Truth be told, after meeting Brother Xiao Ying, I had thought of leaving the child to him before Yurou and I went to meet our deaths, but I was deeply afraid that this would cause a calamity to engulf Xiao Ying’s entire family. However, I did not expect for Brother Xiao Ying, in an effort to preserve our family line, to secretly swap both our sons…” Yun Qinghong shut both his eyes as the corners of his eyes trembled uncontrollably, “For I, Yun Qinghong, to have such a brother in this life, is the greatest gift ever bestowed to me by the heavens.”
“So this means that your own child was left in the Profound Sky Continent, in that place called Floating Cloud City, and that Uncle Xiao’s child… is actually Yun Xiao?” Yun Che asked lightly.
‘Yes…” Yun Qinghong gently nodded as he replied, “This is the truth behind Xiao’er’s origins. After we had broken away from our pursuers, we did think of returning to Floating Cloud City, but at that time, both of us suffered great injuries while also suffering from the cold poison. As a result, we were on our last legs and left only with a sliver of our previous strength. If we had returned to Floating Cloud City hastily and exposed ourselves, not only would we die, we would also bring a huge calamity upon Xiao Ying and his family. So the only thing left for us to do would be to commit all of our energy to surviving… No matter what, we had to protect his child. At that time I understood very well that Brother Xiao Ying swapped our sons to not only protect our bloodline, but to also stimulate our will to life to the point where we would give it our all.”
“So how did you escape in the end?” Yun Che asked.
“Our Yun Family has a secret device which we can use to step across space, but every time we use it, we would need to wait for another three years before it can be used it again. Three months after we had successfully hidden ourselves from our pursuers, the secret device regained its strength and we were able to return to the Illusory Demon Realm.”
“If you had a secret device which could directly transport you to the Profound Sky Continent, why didn’t you use it again to go back there and find your own child?”
Yun Qinghong shook his head and laughed lifelessly, “After being invaded multiple times by the people from the Illusory Demon Realm, the powers in the Profound Sky Continent had set up an extremely powerful net of defenses and alerts. We could indeed use the secret device again, but once we entered the Profound Sky Continent, we would have been found out immediately. We had already been crippled by then; if we had used the secret device, we would only be going to our deaths. As for the others… Why would they risk it all just for our child? Thus, we could only treat Xiao’er as our own flesh and blood in order to conceal the truth of his origins… But the descendents of the Yun Family all possess a profound handle which exists within their bloodline. As he grew up, more and more people came to doubt his status as our true son, and he had to grow up under the weight of unceasing reproach… We had long ago known that this would happen, but there was nothing that we could do.”
Yun Che had more or less figured out the truth of what happened all those years ago in these last few years. But after listening to Yun Qinghong give his own recount of those events, he felt as if a tidal wave of emotion had washed over him, and making it hard for him to keep calm. The ambitions of the Four Great Sacred Grounds had caused the Demon Emperor’s clan to suffer greatly, and at the same time these ambitions also caused great tragedy to befall both the Yun and Xiao families. The lives of both him and Yun Xiao had also been completely turned on its head due to these events.
“…For you to tell me all of this, is it in hopes of a future where Yun Xiao and I venture forth together to the Profound Sky Continent, so we can find his real family?” Yun Che asked in a low voice.
Yun Qinghong gently nodded his head and replied, “Even though I do not know why you have treated our family with such kindness, I can tell from the good things that you have done for Yun Xiao and the way you called us Father and Mother, that there isn’t a trace of falseness or hypocrisy within your heart. And while I still have too many suspicions about you myself, I can’t seem to reject you whatsoever in any way. Instead, there seems to be a kind of… indescribable intimacy and trust that I feel towards you.” He gave a small chuckle, as though he was enjoying this strange sensation, “Because Xiao’er is suspected of being from the Profound Sky Continent, he has been rejected and excluded by everyone else and he never had any friends since he was young. This year, he is going to be twenty-two, yet you are the only one who has ever been willing to be brothers with him… Even though I have said all of these things and have put you in a rather difficult position, Xiao’er’s talent is not first-rate, so the only one who can help h