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Chapter 221: Your Father, He...
🕑 Added 2024-10-14 10:36:28 +0000 UTCAlmost instantly, Jin Zhi’s face turned beet red, and, shockingly, steam began to billow out of his nostrils and ears as though he were a boiling pot!
“What…?”
Qin Zi stood there, utterly dumbfounded.
“I need to cool off!”
Jin Zhi shouted and leaped from the flying vessel, plummeting like a meteor into a small, blue lake below.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
The moment he hit the water, the lake erupted in massive explosions, sending fish and shrimp flying into the air. White steam rose from the surface, and the water itself began to boil.
Before long, crimson-colored fish and shrimp floated to the surface.
Jin Zhi’s body, spread out in the shape of a "T", with his face toward the lakebed and his back to the sky, slowly floated back up, motionless.
“This is…”
Qin Zi was stunned and then turned, equally bewildered, to the elder from Ziyun Academy standing beside him.
“Quick! Get him out! He doesn’t know how to swim!”
The elder suddenly remembered something, his face turning pale with alarm. Hastily, he used his energy to lift Jin Zhi out of the water.
Before long, Jin Zhi was lying flat on the deck of the flying vessel, completely drenched, his face as white as a sheet, barely clinging to life.
Both Qin Zi and the elder looked at him with concern.
Jin Zhi slowly opened his eyes and weakly asked, “What… did you say… just now…?”
Qin Zi blinked in confusion, wondering why Jin Zhi was still worried about that at a time like this.
But he obediently repeated himself, “Senior Brother Jin, would you like to be my friend?”
“Uh… yeah… I guess… sure…”
Jin Zhi mumbled incoherently, his face threatening to turn red again, but he was too weak, so it remained pale.
As if calculating everything perfectly, right after he answered, Jin Zhi seemed to have exhausted the last of his strength. His eyes fluttered shut, and he passed out again.
“Um…”
Qin Zi stood there, unsure of what to make of the situation.
The elder from Ziyun Academy chuckled softly and explained with a kind smile, “His personality is like that. The situation probably caught him off guard, and he didn’t know how to respond. Since there’s nowhere to run on the ship, he’s pretending to be asleep as a way to buy time.”
Qin Zi immediately understood.
Senior Brother Jin, despite his cold exterior, was actually shy. After agreeing to be friends, he had to feign unconsciousness to escape the awkwardness of social anxiety.
The elder sighed and continued, “Ah, this kid is truly remarkable. Whether it’s his talent or his character, he’s exemplary in every way. But he’s far too lonely… Before this, he had never made a single friend. Let’s hope that changes from now on.”
Qin Zi pondered for a moment and then asked, “Elder, what’s the story behind Senior Brother Jin? His personality is rather unusual. How did it come to be?”
Indeed, Jin Zhi’s character was strange.
On one hand, he was so proud that he looked down on everything, and on the other hand, he was so insecure that he couldn’t even socialize properly.
“This…”
The elder hesitated for a moment and then gave a wry smile.
“To be honest, I don’t know. Years ago, he arrived at Ziyun Academy alone. We couldn’t trace anything about his past. He claimed to be a wandering cultivator with no parents, and beyond that, there’s no information at all.”
Qin Zi furrowed his brows.
With his innate strength and vast vitality, how could someone like Jin Zhi be from an ordinary family? He clearly had a significant background.
Suddenly, Qin Zi remembered that digging into someone’s past behind their back wasn’t exactly polite. Especially not when that person was lying right there in front of him.
He shook his head with a wry smile, “Never mind, I’ll just ask him myself when the time is right.”
Then something crossed his mind, and he asked, “Elder, why were you the ones to rescue me? Where is my father?!”
Yes! Where was his father?
Since Senior Brother Jin had come to save him, the news of his predicament in Fractured Star Demon Territory must have reached Ziyun Academy. So why hadn’t his father made a move?
Logically speaking, if he were in danger, his father should have been the first to rush to his side! Why hadn’t he shown up by now?
It didn’t make sense!
“Well…”
The elder hesitated for a moment before his tone turned solemn. “Before I say anything, I need you to brace yourself mentally…”
Thud!
Qin Zi’s heart skipped a beat. The anger and stubbornness he had been feeling suddenly morphed into sheer terror.
Brace himself?
What did that mean? Could something have happened to his father?
In an instant, a flood of thoughts surged through his mind, making his vision go dark. It felt like the sky was collapsing around him.
“What happened?! Tell me!!”
He lunged forward, grabbing the elder by the arm, his eyes wild and desperate, like a beast ready to tear someone apart.
He was strong.
But not so strong that he could harm a peak Emperor-level cultivator. The elder wasn’t angered by his outburst. Instead, he let out a heavy sigh.
“Your father went missing over six months ago. Afterward, we entered his palace and found a note…”
The elder paused before continuing, “In the note, he mentioned that something had gone wrong with his cultivation. He needed to survive a deadly tribulation. He also wrote that if he didn’t return, we were to look after you… because, after all, you are a disciple of Ziyun Academy.”
Hearing this, Qin Zi felt as though lightning had struck him.
“Father… really… something happened to him… How could this happen…? This can’t be real… How is this possible…?”
He stumbled backward, utterly dazed. His words became jumbled, and his eyes lost their light, filled only with emptiness.
Memories of the past flashed through his mind.
That man had always been so strong, so gentle. He was the rock Qin Zi had always relied on.
That man had cared for him, loved him, and even when he caused trouble, he still received his father’s protection.
No matter what happened, that man would always stand before him, reassuring him with a calm smile, “Don’t worry. I’m here.”
He had always believed that would never change.
But now, that dependable figure seemed to have collapsed, so suddenly, so unexpectedly.
In that moment, Qin Zi realized that his greatest regret wasn’t that his father could no longer protect him, but that he had never truly cared for his father in return.
He had always basked in the glory of being the child of a powerful figure, enjoying the shelter his father provided, yet he had neglected the burdens his father had silently borne.
His father had often warned him that forcing his cultivation to recover would take a heavy toll.
He knew it! He knew it all along!
Thud!
Unconsciously, Qin Zi dropped to his knees, tears streaming from his eyes. He bowed toward the distant sky, repeatedly banging his head on the deck of the flying vessel.
“Father… I’ve been unfilial… I’ve been unfilial…”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
His forehead slammed against the deck repeatedly, soon leaving it bloodied.
The elder, watching this, could only sigh.
There was nothing he could say to console Qin Zi.
He remembered his own father’s passing many years ago, how he, too, had wept and knelt in grief, pounding his head against the ground.
Life’s joys and sorrows—how many of us can escape them?
Everyone must face these moments.
The difference was that some had fulfilled their filial duties, and when that time came, they felt grief and loss.
But for others, who had overlooked much during life, when they knelt, they were left with nothing but guilt and regret…
“Your father isn’t even dead yet!”
High above in the sky, hidden by his invisibility cloak, Qin Chuan watched the scene unfold below and couldn’t help but feel a mix of amusement and exasperation.
He had left that note only to explain why he wasn’t at the academy and hadn’t come to save his son.
Who would have thought his son would be so emotional, immediately assuming he had died and already starting to mourn his passing…
Qin Chuan couldn’t help but wonder if Qin Zi was secretly cursing him.
With all this bowing and crying, was his son performing some kind of ritual to ensure his demise?
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
The blockade flying vessel had left Fractured Star Demon Territory and returned to the Ziyun Academy’s domain.
Qin Zi, after his initial period of sorrow, had bounced back with his usual energy, thinking that his father wouldn’t die so easily.
As for Jin Zhi, he continued lying on the deck of the flying vessel, showing no signs of waking up.
Though perhaps he had already woken up but was simply too embarrassed to open his eyes.
Sure enough, as soon as the blockade flying vessel arrived at the gates of Ziyun Academy, Jin Zhi suddenly sprang to his feet. Without a word, he dashed into the academy and disappeared from sight.
“Senior Brother Qin Zi!”
“Brother Qin!”
“Senior Brother Qin!”
“Zi-ge!”
At that moment, many people had gathered at the gates of Ziyun Academy, some unfamiliar disciples, and some old friends from the Fragmented Continent.
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