"Dad."
The word slipped from Zi Yan's lips in a murmur. She sat there blankly, staring vacantly at that drop of blood essence. Before she knew it, a crystalline tear slowly trickled down from the corner of her eye.
I sat across from her, watching quietly without saying a word.
After a long while, Zi Yan gradually came back to herself. She continued to stare unblinkingly at the drop of blood essence and raised a hand to wipe away the tears at the corner of her eyes.
"Nalan Ye, where did you get this drop of blood?"
"An old man gave it to me," I said after thinking it over.
She asked again, "Who was that old man?"
I looked at her in silence before saying gravely, "You should have already sensed it. He is your father, Zhu Kun—the Old Dragon Emperor of the Ancient Void Dragon Clan, who was said to have vanished over ten thousand years ago!"
"So it really was him..."
Zi Yan froze. Suddenly, she remembered her past.
At first, she had been very young and had not yet taken human form. She had lived in the form of a magical beast amid lofty mountains, with no parents to care for her. Every day, she had to struggle desperately just to find enough food to fill her stomach.
Sometimes, stronger magical beasts bullied her or stole her food, leaving her hungry for an entire day. Sometimes they bit and injured her, leaving her to curl up alone in a cave and silently lick her wounds...
It was not until she accidentally ate a Transformation Grass and assumed human form that the Great Elder of Canaan Academy, Su Qian, discovered her and brought her back to the academy.
Yet even at Canaan Academy, she had no friends.