Ci Bei City was a nunnery steeped in White Elephant Buddhist culture. Male cultivators typically detoured to Hua City or Rong City for lodging, and it was rare to see such young children around.
Suddenly, Gu Junshi recalled the man in the white cloak who intended to enter Ci Bei City to find a child. She asked, "Does your father wear a white cloak?"
Le Bao, rubbing his eyes, looked up in surprise. His rabbit-like eyes were rimmed with red. "How did you know, Sister? Have you seen my father?"
Gu Junshi's eyes deepened momentarily. She gently cupped his small face and examined it closely for a moment.
The more she looked at this little face, the more it resembled.
"Le Bao, what is your father's name?"
Le Bao was a child with peculiar habits. Although he appeared polite and cheerful to others, he detested any physical contact from strangers.
Growing up, apart from his father, he would subtly avoid anyone who came too close. He didn't want to be intimate with anyone.
But now, held by this sweet-faced sister with a noble aura, being touched and scrutinized at such close proximity, he found himself strangely free of disgust or aversion. Instead, he felt a desire to be closer to her.
Could it be… because she had saved him in such a perilous situation just now, that he felt no revulsion towards her?
"My father's name is…"
Just as Le Bao was about to reveal his father's identity, Gu Junshi suddenly sensed a distortion in the air behind her.
Her first instinct was to shield Le Bao with her wide sleeves, turning to face the source. Her gaze sliced through the cold air like a thin blade.
A figure of brilliant white radiance suddenly appeared. His white robe fluttered in the wind like a magnolia. It was slightly open, revealing the azure underskirt and cuffs beneath, embroidered with gilded scrolling branches and scattered flowers. The cuffs and collar were trimmed with fox fur, exuding a captivating allure amidst its beauty.
His hood billowed in the wind, perhaps from his hurried arrival. A panting, concerned voice called out, "Le Bao…"
Le Bao heard him. With surprise and a touch of grievance, he poked his little head out from the fabric, his eyes widening as he looked ahead. "Father—"
His call of "Father" was unreserved. Gu Junshi hadn't paid much attention to the white-cloaked man before, but now, because he was Le Bao's father, she looked at him properly for the first time.
Gu Junshi's gaze, light and devoid of strong emotion, swept from his delicate, fair jaw revealed beneath the hood, to his elegant long neck, and then to his flawless, almost translucent hands exposed to the air… She tilted her head, her eyes beneath her long lashes clear and momentarily startled.
The more she looked, the more this half-face, this neck, these hands, seemed familiar…
A thought flickered through her mind. With a sudden twist of her wrist, a pointed finger sliced through the air, tearing the white cloak on the man's back into pieces.
The torn fabric, like snow, scattered in the wind, softly brushing against the man's dark hair and shoulders. Now completely unmasked, he was fully exposed to Gu Junshi's gaze.
Clad in flowing robes with wide sleeves, his figure resembled a supple spring willow. His eyelids were half-lowered, allowing only the shadow cast by his long eyelashes to fall on his cold, snow-like face. His exquisitely beautiful countenance seemed veiled behind a mist, his features as refined as spring mountains.
Gu Junshi's expression froze.
She stared intently at the person who had appeared before her so unexpectedly.
The air seemed to freeze like frost. The dust and motes floating around them hung suspended in mid-air.
She had envisioned many scenarios for their reunion, but after his seven-year disappearance, she had never imagined he would appear so suddenly, without warning.
A surge of emotions overwhelmed her heart, but her heart was strong enough to chew them up and swallow them bit by bit.
"Liu, Jiang, Fu, Sheng."
This name, initially just an interlude in her turbulent life, she had never thought these four words would be uttered with such depth, as if ground between her teeth.
Hearing her call his name, Liu Jiang Fusheng finally met her gaze.
His pupils seemed to tremble as if from an earthquake, but after experiencing collapse and destruction, he quickly rebuilt a deep wall.
He now acted as if facing a stranger, his thin lips curved slightly, the corners of his eyes blooming with a peachy hue. "I wonder, esteemed immortal, how do you know my name?"
She didn't want to guess whether he was feigning ignorance or genuinely didn't recognize her. She abruptly lowered her eyes, glancing at Le Bao, who was bewildered in her arms.
This child… Her expression tightened, her gaze complex. Finally, she asked.
"Le Bao, is he your child?"
Liu Jiang Fusheng stood there, ethereal and otherworldly. To her question, he replied casually, "If he's not my child, then perhaps he's yours?"
"Then where is my child?"
She suddenly looked at him, her imposing aura causing the surrounding tranquil breeze to roar like a tempest.
Liu Jiang Fusheng stood as if detached from the world. He ignored her words and reached out his hand gently. "Could you please return Le Bao to me?"
But Gu Junshi did not move. She looked at Liu Jiang Fusheng, who had been absent for seven years. She could no longer discern his cultivation level at a glance, but his ability to tear through space to arrive here indicated that he was no longer the weak cultivator he once was.
Le Bao, unsure why his father and this benefactor sister were creating such a tense atmosphere, thought his father might be misunderstanding. He spoke up, "Father, those monsters almost ate me just now. This sister saved me in the nick of time."
Liu Jiang Fusheng's face remained impassive, but his hands under his sleeves slowly clenched.
He adopted a tone of gratitude. "Is that so? Since this esteemed immortal is my son's savior, I am willing to offer any reward you desire. But could you please return my child to me first?"
"Liu Jiang Fusheng, if you truly don't recognize me, why are you evading my questions?"
She then looked at Le Bao, "Le Bao, who is his mother?"
Liu Jiang Fusheng paused, then stated calmly, "Does it matter to me who you are? And does it matter to you who my child's mother is?"
Her lips curled into a cold sneer. "It has nothing to do with me?"
"Liu Jiang Fusheng, do you know how long I've been looking for you? Seven full years."
Liu Jiang Fusheng's expression finally showed a subtle, genuine change. "You were looking for me?"
"Yes, I've been looking for you all along," Gu Junshi said softly.
"What… what do you want me for?"
What did she want him for?
Gu Junshi suddenly moved closer to him. Her pure jade-like face emanated a chilling aura, her eyes fiercely locking onto his. "Because I want to ask you directly? Liu Jiang Fusheng, where did you take my child seven years ago?"
At this moment, Le Bao, who had been obediently in Gu Junshi's arms, was stunned.
He looked at Gu Junshi with excitement and disbelief.
What did her words mean?
She asked about her child, but why was she asking his father?
Her child and his father…
Seven years ago…
Could it be…
Le Bao looked up at Gu Junshi blankly, his eyes immediately reddening. He was overwhelmed with excitement, sadness, and thrill, much like a lost child being brought home to their parents.
He clutched her clothes tightly, his small body trembling uncontrollably. His throat choked up, and all he could manage was a sob.
The bitter emotion suppressed the urge to cry. After traveling thousands of miles to reach a warm harbor, he was reluctant to blink, as if everything he saw and heard was merely a dream.
However, Gu Junshi was solely focused on Liu Jiang Fusheng and the truth of seven years ago. She didn't notice Le Bao's distress.
Their first reunion after seven years, her mind was filled with thoughts of her child. What about him?
What did he matter?
Liu Jiang Fusheng, with his proud, cold, and desolate demeanor, gave her a malicious smile. "I don't know."
Gu Junshi couldn't suppress the shadows behind her closing in on him. The surrounding temperature plummeted like frozen frost. Her pupils deepened, turning dark and abyssal. "Is Le Bao my child?"
"What do you think?"
"Liu Jiang Fusheng, my patience is limited."
Upon hearing this, Liu Jiang Fusheng chuckled. He no longer denied that he had recognized her long ago. "Gu Junshi, why do you assume I will tell you the truth about whatever you wish to know?"
He leaned closer, their noses almost touching, his breath fanning her face. His eyes, like the clearest pools in the world, held a chilling tone. "Have you forgotten what you did to me before? Seven years ago, I told you that our ties were severed. Our relationship can never return to what it was. I am no longer the fool who let you deceive him and considered you his everything."
Gu Junshi's expression was impassive as she didn't evade him. "If you refuse to speak, then I will have to make you speak."
Gu Junshi's gaze at this moment was more terrifying than the darkness at the bottom of an abyss.
But Liu Jiang Fusheng was unafraid. He had already witnessed the ruthlessness of this woman's heart. "Do you think I am still the Liu Jiang Fusheng of those days, who would not retaliate even if you tried to kill him?"
He unfurled his sleeves, which flowed like clouds, and a long sword radiating glazed light appeared in his hand. "Bai Luo" returned, accompanied by a powerful, swirling wind. He didn't need to exude overt dominance; he was already imbued with a radiant glow.
"It seems you are quite confident? Seven years have passed. Why don't you let me see how much you have grown?"
Gu Junshi made a grasping gesture in the air, and a black stream of light flashed from a distance into her hand.
The sword in Liu Jiang Fusheng's hand was a pure, pristine immortal sword, unstained by the world's impurities.
In Gu Junshi's hand was a pure black sword. It was cold, sharp, and absorbed all light, born only for darkness.
Before the battle commenced, she said faintly, "You took out my child seven years ago. Even if… even if he ultimately died, what about the body?"
Hearing her words, Liu Jiang Fusheng's breathing became somewhat labored.
He wondered if her heart, so hardened, had now learned to feel for someone.
He replied, "There was no body."
Gu Junshi's suppressed rage finally began to surface.
She had never been a benevolent person, but she was certainly not someone who enjoyed slaughtering cities or engaging in indiscriminate killing. Yet, at this moment, her pupils were beginning to show a bloody tinge.
Seeing Gu Junshi provoked into a ferocious state, Liu Jiang Fusheng, worried that she might inadvertently harm Le Bao, lunged forward to snatch him away. However, Gu Junshi easily deflected him with a sword.
She turned her head, a faint smile playing on her lips. "Liu Jiang Fusheng, I don't know if you're telling the truth, but I am very unhappy right now…"
Therefore, someone had to pay the price for her anger.
—
After Wuxiang was summoned away by its master, Li Sheng felt uneasy and followed Wuxiang's disappearing direction, bringing along the young Si Jun. When they saw the two figures battling in the sky, one black and one white, they were both stunned.
Li Sheng's delicate brows furrowed, her clear deer-like eyes narrowed.
Young Si Jun's eyes widened. After a moment of struggling to identify them, he stammered, "Father…"
He quickly regained his senses and looked anxiously at the other person. "Why is he fighting Mother? Doesn't he recognize her?"
Li Sheng sensed Young Si Jun's desire to descend. "What do you want to do?"
"Let me go quickly, I need to stop them!"
"What is their cultivation level, and what is yours? You'll get hurt if you rush forward like this."
"But what if Mother gets hurt…"
"Your mother isn't that easily injured. You are quite indifferent towards your father, child. You only worry about Mother. Is your father perhaps a stepfather who is so disliked by you?" Li Sheng complained.
"He is a stepfather. He never cares about me. Why should I worry about him!"
Li Sheng was taken aback.
Finally, she could only sigh softly and scold, "Uncaring child."
—
At this moment, several people flew over.
"What's going on?!"
Then they saw Liu Jiang Fusheng and exclaimed, "Liu, Liu Jiang Fusheng?!"
Just then, the "Sui Tong Zhao Jian Array" cast its light from a distance.
Fu Wanyan urgently shouted, "Quick, leave here! Ci Bei City has activated its killing array!"
At this, the two simultaneously stopped.
Gu Junshi's first thought was of Si Jun. She turned and saw Li Sheng holding him not far away.
Is this child also Liu Jiang Fusheng's child?
Or hers?
But the timing didn't match, and they weren't twins…
"Mother—"
Si Jun seemed to understand Gu Junshi's indifferent gaze. Fearing she would abandon him, he cried out, "Mother—"
Le Bao heard the voice and looked over.
Although he hadn't seen him for two or three years, Le Bao recognized his brother at a glance.
"Jun Jun…"
She saw a reflection of silver light, dazzling under the scorching sun. Red light shot towards the ground like rockets, setting the earth ablaze, reflecting flames as if oil were boiling and frying.
She flashed forward, grabbing the two. At this moment, Kai Shan Gui, Ji Du Mo, and Cang Yu Yao also arrived.
"Go—"
They rushed towards the protective boundary of the "Sui Tong Zhao Jian Array."
Behind Liu Jiang Fusheng, two people appeared. He stared in the direction Gu Junshi had departed.
"Holy Lord—"
That face, Xue Chen, wore a cold and elegant smile. "Let's go."
—