Chapter 509: Secret Oath
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"Then what happened?" Yun Che's hands quietly clenched, his voice urgent.
"After that... we managed to deal with the pursuit from the Tian Wei Sword Domain and even kept looking for opportunities to return to the Tian Jian Villa to find Father. But then another force suddenly appeared. Both of us were afflicted with frost poison, and on top of that, Yurou was pregnant. We didn't dare use our profound force too recklessly, and our escape became incredibly difficult and perilous. By that point, we no longer dared to hope for a return to the Tian Jian Villa; even just staying alive became extraordinarily hard. I protected Yurou, and Yurou protected the child in her womb, until the half-year when the child was born—we held on desperately."
"We had been married for decades before we finally had a child, yet we couldn't feel any joy at all, because from the moment our child was born, he was in grave danger. What hurt us the most was that, despite Yurou's desperate efforts to protect him, the frost poison had still invaded the child's body. The only comfort was that the protection Yurou bought with six months of suffering bore good fruit—the frost poison in the child was shallow and wouldn't immediately take his life..."
Saying this, Yun Qinghong's face showed no trace of relief. He closed his eyes and sighed sorrowfully: "But it couldn't be expelled either. Helpless, we made a painful choice... using profound force to force the small amount of frost poison into his newborn, undeveloped profound veins, then using lightning profound force to annihilate the frost poison. But that also... completely destroyed his profound veins."
"..." Yun Che's chest heaved violently. Only now did he realize that his crippled profound veins were not caused by someone's injury, but by... frost poison!
Although it had been over twenty years, recalling that time still brought pain to Yun Qinghong's expression. Destroying his own child's profound veins with his own hands was equivalent to ruining his entire life—a thousand times more painful and difficult than crippling himself. He sighed and continued: "That child had just been born; his profound veins had not yet formed. Ruining them at that age meant his life would be destined as a waste... but it was the only way to save his life. Otherwise, once the frost poison spread, he might not have lived even seven days."
"I know..." Yun Che said softly. "When that child grew up, he would surely understand your difficulties and would never blame you."
Yun Qinghong shook his head. "Unfortunately, although we saved his life, we almost never had the chance to see him again in this lifetime, because twenty-two years ago, he was left behind on the Tian Xuan Continent..."
Yun Che already knew roughly what happened next, and he listened quietly as Yun Qinghong continued...
"We fled desperately with our child, with no direction at all. One day, we passed a familiar place and entered a small city, where we unexpectedly met my sworn brother Xiao Ying. Only then did we learn that he lived in Liu Yun City. At that time, both of us were covered in blood, our profound force nearly exhausted. We had already resolved to die. But when we met Brother Xiao Ying, he scolded me, saying that even if we didn't care about ourselves, we had to fight to survive for the child's sake, so he wouldn't grow up without parents. He then quickly prepared a large amount of clothing, food, and medicine for us, drew us a map, and pointed out an excellent escape route and hiding place..."
"We were completely unfamiliar with Tian Xuan Continent. Before that, our escape had been like headless flies. With Brother Xiao Ying's guidance, we successfully shook off our pursuers and hid beneath a waterfall... Without Brother Xiao Ying's help and direction, we could never have escaped, nor would we be alive today. Both of our lives were given by him... What's more, in the short hour he took us in, he hid it from us and secretly swapped his newborn child with ours. We were so focused on escaping that we didn't discover it until we reached that hiding place..."
Yun Che: "..."
"Actually, after meeting Brother Xiao Ying, I had thought about leaving the child with him and then dying together, but I was afraid it would bring disaster to Xiao Ying's family—I felt it would be imposing on him. But Xiao'er's talent in cultivation was not top-tier. In the future, only you could help him return to Tian Xuan Continent and acknowledge his ancestors. He should go back there someday, because that is his true home. And Xiao Ying's family must be longing for him day and night..."
"...Do you miss your own biological child?" Yun Che asked in a low voice.
Yun Qinghong closed his eyes, his voice as gentle as the wind: "I'm okay. I trust that Brother Xiao Ying would never mistreat my son. With Brother Xiao Ying, he won't be bullied and will live a happy life. I've never doubted that. But Yurou... over the years, she has missed him day and night, shed countless tears, and sometimes even wakes up crying in her dreams... She worries about whether something has happened to the child. His profound veins were crippled, so she worries about him being bullied and mocked. At the same time, she often blames and hates herself... As the years have passed, her worry hasn't lessened; instead, the knot in her heart has only grown heavier. During these years, she has fallen ill many times. Others think it's her frost poison acting up, but I know it's all from heartache and longing. The only thing that has sustained her is Xiao'er. She treats Xiao'er as her own biological son, being twice as good to him, hoping that the better she treats Xiao'er, the better our own child might be treated..."
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After dispelling the frost poison for Yun Qinghong, the sky had already darkened. Under the side effects of the detoxification, both Yun Qinghong and his wife fell into a deep sleep. Yun Che walked out of the room, stood in the middle of the courtyard, and looked up at the waning moon that had been in the sky for some time. The night wind blew against him, stirring the hair on his forehead.
"Why don't you tell them who you are? You have many ways to prove you are their son... Blood fusion, Xuan Gang, Lunhui Mirror—any of them!" Mo Li asked lightly.
"...It's not the right time yet," Yun Che said quietly, staring ahead. "At least, it wouldn't be fair to Yun Xiao."
"The right time? Hmph. What do you plan to do next?"
Yun Che tilted his head back slightly, a cold gleam flashing in his eyes. "Since fate has brought me to this place and let me find my own family and biological parents, then of course I must do something... Back then, Grandfather severed his own life force to let me escape. My life was bought with his life. I will fulfill his wish and complete his unfinished will!"
"Grandfather passed away after enduring a hundred years of suffering for the Demon Emperor Clan. But what did he get in return? A guilty verdict and punishment for the entire Yun family! Why?!" Yun Che gritted his teeth fiercely. "Because of the Demon Emperor Clan, I lost Grandfather. Because of Grandfather, my parents were crippled for over twenty years, enduring the same disdain as I did back then when I was a cripple... I am Yun Canghai's grandson, Yun Qinghong's son. They have unwavering loyalty to the Illusion Demon Royal Clan... but I don't!! What I see is only what they owe our family!! The Illusion Demon Royal Clan owes my grandfather, owes my parents, owes me... I will make them pay me back tenfold, a hundredfold!!"