Love Travels through Time (My father who traveled through time and space to cultivate immortality came back to pick me up) - Chapter 36
Chapter 36: Boss and Dad
Similarly, this was not the first time Xiang Heng had come to Yin Changli’s palace, yet he was still drawn by its grandeur.
Xiang Haikui was a newcomer who couldn’t recognize the true value, but Xiang Heng knew very well that prying up any single floor tile from this palace would feed all of Silver Sand for over a decade.
Most importantly, inside the palace stood eight spiritual stone pillars about one meter in diameter, each wrapped in a golden dragon. The dragons were active, gently moving along the pillars and continuously puffing out mist from their mouths.
This mist was purified spiritual energy, floating slowly through the carved and painted beams like drifting clouds. Xiang Heng suspected that cultivating inside this palace for a single day was worth dozens of days outside. Even the Jinling Imperial Palace, which occupied the largest spiritual vein in Zhongzhou, supplied less than a fraction of this mist. He wondered what kind of heavenly treasure that chubby little coal ball actually was.
“Please take a seat,” Yin Changli spoke from the high seat, sitting cross-legged behind a desk.
He wore a light gray inner robe under a silver-patterned cloak designed for intense cold. Two maple-leaf-shaped scales rested against his temples, pulling his lustrous black hair back behind his ears.
When Xiang Heng last sought an audience with him, he hadn’t paid attention to his hairstyle at all. He noticed it now because his daughter’s method of placing feather ornaments was identical to his.
The person behind his daughter was undoubtedly him.
Xiang Heng stepped forward steadily and sat cross-legged in front of the desk, “Is Senior injured?”
“I am about to enter a period of dormancy, so I am extremely sensitive to the cold,” Yin Changli smiled faintly, cradling a copper hand-warmer that drifted heat to warm his body, “You might be more familiar with the term ‘hibernation’.”
So he was from the demon tribe. Xiang Heng eagerly asked, “Senior, what on earth is going on?”
“That is a long story…”
A left hand covered in white frost slipped out from the cloak. Yin Changli picked up the teapot, poured a cup of wine, pushed it toward him, and quickly tucked his hand back into the cloak.
He then explained everything that had happened to Xiang Heng and his daughter.
“What your daughter holds is the divine sword Tian kuang. The master who introduced her to the path of the sword, Qi Yin, was once a king of the Shanhai Tribe and a universally recognized Sword Emperor across all realms. Her meridians and bone structure were meticulously reshaped by me. Although she is naive, she endures hardship willingly. Having such ability in a short time is not surprising…”
“To avoid fate, I didn’t dare approach Xiang Tianqing before, so I didn’t know Meng Xilou was an upper-realm clone. I only learned this after following your daughter to Silver Sand and seeing Meng Xilou…”
“Because I once served in the Underworld and cultivated secret arts, I can see that Meng Xilou’s soul aura is unusual…”
Having so much information suddenly dumped on him, Xiang Heng was left in a state of confusion.
Once he slowly sorted it out, he was clearly skeptical, “Senior, your Destiny Brush…”
Yin Changli understood his meaning, “The Destiny Brush could tap into your daughter’s sea of consciousness because she was still a mortal back then. Once someone possesses cultivation, the Destiny Brush cannot enter, let alone someone at your realm, Fellow Daoist Xiang.”
More doubts surfaced in Xiang Heng’s heart.
If someone said Little Qing was an immortal descended from the heavenly realm to undergo a trial, he could believe it. If someone said her family in the upper realm had been waiting for him to reach the Ninth Rank, become poisoned to the core, and go on a bloody rampage after falling into demonic madness, he could also believe it.
However, saying the person behind it was Meng Xilou was something he truly didn’t dare believe, nor did he want to believe.
Meng Xilou was brave and skillful in battle. He had followed him for nearly two hundred years, guarding this barren northern desert without making a single mistake.
Compared to Ye Qianzhi and Wumian, he gave him far less to worry about.
Though he was indeed arrogant at times, he came from a royal capital noble family, so a bit of pride was normal.
Yet Xiang Heng didn’t dare disbelieve it completely, because this concerned his daughter’s life.
If it were true and his daughter was stripped bare and drowned in bathwater, the mere thought made the demon poison inside him begin to surge wildly.
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes to suppress it.
“This is precisely why your daughter bore this alone and didn’t dare tell you,” Yin Changli suddenly released his demon power.
Xiang Heng, who was suppressing the poison, was startled.
He tried to dodge, but the demon power hanging over his head felt like a hundred thousand mountains, making it impossible to break free.
Just as he was about to exert his full strength to resist, Xiang Heng realized something was wrong.
The demon power gathering above his head was not meant to suppress him. Instead, it acted like a magnet, drawing out the demonic poison from deep within his dantian and marrow.
Xiang Heng was thoroughly baffled. Raising his eyes, he saw Yin Changli’s body gradually becoming surrounded by black mist, while web-like black demonic patterns began to surface on his pale, refined face.
He truly was absorbing his demonic poison.
“Senior, what are you doing?” Xiang Heng was utterly astonished.
“Demonstrating sincerity, orchestrating a plan, and winning over people’s hearts, all three in one,” dark blood gradually flowed from the corner of his mouth, but Yin Changli retrieved a handkerchief, elegantly wiped it away, and smiled, “I told you earlier, the fate of you father and daughter will, to a certain extent, be entwined with mine.”
“This matter must be told from my origins. I was born into the Shanhai Zhulong Clan. When I was young, a war broke out between the Shanhai Tribe and the Celestial Tribe. The Celestial Tribe suffered heavy losses, while my clan was devastated even more severely.”
“My grandfather, father, and siblings all died in that war. As for me, I was weak-willed and surrendered. Because of that, I was branded with the mark of a Shanhai untouchable and sent by the Celestial Tribe to work in the mines…”
While absorbing Xiang Heng’s demonic poison, Yin Changli sighed with emotional reflection, “Fellow Daoist Xiang might not know this, but I was originally a white snake. It was during that time of hard labor, spending every day underground mining, that I actually was dyed into a black snake.”
Sympathy appeared in Xiang Heng’s eyes. Just as he was preparing to offer a few words of comfort, he caught sight of the strange expression on Yin Changli’s face and froze.
Yin Changli looked at him with a half-smile, “You actually believed such an absurd lie?”
Xiang Heng remained silent.
Yin Changli laughed so hard he coughed repeatedly, “You father and daughter really are treasures of the mortal realm.”
Xiang Heng looked up at the ceiling in speechlessness. Thinking back, it made sense. How could someone change color just from digging in a mine? He was a Zhulong, not a chameleon.
The issue was that they were currently discussing serious matters, so who could have anticipated him suddenly cracking a joke out of nowhere? This senior clearly had a noble and cold demeanor, so why was he so obnoxious the moment he opened his mouth?
“Senior, let us get back to business,” since the man was currently helping him absorb the demonic poison, Xiang Heng couldn’t bring himself to lose his temper even after being played.
“In truth, there isn’t much to say. I mainly wanted you to understand that the Celestial Tribe harbors deep paranoia toward my Shanhai Tribe. And their paranoia is not unfounded groundless worry,” Yin Changli continued after having his fill of laughter.
“I have an archenemy named Han Qi, who hails from your Human Tribe. He is a terrifying yet respectable opponent. He serves the Heavenly Emperor, and with the arts of foresight he has mastered, he has been suppressing us remnants of the Shanhai Tribe.”
“And I have the honor of being the one the Heavenly Emperor currently fears the most.”
Xiang Heng understood a little now, “Unable to capture you, they wanted to alter your fate, using destiny itself to force you into a dead end?”
Yin Changli shook his head, “Killing me is not their objective. They mainly want to learn from my mouth what the previous Underworld Lord entrusted me to do before his death, because the previous Underworld Lord always stood on the side of the Shanhai Tribe. My upcoming period of dormancy, much like your state of being plagued by demonic poison, presents a prime opportunity.”
During his dormancy, Yin Changli would have no power to fight back. Not knowing how he would end up severely injured and afflicted with amnesia, he had chosen to stay by Qi Yin’s side.
Even if Qi Yin was imprisoned, no one from the Celestial Tribe could approach the Cave of Ten Thousand Bones. Staying beside him was very safe.
Furthermore, with Xiang Haikui disrupting the variables, this two-pronged approach should have allowed him to evade this catastrophe.
However, on the night right before Xiang Haikui left, Yin Changli suddenly realized something.
What if his catching a glimpse of fate this time was actually part of Han Qi’s plan all along?
If so, given Han Qi’s understanding of him, he would surely guess that he would choose to undergo dormancy inside the Cave of Ten Thousand Bones.
The side of Qi Yin would then become a beast trap set specifically for him by Han Qi.
It was true that Qi Yin was unmatched under the heavens, but he was not intelligent enough and possessed a fatal flaw.
He was soft-hearted, soft as a ball of cotton.
Back when he was betrayed by his disciple and suffered a crushing defeat, he hadn’t even had the heart to kill that disciple.
Yin Changli had made a hypothesis in his mind.
After he entered dormancy, Han Qi would send a few devoted warriors to act out a scene. For instance, a fleeing mother and child escaping to the Cave of Ten Thousand Bones while being pursued.
When the mother was killed, Qi Yin might still be able to restrain himself from intervening.
But when the child was on the verge of being brutally slaughtered, Qi Yin definitely wouldn’t be able to sit idle.
Afterward, that child would stay inside the Cave of Ten Thousand Bones to recover from injuries.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to strike at the ice snake coiled around the chains would then be as easy as can be.
Qi Yin could protect his life, but he couldn’t guard against others placing a curse on him. Furthermore, after calculating that he would be in dormancy, Han Qi would strike swiftly. After all, once his ice layer thickened, the difficulty of casting the curse would increase.
Yin Changli said, “So I made a prompt decision to split off an avatar. Moreover, that avatar itself did not know it was an avatar, because the memories I sliced off for it stopped right before I made the new decision. Then, I slid into the demon-expelling medicine meant for your daughter.”
Xiang Heng let out a sound of realization, “So, that archenemy of yours can only harm your avatar…”
Yin Changli smiled, “No. I guessed that he guessed that I guessed that he guessed. He definitely knows that the one sleeping inside the Cave of Ten Thousand Bones is merely my avatar, not my true body.”
Xiang Heng felt dizzy.
His mind couldn’t keep up anymore.
Just how many years and how many rounds had these two mastermind figures fought to understand each other to such a terrifying extent? Moreover, thinking about so many things every single day, yet he still had so much hair without going bald. It was truly unscientific.
Yin Changli said, “The curse he places on my avatar will definitely be able to trace back to the original body, damaging my sea of consciousness.”
That way, no matter where he was, he could not escape the fate of being heavily injured and losing his memory.
Xiang Heng was even more puzzled, “Since you foresaw it, why did you still leave an avatar behind?”
Wasn’t that just leaving a tail behind for the opponent to step on?
As more and more demonic poison accumulated, Yin Changli’s entire person was almost entirely covered by demonic qi, “If I keep running, he will pursue relentlessly, and eventually, he will chase me into a dead end.”
In that case, it was better to face the tribulation proactively.
Since he was bound to end up severely injured and afflicted with amnesia anyway, why not take this opportunity to clear away Xiang Heng’s poison?
And since he couldn’t know when Xiang Tianqing would rescue him, why not use the time when Xiang Haikui was present to voluntarily approach Xiang Tianqing’s side?
“When I am near death from the poison outbreak later, I must trouble Fellow Daoist Xiang to throw me in front of those two. Make sure both of them are present when you throw me.”
“And then?”
“And then? I do not know,” Yin Changli shook his head, “Inside your daughter’s mind, which is as vast and empty as a wilderness, there are always many galloping thoughts. I cannot grasp them.”
“Then wouldn’t that mean…”
“If I cannot grasp them, Han Qi cannot grasp them either. For both of us, it is equally catching us off guard,” Yin Changli was taking a risky move, “Later on, you will stay inside my palace to cultivate. Keep a clear view of who is human and who is a ghost, and sit back to watch them exhaust all their tricks. However, out of concern that you might fail to restrain yourself, I will lock you up and only release you after seven days.”
“That will not do,” Xiang Heng pressed both hands on the tabletop. He originally wanted to stand up, but he was still suppressed by the demon power overhead, “If what Senior says is all true, my daughter will be surrounded by peril on all sides and her life hanging by a thread out there for these seven days. Are you asking me to just watch helplessly?”
“She will be fine,” Yin Changli soothed, “These seven days are the true combat training for your daughter. Only by passing this trial will she truly be born anew.”
Xiang Heng shook his head, “No…”
Yin Changli slowly withdrew his smile, “I gifted your daughter Tian kuang and cleansed your demonic poison, but that does not mean I have altered the tribulations for you father and daughter. I have said before that the best way to cross a tribulation is not by hiding, but by facing it head-on and being reborn through the flames.”
Xiang Heng knew his words made sense, “But I cannot put my heart at ease regarding my daughter…”
Yin Changli’s voice was gentle, yet it allowed for no contradiction, “Xiang Heng, your disaster was not brought by me and Han Qi. It was brought by the Meng family, and originally, you were bound to die without fail. The entry of Han Qi and me merely made things a bit more complex. I owe you nothing. On the contrary, you owe me. If you want to survive, you must do as I say.”
“Of course, I can understand if you cannot bear to let your daughter take risks. If you can pat your chest and tell me that under your protection, you can guarantee she will face no suffering in the future and live this life in joy and peace without worries, I will let you go.”
“I…” Xiang Heng’s expression flickered slightly, and he slowly sat back down.
Yin Changli’s attitude softened, and he raised the teapot once more to pour a cup of wine for him.
At this moment, the frost covering the back of his hand began to melt, replaced by growing black snake scales.
He smiled faintly, “Pleasure doing business with you.”
Xiang Heng pondered for a long time, then reached out to take the cup of wine, throwing his head back and downing it in one gulp.
Yin Changli retrieved another message jade slip and pushed it over, “Seven days later, please hand this over to your daughter.”
Xiang Heng frowned, “This is…”
“I changed your daughter’s fate against the heavens, so naturally I expect her to hack through thorns and clear the path for me while I undergo my tribulation,” Yin Changli said with a faint smile.
The demonic qi had already rendered his eyes dark and unreadable. He offered no resistance, allowing the demonic qi to invade his sea of consciousness.
He would not fall into demonic madness like a human. His body would naturally form a protection, such as temporarily clearing his spiritual realms to avoid being contaminated by the demonic qi.
Yet a trace of ruthlessness surged in his heart.
Lifting his head, gazing at the firmament through the palace roof, Yin Changli smiled coldly, “Once my tribulation ends, it will be the beginning of yours. I shall see for how long you all can remain so arrogant.”
…
All of the demonic poison inside Xiang Heng had been completely absorbed by Yin Changli.
Furthermore, after the demonic poison was extracted, he showed no signs of weakness whatsoever.
After Yin Changli transformed back into his true form and lay dying, Xiang Heng followed his instructions and left the small black orb palace.
Holding the small black orb in one hand and the small black snake in the other, he stepped out of the secluded chamber.
Without knowing what kind of spell Yin Changli had used, time inside the entire cavern seemed to be frozen.
While the two of them were discussing important matters, his two daughters maintained their walking postures, completely motionless like wax statues.
Xiang Heng passed by the two of them, looking at Xiang Haikui and then at Xiang Tianqing.
No matter who his gaze rested upon, his heart felt deeply complicated.
Xiang Heng let out a sigh, leaving them behind as he continued upward.
Reaching the entrance of the cavern, he gathered strength in his palm and blasted a single palm strike toward the sky. The wind from his palm stirred up sand and dust. The originally cloudless desert was now brewing a storm.
This was to trap them inside the cavern to ensure they would spot the small black snake.
Xiang Heng then found a pile of ruins and buried the small black snake inside, leaving only its tail exposed.
He squatted beside the small black snake, admiring Yin Changli deeply in his heart.
“Smack!” The small black orb jumped out from his hand, expanded, and cracked open a slit down the middle.
Yin Changli was on the verge of completely losing consciousness, meaning the sealing spell inside the cavern was about to disappear and the small black orb was about to lock up.
This was a reminder for him to enter quickly.
Xiang Heng hesitated briefly, then gritted his teeth, bowed his head, and entered the palace.
The small black orb snapped shut rapidly, shrinking down to the size of a grape, and clattered into a corner.
Hiding inside the palace, Xiang Heng sat cross-legged in meditation, utilizing the spiritual energy within the palace to break through his realm.
His divine sense could not penetrate the small black orb, so he could not see the scenes outside. He could only hear the footsteps of his two daughters approaching.
He listened as they were blocked by the storm.
He listened as his elder daughter discovered the small black snake.
And he listened as his younger daughter coaxed the elder daughter to sprinkle some salt and cure the small black snake.
Xiang Heng’s heart skipped a beat, and he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Yet there was nothing he could do, so he could only listen in silence.
After Yin Changli fell into deep slumber, this small black orb began to act wildly as well. It refused to go to Silver Sand when told to, instead wandering around the desert looking for pack camels to eat.
It even ran into Lu Xiqiao.
When Xiang Heng saw that this trouble-making brat had actually snuck out on his own, he worried that an accident might happen to him. Thus, he urged the small black orb to devour his camel first and immobilize him on the spot, forbidding him from leaving the pass any further, waiting for someone to bring him back.
Unexpectedly, the person who came to rescue Lu Xiqiao turned out to be Xiang Haikui.
That was also the first time Xiang Heng witnessed the power of the Tian kuang Sword.
Afterward came the fight between Wumian and Xiang Haikui, which infuriated Xiang Heng so much that he begged the little black orb to drag Wumian down…
Then came Meng Xilou and Xiang Haikui fighting the sand bear, drawing in several forces.
He heard the conversation where Meng Xilou called Xiang Tianqing over, intending to let her subdue the little black ball.
At that moment, Xiang Heng finally confirmed that Meng Xilou was indeed no ordinary person…
During these past two days, the little black orb had been in Bai Xingxian’s hands, so he was well aware of everything happening in the outside world.
It turned out that beneath the seemingly calm and beautiful lake, undercurrents were surging, filled with hidden dangers on all sides.
…
Xiang Heng pulled himself back from his memories, withdrawing his gaze from Dao Chen and turning to look at Sword Venerable Jingwen.
Regarding his sudden appearance, Jingwen remained silent for a good while as well.
Didn’t that letter say Xiang Heng was plagued by demonic poison? Yet with this kind of vigor and spirit, there was not the slightest trace of someone afflicted by demonic poison.
He wanted to ask about the situation, but now that things had come to this, asking made no difference.
Whether Xiang Heng was poisoned or not, he was no match for him.
No matter how much prestige he held in Silver Sand, if he, Jingwen, wanted to kill someone, who could stop him?
Before acting, however, Jingwen still sent a voice transmission to question him, “Xiang Heng, do you admit that you were previously named Wei Shengxuan, a disciple of my Jinling Sword Dao Academy?”
Xiang Heng admitted it directly, “That should be correct. I am a soul-attaching reincarnator. The original owner of this body was indeed a sword cultivator, and his storage bracelet contained many treasures.”
Back then, he felt that the original owner of this body shouldn’t have been a nobody.
Jingwen said coldly, “Soul-attaching reincarnation…”
“You may inspect me,” Xiang Heng lifted his protective true qi without a second thought, “With your cultivation realm, it shouldn’t be difficult to discern.”
His openness caught Jing Wen slightly off guard.
Xiang Heng wasn’t afraid of a sudden attack. Jingwen didn’t put him in his eyes anyway, so having protective tspiritual energy or not made no difference to Jingwen.
A strand of sword intent flew out from Jingwen’s spiritual platform and penetrated into Xiang Heng’s spiritual platform.
A subtle look of pain appeared on Xiang Heng’s face.
The crowd of citizens in the city all grew tense.
Xiang Tianqing almost fainted, hurriedly sending a frantic voice transmission to Xiang Haikui inside the cage, “It must be that the Royal Capital found out about Dad’s soul possession. Jingwen was ordered to arrest him. What do we do, Little Kui?”
Soul possession was strictly forbidden in Zhongzhou. No matter who it was, once discovered, their soul would be annihilated.
Xiang Haikui knew the truth, so she wasn’t as worried.
As long as Jingwen retained even a tiny bit of dignity as a grand Sword Venerable, knowing the original owner was already dead meant he shouldn’t make things difficult for her father anymore.
Bound by this old scandal that he himself found embarrassing, he wouldn’t speak publicly about her father’s soul possession, and both sides would maintain silence going forward.
Her father had flown out of the small black ball completely unharmed. Although she couldn’t guess the reason, Xiang Haikui’s hanging heart had finally settled down.
What she worried about now was her boss.
Dao Chen’s situation looked very grim, and her boss’s state could only be worse.
On the city tower, sword aura from the Tribulation Stage was splashing everywhere, blocking her voice transmission. She could only watch helplessly, asking Bai Xingxian via voice transmission, “Can you contact your uncle?”
Bai Xingxian’s heart was also in turmoil.
He shook his head, unsure whether he was comforting Xiang Haikui or himself, “My uncle is very strong. He will be fine, don’t worry.”
Xiang Haikui made a silent vow that whether it was her former corporate boss or her current puppy-like boss, she would definitely repay this debt of gratitude in the future, even if she had to walk through mountain of daggers or seas of flames.
After completing his inspection, Jingwen withdrew his consciousness sword fetus and murmured, “He truly is already dead…”
Xiang Heng cupped his hands, “He died over two hundred years ago.”
Jingwen fell silent for a long time.
The sword intent around him gradually faded, and he nodded slightly, “Very well, I shall not pursue this matter further.”
Although this physical body was an eyesore that he strongly wanted to crush into dust, he had always quite appreciated Xiang Heng’s style of conduct and moral character.
Besides, he still wanted to take Xiang Haikui as his disciple.
Jingwen hooked his finger, and the wooden pillars surrounding Xiang Haikui vanished with a boom, turning into a wooden hairpin that flew back into his hand.
He looked over, and Xiang Haikui happened to look back at him, her eyes sharp and unstoppable.
This was truly the personality he liked, a fine candidate for cultivating the sword.
Shifting his gaze slightly, he caught sight of Xiang Tianqing’s familiar face again.
His eyes narrowed slightly, giving rise to the thought of taking both of them away.
Just as he was about to ask Xiang Heng for the girls, Xiang Heng spoke first, “Senior Jing, when I attached my soul to this body, although my cultivation was at the Sixth Rank, the physical body was already battered with ailments and injuries. Furthermore, the body belonged to a sword cultivator, while I understood nothing of sword cultivation, so I abandoned the sword to cultivate anew.”
“As for those treasures in his storage bracelet, I didn’t use a single bit. I used all of them to nurture Tianqing.”
Jingwen frowned, “So?”
Xiang Heng’s expression grew colder, “We need to get things straight. I occupied Wei Shengxuan’s body and owed him, but I have paid it all back. What he owed you has nothing to do with me, yet you injured my daughter. How do we resolve this matter?”
Jingwen was stunned, “Resolve what?”
Xiang Heng looked at Xiang Haikui, who was covered in blood, his heart aching immensely, “Apologize!”
“Apologize?” Jingwen found it hard to believe, “You want me to apologize to a yellow-haired little girl?”
Xiang Heng said, “It has nothing to do with age. If you did something wrong, you must admit it!”
Having long heard that the City Lord of Silver Sand was a stubborn donkey, Jingwen found it amusing, “If I do not apologize, what can you possibly do?”
Xiang Heng counted the wounds on Xiang Haikui’s body.
Most were caused by Huaimie’s shadow claws, while Jingwen’s sword aura accounted for only a small portion.
He made up his mind.
“If Senior does not apologize, then I can only offer an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
Surging battle intent billowed around his body.
He made a challenge gesture toward Jingwen, “Even if Xiang Heng dies in battle today, I will surely make Senior return with a few injuries!”
