The Adopted Son

[After Ah Yin took human form, you searched the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well for suitable herbs to consume. To your surprise, she recognized most of the Immortal Herbs there.]

[You did not press her for answers. You took the Immortal Herbs first. Though they no longer strengthened your Foundation, they still improved your mental strength and physique, if only slightly.]

[On the tenth day of the Simulation, you had absorbed every Immortal Herb in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well that you could use. All that remained were poisonous plants and premium herbs of little use to you.]

[You gathered them all up, leaving only the Earth Dragon Golden Melon and a note for Dugu Bo. Then you took the Water Dragon King's and Fire Dragon King's Soul Bones and left with Ah Yin.]

[On the eleventh day of the Simulation, you and Ah Yin arrived at Holy Soul Village. From a distance, you watched a shabby blacksmith's shop.]

[Tang Hao sat among the firewood at the shop. Tang San, only a few months old, lay weakly nearby.]

[You told Ah Yin to conceal her aura and explained that you could win Tang San over as part of your path to godhood.]

[Ah Yin opposed the plan at first. Facing someone who was not her son, along with Tang Hao, who only wanted her Soul Bone and Soul Ring, made her sick to her stomach.]

["Don't force yourself, Ah Yin. I can go alone." You did not push her. It was hard for her to accept, and you knew you would feel the same in her place. But for the greater good, sacrifices had to be made.]

[Ah Yin had not wanted to agree, but when she saw that you were willing to go without her, she finally relented.]

[You and Ah Yin settled in Holy Soul Village, telling everyone you had wandered there.]

[No one in the village suspected anything. With your appearances disguised, you looked like ordinary refugees.]

[In the first year of the Simulation, you and Ah Yin visited Tang San now and then, secretly feeding him milk in the hope that he would remember your kindness.]

[It worked. At one year old, Tang San could already speak a few syllables, and he showed affection toward you both.]

[You and Ah Yin continued caring for Tang San in the same way. You took care not to make it too obvious, playing the part of kindhearted strangers so Tang San, who had been reborn, would notice nothing amiss.]

[In the second year of the Simulation, your plan began to take shape. Tang San had grown more attached to you and Ah Yin than to Tang Hao, the drunkard.]

[Compared with Tang Hao, a father who did nothing but drink all day, Tang San felt that you and Ah Yin were more like his parents.]

[Tang Hao failed as a father in many ways. Things he had let slip while drunk also left Tang San instinctively repulsed.]

[How could Tang San, who prided himself on his purity, have a disgusting worm like Tang Hao for a father?]

[Tang San still lived by the old rules of the Tang Sect, but he had not yet met Yu Xiaogang, so his outlook remained fairly normal.]

[In the third year of the Simulation, Tang San could walk. It took some effort, but he could manage it.]

[Even with your care and Ah Yin's, Tang San remained frail and could not withstand much strain.]

[Tang San blamed it all on Tang Hao. "Damn you, Tang Hao! Someone like you doesn't deserve to be a father! What parent neglects their own child like that?"]

[You and Ah Yin had not yet tried to shape Tang San's thinking, but he had already begun to despise Tang Hao.]

[You and Ah Yin, who watched from the shadows, were pleased. He was not your son, but Tang San was at least becoming a passable human being. Your years of care had not gone to waste.]

[In the fourth year of the Simulation, Tang San argued with Tang Hao again. Afterward, he moved into your home with Ah Yin.]

[You were surprised at first, but gradually welcomed Tang San in and began teaching him how to conduct himself.]

[You took things slowly rather than rushing for results. Now and then, you let Tang San see how hard you worked so that he would feel guilty.]

[Under your and Ah Yin's efforts, Tang San let down the last of his guard around you.]

[One day, Tang San knelt before you both and said, "Ming, if you will have me, I wish to take you as my adoptive father. Yin, if you will have me, I wish to take you as my adoptive mother."]

[After years of careful guidance and appeals to his guilt, Tang San still believed he owed more to those who gave him life than to those who raised him. Even so, he chose to sever all ties with Tang Hao.]

[You and Ah Yin were pleased. You brought out a medicinal herb, claiming you had found it in a mountain ravine. The villagers said it was valuable, so you gave it to Tang San as a birthday gift to celebrate his new beginning.]

[Tang San recognized the gift at once. It was a top-grade herb that could cleanse his meridians and bones. Even in the Tang Sect of his previous life, such a herb appeared perhaps once in a century.]

[Tang San grew still more grateful to you and Ah Yin, and his sense of belonging with you deepened.]

[Your gesture seemed kind, but you had tampered with the herb. It could also remove bloodlines.]

[At Ah Yin's request, you removed her direct bloodline from Tang San's body, then Tang Hao's, and grafted in a mutated bloodline.]

[This had little effect on Tang San. He still had the Clear Sky Hammer and Blue Silver Grass, but his bloodline no longer branched from anyone in the Clear Sky Sect or the Blue Silver Grass Clan. He could effectively found a lineage of his own.]

[In the fifth year of the Simulation, Tang San grew better-looking under your and Ah Yin's care. Not a trace of Tang Hao showed in his face. He resembled Ah Yin a little, but only a little.]

[Tang San noticed the change, but did not dwell on it. He was glad he looked nothing like Tang Hao. At least the neighbors would stop pointing at him and calling him the son of that drunkard.]

[In the sixth year of the Simulation, you had business elsewhere and left Holy Soul Village for a time. You asked Ah Yin to care for Tang San and teach him about Martial Souls.]

[You returned to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well after six years. The Immortal Herbs you had harvested had begun to sprout again, and a wooden sign stood beside the Earth Dragon Golden Melon.]

["Friend, though this old man does not know who you are, I must thank you for your help. You may come and go from this herb garden as you please. If you run into trouble, you can find me at the Dugu Residence in Heaven Dou City."]