Chapter 164.1: Traces of the Past, Venerable Ye Qiong Takes Action
Memories of the past surged forth. All the scattered fragments replayed themselves in Qi Yuan’s mind.
He stared at the young girl with a complex gaze. "You are the wooden hairpin?"
Shortly after emerging from Heaven’s End, he had carefully prepared a meeting gift for Jin Li. Yet he never saw her on the shores of Seventh Moon Lake. They were separated by the currents of time. In the end, the one standing beside him, sharing the falling snow, was Moon Maiden. Later, he ventured alone into Earth's End. Moon Maiden left the crescent moon mark upon his arm, while he left the hairpin with her, hoping she would pass it on to Jin Li.
The girl lifted her chin stubbornly. "I'm not some wooden hairpin! I'm Daddy's daughter!"
Qi Yuan looked at her, emotions surging in waves in his heart. Everything finally clicked.
He and Jin Li had only ever communicated through the Linglong Xi Jade. From there, Qi Yuan could sense that she was simply an ordinary girl. Then, he recalled the fragments he had heard in the Five Elements Forbidden Zone. The Great Sun faced a powerful, otherworldly foe and was ultimately defeated. Even after exhausting all means, it had only managed to injure that enemy's leg. Once, Jin Li had told him about her embarrassing childhood incident, when she fell flat during her coronation. Her leg had been injured long ago and never fully healed.
So, the powerful enemy who once fought the Great Sun was Jin Li's former self. But later on, why did she become the Moon Maiden, and then Jin Li again?
The girl seemed to notice the confusion in Qi Yuan's eyes. In a crisp voice, she said, "Daddy wants to know Mommy's origins?"
"...Yes."
Truthfully, Qi Yuan didn’t really want to acknowledge her as his daughter. After all, it was too random, and she hadn’t even dominated eternity yet, making all his previous bravado feel awkward. Then it occurred to him that having an extra daughter was better than inexplicably losing one. Eventually, he accepted that she was his daughter in a sense.
"Mommy comes from the Upper World," the girl said, lifting her head to gaze at the star-filled sky.
Qi Yuan also gazed at the stars scattered among the Ancient Qichun Tree’s branches. He thought of Lord Moon God the Moon Token his master had left behind.