# Chapter 2174: A Fleeting Distance, an Abyss Apart
"Where is she now?"
His tone was gentle, his expression calm, revealing none of the urgency and anxiety churning within him.
Meng Zhiyuan answered, "Divine Son Meng Jianxi arranged a temporary place for her to stay. He also gave orders that Long Jiang is an old friend from before the Young Master returned to the Divine Kingdom. Since it involves the Young Master, no one is to approach or inquire until the Young Master emerges from seclusion."
Meng Jianxi truly left nothing to chance. Yun Che felt a great weight lift from his heart, then shifted his gaze and said, "Laisheng, go personally to Divine Son Meng Jianxi. In my name, bring Long Jiang here."
"Yes!" Lu Laisheng replied from afar and departed swiftly.
When he saw "Long Jiang" again, she was still dressed as before—a loose gray robe covering her entire body, a hood completely obscuring her face. That grace inherited from Shen Xi, which should have dazzled the world and captivated all beings, she had herself savagely and cruelly destroyed.
The aura around Yun Xi remained as cold and distant as ever. Facing Yun Che, she was silent for a long time. Yun Che also gazed fixedly at her... his daughter with Shen Xi. Only three years had passed, yet it felt like a lifetime.
A faint smile touched the corner of Yun Che's mouth, as if meeting an old friend long unseen. He turned and walked toward the inner hall: "Come with me."
"He Lu, Zhan Yi, you may withdraw for now. No need to attend me. Instruct that no one is to approach."
Yun Xi remained silent, following Yun Che step by step.
The doors to the inner hall slowly closed, sealing off everything outside. Yun Che said calmly, "Shou Yuan, you withdraw as well. Until I open these doors myself, no one—no consciousness—is to approach this place."
"Yes."
Meng Shouyuan's reply came from afar, and a heavy barrier enveloped the inner hall.
The world fell silent. Yun Che turned and gazed at her for several breaths before softly calling out, "Xi'er..."
"I need a Primordial Flame Crystal!" Yun Xi spoke, every word cold and hard, carrying almost no emotional inflection.
Yun Che was momentarily stunned. Then he understood why she had sought him out.
Before he could respond, Yun Xi continued, "It's said that on the Pure Land, you gifted a Primordial Flame Crystal to the Immortal Spirit Divine Official. Since you gave it away, you must also have a way to get it back."
Yun Che looked at her but shook his head. "That Primordial Flame Crystal has already been used by the Immortal Spirit Divine Official. It cannot be recovered."
The cold, rigid aura around her instantly withered. Even the gaze beneath her hood became dazed and unfocused. Then she turned coldly and walked away without a word.
"If I found the first Primordial Flame Crystal, I naturally have a way to find a second."
Yun Che's voice made Yun Xi stop in her tracks.
He stepped forward, coming to stand before her once more, this time only a step away. In that moment, the sense of fragmentation she exuded as her hope crumbled caused an uncontrollable sharp pain in his chest.
"You sought the Primordial Flame Crystal—just like the Unicorn Bone and Spirit Orchid—to awaken your mother, didn't you?" He softened his voice as much as possible.
"Yes." Her reply was as cold as before. "But you don't need to feel any burden because of this. Making mother 'awaken' is my own business. It has nothing to do with you! You can be content and secure in your role as Dreamweaving Divine Son. As for the Primordial Flame Crystal... if you really can find another one, I won't take it for free. Name any condition!"
Her words remained only cold and hard, devoid of emotion—no resentment, no hatred, and certainly none of the warmth and affection that should exist between father and daughter.
Though they stood very close, they were separated by an indifference and distance that seemed insurmountable.
"Alright." Yun Che nodded slowly. "Finding another Primordial Flame Crystal is not that difficult for me. On the Pure Land, the Dragon Lord invited me to visit the Ancestral Dragon Mountain Range as a guest. Once I find the Primordial Flame Crystal, I will personally visit the Dragon Clan and place it in your hands."
"There is only one condition."
"Name it." Yun Xi's reply was without hesitation, carrying a determination that ordinary people could not understand. "Anything is acceptable, whether I can do it or not!"
"You can do it." Yun Che smiled slightly, his gaze never wounded by her cold indifference, but growing even more gentle. "My condition is... let me look at you properly."
"..." Yun Xi seemed frozen there, speechless for a long time.
Yun Che gently raised his hand, his eyes as warm and soft as if they could melt all things. "Our last meeting and parting were too hurried. I was severely injured, my vision and mind hazy and blurred. I never got to truly look at you... to truly look at my daughter."
As Yun Che's hand approached, a strange, faint warmth brushed her face, oddly reaching straight into her heart. Her head instinctively tilted back... but only a moment of resistance, and then she did not move.
The coarse, heavy gray hood was slowly lifted by Yun Che's fingers, revealing a face that would make anyone who saw it change expression.
Her skin was so like Shen Xi's—like pure white snow covered in a faint divine radiance, with matchless delicacy and a holiness no worldly words could describe. But the two hideous, savage corruption marks utterly destroyed it. It was as if heaven would not allow such a perfect creation to exist and had cruelly imposed marks of destruction.
He gazed silently, from her hairline to her eyes, to her corruption marks... imprinting every feature deep into his heart.
That hand unconsciously moved closer again, little by little. Yun Xi did not avoid it, but just as his fingertips were about to touch her cheek, they stopped there. Then, his half-spread fingers slowly closed.
He withdrew both his hand and his gaze. Suddenly, he turned around, his voice calm without ripple: "Within three months, I will definitely find a new Primordial Flame Crystal. I will not break my word... You may go."
His words were not merely to comfort Yun Xi. When he was in the Mist Sea, he could easily sense the Abyss Crystals condensed on Abyss Beasts and Abyss Ghosts over a wide area. When he had previously tried to venture deep into the Mist Sea, he had sensed the aura of a Primordial Flame Crystal again. But danger had approached, and he had to flee immediately.
Yun Xi seemed briefly stunned. She covered her face again and turned to leave.
Her hand touched the door. Just as she was about to push it open, she suddenly turned back. "You've changed! Last time, you clearly..."
Her lips moved slightly, but she did not finish.
Yun Che's lips curved slightly, and he smiled lightly. "So, you do care, don't you?"
"..." Yun Xi's brows furrowed slightly. She sharply turned her gaze back and was about to leave.
But her arm was gently caught by a warm hand.
Behind her came his calm, gentle voice: "You have an older sister. Her name is Yun Wuxin."
Yun Xi did not turn back, nor did she struggle. It was as if she had become fixed in place.
"Like you, before she came into this world, I failed to protect her and her mother. I once thought I had lost her forever. Until she was ten years old, like a miracle in a dream, she appeared in my life."
"That was originally a dark time in my life, but her arrival brought a light I had never known. During that time, I was immensely grateful to the heavens, immensely grateful to fate. I even grew weary of all strife and grudges, loathing the blood that had stained my hands."
Yun Xi listened quietly, not looking at her father's expression at that moment, but involuntarily imagining what her sister might look like.
"At that time, I swore to her that I would never leave her again, and would never let her suffer any harm. But..."
The voice behind her ear stopped, then came again after a long while.
"I made a similar vow to your sister three times... three times, and I broke it every single time."
She heard a faint laugh, but it was not a warm, gentle chuckle. It seemed more like a mocking laugh at himself.
"Every vow I made came from the bottom of my heart. I genuinely and urgently wanted to protect and make amends to her. But in the end, every vow turned into deep harm. Before I came to this world, I finally understood completely. The things I carry and bear—they destined me... to be unworthy of being a qualified father."
Yun Xi: "..."
Yun Che slowly released his grip on her arm, his voice as faint as a distant breeze: "So, I truly have no right to ask you to call me 'Father.' Even less right to demand anything from you. Not now... and never in the future."
"...?" The corners of Yun Xi's brows moved slightly. Doubt coalesced in her heart, but she did not ask.
Yun Che lowered his head, silently looking at his own palm. In the depths of his eyes was a darkness that no one could see... because soon, these hands would once again be stained with countless drops of blood. And every drop of blood would be an indelible sin.
"I only hope that you... protect yourself well, and be kind to yourself. If one day I achieve what I desire, I will take you and your mother home together."
"If... in the end, I fall into the abyss, then you must take your mother and follow the Dragon Clan to the 'Eternal Pure Land.' Then forever forget my existence, and never mention your blood connection to anyone."
Soon, he would go to the Dragon Clan and pave all possible paths of retreat for her.
The hall fell into a long silence, with only the sound of hearts beating in unison.
A dull thud—the hall door was finally pushed open. Yun Xi walked out and soon disappeared from Yun Che's sight.
He stood in the inner hall for a long time before calming his heart and walking out with leisurely steps.
"Young Master!"
A pleasant, light voice brushed his face. Shangguan Helu, Liu Zhanyi, and Meng Zhiyuan all approached, heads slightly bowed as they secretly studied him.
"Hm?" Yun Che raised an eyebrow, smiling faintly. "Did something grow on me? Why are you all looking at me so strangely?"
Meng Zhiyuan gave a playful smile and dropped a shocking remark: "When is the Young Master going to marry the Heaven-Breaking Divine Maiden?"
Yun Che sighed helplessly and shook his head with a wry laugh. "So even you know."
Shangguan Helu stole a glance at him and said timidly, "It is said that the Heaven-Breaking Divine Maiden is the most beautiful woman in the world. Truly... only such a woman is worthy of the Young Master."
Liu Zhanyi, however, lightly covered her lips, her eyes curving into crescents. "Zhiyuan was happier than anyone when she found out. Because if the Young Master has a principal consort, Zhiyuan can find a way to become his concubine."
Meng Zhiyuan said generously, "Exactly! That's what I think. I've already decided—I'm sticking by the Young Master's side for life. I heard that the Heaven-Breaking Divine Maiden is not only divinely beautiful but also exceptionally kind and gentle. I will definitely work hard to make her like me."
"All of you..." Yun Che shook his head with a smile, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"However, there is someone who is not happy." Liu Zhanyi suddenly said. "The Senluo Divine Son came specially to see you. It can't be anything good. We should inform Divine Son Meng Jianxi to send the Senluo Divine Son away as soon as possible."
"Oh?" Yun Che's gaze sharpened. "You mean Dian Jiuzhi is still in the Weaving Dream Divine Kingdom?"
"Yes." Meng Zhiyuan said. "The Senluo Divine Son arrived ten days ago and has yet to leave."
Yun Che thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "Laisheng, go to Divine Son Meng Jianxi again. Tell him I wish to meet with the Senluo Divine Son."
... ...