Chapter 1364: The Bursting Dam
The sound of the wind faded away. Yun Che stood frozen in place, the world spinning before his eyes.
"What's wrong, Brother Benefactor?" Feng Xian'er quickly stopped in her tracks.
Yun Che stared ahead, his gaze vacant, all the blood in his body seemingly ceasing to flow in a numb stupor. He asked in a daze, "Did you just... hear... any sound?"
"Sound? No." Feng Xian'er shook her head. Other than the softly whistling wind, she hadn't heard anything.
Yun Che's current hearing was far, far inferior to Feng Xian'er's—by more than a few realms. If even she hadn't heard the sound, it could only have been an auditory hallucination.
But Yun Che shook his head, shaking it almost convulsively. He turned around, but the numbness in his body caused him to fall to his knees...
"Ah! You... what's wrong?" Feng Xian'er hastily supported him, at a loss.
"No... it's her voice... it's her voice..." Yun Che's vision gradually blurred, his blood surging chaotically. Even though more than a dozen years of "separation between heaven and man" had passed, her immortal silhouette and her voice were still deeply engraved in the deepest, most guilt-ridden, most painful, and most untouchable place in his soul.
To his dying day, he would never forget even the slightest trace.
"Take me there... take me there!" He reached out toward the direction of the bamboo house, but the numbness and trembling in his body made it nearly impossible for him to stand.
"Ah... okay, I... we'll go... we'll go right now!"
Feng Xian'er could clearly feel Yun Che's body trembling. The surface of his skin even took on an abnormal flush, and his expression was so chaotic it was as if his soul had been pierced... She was thoroughly frightened, nodded in panic, and, disregarding the danger of the place, brought him back toward the bamboo grove.
At the same time, she circulated her profound energy, protecting Yun Che with extreme caution.
Returning to the bamboo grove, just as they reached the edge, their approaching aura alerted the exceptionally vigilant Yun Wuxin, who "whooshed" out from the bamboo grove again. Seeing the two who had just been scared off by her but had returned, her little face was fierce and ferocious, and her voice rose sharply: "Hey! Why are you back again? Leave immediately, or else—"
She extended her hand: "If you don't leave, I'll really have to send you flying!"
Yun Che's gaze turned wildly, as if trying to pierce through the layers of bamboo... At that moment, from deep within the grove, a voice as ethereal as a dream lightly drifted over: "Xin'er, who are you talking to?"
Buzz——
The immortal sound came with the wind, like mist and like smoke. In that instant, Yun Che's soul seemed to explode, the world before him turning pale white, all the blood in his body rushing to his head like mad... He stood there, his breathing completely stopped, unable to feel his heartbeat, unable even to feel the existence of his body—as if he had suddenly fallen into an unreal dream...
"Ah!" Feng Xian'er supported him again. She felt his entire body leaning against her, trembling, his pupils devoid of color... as if he had suddenly lost all his soul.
"Xiao... Xian... Nu..." He murmured as if in a dream, then lunged forward uncontrollably: "Xiao Xian Nu... is it you... is it you... Xiao Xian Nu!!"
That title which belonged only to him, that immortal silhouette he thought he would never see again and could only carry a lifetime of guilt for...
Yun Che's overly violent reaction and uncontrolled cries not only startled Feng Xian'er but also frightened Yun Wuxin. Her eyes wide, her face showing a hint of nervousness: "He... what's wrong with him? It's... it's not my fault, is it?"
"..." Feng Xian'er looked at Yun Che in a daze, unable to answer.
The bamboo swayed gently, and a figure slowly emerged from the grove. Her steps were very light, very slow, as if walking on clouds, as if in a dream. She was still wearing the white clothes she loved most—pure as auspicious snow, flawless as pearls and jade. Her bearing was still that ethereal transcendence, like an immortal, like a phantom, as if she had never been tainted by the slightest worldly smoke or fire.
But compared to before, she was thinner and more delicate, almost unable to withstand the cold wind of the bamboo grove. Like Yun Che, she had no lingering aura of the profound way. However, where Yun Che's lack of ambition had caused him to age rapidly, heaven seemed to favor her more. Even with her profound strength completely dispersed, it still refused to leave any traces of time or hardship on her face. Standing there quietly, she had already gathered all the brilliance of heaven and earth.
Chu Yuechan.
She looked at Yun Che, and Yun Che looked at her. The moment their gazes met, the world seemed to freeze—no more radiance, no more sound... only the reflections in each other's pupils, more illusory than a dream.
"Mother!?" Yun Wuxin called out softly, her small figure spinning to her side in an instant. A layer of gentle profound energy hastily covered her mother, afraid that she would be harmed by the cold wind: "The wind is very cold today; you shouldn't come out."
"..." Her daughter's anxious words drew no reaction. Chu Yuechan stared blankly at Yun Che, all the brilliance in her beautiful eyes turning into misty obscurity. From her lips drifted a murmured whisper: "Is... it... you...?"
"..." Yun Che nodded—he nodded weakly but vigorously. He wanted to move forward, but his body would not obey. He opened his mouth again and again, and after a long, long time, finally managed to utter a trembling voice that he himself could barely hear: "It's... me... it's me..."
"..." Chu Yuechan's body swayed lightly in the wind, her parted lips unable to produce any more sound. The man before her—his face was full of loss and vicissitudes, his once bright eyes had become turbid—but in that very first instant, she knew it was him.
The man who had stirred her heartstrings, melted her defenses, completely occupied her body and soul, and then heartlessly left her forever...
Another gust of wind blew, and in her daze, she slowly began to fall...
"Ah! Mother... what's wrong? You... don't scare me." Yun Wuxin quickly supported her, looking at her mother, then at Yun Che, her heart filled with confusion and panic.
"..." That wisp of cool wind finally stirred Yun Che slightly from his dream. He reached out and walked forward step by step. But he could not feel his own footsteps; it was as if his body was being carried by invisible clouds, slowly, slowly drawing closer to that figure he thought would only appear in dreams.
"..." Yun Wuxin did not stop him—even she herself did not know why. Until Yun Che stood before her mother, she still stood there dumbly, at a loss.
Chu Yuechan slowly raised her hand and touched Yun Che's cheek. The rough texture was more real than anything: "You are... still... alive..."
"I am... still... alive..." Yun Che nodded, every word as faint as light smoke: "And you... are also... still... alive..."
The two of them—he thought he would never see her again, a lifetime of pain; she thought she would never see him again, a lifetime of regret. Fate, which always plays cruel jokes, was sometimes merciful—but this mercy came nearly twelve years late.
He took Chu Yuechan's hand. The warm, moist sensation spread from his palm to every corner of his heart and soul, telling him that this was not a dream. He was once again holding Xiao Xian Nu's hand... and he never wanted to let go again.
When you lose something, the heart-wrenching pain; when you regain it, the ecstatic joy. They had been separated by "heaven and man" for nearly twelve years, but a thousand words were reduced to silence. Each other's faces and figures were sometimes clear, sometimes blurred in their eyes, and the whole world seemed to be constantly switching between reality and illusion.
"Mother, what's wrong with you? Are you... sick?" Yun Wuxin looked at her mother's hand intertwined with Yun Che's, gently tugging at her sleeve, asking timidly.
Her voice made Yun Che involuntarily turn his gaze. He looked at Yun Wuxin, and for a moment, he could not look away. His already chaotic heart and soul trembled even more violently...
She was named Yun...
Eleven years old...
Could it be... she... she is...
Chu Yuechan extended her other hand, took her daughter's tender little hand, and said softly, "Xin'er, he is your father."
"..." Yun Che's body shook violently, and his vision blurred completely again.
Behind him, Feng Xian'er covered her mouth with both hands, her beautiful eyes wide, completely dumbfounded.
"..." Looking at her mother, then at Yun Che, Yun Wuxin's lips parted slightly as she murmured, "But... Father... isn't he already... no longer in this world?"
Chu Yuechan shook her head, the tears at the corners of her eyes more beautiful and flawless than the most brilliant starlight: "Mother lied to you. Your father is not only alive... he has also found us... Xin'er, from now on, you will have a father. Are you happy?"
"...Father... Father?" Yun Wuxin still had her lips slightly parted, staring dazedly at Yun Che, her gaze hazy as if covered by an unshakable mist.
"Wuxin... my daughter..." Looking at the girl before him, connected to him by blood, Yun Che's heart was in utter turmoil. He stretched out his trembling hand, reaching toward Yun Wuxin—his daughter, the continuation of his life...
Yun Wuxin did not dodge. But his hand stopped in midair, then timidly withdrew, afraid to touch her—afraid that his rough, dirty fingers would stain her flawless, tender face, afraid that she would not accept him, the most useless father in the world, and even more afraid that everything would shatter like a bubble in a dream...
"Are you... really Father?" The girl's voice sounded in his ears. Her eyes looked at him very seriously. He had never seen such beautiful eyes before—more beautiful than all the scenery and all the stars he had seen in his life.
He nodded but had no face to admit it. Mother and daughter had suffered alone for twelve years... He had not witnessed her birth, had not accompanied her growth, had not fulfilled even a single day, a single moment, a single breath of a father's duty... How could he dare to admit it?
"Then..." The girl said uneasily, "I was so fierce to Father just now... will Father spank me?"
That soft sentence caused countless warm currents to burst open in every corner of Yun Che's body and soul. His world blurred completely. His body trembled as he leaned forward, embracing his daughter, holding her tight. In an instant, tears burst like a dam, drowning all his will and voice, quickly soaking the girl's thin shoulders.
"So Father is a crybaby after all." Yun Wuxin snuggled in her father's arms, murmuring softly. Unnoticed, crystal-clear traces silently slid down her cheeks.
She didn't know how precious her father's tears were. Even in the pain of soul separation, between life and death, he had never shed a single tear.
But now, his tears raged like a burst dam.
"Hiss... haa... haa..." He clenched his teeth fiercely, desperately trying to stem the torrent of tears, but he could not stop it, could not even speak a complete sentence... a single word...
My Yuechan...
My daughter...
Our daughter...
In these days since his rebirth, he had spent every day in darkness. Time and again he asked himself why he was still alive, even resenting himself for being alive.
But at this moment, he was infinitely grateful, infinitely thankful that he was alive...
How wonderful it is to be alive...
Yes, in this world, nothing is more beautiful than being alive.