Chapter 113: Hua Sang is Your Biological Father
“The Crane Crest is the lifeline of a male from the Crane Clan.”
Li Lan glanced at Li Xuanyue’s pale complexion and spoke softly. “It is also the root of one’s cultivation. Once it is lost, there is no turning back.”
He spoke like a narrator, constantly filling Li Xuanyue’s ears with information, showing none of the typical restraint expected of a Chendi.
“Now do you understand why he has become like this?”
Li Lan’s clear eyes gazed intently at Li Xuanyue.
“His Crane Crest was likely used as a medicinal catalyst by the Junhou and given to you to consume, was it not?”
Li Lan did not address Li Xuanyue as Huangjie. Instead, he directly switched to using “you.”
Even though Li Xuanyue already had an inkling of the truth, her heart couldn’t help but shudder when Li Lan stood before her and laid everything bare.
“How do you know all of this?”
Li Xuanyue regained her senses and looked at Li Lan.
She was no fool. Since Li Lan knew all of this so clearly, it proved that he was not as simple as he appeared on the surface.
“What is your relationship with him?”
Had Li Lan called her here in the middle of the night just to tell her these so-called truths? Li Xuanyue didn’t believe it. Her dark eyes scrutinized Li Lan relentlessly. At this moment, she realized that Li Lan was likely far more complex than any of them had imagined.
Li Lan looked away. “Is Huangjie worried that I have ulterior motives?”
Li Xuanyue felt no embarrassment at having her thoughts seen through. On the contrary, she remained exceptionally steady and calm.
“Since you know, I won’t beat around the bush with you.”
The gaze she directed at Li Lan became even sharper. “Speak then. What is your purpose for doing all of this?”
A person wouldn’t come to tell you such things for no reason unless they sought something in return. In Li Xuanyue’s view, this was exactly the case with Li Lan.
Li Lan narrowed his eyes. He hadn’t expected that after telling her the truth about Hua Sang’s coma, she wouldn’t be affected at all. Instead, her mind had become even clearer.
He truly didn’t know whether to feel happy for Uncle Hua Sang for having such a rational daughter, or whether to feel disappointed. In any case, Li Xuanyue’s reaction was indeed beyond his expectations.
“Can Huangjie help me send Uncle Hua Sang out of the Phoenix Clan?” Li Lan asked after a two-second silence.
Currently, relying on Li Lan’s strength alone, it was impossible to easily smuggle Hua Sang out of the Phoenix Clan. But with Li Xuanyue’s help and cover, it might be a different story.
Li Xuanyue’s eyes filled with shock.
“You don’t want him to stay in the Phoenix Clan?” she asked without a moment’s hesitation.
Li Lan’s gaze was complicated. “Does Huangjie want him to stay here?”
Li Xuanyue did not respond, and Li Lan didn’t seem to expect her to. He continued:
“If you knew what the Junhou has done to him over these several hundred years, you wouldn’t be saying that now.”
Li Xuanyue was so shocked by these words that her breath hitched.
“Did the Junhou tell you that Uncle Hua Sang was your uncle?”
Li Lan stared closely at Li Xuanyue’s increasingly pale face and cruelly told her the entire truth. “Actually, what he said wasn’t right at all.”
As Li Xuanyue listened to Li Lan’s words, her heart beat like a drum. A crystalline chill began to spread across her entire back.
“Uncle Hua Sang’s true identity is a commoner of the Crane Clan, the son of the previous Elder. Because the previous Elder committed a heinous crime, the entire family was banished. It was the Junhou who secretly hid him away at that time.”
Li Xuanyue hadn’t expected Li Lan to know so much. Although she was greatly shaken, she did not let her rationality be disturbed by his words.
“How do you know all of this?” She scrutinized Li Lan with a serious expression.
Logically, Li Lan was younger than her. These secrets were things even she had never known. When and where did he learn them?
Li Lan looked into Li Xuanyue’s deep dark eyes, which showed no sign of recollection, and his heart skipped a beat.
“Does Huangjie truly have no memory of it?”
Li Xuanyue was stunned by the question.
Memory? Aside from the memories of her previous life, there was nothing else in her head. What did Li Lan mean by this?
Seeing her bewildered look, Li Lan understood perfectly. He suddenly realized why she had never privately sought him out during these several hundred years.
“It seems you truly have lost your memory,” Li Lan concluded immediately from her confused expression.
“That makes sense!” he muttered to himself, lowering his head. “Given the Junhou’s character, how could he possibly let you remember those things?”
“Huangjie probably doesn’t know that we actually met long ago, when we were children.”
Li Xuanyue was so startled that her eyes widened.
At that time, Li Lan was only five, and Li Xuanyue was seven. The two of them would occasionally be brought by Hua Shan to Hua Sang’s side. At that time, Hua Sang was graceful and poised, a handsome youth. But his face was filled with melancholy all day long, and his gaze would often drift off when looking at Li Xuanyue.
Back then, Li Lan didn’t know why. Until one day, he asked Hua Sang why he was always unhappy.
A bitter smile touched the corner of Hua Sang’s lips as he said Li Lan was still small and wouldn’t understand.
But he knew that Hua Sang’s unhappiness was given to him by Hua Shan. The reason Hua Shan liked to bring them to see Hua Sang was that he wanted him to feel happy. Yet reality was always the opposite of expectations. There was no joy in Hua Sang’s eyes when he looked at him and Li Xuanyue.
From then on, he and Li Xuanyue never saw Hua Sang again. He was also left with no one to care for him. But he knew that all of this was the result of Hua Shan’s arrangements.
“The Junhou is actually not as kind as he appears to everyone on the surface. He is also not your biological father.”
“Your real father is actually the one lying here!”
These words were not only absurd; they made Li Xuanyue stagger back in astonishment.
“Li Lan, do you know what nonsense you are talking about?”
She forced herself to maintain her composure and looked at Li Lan with cold eyes. “Even if you dislike Fujun, you shouldn’t spread such wild rumors behind his back.”
“Are you truly not afraid that this Bengong will personally kill you?”
Li Lan knew this truth might be hard for Li Xuanyue to accept. But facts were facts.
“If Huangjie wants to kill me, then do so,” he said flatly. “In short, every word Li Lan has spoken is the truth; I can swear it to the heavens.”
“If Huangjie truly doesn’t believe it, you can investigate it yourself.”
Li Lan pulled out all the clues and information he had recorded over the years from his sleeve and handed them to Li Xuanyue. He hadn’t come tonight without preparation. To prevent any accidents, he had already gathered everything and brought it with him, fearing that Li Xuanyue wouldn’t help him.
Translator’s Note: Talk about a bombshell! The Crane Crest (Heding) is a common trope in cultivation-adjacent novels—it’s like a core of power.
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