East Dragon Island:
Hearing Lin Chen's words, Zi Yan sank into memories of her time at the academy.
"What are you spacing out for?" Lin Chen's voice pulled her back from her thoughts.
Zi Yan turned her head. Her amethyst-like eyes looked at Lin Chen, carrying a hint of dependence.
"Nothing. You just happened to mention it."
"It just made me think of the academy."
Lin Chen looked at the girl before him. To outsiders, she was a dignified Dragon Emperor, yet in front of him, she still retained a trace of her endearing, girlish innocence.
He sighed softly in his heart. It was time.
"Zi Yan, there's something I should tell you, about your father." Lin Chen spoke first.
His tone was calm, yet carried an unquestionable force. "He didn't die. He's been alive all along, but trapped in a very special place."
"Father?" Zi Yan sprang to her feet.
First, shock crossed her face. Then it hardened, and a trace of resistance flickered in her eyes.
Yet she said stubbornly, "I don't have a father. If it weren't for you all back then, I'd have been an orphan nobody wanted."
But the hem of her clothes, clenched tight in her fists, betrayed her inner turmoil—a yearning she had hidden for years, one she didn't even dare face herself.
"He didn't abandon you." Seeing how she denied what she truly felt, Lin Chen continued.
"Your father's name is Zhu Kun. He was the previous Dragon Emperor of the Ancient Void Dragon clan."
"He's also...the last peak powerhouse in this world to have witnessed the existence of a Dou Di. He simply had no choice."
"Zhu Kun...the previous Dragon Emperor..." Zi Yan murmured.
Her delicate body trembled slightly. The news hit her too hard.
She had once resented the father