Love Travels through Time (My father who traveled through time and space to cultivate immortality came back to pick me up) - Chapter 79
Chapter 79: Coming-of-Age Ceremony
Yin Changli nodded, agreeing with her.
“That makes sense. After all, it’s a humiliation.”
“How could it be a humiliation?”
Xiang Haikui furrowed her brow, speaking completely openly and without hesitation.
“I was the one who agreed to the dual cultivation—it was mutually consensual.”
Even if she truly became pregnant, that was a risk she ought to bear herself.
However, having Jing Ran meddle in it indeed left an unavoidable knot in her heart.
Coupled with the current situation—where her own life hung in the balance every single day and she would drain Yin Changli’s health and mana bars down to the bottom…
At any rate, since she wasn’t actually pregnant, there was no need to overthink things so much.
She finished the remaining bit of her flatbread and grabbed her blue gauze skirt sleeve, which had already been stained with blood.
“Speaking of the word ‘humiliation,’ the one who felt humiliated back then was probably you, wasn’t it? You were the one who got forced into it.”
She couldn’t forget that look of abused outrage on his face back then even if she tried.
Her tone bore no resentment, yet it lacked much warmth as well, making Yin Changli’s heart quiver slightly upon hearing it.
On this point, he had no way to defend himself, so he could only seize the opportunity to say, “Little Kui, I didn’t choke you on purpose back then…”
Xiang Haikui interrupted him, however… “You’re getting off topic. You haven’t answered what I asked you yet.”
Yin Changli’s thoughts couldn’t quite catch up.
“Hmm?”
Seeing him acting like an old man suffering from dementia, Xiang Haikui reminded him, “How do I absorb these two un-fused masses of energy?”
“Oh, there is a way.”
Yin Changli reacted with a touch of slowness before hesitating briefly, saying, “You just…”
Xiang Haikui listened attentively as he spoke, nodding repeatedly to indicate she understood, before asking again, “About how long will it take?”
Yin Changli slowly released his divine sense, attempting to probe and estimate the time required.
Once her Tian Kuang reached max level, the barrier formed by her sword aura became exceedingly thick, making it impossible for his divine sense to penetrate easily.
Thus, he withdrew his divine sense and reached out his arm toward her lower abdomen.
The two were sitting side by side with hardly any space between them.
Seeing him reach over, Xiang Haikui understood his intention and hurriedly tucked her hands—which had been folded over her lower abdomen—behind her back.
By doing so, her chest naturally thrust forward slightly, and when Yin Changli extended his arm, his elbow brushed against a rather awkward spot.
Having just woken from his slumber, he was extremely sensitive to the cold and wore thick clothing.
Though it was merely a soft touch with little actual sensation, he froze slightly, the fair skin behind his ears instantly flushing red.
He hastily leaned his body forward and bent his arm, doing his best to avoid making contact with her.
Xiang Haikui hadn’t noticed at all at first, but with Yin Changli leaning forward like that, she only realized it in hindsight.
This reminded her once more of how impressive he had been during their dual cultivation—he really managed to avoid touching a single unnecessary spot, even more precise than a machine.
Before Yin Changli could sense those two masses of energy, he first felt the change in her emotions.
Looking over at her, he caught her casting a swift glance at him.
Yin Changli didn’t know if she was overthinking it; his current cautiousness was entirely different from his cautiousness back then.
“How is it?”
Xiang Haikui waited for quite a while, yet his hand remained stiffly hovering over her lower abdomen.
“It won’t take too long…”
Only then did Yin Changli begin to probe.
“If you heal your injuries for three hours a day, it will take roughly thirty-some days to absorb it completely.”
Having a clear idea in mind now, Xiang Haikui began following the method he described, guiding the sword aura within her body to dissolve those two masses of energy.
Simply sensing the existence of the energies took a considerable amount of time.
Upon careful observation, she realized that not even one percent of the fusion had occurred—the risk of this fusion failing was immensely high.
She truly couldn’t fathom why Jing Ran had been so convinced it would definitely succeed.
Was it because he believed this was a glimmer of hope bestowed upon him by the Heavenly Dao?
Xiang Haikui didn’t quite buy it.
No matter how partial the Heavenly Dao was to the Celestial Clan, it wouldn’t guide him to turn an innocent child into a curse, right?
For all anyone knew, the Heavenly Dao’s true intent might have been for Jing Ran to reincarnate on Earth, study a bit more history and politics, summarize the developmental trajectory of human civilization, absorb some advanced concepts, and return to implement reforms.
And the result? A complete waste of effort.
On the other hand, Shuluoye seemed far more like someone who had actually gone to Earth to learn from the source.
Xiang Haikui let out a cold sneer in her heart and began her recovery.
After an unknown amount of time had passed, she heard Yin Changli call her name.
“Little Kui?”
Xiang Haikui didn’t open her eyes.
“Hmm?”
Only after a long moment did she hear him say, “There is one more thing I need to tell you. If the fusion succeeds, it won’t impose any burden on you during the gestation process. In fact, it wouldn’t even show externally, nor would you feel a thing. Your protective spiritual energy would even strengthen by at least… ten times.”
“Senior,” Xiang Haikui turned her head to look at him, “I don’t have a single hesitation or deliberation, because I’ve never contemplated having a child in the first place.”
Many people assumed that orphans lacked love, craved the warmth of a family, and longed to give birth to a child sharing their own bloodline.
Xiang Haikui didn’t know what other orphans thought, but her mindset was the exact opposite.
Why had her father held such a deep obsession, constantly worrying about her?
Because her dad was an orphan himself—abandoned at birth, never knowing who his parents were. Having experienced the hardships of being an orphan, he naturally speculated about how difficult her life must be.
“I lost my mother at five, and my father at nine. And my father passed away so suddenly…”
He had clearly promised her the day before that he’d buy her a sugar figurine the next day, yet when she woke up from her sleep, he had become a cold corpse.
Having seen plenty of orphans in the orphanage, each had their own misfortunes and accidents.
Life was full of unexpected turns.
What if some accident befell her during the child’s formative years? What should be done then?
As she spoke, she caught a look in Yin Changli’s eyes that seemed to suggest she was worrying unnecessarily.
“Yes, you’ve lived a long time—like an invincible cockroach. But so what? Who can truly outsmart heavenly fate?”
Xiang Haikui held back a line in her heart: Your whole family was formidable, yet despite Chairman Yin being such an extraordinary Zhulong, didn’t he still leave you all alone and destitute?
Those words were far too hurtful, so she naturally wouldn’t say them aloud.
Yin Changli understood now—she lacked a sense of security in her heart.
After a moment of contemplation, he offered a gentle smile.
“I understand. Seeing how I’ve been alone for so many years, you know I don’t care to raise offspring either. Being a parent indeed requires taking on immense responsibilities—not to mention that when my clan conceives offspring, the father has to forfeit nearly more than half his life force. Raising just one Little Bai has already driven me half mad with frustration.”
“If I were to take a wife, I would also choose someone with no pursuit of offspring. She shouldn’t be like my mother, who loved children so much that she bore twelve in a row—otherwise, my father’s cultivation wouldn’t have remained stagnant, leading to his eventual death in battle.”
No wonder.
Xiang Haikui had previously found it suspicious that a figure like Chairman Yin should have been imprisoned like her master, yet ended up dying in battle instead.
Originally, Xiang Haikui had held a slight suspicion that Yin Changli’s rambling was an attempt to persuade her to continue fusing the child.
Looking at it now, it turned out he carried his own lingering shadows regarding this matter as well.
It seemed that on this point, she and he were truly like-minded—long live mutual understanding.
Yin Changli’s eyes dimmed slightly, and he fell silent as she resumed her healing.
…
A few days later, after the situation in Bian City had stabilized, Qi Yin and Dugu He were still locked in battle.
If both had been in their peak condition, this fight would have certainly left someone severely wounded.
However, because Qi Yin was merely an ejected soul, and Dugu He disliked taking unfair advantage, the latter utilized only half his strength.
Consequently, neither managed to injure the other.
The moment they fought to total exhaustion, they called a halt, leaving the duel without a clear winner.
“Not satisfying at all!”
Upon landing from high above, Dugu He beat his chest and stomped his feet.
“Qi Yin, when on earth can you break out of that prison cage of yours?”
Looking left and right, he saw quite a few onlookers in the distance, while up close there were only two young people sitting atop the crumbling ruins, eating while watching the fight.
“Where’s Yin Changli? Have him hurry up and rescue you!”
Yin Changli crossed the sea to arrive, smiling.
“Since Senior Dugu is in such a hurry, why don’t you head over to the Emperor’s side and destroy Senior Qi’s array formation board yourself?”
When he came, he brought Xiang Haikui along with him.
The instant Xiang Haikui touched the ground, she dashed straight to Qi Yin’s side. Qi Yin had originally intended to speak with Dugu He, but now he couldn’t care less, busying himself with checking his disciple’s injuries instead.
Dugu He shook his head.
“That won’t do. Although I have that thought every single day, as a member of the Celestial Clan, I cannot commit such an act of treason against my own race.”
He then let out a sigh of emotion, “Why must I be a member of the Celestial Clan? If only I belonged to your Shanhai Clan—then I could act entirely according to my own nature.”
He was not afraid of the Royal Family’s Inspiration, for he had a massive family clan standing behind him.
Otherwise, he would have chosen to stand by Shuluoye’s side back then.
Satisfying or not, fighting this duel had left his entire body feeling thoroughly exhilarated.
Seeing that Qi Yin was ignoring his attempts at conversation, he turned back to Yin Changli.
“Little Zhulong, I have high hopes for you. Rescue Qi Yin as soon as possible.”
Before departing with his sword in hand, Dugu He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Yin Changli.
After hesitating as if stopping mid-thought, he added, “I am merely a brute pursuing the pinnacle of the sword Dao—getting progressively more rash, progressively more mad. Even the Emperor is at his wit’s end with me now.”
Yin Changli listened silently.
Dugu He added, “I hope you can fulfill Shuluoye’s ideal.”
With that, he departed.
“Master, will you promise me not to be so impulsive in the future? You won’t get this lucky every time,” Xiang Haikui was giving Qi Yin a stern warning.
“You need to consider what it would mean for me if you actually died this time.”
“Alright, we’ll talk about it next time,” Qi Yin patted her hair buns.
“What do you mean ‘talk about it next time’? There’s a next time?!”
Xiang Haikui was determined to get a straight answer out of him.
Qi Yin hurriedly agreed, “No next time! Little Kui definitely won’t go through something like this again in the future, so there won’t be any need for me to stand up for you, right?”
“That’s more like it,” Xiang Haikui had just nodded when she realized something felt off—as if he hadn’t actually promised anything at all.
That was only natural.
Ever since his youth, Qi Yin had been bombarded with earnest advice from all sides; while he couldn’t take a hint or bend on other matters, he was a supreme master at giving people the runaround.
Yin Changli pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Senior Qi, it isn’t advisable for your soul to stay separated from your body for too long. You should head back right away.”
Qi Yin refused.
“I still have one piece of business left to take care of.”
Xiang Haikui asked, “What is it?”
Qi Yin raised his eyebrows.
“Changli told me someone is trying to steal my disciple away? He even challenged me to a duel?”
Xiang Haikui froze for a moment; she had almost forgotten about it.
“Master, please don’t get involved in this.”
For her master to fight Jing Wen would literally be like a high-level master bullying an elementary school student.
“I’ll go myself,” she said.
“Once I defeat him, where will he find the nerve to take me as his disciple? You should leave this chance to show off to me.”
“Though your Tian Kuang is maxed out, your personal cultivation base is only at the Eighth grade…”
Qi Yin paused briefly, then waved his large hand with a flourish.
“No matter! You should stand a fighting chance—just use him for sparring practice.”
After chatting for a while longer, Xiang Haikui—overcome by a mix of illness and exhaustion—needed to get some rest.
With the Twelve Palaces largely destroyed, Yin Changli offered.
“Go sleep in my mobile palace for a while.”
“Alright,” she nodded.
The little black orb expanded, opening its mouth.
“Careful, Sister Kui,” Lu Xiqiao and Bai Xingxian, having finished watching the spectacle, walked over to support her.
Xiang Haikui draped each of her arms over their shoulders, letting the two of them haul her into the little black orb.
Yin Changli had originally extended a hand to help support her, but she had completely ignored it.
At this moment, he looked rather awkwardly at the backs of the three of them acting like “buddies.”
Beside him, Qi Yin clicked his tongue.
“Jealous, aren’t we? Well, nothing you can do about jealousy.”
He pointed first at Bai Xingxian, then at Lu Xiqiao, mocking.
“Look at those two—one is a white mouse, all fluffy, and the other is a Harmony Fruit, smelling delicious. Both know how to win over young girls. Unlike you: a cold, smelly snake.”
…
Xiang Haikui slept in the mobile palace for two days.
Upon waking, she prepared to resume her recovery. Sensing her stomach rumbling again, she went to find Little Bai to ask for some food.
Yet the moment she set eyes on Little Bai, she stood frozen in place.
Inside Yin Changli’s mobile palace, Little Bai usually moved around in his demon form. The originally fluffy, chubby hamster had now turned into a fleshy, hairless lump.
“Little Bai, where’s your fur?!” She was utterly shocked.
Grasping a tiny brush-like broom with his two front paws, Bai Xingxian was meticulously sweeping the floating dust off the writing desk, looking thoroughly delighted.
“My uncle said I’ve come of age. According to our clan’s traditions, he held a coming-of-age ceremony for me and shaved off my baby fur.”
Xiang Haikui: ?
A mouse over five hundred years old still has baby fur?!
“You demon clan folks are truly bizarre,” Xiang Haikui couldn’t bear to look—he was simply far too ugly now.
“Where’s your uncle?”
“Oh, he’s outside taking care of business.”
No sooner had Bai Xingxian spoken than Yin Changli returned from outside to the mobile palace.
“I’m right here.”
Xiang Haikui turned her head and received another shock.
Where two scales usually sat by his temples, they were now replaced by two fluffy ornaments resembling rabbit tails.
Furthermore, the hem of his cloak was densely lined with fur trim.
Casting another glance at Bai Xingxian, Xiang Haikui understood everything.
She flew into a rage, scolding him via divine transmission: Senior, you are far too wicked! If you’re sensitive to the cold, there are plenty of fur fabrics in your treasury—why on earth did you strip Little Bai bald of his fur?!
