188. Farewell
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As Luoyin had told Weiyan, some matters had to be resolved...
And so he wore a cold expression as he boldly walked into the Sky Palace Throne Room... This time, free and blameless.
Only Tianlong, Fei Yun, and Yin Xing were in the vast empty hall, and Luoyin raised an eyebrow at Yin Xing.
Yin Xing merely smiled at him.
"Ehehe, Elder brother, I'm only here to collect a certain Star!" He explained with a playful bow.
Fei Yun had broken the Fate Spell, leaving Weiyan's fate to run properly, and now her star lay carefully within Yin Xing's inner sea.
"I'll go put it back where it belongs." He said with a serious sigh. "I'll leave you to discuss."
Yin Xing vanished, leaving the three old friends alone.
Forgetting all pride, Tianlong and Fei Yun instantly fell to their knees, apologizing to Luoyin, each stating the many ways in which they had been deceived, or misguided, or manipulated...
Luoyin had never seen them in such a pathetic state, and he nearly softened...
These were his friends after all... those he had once held so dear in the past.
But...
He had also once knelt in this very hall before them, after they ripped out his own heart... after they killed so many on Caoyang...
...and all they had done was blame him and hurl insults at him...
And then they had done such an awful thing to Liwei!
Had proceeded to foolishly let countless mortals approach Caoyang and die.
And then there was Fei Yun's recent inexcusable mistake with Zhurong Fen...
Some things could not be so easily forgiven, and Luoyin held up two fingers, making his two former friends freeze in place, unable to move or speak.
"I came today simply because Lao Bao says you won't let him be if I don't show my face." Luoyin spoke, burying every hint of pity he might feel.
"It also won't be good to leave things hanging, so I came to say... Leave the Old man alone. He won't convince me, and I won't meet you again.
"Perhaps, the endless waves of time will bring us to a point where seeing you both won't resurrect the worst of memories, and perhaps, it won't."
He turned and was suddenly at the door.
"Either way, this is Farewell. I won't even deign to live in the same realm as you two. And I can read your thoughts... After all you caused, no one is asking you to step down in some 'righteous' repentance. Sit firmly in those positions which went to your head, and fix that which you've broken!"
With those words, he took another step and vanished from their sight.
His aura loosened and they could move again, but both merely plopped to the floor.
"I knew it was useless..." Tianlong spoke into the echoing silence. "I knew there was no hope, and yet I had to try -!" His voice broke, and Fei Yun reached over to pat his shoulder.
"He also knew we would try to give up our positions..." Fei Yun said with a sad sigh, his own tears flowing.
Both deemed themselves unworthy...
As Sky Emperor, Tianlong had easily fallen to manipulations and his own pride, slaying innocents in righteous anger, and nearly casting the world into darkness.
How was he worthy of the Throne?
As Fate Immortal, Fei Yun had done the same, with the added crimes of consciously commiting these evils, even to the point of letting his own disciples die, and harming the Mortals he was in charge of shielding...
How could he call himself the guardian of Fate?
"But A-Bai is right, as usual... Asking his forgiveness now is pointless." Fei Yun continued. "The only way to redeem ourselves is to indeed fix this world our actions have broken.
"He has shoulderen most of the work for us... Stepping away now would be disrespectful to him, and all the Immortal and Mortal who fought, so we must remain...
"We must remain! Even if...!" Fei Yun thought of the Fate Mirrors and how seeing them now only reminded him of Bailong's visits in the past, and how Bailong had been the very person to place him in that position!
...or how those same Fate Mirrors would only remind him of his foolishness through the years...
"We- we must remain even if it kills us!" He finished with as much zeal as he could muster.
Tianlong nodded as well...
Though the throne, or the throne room, or even every inch of the Sky Palace would constantly call forth all he had lost with Bailong... especially this throne room where he had condemned Bailong with his own mouth and hands...
Sky Palace and Fate Hall would remain their prisons, till they had dealt with the thousands of criminals... till the Two Realms had healed, and till they could leave without causing any trouble...
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Meanwhile, Luoyin returned to the Mortal Realm, more pressing matters already on his mind.
With his Pearl out of Weiyan, her powers had regressed back to two levels above her original level, and she was now essentially mortal again!
So Luoyin didn't hesitate to draw up the swiftest plan possible to hurry her cultivation along!
"Yanyan, this body is twenty-five years old! You're twenty, so I must somehow make you ascend in four years or less!"
"Hmm? Why?" She smirked at him and her eyes narrowed enticingly. "Let me grow older than you. That way, you can call me *'Sister Yan'."
(*Jie - Elder Sister, but in context, it's like 'gege', in that suggestive way, but for a younger male to an older female!)
"Y- Yanyan!" Luoyin's ears reddened. "Have you been visiting that Flower House again?! Stop looking at me with those eyes, or I'll make Dual-Cultivation the heart of this plan!"
Weiyan had laughed and laughed, not quite able to decide if that was the best or worst idea!
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The next three years flowed blissfully slowly...
Luoyin and Weiyan had resumed their routines, with Weiyan naturally skipping almost ten years of Discipleship to become the youngest Sect Elder in Yueyan's history, surpassing most elders even before graduating!
She and Luoyin went on missions together sometimes.
But they were separated more often than not! Because Lord Xu was convinced that constantly having Luoyin in one's team would make things too easy for their growth!
Most evenings, when they could help it, Luoyin and Weiyan returned home, and could be found making music in the Yan House pagoda, or sitting in each other's arms, or reading together...
...or other things in the late nights which have no business being mentioned!
But the fruits of 'late night labours' soon manifested in an adorably chubby little baby with her father's blatant silver hair, and her mother's large almond-shaped eyes!
There was no end to Luoyin's joy at this unexpected blessing!
...though he had nearly passed out with worry outside the delivery room...
As the wife of such a great physician, Weiyan wasn't even in too much pain, but her slightest grimace made beads of sweat break out on his forehead!
"Yanyan! I forbid you to have anymore children!" He hotly declared.
"Hmph." Panting, Weiyan shook her head. "What strange image are you showing your daughter right now? Don't you care about your face?"
Luoyin definitely did not care about face in this moment!
And after ensuring that Weiyan was perfectly ok, he held the child and summoned the entire household and personally handed out rewards, just so he could show her off!!
"Little one, get use to this face!!" He lightly caressed the child's flushed cheeks. "I'm the one in charge of you, umh?! We've already stolen a year, so I'll keep you company and let 'Mama' focus on her cultivation!"
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A month afterward, almost the entire Yue City came to celebrate the child's first moon with them, including a few odd faces that still hadn't seen the light.
Lord Zhang put in an appearance, still eyeing Luoyin with hopeful eyes, as if expecting him to suddenly arrive at some epiphany and return to the Zhang Mansion.
But Luoyin blissfully ignored him, relegating him to sit with the other House Heads with no rank...
Zhang Cheng and Xu Linhua also arrived with a bitter air still between them.
Zhang Cheng had become a senior disciple, with some talent, yes, but without his mother's hoard of resources, his pace had significantly slowed, placing him significantly beneath the top three!
And Xu Linhua endlessly blamed him for being less than capable, failing to see how inadequate she herself really was.
With Luoyin and Weiyan's new identity, they could no longer disrespect them, so the two sat sourly at the table reserved for them.
Meanwhile, Xu Min was now the youngest Sect Warrior, having skipped several years of Discipleship as well, and he was just a step away from Elder!
Xu Lian and Tao Yun had married by now!
And so had Yin Xing and Yan Linfeng!
As for Xu Wen, he was now incharge of educating the entire Sect's disciples on the use of Seals, Formations, and Talismans!
He had jumped to Senior Disciple long before his age, and this attracted quite a lot of hopeful 'suitors', but everyone wondered the same thing...
Would he ever notice such a thing?!
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