"Alright, that's enough you two, stop talking about such sad things, let bygones be bygones." Said Yue Meng He indifferently while shaking her head when she heard Lin Feng and Lin Hai. Then, Yue Meng He and Meng Qing joined them.
Lin Hai looked at Yue Meng He and smiled: "Alright, let's not talk about the Lin Clan. Those things belong to the past so let's forget about them. But Little Feng, don't worry, the Lin Clan still has hope, the blood of the Lin Clan will continue flowing into the veins of the new generations."
"There you go again!" Said Yue Meng He while glaring at Lin Hai which surprised him but he then immediately smiled wryly.
When Lin Feng and Meng Qing saw Yue Meng He and Lin Hai laugh, they laughed too. They looked like they were still deeply in love, a simple and tender love.
"Father, you came to the Imperial City, why didn't you tell me anything?" Asked Lin Feng who was surprised.
"Little Feng, do you know how your father left the Imperial City in the past?" Asked Lin Hai to Lin Feng which surprised him. He remained silent and replied: "That guy from the Imperial Clan…"
"Indeed. Eighteen years ago, your mother had just given birth to you but Duan Ren Huang sealed my spirit and my cultivation, then he forced me to leave the Imperial City. He forbade me from entering the Imperial City, not even a single step. Back then, I felt so humiliated. I hated him but because of you, I chose to ignore the humiliation and return to Yangzhou City. I intended to stay there forever, I had decided never to return to the Imperial City again, but you changed my mind. In the end, I stopped caring about such things and broke my promise to never return… So I returned and found your mother." Said Lin Hai slowly. "Apart from you and those who live here, nobody else knows that I am in the Lovesick Forest, if Duan Ren Huang knew that I had returned to the Imperial City, he would come to kill me, what I am trying to say is, if your life wasn't in grave danger, your mother would have never revealed herself and brought you here to see me."
When Lin Feng heard Lin Hai, he remained silent. So that's how it was. His father had gone to the Imperial City to find his mother and it was extremely dangerous. His father returning to the Imperial City was an absolute secret and he couldn't show himself to anyone.
"Duan Ren Huang is one of the four geniuses from eighteen years ago?" Asked Lin Feng, a cold light was in his eyes. Duan Ren Huang, what a powerful name, surprisingly his name contained the characters "huang" (means emperor).
"Indeed, that's him, Duan Ren Huang. He was a very ambitious person. Now, he's probably the one who is really controlling Xue Yue." Said Lin Hai coldly. Duan Ren Huang had injured them and forced Lin Hai to leave and never return. Their agreement was that Yue Meng He wasn't allowed to leave the Imperial City and Lin Hai wasn't allowed in the Imperial City, otherwise, the Duan Clan would have continued to hunt them down.
"The one who really controls Xue Yue…" Whispered Lin Feng. It was him, he hunted down his parent eighteen years ago and disappeared afterwards. Because of him, Lin Hai was forced to enter the Imperial City in secret, not daring to show himself.
"Little Feng, don't think about those things too much, maybe Duan Ren Huang is not even in Xue Yue anymore. With his talent and cultivation level, he could have decided to move to a better place with stronger cultivators, he probably didn't want to stay in a tiny country like Xue Yue. His goal was probably Xue Yu or even the vast and endless Continent of the Nine Clouds." Added Yue Meng He to which Lin Feng slightly nodded. Indeed, if eighteen years ago things had happened differently, Lin Feng's father, Lin Hai, would have probably left Xue Yue, he would have followed his martial path and grown even stronger.
"Lin Feng even though Duan Ren Huang hadn't shown himself for a long time, there is another person whom you should also be careful of." Added Yue Meng He.
"Whom?"
"The crown prince, Duan Wu Dao." Replied Yue Meng He in a grave tone. She then continued: "Duan Wu Dao has the same blood as Duan Ren Huang, they have identical temperaments too. Duan Ren Huang and Duan Wu Dao are very close. Besides, Duan Wu Dao is now ranked first amongst the eight high-officials, just like Duan Ren Huang was in the past, they have terrifying strength and shocking talent."
"Duan Wu Dao!" Whispered Lin Feng. The crown prince Duan Wu Dao was wild and unruly, aggressive and violent, if anyone offended him, he would kill everyone involved, but if people were nice to him, he would treat them well, he was extremely aggressive when provoked.
"I will be careful." Nodded Lin Feng.
Yue Meng He smiled and nodded while looking at Lin Feng, she then added, sounding confident: "Little Feng, don't put too much pressure on yourself. You're only eighteen years old and you can already kill cultivators of the fourth Xuan Qi layer, you're much stronger than your father and me at your age. Apart from Duan Wu Dao, none of the other high-officials have more potential than you. You will be stronger than all of them soon enough, it's only a matter of time. Your objective should be to reach the top of the eight high-officials."
"The top of the eight high-officials!" Lin Feng raised his head and gazed solemnly into the distance. His objective needed to be more than that.
Maybe his natural abilities weren't high enough, maybe he wasn't very strong, it didn't matter, he always needed to aim for higher goals. If he didn't have the talent, he would pay in blood, sweat and tears to make his dreams come true. He had to keep climbing higher, until everyone that looked down on him, was forced to look up at him and watch him soar into the heavens.
It was the same as with Chu Zhan Peng, nobody thought that Lin Feng could compete with him. In front of Chu Zhan Peng, he was nothing more than an insect, however, Lin Feng had never considered Chu Zhan Peng as his goal, he just focused on becoming stronger to protect the ones he cares for. He broke through every hurdle which stood in the way of his martial path.
"Duan Wu Dao, the crown prince, cannot have Xue Yue as his goal." Thought Lin Feng. If Duan Wu Dao had had Xue Yue as his goal, he would have become dispirited and would have lost the motivation to grow stronger. Duan Wu Dao was able to push everybody aside because he always pursued the goal of becoming stronger.
"Little Feng, I will bring you to a certain place." Yue Meng He suddenly said mysteriously which surprised Lin Feng. A certain place?
Could it be that there was something incredible in the Lovesick Forest again?
Lin Feng looked at his father Lin Hai, he was smiling, which made Lin Feng even more surprised.
"Alright." Replied Lin Feng while nodding, he was truly curious.
Yue Meng He led the way and they started walking through a dense forest. Lin Feng and Meng Qing calmly followed from behind. They crossed a distance of about a thousand steps and in front of them appeared a few trees which were around a thousand years old as well.
There were four ancient trees, this place was extremely dark, the trees were blotting out the sky and not a single light could enter their domain. Vines had already wrapped around the trees. In the middle of those four trees, there was surprisingly a cave going into the ground, one couldn't see into the cave though, it was very strange, it looked extremely deep.
Yue Meng He took a step forwards and walked into the cave. Lin Feng was stupefied.
"Little Feng. Come!" Said Yue Meng He while turning her head and smiling at Lin Feng. After that, Lin Hai entered the cave too. Lin Feng looked at them and then suddenly, Yue Meng He and Lin Hai disappeared from sight. They disappeared inside the cave in an instant without any warning.
"What is this?" Lin Feng was dumbstruck. How strange, two people had just disappeared as if they were never there to begin with.
"It must be an illusion." Suddenly whispered Lin Feng. It had to be a form of witchcraft. Only witchcraft could lead to such a perfect illusion and alter the physical rules of the world.
The path of witchcraft was in perfect harmony with nature, it could borrow the strength of the earth and the sky to reshape the land. One could use it to confuse, or to create illusions or even to kill people.
"Meng Qing, let's get in too." Said Lin Feng while pulling Meng Qing's hand. They then slowly entered that cave. Inside that cave, everything was different. Meng Qing and Lin Feng just had the feeling that they were fainting, everything was spinning around them and suddenly, another place appeared around them.
It was a bright and cloudy sky, there was a desert and the sunlight was trying to pierce through the clouds to illuminate the earth below.
"How is that possible? Where are we?" Lin Feng's heart started pounding violently. He was astonished. Meng Qing was astonished too.
When they saw how vast that desert was, they had the feeling that they were still in an illusion, but on the other hand, it felt too real, how could it be an illusion?!
"Where are we?" Lin Feng tried to keep clear-headed and asked that question to Yue Meng He and Lin Hai. Everything was too astonishing, it was so incredible that Lin Feng and Meng Qing couldn't believe it.
"Little Feng, the first time your mother brought me here, I was even more astonished than you." Said Lin Hai while laughing. He then continued slowly: "You're right, it's not an illusion, were just in another location. This is a strange place we found connected to the Lovesick Forest."