun covered the young woman’s slender and graceful figure in a divine glow, and her soft wine red long hair swayed in the wind, causing her to seem extremely striking.
For some unknown reason, when he saw the young woman pucker her red lips together tightly and gazed upon her firm and stubborn expression, Chen Xi’s heart felt as if it was blocked up, and he inadvertently thought of his youth. At that time, for the sake of surviving and taking care of both his grandfather and younger brother, wasn’t Chen Xi silent, sedate, stubborn, and firm like this?
Suddenly, the young woman seemed to have made up her mind, and she gazed at Chen Xi as she said seriously, “My mother was captured. After I thought about it over and over again, the only person left in this world that can help me and my mother is you. So…I came.”
As she finished speaking, she silently clenched her fair hands together tightly, and because she used too much force, the nerves on the back of her hand bulged up. She seemed as if she was utilizing her entire strength to try her best and control her emotions.
However, when she finished speaking, her entire body still trembled imperceptibly, and she was on the verge of losing control.
She seemed like a firm yet lone wolf cub that was utilizing icy cold reason to warn itself to stay calm because only in this way would she be able to at least maintain some dignity.
Unfortunately, some things were bound to exceed one’s calm and reason. Just like this very moment, once she faced Chen Xi, she was already unable to maintain the strength she usually possessed.
On the other hand, when he heard these words, Chen Xi’s mind rumbled, and he felt as if he was struck by lightning. He couldn’t help but speak in a trembling voice. “Your mother is… Fan Yunlan?”
This was a name that he was bound to be unable to avoid for his entire life.
Because that incident from all those years ago had somehow caused an intimate relations.h.i.+p to be formed between him, Fan Yunlan, and Qing Xiuyi.
After so many years had pa.s.sed, he was only aware that Qing Xiuyi had given birth to a son for him, Chen An. But never had he imagined that Fan Yunlan…had actually given birth to a daughter for him as well…
This sort of feeling was truly too complicated!
It caused him to be surprised, overjoyed, guilty, uneasy, and so on and so forth. A myriad of emotions coiled around his heart, and he was entirely taken by surprise.
He was naturally sure that the young woman standing before him was his daughter because the natural blood relation between them couldn’t deceive Chen Xi’s gaze at all!
When she heard the words ‘Fan Yunlan,’ the young woman puckered her lips and kept silent, and she seemed to tacitly approve it.
Chen Xi was unable to restrain the emotions in his heart when he saw this, and he intended to move forward because he had too many things to ask…
However, the young woman seemed to arouse vigilance towards him, and she said, “Don’t come any closer!”
Chen Xi was instantly stunned, yet not only was he not infuriated, he felt even more guilty, and he said, “I’ve let both you and your mother down in these years.” He spoke word by word, and it revealed a wisp of sadness.
“You’re probably forgotten us, right?” The young woman suddenly laughed coldly, and her voice revealed a wisp of ridicule and even hatred.
These words were like blades that forcefully pierced into Chen Xi’s heart, causing his countenance to instantly become pale. At this moment, he suddenly recalled the scene of him listening to his father, Chen Lingjun.
At that time, he hated his father just like this, and he didn’t understand why his father had acted in that way…
Yet now, when facing this young woman in a violet dress, when facing his own daughter, Chen Xi finally understood Chen Lingjun’s feelings at that moment.
That sort of guilt and pain was truly impossible to be described with words.
“I’m sorry. I don’t have any reason to question anything about you.” Suddenly, the young woman lowered her head and said, “Out of consideration for the blood relation between us. Please help me save my Mother. Once this matter is resolved, I guarantee that I’ll never appear before you again.”
Chen Xi’s expression instantly became extremely unsightly, and his heart was blocked up to the point he was almost suffocated. His own daughter had actually sworn to never meet him again after meeting him for the first time…
A strand of dense hatred, regret, and self-blame erupted like a volcano and surged into Chen Xi’s heart, and he lowered his head and fell into silence.
After a long time, he finally raised his head and looked at the young woman as he said, “Come, let’s go rescue your mother first.”