Chapter 922: Everyone Looks Tear-Streaked into the Heavens
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Outside of Mount Hanfeng, while the Xuanming Grand Sage was enveloped by Wang Lin’s Destructive stage of the River Styx, two other smaller Xuanming appeared next to him. One of them was male and other was female. The male Xuanming looked at the Xuanming Grand Sage and said, "Father, I shall go and meet with the Tao Tie."
The Xuanming Grand Sage’s face was sullen as he nodded his head and said nothing.
The female Xuanming wanted to come along but the male Xuanming said, "This Tao Tie is affiliated with the Celestial Sect of Wonders of the Divine Lands. There are more of them than just the bunch before us and hence, there’s no point for you to come along. Furthermore, the Tao Tie wants to meet me."
"Stay here and relax, I’ll bring our daughter back safely."
The female Xuanming said, "Take care, okay? Take care of Liuling too. Don’t let the Tao Tie hurt her."
The male Xuanming was naturally the Dark Aqua Xuanming. After his battle with Tun Tun all those years ago, he almost perished together with her. Afterwards, with the help of his father, who was the Xuanming Grand Sage, he was able to re-forge his physical body.
When he heard that Tun Tun had came for him and was holding his daughter hostage, he was even more enraged. It was as if he had met with his mortal enemy and he was exceptionally angry. Even though Wang Lin before him brimmed with unbridled power, this did not diminish his will to fight.
The Dark Aqua Xuanming landed on Mount Hanfeng. As he passed by Wang Lin, Li Yuanfang and Chu Yang, he said nothing to them. Wang Lin and the rest too kept their silence as they allowed him to pass by them.
The Dark Aqua Xuanming entered the abode and saw Shi Tianhao and company looking at him curiously. In the center of the group, there was a scene that made him pause in shock.
His own beloved daughter was in the arms of a human girl no older than ten and munching happily on a spiritual fruit.
The Xuanming Liuling’s big, black eyes noticed the return of the Dark Aqua Xuanming. Instantly, she exclaimed happily and waved joyfully to her father, "Daddy, daddy!"
At that time, the stunned Dark Aqua Xuanming could not react immediately.
Shi Tianhao and company found it hard to not laugh and Tun Tun, who was holding the little Xuanming, appeared awkward and dejected too. When she exchanged a glance with the Dark Aqua Xuanming, they both felt as if there were crows flying over their heads.
The Dark Aqua Xuanming’s gaze alternated between Tun Tun and his daughter. Slowly, he regained his senses as he looked at the Xuanming, Liuling, and said gently, "Don’t panic, Liuling, daddy is going to bring you to granddaddy’s house to play."
Hearing that, Tun Tun was stunned too. Before she could say anything, she heard the tiny Xuanming in her arms say in a cutesy voice, "Auntie here is looking for daddy. After you finish talking with auntie, can she come too?"
The Dark Aqua Xuanming and Tun Tun both froze instantly. When they looked at the little Xuanming’s bright eyes, they did not know what to say.
"Cough!" The Dark Aqua Xuanming coughed and he looked at Tun Tun, his gaze turning serious and strict as he said, "What are you here for? If you want to see who’s better, I welcome your challenge any time."
His voice grew deeper, "If you want to fight, then let us fight to the death!"
Tun Tun’s face reflected a never-before-seen seriousness as she looked straight at the Dark Aqua Xuanming with a clear, bright gaze.
Shi Tianhao, Luo Qingwu and the rest had never seen the little Tao Tie so serious before. Looking at her expression alone, they knew how importantly she viewed this matter.
"Dark Aqua Xuanming, I want to be your mate!"
Tun Tun said slowly, enunciating each word clearly.
The abode suddenly quietened down. While it was only for one second, it appeared to be an eternity.
"Pfft!" After that second, Shi Tianhao burst out laughing. Everyone else held their hands to their faces and did not dare to look at the Dark Aqua Xuanming directly.
Yang Qing looked into the air and sighed, saying nothing. Luo Qingwu covered her hand with a face and turned away from them as her shoulders heaved up and down. With her other hand, she flashed a thumbs-up sign at Tun Tun.
Han Yang, Huang Zhenting, Tan Yunqing and Zhuge Wanqiu lined up in a row and, as if their actions were synchronized, they hung their heads and stared intently at the ground.
After he had reeled from the shock of this news, a look of anger appeared on the Dark Aqua Xuanming’s face as he said, "You Tao Tie, are you fooling around with me? Today, I will battle to the death with you, even if all that’s left of me is a remnant soul once more. Today, I will either kill you or be killed by you!"
Tun Tun scoffed, "I am not scared of you. In the past few years, you spent most of your time on rebuilding your physical body. Like me, you are in the Beginner Stage of the Demonic Lord stage. However, I’m afraid you are no match for me now."
"However, Dark Aqua Xuanming, listen to me carefully. I want to mate with you, I’m serious!"
Hearing Tun Tun’s proclamation, even Shi Tianhao could not take it anymore and waved at the Dark Aqua Xuanming and said, "Hey, umm, I can promise you that while this thing seems ridiculous and incredulous, the good-for-nothing there is serious. She really isn’t trying to provoke you through words as she really thinks this way. I have no reason to lie to you."
The Dark Aqua Xuanming looked at Xiao Budian. While the human before him did not deliberately try to emit any sort of aura, the Dark Aqua Xuanming could feel a humongous pressure facing Xiao Budian that was much more terrible than his father’s. It was no weaker than Wang Lin’s.
While this human had no reason to lie to him, the Dark Aqua Xuanming still found the whole thing unbelievable. When he looked at Tun Tun now, his gaze wasn’t angry but instead, brimming with incredulity and an odd desire to laugh.
All those years ago, he almost fought to the death with her for that reason.
The Dark Aqua Xuanming looked at Tun Tun and felt his brains turning to goo. After a long while, he shook his head and said, "I shall believe you, but even so, there’s no chance that we will get together."
"Let’s not talk about our tribes or whether we actually have feelings for each other first. How old are you exactly? According to your Tao Tie’s age reckoning, you are still a child."
As he said that, the Dark Aqua Xuanming’s form slowly changed. Earlier in the abode, he was the only one other than the little Xuanming who took a demon form. Now, he took a human form too.
When the Dark Aqua Xuanming took his human form, Shi Tianhao, Yang Qing, Luo Qingwu and company all gasped.
A tall, extremely handsome black-robed young man appeared in the abode. His gaze was calm and his features were chiseled. He was extremely good-looking and without a single trace of femininity. However, his unbridled masculinity was undoubtedly elegant.
If one wanted to find fault with him, it was his cold gaze. However, that gave him a certain charisma too.
According to the beauty standards of humans, he was undoubtedly an exceptionally handsome young man.
When demons took a human form, their beauty of their appearance would generally be equivalent to how good-looking they were as demons according to demon standards, unless they chose to deliberately alter their appearances.
In other words, when the Dark Aqua Xuanming took a human form, he was just as handsome to humans as he was to demons when he’s in his demonic form.
As demons were split into many different tribes, situations might arise at times when beauty standards differed. However, there were some instances when the beauty standards of demons were similar. For example, the Heavenly Fox Tribe was generally viewed as one of the better-looking ones.
Take Tun Tun for example, as a human she was a delicate, cute and pretty little girl. When she reverted to her Tao Tie form, while humans may find her terrifying and intimidating, many demons would still see her as a cute little loli.
Even the Dark Aqua Xuanming thought so too, but this did not cause him to think any differently of her.
The Dark Aqua Xuanming in the black-robed young man form looked at Tun Tun and pointed to her before pointing to himself and said, "Look at you. Without deliberately altering our forms, we could see the difference between us in our human forms."
"If we use our tribe’s method of age reckoning, I’m three times older than you."
Tun Tun scoffed, "After a thousand years, will you still be older than me by three times? I will grow up!"
Shi Tianhao’s mouth twitched as he said coolly from the side, "You also know that you have to grow up. Then why did you plan on doing that with him?"
Tun Tun waved her fists at him, gritting his teeth.
The Dark Aqua Xuanming said in jest, "Correct, even if we don’t form our Undying Demon Soul but only our demon souls, our lifespans would be extended for a very long time. However, why must I wait for you for 1000 years?"
His expression gradually grew cold as he said, "You want me to wait for you, why should I? Who do you think you are? If you are someone I have my eyes on, then no matter how many years pass, I will still wait for you."
"However, as a stranger, why should I wait for you?"
Tun Tun opened her eyes wide and bristled with rage as she said, "What stranger? All those years ago when Hu Fen and I vied for your heart, did you really not know?"
Here, the Dark Aqua Xuanming turned angry as he said, "You still dare to talk about that? Then, you and Hu Fen made such a huge ruckus till everyone in the Barren Expanses knew about it. Some demons thought that I was actually into an underage Tao Tie!"
"However, in reality, you and I had only met twice and spoke fewer than five sentences."
"All these years, I don’t know how have I offended you till the extent whereby you constantly seek me out!"
Shi Tianhao covered his face. He felt as if his journey to the Great Xuanming Lake was filled with one purpose and one purpose only: to embarrass himself.
No wonder the Dark Aqua Xuanming was angry. All those years ago, he almost fought Tun Tun to death for this.
When news of this spread, he could not even defend himself, particularly since Tun Tun went to Mount Qingqiu time and again to fight with Hu Fen. Alone, she managed to give credence to the rumors.
In reality, the Dark Aqua Xuanming did not even begin a relationship with Hu Fen, much less Tun Tun. All those years ago, Tun Tun was misled. Hu Fen was annoyed that Tun Tun was finding trouble with her, and hence she did not explain but instead, provoke her even further.
Tun Tun opened her eyes to look at the Dark Aqua Xuanming. Her expression was vacant.
After a long while, Tun Tun’s bright eyes became covered by a layer of mist. Then, with a loud ‘Wah!’, she began to cry.
Looking at the little Tao Tie crying rivers, Luo Qingwu and Zhuge Wanqiu rushed up to comfort her. Shi Tianhao, Yang Qing and the rest looked awkwardly at the Dark Aqua Xuanming, whose face was filled with helplessness. As he looked at Tun Tun, who was still in the form of a child, he found it both funny and infuriating.
The little Xuanming who was still in Tun Tun’s embrace lifted her head to look at Tun Tun and she caressed her face and said, "Don’t cry, auntie. Don’t cry!"
Tun Tun looked at the little Xuanming and then, with a loud ‘smooch’, kissed her. Then, she cried even louder.
The Dark Aqua Xuanming, Shi Tianhao and the rest looked into the sky and sighed. All of them had a strong desire to look, tear-streaked, into the heavens.