Love Travels through Time (My father who traveled through time and space to cultivate immortality came back to pick me up) - Chapter 82
Chapter 82: Lessons Learned from Past Mistakes
“You’ve certainly outdone yourself,” Xiang Haikui said, feeling a wave of exasperation.
Picking the single ugliest one out of three thousand Tibetan foxes—just how bored was he?
Naturally, she had only wanted to catch a glimpse of the legendary, ravishing fox spirits; she harbored no prejudice against Tibetan foxes for their plain appearance.
“Still, given your looks, Senior, were you really afraid of being upstaged by a nine-tailed fox?”
Yin Changli smiled softly.
“I am.”
Xiang Haikui glared at him.
“When did you become so lacking in confidence?”
Yin Changli met her gaze.
“Lately, I really haven’t had much confidence.”
Without Jing Ran, every man was rated a zero in her heart—except for him and Han Qi, who were both in the negatives.
Where was he supposed to find confidence?
Xiang Haikui paused slightly, trying to discern whether he was joking.
Yin Changli let her study him, his eyes fixed on her with a constant, gentle smile.
Even though her injuries were mostly healed, her cheeks remained pale and bloodless.
She had grown noticeably thinner, making her seed-shaped face look even sharper.
Paired with her slightly sunken eyes, her peach-blossom eyes—which used to always dance with amusement—now carried a deeper intensity.
Yin Changli recalled when he had first brought her over; her appearance had seemed so plain and ordinary that it had barely left an impression on his mind.
Now, it was as if she had a whole new face—every smile and frown irresistibly drew one’s gaze.
In reality, though, she had probably just lost weight…
The fox man had already stepped forward and bowed low to Yin Changli.
“Muxi greets the Grand Patriarch. Forgive me for my late arrival, Grand Patriarch.”
Yin Changli gave a faint nod before continuing his voice transmission to Xiang Haikui: “You don’t know—not only have I lost a bit of confidence, but I’ve also gained a bit of unease.”
Xiang Haikui knitted her brows. His voice was calm and his demeanor remained completely elegant, but for a split second, she felt as though she could truly sense a deep-seated anxiety hidden within the depths of his dark, luminous eyes.
To be fair, Xiang Haikui reached out and gently patted his shoulder.
“Senior Yin, have a little confidence. Honestly, your advantage is extraordinarily obvious.”
Yin Changli caught himself off guard.
Xiang Haikui had a half-amused expression.
“Look at it from another angle: other men might keep losing points with me, but you won’t. You have absolutely no room left to drop—you physically cannot get any worse.”
This time, it was Yin Changli’s turn to have the corner of his mouth twitch almost imperceptibly.
“I’m not mocking you,” Xiang Haikui offered him a look that said ‘I mean it’.
So many relationships begin with a lack of understanding and end with knowing too much. Thus, other men still had room to fall, while Yin Changli did not. As the man closest to her so far, she had seen his many sides: kind, gentle, disheveled, bastardly, and malicious. She was likely the only woman in this world who had seen so many facets of him.
When you know someone too well, there are no filters left—and naturally, no fear of those filters shattering.
Yin Changli cooperated by curving his lips upward, yet he could not mask the bitterness in his smile.
He really didn’t want this “advantage” of not being able to drop any lower.
At the very beginning, he truly ‘did’ have an advantage—he was the savior of her and her father, and whenever she looked at him, her eyes always sparkled with a hint of admiration.
To put it in the terms Xiang Haikui often used, he had dealt himself a great hand and played it atrociously.
Fortunately, the Emperor’s card-playing skills were even worse than his; otherwise, he would have had no choice but to admit defeat in tears.
“Achoo!” Bai Xingxian sneezed behind them.
Yin Changli’s eyelashes fluttered slightly.
Coming back to his senses, he looked at the rock fox named Muxi and asked, “What delayed you on the road?”
“In reply to the Grand Patriarch, before leaving the mountains, I was cross-examined by several elders, which delayed me…” Muxi said with a look of embarrassment, braving through the explanation.
“The elders asked me to pass a message to you, requesting that you return to the clan immediately…”
Yin Changli sneered.
“I should go back—to see whose tongue has gotten so loose and gossipy.”
Earlier, to control a frantic Xiang Haikui, he had been injured by her.
When news of it reached the clan, it was bound to set off the elders’ naggings; he had long been mentally prepared for it.
“Then you…”
“I will return, but not now.”
Even if Yin Changli could not enter the mountain, he had to guard it from the outside.
One was Xiang Haikui, and the other was Bai Xingxian—the two most precious people in his life were right here. Even if the sky fell, he would not leave.
Muxi’s face was twisted in conflict.
“But Patriarch…”
Yin Changli cut him off with a look and simply commanded, “Take good care of them. Swear it on your life.”
Muxi instantly straightened his expression.
“Yes!”
“Thank you for your trouble, Senior,” Xiang Haikui said, cupping her fists in a gesture of respect.
“I dare not accept,” Muxi replied with polite courtesy.
Xiang Haikui could sense that he wasn’t particularly friendly toward her. However, because he made no attempt to hide his hostility, and Yin Changli—who surely felt it too—still deemed him trustworthy, there shouldn’t be any issue.
She didn’t need to stay on guard against him.
Yin Changli pulled out a few talismans. He originally intended to hand them to Xiang Haikui, but then remembered he had previously given her an even higher-grade summoning talisman that she hadn’t used at all.
Turning around, he handed them to Bai Xingxian instead.
“Little Bai, if anything happens, contact me immediately.”
“Alright, Uncle.”
Bai Xingxian, who was currently huddling together with Lu Xiqiao for warmth, painstakingly dragged an arm out from his sleeve and took the talismans.
“Go on then.”
Having given meticulous instructions on every last detail, Yin Changli pointed toward a mountain path, gesturing for Muxi to lead the way.
“We’ll be going then.”
Xiang Haikui wrapped her cloak tightly around herself, stomped her numb feet, and turned to follow, with Little Bai and Lu Xiqiao in tow.
Watching her figure drift further into the distance, Yin Changli wrapped his own cloak tighter around himself.
He could not handle the cold well, and a layer of white frost had already formed over his eyebrows, yet he refused to return to the palace.
The palace had its own protective barrier, which would obstruct his divine sense from monitoring their surroundings.
“Who’s there?!”
Xiang Haikui suddenly halted her steps up the mountain.
A surge of sword aura burst forth from her sword scabbard, flying straight toward a distant direction.
Not a single blade of grass grew within the vicinity of Ice Spring Mountain; wherever the sword aura swept, it cleared nothing but barren ground. Even after the sword aura dissipated, there was no sign of movement.
“What is it?” Bai Xingxian followed the trajectory of the sword aura, but could sense nothing.
“Sister Kui, are you being a bit too nervous?”
Lu Xiqiao couldn’t perceive anything either.
“If you could sense someone, there’s no way Senior Yin wouldn’t have.”
“Tian kuang gave me a warning.”
Xiang Haikui turned back toward Yin Changli, patting the sword scabbard on her back to signal that she wasn’t just being paranoid.
The other party’s cultivation level was far higher than her own, making detection extraordinarily difficult.
However, that person’s probing had been a bit too aggressive—as if intent on discovering whether those two masses of qi were still inside her dantian.
Yin Changli nodded at her, signaling that it was fine.
The area targeted by the Tian kuang Sword happened to be right at the absolute edge of his divine sense’s reach.
He already knew who it was—they had followed Muxi here.
Muxi guessed it as well.
Cold sweat immediately broke out across his forehead as he cupped his hands toward Yin Changli in panic.
“Patriarch, I had no knowledge of this!”
Yin Changli ignored him.
His dark eyes dimmed as his finger swiftly traced the character for “Chaos” in midair, stirring up the surrounding biting cold wind.
In an instant, endless wind blades howled through the air, crushing over the path the Tian kuang sword aura had just traveled once more.
With a loud crack, the air shattered like an eggshell.
Xiang Haikui heard a soft chuckle, followed by the sight of a long, slender leg stepping out from thin air.
Moments later, an entire figure was exposed to everyone’s view.
It was a woman with sharp, defined features and cold, pale skin.
Some women, regardless of their age, personality, or cultivation level, just looked like someone you shouldn’t mess with on appearance alone—she belonged to that exact category.
“Aunt Rong?”
Bai Xingxian, who had been breaking out in a cold sweat, breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing a familiar face.
“Little Bai.”
The woman smiled and waved at him, her eyes carrying a touch of maternal affection.
“Third Elder!”
Muxi greeted her with a troubled expression.
The Third Elder of the Shanhai Clan, Zhu Rongrong, was of the same generation as Yin Changli and hailed from the Nine-Tailed Fox tribe.
As the cleverest branch of the Shanhai Clan, the Nine-Tailed Foxes had staged numerous attempts at independence even before the Shanhai Clan fell.
Though they never ultimately succeeded, they had long existed in a state of semi-detachment, dwelling in an isolated paradise and rarely involving themselves with the other Shanhai tribes.
Consequently, during the war with the Celestial Clan, they were barely dragged into the conflict.
They had even refused to offer any assistance when their fellow kinsmen fled as refugees, taking advantage of the turmoil to achieve total independence.
Yet that independence did not last long. After Yin Changli became the Grand Patriarch of the Shanhai Clan, he rode into their “Peach Blossom Spring” single-handedly.
Whether through strategy or raw strength, the then-leader of the Nine-Tailed tribe, Zhu Rongrong, was thoroughly defeated at his hands.
The reason the Nine-Tailed tribe had insisted on breaking away was that they felt, based on intelligence alone, the Nine-Tailed Foxes and the rest of the Shanhai Clan were essentially two entirely different species.
But after having their intellect ground into the dirt by a Zhulong, as long as Yin Changli remained in the Shanhai Clan, they were too embarrassed to ever bring up their superior intellect again.
Over the years, Yin Changli drew the enemy fire on the outside and rarely returned to the clan; it was mostly Zhu Rongrong, as the Third Elder, who managed clan affairs—effectively making her the second-in-command of the Shanhai Clan.
“What are you doing here?” Yin Changli asked, knowing full well the answer.
“I’m here to stand in for you, Patriarch.” Zhu Rongrong cast a glance in Xiang Haikui’s direction, offering a polite, well-mannered smile.
Even though Tian kuang was issuing a warning, one doesn’t strike a smiling face.
Xiang Haikui cupped her hands to return the courtesy.
Zhu Rongrong then continued to Yin Changli, “Knowing you wouldn’t feel at ease leaving them, I came specifically to guard them in your place. This place isn’t far from the clan grounds—you had better go back and explain things first. Otherwise, the other elders will only feel that ‘this matter is of grave consequence.’ I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep them in check, Changli.”
Zhu Rongrong made no attempt to lower her voice, ensuring that Xiang Haikui could hear every word clearly.
Yin Changli, however, shooed them along.
“There’s nothing for you to worry about here. Enter the mountain.”
Xiang Haikui dutifully turned to leave, choosing not to stay and get involved.
If it were just her alone, she might have tried to persuade Yin Changli—suppressing the Tian kuang sword intent was hardly a critical issue. But wasn’t Little Bai here too? Little Bai’s “Inspiration” fusion process was far too crucial; Yin Changli was handling an important and proper matter. Dragging him back to the clan right now to hold him accountable was nothing short of neglecting actual duties.
Yin Changli found it amusing.
“When Lord Qi disregarded the bigger picture and extracted his own soul, I wonder how the elders viewed that situation?”
Zhu Rongrong pursed her lips slightly.
“That’s why I asked: you’re simply too capable and have never made a single mistake. The moment you make an exception, they feel the situation is overwhelmingly dire…”
“Make a mistake? I merely did what I believed needed to be done,” Yin Changli interrupted her.
“Of course I understand; you’ve always known your boundaries.”
While speaking to him, Zhu Rongrong sent a secret voice transmission directly to Xiang Haikui: “Young lady, the matter involving you, the Emperor, and Changli has already spread far and wide…”
Xiang Haikui remained silent.
“I wonder if you are still continuing to fuse with that child?”
Xiang Haikui knew this was what it was about.
“No. Those two masses of qi have almost been completely absorbed by me. It won’t affect Senior Yin—you can rest assured.”
Zhu Rongrong neither expressed belief nor disbelief.
“Young lady, I hope you can persuade him to accompany you back for a visit. Otherwise, the three of you will certainly not find peace during your secluded cultivation. The First Elder will undoubtedly send people to capture you… He must verify for himself that the child in your womb indeed failed to form…”
Xiang Haikui frowned slightly, but her footsteps did not halt; Yin Changli should be capable of handling this.
She said teasingly, “In your hearts, is your patriarch really someone so lacking in judgment and clarity?”
Zhu Rongrong sighed, “There is no other way. With his father’s past mistake as a lesson, the First Elder says he resembles his father too much and could easily tread the same path again.”
Xiang Haikui recalled the story of Chairman Yin’s wife, who had given birth to twelve children in a row, causing Chairman Yin to lose half his life force before he even stepped onto the battlefield.
“That’s hardly the same thing,” she remarked, nearly reaching the mountain peak.
“Back then, no one knew that an all-out war with the Celestial Clan would break out later.”
One loved children, and the other cherished his wife; whether or not they had children was purely the private affair of a married couple.
Besides, depleting one’s vital energy wasn’t something that couldn’t be nursed back to health.
Even if his cultivation progressed a bit slower, Chairman Yin’s capabilities were already more than enough for him to command power at will.
“True, no one knew there would be a war, but his mother’s desire to cost his father his life was long premeditated.”
Zhu Rongrong dropped this line coldly.
“Changli knows nothing about this. So, do you want him and the First Elder to clash because of you and be confronted with a truth he might not be able to bear?”
Xiang Haikui froze for a moment, her footsteps finally coming to a stop.
“What did you say?”
