Chapter 350

When the clues are linked together, one can infinitely approach the truth of the matter.

The Linghai Dragon King stared at me in shock and said, "You actually know Dìhuán?!"

"As far as I know, Dìhuán is very likely the person who originally established our Wufu Town Pawnshop." I said candidly, "Rumor has it he was an evil monk."

The Linghai Dragon King shook his head: "Too much time has passed; the White Dragon was strong-willed his whole life, he almost erased everything about the beginning, and his final mental state was like that, so even if some secret history has been passed down, it's only fragments, impossible to piece together anything."

"No, after all this, what does it have to do with the little White Dragon that appeared and disappeared out of nowhere later?" Xiaoye grew more confused, "Are you going off-topic? Āyàn asked about his father!"

"We are talking about his father." The Linghai Dragon King said, "We later made many speculations and finally arrived at a conclusion beyond ordinary imagination..."

"Dībā pò."

Liu Junyan directly spoke the answer.

The Linghai Dragon King stared again: "Āyàn, you actually already found Dībā pò?"

Liu Junyan hummed and continued: "The White Dragon back then didn't suffer from delusion; he was born with a sacred body, and accidentally cultivated Dībā pò. As Dībā pò continually grew, its presence became increasingly clear, disturbing the White Dragon, who failed to properly guide it and instead treated it as an illness."

"Yes, he failed to correctly recognize this extremely rare Dībā pò." The Linghai Dragon King said, "But he failed to realize that Dìhuán had long been eyeing this Dībā pò, which is an entity independent of the Three Realms and Six Paths, outside the Five Elements, and for cultivators, especially Evil Cultivators, it is the most precious existence, its allure no less than the monk's flesh; he intentionally approached the White Dragon, waiting for an opportunity to perform Body Seizure."

By this point, even Xiaoye understood.

He asked: "So who exactly is Āyàn's father? Is it the White Dragon? Or Dībā pò? Or perhaps an evil monk?"

"This is the fundamental reason we have never been able to answer Āyàn's question." The Linghai Dragon King said, "The White Dragon was born with a sacred body; even if sealed deep in the Linghai Forbidden Ground for so long, from his body one can still occasionally separate a Fēnshēn, which appears and disappears out of nowhere at certain times, seeming illusory, yet to those who have encountered him, it is truly real."

Saying this, the Linghai Dragon King looked at Liu Junyan with deep meaning.

Liu Junyan is the strongest evidence that the White Dragon's Fēnshēn once existed.

The little White Dragon that Liu Mu fell in love with back then was very likely the White Dragon's Fēnshēn.

But whether this Fēnshēn is the White Dragon's true self, a newly cultivated Dībā pò, or a Dībā pò after being body-seized by an evil monk... there is no conclusion.

"Then what exactly am I?"

Liu Junyan's emotions also fluctuated noticeably.

Before, when I couldn't get an answer, although it was painful, there was still endless imagination.

And now what remains for him may be more confusion and fear, perhaps?

He fears he is the descendant of an evil monk.

But the Linghai Dragon King's following words once again refreshed our understanding.

He said: "Your appearance is a huge surprise for everyone, because your mother discovered her pregnancy was nearly ten years after the little White Dragon vanished out of nowhere..."

The three of us simultaneously sucked in a breath of cold air.

Xiaoye pondered and asked: "My aunt... she definitely didn't have any involvement with any other male in those ten years, right?"

"Absolutely not." The Linghai Dragon King said firmly, "Your aunt's emotions were more agitated than anyone's at the time, because back then I hadn't yet uncovered the secret history of the Linghai Dragon Clan, nor discovered Dībā pò, and she happened to be undergoing the Heavenly Tribulation..."

After that, we more or less know what happened.

Liu Mu failed her Heavenly Tribulation, suffered grave injuries, was sent to Wangting Mountain, where she gave birth to Liu Junyan...

"Those few years, I have been secretly searching for them mother and son." The Linghai Dragon King said, "They almost erased all traces of themselves; later, when I first saw Āyàn, my heart indeed wavered, because his true form, aside from being white, bore no resemblance to his mother at all—he was entirely a giant python. I dared not take him back to the Linghai Dragon Clan, for I feared..."

Anyone would be afraid, let alone him, who as the Linghai Dragon King bears the heavy responsibility of guarding the entire Linghai.

For a leader, the life of a ten-year-old child is nowhere near comparable to the entire Linghai Dragon Clan.

"Another reason I dare not bring Āyàn back is that during these ten years, a major event occurred in the Linghai Forbidden Ground."

The Linghai Dragon King paused, took a breath, then said: "In the depths of the Linghai Forbidden Ground, someone underwent the Heavenly Tribulation; that catastrophe almost overturned the entire Linghai. I rushed over hastily and personally saw a phantom of a seated Buddha rise from the depths, only to be split apart by heavenly thunder..."

The three of us turned to stone again.

At this moment we finally deeply understood why the Linghai Dragon King endured humiliation and bore burdens, never daring to reveal these secrets to the outside.

If this time it weren't for me penetrating the barrier and entering the depths, and if it weren't for Zhong Shushu awakening her potential and resisting the Heavenly Tribulation's lightning fire, the Linghai Dragon King might still have been unable to take this step.

No wonder he shut the door and left only us three.

I and Liu Junyan are the parties involved, while Xiaoye is the heir he had long chosen.

Besides us three, even Liu Junyan's second and third uncles are not allowed to know these secrets.

Xiaoye's emotions, constantly fluctuating because of Zhong Shushu's matter, were completely suppressed at this moment.

He said with unprecedented solemnity: "That phantom of the seated Buddha can definitely be said to be the product left after the Dībā pò was body-seized by an evil monk, right?"

"That can be understood." The Linghai Dragon King nodded, "Whether the evil monk succeeded in body-seizure back then, no one knows, but after this incident I can be certain he definitely had an effect on the Dībā pò, and over the years, whenever the Heavenly Tribulation occurs, such a product emerges from the depths of the Linghai Forbidden Ground."

"Before me, no one had investigated the Dībā pò; the reason that area became the Linghai Forbidden Ground is also this. I don't know how our ancestors discovered that sacrificing the White Dragon could temporarily suppress this turmoil, especially the White Dragon that can transform into a golden dragon; over time, this has become an ironclad rule."

Xiaoye clenched his fists, his tone icy: "So you did this just to fetch my aunt, causing her to have to pull out her own inner elixir, nearly killing her?"

A flicker of sorrow passed through the Linghai Dragon King's eyes.

After all these years of enduring humiliation and bearing burdens, yet in the eyes of his most beloved eldest son, he has forged such a negative image; he must also feel helpless, right?

The Linghai Dragon King shook his head: "It wasn't me forcing your aunt to return; she secretly sent me a message asking me to fetch her. But I cannot deny that after she returned, the events that followed had my hand in fanning the flames. Xiaoye, Āyàn, I admit I am not a purely good person; I feel ashamed."