# Chapter 1367: Choice?
Yun Wuxin's eyes snapped open. She sprang up from Chu Yuechan's embrace without a word, her small hand quickly reaching out to press against her mother's chest. An extremely gentle profound energy protected her heart meridian, striving to suppress her surging blood and qi.
She concentrated with all her might, but her face was pale with fright: "Mother, it'll be fine... soon... very soon..."
The blood spraying onto Yun Che's hand was warm yet carried a faint, abnormal chill. In his shock, Yun Che lunged forward sharply, directly falling to his knees. Too rushed to stand, he quickly grasped Chu Yuechan's wrist, gritting his teeth, forcing himself to calm down—but his hands still trembled uncontrollably.
Chu Yuechan's face was pale, but her expression was far calmer than theirs. Wiping the corner of her mouth, she said softly, "Don't worry. It only happens occasionally. I'm fine now."
"..." Yun Che said nothing. His fingers on Chu Yuechan's wrist tightened and loosened by turns. Though he had lost his profound strength, he still understood pulse patterns and medical theory.
Extreme decline in blood and qi—and extreme cold!
He understood quickly. Chu Yuechan had cultivated ice-type profound arts her entire life, her body filled with cold energy. Even after she had later abandoned her profound arts, the cold energy accumulated over decades would not dissipate in a short time. Given her King Xuan Realm profound strength at the time, this cold energy wouldn't have harmed her. With a little guidance from her profound energy, she could have dispelled it within a few months.
But back then, Chu Yuechan was pregnant and suffered a severe attack. All her power was used to protect her unborn Yun Wuxin, until her profound veins withered to the point of death. Then came Yun Wuxin's birth...
With her profound strength completely gone and her body extremely weak, the cold energy within her had undoubtedly become a terrible death warrant.
Fortunately, though Chu Yuechan had lost her profound strength, she still retained a trace of the Dragon God's aura from him, allowing her to stubbornly hold on for many years. But even so...
His gaze shifted slightly, landing on Yun Wuxin's small hand pressed against Chu Yuechan's chest. He was absolutely certain—if not for Yun Wuxin's early acquisition of profound energy and her abnormally rapid growth, Chu Yuechan would have surely passed away several years ago...
He released his hand from Chu Yuechan's wrist, breathing a faint sigh of relief. Mixed feelings washed over him—relief that this could still be remedied, and lingering terror that if he had found them even a few years later, he would have found only a solitary Yun Wuxin.
Chu Yuechan's complexion finally improved somewhat. Only then did Yun Wuxin carefully withdraw her hand and ask anxiously, "Mother, are you feeling better? Does anything still hurt?"
Chu Yuechan shook her head, gently stroking her daughter's long hair. Her beautiful eyes were filled with warmth—and reluctance. She knew her own physical condition best. She knew her time was limited. To have accompanied her daughter into her teens, to see Yun Che again—she was already grateful for heaven's mercy. There was no resentment, only reluctance.
"Wuxin, don't worry. Your mother will be fine," Yun Che said.
His words made Yun Wuxin immediately turn her head. Chu Yuechan also lifted her beautiful eyes, looking at him in surprise.
"Father... is that true?" the girl asked softly. Her eyes shimmered with tears she had been holding back, still struggling not to fall.
"Of course," Yun Che smiled. "Hasn't your mother told you that your father is a divine physician?"
"Di... vine... physician?" Yun Wuxin murmured, unsure whether she found it hard to believe or was simply confused by the term.
"Is there really a way?" Hope flickered in Chu Yuechan's beautiful eyes.
Yun Che nodded, giving them both the most peaceful look. "You still have the Dragon God's power from me. Even without profound energy, the cold energy inside you won't destroy your vitality that easily. I have a way to restore you fully. Even if I can't, there's Ling'er, and my medical master... My master is the greatest healer in this world, the only one worthy of the name 'Medical Sage.' He is in the Illusion Demon Realm right now. With him, not only can your body recover, but even your withered profound veins can be restored as good as new."
He said this without any strain because it was not merely comforting words. With Yun Gu's abilities, it was absolutely achievable.
Xiao Yaohou's condition back then had been a hundred times worse than Chu Yuechan's now—he had been helpless. But with just a few words from Yun Gu, plus Su Linger's help, she had escaped the calamity of death.
It was just a pity that he could no longer use the Heavenly Poison Pearl. Otherwise, if he could extract a single drop of the spiritual liquid Shen Xi had given him, not only would Chu Yuechan recover in a short time, her profound strength could even ascend directly to the Divine Path.
After all, that was something even the King Realms coveted—a divine object that ordinary star realms... let alone profound practitioners, not even Realm Kings had the right to sniff—yet Shen Xi had given him everything she had accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years.
Hearing Yun Che's words, Yun Wuxin's eyes sparkled like stars, and the tears she had been holding back finally streamed down. "Really... is it really true?"
"A father would never lie to his daughter." Yun Che gently touched her head.
"...Your father is indeed a divine physician. Your mother and he came to know each other because of that," Chu Yuechan said softly. Back then, with just a single glance from afar, he had seen that she was afflicted with cold poison. But at that time, she could never have imagined that a brief encounter would completely change her life. "Since he says so, of course it's true."
"Mother will get better... and will always... stay with Wuxin?" For Yun Wuxin, those words were undoubtedly the most beautiful sound in the world—so beautiful that she dared not believe it for a moment... as if she were in a dream.
Yun Che smiled, but his heart ached fiercely. She was only eleven years old now, and all these years she had silently borne the weight and fear of possibly losing her mother at any moment. For such a young girl, it was a cruelty beyond any words.
That was why she was so cautious, never allowing anyone to step even one step into the bamboo grove, never letting anyone harm her mother in the slightest.
"Of course," Yun Che said, looking into her eyes and nodding firmly. "Your mother will stay with you forever. Even after thousands or tens of thousands of years, she won't leave."
"Then Father... will stay with us too, right?" Her voice became even more distant, her tear-filled eyes reflecting Yun Che's figure—and an incredibly dazzling, radiant light.
Daughters always admire their fathers—without reason, as if it were an instinct. Any bit of brilliance in a father is magnified several times, even ten or a hundred times, in a daughter's heart. Even though the father before her could only be a permanent cripple, in her heart at this moment, he was as towering as a mountain.
"Of course," he nodded again, even though...
He took Chu Yuechan's and Yun Wuxin's hands, his gaze looking into the distance, his heart no longer hesitating or clouded. "Yuechan, Wuxin, come away with me. The outside world no longer holds danger—only our family and those who will protect us. Master and Ling'er will heal you, Xue'er and Caiyi will help Wuxin grow better... We'll take Wuxin back to the clan to honor her ancestors. Her grandfather and grandmother will be overjoyed..."
"Back then, when my mother learned about you, she wept and told me I must find you no matter what... Though it's many years too late, I can finally... relieve her of that burden..."
"The outside world... Grandfather... Grandmother..." The light in Yun Wuxin's eyes shone even brighter, but she quickly concealed it, turning her head to look at her mother...
"Alright." Without any hesitation, Chu Yuechan nodded slightly—and lit up the brightest starlight in Yun Wuxin's eyes.
... ... ... ... ... ...
**Phoenix Relic, Trial Chamber.**
In the dark world before him, the Phoenix's crimson eyes slowly opened. Yun Che arrived once more and bowed solemnly: "Phoenix Soul, I thank you for granting me a second life. But Yun Che is now but an ordinary man, with no way to repay you—only to remember this gratitude in my heart."
The crimson gaze lingered on him for a moment, then the Phoenix's voice echoed through the darkness: "Your state of mind has changed. It seems you have found them."
Yun Che raised his head, a wry smile on his face: "You already knew she was my daughter, didn't you?"
"Her body bears not only the pure Phoenix aura inherited from the source blood but also the Dragon God's aura and... a faint aura of the Evil God. She could only be your descendant," the Phoenix Soul said.
"Why didn't you tell me from the start?" Yun Che asked, though he could roughly guess the answer.
"Falling from the highest peak into the abyss—that cruel blow was also a tempering of your state of mind. The heavier the darkness you endured, the more dazzling the light you would see when you found them. If possible, I would have wished this period to be even longer..."
Yun Che shook his head with a bitter laugh. "If it had been any longer, I might have crumbled."
"Today, I've come to say goodbye," Yun Che said, his tone growing serious. "Though my life has been short, I have received great kindness from the Phoenix. Even though I can no longer ignite the Phoenix Flame in this lifetime, Wuxin has inherited my Phoenix bloodline. In the future, she will surely burn with a more dazzling Phoenix Flame than I ever could."
"Heh heh..." The Phoenix Soul smiled. But unlike its gentle yet commanding tone from years ago, its laughter now carried a profound weakness. "My time is also running out. I fear I won't live to see that day. However..."
It paused briefly, then spoke with excruciating slowness: "You... are you truly willing to resign yourself to mediocrity?"
"..." Yun Che's pupils froze. A full ten breaths later, he smiled and said, "I will seek hope. But even if I don't find it, it doesn't matter—because I have many things by my side that are far more important than power."
"..." The Phoenix Soul fell silent, but its crimson eyes flickered faintly, as if in hesitation.
The silence stretched on for a long time.
Just as Yun Che was about to take his leave, the Phoenix Soul's voice suddenly rang out: "There is a method that might reawaken your power."
These words made Yun Che's heart stop in an instant. Then, his face—which had just calmly said "it doesn't matter"—began to tremble uncontrollably, violently so. "You... are you serious?"
"What method... what method!?"
Yes, he had accepted his current state.
But... resignation?
How could he possibly be resigned!?
"I told you before. What was reborn in the Nirvana Flame was only your most basic life. All the power you possessed died. In other words, they are still within you—they simply died along with your death, and did not revive with your resurrection."
"What method exactly!?" Yun Che nearly roared, unable to contain himself any longer. "Tell me quickly! No matter how difficult, I will find a way to make it happen!"
"It is not difficult—in fact, one could say it is easy. But for you... it would be an extremely cruel choice."
"...??" The Phoenix Soul's words left Yun Che utterly stunned. He clearly remembered the Phoenix Soul saying before that no power could awaken the dead Evil God's power unless another drop of the Evil God's Indestructible Blood was found... and now it was saying "easy"?
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