"Why did you come to the Fire Realm?" Feng Jiu asked coldly, her gaze sharp as frost.
Taiyi only smiled, a shameless glimmer in his eyes, as if her cold treatment was nothing more than a breeze brushing past him. "I felt my bloodline stir," he said, voice calm yet domineering. "I knew my daughter's bloodline had been awakened, so naturally, I had to come and see for myself."
Feng Jiu's heart sank. For a fleeting moment, she had dared to hope he had come for her. But the words struck her like a blade: his concern was only for their daughter.
"I also came to see my wife," Taiyi added suddenly, his smile deepening as his gaze locked onto her face.
Feng Jiu froze. Her heart trembled, though she tried not to show it. Taiyi reached out, trying to turn her body toward him.
"What are you doing?" she asked, wary, crossing her arms over her chest as if to shield herself.
"What do you think?" he replied, exerting just a bit more force.
Before she could resist, a crisp slap rang out as Taiyi's hand descended on her backside.
"You unfilial disciple," Taiyi said, his voice half stern, half teasing. "You dared hide my daughter from me? If not for the uniqueness of my bloodline, you might have fooled me forever." His hand struck again.
Feng Jiu squirmed, biting her lip. At first she resisted fiercely, but her struggle was half-hearted, and then—a soft sound escaped her throat, betraying her.
The moment the moan left her lips, Taiyi froze. He let her go at once, his hand falling limply to his side. The air between them thickened with awkward silence, both of them staring at one another as if unsure of what to do next.
Finally, Taiyi broke the silence, his voice softer. "Why did you do it?"
Feng Jiu's shoulders trembled. Her icy façade cracked, and raw emotion spilled through her words. "Because you are the Heavenly Emperor. Relationships, ties, love—all of them will only limit you. To you, the years in the mortal realm were nothing more than a trial. But to me…" She paused, her eyes shimmering. "To me, it was the best time of my life. I could not leave it behind as nothing. I could not leave regrets. So when you left, I took our daughter and brought her back. I wanted—no, I needed—to fulfill my role as her mother, to protect her as you once protected me."
Her voice grew sharper, accusing, though it trembled with pain. "To you, family ties are weaknesses. You couldn't even tolerate me—how could you tolerate us? Where were you when I bore the insults, when they mocked me for falling for a mortal, for bearing a child? You weren't there. You left us."
Taiyi did not answer. Instead, he stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. His embrace was firm, warm, unyielding. Feng Jiu's body stiffened at first, but then melted into the comfort of his chest. Tears spilled silently down her cheeks.
Taiyi held her without a word, only tightening his grip as though he feared she might vanish if he let go. At last, after what felt like an eternity, she whispered hoarsely, "Why?"
His voice rumbled above her head, steady yet tinged with regret. "Because my shoulders were too heavy. Because even the smallest misstep could have doomed us all. Every choice I made back then wasn't mine alone—every choice affected realms, lives, destinies. I couldn't risk you, couldn't risk her. I… I loved you, Feng Jiu. Long before that incident. Loved you enough that a single crack appeared in my dao heart. When my enemies struck, I was already falling apart inside."
His gaze turned upward, toward the heavens beyond the ceiling. "I took the only path left to me. I threw myself into despair, into the mortal realm, to evolve my dao. I wanted to free myself from the shackles of Heaven, from rules that bind and crush. I wanted to feel my heart beat again."
He closed his eyes briefly, remembering. "My brother once asked me what I truly wanted. I told him: freedom. To be unfettered. To drift through chaos like a lotus, untouchable, unbound. But the world never tolerated me. The dao itself would not allow us to exist together. You… you were named my nemesis, my final trial. If you had been forged into a weapon, you would have slain me. I could not allow that. So I trained you, raised you, even as I struggled to resist the fate tied to us both."
Feng Jiu's tears fell harder. Yet beneath the pain was understanding.
She tilted her head up, meeting the deep blue of his eyes. "I believe you," she said softly. "But that doesn't mean I accept you. Not yet. Give me time."
Taiyi smiled faintly. "Time I can give." His figure flickered, beginning to fade.
"Where are you going?" she asked, her voice carrying both relief and reluctance.
"I'll return tomorrow. Dress properly—we're going somewhere," Taiyi said with a shameless grin, before vanishing completely.
Alone again, Feng Jiu clutched her chest, feeling the echo of his heartbeat.
—
Far away, Taiyi reappeared atop the Emotion Severing Cliff. A vast sword hovered in the air, its surface inscribed with new and ancient patterns, radiating a suffocating aura nearly equal to his own.
"What happened?" Taiyi asked.
From the glow of the sword, a young man appeared, seated in lotus position. Grey hair framed a face that carried Taiyi's shadow—it was Xue Kai, the sword spirit, and once his loyal general in the mortal realm.
"I need your help," Xue Kai said flatly. "Lend me some of your blood."
Taiyi's brow twitched. "If you only needed blood, you could have said so. Why drag me here personally?"
Xue Kai opened his eyes, a mischievous glint flickering there. Through their bond, he pried into Taiyi's recent memories—and when he saw the Fire Realm encounter, his lips curled in a knowing smirk.
"So, you finally went to her, hm? Couldn't even wait. I suppose I ruined something special," he said with a laugh.
Taiyi's eyes narrowed dangerously. "If you disturb me again…" His words trailed off, but the threat was clear.
Still, he extended his hand. Blood welled, shimmering with the might of a supreme dragon lineage, and flowed toward the waiting sword.
Xue Kai closed his eyes, absorbing it, his voice faint but amused. "Go back, then. I'll finish my evolution soon. Try not to make a bigger mess before I'm done."
Taiyi scowled, but said nothing. His thoughts were already back in the Fire Realm, with a woman who was both his nemesis and the one he could not let go.