“It’s past us now, Hao’er. It’s all in the past now….” His voice quavered a bit, and he was crying too. This was only the second time he had ever cried as an adult.
The first time was when Meng Hao had experienced Nirvanic Rebirth for the second time. When he watched his son revert from being seven to an infant, when he saw the pain on Meng Hao’s tiny face, when he saw his eyes slowly grow listless… he had cried.
“What about my big sister…?” Meng Hao asked softly. He would never be able to forget the image of his stern older sister protecting him in his second lifetime.
Nor would he ever forget the words she had spoken.
Don’t be scared little brother, your big sister is here to protect you!
Weeping happily, his mother responded, “She’s been in secluded meditation in the Eastern Lands for some time. After we go back, we’ll wait for her to emerge, and then we can have a big reunion!”
“What about Grandpa Meng and Grandpa Fang…?” asked Meng Hao.
When he asked the question, his father stood there silently for a moment. Meng Hao’s heart began to thump. He remembered that his two grandfathers had left together to go search for an Outsider.
The Outsider came, but his two grandfathers had never returned.
After a long moment, his father said, “All things come with a price. Your Grandpa Meng’s and Grandpa Fang’s life lamps still burn. They are still alive, but… we don’t know where they are.”
Meng Hao sat there silently, and his heart twinged painfully. Now that he knew the reason for everything, he felt deep guilt regarding his two grandfathers.
Were it not for them, that Outsider would never have appeared, and he would have long since returned to the dust, with only four Nirvana Fruits left behind.
It was because of him that his two Grandfathers had never returned.
Furthermore, his parents were stuck guarding South Heaven for 100,000 years. When he thought about this, Meng Hao felt even worse. He looked at his parents, and although he didn’t say anything, his feelings were already etched deeply in his heart.
He would never be able to pay back the kindness shown to him by his parents and relatives.
Patriarch Blood Demon never awoke, and soon it came time for Meng Hao to leave with his father and mother. His father and mother faced to Mount Blood Demon, clasped hands and bowed deeply.
A few days later, when the restoration work was well under way in the Southern Domain, Meng Hao and his parents left. Before returning to the Eastern Lands, they went to visit his master, Pill Demon.
His mother and father were very grateful for everything Pill Demon had done, and even offered expensive gifts. In response, however, Pill Demon’s face darkened. It didn’t matter that he was facing people with mighty cultivation bases, he refused to accept the gifts.
“Meng Hao is my disciple! How could I accept gifts from you!?” he said.
Meng Hao’s father clasped hands and bowed deeply to him, then sent out a strand of his Dao will, which solidified inside of Pill Demon’s body and caused a tremor to run through him.
Dao Will such as this was something very important to Pill Demon, and would help him to verify his path of cultivation.
“How rude of us,” said Meng Hao’s father. “Forgive me, Grandmaster. Please accept this strand of Dao will. Hao’er was not born in the lands of South Heaven, so the Immortal destiny for this ten thousand year period cannot belong to him. Grandmaster, I very much admire your aspirations regarding the Dao. When your true Immortal Tribulation arrives, I will personally act as a Dao Protector for you!”
They stayed in the Violet Fate Sect for several days. Chu Yuyan continuously avoided Meng Hao, which caused him to sigh. However, he didn’t force the matter, and eventually left with his parents. They went to visit Patriarch Song, and then finally left the Southern Domain.
When they transformed into beams of prismatic light that shot off into the distance, Chu Yuyan was standing proudly on a mountain peak in the Violet Fate Sect. She said nothing, but merely stood there, looking somewhat desolate. When Pill Demon caught sight of her, he sighed.
It was in this fashion that Meng Hao left the Southern Domain with his parents.
On the way, Meng Hao mentioned that he wanted to stop by the Milky Way Sea to look for that old turtle Patriarch Reliance. Meng Hao’s mother shook her head with a smile.
“The turtle you’re talking about left a long time ago. He’s not in the lands of South Heaven any more.”
Meng Hao gaped, and then a hateful expression appeared on his face. “It’s a good thing he left so quickly,” he thought to himself, “otherwise I would have tracked him down and shown him a thing or two!”