Chapter 14 — The Abyssal King Returns

When Chu Bách Thành personally arrived, after receiving news from the pioneering group of knights that Bách Uyên's whereabouts had been accurately found, the old general could not contain his emotions, dismounting his horse and rushing towards the person he had been waiting for seven long years.

"Sire!" He knelt down right in front of Bách Uyên, his voice choked without a sound, two lines of tears rolling down his face full of crow's feet of time. "I... I thought I would never have the chance to kneel before you again."

Bách Uyên quickly helped him up, squeezing the shoulders of the most loyal general in his life, his voice also trembling with emotion. "General Zhou, it was I who made you suffer for the past seven years. I'm sorry."

"Your Majesty, don't say that. I suffered for a great cause and never regretted it for a moment." Chu Bách Thành shook his head, his eyes swept over Tiểu Yên who was hiding behind her father, then stopped on Thục Di's face with curiosity mixed with gratitude. "This must be the little princess who has grown so much, and this young lady..."

"This is Nghê Thục Di, the benefactor who saved my daughter and me, and also the person I trust with all my heart." Bách Uyên introduced, his eyes looked at Thục Di with deep respect.

Chu Bách Thành clasped his hands and bowed to Thục Di, then ordered the soldiers to set up a resting camp in a nearby open forest to bandage everyone's wounds. At the same time, he assigned people to guard carefully to prevent Ảnh Vệ from returning to attack unexpectedly.

While setting up camp, Tiểu Yên suddenly cried out in pain, clutching her chest, her face turning pale quickly. Even though she hadn't yet reached the full Black Moon Eclipse, perhaps due to experiencing too much stress and being in close contact with the dark aura emitted by the Shadow Guards during the recent battle, the contract in her body had been agitated, causing a sudden, more intense pain than usual.

"Tiểu Yên!" Bách Uyên rushed forward in panic and hugged his child. Familiar black lines began to appear on her pale white skin. Although not as intense as the previous Black Moon Eclipse, it still made anyone who witnessed it shiver in fear.

Thục Di, even though her arm was still bleeding from the wound that had not been properly bandaged from the previous battle, did not hesitate to rush to the side, reaching out to support Tiểu Yên to help Bách Uyên more easily check her condition. In her haste, a few drops of blood from the wound on her arm dripped down, landing right on Tiểu Yên's chest where black lines were spreading.

A strange thing happened right after that. Where the drop of Thục Di's blood touched, the black lines suddenly stopped, then slowly faded, as if some invisible light was dispelling the darkness spreading on the child's skin. Tiểu Yên, writhing in pain, suddenly calmed down, her breathing returned to normality much faster than before.

Everyone around was stunned by that scene. Bách Uyên's eyes widened, not daring to believe what he had just witnessed. In his mind, the record in the ancient temple about the Pure Spirit clan's bloodline that had the ability to purify dark magic immediately appeared in his mind.

"No way..." he whispered, looking from the wound on Thục Di's hand to his daughter's face that was gradually becoming rosy again. "Your blood... weakened the contract."

"What?" Thục Di was stunned, looked down at her wound and then looked at Tiểu Yên who was gradually recovering, unable to understand what had just happened.

Chu Bách Thành, who had read many royal ancient books during his years at court, stepped closer, his eyes filled with surprise as he closely observed the phenomenon that had just happened. "Your Majesty, if I remember correctly, in ancient history books, there is mention of a clan with bloodline capable of overcoming dark magic, who served generations of Venerable Founders..."

"The Pure Spirit Clan," Bách Uyên continued his words, his voice trembling because of a strong hope burning in his heart. "We found clues about that tribe at an ancient temple in the forbidden forest near Vân Khê Town, but we didn't expect..."

He turned to look at Thục Di, his eyes filled with both surprise and indescribable hope. "Do you know anything about your parents' true origins?"

Thục Di shook her head, her face full of confusion. "I was orphaned at a young age. I only knew that my parents passed away due to a strange epidemic. My master raised me from then until now. I never knew clearly about my family's true origins."

"Perhaps, we need to ask senior Chung Diệu Nga more carefully about this matter, as soon as we have the opportunity," Bách Uyên said, his hands were still shaking because he had just witnessed an unimaginable miracle. He remembered Master Thục Di's words about her parents being non-natives, carrying a wooden chest that was always locked, and the old hermit's strange comment about her exceptionally pure blood.

All the disparate pieces of the puzzle over the past few days now suddenly fit together into a possibility that makes Bách Uyên's heart beat with hope: if Thục Di truly carries within her the long-lost Pure Spirit bloodline, that is the key to completely resolving the U Minh Tuyệt Mệnh Khế contract, completely saving his daughter's life, and no longer having to live in the obsession of the Black Moon Eclipse cycles.

"If that's true..." Thục Di said softly, her voice trembling with emotion at the newly revealed possibility, "then I'm willing to do anything to help Tiểu Yên be completely healthy."

That night, under the flickering campfire in the middle of a sparse forest, the whole group of people sat together, no one could sleep because of chaotic thoughts about the recent discovery. Chu Bách Thành looked at Bách Uyên, then at Thục Di, a strong belief arose in his heart that what had just happened was not simply a coincidence, but contained a mission greater than the feelings that were silently growing between the two, a mission that they themselves were probably not yet fully aware of.

"Your Majesty, if this lady truly has the bloodline of the Tịnh Linh clan, this will be the most powerful weapon for us to confront Cố Thanh Vũ," Chu Bách Thành spoke, his voice filled with the strategic planning of an experienced general. "But we also need to be careful not to let this news reach his ears before we are fully prepared." Bách Uyên nodded in agreement, his eyes looked towards Tiểu Yên sleeping peacefully in his arms. For the first time after seven long years, he felt a truly solid ray of hope that his daughter would have the opportunity to live a full life, no longer threatened by the dark contract that had followed her since birth.

Thục Di sat quietly by the fire, her hand gently touching the old stone necklace that she had always worn since childhood, the only item left from her biological parents. She tried to search through the fading memories of her childhood, but the images of her parents were only fragmentary fragments, too few to be able to piece together a clear picture of her family's true origins.

"If I really carry the blood of a tribe from another realm, then my parents must have gone through something terrible in the past to have to leave everything to escape to a small, remote town like Vân Khê," she said, her voice low and thoughtful. "Maybe they also lived in fear, hiding their true identity, like you did for the past seven years."

Bách Uyên put his hand on her shoulder, his eyes filled with understanding. "If that's true, then perhaps fate has arranged for you and me to meet, two people carrying secrets that must be kept hidden, and bearing the burden of a past that cannot be chosen," Chu Bách Thành quietly observed the two people, a rare feeling of peace of mind arose in his heart since the day Bách Uyên left the throne. He ordered the soldiers to increase guard throughout the night, and at the same time sent a small group back to check the situation at Vân Khê Trấn, see if Chung Diệu Nga and the remaining disciples were safe or not, and if possible, invited her to go with him to further confirm Thục Di's origin.

A few days later, that group of soldiers returned with Chung Diệu Nga, who decided to leave the martial arts hall in the care of the older disciples to personally go find his students after hearing that they had been safely rescued by Chu Bách Thành. When asked about the origins of Thục Di's parents, the old woman pondered for a long time, then recounted everything she could remember, confirming that the family had indeed moved to the Vân Khê area from a far away place, bringing with them a wooden chest that was kept as a treasure, and on that chest, she vaguely remembered there was a lotus flower pattern engraved in the mist, identical to the symbol found on a piece of jade at the ancient temple.

Hearing that, Thục Di was speechless, slowly took off the old stone necklace she had been wearing since childhood, brought it closer to the campfire light to see clearly the faint pattern that had faded over the years that she had never bothered to learn about. Under the dust of time, the outline of a lotus flower in the mist appears dimly but unmistakably - exactly like the engraving on the wooden chest that Chung Diệu Nga just mentioned, exactly like the piece of jade found in the ancient temple. No one in the group has any doubts about the possibility that Thục Di is the last remaining descendant of the Tịnh Linh clan that died out many generations ago, carrying in her blood the only key that can save Tiểu Yên's life and completely put an end to Cố Thanh Vũ's evil plot.