Tan Lin watched the figure rushing toward him, the surging tears in her eyes and the blazing emotions that seemed ready to ignite. His body paused ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly.
But in the end, he did not dodge.
Instead, for the first time ever, he slightly opened his arms.
Whoosh...
Chi Xuan crashed heavily into his embrace. At long last, she tightly, desperately wrapped both arms around his waist, buried her face deep in his chest, and burst into tears.
"Wuwu... Senior Brother... you finally came...
I finally waited for you... I missed you... I really missed you..."
Her words were incoherent.
At that moment, she did not resemble the founding ancestor of a sect at all. Instead, she cried like a child who had suffered endless grievances, her shoulders shaking violently as her tears instantly soaked the front of Tan Lin's robes.
Tan Lin let her hold him and did not move.
He could feel the trembling and chill of the body in his arms. He could feel the surging grief and longing that almost drowned him.
He raised his hand as though he wanted to pat her back and comfort her, but after lifting it halfway, he slowly lowered it again.
In the end, he merely stood there quietly, silently listening to her sobbing and outpouring.
"I thought... I would never see you again..."
"That woman... did she torture you? Have you been well all these years? Are you really all right?"
"I'm sorry... Senior Brother... I was useless... I couldn't save you..."
"I thought of you every day... Back then, I went to the Abyss so many times... but I could never see you..."
"Elder Sister died in the turmoil... Father and Mother had long since passed away too. If you had also... I would have