"They killed my wife and son," Lian Hua said, breaking the deadly silence. He glanced down at Xia and somehow controlled his tears. "I—I wanted revenge. They brutally murdered my son, how could I let them live," he whispered sadly.
A small sob escaped Xia's mouth. He hid his face with his sleeve and tried controlling his emotions.
"Xia, are you okay?" Lian Hua whispered in a worried tone.
"I—I am fine. Something fell in my eyes," Xia turned around revealing his red eyes. To make his lie believable, he also rubbed his eyes red.
Seeing this, Long felt his heart ache. He rushed over to his lover and hugged his shoulder and pulled him closer. "I'll help you," Long whispered softly, blowing onto his eyes. "Don't cry, baby," he whispered close to his ears that only they both could hear.
Xia nodded, wiping his eyes rapidly.
Convinced by his lies, Lian Hua continued his story. He was animatedly talking about his late wife, about their adventurous travels in the human realm.
Xia listened to all this with a small smile on his face. "She jumped down a tower!" he exclaimed in the middle of the story.
"Yes, even I can't believe it. She jumped down from the tower to escape an unwanted marriage. And guess what the tower was next to the turbulent sea of the west. I still can't believe that she did that," Lian Hua whispered with soft eyes.
"She sounds like a wonderful person," Xia whispered softly.
Lian Hua glanced at the two Long and Xia with a soft smile. "She was a fierce thing. An Ikuchi cannot be tamed after all."
"Ikuchi?" Xia whispered with a confused look.
"My wife was an Ikuchi, a sea serpent," Lian Hua said.
'Huh? But my mom is a crayfish!' Xia thought but did not voice it out. He did not interrupt rather; he silently listened to his father's wild tales.
But soon they reached the portal where they initially entered this realm. With a sigh, Lian Hua moved closer to the entrance. "Oh, I forgot to mention, a woman named Yukiya came looking for you. I said I will bring you out safely and help guide you safely to her," he said without looking back.
Xia already knew of this, so he remained silent. He watched him lose his happy smile as he tore open the spatial rift. His small lotus flowers hovered around, creating a beautiful sight.
He watched in awe….. His favorite flowers had always been lotus. He subconsciously grew to like it ever since he was young. Since he grew with them near, he thought it was the reason for his likes. But watching his father manipulate many flowers, he finally knew why he liked it. It was because his father was a lotus flower demon.
He glanced at Long Aotian and gripped onto his hands. Long clenched his hands back, trying to assure him. Xia shook his head. 'I'm good now…I think I like my father….' He expressed his thoughts with his eyes.
Long nodded and leaned closer. "I think my father-in-law likes me a lot," he whispered in glee.
"How did you find it out?"
"He arranged protection for us," Long said proudly with his hands on his hips.
Xia shook his head and laughed out loud. "What's not to like about you?" he mumbled, leaning his head against his shoulders.
"It's open now," Lian Hua shouted, interrupting their conversation.
Xia jubilantly ran over and glanced out the window like hole that was ripped out of space. "Wow,"
"I can teach you how… if you want," Lian Hua added calmly. But inside he was screaming, 'say yes!!! Say yes!!!!'
"I would love that,"
Lian Hua nodded with an uncontrolled smirk on his face. 'At last… I get to personally teach my son!!!!!' he thought, jumping in glee inside his head.
Watching their silly conversation, Long and the ghoul snickered. "Your highness, when do you think he will realize that Xia knows the truth? I bet in two months.." the ghoul said, holding out a pouch of gold.
"I bet three months," Long said, handing him his share of bet money. "I think I finally know where Xia gets his air-headed-ness," he said lowly so that only the ghoul next to him could hear.
The ghoul chuckled. "And I think Xia gets his beauty as well. Look at their jaw, it looks almost similar. I hope I had a jaw like that," the ghoul said, caressing his fake jaw. The demon king had sculpted another one for him, yet he was not satisfied with the shape. "I want to change my entire face," he said with determination.
Long took a double take. "How do you have a complete face now?" he whispered confusedly. Getting close, he sniffed his face. He could only smell some traces of clay and spirit liquid.
"It's sculpted on. Do I look handsome?" he said, holding his chin handsomely.
"Nope," Long said ruthlessly and glanced at his lovely little lover. "To me, everyone else looks no different from an oyster. Only my Xia is a shimmering pearl."
"Your highness, you are crude as usual," the ghoul said, unfazed by his comment.
This made the golden dragon pause. "Are there any similarities between me and Wei Long?" he asked insecurely. He knew that his love with Xia was predestined, but knowing that there was someone who loved Xia more made his heart burn with jealously.
The ghoul glanced at him up and down. "You look the same, but Wei Long was much taller, and he had a bigger little brother*," he gestured to his pants.
Long hid his Jj with his coat and glared at him. "Where are you looking, huh?"
"Don't be shy your highness, I've seen everything," the ghoul calmly said and walked away.
"What!! You stop right there! What do you mean, you've seen everything? Explain!!" Long shouted and ran after him.
Lian Hua and Xia watched them play with a small smile. "That dragon….he seems different from his past life,"
"How different?" Xia said.
"He seems more cheerful….. Wei Long did not have a happy childhood at all. His father was a cruel man. He had multiple concubines and would sire an heir every year,"
"every year!!! Wei Long had many brothers?"
"No, 'sigh' he did have many. But none survived; the cruel golden dragon would toss his children in the heavenly fire pit. Only the purest Golden dragon can survive such a fire. Wei Long survived but the rest of his brothers and sisters burned to a crisp,"
Xia gasped out loud. He knew that cultivators had cruel practices in the past, but he did not expect that the heavenly dragon clan would do such atrocious actions. "Did….did Wei Long live a happy life after?"
Lian Hua glanced at him with a peculiar look. He sighed and whispered, "Wei Hua did not have a happy adulthood either. He was a scarred man. Even after the death of his father, His fears and paranoia never left Him. He killed everyone who crossed his path brutally. Slowly he was becoming a bloodthirsty monster like his father…"
"But then everything changed when he met my Hong Lian.... The golden dragon that was once known to be cruel Killer changed overnight. He fell completely into the depths of love. And finally, that love got him killed," Lian Hua said without any kind of fluctuation on his face. But his pupils shuddered from just the thought of his son…..
Xia did not know how to reply to this sad love story. To think that was his past life and Long's past life made his heart hurt a little, but he did not think too deeply. "But they have been reborn…..their history shall not repeat itself this time. Long Aotian the golden dragon and Xia Che the crayfish will have their happily ever after…. I will make sure of it." As he said this his eyes shone with determination. 'What if their path is filled with thorns? I will walk barefoot bleeding to get to my lover. I will hold on. I will not let go of him even if we had to jump off a cliff or jump of from the heavens realm…'
"This time I will make my dragon mine. No one can separate us. Our love shall pertain," Xia said, finally glancing up at his the demon king, "father…,"
Lian Hua's eyes went wide. He glanced down at his son with trembling lashes. "W—what did you call me?"
"Father," Xia repeated.
Without any control, Lian Hua hugged him tight. He cradled his son's head gently and kissed his forehead. "Son….my son Xia! Son Xia!" he whispered continually, as if he was practicing how the word rolled off of his tongue.
"You know you can call me just Xia," Xia said peeking up at him through his lashes.
"Son Xia!!" Lian Hua shouted once more and lifted him off his feet. He twirled him around and placed him down again. "You are my son!!!" he shouted.
With a flaunting smile, he dragged Xia over to the ghoul. "Look, this is my son!! My son!!" he then dragged Xia over to Long. He paused. "He is my son!" he said proactively, hugging his child to his chest.
"Father-in-law, please give us your blessings," Long Aotian bowed directly.
"No! Never! I'm not marrying my soon to you!!! My son will not marry anyone! I just got my son to myself now you want him, huh? Fat chance! Get lost," he shouted and dragged Xia over to the portal.
Xia reluctantly left behind the pouting Long. "I love you most," he mouthed to him.
"I love you best!" Long shouted behind him.