Chapter 114
I scoured through my memory . The name of Xiao Yu sounded familiar to me . Finally I remembered . It was when we had split up to deal with the spirits of the slaughtered infants during one of our bouts against the Apostles of the Creed of the Eight Trigrams . Yuan Chongxi had rushed to the rescue of a wealthy widow and her two daughters .
Xiao Yu was the eldest of the two daughters . She would be graduating this year . What a blissful pair of lovebirds! Due to his help, the widow and her family had more-or-less recognized him as the future husband of the eldest daughter who had, by a stroke of luck, immediately fallen for him! It was just like how his teacher had prophesied that he might be enthralled by the sweetness of romance!
In a stroke of mischief, I immediately keyed in a message, "Chongxi's still sleeping . I'm Shiyan . Do you want me to kick him up?" I promptly recorded a short footage of Yuan Chongxi salivating in his sleep with the drumbeats of his snore in the background and sent it to the girl . With almost no delay, she replied, "It's all right . Let him rest then," with a snickering emoticon just behind .
I returned the phone to his side and woke Yuan Chongxi up notwithstanding . The sun was already blazing high up in the sky that the shadow of Lin Feng swift and sharp movements stretched into the room . Yuan Chongxi rubbed his eyes and looked at his phone . With a scowling smile, he pointed at me . "Another of your mischiefs, you brat . "
I giggled and slipped out of the room quickly and went to Mother's cabin . I had just turned the corner when I heard the whimpers of some of Aunt Ulan's girls saying, "Please come down", "It's dangerous . " But I could not be sure since I barely spoke Mongolian . My forehead creased into a frown . Hoping that it was not anything bad, I quickened my pace and broke into a small run towards the other side of the camp where the main hall was situated .
From afar, I saw a group of girls gathering outside the entrance of the main hall . There was even a person sitting on the roof! Who else could it be, if not for my mother! I sped forward and had everyone dispersed, assuring them that all would be well . Even so, the girls were still worried as they reluctantly went off on their own business .
With great difficulty, I clambered out of the second-storey window and heaved myself up to the roof . Mother was guffawing at my miserable attempts to climb up . "It should have been simple for you to climb up . What a pathetic state you were in . " I glowered at her . This is the roof of a two-storeyed building, I almost snapped in return but I only managed a weak smile and sat beside Mother on the ridge of the roof . Despite having entered Aunt Ulan's body, Mother could not hold back her usually-playful temperament like a little girl that even I felt embarrassed .
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Suddenly, she sighed . "Four decades . It has been four decades since I came here!" Huh, I almost gasped aloud . Then I realized . That would mean that Mother was also present during Father's encounter with Aunt Ulan! But it was a matter so long ago that I could hardly make anything of it, I brooded . "Urm . . . Mother . . . About Father and Aunt Ulan . . . " I said quietly . Mother smiled . "Come to think of it, I only feel sorry for her, your Aunt Ulan . For forty years she had been waiting for naught . "
There was a hint of melancholy in her voice . Was she sad or was she merely feeling apologetic towards Aunt Ulan? I could not tell . I put on a smile . "Well . Father's centuries-old love for you is as strong as the sturdiest oak, Mother . Surely . . . " But what I wanted to say was immediately guillotined by Mother's sigh . She shook her head . "We have been together for more than centuries . But your Father has shown me anything but love . I would never be able to attain such affections from him . " Her sudden lamentation left me speechless . I had always believed that Father loved Mother deeply; a love that has endured for centuries . But it was the first time I hear Mother speaking about their relationship . But what was most baffling to me, was Mother could not even tell if Father truly loved her . But how could it be possible? How could they have been together for centuries with no true love? What about me then? Not that I really had anything to do with their relationship .
We talked the whole morning, sitting atop the roof . For the first time in my life, I understood a little more about my parents .
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Apparently, Father had long been together with Mother, although there was no love between them . They had posed as a pair of husband and wife in order to provide the facade of a happy family just for me when in truth, a much deeper secret laid between the relationship of my parents which seemed more akin to a master and his handmaiden, after listening to Mother's murky explanation . There was nothing I could bear to say to them as I finally realized that I understood too little about my parents .
Your father, Murong Hai was a generous person, even before he attained his powers and immortality, said Mother . He was a person who would gladly give up his everything for the good of others, including his own life . He had one chance to leave everything behind and live quietly with the person he truly loved . That was long before he achieved his current omnipotence . But he did not make the choice of doing so; all for the sake of his own siblings . But how could you bear to follow a man like him with such unfettered obedience, I asked Mother and she replied that it was their opportune encounter that had allowed Mother to realized the true aim of her existence . He was family to her, even though the sentiment was not mutual, she said to me . I could say nothing . It was a phrase I had heard many times in fiction; a phrase I had never expected to hear in person .
She was hardly the one the great Murong Hai truly loved, Mother gasped again, although he has had his share of lovers and paramours . Uninterested in delving more into Father's dalliances, I said softly to her, "Well, don't look so bleak, Mother . Surely Father has feelings for you, otherwise he would never have wanted to be married to you, no matter it is for me or not . "
Mother smiled gently . No one truly understood Murong Hai, she remarked suddenly, not even she who had spent countless years with him . Despite being his companion for centuries, she could only say that she knew a part of him and no more . He had always remained an enigmatic person all his life, she muttered again, a person could even hold on to a promise for centuries with one whom he barely knew .
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I would never have been able to take in everything Mother had told me that morning if not for my experiences in the past two years . Much had changed in my life in recent years that had truly changed my perspective . I had always thought that Father and Mother were powerful mediums that could communicate with all Three Realms of Existences, only to discover that they were actually immortals with deific powers . I would never be able to believe that my family had been harboring so many secrets and a frisky old man like Father was so benevolent a person .
Then I remembered something . "Mother," I asked, "Was it because of me, that both of you refused to ascend into the Heavens?" To my astonishment, Mother's head gave an unmistakable nod . "To ascend or not to ascend, that was hardly the question," she admitted and said, "Not that we would have anything to gain . Moreover, your father and I are hardly the immortals that require to ascend into Heaven in order to achieve immortality . " I nodded quietly . Father and Mother were different from Master Six, I long realized . Unlike Master Six who had first ascended into Heaven to become a true immortal, Father and Mother had reached the zenith of immortality without the need of the ascension .
The kick of hooves on the ground robbed us of our attention to continue our talk . We looked down and saw Yuan Chongxi, Lin Feng, and Edelweiss with a large group of girls already on horses, ready for the next chapter of our pursuit . They waved at me .
Unlike the difficult episode of climbing up the roof, leaping down was hardly difficult for me . I strode quickly to a horse, lighting a cigarette before I took the reins . "What's up?" I asked Yuan Chongxi, "You found where we should go to this time?" But his answer was the last one I expected: No .Please download our sponsor's game to support us!