Dao Zu saw such a child who was less than a meter tall who had a branch in his head and who’d twisted his long hair into a hemp ball. He only laughed and said, “Chang Sheng, exchange a few moves with him for me.”
Originally, Little Brat was very upset and felt underestimated. He thought that only Dao Zu in the entire Hidden Spirit Holy Sect, who was said to be able to just sit on the ground and ascend with one finger, was worth his attention. However, when Little Brat was beaten to the ground in one strike by the white-clothed Chang Sheng with a gentle smile, he was completely stunned.
Dao Zu said with a smile, “Little kids who don’t listen just need a beating.”
Little Brat immediately indicated that he planned to become one of Dao Zu’s disciples and cultivate here. Dao Zu readily agreed and intended to give him the name “Bu Si”.
Little Brat started crying and absolutely refused to accept this name that didn’t have a deep enough meaning, sounded ridiculous, and would make him a laughingstock.
Chang Sheng finally said, “Why don’t I call you Xi He?”
Since then, Little Brat’s name became Xi He, and the important task of naming the junior martial brothers had also fallen on Chang Sheng’s shoulders, together with the important task of raising children.
Chang Sheng always kept the matter of naming the little blood cypress in his heart. He rummaged through the ancient books and checked all the beautiful names, yet he still didn’t know what name to give him.
Until one day, the little blood cypress ran to him and called “Shixiong” softly and cheerfully. When he turned his head, he met the pair of eyes from which the silk was removed for the first time, and suddenly blessed his heart, he blurted out a name–
“In the future, you will be called Lingyu.” Zhong Ling Yu Xiu — a place endowed with a natural beauty that nurtures people of talent, with matchless fortune.
That was the beginning of his lifetime of entanglement with Youshan Lingyu. “Ding Ling Ling, Ding Ling Ling…”
Lin Xuanzhi’s ears were filled with the sound of the continuous ringing of a bell. His eyes, which were originally neither sad nor happy, suddenly cooled, just like a sleeping crane which was suddenly woken up.
This was the sound of the Echo Bell!
Lin Xuanzhi stood up and immediately took out the Echo Bell which he had made a hundred years ago from the storage ring. He put it beside his heart and sensed the connection incredulously. How could it ring suddenly?
It had already been silent for a hundred years. How could the Echo Bell, which should have been silent, sound now? Could it be that Ah Hen and the others entered the Tomb of Youshan for the second time and came to look for him? No, this was also quite impossible.
In order to gather spiritual Qi, Lian Hua had completely sealed off the Tomb of Youshan, and it had become an independent world. It was impossible for people from the outside to find the entrance. The wholly unexpected ringing of the bell sounded like a heavy drum hammer hitting Lin Xuanzhi’s heart, banging ‘bang! bang! bang!’. The person he sensed was actually Yan Tianhen.
Yan Tianhen is in the Tomb of Youshan! Yan Tianhen is here!
Yan Tianhen had come to look for him!
Heaven and earth, for a hundred years, he finally waited for the arrival of his sweetheart.
Lin Xuanzhi almost immediately moved in the direction in which the Echo Bell was shaking. Now his cultivation level had reached major attainment in the Grandmaster Stage, he no longer needed to rely on external force to fly in the air, but with just a flip of his hands, he shrunk the distance by a meter. The wind whistled in his ears, he soon arrived at the place where the Echo Bell was.
On a hilltop; under a frozen willow tree.
A familiar and somewhat unfamiliar boy in black robes, and standing next to him, two spiritual beast white tigers that had matured into adult tigers, were looking at him with a smile. It seemed that after endless years, there was an endless gentleness between his eyes.
“Dage!” Yan Tianhen called out.
Lin Xuanzhi walked towards him a few steps, but there was a kind of faint fear of nostalgia. He was afraid that after too long, the Ah Hen he saw again was just an illusion caused by his extreme longing.
“Ah Hen.” Lin Xuanzhi stopped and asked, “Why are you here?”
Yan Tianhen raised the corners of his lips, but tilted his head and said, “I haven’t seen you for so long, doesn’t Dage want to hug me?”
How can I not? How can I not?
The face he thought about day and night, the person he put on the tip of his heart, was now in front of him. What he wanted to do was not just hug him. He wanted to ask him where he had been all these years.
He wanted to ask why he came to see him at this time. He wanted to ask him how he was doing.
He wanted to ask….
There were so many things that he wanted to know that almost made his brain burst. In the end, Lin Xuanzhi couldn’t say anything. He just opened his arms, made a welcome gesture, and said: “Come, let me hug you.”
Yan Tianhen flew over and launched himself into Lin Xuanzhi’s arms vigorously, and then tightly, with the force of tightening the bones and flesh, he hugged Lin Xuanzhi’s back. A hundred years had already passed since he last saw Lin Xuanzhi.
During these hundred years, Yan Tianhen was imprisoned in the dark celestial prison, leaning on the wall and scratching out marks with his nails to count the days.
Without spiritual Qi, he cultivated evil Qi; even if he became a ghost, he would still climb through the sea of blood and the eighteen layers of hell, and return to Lin Xuanzhi’s side.
Lin Xuanzhi tightly held his warm body in his arms. His eyes could not help but sting and teared up. When he opened his mouth, he found that his voice trembled uncontrollably — “Why are you such a fool? Why didn’t you leave with them? Why did you stay in the Tomb of Youshan and search for me for so many years? …Have you been looking for me in the Tomb of Youshan all this time?“
Yan Tianhen was relieved. He nodded and said, “Yeah, I’ve always been in the Tomb of Youshan and never left.”
After the initial shock and joy, Lin Xuanzhi quickly peeled off the cocoon and easily found the truth of the matter. It was impossible for Lian Hua’s spell to be cracked by outsiders. There was only one possibility why Yan Tianhen appeared here.
Yan Tianhen was already so different from the last time he saw him. The mark between his eyebrows that belonged to a child was almost invisible, and his cultivation had reached a point that surprised Lin Xuanzhi: this could never be the changes and achievements that could be brought about in just one and a half years.
Unless Yan Tianhen had always remained in the Tomb of Youshan and never left.
Lin Xuanzhi only felt stabbing pain in his heart. If Ah Hen was in Youshan Capital, he would have used the Echo Bell to find him a long time ago. Since he only heard the Echo Bell ringing today, he must have only stepped into the Youshan Capital today.
It was self-evident where he’d been for the past one hundred years.
The Tomb of Youshan was a huge burial place. It was full of evil spirits and demons. The environment was appalling. In Lin Xuanzhi’s opinion, it must have taken a hundred years for Yan Tianhen to break through the many obstructions in the Tomb of Youshan and find the gate of Youshan Capital.
Lin Xuanzhi almost trembled, stroked Yan Tianhen’s hair. “Are you an idiot? Are you an idiot?”
Yan Tianhen sniffed and said in a coquettish voice, “At that time, a man with golden hair and green eyes suddenly appeared and took you away without a word. I told him that I was your Dao companion, but he didn’t believe me. He even casually threw me to another region, so I got separated from Senior Yin and the others. After that, when I shook the Echo Bell again, I couldn’t feel them any more. I could only wander alone in the Tomb of Youshan. Fortunately, Ah Bai and Hu Po were also thrown in with me, so I wasn’t too lonely, but…”
Yan Tianhen ruthlessly put all the blame on Lian Hua and said while almost crying, “But I was so scared ah. I encountered a lot of ferocious monsters. My cultivation was not enough, and the pills and magic weapons I’ve brought were almost used up. No one could help me. No one could talk to me. I was chased down by those monsters and fell off a cliff. I fell into deep waters and was almost bitten to death by the monsters in the water… Dage, I’ve been looking for you for a hundred years ah. I’ve been looking for you for a hundred years in a place so dark that I couldn’t even see my five fingers and it’s all full of monsters! Youshan Capital is an independent space. No matter how I shook the Echo Bell outside, it didn’t give me any response. I despaired….”
Lin Xuanzhi’s heart was greatly palpitating. The hand that originally encircled Yan Tianhen’s back gradually clenched into a fist. “Lian Hua actually told me that he’d sent you out. He actually dared to lie to me. He actually dared to treat you like this!”
Yan Tianhen blinked and asked pitifully, “Dage, who is Lian Hua?”
Lin Xuanzhi took a very deep breath; he remembered his mood and calmed down a bit, but in fact he’d already understood the situation and made a decision.
He pulled Yan Tianhen up from his arms and looked into his eyes; he lowered his head and imprinted his lips on Yan Tianhen’s head, and said softly, “He is an old friend of mine. This is an extremely long story. I will tell you later.”
Lin Xuanzhi looked at Yan Tianhen’s chiseled face, and said, “You’re thinner. I’ve caused you to suffer.”
Yan Tianhen sniffed, then suddenly grinned through his tears. “Dage, in fact, this one hundred years wasn’t too miserable. At least in this kind of environment, I always have to try my best to survive. You see, my current cultivation is already at the peak of Earth Realm’s Small Perfection Stage. If it was outside, I’m afraid that it would stay at the Profound Realm at most, even after a hundred years. So I didn’t suffer.”
Lin Xuanzhi almost wanted to cry.
His Ah Hen, who hated to endure hardships, exhaustion, and acted very coquettishly, was actually forced to cultivate to such a realm in places that he couldn’t see.
It was hard to imagine how this child, who was only in his twenties and had not experienced too much wind and waves at the beginning, became like this today — obviously crying to death, but still trying hard to smile for him.
This was his beloved that he brought up with one hand and protected all the way ah.
He remembered that at the beginning, this child was always lazy when he was cultivating. When Lin Xuanzhi was watching, he raised his sword in a decent manner and swung it strike after strike. But when Lin Xuanzhi turned around, he would immediately throw the sword aside and run all over the mountains and plains, chasing butterflies and teasing birds.
Even if most of the disciples in the Lin family disliked him for his ugly appearance and lack of talent, and were jealous that he was favored by Lin Zhan, the head of the Lin family at that time, and were unwilling to play with him, Yan Tianhen could still play happily with plants, birds, and beasts.
Lin Zhan had always been reluctant to let Ah Hen suffer too much. Lin Xuanzhi himself was an extremely hard-working person in cultivation, and he naturally couldn’t bear to see the child named as his “Didi” being too careless with his own cultivation.
So Lin Xuanzhi said to Lin Zhan privately, “Daddy, you can’t be too soft on him. In the future, the children beside him will all be able to travel with their swords and gain experience all over the world, but he will only be trapped in a small place. At that time, he might hate your indulgence of him today.”
Lin Zhan stared at Lin Xuanzhi for a moment, then smiled and said, “With you protecting him, are you afraid that he will be bullied? Xuanzhi, he called you ‘Dage’. You have to shelter him from the wind and rain for the rest of your life.”
In this life, he was destined to shelter Yan Tianhen from the wind and rain.
But now, that extremely fragile seedling had already grown into a towering tree, and Yan Tianhen’s tenacity and perseverance was something Lin Xuanzhi rarely saw in his life.