Father and Son

It's not my son, it's your son!

Lu Qing'an sighed inwardly; this was indeed his son.

He replied telepathically, "I'll have to trouble you in the future; please give him some pointers."

"Alright. By the way, Master, I came to see you today because I have some good news to tell you!" Li Cangxuan quickly put Lu Zhengran's matter out of his mind, grinned, and continued to transmit his voice to Lu Qing'an.

What is it?

"I've already discussed it with Wutong and Shan Chuheng, and we think a month from now is a good date! I just wanted to ask you, Master, if you'll be free to attend our wedding that day..." As he transmitted his voice, Li Cangxuan's cheeks flushed slightly again.

She blushed like a delicate young lady.

Lu Qing'an replied with a smile, "Don't worry! I'll decline anything and witness the moment you become an adult!"

"Haha! Okay! Thank you, Master!" Li Cangxuan laughed.

He was so happy about those words that he didn't send a telepathic message!

After he said that, the surroundings fell silent.

Lu Zhengran, who had just entered the house, was stunned when he suddenly saw Li Cangxuan say these words to his father.

Lu Qing'an glanced at his son, thinking to himself, "Now this silly boy should know what's going on, right?"

Everyone looked at Lu Zhengran.

Xiao Qingyi reacted quickly, laughing, "Why are you being so polite with your teacher? Also, you should change your bad habit. When you're talking to your teacher, can you please not look in other directions?!"

Upon Lu Zhengran looked enlightened.

So the Demon Emperor Dugu had such a bad habit!

Seeing that his son had been "suddenly enlightened" by Xiao Qingyi's words, Lu Qing'an fell silent.

That's enough!

Don't ask too much of this child.

Just live well...

After Lu Zhengran returned, he was already eager to go to the academy. He couldn't help but lean closer to Xu Xuanyu and whisper, "Uncle, can we go to the academy to find my older sister and younger sister now?"

Xu Xuanyu glanced at Lu Qing'an, and seeing Lu Qing'an nod, he smiled and said, "Alright, let's go!"

"Okay! Hehe!" Lu Zhengran grinned.

I'm finally going to see my older and younger sisters!

I've missed him so much these past few days!

"I'll go too." Lu Qing'an stood up at this moment.

Spend more time with the child; after all, they've just arrived in this Demon Domain.

Xiao Qingyi was about to say he wanted to go with them when Lu Qing'an glanced at him, so he held back.

Lu Qing'an probably wanted to spend some time alone with his son, so he swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his throat.

"Great!" Lu Zhengran said with a smile.

And so, the three of them went outside and headed to the gate of the courtyard.

Xu Xuanyu took out his identity token, performed a simple operation, and a portal appeared.

Lu Zhengran stunned. This was...

The three of them passed through the teleportation portal and arrived at the Demon Willow Academy in the blink of an eye.

"We've arrived. Zhengran, this is the strongest academy in the Demon Domain, the Demon Willow Academy." Xu Xuanyu gave a brief introduction to the Demon Willow Academy.

"Uncle! Were we just using a teleportation array?!"

Xu Xuanyu nodded.

Lu Zhengran blinked blankly.

There's a special teleportation array right outside my house that leads directly to the academy?!

In the Immortal Ruins, it takes him an hour to travel from home to the Green Mountain Academy!

Just as Lu Zhengran was feeling this way, the three of them simultaneously looked up at the sky.

Suddenly, a giant dragon covered in bone spurs flew down from the sky.

It flew down, blotting out the sky, and finally turned into a wisp of black smoke in another corner of the academy, disappearing in a flash, seemingly landing in another corner of the academy.

Lu Zhengran's eyes widened.

What was that just now?!

Giant dragon!!!

What a terrifying atmosphere!!!

He had never seen such a powerful Demon Beast.

Could that be the guardian beast of the Demon Willow Academy?!

Is this the foundation of the strongest academy in the Demon Domain?!

The guardian beast of the Green Mountain Academy is nothing compared to this giant dragon!

However, even the guardian beast of the Green Mountain Academy was no stronger than this giant dragon, and he dared not approach the guardian beast of the Green Mountain Academy... After all, it was Demon Beast at the Peak Great Emperor Realm, one that would devour people without spitting out bones.

"What's this little mudfish doing here...?"

Lu Qing'an muttered to himself.

He could sense that Liu Xiyue had appeared over there and stopped the Nether Bone Dragon.

"Little loach?"

Lu Zhengran heard what Lu Qing'an said, and turned around to look at Lu Qing'an.

Lu Qing'an ignored his son and instead looked at Xu Xuanyu: "Go and cultivate."

Upon hearing this, Xu Xuanyu guessed what was going on and nodded with a smile, "Then I'll go cultivate!"

After saying a few words to Lu Zhengran, he walked towards the Time-Reversing Demon Willow not far away and finally entered the time treasure.

"Father! Is that the passage to that time-treasure?!" Lu Zhengran asked, his face full of longing.

Lu Qing'an nodded and said, "I'll have their vice dean get you a token later. You can go inside to cultivate whenever you have free time while you're in the Demon Domain."

"Really?! Thank you, Dad!!!" Lu Zhengran overjoyed.

Lu Qing'an nodded calmly, then prepared to go find Lu Qingxu to register his son's identity, just like the previous two times.

But at that moment, Lu Zhengran lowered his head, his fingertips nervously twisting together, and stammered out his words.

"Father... there's something I want to tell you..."

He seemed to have been waiting for a moment to be alone with his father.

Lu Qing'an stopped and looked back, noticing his son's thin shoulders trembling slightly, like a withered leaf about to fall in the autumn wind. He said, "Just say whatever you want to say."

Lu Zhengran's eyes suddenly reddened, like apricot blossoms soaked in spring tide, even his eyelashes were wet, and his voice trembled slightly.

"Father... I want to apologize to you..."

During this time, he had been thinking about one thing.

His mother's ascension to the throne was too sudden, and what happened afterward was beyond his control.

He simply followed his heart and made that choice.

He thought about it carefully for a very long time afterward.

"I know I'm not very bright. Your strict supervision of my cultivation, which made me work even harder, was partly because I'm a boy, and partly because I'm not very bright. I know you meant well, but... I still feel a lot of pressure from you, so every time I see you, I feel a little sad..."

As he said this, a tear silently rolled down Lu Zhengran's cheek, startling him. He quickly wiped it away.

My father once said that boys don't easily shed tears.

"It's not that I hate you, nor that I don't love you, it's just..." As Lu Zhengran spoke, the pain that had been weighing on his heart made him choke up softly. To control himself, he dug his nails deep into his palms.

He doesn't really hate his father, he just doesn't know why, he's just a little afraid of being with his father...

Lu Qing'an reached out and patted Lu Zhengran's head. "Alright, stop talking. Dad has never blamed you."

The son clearly felt remorseful for the choice he made back then.

Actually, the child did nothing wrong.

"Father, I really didn't think too much about it at the time! I never expected it to turn out like this... I just thought that you and Mother might only be separated temporarily, and that I could see you again whenever I wanted to... Who would have thought you were from the Demon Domain Realm..."

The more Lu Zhengran spoke, the more he could not suppress the surging emotions in his heart, and tears rolled down his cheeks like broken beads.

He hurriedly wiped himself clean, trying hard to hide his vulnerability, not wanting to show it in front of his father.

Lu Qing'an sighed, tightened his arms, and gently pulled his son to his side.

"Silly child, it's okay, go ahead and cry."

Upon hearing this, Lu Zhengran, who was being embraced, could no longer hold back.

He trembled violently, like a fledgling bird drenched by a downpour, tears welling up in his eyes like a gushing spring, and he wailed loudly.

"Dad! I really miss you so much..."

Lu Qing'an looked down at the crying child. Suddenly, a light rain began to fall. He suddenly remembered that rainy winter night many years ago.

The little boy, because he was too playful, didn't practice on time. When it came time to take the test, his older sister passed, but he failed. He was very sad and was scolded. So he secretly ran away from home and practiced sword moves over and over again in the back mountain, his frozen cheeks still bearing traces of tears...

"From now on, Dad will no longer be so strict with your cultivation..." Lu Qing'an patted the child's back.