"Child, I am your father!"
"You have the same bloodline power as me, from the same lineage, the same source..."
The giant creature slowly opened its enormous mouth, and its voice trembled with emotion as it spoke.
Upon hearing this, Ziyan bit her red lips lightly and glanced at Gu Fei beside her, her small hand tightly gripping his, clearly anxious.
Seeing Ziyan's reaction, a hint of panic appeared in the giant creature's pupils.
"It's okay!"
Gu Fei, noticing Ziyan's tension, gave her a reassuring smile.
"Before coming here, didn't you already make up your mind..."
"Whether he is your father, you should experience it yourself to know!"
Gu Fei encouraged Ziyan.
Hearing Gu Fei's words, Ziyan finally stopped hesitating. Holding Gu Fei's hand, she took a few cautious steps forward.
When she got closer, she reached out with her other hand and gently touched the thick, cold metallic scales of the giant creature in front of her.
The moment they made contact, radiant golden light suddenly burst forth from both of them simultaneously.
In the place where the lights met, the two golden lights fused perfectly together.
Faintly, an extremely terrifying pressure began to spread.
"You..."
Staring at the perfectly merging golden light, Ziyan's eyes flickered with intense emotion.
"You really are my father..."
"But... but you're still alive, so why... why did you let me live all these years as an orphan..."
Ziyan stubbornly stood before the massive creature, her voice filled with grievance as tears welled up in her eyes.
What she had always yearned for deep down was this moment, seeing her family.
Now that she was finally seeing them, she couldn't help but feel the weight of her past suffering.
For so many years, she had thought of herself as an orphan, only to find out that her father was alive and well. Why had he abandoned her?
"My fault, it's all my fault!"
"I shouldn't have coveted the Ancient God's Mansion... It was all the fault of that despicable Tou She Ancient God! He set up a trap and imprisoned me here for so long!"
Seeing the tears flowing from Ziyan's eyes, the massive creature was clearly flustered, and its enormous body began to tremble slightly due to its agitation.
"Trapped?"
Hearing this, Ziyan looked up at the creature. There were no chains or restraints on its body, so how was it trapped?
"Ziyan, your father isn't lying to you!"
"He really can't leave this place!"
Gu Fei seemed to understand what Ziyan was thinking and quickly explained.
"Really..."
Ziyan nodded quietly, fully trusting Gu Fei's words.
Zhukun feels suspicion, jealousy, worry. Emotional points...
"Boy, who are you? How do you know that I, the Dragon Emperor, am trapped here?"
Hearing Ziyan and Gu Fei's conversation, the giant creature seemed a bit jealous and suspicious because Gu Fei knew too much.
"I'm Gu Fei, a friend of Ziyan. As for how I know you're trapped here, Old Dragon Emperor, it's a long story!"
Gu Fei replied calmly and confidently.
Through the feedback from the emotional values earlier, Gu Fei had already grasped the Old Dragon Emperor's thoughts.
Gu Fei didn't see anything wrong with this. After all, as a father, it was normal for him to worry about his daughter being deceived.
"A long story, huh? Go ahead, tell me," the Old Dragon Emperor continued to press.
"Gu Fei already said it's a long story. Why do you keep asking?"
"And besides, you have no right to question Gu Fei... Have you ever fulfilled your responsibilities as a father all these years?"
Hearing the Old Dragon Emperor's questioning tone towards Gu Fei, Ziyan immediately became upset.
She puffed out her cheeks and continued, her tears still flowing down her face.
"Child, don't cry, don't cry. It was all my fault in the past. I failed to fulfill my duties as a father!"
"From now on, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. If you don't believe me, I can swear an oath right now!"
Seeing Ziyan in this state, the Old Dragon Emperor was filled with guilt and quickly tried to comfort her.
However, his comfort didn't seem to work.
Ziyan remained sad, tears streaming down her face.
"Gu Fei, please help me calm her down!" The Old Dragon Emperor had no choice but to turn to Gu Fei for help.
He could see that Ziyan relied heavily on Gu Fei and trusted him completely.
This relationship was clearly not just an ordinary friendship.
It seemed likely that Gu Fei might become his son-in-law in the future.
"Alright."
Faced with the Old Dragon Emperor's plea, Gu Fei nodded gently before turning to Ziyan.
He gently wiped the tears from her face and spoke softly, "Ziyan, your father didn't abandon you. He's been trapped in this dark and lonely place for so many years, unable to leave, and he's suffered a lot..."
"Your father must have been in even more pain, missing you every day..."
Gu Fei's words hit the heart of both father and daughter.
In that moment, the scene fell silent.
When Ziyan looked at the Old Dragon Emperor, her eyes showed a trace of pity.
"Father, I don't want you to do anything... I just want you to leave this horrible place!"
Ziyan's voice was firm.
Her earlier tone was just an outburst of her emotions; she didn't really blame Zhu Kun.
She knew that he felt deeply remorseful for everything, and he had been trapped in this place for countless years, all alone.
"Child!"
Hearing Ziyan call him father, the Old Dragon Emperor's eyes softened with affection.
"Leave this place..."
However, when he heard the second part of her words, he suddenly fell silent, filled with helplessness.
"Child, years ago, I coveted the Ancient God's treasure and was trapped here by Tou She Ancient God. You should know how powerful a Dou God is. Unless someone brings the Ancient God's Jade, I will never be able to leave this place..."
After a moment of silence, Zhu Kun explained his predicament.
"Ancient God's Jade?"
Ziyan's eyes grew serious. She knew some of the ancient secrets of the continent.
The Ancient God's Jade had long been divided into eight pieces, each held by one of the ancient clans.
Reassembling it would be an incredibly difficult task.
"Senior, the Ancient God's Jade appeared on the continent a thousand years ago and was obtained by the Xiao Clan!"
"However, the other ancient clans quickly learned of it and surrounded the Xiao Clan, not allowing them to monopolize the treasure!"
"Under their pressure, the Xiao Clan divided the Ancient God's Jade into eight pieces, with each ancient clan keeping one piece. Reassembling the jade now..."
Gu Fei explained the situation to the Old Dragon Emperor.
"The eight ancient clans each hold a piece?"
Hearing this, the Old Dragon Emperor realized how slim the chances of reassembling the jade were.
If he could get out, he might have a chance to snatch the jade pieces. But without the jade, he couldn't leave this place- a paradox with no solution.
(TL/n: We hit 2M views! I only wanted to release 10 chapters today, but oh well this milestone deserves extra chappies. Thanks for the support and don't forget to leave a review! I'll catch you all on the next episode~)