Supreme Emptiness

Chapter 1453: Chapter 1482: Father and Daughter Reunited

Not long after.

On the other side of Spiritual Snake Mountain, stood a magnificent palace.

The Golden Scale Venerate dismissed everyone in the hall and watched Jiang Fan with anticipation, his voice carrying a slight tremble.

"Your domain is the enlightenment of my wife."

"Can you tell me where you obtained it?"

Jiang Fan silently took out a singular Space Storage Device and handed it to the Golden Scale Venerate.

What the other party wanted to ask wasn’t where the domain came from.

Rather, it was whether his wife was safe.

As the Golden Scale Venerate looked at the Space Storage Device offered to him, the last trace of hope in his heart shattered.

If she were still alive, she would not be in a Space Storage Device.

He hesitated for a long time before extending his hands to carefully hold it, as though he feared disturbing his deceased wife’s rest.

He probed it with a strand of consciousness.

A golden snake, radiant with soft light, sacred and elegant, lay quietly within.

As if asleep.

The eyes of the Golden Scale Venerate moistened, his facial muscles twitched silently, and his shoulders gently shook.

He tried to control his emotions, not wanting to show sadness to outsiders as a Venerate of the Demon Race.

Yet, tears in his eyes rolled down uncontrollably.

He had waited for fifty years.

Finally, he awaited his wife’s return.

Only, what he got was a lifetime of regret.

The sorrowful emotion, like a flood breaking through a dam, expanded infinitely.

Tears trickled down his resilient face, drop by drop, forming stains on the ground.

He couldn’t hold it in and cried out loud.

At this moment, he was no longer the Venerate bearing the fate of the Demon Race.

Just a husband who waited for his beloved wife for fifty years, only to find emptiness.

Jiang Fan sighed.

He raised his hand to cast a Sound Insulation Barrier, allowing him to cry his heart out.

He silently turned away.

He did not hand over his daughter immediately because he wanted to first test the Golden Scale Venerate’s affection for the Golden Snake Saint Mother.

If he were as indifferent as a stranger, Liu Li returning to him would not receive any paternal love.

It would be better for her to stay with Jiang Fan.

Fortunately, the Golden Scale Venerate deeply loved his departed wife.

Thus, as the embodiment of their bond, the Golden Scale Venerate would kindly treat Liu Li, channeling all his affection for his wife to her.

After a cup of tea’s time.

The barrier behind disappeared, and the Golden Scale Venerate said, "Thank you, Jiang Fan."

His eyes were bloodshot, still shimmering with tears, and filled with hopelessness.

"She said she would return shortly and let me wait for her."

"But she didn’t say this wait would last fifty years."

Jiang Fan couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sadness as well, saying, "Senior Jinlin, please mourn."

The Golden Scale Venerate shook his head, "I’m fine."

"I am the Venerate of the Demon Race; I must pull myself together and can only pull myself together."

He said so, but a thick aura of death emanated.

Perhaps waiting for his wife’s return had been his belief sustaining him for nearly a cycle; though slim, it still existed.

Now, this strand of belief has collapsed.

He became a Venerate living for the Demon Race.

With such a mindset, how could he survive the Ancient Giant’s catastrophe? He might even doom himself on the battlefield.

Jiang Fan clasped his hands and said, "Senior, please do not lose heart."

"Your beloved wife left you a gift."

The Golden Scale Venerate raised his eyes, and the dimness in them finally had a glimmer of light, expectantly asking, "A gift?"

Jiang Fan said no more.

He produced the black Mysterious Ice encasing Liu Li.

Blood is thicker than water.

At the time, Liu Li needed only to glance at the regret of the Golden Snake Saint Mother to know that was her mother.

How much more when it is between two living people?

The Golden Scale Venerate gazed at the girl within the Mysterious Ice.

With blond hair and green eyes, her features were well-defined and deep, her skin as white as snow, possessing a unique exotic charm.

Just one look, and the Golden Scale Venerate’s pupils contracted sharply, stammering:

"She... she’s... my daughter?"

It wasn’t the kinship sensation he relied on.

But the girl before him resembled his wife so much, possessing seven parts of her charm.

Jiang Fan nodded gently, "Indeed."

"Her name is Liu Li, your daughter."

The Golden Scale Venerate’s lips trembled, his eyes unblinking as he gazed at the girl in the Mysterious Ice.

He stumbled to the front of the Mysterious Ice.

Touching it through the ice, he said in a trembling voice, "Liu Li... my daughter..."

"Suling left me a daughter!"

His eyes reddened once more, tears silently rolling down.

The difference was, these tears were sadder.

Jiang Fan sighed:

"Fifty years ago, your beloved wife, at the brink of death, gave birth to an egg."

"Later by a twist of fate, it fell into the hands of a group of the Demon Race in Taicang State twenty years ago, and thus was born."

"Not long ago, I accidentally obtained a box, revealing her life’s mystery."

"Your beloved wife’s last words instructed Liu Li to find you."

"I believe she knew you were saddened by her absence, so she sent your daughter to comfort you, to make you strong."

The words of the Golden Scale Venerate made his tears flow more freely.

Holding the Mysterious Ice, he cried bitterly:

"I did not fulfill my duties as a husband, I wronged her, I should not have let her go alone to the Heavenly State!"

Jiang Fan watched in silence, allowing the Golden Scale Venerate to cry to his heart’s content.

After a while, the Golden Scale Venerate wiped away his tears, and when he looked at the girl in front of him again, his eyes gradually ignited with light:

"Suling, thank you for your gift."

"I will take good care of our daughter."

Only then did he finally come to realize.

Looking at the black Mysterious Ice, he frowned and asked, "Wasn’t she meant to find me?"

"Why is she sealed in ice?"

Jiang Fan’s eyes revealed a stern expression, and he said:

"She and her companion, unfamiliar with the world, accidentally caught the attention of the Black Dragon Venerable upon reaching the Spiritual Snake Mountain and were imprisoned by him."

What?

The Golden Scale Venerate was furious: "He could have dealt with me directly; he dared covet my daughter!"

No need for analysis; he could guess the Black Dragon Venerable’s intentions.

To use his daughter to threaten him at critical moments!

Yet, he was utterly unaware that his daughter had sought him at the Spiritual Snake Mountain.

Even more unaware that she was imprisoned in the Throne Space of the Black Dragon Venerable!

"Damn it!" The Golden Scale Venerate roared in rage, his entire body of golden scales bristling, exploding with a terrifying aura.

Jiang Fan quickly persuaded, "Senior Jinlin, please calm your anger."

"The priority now is to dissolve the Mysterious Ice; I cannot touch this ice, and I can only rely on the Venerate."

Only then did the Golden Scale Venerate suppress his fury.

He quickly examined the black Mysterious Ice, and after a moment, a hint of solemnity appeared in his eyes.

"This is not the Mysterious Ice from Central Earth; it should be an object from Outer Heaven."

"It contains numerous Alien Powers from Outer Heaven."

Jiang Fan was surprised, "What are Alien Powers?"

Golden Scale Venerate said, "Since you’ve been to the Heavenly Realm, you should know, the world is vast, and there might exist worlds beyond Central Earth, Hell, and the Heavenly Realm, right?"

Jiang Fan nodded without hesitation.

Not to mention, Brother Shu of Hunyuan State mentioned wanting to see the Outer World as agreed by the Wutong Venerable and Lu Jiulin.

That implies that there indeed exist other worlds.

The Golden Scale Venerate said, "The power systems of our three realms are not vastly different."

"But it is hard to say for those further away, and different power systems than ours are called Alien Powers."

Jiang Fan slightly nodded.

Even though the paths in Central Earth, Hell, and the Heavenly Realm differ, they can still be regarded as different routes to the same destination.

For instance, Central Earth has the Heavenly Human Five Declines, Hell has the Five Crowned Asura.

As for the Heavenly Realm, the angels with nine pairs of wings from Hua Xin’s memory, their cultivation system should not vary greatly.

Jiang Fan looked at the black Mysterious Ice, worry in his eyes, and asked, "Will these Alien Powers harm Liu Li?"