Chapter 1727: Broken Promise

Ruins...

It wasn't until this moment that Chen Ling truly understood why the real Red Dust Domain would be desolate to this extent... According to what that pedestrian in the outer city said, this place shouldn't be completely uninhabited. It was just that most of those still stubbornly living here right now were solitary people unwilling to leave due to various reasons.

The Second Hall and Lu Liangren were precisely such people.

"Ying Fu..."

Chen Ling murmured this name, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

When absorbing the Red Star Aspiration Power, Ying Fu was also at the scene. That is to say, just like him, he also absorbed Red Star Aspiration Power during the process of rebooting the world.

However, Ying Fu was a human to begin with. He hadn't absorbed Red Star Aspiration Power before, so he didn't explode like himself. That is to say, he most likely became stronger than before under the blessing of the Red Star Aspiration Power, just like the other Nine Monarchs.

The Red Star bonus and the three hundred years of precipitation and layout made Ying Fu's power unprecedentedly strong... The existence of the Chengtian Domain almost sucked the other major domains dry, unifying humanity into a whole.

But what he did to the other eight Monarchs was also truly hair-raising.

He looked at the Red-Clad Performer before his eyes in disbelief, as if finally recognizing that world-ending aura!

"He..."

"He is..."

The young Lu Liangren's body couldn't help but tremble.

Seemingly perceiving that his aura lost control, Chen Ling took a deep breath, forcefully calming his mood down... His gaze looked at the Second Hall.

"Where are they?" Chen Ling opened his mouth hoarsely.

Chen Ling didn't explicitly say who "they" were, but the Second Hall naturally understood. A hand on his painting scroll pointed in a certain direction, slowly opening his mouth:

"They... have always been waiting for you."

...

Creak——

The old wooden door opened amidst an ear-piercing sound, the flowing air kicking up the thick dust on the ground.

The hem of the theatrical robe brushed past the threshold, the cinnabar-like earrings swaying gently. A figure silently stepped across the quaint stone steps, ultimately stopping in an ordinary courtyard.

Cobweb-like embroidery threads spread all over the courtyard, shielding all sunlight. Looking around, it was like being placed in a world of embroidery threads, leaving almost no place to set foot.

These differently colored embroidery threads vibrated gently in the air, seemingly meticulously embroidering something. And in the deepest part of the dense embroidery threads, a figure wearing a white practice suit was currently lying quietly in a hammock woven from embroidery threads.

Chen Ling stood before these endless embroidery threads. His eyes gazed at that blurry beautiful figure in white in the depths, his expression indescribably complex...

It was unknown how much time passed before,

He gently opened his dry, cracked lips:

"...It's me."

In a split second, all the embroidery threads in the courtyard stopped vibrating.

After a brief silence, the dense embroidery threads began to part to the sides, making way for Chen Ling toward the depths... It wasn't until this moment that Chen Ling finally saw clearly the face of the beautiful figure in white.

Compared to Chen Ling's memory, the Su Zhiwei before his eyes had a more haggard face. Moreover, even when fallen into a deep sleep, her brows were still locked tightly, as if having an endless nightmare.

It was just that, unseen for over three hundred years, Su Zhiwei's youth remained the same.

At the same time,

An aged figure slowly walked out from behind her.

That was an old man wearing a silk Tang suit, his hair already grizzled. He leaned on a walking stick, his gaze fixed on Chen Ling in front of the courtyard, his entire person stunned in place:

"Director... Chen?"

He opened his mouth somewhat uncertainly.

From the time Chen Ling brought up the rear alone in the Gray World to save the Nine Monarchs until now, more than three hundred years had already passed... Having disappeared for so long, everyone thought he was dead.

And now, a Chen Ling identical to the him in the past appeared alive and well before his eyes once again...

At this moment, Yao Qing felt his eyes were blurred.

"Is it really you... Director Chen?"

And when Chen Ling saw that familiar yet unfamiliar figure, it felt like his heart was pricked by a needle, incomparably stinging.

He took a deep breath, passing through the embroidery threads step by step. A gentle breeze brushed past the courtyard, blowing the embroidery threads and the hem of the theatrical robe fluttering together... He looked at those aged and bewildered eyes, speaking softly:

"Sorry..."

"I'm late."

The familiar voice, the familiar tone. The instant Chen Ling's voice fell, Yao Qing's aged body trembled slightly.

It's him...

It really is him!!

More than three hundred years... He actually really came back.

Yao Qing opened his mouth, not knowing what to say for a time. The bitterness and suffering of these more than three hundred years fundamentally couldn't be expressed in a few words... Two lines of turbid tears rolled down from the corners of his eyes, sliding across his numerous trench-like wrinkles, and smudging on the dusty ground.

Yao Qing didn't say anything, nor did he need to. Chen Ling looked at that heart-wrenchingly aged face, struggling internally for a long time, ultimately still asking that question...

"Yao Qing..."

"Did you guys ultimately... get married?"

Yao Qing was stunned.

He didn't expect that the first question Chen Ling asked would be this... He subconsciously shook his head.

"No... During that period, humanity's situation was so difficult, how could we..." Yao Qing fell silent for a moment.

"Actually... I expressed my love to Big Sister Zhiwei... But at the time you had just gone missing not long ago, and Calamities started attacking the major bases again... So Big Sister Zhiwei said, now is not the time... And then... there was no 'then' anymore."

Veins bulged one after another from the back of Chen Ling's hands. His fists clenched uncontrollably.

Chen Ling originally thought that with his intervention, Su Zhiwei and Yao Qing could have a fulfilling ending. He promised Su Zhiwei he would set them up... But at the most critical time, he went missing. Everyone was worried about him, and later on, Calamities came rolling in again.

Su Zhiwei and Yao Qing ultimately still sealed their love for each other, devoting themselves entirely to humanity's future...

They didn't get married, they also didn't have a child...

The child's name that Chen Ling racked his brains to come up with was nothing more than his one-sided beautiful dream.

Yao Zhiyue, Yao Zhiyue... (Zhiyue implies keeping a promise/knowing an agreement)

He didn't expect that in the end, the one who broke the promise was actually Chen Ling himself.

Chen Ling's body trembled slightly. Unprecedented guilt and pain surfaced in his gaze. Seeing this scene, incomprehension surfaced in Yao Qing's eyes.

He just failed to marry Su Zhiwei... Why would Director Chen be in so much pain?

"Director Chen..."

"What's wrong?"

Yao Qing asked probingly.

Chen Ling didn't answer. He just silently lowered his head, like a sculpture standing in the wind. The wind blew the earrings and clothes hem dancing messily, a few drops of crystal scattering with the wind.

It was unknown how much time passed before he looked at the aged Yao Qing and the slumbering Su Zhiwei with reddened eyes, hoarsely opening his mouth:

"...Sorry."