Chapter 258: Jiang Feng’s Departure

Jiang Chen didn’t raise a high profile after returning to the Jiang manor. He acted as if nothing had happened. He didn’t care even if this matter was traced to him in the end.

Firstly, the other sides had no evidence, and even if they did, those dead had provoked him first.

Besides, Jiang Chen and the Rat King had acted surreptitiously with no one being the wiser. They hadn’t left behind anything that would incriminate him.

The devouring abilities of the Lotus were even more perverse than the Rat King’s, it could swallow even the bones of its victims.

After he returned to the manor, Jiang Chen went into closed door cultivation for a few days to thoroughly refine the spirit power essence that the Lotus had taken in and make it a part of his spirit ocean.

The essences of four second level practitioners were naturally greatly nutritious.

This actually made Jiang Chen’s spirit ocean achieve a tangible breakthrough, and he welcomed the advent to the third level spirit realm shortly after.

This breakthrough had come about quite suddenly.

Jiang Chen hadn’t thought that the Lotus would be so heaven defying, that none of the spirit power essence it had absorbed had been wasted and had all become a nutrition for him.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. No wonder the Lotus ranks in the top ten of plant spirits beneath all those in the heavens. This frightening devouring power is a supreme cheat!”

Jiang Chen had known that the Lotus was powerful, but hadn’t imagined that it was powerful to this extent.

However, this kind of cheat wasn’t without side effects. First of all, the Lotus was only suitable to absorb the spirit essences of the fire and ice attributes.

It would reject all other attributes.

Furthermore, at the heart of it the Lotus was still manipulated by Jiang Chen’s spirit ocean and so the level of his spirit ocean dictated the level of opponents he’d be able to swallow. He was only able to take in those similar to his own level of training.

Those who were stronger would be a problem.

Of course, the Lotus wasn’t completely helpless when faced with stronger opponents. With Jiang Chen’s current level of training, it was easy for him to manipulate four vines now.

The Lotus could continue to grow now that he’d risen to the third level spirit realm, and manipulating six vines was a given.

If six vines attacked one opponent in the initial earth spirit realm together, then Jiang Chen would have a shot of winning.

Devouring his opponent, however, would be much more difficult.

A shroud of blue and red light covered Jiang Chen within the secret room, making the interior misty and enigmatic.

Since ascending to the third level spirit realm, Jiang Chen discovered that the Lotus had indeed continued its growth. Since he’d melded in the mysteries of the “Divine Aeons Fist”, the form of the Lotus was also developing according to Jiang Chen’s will.

Jiang Chen’s eyes were like the celestial heavens, one of them was burning with the flames of the scorching sun, and the other was sparkling with the unparalleled splendor of the cold moon.

“The essence behind the boxing of the Divine Aeons Fist and the cycles of blooming and wilting, from one to nine cycles, encompasses the development of all beings, the theory of the shifting of the universe. The moon in one hand and the sun in the other; this matches quite nicely with the Lotus. It looks like the hand of fate is at play here. The Divine Aeons Fist that I practiced allowed me to comprehend the theories of the sun and the moon, and have allowed me to obtain such a wondrous item as the Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice. The first two forms of the Moonshatter Flying Daggers can also be combined with the mysteries of the Divine Aeons Fist. I’ve truly underestimated its might previously…”

Jiang Chen thought carefully and felt that he had indeed overlooked the Divine Aeons Fist previously.

This boxing technique that combined the sun and the moon to distill the complex down to the simple had caused Jiang Chen to treat it merely as an ordinary boxing technique before.

If one contemplated carefully, they would discover that this boxing technique wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

Jiang Chen emerged from closed door training with enormous gains once again. He raised his head toward the sun and took in a deep breath of the crisp morning air, feeling refreshed and lighthearted.

He breathed in the pure air and exulted in the joy of training. However, this kind of life didn’t let Jiang Chen lose himself in it.

His goal was clear, and that was to break through, continue breaking through and pursuing that boundless martial dao.

Only when he broke through the shackles of the heavenly law and took his place amongst the heavens would he be able to investigate the matters surrounding his past life.

He wanted to find out whether the father in his previous life was dead or alive. He didn’t think that he would reincarnate like this without reason.

Something must have caused this twist of fate, and he would uncover it!

However, it was a bit too early to speak of this. With his current training, he was quite far from that heavenly law, and that gap wouldn’t be bridged overnight.

“Young master Chen, you’ve finally emerged from training!”

Xue Tong was a bit panicked when he saw Jiang Chen.

“What is it?” Jiang Chen started. “What’s happened?”

“The duke… the duke has taken Jiang Ying with him and left Skylaurel Kingdom!!” Xue Tong stammered but finally spat out.

“When did this happen?” Jiang Chen was shocked. Hadn’t his father been in closed door cultivation? When had he emerged?

Xue Tong spoke with some awkwardness. “Your subordinate doesn’t know when it happened either. I happened to see the door to the duke’s secret room ajar one day while I was patrolling and poked my head inside. The duke had already disappeared and had only left a letter behind.”

“The letter?” Jiang Chen’s brow creased.

Xue Tong hastily fished out a letter that was yet to be opened and handed it over.

“Private and confidential to Chen’er” was written across it. With these words, Xue Tong and the others hadn’t dared open the letter when they saw it.

Of course, although this matter had been rather abrupt, since the duke had left a letter, then he likely wasn’t in any danger. Perhaps the duke missed home and wanted to go back to the Eastern Kingdom for a look?

Xue Tong had thought that this wasn’t a big matter and hadn’t disturbed Jiang Chen since he had been in closed door cultivation.

The duke had left a letter behind anyways, so no matter where he’d gone, all would be properly explained within the letter.

As Jiang Chen held the letter, his intuition told him that if his father had departed and left him a letter, then something was definitely amiss. If he’d gone out for just an ordinary trip, there would’ve been no need to leave anything behind.

And if he’d gone out on a longer trip, there would’ve been no need to leave in the dark of the night. He could’ve waited for Jiang Chen to emerge from training to take his leave.

To only leave a letter and keep even Xue Tong and the others in the dark, that indicated that his father’s departure this time wasn’t as simple as it appeared on the surface.

Jiang Chen ripped open the letter. There wasn’t much to it, it was only a page long --

Chen’er, forgive me for not bidding farewell before I left.

You asked me about Xue Tong a few months ago. That day, you asked why was it that Xue Tong was the son of your aunt, but you couldn’t feel the resonance between bloodlines with him.

I changed the topic then, but in reality, it was because I had purposefully concealed some facts.

Now, your father will tell you everything.

Xue Tong’s mother is a member of the Yinglan Tribe in the Jiang Han territory, this much is true.

However, your birth mother isn’t one of the Yinglan Tribe. Your mother has no blood relation to Xue Tong’s mother and Lan Yizhou’s father.

No one had known of this secret originally. I didn’t, and neither did your mother.

Not until the day, a group of people with unknown origins, claiming that they were from the Upper Eighth Region, suddenly appeared in the Jiang Han territory with the intention of taking your mother away.

Yes, your father has always concealed this from the outside world and from you.

Your mother isn’t dead, she was taken by others. Those who took her claimed to be from the Upper Eighth Region.

They were incredibly strong, strong beyond imagination. They could destroy a manor with a finger and an entire mountain range with a fist.

They said that your mother was of the noble bloodline in the Upper Eighth Region and shouldn’t be sullied by the mundane world.

If it hadn’t been your mother threatening them with her life, you and I might’ve been annihilated that day.

Chen’er, regardless of how strong the opponents were, would you not have fought to the death if someone was taking your woman away?

Yes, your father was going to fight to the death that day. But a mere random poke from those people forced me into a coma, senseless to the world.

Three days had passed by the time I woke up again.

They had taken my woman, your mother, and taken the love of my life.

Chen’er, now do you understand why I’ve always given you free reign? Why even though I knew full well of your ludicrous antics, still never forced you like many other fathers?

That was because I felt deep remorse toward you and your mother.

I am a man, but I couldn’t protect my most beloved woman and couldn’t protect my son’s mother.

Can you empathize with my feelings, Chen’er?

I’ve lived in deep self-incrimination everyday since then, living with my boundless yearning for your mother.

Chen’er, I’ve never been able to put you down with ease all these years.

However, the heavens took pity on me as you were suddenly enlightened and rose head and shoulders above others and your father’s last worry vanished.

However, your mother is still roaming on the streets outside, her whereabouts unknown. Our family has yet to be reunited.

Chen’er, your pill has helped your father break through the restraints of the true qi realm and set foot into the spirit realm.

Perhaps the so-called Upper Eighth Region is much stronger than our world. Perhaps those who took your mother away are hundreds of times stronger than the spirit realm.

But ---

She’s my woman. As long as I have a breath left in me, I must go find her and bring her back home!

Even if mountains of knives and oceans of fire lay in front of me, whether it’s climbing up to the Upper Eighth Region or venturing into chasms of dragons and caves of tigers, I won’t back down even half a step!

Remember, don’t come find me before you grow into your own.

I’ve never been an adequate father. But I deeply love you just like I love your mother. I hope to find your mother one day and tell her myself that our son is now grown into a man.

I’ll say this one more time, don’t come to look for me. If I know that you’ve come for me before you’ve truly grown into your prime, I’ll immediately commit suicide so you’ll never be able to find me.

If it’s ordained in the heavens, our family will be reunited one day.

Even if the heavens are torn asunder and the earth cracks, even if the oceans dry and stones crumble, they will never halt my desire to find your mother.

Chen’er, I hope you can understand your father’s selfish decision. I hope you can also respect my wishes and not take any careless moves. Await my safe return together with your mother.