Chapter 646 Merging thoughts
The trio all stewed in silence, each swallowed by their thoughts. The obsidian serpent couple wallowed in grief and endless regret wishing they could turn time back and arrive even a second earlier to prevent the death of their daughter.
Every waking moment since the death of their daughter, Bai Zhen has spent thinking if he could have done things differently. The things he would change given the chance.
A few days ago before he had been taken by the member of the Beast Hall of the Order, one of his biggest regrets was having his daughter undergo the evolution into a flood dragon. There was no doubt in his mind that she had been targeted because of it. He was filled with endless regret and pain for allowing it, and a bit of that regret even boiled to resentment and anger towards the Fire Adler Bear for even suggesting it to him.
But now, after his experience at the Bestial Churning Sea, the Blood Charcuterie Market Town, and the purple twilight forest, he had since changed his stance on the matter. He realized how terrifying it was out there and the need for outstanding strength.
Right now, the only regret he had was the hubris he had when he thought the Deer Mountain Range was safe and that nothing would happen to their daughter.
All because she was at the palace realm, and her evolution into a flood dragon was already complete, he felt that nothing could happen to her. Her evolving bloodline ensured even though she was at the first stage of the palace realm, she could hold her own against anyone by virtue of her bloodline, and if she couldn't, she had a special call that would alert her late-stage palace realm parents, with one of them even having a variant flood dragon bloodline. Surely they would be able to handle anything that came their way.
After absorbing part of the treasure bone that his daughter had failed to refine, Bai Zhen could feel the drastic transformation the treasure bone was causing in his body. Everything had been strengthened and transformed.
Obsidian serpents were famed for their defenses because of their deep affinity with the earth element. As a late-stage palace realm obsidian serpent, long before he refined the treasure bone, his scales could already deflect and even break monarch-grade weapons used by the humans, and some spirit beasts at the palace stage could forget about penetrating his scales with their claws.
He could sleep through their attacks without doing anything and still be fine. And when he refined the remaining fragments of the treasure bone, his defense was improved further by multiple levels. Some part of him felt that he could hold his own even against peak palace stage powerhouses as his scales, other than improved sturdiness, had a dao charm surrounding them that was not there before.
The Dao charm acted as another layer of protection that not only protected against physical attacks but spiritual attacks too, especially the thorny attacks from human cultivation spells.
He felt invulnerable to any attack. He believed other than the fire adler bear, no one within the Deer Mountain Range could harm him and with the only threat being a dear friend, he had absolutely nothing to worry about within the range.
He even had half a mind to visit the Deer Mountain Kingdom and test his newfound abilities on them but ultimately held back as he loved soaking in the sun and the earth element more than anything else and he wasn't one to cause trouble but if provoked he wasn't afraid of retaliating in kind, more even.
With the changes happening to him and his daughter, he believed everywhere within the Deer Mountain Range was his backyard, which was why he never kept a close eye on his daughter and let her establish her territory and live as she pleased, and if she ever ended up in trouble she couldn't handle, with his newfound abilities, he would be able to handle whatever came their way.
He grimly found out how naive and disillusioned he had been. He had grossly overestimated his capabilities and the safety of the Deer Mountain Range.
His daughter died before he could even reach her, and when he tried to punish those who took her life, the defense he thought was impenetrable, failed him.
Cultivators weaker than him, those he thought couldn't so much as leave a scratch on him, battered his body, and the invulnerable fortress he thought his body was, was revealed to be flesh and blood.
Anger from seeing his daughter's lifeless body was the only thing that kept him from being mortified and shocked in that fight. And when he had a brief moment of respite after they had forced an escape, he remembered thinking to himself;
Who were those two cultivators?
There had been other cultivators present of similar rank, and there were even two that had been sly in their means of attacks, which he now knows were members of the Blue Soul Flame Crow Syndicate, but within that chaos, there were two, who gave him, his wife, and the two sly attackers trouble.
Despite covering for their weaker compatriots against the attacks of him, his wife, and the two deacons of the Syndicate, they still managed to hold the line and still threaten their lives.
Had it been a fight to the death with just him and his wife against the two of them, how would it have gone?
At the time, when those thoughts were looming in his mind, he felt his chances of winning were high though in the best-case scenario, he would end up with permanent injuries that may cripple him for life as a trade-off, and at worst, they would all perish together.
But now, after experiencing the might and foundations of the Order, he felt there was a high chance, he and his wife would have died.
He thought he was an unnamed king of the Deer Mountain Range, unaware of the dangers that lurked within it.
The lessons of his hubris were paid for with his daughter's life, which was something that continuously ate at him.
"Maybe after I avenge her, I can go join her.." he thought as his gaze fell on his wife.
"Forgive me Su'er, we promised to stay together to the end, but I don't know, I can't stand the thought of letting our daughter, take the next journey alone..."?thought Bai Zhen as another guilt towards his wife was slowly budding within him.
What he didn't know was his wife had the same intention. Her guilt ran deeper than Bai Zhen's.
She always felt inferior and unworthy of Bai Zhen from when they were young which was why she always avoided him and was reluctant to respond to his advances, but eventually, he wore her down and she relented.
But even then, she always felt like an interloper in his life. She always felt that her talents were unworthy of him. He was the sun and she was a firefly at the end of its twilight and her guess was proven to be true, as Bai Zhen ended up spending all his energy and resources just to help her reach the stage she reached today.
It was to the extent that he gave up parts of his blood essence and wisdom pearl to help her leap into the seventh stage of the palace realm.
Guilt-ridden and ashamed of her own inferiority which caused her husband to sacrifice so much for her, she grew up strongly desiring that her daughter never walked the same path as her.
She had feared her poor bloodline would mar her daughter's future. Therefore when the opportunity to change the circumstances presented itself, she was quick to grab hold of it.
She was friends with the fire adler bear before Bai Zhen, and he later became friends with him through her. The fire adler bear had told her about the treasure bone in his possession, and despite wanting to share it with his daughter to help improve her aptitude, he was reluctant to use it on her due to the inherent risks it had which could result in the death of her daughter if not properly addressed.
At the time, he had not met with Jiang Xiang. However, despite knowing of the risks involved, Bai Su was willing, bordering on desperate for the fire adler bear to let her daughter consume the treasure bone.
Her possibly dying from the process, wasn't as scary to Bai Su as her future possibly being ruined because she had her for a mother. Some part of her, even though it would be a relief if she died. Because then, she wouldn't always feel this overwhelming fear and guilt every time she saw her as she thought to herself, that this was yet another thing she had failed her husband in.
Luckily for her, the fire adler bear met with Jiang Xiang. The fire adler bear would not have engaged with Jiang Xiang or revealed the existence of the treasure bone, had Bai Su not insisted.
Jiang Xiang's solutions remedied whatever potential risks that were there, however, he still told them there was a chance of death for her daughter, with the treasure bone overwhelming her, despite the measures put in place.
Bai Su managed to convince the fire adler bear not to tell her husband of the risks because he knew him well. He would not risk it, if there was a chance Bai Qin would be in mortal danger.
They kept him in the dark through all of it. His act of jumping in to refine the remnant fragment was a short in the dark by the fire adler bear. He wasn't sure it would work. Unable to look his friend in the eye for lying to him, the fire adler bear left after ensuring there were no complications or hidden dangers to their daughter.
When Bai Qin successfully evolved, Bai Su was relieved more than anything, relieved that her daughter would no longer have her blood and poor talent in her.
That relief overwhelmed even the joy of her daughter becoming a flood dragon and with it, it slowly washed away the regrets and inferiority Bai Su had carried over the years.
But then...Bai Qin died, and all those emotions came flooding back with a vengeance. Bai Su felt she had failed yet again and that pain broke her. She felt, she could no longer continue to drag and harm Bai Zhen.
If it was not for the fear that her sudden death would have driven him to shock, Bai Su would have detonated herself on the day their daughter passed, and died with those who harmed her daughter, but she couldn't quite do it when she saw Bai Zhen's distraught face.
But now, she was only biding her time, and when the opportune moment presented itself, she would use it to end her life so Bai Zhen could have a chance at a fresh start, no matter how deluded it seemed, she hoped her absence, could maybe provide him with a chance to start over.
"Maybe he could go to the green fog region. You try to hide it, but I know you're curious about the world outside of this range and have only stayed because of me.
After I am gone, I hope...you will live your best life. I will keep Qin'er company for both of us. It's the least I can do for all you have sacrificed for us. Meeting you is my greatest fortune.." she thought as she burned every detail of Bai Zhen's face into her soul.
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