Chapter 689 - His Father’s Family

Qiang Yan had been unable to find out what he wanted to. For now, there was no way for him to see Huan Yin again. He had expected as much but the disappointment still hit him hard. Even now that he had finally found out about Bai Mu, now that he had even met their son, he still couldn't be allowed to know about his wife. It seemed they were really a pair of star-crossed lovers.

Or maybe that was what happened if one fell in love while doing their trial. Maybe that was why it was called a trial in the first place or maybe he just hadn't had enough strength to overcome this. After all, wasn't that why the trials were established in the first place? To teach the gods about the things they might encounter in their long lives? So that they would learn all the things they needed to know? The feeling of humility, the deep love two people could hold for each other, the decisions that might affect them until the end of their lives, the feeling of regret should they ever find their end. For a trueborn god, it wasn't too easy to experience these in their immortal lives.

Maybe living forever as they could if nothing untoward happened, made them careless and, yes, just as Tian had said when he cursed the three immortal races, they had grown conceited because of that. Now, there was no conceit anymore. What was there to be arrogant about in a life where they obvious lacked something? Well, this was not for him to judge. He should just concentrate on his own matters.

Qiang Yan took a deep breath and turned his attention back to Bai Mu. Even though he had been unable to find out about Huan Yin, there was still this son of theirs. "I've already said it but I think it can't be repeated often enough. I'm sorry. I know regardless of how often I say it, it won't change anything about the fact that you and your mother had to go through all these years alone. I can't undo that. It's impossible for me to change the past. The only thing I can offer is to be there for you should you ever need me in the future. So … If you need help with anything, be it your wife's cultivation or, well, lack thereof, or maybe some trouble you encounter in the dragon realm, you can always contact me.

Bai Mu picked up the transmission stone that Qiu Ling had given him and rolled it between his fingers. Having a way to contact his father whenever he wanted to didn't sound too bad. Maybe he would never need it but just having the opportunity was already very good. He raised the stone and looked at Qiang Yan questioningly. Even though he had lived for a long time in the human realm, he had never used something like this before today.

Qiang Yan gave a wry smile. Right, his son had grown up in the mortal realm. There was no way he would have a transmission stone of his own. Well, even if he had it would probably be of the lower tiers, not enabling him to reach him whenever he liked. He took a stone out of his own spatial ring and handed it over. He hesitated and finally took out a smaller one, putting it next to it. "You probably don't know too much about transmission stones."

Bai Mu shook his head. There was nothing embarrassing about admitting this. On the contrary, if he didn't ask because of false pride and then couldn't use the stone, wouldn't that be much worse?

Qiang Yan motioned at the smallest. "There are different levels of transmission stones. A lower one will only be able to be used to contact somebody with a stone that was taken out of the same vein and connected to the stone you yourself use." He motioned at the bigger stone next to it. "The middle-grade ones will allow you to contact anyone with a stone of the same vein regardless of whether they were connected before or not."

Bai Mu nodded. "So the higher the level, the more people can be contacted with this?"

Qiang Yan hummed an agreement. "There are a few high-grade stones that will allow you to contact any transmission mission stone you want but those are exceedingly rare. There are only a few in each of the immortal realms so …" He glanced at the stone Bai Mu held in his hands and his lips twitched. "You should probably give that back to the dragon king." Never mind what Qiu Ling thought but if his aides found out that he had carelessly given out something this precious, they might have something to say to the gods. He'd rather avoid that. There really was no need to aggravate the relationship with their allies. There had been enough things going wrong over the few years that the dragon king went after his nephew.

Thinking of that, Qiang Yan looked back at his son. He motioned at the stones again before he leaned back. "These stones were connected to each other. You can give the smaller one to your wife, so she will be able to reach you if anything happens. She will also be able to reach me in case she isn't able to contact you because of whatever reason. As for your stone, other than contacting me, you'll also be able to …" He hesitated for a moment but finally still said what he had thought at the beginning. "You can reach the rest of my family with that. That is my sister, her husband, and their son."

Bai Mu picked the stone up and looked at it contemplatively. His father's family … He had never thought of it. The Feng Jian Hao he had heard of hadn't had a family. Well, at least no family besides his mother. Now, it seemed he had … An aunt? An uncle? A cousin? Oh, and then there should be that cousin-in-law. He couldn't help but raise his brows at Qiang Yan when he thought of that. "The dragon king…"

Qiang Yan's lips twitched. "You won't be able to reach him with this. But I'm sure that if he ever remembers you are here, then you can just ask him and he'll happily throw several of them at you."