Chapter 1461 - I Owe This to You

Yun Che trembled with fear and took a small step back, “This junior shall not disturb your reunion, I’ll… I’ll wait outside.”

Without finishing his sentence, Yun Che madly rushed out at lightning speed, and disappeared in a flash.

Jie Yuan did not seal his movements and Hong’er looked at her as she blinked continuously. Miraculously enough, she did not scamper off after him.

“Big Sis, who are you?” Hong’er asked with a curious expression, “Master seems to be very afraid of you. And your body… seems to be giving off a very strange feeling, it’s as if… as if… ugh…”

She turned her head suddenly and asked You’er in a with a baffled expression on her face, “You’er, am I right?” 

“...” You’er’s lips gently parted, but her gaze followed the direction Yun Che had left in.

Jie Yuan gave a faint smile and her expression and gaze were devoid of their previous gloominess or severity. The only thing that was left… was a tinge of gentleness that even she found incredible as she said, “Your name is… Hong’er?”

“That’s right!” Hong’er smiled, brows arcing up, “This is the name Master gave me! Oh right, Master also gave You’er her name. It’s super cute isn’t it… Ah! I need to chase after Master, bye!”

Having said that, her body made a “whooshing” sound as she turned around. Her red hair flowed behind her and she was about to give chase… After all, she had never left Yun Che’s side before.

Jie Yuan hurriedly stretched out her hand to grasp Hong’er’s tiny hand, “Hong’er, accompany me… and You’er, just to chat for a while more, alright?” 

“Eh?” Hong’er looked at her, then at You’er and hesitantly spoke, “But, Master ran away suddenly and I can’t be away from him.”

Jie Yuan’s brows gave a small twitch as she looked at Hong’er and gently asked, “Star God’s… Soul Star Relegation?”

“So star really gates? What’s that? Big Sis, your words are so strange.” Hong’er said with a puzzled expression, “Could that be Big Sister’s name?” 

“You don’t know?” Jie Yuan was slightly startled.

“Of course! I don’t want to know such an ugly-sounding name,” Hong’er said while turning her head to glance in the direction Yun Che had run in. Her expression was clearly growing more and more strained.

She already felt uneasy even though she had only left Yun Che for a few minutes.

“Hong’er, do you… fancy that boy?” Jie Yuan asked.

“Does Big Sis mean Master? Of course I like him!” Hong’er’s eyes suddenly turned much brighter when she was asked that question.

“But, he used some Star God’s Soul Star Relegation technique to hold your life and soul captive. This technique attached you to him, you can never leave his side and you must live and die with him. Could it be… that you don’t hate him for this in the least?”

Hong’er’s eyes widened when she heard Jie Yuan’s words. She stared at Jie Yuan for a long while before replying puzzledly, “Big Sis, your words are so strange. No one in this whole world treats Hong’er better than Master… Although he is a little annoying at times, I don’t ever want to leave Master in this lifetime!”

Jie Yuan, “...”

“My heart feels really funny after leaving Master for so long.” Hong’er kept looking backwards as she said, “I’m going after Master now. Bye bye, big sis.”

Upon finishing her sentence, she turned into a beam of brilliant vermillion light and instantly disappeared into the darkness.

This time, Jie Yuan did not stop her. Her hand had frozen in midair and there was an indescribably complicated expression on her face. 

In front of her, You’er was also looking in the direction that Yun Che had left in. Jie Yuan could tell from a single look that even though You’er had an indifferent expression, her heart felt a sense of longing.

Her hand fell and she closed her eyes amidst the darkness as she sensed her daughter’s existence. With every moment, great waves of chaos shook the depths of her soul.

Everyone, the ones she loved, the ones she hated, her kinsmen, her enemies… they were all dead.

That era had long ended, and everything had turned to dust. Even the entire Primal Chaos had changed so drastically.

Only… our family, our daughter is still alive in this world.

She placed her hand over her heart and her eyes trembled and felt a foreign sense of warmth… The millions of years of piled up hatred and resentment in her heart and soul suddenly disappeared… They had completely disappeared and even she herself could not find a single trace of them.

The hatred that I had once thought was engraved into my bones, the hatred that I thought would never dull even until the day I die, actually turned out to be so utterly small and petty.

Everything has been destroyed, except for our planet, our daughter…

So what do I have to resent, what do I have to hate...

    ……

Yun Che leapt out of Cloud’s End Cliff and landed on the soil at the edge of the cliff. After that, he gasped for air several times before lifting a hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

What is to come will finally come! 

Her own daughter had become someone else’s contracted sword… Any parent would have gone mad!

What’s more, Hong’er was the daughter of the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor and the Heretic God! AHHHHHHHHH!

When Yun Che thought about Jie Yuan’s expression when she muttered the word “master", he had trembled violently… He had been too rash, too rash! 

It had been such a rash move. I should have made better preparations to cushion the blow or tried to first think of a method to remove the “contract”. Now things don’t look good at all.

The wave of good feelings might very well turn sour right now!

While Yun Che was feeling apprehensive, a red light flashed before his eyes as Hong’er arrived by his side with a “whoosh”. Her red eyes were wide open and she was staring at him angrily.

Yun Che, who was about to take a seat, suddenly sprang up like he had sat on a spring. He stood up immediately and he was about to open his mouth to say something, Hong’er angrily beat him to it, “Master! Why did you abandon Hong’er just now and run off by yourself!”

“Erm…” Yun Che really did not know how to answer that question, so he replied somewhat evasively, “That big sister just now… Oh no, that auntie, didn’t you feel very close to her? You could have played a little while longer with her.”

“Excuses!” Hong’er became even angrier, “Next time you can’t leave me behind and just run off suddenly. That really didn’t feel good, do you understand!? If you do that again, I will… will…”

Even after she had thought about it for a while, she still could not think of any methods to threaten him. Instead, she stomped her foot with a lot of force and said huffily, “I’m going to ignore you until the next time I get to eat something!”

“Hmph! I’m going to sleep!”

Without waiting for Yun Che to reply, she had already turned into a vermillion sword ray and returned to Yun Che’s body, leaving him standing there with a stunned expression. 

What was… happening right now?

Just as Yun Che managed to come to his senses, the world in front of him turned dark as Jie Yuan’s voice rang out.

She stood right in front of Yun Che and stared directly at him, her pupils gleaming with a gloomy black light.

“Senior.” Yun Che cowered instinctively and braced himself. 

She did not see Hong’er who had obviously returned to Yun Che. A deep disappointment flashed across Jie Yuan’s face as she coldly replied, “You actually used ‘Soul Star Relegation’ to hold my daughter hostage!”

“Ah?” Yun Che was stunned, “Soul Star Relegation? What’s that?”

Yun Che’s naturally surprised and blank expression could not be faked. This caused Jie Yuan’s eyebrows to twitch as she said, “You don’t know?”

Yun Che shook his head.

“Hmph!” Jie Yuan coldly explained, “Soul Star Relegation is a type of skill that uses the power of a Star God to seize the life and soul of others! It can only be used once in each Star God’s lifetime and if it succeeds, the one who the skill is used on will forever be attached to the other person! From then on, they will live and die together!”

“It is a kind of extremely cruel contract! It is incomparably tyrannical and can be used on any living being, and even a True God will not be able to break this contract!”

“...” Yun Che stood there, staring blankly into space.

When he had ‘collected’ Hong’er in the Primordial Profound Ark back then, he had followed Jasmine’s instructions to complete the master-slave contract. He thought it was rather strange back then as he only knew that these kind of contracts could be used for profound beasts. Even though Hong’er was a strange type of “species”, she should not be a profound beast, right?

And then it succeeded just like that.

Hong’er had never been bothered by the contract and neither did she ever have thoughts of leaving him. She was extremely comfortable eating his stuff and sleeping every day, and even if he tried to chase her way, he probably would not be able to do so. In fact it felt as if there would not be a difference even without the contract.

Instead, there was the addition of a very strange restriction...

That restriction was that he could not even undo the contract despite being the master… Just like when they were in the Star God Realm and he wanted to undo the contract before he died so that Hong’er could leave. But he could not do so and she had no choice but to live and die along with him. 

This was a strange and overbearing kind of contract.

As he recalled those scenes from the past, Jie Yuan’s words and the many strange aspects of this “contract” caused Yun Che’s heart to lurch fiercely

Could it be that back then, Jasmine had…

As she observed Yun Che’s continuously changing expression, Jie Yuan’s eyebrows sank as she said, “Hmph, it seems like you remembered something. Only the Star Gods can use the Soul Star Relegation technique, so there is no way that you don’t remember who it was that did this, the mortal who has inherited the power of the Star Gods.” 

“...” Yun Che definitely would not tell her about Jasmine.

“But since it merely came from a mortal who has inherited the Star God divine power, then it should be all too easy to break this contract!”

Jie Yuan’s words were especially firm and hard. But following that, she said something that left Yun Che very surprised, “Though from the looks of it, there is no need for that.”

Yun Che momentarily doubted his own sense of hearing as he said, “Senior, what do you mean?”

Jie Yuan looked at him with complicated emotions in her eyes, “From the looks of it, you have indeed treated Hong’er pretty well. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be quite so attached to you.”

Yun Che, “...”

“You’er is also very fond of you. Her reluctance to part from you lingered for a very long time after you had left.” Jie Yuan sighed gently, “It looks like you came here to visit her often.”

Yun Che felt a weight being lifted off his heart when he heard Jie Yuan’s tone and he warmly replied , “Hong’er is my most treasured companion, it’s natural for me to be good to her. You’er… saved my life back then. It’s only right for me to take care of her.”

Her eyes turned to stare at the deep and dark abyss at their feet as they went through a series of subtle changes. After that, she suddenly said in a soft voice, “All of these things are things that I owe you. “

Yun Che’s eyes widened as he swiftly waved his hands, “Senior, this junior has received the Heretic God’s great favor, all these are…” 

“If I say I owe you, it means I owe you!” Jie Yuan’s tone abruptly turned cold and hard before it suddenly changed again as she said, “Yun Che, say… should I merge their souls together again?”

Yun Che shook his head without even considering it, “Senior, even though your daughter was separated into two people, Hong’er and You’er, her memories and her past disappeared the moment she was separated. And as for the current Hong’er and You’er… Hong’er is already a complete existence who loves and enjoys her current life. Even though You’er’ is merely an incomplete spirit, she has developed her own personality and memories over the years… even if they may be unpleasant memories.”

Jie Yuan, “...”

“So, however Hong’er or You’er’s current state is, they are both entirely different and independent existences. If they were to merge, the completed ‘daughter’ would also mean… obliterating Hong’er and You’er and they would disappear forever. 

“Thus, I don’t agree. And I think that Hong’er and You’er definitely won’t be willing to do so either.”

Jie Yuan’s tattered robes swayed as a gust of mountain wind blew past them. She looked into the distance and replied in a low voice, “You’re right. I’ll treat this as compensation from the heavens, to let me have another daughter.”