The moment he saw his parents, it felt as though a bolt of lightning had struck him head-on. Overwhelming joy, the fear that it might all be an illusion, and countless tangled emotions erupted at once.
Fa Hua had sensed that emotional explosion, which was why he had told him those two words: My condolences.
Lan Ge cried until the world seemed to spin around him, releasing every emotion he had suppressed over the past several years. The thing that had driven him to cultivate desperately and force himself to grow stronger had always been revenge for his parents—to shoulder Thunder City itself. Yet now, his parents were alive. Everything had returned to normal. They had even both broken through to Star God level. Everything was unimaginably wonderful. But what was he supposed to do with all the emotions that had built up inside him?
Fa Hua did not try to comfort him. He simply walked to the entrance of the temple and sat quietly on the threshold.
He was genuinely happy for Lan Ge. No matter how violently Lan Ge’s emotions were surging right now, at least his parents were still alive. As for himself, an orphan who did not even know who his parents were…
Only after a full quarter-hour did Lan Ge’s sobbing gradually subside. He finally managed to regain some control over his emotions and sat there blankly inside the temple.
Only then did Fa Hua return to his side. “Feeling better?”
“Much better.” Lan Ge raised his head, his eyes red, and suddenly laughed. “They’re alive. They’re really alive. Even though I’m angry… they’re alive.”
Fa Hua smiled as well. “Yeah. They’re alive.”
Lan Ge suddenly jumped to his feet, rushed out of the temple, and dropped heavily to his knees with a thud, kowtowing three times toward the heavens.
“Thank Heaven… Thank Heaven my parents are still alive. Thank you. Thank you…”
Tears streamed down his face once more, but this time there was no sorrow in them—only happiness.
What could possibly make him happier than his parents returning to life?
“I’m treating you to a meal to celebrate.” Lan Ge sprang back to his feet. “Bring the children from the House of Hope too. I’m treating everyone to a feast. How about it?”
Fa Hua smiled. “Sounds good.”
Night fell.
Wisdom City, House of Hope.
Fa Hua and Lan Ge sat side by side atop the roof, both gazing up at the bright moon overhead.
The children were already asleep. After a wonderful meal, they had fallen asleep with content smiles on their faces. Because of Fa Hua’s change in status, the children of the House of Hope had received much better treatment. Nothing made him happier than that. Aside from Teacher Deng, Wisdom City had even assigned several female teachers specifically to help care for the children.
“Seeing those satisfied smiles really makes me happy,” Lan Ge said with a smile.
“Yeah.” Fa Hua narrowed his eyes slightly beneath the moonlight.
Ever since they had left the Blue Domain together for the Green Sea of Life, neither of them had truly rested in peace like this. Today, neither he nor Lan Ge had any desire to cultivate.
“What should we do next?” Lan Ge asked.
A trace of uncertainty appeared in Fa Hua’s eyes as well. “I don’t know. Keep cultivating, I suppose. Keep getting stronger.”
“How about finding Brother Shangchen? Didn’t he say that once we reached Ninth-Rank, we could join them? Well, now we’ve done it. We should also find out exactly what he wants to do. And your Grand Commander should be with them too, right?”
“Mm. That works. We just don’t know where to find them,” Fa Hua said.
“I’ll head back to Thunder City and wait. My Ninth-Rank cultivation was exposed during the Grand Competition, so news of it will spread across the Blue Domain soon enough. Once Brother Shangchen hears about it, I’m sure he’ll come looking for me.”
“Alright.”
Though they resided in different domains, distance meant little to them with the Peerless Pearl connecting them.
“Then I’m heading back?” Lan Ge asked.
“You should. They’re definitely waiting for you. They’ll be worried too.” Fa Hua’s expression turned slightly strange.
“They deserve to worry a little longer. And the Grand Elder too—I’m not done with him. I’m going to drink all of his Water of Life,” Lan Ge huffed.
“Just go back already. You’ve wanted to return ever since you stopped crying. Even during dinner, you were completely distracted.”
“Was I?” Lan Ge replied with an unconcerned look.
“Still childish,” Fa Hua said flatly.
Lan Ge suddenly asked, “Fa Hua, with the way we can feel each other’s emotions so easily now… if we really get girlfriends someday, and we get intimate with them, wouldn’t the other person feel everything too? How are we supposed to deal with that?”
“When that happens, I’ll block off my perception of you,” Fa Hua replied.
“How do I know you won’t secretly peek at my feelings?”
Fa Hua slightly shook his head, “Still childish.”
“I seriously want to kick you off this roof. I’m leaving.”
Light flashed, and Lan Ge teleported away through the void.
After he left, a figure suddenly surfaced in Fa Hua’s mind—a crimson figure.
Lan Ge’s parents had survived thanks to the Divine-Rank Life Cores, allowing them to revive and break through. But back then, the cores they obtained from the Green Sea of Life had not numbered two… but three.
And that final one seemed to have been taken away by her when they were captured.
So… did that mean she could also…
…
Demon Domain, Ancestral Court.
“You’ve truly made up your minds? There are risks involved.” An elderly man with snow-white hair and beard stood there, leaning on a black-and-white cane. His eyes were unusual—vertical pupils. Other than that, he looked no different from a normal human.
Standing before him were none other than the sisters Hu Jiaojiao and Hu Rourou.
“Great-Grandfather, we’ve already decided. We’re confident we can do it. Please allow us to enter,” Hu Jiaojiao said resolutely.
“Good. Rare to see the two of you with such confidence. Very well, I’ll permit it. I’ll personally stand guard for you.”
“Thank you, Great-Grandfather.” The sisters immediately wrapped themselves around his arms from either side, leaning against him affectionately.
“You two girls are still too impatient. You should’ve accumulated a little more first.”
“Great-Grandfather, if others can do it, then so can we! You don’t know this, but there are two humans whose cultivation speed is unbelievably fast—faster than ours.”
“Humans?”
“Son? Are you alright?” The moment Xiang Yun saw Lan Ge standing before her, surprise and joy flooded her face, though the worry in her eyes remained impossible to hide.
How could she not worry? She felt nothing but heartache for her son.
Back when they had faced the Heavenly Devils, Lan Xiang had suddenly grasped a fleeting trace of heavenly insight on a moment’s impulse. Breaking through to God Rank was unimaginably difficult. Among a hundred Ninth-Rank experts, not even one might succeed. That was why God Rank experts were so rare in the human world. Once that moment of comprehension appeared, Lan Xiang could not bring himself to abandon it and made his choice.
As husband and wife, Xiang Yun had only received a brief warning from him at the time: Break apart, then rebuild.
What Xiang Yun never expected was that after everything happened, the Grand Elder would choose not to tell Lan Ge the truth, instead using their destruction and rebirth to put him through an ordeal cruel almost beyond words.
The cruelty wasn’t just in the trial itself—it was in the torment of losing his parents. She could not even imagine how her son had endured these years. Back then, he had only been Sixth-Rank. Yet when he returned, he was already Ninth-Rank.
Without question, the Grand Elder had not been wrong. This trial had completely transformed Lan Ge.
But as a mother, how could she bear watching her son suffer like that?
Compared to when they had forced him into matchmaking before, the smile on Lan Ge’s face had clearly diminished. In its place was a steadiness rarely seen among others his age within the Blue Domain.
But deep down, Xiang Yun still wanted to see her cheerful son again.
Seeing the deep concern in Xiang Yun’s eyes, Lan Ge’s gaze slowly softened. He could feel every bit of resentment within him melting away beneath his mother’s stare.
“Mom…”
He softly called out, then suddenly threw his arms around her.
Years of suppressed emotion exploded all at once. The saying men do not cry easily meant absolutely nothing in this moment. Tears poured down uncontrollably.
Xiang Yun was no different. Her son had grown far taller than her now, almost enveloping her entirely within his embrace. Feeling his trembling body and the violent emotions shaking him, she burst into tears as well.
Lan Xiang stood not far away, silently watching the mother and son holding each other. His own eyes had reddened too as he muttered to himself.
“Did either of you ever think about my feelings? Huh?”
Half an hour later…
Lan Xiang, Xiang Yun, and Lan Ge sat together inside the study, sinking into a brief silence. Both Lan Ge and Xiang Yun still had red eyes.
“Ahem…” Lan Xiang coughed lightly, breaking the quiet.
“What?” Lan Ge shot his old man an irritated glance.
Lan Xiang smiled. “Son, what plans do you have next?”
Lan Ge paused for a moment. “No plans.”
Right now, the only thing he and Fa Hua truly had in mind was the organization Bei Yue Shangchen had mentioned before. Beyond that, they had not thought much about the future. Of course, continuing to cultivate and striving toward God Rank remained the most important thing.
Lan Xiang smiled. “This time, you won the Thunder City Grand Competition fair and square. And now that you’ve reached Ninth-Rank—the youngest Ninth-Rank in Thunder City’s history—it’s time for you to shoulder greater responsibilities. The current Lord of Thunder City is still a bit too young and needs more tempering and political experience before truly taking office, so I think…”
“Wait, wait…”