"Back then, your mother refused, but I agreed. To keep the Nine Heart Begonia clan from being implicated, I even considered having your father take you away too, because you also carried some of the Clear Sky Sect's bloodline."
"In the end, your mother left with you and your father, for your sake and his, and to keep the Nine Heart Begonia clan from being implicated. After that, we never heard from her again. It was the thing I regretted most. Half a year later, Spirit Hall stopped hunting the Clear Sky Sect. Afterward, I sent people to Emperor Soul Village several times to look for you. The last news I received was ten years ago—the terrible news that your parents had passed away."
"A-Si, have you been doing well all these years? If Lingling hadn't told me, I would have thought you..."
By the end, Ye Renxin, who had always been refined and mild-mannered, was already weeping openly. Even Ye Lingling, standing beside him, had red eyes and silent tears streaming down her face.
Lan Si lowered his head and didn't answer. For a moment, an eerie silence settled over the room.
He'd thought his mother's origins in the Nine Heart Begonia clan were already dramatic enough. He hadn't expected his father's background to be even more so: apparently, he was the illegitimate son abandoned by some Clear Sky Sect disciple. Did that mean his two Martial Souls had mutated from the Nine Heart Begonia and the Clear Sky Hammer?
No wonder even Uncle Otto didn't know his mother's name and had only ever referred to her as his sister-in-law. That period really had been a special time.
And the root cause of all this was Tang Hao and Qian Xunji.
But Qian Xunji was already dead. Once someone died, their debts died with them. At worst, he could marry his daughter someday and inherit the family fortune.
But he couldn't let Tang Hao off the hook. Tang San, too. The father and son were both rotten to the core.
The former had hidden himself away after his fight with Qian Xunji, like a rat in a sewer, claiming he didn't want anyone else dragged into it. In the end, he not only angered his own father to death but also left a whole mess for those around him to clean up.
As for the latter, there was no need to say more. After becoming a god, he'd hardly done a single decent thing.
Lan Si raised his head and looked at Ye Renxin. "Mr. Ye Renxin, I can understand why, after learning of my father's background, you wanted him—and me—to leave the Nine Heart Begonia clan. You were trying to protect the clan, and it was what he wanted too. But before I call you Uncle, I have a few questions for you."
"Go ahead." Ye Renxin wiped away his tears and replied, his eyes red.
Lan Si asked solemnly, "First, according to my adoptive father, my parents died at the hands of Soul Beasts while hunting for a Soul Ring. Is that true?"
Ye Renxin replied, "It is. At the time, someone—no one knows who—angered the forest's ruler, the Titan Giant Ape, in the Star Dou Great Forest. The forest fell into chaos, and some Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were driven out to the outer regions. Your parents died in that upheaval. I investigated the matter from every angle. There's no doubt about it."
An upheaval in the Star Dou Great Forest?
Could it have been when Bibi Dong hunted Xiao Wu's mother? The Titan Giant Ape came afterward, but Bibi Dong and the others had already left, and it was left to rage in helpless fury?
It was certainly possible. The original Douluo I story contradicted itself: Douluo I said Xiao Wu's mother was killed by Bibi Dong, but never specified exactly when. Later, the setting changed, and she was supposedly eaten by high-level Soul Beasts from the Core Circle. The author's worldbuilding was always full of contradictions.
But as long as the Spirit Hall hadn't killed his parents, that was all that mattered. Otherwise, he really wouldn't know how to face Qian Renxue in the future. Spirit Hall's pursuit of the Clear Sky Sect disciples might have been triggered by Tang Hao, but the orders came from Qian Renxue's grandfather, Qian Daoliu, and her mother, Bibi Dong.
As for the Titan Giant Ape, Lan Si had long since claimed it as the Soul Ring for his Second Martial Soul.
Lan Si continued, "Second, at the time, did anyone besides you know about my father's background? Did Spirit Hall know? Did they ever hunt my parents?"
Ye Renxin shook his head with a sigh. "No. Your grandfather died in the conflict between Spirit Hall and the Clear Sky Sect, and your father's Martial Soul wasn't the Clear Sky Hammer. Aside from me and your mother, hardly anyone knew he had Clear Sky Sect blood. Your parents went undiscovered until the conflict had passed, the Clear Sky Sect had sealed itself off, and Spirit Hall had stopped its campaign against the sect. Otherwise, Spirit Hall would have come knocking on our door and seized the opportunity to swallow up the Nine Heart Begonia clan long ago."
At that, Ye Renxin seemed to remember something and hurriedly warned him, "Child, you mustn't seek revenge on Spirit Hall because of your grandfather's death. Spirit Hall is far more powerful than you can imagine."
"He who begets a child but does not raise him is a thief. He was scum—a bastard who abandoned his wife and child. Dead is dead. Even if Spirit Hall hadn't killed him, I would have gone after him someday." Lan Si shrugged slightly, a cold gleam passing through his eyes.
"And why would I seek revenge on Spirit Hall? They never hunted my parents, and my parents didn't die because of them. If anything, it was because of that so-called Clear Sky Douluo and that so-called number-one trash sect in the world. They abandoned their wives and children. If not for them, my parents wouldn't have had to hide and flee from place to place."
"A-Si, do you mean..." Ye Renxin stared at him in disbelief.
"Don't worry, I'm not that foolish. If I'm going to settle the score, it'll be after I become a Titled Douluo." Lan Si smiled and shook his head. His smile gradually faded as he fixed his gaze on Ye Renxin and said seriously, "You said earlier that, for the sake of the Nine Heart Begonia clan, you once considered having my father take me away from the clan. So let me ask you this: if I were just an ordinary person with mediocre talent, or even someone who wasn't a Soul Master at all, would you still have come to acknowledge me?"
"We would have. All these years, Dad has never stopped looking for you, openly or in secret. He tried every avenue he could, but..." Ye Lingling, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. Her voice was beautiful, yet tinged with sadness.
Lan Si continued, "Did you ever send anyone to Nuoding City?"
Ye Renxin froze for a moment, then asked, "The year before we received the news of your parents' deaths, we did go looking—wait, you said you were in Nuoding City? The Nuoding City less than a hundred li from Emperor Soul Village?"
Lan Si slowly nodded. "Before my parents went to hunt for a Soul Ring, they left me with one of my father's childhood friends. He later became my adoptive father."
"I really..." Ye Renxin's face filled with regret. The place he'd been searching for was right under his nose. He'd never imagined Lan Si was in Nuoding City. Why hadn't he stopped there to look when he went to Emperor Soul Village?
Ye Renxin left and returned to the Nine Heart Begonia clan. Even as he departed, Lan Si never called him Uncle. After all, anyone would have a hard time adjusting to suddenly gaining an uncle.
Likewise, he didn't call Ye Lingling his cousin. It wasn't that Lan Si disliked her. On the contrary, he admired her. After all, Ye Lingling was one of the few girls in the original story who had never fallen for Tang San.
On the other hand, once Ye Lingling confirmed he was family, she became much more cheerful. The loneliness and isolation in her eyes had faded, replaced by warmth and delight.
Before you continue