The moment Gu Xuande relaxed his grip foretold Ye Zichen’s impending crisis.
As Ye Zichen fell into the spatial rift, Gu Xuande thought to himself that, unless his sight betrayed him, Ye Zichen’s middle finger shot up as he disappeared into the void.
As an inhabitant of the fully modernized Gu City, there was no way Gu Xuande wouldn’t know what flipping someone the bird meant.
“Little whelp!” Even though Ye Zichen was already falling into the rift, Gu Xuande was so furious that he sent a streak of divine energy to accelerate his fall. This was tantamount to throwing rocks at someone already trapped down a well.
Afterward, he sealed the rift back up, out of sight, out of mind.
By the time Qing Li rushed over, the rift had fused back together. She stared, dazed, at the place where space had just knit back together. When she considered how violent the spatial winds were inside, her face went rigid, and she shouted, “Have you gone insane!?”
“Insane? I’m as rational as can be. That little whelp doesn’t know what’s good for him, so I’m teaching him a lesson. I’m so kind, I didn’t even ask him to pay tuition. How does that make me insane?” Gu Xuande sat back in his chair. It was clear that Ye Zichen really had infuriated him, and not just a little, either. Even now, Gu Xuande’s chest heaved, and milky white steam shot out of nostrils.
But he wasn’t lying, either. He really was rational. At least, rational enough.
If he’d really lost his rationality, he wouldn’t have tossed Ye Zichen into turbulent space; he would have just snapped his neck and killed him on the spot.
Qing Li’s lips quivered, and a long time passed before she finally managed to speak. “You… Do you know what you just tossed him into?”
“Isn’t it just a spatial fault?”
“So you knew!” Qing Li was so angry, she practically jumped. She pointed into the healing spatial rift and shouted, “That’s a spatial fault! Even an imperial expert would struggle to make it out alive. Worse, it’s one of our dimension’s spatial faults; the odds of him making it out are even lower. Little Rong’s boy is at the divine general level at most, but you just tossed him in there. How is that any different from just killing him?”
“So what?”
“How will you explain this to Little Rong?”
“Do I need to explain it to her?” Gu Xuande glared at her. “I’m the head of the Gu Family, while she’s just a main branch clansman. Why should I have to explain anything to her?” Gu Xuande glared in fury, and if not for the fact that he’d turned the tea table to powder already, he would have struck it now.
To his surprise, Qing Li, who’d been yelling back and forth with him mere moments ago, suddenly scrunched up her lips and wept aggrieved tears.
“Little Li….”
“Don’t touch me,” said Qing Li, looking deeply aggrieved. “Just now, you were fierce to me. You even shouted at me. When we married, you said you’d dote on me. I even gave you a daughter, and I…”
“Don’t, don’t! Don’t cry! I was wrong!” Gu Xuande crouched at Qing Li’s side, his eyes showing no sign of their earlier fire.
“I was in the wrong just now. It’s all because that little brat irritated the snot out of me. But I was angry at him, not you, so please don’t cry, okay?”
“Just because you’re angry doesn’t mean you can toss him into a spatial void!”
“If what that white-robed man who came here earlier said is true, there’s no way Ye Zichen will die. I know what I’m doing.”
Gu Xuande patted Qing Li on the shoulder, but then, the elevator suddenly opened.
Gu Luolin, her hair up in pigtails, hopped out and dashed over at just the wrong moment.
Qing Li and Gu Xuande hurriedly put on their usual dignified demeanor. Gu Xuande then turned to his daughter and said gravely, “Why did you come back?”
“I….” Gu Luolin’s fear of Gu Xuande came from the bottom of her heart, and from the look in her eyes, she’d clearly noticed that Qing Li had cried recently. She didn’t dare to mince words. Head lowered and fingers fidgeting nervously, she whispered, “I forgot something.”
“Whatever it is, it can wait, can’t it?”
“No, it’s urgent!” Gu Luolin licked her lips, and her pigtails shook. Her bright eyes cautiously surveyed her surroundings. “Eh? Why don’t I see my nephew? Did he leave already?”
She’d really touched his sore spot!
When she brought up Ye Zichen, Gu Xuande’s expression instantly darkened. Gu Luolin noticed the change and hurriedly lowered her head.
Qing Li couldn’t help but glare at her husband. Then, she walked up to her daughter and said softly, “He already left. What are you looking for him for?”
“Oh, okay, I’m actually not here for him. I have something to tell you, Mom.” Gu Luolin was clearly nervous, and she spoke, she fidgeted with the hems of her clothes. She was terrified Gu Xuande would yell at her.”
“What do you have to tell me?” asked Qing Li warmly.
“Didn’t you tell me that I had an uncle? Except that you’d separated long ago, and that you’ve been looking for him ever since?”
“Right, but what about it?”
“I…. While I was off playing in the Transcendent Mausoleum, it seems I… It seems I saw him.”
The more she spoke, the quieter Gu Luolin’s voice. By the end, she was practically inaudible. Even so, Qing Li heard every word clearly, and her eyes instantly lit up with blazing flames. The heat and urgency of her gaze instantly sent the temperatures on the platform soaring up.
“You saw your Uncle Qing Lan?”
“Right, while I was with Ye Zichen. And it seemed they were on good terms, too.”
Suddenly, Qing Li froze.
The Yao-Sealing Pagoda!
That was undoubtedly it!
She’d considered the possibility that Qing Lan had entered the Yao-Sealing Pagoda, because after becoming a half-step transcendent, she’d searched for him for a full ten-thousand years. She’d searched the Upper Three Realms, the Outside, and even the home of the liches. The only places she overlooked were certain spatial divine artifacts.
She’d wondered if Qing Lan might be in the Yao-Sealing Pagoda, but then, she knew his strength. At the Five Elements Great Emperor’s level, it would be hard to capture him and force him into the pagoda.
Why would Qing Lan enter the pagoda willingly? There was only one possibility….
When this thought crossed her mind, Qing Li asked with obvious urgency, “Then was there anyone else with your Uncle Qing Lan?”
“There was!” Gu Luolin nodded. “There was also a super-strong guy. His muscles were so strong, I think he was…. Even stronger than you and dad!”
“Brother Cang Xiong!” said Qing Li.
“Right, that’s it!” Gu Luolin nodded forcefully. “Ye Zichen seems to have called that man Cang Xiong.”
Mother and daughter talked continuously. Gu Xuande listened from not far off, and although he didn’t know why, he felt a certain sense of foreboding….
He didn’t chime in for fear of the potential consequences. He even tried to slink off in secret….
“Stop!”
Just as Gu Xuande was about to sneak off, Qing Li’s cold, piercing shout reverberated through his ears.
Gu Xuande turned around, his face nothing but appeasing smiles, only to see Qing Li walk over and punch him right in the face. Her fist hit him right in the left eye.
“You… Right now, this instant, hurry up and get Ye Zichen out of there! If anything happens to him, or if the Yao-Sealing Pagoda falls into a spatial fault and gets lost, don’t even think of ever seeing me ever again!”
