Celestial Dragon Sword Venerable

Ye Tianling took a deep breath and said coldly, "How could you do this? You’re the Little Dragon Girl’s father! How could you? Won’t your actions disappoint her? Won’t they make her sad?

"As a father, shouldn’t you lead by example?"

Ji Tianxie scoffed. "How do I compare to Long Fengyang?"

Ye Tianling froze, finding the question somewhat absurd.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that this Ji Tianxie was a bit eerie, a bit strange.

But after a moment of thought, he still said sincerely, "Elder Tianxie, you are a Celestial Dao Lawmaker. How can you be compared to a lowly person like Long Fengyang?"

Ji Tianxie shook his head. "Ye Tianling, you’re wrong. Whether one is a Celestial Dao Lawmaker or an ordinary person, all are equal in the role of a father."

Ye Tianling seemed to have a sudden realization. He comprehended the concept of ’all are created equal’ from Dugu Qiubai’s Earth Huaxia World, and a sense of melancholy welled up within him.

"A father is a father. No father is superior to any other. Since we’re making a deal, I’ll teach you a lesson—even with your own father, if he treats you well, it’s fatherly love. If he treats you poorly, it’s his prerogative—because you’re grown up and should be independent!

"Besides, it’s obvious you are a defective experiment, a failed product—to put it bluntly, a lifeform with massive flaws. A thing like you is more of a menace just by existing. So, by killing you, he was also saving you. What do you have to be dissatisfied about?"

"You’re speaking up for Long Fengyang? Is scum like him worth an Establishment Daoist making excuses for? Or are you trying to use him to prove how good you are to the Little Dragon Girl, to make her remember how lucky she is to have a good father like you? Playing mind games?" Ye Tianling demanded.

"I’m simply speaking from a father’s standpoint!" Ji Tianxie replied flatly.

"What about Long Tianyu? What about Long Tianmo? There was nothing wrong with them, was there? And yet they were still imprisoned and killed!" Ye Tianling demanded again, sneering.

"The Ancestral Dragon Abyss is a place of nurturing, and Long Fengyang gave them half a year. Furthermore, it is an ancestral teaching of the Dragon Race that severely wounded members offer themselves up as Void Bodies to sustain the battle power of other geniuses. Even though you killed many Dragon Race disciples, Long Yunfan and Long Qianying would have willingly sacrificed their own lives to become your Void Bodies!

"Is Long Qianying so bad? Her talent and willpower are in no way inferior to Long Tianyu’s or Long Tianmo’s. But from the moment Long Tianyu and Long Tianmo became entangled in your fate, they were constantly wounded until their lives hung by a thread, beyond saving.

"Even so, Long Fengyang still gave them half a year.

"It was only because your fated struggle against Ye Cangqian escalated the situation, causing numerous changes, that Long Fengyang’s Hidden Dragon Shackles went out of control and led to everything that happened."

Ji Tianxie calmly explained the chain of cause and effect.

"Heh. The Hidden Dragon Shackles went out of control? Just a pathetic excuse for his incompetence!" Ye Tianling sneered.

"Not everyone possesses willpower as strong as yours. Besides, you’ve never experienced the power of the Hidden Dragon Shackles, so you shouldn’t jump to conclusions."

Ji Tianxie’s tone, however, remained mild and was not the least bit aggressive.

At this moment, he actually seemed quite approachable.

As Ji Tianxie spoke, he waved his hand, and a deep pit immediately appeared on the Celestial Road of the Forgotten Dust World.

"Bury them. Then, after you leave, take the Little Fox and escort her to the Jade Fox Race’s Ancestral Land—Sumeru Mountain."

Ye Tianling turned, drew the Xuanyuan Celestial Evil Sword, and began hacking at the ground.

But he couldn’t break the ground.

"You can’t cut through the ground here!"

Ji Tianxie spoke again, a hint of mockery in his eyes.

’Can’t cut through?’

Ye Tianling’s grip on his sword suddenly tightened. He took a deep breath, his gaze becoming terrifyingly focused.

’Weak? Xuanyuan Celestial Evil Sword, you are never weak! You are an Ancient Divine Artifact, an Unparalleled Holy Dao Emperor’s Weapon! This mere Celestial Road is nothing before you!’

Ye Tianling focused his Strong Heart to its absolute limit and tried to slash open the Celestial Road using only the pure strength of his physical body.

"KSHHHH—"

The Xuanyuan Celestial Evil Sword began to vibrate, and Ye Tianling noticed a peculiar change in Ji Tianxie’s expression.

Ye Tianling didn’t dwell on it. Moments later, he had cut through the Celestial Road.

He dug a grave, gently placed the Blood Cocoon inside, and then filled it in.

"Samadhi True Fire!"

Ye Tianling gathered the Samadhi True Fire, using it to burn some of the unknown, solid earth he had excavated. Through this Refinement, he forged it into a massive, three-meter-tall stone monument.

On the monument, he engraved the runic names of Ye Yueling and Lin Yuchan, and also branded his own name and the Time.

"Not bad. A Strong Heart is very valuable. Care to trade it to get your Talent back?"

Ji Tianxie seemed to have taken an interest.

"Don’t even think about it!" Ye Tianling refused flatly.

"Alright, our business is concluded. Hand over the Mechanical Heart. Yueqi, you will conduct your Cultivation here from now on. Don’t leave."

Ji Tianxie reined in his emotions, his expression turning cold and heartless.

"Father, I... I just want to stay with Tianling. Father, I’m begging you, please say yes," the Little Dragon Girl immediately pleaded.

Ye Tianling relaxed his Soul and focused his mind. With a thought, he summoned the Space-Time Soul-locking Tower, which materialized in his palm.

It was a crystal-clear Treasure Tower, filled with the utmost Divine Power.

As it appeared, a misty halo swirled around it, giving it an incomparably divine and mysterious aura.

"Little Dragon Girl, you should stay here... I’ll come back for you when I’m stronger," Ye Tianling said gently.

"No! I won’t! You said you wanted me as your cultivation partner, are you abandoning me now? No way! I’m the one who helped you awaken your bloodline, I created your cultivation plan, I even helped pick out your partners, and I was the one who taught you your Cultivation Technique!

"I’ve given you everything, how can you just abandon me!"

The Little Dragon Girl grew frantic.

Her words were extremely easy to misunderstand.

Especially since the Little Dragon Girl currently looked like a four or five-year-old girl, her claims sounded incredibly bizarre.

"You... Little Dragon Girl, it’s not worth it for you to suffer with me. Find someone better... With your powerful super-intelligent Mechanical Heart, you definitely can!" Ye Tianling said with a sigh after a moment’s thought.

In truth, from Ji Tianxie’s words, Ye Tianling had already concluded that he was a jinx. Anyone who got involved with him was doomed to a bad end.

’After all, before she met me, Ouyang Ruoxue was destined to be the foremost Goddess of the Returning Butterfly Sacred Land. Long Tianyu was the Tianyu Saintess, a stunning talent. Long Tianmo was a peerless Little Witch, but she was also the Tianmo Saintess!

’But after they met me, everything turned to tragedy.’

’Ji Tianxie’s earlier point was nothing more than this: Don’t blame your misfortune on others—think more about how you yourself are the cause.’

So, after that conversation, Ye Tianling understood that a defective experiment like him was probably truly a person of ill omen.

By now, Ye Tianling mostly understood the psychological attack behind Ji Tianxie’s words. It was all to manipulate him into willingly giving up the Little Dragon Girl right now.

Ye Tianling had no comment on Ji Tianxie’s methods, nor did he care to dwell on them.

He was planning to give up the Little Dragon Girl and the Mechanical Heart simply because he felt indebted.

"No, I don’t want to! I want a Great Demon like you, a big villain, a bastard who likes to stab people with a Profound Ice Cold Iron Rod and chop off their heads! You care about me? Then do you want to see Yueqi sad and heartbroken? Waaaah, you’re all bullying me!"

Weeping and wailing, the Little Dragon Girl started throwing a childish tantrum.

This outburst not only gave Ye Tianling a headache, but even Ji Tianxie seemed somewhat dumbfounded.