The first zither string: Thousand-Year Blood Python Tendon
"Wu Kai, how could it be you? Where is Pan Yue?" A disbelieving exclamation rang out. Lin Xiaolu's mother stared at the summoned soul and cried out in disbelief. Clearly, she recognized the soul as Wu Kai, but Lin Xiaolu's father should be named Pan Yue.
"Mother, who is this uncle?" Lin Xiaolu timidly shrank behind her mother. She had been calling out to her father's spirit, but instead summoned this stranger. Lin Xiaolu was clearly a little scared.
"The Soul Summoning Formation... could it have summoned the wrong one?" Looking at the farcical situation before her, Qin Qing turned to Zhuge Xiang and asked.
"Let's wait and see," Zhuge Xiang said quietly, shaking his head. Lu Yuling, who was beside him, also had a look of surprise on her face. As for the Soul Summoning Formation, Lu Yuling knew that it was impossible for the Soul Summoning Formation to summon the wrong soul.
"You..." Faced with Lin Xiaolu's mother's questioning and Lin Xiaolu's fearful appearance, the Soul Phantom named Wu Kai shook his head with a complex and painful expression on his face and said, "Humans and ghosts are different. Since I am already dead, why did you summon me out?"
As he spoke, the soul turned around, intending to leave.
However, Lin Xiaolu's mother shouted loudly, "Wait, don't go! Explain yourself! What exactly happened? Xiaolu called for her father, so why did it summon you? Shouldn't you explain?"
Lin Xiaolu's mother's words caused Wu Kai's soul to stiffen slightly. He turned around and sighed helplessly, "The dead are gone. Why dwell on the past? Whether it's Pan Yue or me, Wu Kai, we are both dead. Why insist on my explanation?"
"What if I absolutely have to know? What happened? What was the reason? Tell me, didn't you die thirteen years ago?" Lin Xiaolu's mother, her eyes bloodshot, shouted sharply at Wu Kai's soul.
"You really need to know?" After a moment of silence, Wu Kai asked.
"Yes, I must know the Truth!" Lin Xiaolu's mother nodded firmly.
"Alright, then I'll tell you the Truth," Wu Kai nodded and began, "More than ten years ago, when I first saw you, I was instantly captivated and began a mad pursuit of you. But unfortunately..."
The old story was recounted in detail, and Zhuge Xiang and the others listened attentively, gradually understanding the Truth of the matter.
It turns out that Wu Kai and Pan Yue were both disciples of the same sect called Thousand Formations Sect, and Lin Xiaolu's mother, like Qin Qing, was a disciple of the Hundred Flowers Palace. When Wu Kai first saw Lin Xiaolu's mother, he was immediately captivated and began to pursue her relentlessly. Unfortunately, Lin Xiaolu's mother had someone else in her heart and fell for his senior brother, Pan Yue.
Back then, the couple had a passionate love affair. The Hundred Flowers Palace rejected the marriage, so Lin Xiaolu's mother eloped with Pan Yue. Two years later, she became pregnant with the current Lin Xiaolu. At that time, Pan Yue had just broken through to the Deity Transformation stage. One day, Wu Kai came to him and asked him to help him go to the Secret Realm to retrieve a lost Formation diagram.
Pan Yue had already broken through to the Deity Transformation stage, and Wu Kai had reached the Deity Transformation stage long ago. Although the two Deity Transformation Stage Cultivator joined forces, they still encountered a great calamity in the end. Pan Yue, whose strength was slightly weaker, had already perished more than ten years ago.
On his deathbed, Pan Yue, knowing Wu Kai's feelings for Lin Xiaolu's mother, asked him to remove his face after his death and impersonate him, to take his place, so that Wu Kai wouldn't be sad and could take good care of Lin Xiaolu's mother and their unborn daughter...
"For the past ten years or so, I've been taking care of you and your daughter wholeheartedly, all under the name of Senior Brother Pan Yue. Over these ten years, I've almost forgotten who I am, and I've almost started to think of myself as Senior Brother Pan Yue. Pan Yue, it seems that name has become mine..." Wu Kai's emotions became somewhat agitated as he finished speaking.
"No... it's impossible... Pan Yue couldn't have died more than ten years ago... I don't believe it..." Upon hearing this news, Lin Xiaolu's mother was clearly unable to bear the shock. Her husband, whom she had loved for more than ten years, was actually someone else. Such sudden news would be unbearable for anyone.
"Father, you are my father..." For Lin Xiaolu's mother, this news was a huge blow, but for Lin Xiaolu herself, it didn't feel much.
Although the appearance is different, Lin Xiaolu is certain that the soul before her is her father, who has been by her side since birth.
"Xiaolu, you've grown taller in just one year," Wu Kai said, his gaze fixed on Lin Xiaolu, his face filled with fatherly love.
"So that's how it is..." Upon learning the Truth, Zhuge Xiang and the others suddenly understood.
No wonder Lin Xiaolu's mother hadn't succeeded in Soul Summoning Formation in the past year. She kept calling out Pan Yue's name, but Pan Yue's soul had already been reincarnated. How could she summon it? The silk scarf she just took out was also something Pan Yue had given her back then.
When Lin Xiaolu went up and called out her father's name, she was thinking of her father, who had been with her since she was a child. So, she successfully summoned Wu Kai's soul.
"I took care of you, Xiaolu, because of my love for you, and also because of my Guilt towards Senior Brother Pan Yue. I thought I had done my best, but unfortunately, this is all I can do. I failed to help you win the Heavenly Heart Begonia, and I am sorry for that..." He reached out to touch Lin Xiaolu, but his hand passed right through her face. Humans and ghosts are different, and Wu Kai's soul turned around and looked at Lin Xiaolu's mother, saying this.
A sudden gust of cold wind arose, and within the Soul Summoning Formation, gusts of wind appeared inexplicably, transforming into a black vortex. Wu Kai's soul was slowly drawn into this black vortex by its suction force...
"The time it takes for an incense stick to burn is up. The souls summoned by the Soul Summoning Formation must return to the Underworld. If there's anything you haven't finished saying, speak quickly, there's no time left," Lu Yuling said urgently to Lin Xiaolu's mother, seeing the vortex of yin wind gathering behind Wu Kai.
"I'm leaving now. You and your daughter must live well from now on, so that I may not fail..." he said, his voice filled with deep affection and reluctance. Wu Kai paused slightly before continuing, "So that I may not fail Senior Brother Pan Yue's expectations."
"Father... Father..." Lin Xiaolu cried out in alarm as she watched Wu Kai's soul being sucked into the black vortex, trying to reach out and grab it, but her hand passed right through Wu Kai's body and she couldn't touch him at all.
Lin Xiaolu's mother, watching Wu Kai's soul about to be sucked in, grew anxious and shouted at Wu Kai's soul, "You bastard, you're a liar! You've been deceiving me for over ten years! You big liar! You and Pan Yue are both big liars..."
"I'm sorry, I lied to you, but I've been very happy to live with you, to raise Xiaolu with you, and to watch her Great Accomplishment over the past ten years. Perhaps to you, I'm just a substitute for Brother Pan Yue, but to me, you are my wife, and Xiaolu is my daughter."
With a complex expression, he shook his head helplessly before the black vortex and said, "You treat me as a substitute for Senior Brother Pan Yue. It doesn't matter if you don't love me. As long as I, Wu Kai, love you and can be with you, I'll be content, even if you only see me as Senior Brother Pan Yue..."
"Father, don't go..." Lin Xiaolu, tears streaming down her face like pearls from a broken string. But no matter how hard she tried, it was no use. Her hand always passed right through the black vortex formed by the Yin Qi, and the suction only worked on souls.
"No... Wu Kai... don't go... I forgive you... Back then, I loved Pan Yue, but for the past ten years or so, the person I've loved is you, you, the real, genuine person, not just Pan Yue's face. The person who's been by my side, sharing my bed every day, raising Xiaolu with me, and living with me is you, Wu Kai, you are my husband..."
Wu Kai's last words, spoken as he was sucked into the black vortex, deeply moved Lin Xiaolu's mother. As she watched his body being drawn in, she seemed to finally understand and cried out loudly.
Whether it's Wu Kai or Pan Yue, they're just names, just faces. Who's the person who's truly been with you for over a decade? Just remember that, and that's enough...
The vortex formed from black Yin Qi suddenly shattered and dissipated. Wu Kai's soul didn't even have time to answer, nor did it know if he had heard anything. But in the final moment when the vortex collapsed, Zhuge Xiang's Eagle Eye Technique seemed to see a happy and content smile on Wu Kai's soul's lips...
"Wu Kai!!!" she shouted sharply, but there was no response. However, Lin Xiaolu's mother had already resolved her inner turmoil, seen the spirit of her deceased husband, and learned the Truth. The name she was calling was Wu Kai, not Pan Yue...
"Ding! Quest 'Love Between the Living and the Dead' completed. Gained 1 million experience points and 1 Thousand-Year Blood Python Tendon".
As Lin Xiaolu's mother finally called out Wu Kai's name, Mechanical System Prompt sounded in Zhuge Xiang's mind.
With 1 million experience points credited to his account, a warm current flowed through Zhuge Xiang's body, and his Qi Energy suddenly became more powerful. With the help of these 1 million experience points, Zhuge Xiang broke through to the Void Splitting Realm Fifth Layer.
Zhuge Xiang and the others did not step forward, as this was a family matter. More than an hour later, Lin Xiaolu and her daughter finally composed themselves, bowed deeply to Zhuge Xiang and the others to express their gratitude for their help, and then erased their soul imprint from the Weeping Blood Demonic Zither.
Lin Xiaolu's mother looked at Qin Qing earnestly and said, "I know you are also a disciple of the Hundred Flowers Palace. This Weeping Blood Demonic Zither is perfect for you. However, the Qin Strings were destroyed in the battle with the Heavenly Heart Begonia. If you want to use it, you will have to find better Qin Strings in the future."
"I happen to have a Qin Strings here, I wonder if it would be suitable?" Upon hearing this, and remembering the Thousand-Year Blood Python Tendon he had just received as a reward from the system quest, Zhuge Xiang took it out and said. (To be continued...)