“Yes.” Lin Zhan nodded and calmly answered, “Falling for you son of a bitch?”
East Sovereign, “….”
The East Sovereign replied, “Your mouth really makes people want to both seal it and bully it.”
Lin Zhan made a “ha!” and said, “Pervert.”
The East Sovereign was unmoved and he held out a long, slender finger to rub it on Lin Zhan’s mouth a few times, “Your biggest mistake is that you’ve never trusted me, from beginning to end.”
Lin Zhan frowned a little angrily and wanted to hide away, but he had been unknowingly forced against a column of the waterside pavilion by the East Sovereign. Behind the column was a pillar and behind it was the sea. He couldn’t retreat at all. Lin Zhan simply closed his eyes and generously gave up his life, “What did you do that deserves my trust? Xuan Wushe, we’re just friends with benefits. Do you understand that? Anyway, I can’t communicate with people from other realms like you. Oh, by the way, in your realm’s words, you and I are called “one night stand”. After sleeping, we return to our respective families and find our mothers — your mother doesn’t like me very much. Did you marry that princess from that something-clan? Is there a baby? How old is the child ah?”
“Why, do you want to give a gift?” The East Sovereign was full of anger; he wanted to laugh.
“Gifts? Dream on! Do you want any face?” Lin Zhan stared straight at the East Sovereign, eager to bite and bruise him with his teeth, “You’d better imprison me in this place for a lifetime, otherwise if I can go out one day, I will try every means to kill you motherfuckers!”
“You can try your best getting out but no one in the world is willing to fight against the Xuan clan.” The East Sovereign answered, disregarding his threat.
“Not necessarily.” Lin Zhan smiled, lips curling up, “Demon Venerable Lie Sang has always been very interested in me. If I go find him, maybe he will lose his temper over a beauty or something. Even if I haven’t been in the Nine Lands for more than ten years, thinking about the current situation, You Ming has been seriously injured and is in decline, Xue Ji became lovestruck and doesn’t care for expanding his territory. Among the three great Demon Venerables, Lie Sang is the only one with a little bit of ruler’s ambition. He will not be willing to let the demon clan fall.” The East Sovereign had no expression, but the lotus flower sea outside was rolling in waves and clouds were billowing in the sky, just like his mood right now.
The East Sovereign loosened his hold on Lin Zhan’s chin, “Since you want to beat around the bush to find out about the situation of your old lover, I might as well tell you that you are wrong. Since Lie Sang dared to touch this humble one’s person in the beginning, it was absolutely impossible for him to get away with it completely intact.”
Lin Zhan was stunned for a moment, then asked, “What have you done to him?”
“This humble self wanted to kill him, but Heaven gave him a chance to live. But at this time, it is quite possible that he’s better off dead than alive.”
“Fuck …” Lin Zhan wanted to shout abuses about his mother, but it was useless.
The East Sovereign looked at Lin Zhan and continued lightly, “I don’t care about the matter with you and Lie Sang. Although you ran away at the beginning because he partially instigated it, you guys have already tasted the bitter fruit.”
Lin Zhan rolled his eyes.
The East Sovereign turned a deaf ear and asked in a flat voice, “Moreover, this humble one didn’t understand at first why you took away the sword manual of 《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》. Now I know it’s because you were pregnant with this humble one’s child, so you had to make plans for him.”
Lin Zhan couldn’t help rolling his eyes again and simply said, “Bullshit.”
The East Sovereign remained motionless and continued, “But, you only know that all descendants of the Xuan clan cultivate the 《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》. However, this humble one never told you that there was only one way to inherit the true sword style, moves, and internal technique of the 《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》.”
“It’s through blood lineage heritage — to put it simply, whoever has the right blood lineage, and as long as the time is right, this 《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》 will naturally appear in his sea of knowledge. This is also the easiest proof for the entire Xuan clan to judge their blood lineage and it’s the only way to get the 《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》.”
Lin Zhan was completely shocked. His mind suddenly grasped a thought.
He looked at the East Sovereign in disbelief, “Through inheritance? Why did you take me to see the 《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》 in the secret chamber? Also you said that anyone could practice it?”
Lin Zhan gasped for breath and his lips trembled. “Have you always suspected that I came to you for the Xuan clan’s《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》? So, Xuan Wushe, have you found any evidence to prove it?”
The East Sovereign’s eyes sank, “Yes, but it seems the answer is wrong.”
Lin Zhan suddenly seemed to have exhausted all of his strength and leaned against the pillar behind him.
With a wry smile, he feebly said, “Xuan Wushe, you always said that I don’t believe you, but have you ever trusted me? I always wondered why I could escape from your territory so easily, and why I could get the《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》without any difficulty. It turns out that my every move was already in your expectations. If you don’t want to let me go, I won’t be able to leave your lotus sea in my life.”
The East Sovereign moved his lips in a subtle way. He seemed to want to say something but felt that it was unnecessary to explain.
Lin Zhan sniffed, “So the 《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》 is actually the break-up fee you gave me, right? No, since you suspect that I am malicious and had deliberately approached you that《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》probably isn’t the real one. Is it fake?”
“Yes.” The East Sovereign said lightly, “I can’t let the real《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》exist alone.”
Lin Zhan already thought so.
He was so angry that he couldn’t help clapping his hands and laughing, “The East Sovereign is really a powerful man. Since I entered the Nine Lands more than twenty years ago, I’ve been constantly reminded that of the Nine Lands, only the East Sovereign is the most untouchable one. Now I completely believe it. You used a fake 《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》to get rid of my pestering. I’m afraid that you, the Xuan clan’s old ancestor, and that eldest daughter of the Voodoo family, only treated me as a joke from beginning to end.”
“Who told you to steal《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》? If you hadn’t stolen it, how could I have misunderstood you?” The East Sovereign didn’t think it was his fault.
“Yes, I did steal 《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》.” Lin Zhan smiled, but his eyes were filled with sadness, “You were going to marry your imperial concubine — the wife of the entire Xuan clan and the other master of the East Kingdom. Yet I had to deal with constant trouble from that mother of yours, who always looked down on me from high above…”
Lin Zhan closed his eyes and laughed in a hoarse voice, “Haha… you didn’t even know, when I asked you what you would do if I had your child one day, how painful your answer was? You said that after your child was born, you would come and raise the child with me, but I was doomed to have no blood relationship with you.”
He sniffed again, “I thought you didn’t like children, but you were willing to have children with others. It seemed that you just despised me from the beginning. You probably didn’t think I had the qualifications. But at that time, I already had a little fellow in my stomach. Say, do you think I’d be willing to abort him?”
Lin Zhan’s voice was hoarse, his eyes like empty holes. It seemed that the pain had reached its extreme and only numbness remained.
“I thought at that time, why should I compromise this far? I precisely wanted to give birth to the eldest son of your Xuan clan. I precisely wanted him to cultivate the 《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》. My child was born without a father, so I calculated everything for him. I wanted him to come to the Nine Lands and the East Kingdom in a few decades. I wanted him to trample on all of you who once insulted and humiliated me. I wanted him to compete with you and the son of your imperial concubine. I wanted to see your face that has always been so tightly controlled to be filled with expressions of failure and amazement.”
The East Sovereign looked at the rare sight of Lin Zhan in front of him and his eyes grew a little darker.
He replied, “If you have other ideas, say them all together.”
Lin Zhan took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes, “In reality, it doesn’t make any sense to say these things now as if I’m a dissatisfied housewife. When my child was born later on, he was so small and soft. All of my thoughts were lost and scattered. I didn’t mention anything about the Nine Lands to him. I only hoped he could live a free life of his own making. You and I have never been in the same world and will never be. East Sovereign, now that you have let me go, can you consider me dead? My child will not come to rob the Xuan clan of anything, he is just an ordinary person.”
“The son of Xuan Wushe is doomed to be extraordinary since birth.” The East Sovereign whispered, “Ah Zhan, why have you never told me any of these thoughts before?”
“When I wanted to tell you, it was hard for me to see you.” Lin Zhan smiled as he wept, “When you didn’t want to see me, I couldn’t contact you in any way, just like when you wanted to imprison me, I couldn’t escape in any way. You can crush me with a single finger, but I can’t hurt you at all. Look, this is the gap between us. Later, when I saw you, I felt that it was too melodramatic to say these words, so I had no idea what to say. I would think, what’s the point in saying them? Your life has long been perfectly planned by you and you won’t change it just because of one Lin Zhan. You wouldn’t allow anyone to disobey your ideas. How could I ever think that just a few words from me can make you change your mind?”
“That’s why I said that your biggest mistake is never trusting me.” The perfect and cold face of the East Sovereign was cracking like the tip of an iceberg, revealing wisps of complex emotions.
For a long time, he couldn’t figure out why he and Lin Zhan had become like this. It wasn’t like they never had a sweet past or precious shared memories, but in the end, why did they end up opposing each other?
The East Sovereign moved his throat, “Have you ever thought about staying with me permanently?”
Lin Zhan smiled wryly, “Yes, I’ve always wanted to. Before you told me how you wanted me to raise your and someone else’s children for you, I’ve always stupidly thought about it. As long as I could stay with you, I could endure anything. But then I understood — that I couldn’t do it.”
The East Sovereign raised his hands and grabbed Lin Zhan by the shoulder. He remembered the little things when he and Lin Zhan were getting along, and naturally could recall the scene of that day.
After he said those words, Lin Zhan’s state had actually been a little off, but he was distracted with busy affairs at the time and didn’t pay any attention to it. Because of some urgent matters, he didn’t respond to Lin Zhan’s whispered “Why”.
As a result, their misunderstanding grew deeper and deeper, to the point where they eventually drifted apart.
Now that he thought about it, his original plan was really ridiculous. He thought that things destined by the Dao of Heaven could be forcibly changed by himself.
“Of course, I wanted a child with you.” The East Sovereign continued through gritted teeth, “I’ve always wanted to, but I was about to go into closed-door cultivation at the time. The ascension of Royal Heavenly Capital’s new emperor was drawing closer day by day, and the prophet family seemed like they had 10,000 pairs of eyes, surveilling our every move in the East Kingdom. I could never let our child come down to the world at this time.”
“Stop making excuses.” Lin Zhan pushed away his hand and told him coldly, “I heard you talking about having a baby with her.”
“That’s because the Yan family and the prophet family were targeting my eldest son who hadn’t even been born yet.” The East Sovereign’s eyes turned dark and cold, as if filled with endless anger. “As long as he dared to come into this world, they would use any means to kill him. ”
—
