Chapter 1887: Father and Daughter

In another courtyard of the Xiao Sect, Yun Wuxin picked up the Profound Image Stone that Chi Wuyao had given him. As he gently released profound energy, an image immediately appeared under the night sky.

The light was dim, and the faint sensation of spatial movement suggested they might be on a very fast profound ark. In a cramped corner, a figure in black sat slumped, his entire body curled up as if exposed to a biting cold wind. His face was pallid, and his half-open eyes showed almost no vitality, as murky as a pool of stagnant, despairing water.

The three tri-colored Glazed Sound Stones she had personally made were held gently against his chest, his fingers mechanically stroking them, over and over again. His lips continuously parted and closed slightly; his eyes, though devoid of light, overflowed with a pain that pierced to the very soul.

Yun Wuxin froze, her fingers unconsciously covering her lips.

Chi Wuyao had approached unnoticed. She stood beside Yun Wuxin, her gaze fixed on the man in the projection. "This was the day of your eighteenth birthday," she said. "That day, he killed the son of Zhou Xuzi, the man he hated most, and drove Zhou Xuzi to the brink of collapse. You can't imagine how terrifying he was, how twisted his face became... and he would never want you to see it."

Yun Wuxin remained silent.

"But when your image entered his heart, he became the most pathetic person in this world." Chi Wuyao sighed softly. "I know, over the years, you must have harbored many grievances against him. He lost you again and again, and broke his promises to you time after time, but please believe me, no one in this world loves you more than he does."

"Over the years, your waiting and worrying have been unbearable torment, but he endured the most direct and absolute pain and despair. After all, he personally watched you turn to dust along with the Blue Pole Star... No one can truly comprehend that kind of agony. Coexisting with that pain was a terrifying, intense will to die. The emotions he radiated during that period... I scarcely dare to recall them." Chi Wuyao slowly closed her eyes, her voice resonating softly. "At that time, he was resolved to die after enacting his revenge. If not for some events that occurred later, I wouldn't have known how to erase his desire for death."

This was also why, when Chi Wuyao first faced Qianye Ying'er's undisguised hostility, she had said with a smile, "I'm quite grateful to you."

Yun Wuxin's fingers, covering her lips, gradually tightened. She desperately suppressed her sobs but couldn't stop her tears from flowing. Her slender body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Chi Wuyao continued, "Your father is also far more extraordinary than you imagine. His greatest accomplishment wasn't saving the God Realm or conquering the four regions, but rather that after enduring everything, he didn't descend into wickedness. Instead, he offered even more forgiveness."

"So, don't resent him anymore. To reunite with you, he crossed the cruelest and most difficult obstacles in this world. Even now, he still carries many deeply hidden wounds in his heart. And perhaps only you can offer him the best solace for those wounds."

The image faded. Yun Wuxin suddenly turned, her figure darting into the distance, vanishing into the night in an instant.

"You truly spoil him immensely." A cool, clear voice sounded from behind Chi Wuyao.

"Spoil?" Chi Wuyao smiled faintly, turning gracefully. "That's a good word for it."

Chu Yuechan said nothing.

Chi Wuyao's gaze lingered on Chu Yuechan for a moment, her smile imbued with a touch of charm. "You and that child Feixue truly bear several resemblances, be it in appearance, aura, or even your eyes. No wonder..."

"Feixue?" Chu Yuechan's moon-like brows furrowed slightly. "What do you mean?"

"You'll meet her in the future... perhaps." Chi Wuyao's lips curved slightly. "Speaking of which, I have something I'd like to ask you."

Chu Yuechan said, "You are the Devil Queen of the Northern Realm, the Empress of the God Realm. Your status is far beyond mine; I would not dare presume to be 'asked for advice' by you." No one was unaware of what the title "Empress" signified... In the eyes of the world, she was the undisputed legitimate wife. Even someone with a heart as stoic as Chu Yuechan's couldn't remain entirely indifferent.

"You exaggerate," Chi Wuyao said with a slight smile. "Between us, we are merely sisters, not Devil Queen or Empress. Furthermore, according to the customs of your Profound Sky Continent, I should actually address you as Elder Sister."

"...There's no need." Surprised that Chi Wuyao, the Empress who controlled the God Realm, could humble herself so much, Chu Yuechan's eyes lost some of their indifference. "What do you wish to ask me?"

"I want to ask about someone." Chi Wuyao's breath became slow and deep. "Xia Qingyue."

"Qingyue?" Chu Yuechan frowned slightly.

"Yes," Chi Wuyao replied. "To my knowledge, in the early stages of her profound cultivation, she took the Ice Cloud Immortal Palace as her sect and became a disciple of your sister, Chu Yueli. You also took special care of her. Even when you met Yun Che back then, it was while you were seeking an opportunity for Xia Qingyue to break through."

"Why do you ask about her?"

"Because she's someone I can't let go of," Chi Wuyao sighed deeply. "I have a rather inconvenient habit: I can't tolerate unsolved mysteries in my mind; otherwise, they weigh on me like a thorn, impossible to dismiss. So, I want to know as much about her as possible, at least enough to understand where my judgment of her went wrong."

Chu Yuechan's brows furrowed deeply at Chi Wuyao's words. She felt something in her heart and whispered, "When he returned last time, he mentioned Qingyue several times, but this time, he hasn't spoken a single word about her... What exactly happened to her?"

Chi Wuyao remained silent.

"Whatever you want to know about her, I can tell you," Chu Yuechan said, turning her gaze to meet Chi Wuyao's. Her beautiful eyes reflected the lonely night moon. "But you must also tell me what happened to her... After all, she was also my disciple."

"Very well." Without hesitation, Chi Wuyao slowly nodded. "However, you must first tell me everything about her. If I were to speak first, it would surely influence your perception of her in your memories."

"...Ask what you wish to know."

Chi Wuyao had already set up a soundproof barrier around the two women. Yun Che absolutely refused to mention, or even hear, the name "Xia Qingyue." Naturally, Chi Wuyao wouldn't let him overhear her questioning Chu Yuechan about her.

However, Chi Wuyao didn't have high hopes. After all, when Xia Qingyue was in the Ice Cloud Immortal Palace, she was still a young girl, and her character might not have fully formed. But the deep-seated doubts in her heart had solidified into an unprecedented reluctance to give up.

On the rooftop, Yun Che, who had been gazing at the night sky for a long time, lowered his eyes as a graceful and beautiful figure approached with the night wind, landing beside him.

"Wuxin." Looking at his daughter, who had grown into a devastating beauty like her mother, Yun Che's lips curved upward as he softly called her name.

Yun Wuxin didn't speak. She gazed steadily at her father, then moved lightly to sit beside him, slowly resting her head on his shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his arm, her fingers silently tightening their grip.

The complex melancholy in his heart instantly transformed into boundless warmth. He tilted his head, his nose brushing against his daughter's hair, and smiled. "Moving from the Eastern Region to the Southern Region, the night sky has indeed changed, but my feelings and state of mind remain exactly the same. This is our homeland; no matter how grand other worlds are, they can never replace it."

"Father," Yun Wuxin said softly, "After a while, will you take me to travel the world called the God Realm? I want to see the places you've been."

"Of course!" Yun Che replied with a smile, declaring confidently, "You can go anywhere you wish. This entire cosmos is now under our feet. There's nowhere we, father and daughter, can't go, only places we might not want to!"

"Hehe..." Yun Wuxin giggled, gently rubbing her head against Yun Che's shoulder, as if she had returned to the past, to the little girl who playfully teased and laughed in her father's arms.

In the distance, Qianye Ying'er watched from afar, her long sash fluttering in the night wind for a long time, but she never approached. Such a scene, surprisingly, even she couldn't bear to disrupt.

"It's just a daughter!" she muttered indignantly. "If he likes them so much, I'll just give him a few more in the future... Hmph! How can a bunch of mortal women from the lower realms compete with me!" With that, she turned and walked away, not bothering to look back.

Yun Wuxin closed her eyes, her delicate nose twitching lightly with her breath. Her aunts, and even her master and mother, sometimes competed for attention both overtly and covertly, but no one ever competed with her. So, in those years, she monopolized her father's time the most and had long grown accustomed to his scent.

Over the years, his world had clearly been turned upside down, yet the scent she perceived had barely changed at all. Having reached such heights, his fondness for his homeland had never wavered, and his love for her remained pure, without a single trace of impurity. Chi Wuyao's words choked her with heartache; her last remaining grievances transformed into a deep, warm pain.

"Father," Yun Wuxin whispered, "I really like the birthday gift you gave me. Actually, I also have a gift for you."

"Oh? What is it?" Yun Che's eyes visibly lit up.

Yun Wuxin smiled faintly. She cupped her hands together, and as she opened them, a small, lustrous white jade stone appeared. The jade stone was of a pure, icy white, faintly covered in an icy glow. Under the soft moonlight, it emitted a mysterious luminescence, reflecting on the girl's snow-white, jade-like skin in her palm.

"An Everlasting Image Stone?"

This was the very Everlasting Image Stone he had obtained from Mu Feixue years ago and given to Yun Wuxin. An Everlasting Image Stone was essentially a type of Profound Image Stone, but one that would never break. No matter how much time passed, there was no need to worry about the loss of the images engraved within it.

With a gentle push of her slender finger, a faint icy glow bloomed, projecting a clear image before them. The image showed the familiar Yun family courtyard, and his charming, radiant daughter from his deeply cherished memories of these past years.

"Daddy, today is my fifteenth birthday, and I received so many precious gifts, but Daddy didn't come back on time." Her youthful face and voice from that year, which had haunted his dreams countless times over the years... Yun Che's heart and tear ducts were intensely stirred in an instant, and an uncontrollable warmth welled up in his heart and eyes. "But it's okay, I know Daddy must have been held up by something very important," the girl smiled sweetly, as pure and flawless as an angel. "But when you come back, Daddy, you absolutely must make up for my birthday gift. Also, breaking a promise must be punished... This is proof, you can't deny it, hehe."

The scene shifted. In the image, the girl had shed some of her childishness, replaced by a dazzling beauty, and her raven-black hair now reached her waist... In just one short year, she had undergone a transformative change.

"Daddy, I'm sixteen now, why still haven't you come back? I've grown so tall, Grandpa, Grandma, Master, and my aunts all say I've become as beautiful as Mother. I really wish you could see me. I'm so worried... but I know Daddy is the most amazing person in the world, nothing will happen to you. I'll be a good girl and wait for you to come back."

The projection changed again. Wuxin in the image was now seventeen years old. She no longer had any trace of childishness, only a graceful, slender figure and a jade-like face so beautiful it was almost daunting to behold. In her clear eyes and brow, there was a hint of the cool elegance inherited from her mother.

"Daddy, this is how I looked when I was seventeen... Mother said that missing my growth would definitely be your greatest regret, so I'll use the Everlasting Image Stone you gave me to record the traces of my growth. But why still won't you come back... Why have you left me alone for so long again..."

Yun Che said nothing.

The background of the projection transformed into an endless, pale snowy expanse. Eighteen-year-old Yun Wuxin's figure was now similar to Chu Yuechan's, standing amidst the falling snow like a solitary, noble snow lotus born from the flakes.

"Father, you're still not here for my coming-of-age ceremony. You once told me many times that you really wanted to see me when I grew up, but now that I have, where are you... Everyone is worried about you. Rumors have started in the Profound Sky Continent and the Illusory Demon Realm that you've fallen outside. I know those rumors are false; you must be safe, right? Even if... even if you're just infatuated with that higher, more distant world and don't want to come back."

The wind and snow drifted away, and the girl in the image now had hair reaching her hips. It was still her birthday, but she stood alone on a peak of unknown height, gazing up at the distant sky:

"I wanted to go to the God Realm to find you, but no one allowed it, and I didn't want Mother and the others to worry even more. If you don't come back soon, I'll hate you, I'll keep hating you until you return..."

"Ah!" With a soft cry, the image was hastily put away. Yun Wuxin lowered her head, clutching the corner of her skirt, and said nervously and flustered, "This... this doesn't count... I... I was just talking nonsense then, I didn't hate Father at all."

Receiving no reply from her father, she secretly peeked and saw him with tightly pursed lips, and tiny glints of starlight reflected in his half-closed eyes. She looked up and said quietly, teasingly, "Father, you're not... crying, are you?" Yun Che sharply turned his face away, huffing, "Nonsense! Your dad is the God Emperor, or the Master of the Primal Chaos, to put it broadly. I've seen everything; it's not easy for me to shed tears." As he spoke, he hastily circulated profound energy, somewhat awkwardly dispelling the mistiness in his eyes.

Yun Wuxin didn't tease him further. She leaned her graceful body, resting against Yun Che once more, and whispered, "Auntie Qianye said that when you were Emperor in the God Realm, you appointed many Imperial Consorts. So in the future, you'll definitely have many other children. Will you still spoil me like this then?"

Yun Che's old face flushed slightly. "Don't listen to her nonsense. Actually... there weren't that many."

"Really?" Yun Wuxin pinched Yun Che's arm with her fingers. "Auntie Chi said that just among the demonesses she brought as part of her dowry, there were nine."

"Cough, cough, cough." Yun Che's old face grew even hotter, and he said guiltily, "She did that on her own initiative! I had no idea beforehand!"

"Auntie Qianye also said that when you got engaged to that little Auntie surnamed Shui, she was only fifteen."

"#$%!" Yun Che nearly spat out his drink... a hundred and eighty ways to punish Qianye Ying'er flashed through his mind!

"But it's quite strange, speaking of which." Yun Wuxin tilted her head, her charming face thoughtful. "I have so many aunts, and you have so many Imperial Consorts in the God Realm, so why, after all these years, haven't you given me a younger brother or sister? Father, you don't... actually have some strange problem, do you?"

"How could that be?!" Yun Che roared out instantly as if electrocuted, his face unchanged but his heart pounding. "I just didn't want to! For someone as powerful as your father, controlling such things couldn't be simpler! Besides, I already have such a wonderful daughter in you. Even if I never have any other children in this life, I wouldn't feel any regret," he said half-seriously.

"Hmph! Father truly is a philanderer; flattering words for women just flow from you... Too bad they don't work on your daughter!" Yun Wuxin said with a smiling reprimand.

Yun Che was speechless.

"Oh, right!" Yun Wuxin suddenly remembered something and looked up to ask, "Father, did the transfer of the Blue Pole Star happen on the tenth day after you left?"

Yun Che thought for a moment and said, "That's right... How did you know?" He had told them everything that happened back then, but he didn't recall mentioning the specific timing.

"Just as I thought." Yun Wuxin said knowingly, "Because on that day, both the Profound Sky Continent and the Illusory Demon Realm experienced a brief anomaly. I even recorded it with the Everlasting Image Stone then... Father, look."

The Everlasting Image Stone in Yun Wuxin's hand once again released its special icy glow, projecting another image before Yun Che. The image showed the endless distant sky. The firmament trembled, and the entire space visibly quivered. High above, clouds shattered and dispersed, while a streak of red light rapidly spread, becoming denser as it expanded, covering the entire visible sky in an instant.

Although somewhat dim, far less intense than the soul-piercing crimson light of the Crimson Cracks, Yun Che recognized it instantly as the unique spatial divine light of the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword. A planetary transfer across star regions, spatial divine power forcibly activated by its own strength... Even for something as mighty as the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword, the red light covering the sky lasted for five or six breaths before finally dissipating... though this duration would only be considered brief by ordinary people.

The spatial tremors also gradually ceased. Looking from afar, the distant sky had subtly changed. However, with the senses and eyesight of Blue Pole Star's inhabitants, it would be almost impossible to notice any clear difference.

The image faded. Yun Wuxin slowly said, "At that time, many people speculated that it was either an earthquake affecting both continents, or that the Blue Pole Star had collided with a giant meteorite containing strong fire elements. Because it lasted only a short time and didn't cause any serious consequences, it wasn't long before no one spoke of it again. However, no one at that time could have possibly imagined that the entire planet had undergone an ultra-long-distance journey. The wonders of the world truly are beyond imagination; it was simply a magnificent miracle."

"It truly was a miracle," Yun Che said with a sigh. Without this miracle, he couldn't imagine what he would be like now, or what the God Realm would be like.

"Are the Eastern Divine Region and Southern Divine Region very, very far apart?" Yun Wuxin asked.

"Yes, very far," Yun Che replied. "So far that billions of Profound Sky Continents and Illusory Demon Realms couldn't span the distance."

Yun Wuxin blinked her beautiful eyes, seeming to try and imagine such a vast distance. She then softly said, "That little Auntie, surnamed Shui, who transferred the Blue Pole Star, she must be a truly gentle person."

"Oh? Why do you say that?" Yun Che asked curiously. Yun Wuxin had never met Shui Meiyin, and his own description hadn't mentioned her temperament.

"It's easy to guess," Yun Wuxin smiled. "Such an incredibly distant spatial transfer for a massive planet would almost certainly cause changes in its entire climate. However, after the anomaly occurred back then, it seems there were no unusual seasonal changes anywhere. Flowing Cloud City remained like spring year-round, and the Ice Pole Snow Region was still just as cold."

Yun Che remained silent.

"If Flowing Cloud City had become bone-chillingly cold, and the ice and the Ice Palace in the Ice Pole Snow Region had gradually melted, what a great pity that would have been. But despite such a distant spatial transfer, nothing changed. It must be that little Auntie surnamed Shui chose the very best region during the transfer, not only an environment closest to what it was in the Eastern Region, but also adjusting the planet's position and the orientation of each continent to absolute perfection. It must be so." Starlight gleamed faintly in the girl's eyes. "Not only did she save all of us, but she's also such a gentle, kind, and considerate little Auntie. I really want to meet her soon."

Yun Che was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "Perhaps it was just a coincidence." Shui Meiyin had never been to the Blue Pole Star, let alone knew where Flowing Cloud City or the Ice Pole Snow Region were.

"I don't believe in such a magical coincidence," Yun Wuxin chuckled.

Yun Che was momentarily lost in thought.

The night sky was vast, and the bright moon and stars cloaked the girl in a luminous jade-like garment. Yun Wuxin, nestled against her father, quietly fell asleep without realizing it. Her long lashes curled, and a faint smile touched her jade-like lips... Yun Che gently kissed her forehead. The girl's serene, flawless sleeping face was a beautiful picture he would dedicate his entire life to protect.