We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real? Chapter 660: Thirty Years From Now, Go and Fight on Behalf of the Ten Thousand Laws Realm

Just as the last light of sunset faded from the sky, Xiao Mo and Yan Ruxue returned to the palace.

Though it had been no more than a single day, for Xiao Mo, who had now fully recovered the memories of his second and third lives, this day had felt more like a dream, a dream that seemed to span ten thousand years.

And in the moment his memories had returned, there had indeed been an impulse within him to reveal himself to Ruxue, to let her know he remembered but in the end, Xiao Mo had held back.

For one reason only.

If the Book of a Hundred Lives held only Ruxue, there would be nothing for him to hesitate over. But the lives recorded within the Book of a Hundred Lives did not hold only Ruxue. If he revealed himself to Ruxue now, and the other women from those lives appeared in time, how would he explain things then?

Setting aside what lay ahead, even as things stood now, if he were to open his heart to Ruxue, what then of Qingyi's side of things?

If a scene of that nature truly unfolded, he feared he would genuinely be divided into five equal pieces.

"Ah..."

Thinking of this, Xiao Mo pressed a hand to his forehead.

He owed so much. Could he truly settle all of it in this one lifetime?

"Enough... enough..."

After a long moment, Xiao Mo rubbed the corners of his eyes, drew a long, slow breath, and let it go. There was no use in turning it over further. All he could do was take things one step at a time.

Perhaps only when he had entered the Upper Three Realms would he have any real ability to face whatever came.

The worst that could happen was that the five-equal-pieces outcome might be avoided, at least.

The very next day after Xiao Mo returned to the palace, he summoned Yan Zhen and Madam Yan to the imperial study.

Bai Ruxue was already within the study waiting.

Husband and wife saw His Majesty and their daughter looking at them with quiet smiles, and a sense of unease settled in their hearts. They could not quite shake the feeling that whatever His Majesty was about to say was not going to be simple.

"There is more than this concubine can readily explain. Would my consort care to tell them herself?" Xiao Mo said with a small smile, gesturing toward Yan Zhen and his wife.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Bai Ruxue bowed, hands folded before her, and stepped forward.

"This..." Madam Yan glanced at her husband.

Yan Zhen said nothing, but his fingers had drawn quietly tight.

In his heart, a suspicion had already been quietly forming.

"Bai Ruxue of the Four Seas pays her respects to Chancellor Yan, and to Madam Yan..." Walking forward to stand before them, Bai Ruxue bowed with composed formality and spoke slowly.

"The Lord of the Four Seas? Bai... Bai Ruxue?" Madam Yan's lips parted slightly. She took her daughter's hand in hers, her eyes full of confusion. "Ruxue, what Lord of the Four Seas? What are you saying?"

"Madam Yan, it is like this. After I rescued your daughter that day, I took her as my disciple and brought her to the Four Seas to cultivate. After that, I took on the appearance of Yan Ruxue..."

Bai Ruxue spoke word by word, slowly but without any ambiguity, recounting what had happened that year.

Madam Yan listened, her mind full of disbelief, unable quite yet to accept it. But when Bai Ruxue's eyes gradually turned to gold and she released the faintest breath of dragon-majesty, letting Madam Yan feel the instinctive awe carried in her blood, Madam Yan knew it was the truth.

This was truly not her daughter.

"Please set your minds at ease, however. Ruxue does indeed have natural talent for cultivation. After taking her vows as a disciple of the North Sea, her cultivation advanced quickly, and she has become a most accomplished cultivator, holding a position of importance within the North Sea."

"As for your daughter, I believe both of you have already met her. She is Yan Shuang, who I understand is currently residing at the family estate."

When Bai Ruxue finished speaking, Yan Zhen, having learned that his supposed daughter was in truth the Lord of the Four Seas, found himself, even with some prior preparation, struck wholly speechless with astonishment.

Madam Yan felt as though she were moving through a dream.

"Shuang, come out. There is no use hiding any longer."

Into the imperial study's silence, Bai Ruxue spoke toward a folding screen.

A moment later, Yan Shuang stepped out from behind it.

She pressed her lips together, her small hands pinching at the edge of her sleeve, and came to stand at her master's side.

"This teacher has told you before: what is meant by experiencing the mortal world is walking the road from which one came. If a person loses sight of the road they traveled to reach where they are, what can they hope to achieve in the end?"

Bai Ruxue laid a gentle hand on Yan Shuang's shoulder.

"Go on. Follow your heart. No more of this awkwardness. You have come all this way."

Hearing her master's words, Yan Shuang pressed her sleeve tighter between her fingers, the hesitation in her eyes still evident. But in the end, she gave Bai Ruxue a single nod, stepped forward, and stood before Yan Zhen and his wife.

Yan Shuang raised her head and looked at her parents. Her lips parted slightly, then closed again. This happened several times. At last, as though having made up her mind, she drew a deep breath and called out, "Father..."

"Mother..."

Yan Zhen and his wife were both still for a moment then, slowly, their eyes grew bright with tears, and both of them nodded, answering her.

Xiao Mo watched the scene of recognition unfold, and felt a quiet, wordless stirring in his own heart and just as Yan Zhen and his wife were reunited with their daughter, Madam Yan turned and looked at Bai Ruxue, who stood not far away.

Though Ruxue was not Madam Yan's daughter, the truth was that Madam Yan had lived alongside her for so many years, and had always treated her as one. There was no way she could be without feeling for her.

Madam Yan walked to where Ruxue stood and, after a moment, spoke in a quiet voice. "Ruxue... may I... claim you as my goddaughter?"

The moment Madam Yan's words fell, everyone in the imperial study, save Bai Ruxue herself, looked toward her.

"Wife, what are you saying?"

Yan Zhen came to himself at once and moved to pull his wife away.

What on earth was she thinking? The Lord of the Four Seas had already saved their daughter and taken her as a disciple, setting her upon the path of immortal cultivation. That alone was an extraordinary act of grace. And now his wife wished to take the Lord of the Four Seas as a goddaughter?

"Of course, Mother." Bai Ruxue smiled softly and nodded.

Madam Yan blinked, then nodded back at once, her face alight with joy.

As a woman of the household, Madam Yan could take the Lord of the Four Seas as her goddaughter. But Yan Zhen himself did not dare. Toward Bai Ruxue, the Lord of the Four Seas, he maintained the proper courtesy of a foreign minister before the ruler of another realm.

As for why this Lord of the Four Seas had entered the palace, and what her purpose was, since his own sovereign had not said, Yan Zhen would not ask. After all, measured against the Four Seas, the Zhou Kingdom was a small thing entirely. That someone of such stature would choose to reside quietly within the palace, what of it?

Though to say Yan Zhen felt no curiosity would have been wholly untrue...

What in the Zhou Kingdom could have captured the interest of someone like the Lord of the Four Seas?

Surely not His Majesty?

Before long, Xiao Mo and Yan Zhen and his wife took their leave, and Yan Shuang walked alongside Bai Ruxue through the palace grounds.

"Master... I..." Trailing behind Bai Ruxue, Yan Shuang started to speak, then stopped herself.

"You know, you are rather evenly matched with that sword cultivator in the palace," Bai Ruxue said with a small laugh. "Both of you are exactly as awkward as the other."

Yan Shuang: "..."

"All right." Bai Ruxue lifted her head and looked toward the distant horizon.

"The Demon Realm intends to challenge the Ten Thousand Laws Realm. Though this concubine harbors no great fondness for the Ten Thousand Laws Realm, at the very least, she cannot allow the Demon Realm to have things too easily."

"Thirty years from now, go and fight on behalf of the Ten Thousand Laws Realm."