Love Travels through Time (My father who traveled through time and space to cultivate immortality came back to pick me up) - Chapter 77
Chapter 77: No Road Back from Bian City (14)
Although there was no one else near these ruined palace towers besides them, countless divine senses were covertly focusing on this spot.
Being pointed at and scolded to his face by Qi Yin did not make Jing Ran feel humiliated.
Qi Yin was right: before his royal father had made up his mind to eradicate the Shanhai Clan, even he had to yield to Qi Yin by three points.
Qi Yin was a senior, and he genuinely possessed the capital to be arrogant.
Dugu He leaped in front of Jing Ran, blocking him.
“Qi Yin, why are you squabbling with a junior? Come, your opponent is me!”
“I’ll beat you both together!”
Qi Yin pushed Xiang Haikui over to Yin Changli, preparing to charge at them.
Xiang Haikui grabbed hold of him.
“No, Master! You need to go back right now…”
“That round trip takes far too long; going back now is already too late.”
Qi Yin did not care in the slightest.
Suppressing the sword aura that was on the verge of bursting forth, he pinched his disciple’s wet, tear-streaked face.
“Whether I win or lose doesn’t matter, and whether I live or die doesn’t matter either. What matters, Little Kui, is that you must know—forget about all that nonsense regarding a sense of belonging. No matter which world you come from, with me, ‘master for a day, father for a lifetime’ holds true forever.”
“What on earth did Han Qi say to you?! It isn’t like that…”
Xiang Haikui cried even harder.
Even through all the excruciating pain before, she hadn’t shed a single tear.
“Besides, Master isn’t just doing this for you. They bullied my disciple, which is a slap right to my face. If I endured even this, what would be the point of living?”
Xiang Haikui refused to let go.
“Senior Yin, please help me reason with him…”
The moment Yin Changli moved his lips, Qi Yin rounded on him with a torrential scolding.
“Don’t you start preaching your grand philosophies to me! You ought to be hoping I die right now; otherwise, just wait and see how I deal with you in a moment!”
Applying a bit of strength, he pried Xiang Haikui’s hands off him.
His sword aura erupted, instantly condensing into a sphere of radiant light around his body, sending wood splinters flying in all directions from the impact.
Dugu He had waited for this day for far too long.
Thrilled, he had just drawn his sword when he suddenly froze.
“What’s going on? You’re only in a soul form?”
Deeply disappointed—utterly disappointed—he sighed, “Fine then, I’ll only use half my strength!”
With no other choice left, Xiang Haikui wiped away her tears, drew her sword, and prepared to charge in as well.
She couldn’t just stand by and watch her master fight two against one; she had to stall the Emperor and keep grinding him down!
Yin Changli grabbed her wrist.
“The Emperor won’t join the fight. Right now, his only thought is to escape. Once Dugu He draws his sword, he recognizes neither friend nor foe, making him completely unreliable. The Emperor must hurry back to the Upper Realm to guard Listening Heaven Palace.”
Sure enough, Jing Ran only dodged without attacking, looking for any chance to flee.
His shadow guards didn’t dare step forward at all; a clash between the two grandest swords of the era meant instant death to anyone who touched its wake.
Even Jing Ran was reduced to a miserable state, as if trapped in a dense thicket of thorns.
His black robes—already torn and stained with blood—were slashed into rags.
Even with Dugu He attempting to intervene and block, he was still struck heavily by Qi Yin three or four times.
It was a power akin to the weight of a hundred thousand mountains crashing down; even at the peak of his spiritual force he might not have endured it, let alone in his current half-dead state.
Finally seizing a brief opening, he broke away from the battlefield and instantly transformed into a golden lotus, flying away from Bian City.
Having gained and then lost the Underworld once more, Jing Ran had no other recourse. This endless succession of upheavals had left him utterly exhausted in mind and body.
Xiang Haikui watched him flee with an expressionless face.
Her entire heart and mind were currently consumed by concern for her master.
Yet she could still feel that as Jing Ran departed, his divine sense lingered briefly over her.
However, he never transmitted a message to her, leaving her unsure of what he was looking at.
“If anything happens to my master, I won’t do anything else for the rest of my life—I will fight Han Qi to the bitter end,” she muttered to herself, clutching her chest as she squatted down.
Yin Changli, who had been standing by silently throughout the battle, seemed to suddenly snap back to reality as if waking from sleepwalking.
Seeing her squatting there, he faced her and dropped to one knee.
“Don’t be afraid. I’ve already checked—he’s fine.”
Xiang Haikui looked up, startled, “Checked?”
Yin Changli nodded slightly, using his thumb to wipe away the tears pooling in the corner of her eyes.
“Do you remember when Han Qi asked me if I felt exhausted from constantly supporting my clansmen? Exhausted… of course I am. I’ve practically worried myself to death over them.”
Xiang Haikui stared at him without blinking.
He smiled gently.
“I buried countless treasures at their places of imprisonment, and even placed Shadow-Retention Stones to record their actions. Senior Qi was my primary subject of surveillance, so naturally, he received extra special care.”
Xiang Haikui’s eyes gradually brightened.
“Are you saying that your protective measures stopped Que Chi?”
“Your blood circulation is sluggish, so you shouldn’t squat for long. Come, let’s stand up first,” Yin Changli helped her to her feet before continuing, “No, those couldn’t stop Que Chi. But when I guessed it was Que Chi, I actually felt a wave of relief in my heart. Just now, I used a bridge connecting divine thoughts to take a look back at the Cave of Ten Thousand Bones, and sure enough, it was just as I expected.”
“Hmm?”
Once she was standing steadily, Xiang Haikui pulled her hand away from his grip.
A faint shadow passed over Yin Changli’s eyes as he placed his hands behind his back.
“Did you know that in the past, Que Chi was imprisoned in the Land of Nine Suffering?”
“I know.”
“Que Chi devoured my third brother right in front of my eyes, yet despite serving in the Underworld for thousands of years, I never once went to trouble Que Chi. There is a reason for that.”
Now that he brought it up, Xiang Haikui also found it strange.
With his sworn enemy right inside the Underworld, he had surprisingly ignored him completely.
Que Chi was nothing like those clansmen who had scraped off his scales.
In the past, Xiang Haikui would have peppered him with curious questions, but now she had grown far more silent. When Yin Changli spoke to her, he also became exceptionally cautious.
“Que Chi was captured by Shuluoye… that is, the former Underworld Lord.”
Back when the Shanhai Clan lost the war, Shuluoye killed those traitors of the Shanhai Clan who could be killed, while those who couldn’t be killed immediately were imprisoned in the Land of Nine Suffering within the Underworld.
Once the turbid qi had refined them, they were to be executed.
When the young Yin Changli believed he had acquired enough capability, he snuck into the Underworld and sought out the Land of Nine Suffering, precisely to kill Que Chi.
At that time, Que Chi was already extremely weak; Yin Changli could have slain him almost effortlessly.
Yet at the entrance of the cave, he encountered Shuluoye, who blocked his path.
“That was the first time I met Shuluoye.”
Recalling the only true friend of his life, Yin Changli’s expression grew increasingly tinged with sorrow, his tone filled with nostalgia.
“His erudition and wisdom were truly rare in this world. My ability to divine heavenly fate was actually taught to me by him. To me, he was… more like a master, a guiding beacon on my life’s journey.”
“At that time, he asked me if I would be willing to endure my hatred for a moment, spare Que Chi’s life, and forge a karmic bond of goodwill.”
Naturally, Yin Changli was unwilling.
With his enemy right before his eyes, how could he possibly refrain from killing him?
However, Yin Changli was no match for him in battle, and despite pitting his wits and courage against him for over a decade, he was never able to set foot inside the cave where Que Chi was imprisoned.
In the end, he was even coaxed by Shuluoye into becoming the Palace Master of Bliss Palace, becoming his subordinate.
Looking back now, Yin Changli couldn’t help but feel a sense of tragicomic irony.
Hearing his account, Xiang Haikui realized that this former Underworld Lord was nothing like the person Jing Ran described—he was neither extreme nor mad.
However, she had no heart to dwell on that right now, asking with eager urgency, “Then where did that karmic bond of goodwill land? Did it land on my master?”
Yin Changli placed his hand gently on her shoulder.
“Han Qi has always believed himself to be flawless and invincible. But in truth, what he doesn’t know is that he possesses a fatal weakness.”
Just as Xiang Haikui let out a soft “Oh?” and was about to ask what the weakness was, the light and shadows before her eyes suddenly intertwined, feeling as though she were being plunged into a virtual world.
It was Yin Changli taking her via instantaneous teleportation to the shores of the Underworld Sea.
At this moment, two people were standing on the shore: the familiar Han Qi, along with a sweet-looking young girl.
The second Xiang Haikui laid eyes on Han Qi, her eyes instantly turned razor-sharp like blades.
Pursing her lips tightly, a surge of murderous intent swept out around her body, forcing Star Slave to take two steps back and hide behind Han Qi’s back.
Han Qi froze mid-bite with his sweet mandarin orange, caught entirely off guard by this sudden appearance.
Even so, he unhurriedly finished the remaining half of the orange before cupping his hands and smiling faintly.
“Brother Changli, Miss Xiang—we meet again so soon after parting. What a wonderful twist of fate.”
Yin Changli didn’t give him a single glance, continuing his previous conversation with Xiang Haikui.
“This man Han Qi’s greatest weakness is that he holds an intensely strong bias against our Shanhai Clan. You see, once a person harbors deep-seated prejudice in their heart, it becomes remarkably easy for them to blunder when carrying out their plans.”
Xiang Haikui said coldly, “Oh?”
As if deliberately putting on a show, Yin Changli adjusted the stray hairs by Xiang Haikui’s temple and curled his lips slightly.
“In his eyes, our Shanhai Clan is divided into three categories. I belong to the first category, the second category consists of warmongers, and the third is made up entirely of vicious, unforgivable beasts.”
Han Qi remained silent.
He merely pursed his lips, smiled gently, and continued eating his orange.
At any rate, he had already won this game. Letting the loser run his mouth in front of him was no big deal—giving them a chance to vent their pent-up frustration was the least he could do.
“Did you truly think you won?”
After casting a side-glance at him, Yin Changli flicked his sleeve, tossing out a crystal-clear, oval-shaped stone.
The stone flew into midair and suddenly projected a beam of light, displaying a scene on a floating screen.
The image shifted from blurry to crystal clear. Xiang Haikui’s pupils shrank—it was her master’s Cave of Ten Thousand Bones.
Dressed in a red robe, Que Chi ambled with casual steps through layers of sword formations, entering the long corridor of the Cave of Ten Thousand Bones.
At the end of the corridor, Qi Yin sat cross-legged on the floor, his hands and feet bound by heavy iron chains.
“Master, we haven’t seen each other in a long time…”
Stepping in front of Qi Yin, Que Chi respectfully offered a deep bow.
“Your disciple has come to pay his respects today under Han Qi’s orders. He instructed me to come here and devour you.”
Qi Yin kept his eyes closed; with his soul absent from his body, he naturally didn’t respond.
Que Chi stood quietly in place for a long time, unsure of what he was pondering.
Flicking his robe back, he sat cross-legged facing Qi Yin.
Propping his chin in his hand, a look of utter perplexity washed over his face.
“And yet, there’s one thing I can’t figure out for the life of me: what on earth made this Han Qi assume I would want to devour my own master?”
Furthermore, he had assumed it without a shadow of a doubt, getting straight to the point by claiming he had a way to help him devour his master and asking if he’d co-operate.
“Back then, all I did was stab Master with a single sword strike. I never once desired Master’s life. I truly can’t fathom his line of thinking…”
Que Chi held different ideals from Qi Yin and was frequently disciplined by him, so he indeed harbored a rebellious heart.
Yet there was no blood feud between him and Qi Yin.
On the contrary, he had been meticulously cared for by Qi Yin since childhood and taught swordplay hand-in-hand, creating a debt of gratitude.
Just as he had told Xiang Haikui before, his master had never expelled him from the sect, and in his heart, he had never truly betrayed it either.
He hadn’t even thought of killing the little junior sister who had suddenly popped out of nowhere—so how could he possibly kill his own master?
“Tell me, isn’t this Han Qi hilarious? What ‘infallible Grand Master’? Pah! We are beasts, not stones.”
The disdain in Que Chi’s eyes was impossible to conceal.
The only reason he agreed to Han Qi’s plan was for fear that if he refused, Han Qi might come up with other schemes instead.
“Master, go ahead and stand up for little junior sister. Your disciple will stay right here and guard the place for you.”
When this scene unfolded, Han Qi’s face flushed blue and white by turns.
Gripping his fists tightly, he was unable to utter a single word for quite some time.
Xiang Haikui let out a long, deep sigh of relief first, before freezing in mild surprise.
Indeed, Que Chi was truly vicious and heinous, but his idea had merely been to sleep with her to infuriate their master.
Perverted as he was, he genuinely held no intent to kill.
Back when Meng Nanting suggested that keeping her around would be useful, Que Chi had even displayed a fiercely protective attitude over his own kin.
And observing the posture he held when wielding his sword, he was practically a carbon copy of their master, showing that in the realm of sword Dao, he held total reverence for him.
However, because Que Chi’s usual deeds were far too wicked and sinister, it was only natural for everyone to assume he would take this chance to devour his master.
“Han Qi, this is your fatal weakness.”
Yin Changli looked at him with eyes brimming with ridicule.
“In your eyes, apart from a select few, all members of the Shanhai Clan are nothing more than ignorant, uncivilized, and inhuman beasts. In essence, you are no different from the Emperor—arrogant to the core.”
Han Qi’s fists slowly unclenched, and he smiled once more.
“Since I lost this round, I have nothing to say. Say whatever you like.”
As he turned around, his expression darkened.
“Star Slave, we’re leaving.”
“Yes, Master,” Star Slave answered in a low voice, her head bowed.
“Senior Han Qi,” Xiang Haikui called out to stop him.
Only after adjusting his facial expression did Han Qi slowly turn back around.
“Miss Xiang, do you wish to stab me twice like you did to the Emperor to vent your anger?”
Xiang Haikui lowered her eyelashes; she herself didn’t know why she had stopped him.
Well, she had wanted to stab him twice to vent, but unfortunately, in her current wounded and battered state, she couldn’t accomplish it.
So she thought about giving him a thorough tongue-lashing to blow off steam instead.
Yet when the words reached the tip of her tongue, she suddenly didn’t want to scold him anymore.
For some reason, the heavy, vengeful fury in her heart seemed to have dissipated—she didn’t even have the energy to hurl insults.
She lowered her head in thought.
Han Qi waited without impatience or restlessness, neither rushing her nor hurrying to leave.
Finally, as if having figured things out, she raised her eyes to look at him.
“Senior, now that things have developed to this point… which side do you think I should choose to stand with?”
Hanqi looked back at her without speaking a word.
“Earlier, I said that I felt no sense of belonging to this world and had no desire to get involved in your war.”
Xiang Haikui was not good at reasoning with people, so she searched her mind carefully to gather the right words.
“Besides that lack of belonging, my selfish reason for not getting involved was that I believed every single one of you had a point—it was simply a matter of differing stances. Since it had nothing to do with me, I didn’t want to take a side lightly.”
Han Qi nodded.
“And what about now?”
Xiang Haikui fell silent for a moment.
“Now, do I still have a choice?”
Han Qi gave an “Mhm” in response, nodded, and let out a deep sigh.
In their current situation, whether it was the Emperor or himself, they had both offended her to the absolute extreme.
One was her child, the other her master—they had struck at the very core of her untouchable boundaries.
“On a personal level, I truly did not wish to reach this point with you, Miss Xiang.”
“Yet you forced me to this point with your own hands.”
Xiang Haikui suddenly swayed, unable to stand firmly.
Yin Changli hurriedly stepped back half a pace, using his palm to gently support her lower back.
Xiang Haikui furrowed her brow, but she didn’t push him away.
Now that the anger in her chest had drained away, she was genuinely exhausted to her very core.
She leaned back, resting her weight against his palm.
Yin Changli hesitated for a fraction of a second before stepping forward half a pace, overlapping half a shoulder with hers, standing like a solid tree for her to lean on.
“So Senior Han Qi, our paths diverge here. Thank you for the cultivation you bestowed upon me over this period, whether intentional or otherwise.”
Borrowing Yin Changli’s strength to stand straight, Xiang Haikui’s eyes held an unprecedented stillness as she cupped her fists toward him.
“From this day forth, I will see you on the battlefield!”
