"At that time, your mother refused, but I agreed. To prevent the Nine Hearted Begonia family from being implicated, I even considered having your father take you away as well, because you also carry part of the Clear Sky Sect's bloodline."
"In the end, your mother, for both you and your father, and also to avoid implicating the Nine Hearted Begonia family, left with your father, taking you along. Since then, there has been no news of them, and this is something I deeply regret. Six months later, the Spirit Hall ceased its hunt for the Clear Sky Sect. After that, I sent people to the Emperor Spirit Village several times to look for you, and the last message I received was ten years ago about the death of your parents."
"Ah Si have you been doing well all these years? If it weren't for Lingling telling me, I always thought..."
By the end of his speech, the originally gentle and refined Ye Renxin was already in tears, and even Ye Lingling by his side was silently shedding tears with red eyes.
Lan Si lowered his head and did not respond. For a moment, the room was engulfed in an eerie silence.
He had originally thought that his mother's background with the Nine Hearted Begonia family was already dramatic enough, but his father's background was even more so—turns out he was the illegitimate son abandoned by a Clear Sky Sect disciple. Doesn't this mean that his two great martial souls are mutations of the Nine Hearted Begonia and Clear Sky Hammer?
No wonder even Uncle Otto didn't know his mother's name and only referred to her as "sister-in-law." It was all because that period was a sensitive time.
And the root cause of all this was Tang Hao and Qian Xunji.
But since Qian Xunji is already dead, what's done is done. At worst, he could marry his daughter in the future and inherit everything
However, Tang Hao can't be let off, and the same goes for Tang San. This father-son pair is trouble.
The former hid away like a rat in a gutter after his battle with Qian Xunji, claiming it was to protect others, but ended up angering his own father to death and leaving others to clean up his mess.
The latter, even after becoming a god, hardly did anything righteous.
Lan Si lifted his head, his gaze fixed on Ye Renxin, "Mr. Ye Renxin, while I understand your reluctance back then to allow my father to stay in the Nine Hearted Begonia family after learning of his background—and it was his own request as well—I have a few questions I'd like to ask you before calling you 'Uncle.'"
"Please go ahead," Ye Renxin replied, wiping away his tears, his eyes still red.
Lan Si asked solemnly, "First question, according to what my adoptive father said, my parents died during a soul ring hunt, killed by a soul beast. Is this true?"
Ye Renxin nodded and replied, "Yes, it's true. Back then, someone had provoked the King of the Star Dou Great Forest, the Titan Giant Ape, causing chaos in the forest. Several ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts were driven to the outskirts. Your parents were killed during this chaos. I've confirmed this through various channels; it's not false."
"Chaos in the Star Dou Great Forest? Could it have been when Bibi Dong hunted Xiao Wu's mother, leading to the arrival of the Titan Giant Ape, who then raged after Bibi Dong left?"
It's possible, given the inconsistencies in the original Douluo Continent story. In "Douluo 1," it was stated that Xiao Wu's mother was killed by Bibi Dong, but no specific timeline was given. Later on, it was changed to indicate that she was eaten by a high-level soul beast in the core area. The author's setting often contradicts itself.
But as long as they weren't killed by the Spirit Hall, that's fine. Otherwise, he wouldn't know how to face Qian Renxue in the future. After all, the order to hunt the Clear Sky Sect disciples was given by her grandfather Qian Daoliu and her mother Bibi Dong, even though the initial cause was Tang Hao.
As for the Titan Giant Ape, Lan Si had long planned to make it the soul ring for his second martial soul.
Lan Si continued, "Second question: At that time, besides you, did anyone else know about my father's background? Did the Spirit Hall know, and did they hunt them down?"
Ye Renxin shook his head and sighed, "No, because your grandfather died in the conflict between the Spirit Hall and the Clear Sky Sect, and also because your father's martial soul wasn't the Clear Sky Hammer, very few people knew he had Clear Sky Sect blood, apart from your mother and me. After the turmoil passed and the Clear Sky Sect went into seclusion, the Spirit Hall ceased its hunt for the Clear Sky Sect disciples, and your parents were never discovered. Otherwise, our Nine Hearted Begonia family would have been targeted by the Spirit Hall and possibly annexed."
At this point, Ye Renxin seemed to recall something and quickly urged, "Child, you must not seek revenge against the Spirit Hall because of your grandfather's death. The power of the Spirit Hall is beyond what you can imagine."
"To give life but not to raise is akin to being a thief. A scumbag who abandons his wife and child—is dead for me. In fact, if he hadn't died at the hands of the Spirit Hall, I would have sought him out eventually," Lan Si shrugged, a cold gleam in his eyes.
"As for seeking revenge against the Spirit Hall? Why would I do that? The Spirit Hall never hunted my parents, and they didn't die because of the Spirit Hall. In fact, it was that so-called Clear Sky Douluo and the so-called greatest sect in the world who abandoned his wife and child. If it weren't for them, my parents wouldn't have been hiding and running all the time."
"Ah Si you mean..." Ye Renxin's face showed disbelief.
"Don't worry, I'm not that foolish. Even if I want to settle scores, it will be after I become a Titled Douluo." Lan Si smiled and shook his head. The smile gradually faded as he fixed his gaze on Ye Renxin's eyes and said solemnly, "You mentioned earlier that for the sake of the Nine Hearted Begonia family, you once considered having my father take me away from the Nine Hearted Begonia Sect. Now let me ask you, if I were now just an ordinary person with no talent, would you still come to acknowledge me?"
"We would. All these years, Father has never given up looking for you, using every available channel, but..." Ye Lingling, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke. Her voice was pleasant yet tinged with sadness.
Lan Si continued, "Did you ever send people to Nuoding City?"
Hearing this, Ye Renxin was momentarily stunned and asked, "A year before hearing about your parents' deaths, we did go to look for you... Wait, are you saying you were in Nuoding City? The Nuoding City that is less than a hundred miles from the Emperor Spirit Village?"
Lan Si nodded slowly, "Before my parents went to hunt for soul rings, they left me with one of my father's childhood friends, who later became my adoptive father."
"This is truly..." Ye Renxin was filled with remorse. So close yet so far; he never expected Lan Si to be in Nuoding City. Why didn't they go to Nuoding City after visiting the Emperor Spirit Village?
Ye Renxin left and returned to the Nine Hearted Begonia family. Until his departure, Lan Si never called him "Uncle." After all, suddenly gaining an uncle wouldn't sit well with anyone.
Similarly, he didn't call Ye Lingling "Cousin." Not because he disliked her; on the contrary, he admired her a lot. After all, Ye Lingling was one of the few female characters in the original work who never had feelings for Tang San.
On the other hand, after confirming that he was her relative, Ye Lingling became much more cheerful, the loneliness and sadness in her eyes gradually replaced by a sense of kinship and joy.
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