Summer had arrived, and Tianlang Lake had thawed completely into a boundless expanse of water. The snowbound wilderness outside the Western Sea Protectorate had also become grassland where grass flourished and orioles flitted.
With his sword hanging at his waist, Hua Junchen stood atop a corner tower on the towering city walls, gazing out over the endless Western Sea. Although he had fulfilled his childhood dream, successfully joining Northern Liang's Ten Grandmasters and becoming a genuine "Sword Saint," he could not summon the slightest heroic spirit at that moment.
After all, although he had fulfilled every wish of his own, his daughter had eloped, and the place she had married into was the impossibly distant Southern Dynasty. Even if the realm were united someday, with such a long journey between them, he feared they would scarcely see each other again.
Hua Junchen had only one daughter, and naturally cared deeply about her. Otherwise, he would not have begged the Imperial Court for the Immortal Elixir it refined when Qingzhi was young, nor spent so many years searching North and South for a cure afterward, blaming himself and feeling guilty for his failure.
Had she married through the proper formalities, the Hua Family's standing could have ensured that she did not suffer even after marrying into another household. But eloping was different. Eloping meant severing ties with her family. Even if she became someone's concubine, he, her father, would have no say.
Fortunately, Hua Junchen knew whom his daughter had eloped with. The man was a benevolent, outstanding figure who stood above ten thousand people in the Southern Dynasty, upright in character and beyond reproach in every respect. Whatever happened, he would surely not let Qingzhi live in hardship.
After gazing at the boundless Western Sea for a long time, Hua