Jiang Chen didn’t rest after breaking through to seventh level empyrean. He enhanced all of his abilities, methods, and treasures once more.
Each increase in his own level gave him new inspiration as to how to improve all he had. The busywork afterwards was indispensable to his continued success.
Divine Kasyapa stood upon a great boulder in an empty section of the island. Three people stood near him. One was Huang’er; beside her was a couple.
If one looked closely, one could see many points of resemblance between the girl and the man and woman.
The husband and wife were Huang’er’s parents, of course. Yan Qianfan, and An Yu’er.
Having just come out of closed doors, they were jubilant to discover their daughter waiting outside. They’d been locked away not long after she was born, then cast into the Boundless Prison.
The only impression they had of their daughter was that of a small babe. After all these years, they were delighted to see that she’d grown into an enchanting young lady in her own right.
An Yu’er hugged Huang’er close to her, tears trailing down her cheeks.
Even a man as steely as Yan Qianfan found himself tearing up. Emotions overwhelmed him. Heartache, ruefulness, but exuberance as well.
He and his wife hadn’t regretted their decisions one bit at any point, despite being imprisoned in the Boundless Prison. The only person they felt sorry toward was this daughter of theirs.
They knew that the vicious daughter of House Xiahou had cast the Generation Binding Curse upon her, which would fill her days with pain and anguish. Therefore, they despaired whenever they thought of her. They didn’t think that she would survive, as young and helpless as she was.
When they escaped from the Boundless Prison at long last, the first thing they did was ask around for information about their daughter.
In actuality, Yan Qianfan hadn’t wanted to pursue the matter with his house. He understood its difficulties: the occasion with which he’d brought An Yu’er back had spelled undeniable disaster. If the house wanted to punish him for it, so be it.
Evidently Divine Kasyapa thought differently. If Yan Qianfan hadn’t proven his constancy to his daughter, the divine might have even taken his anger out on his son-in-law.
Thus, the older man had taken his four demigod servants to exact revenge without informing the couple at all.
In the process of uprooting House Yan, they caught wind of Huang’er’s whereabouts. The fact that she lived in the world still was wonderful. Moreover, the Generation Binding Curse had apparently been cleared by that dao partner of hers.
When the god brought back this news, his daughter and her husband were thrilled.
Only then did they settle down enough to allow Kasyapa to heal their injuries and remedy their cultivation. They had planned to find their daughter as soon as they were fully recovered, but their daughter was already waiting for them when they exited.
After an impossibly lengthy separation, every party involved was beside themselves with joy to be reunited.
They hadn’t much time to speak before the phenomena of Jiang Chen’s seventh level empyrean breakthrough erupted from a distance, shocking all upon the island.
Huang’er was pleasantly surprised by the display. “Mother, father, Brother Chen has broken through to advanced empyrean realm!”
An Yu’er’s eyes lit up. “Is this ‘Brother Chen’ of yours the boy that removed your curse? The same one that crushed House Xiahou on your behalf, regardless of the cost to himself?”
Huang’er’s charming face reddened. She nodded a little.
Though her mother had perhaps exaggerated things, she wasn’t far from the truth. If House Xiahou hadn’t annoyed Jiang Chen, it wouldn’t have found its destruction nearly as quickly.
In fact, its rebellion might have even succeeded.
Sweetness welled up in her heart. She was very proud of the young man she’d fallen in love with.
“Look, Qianfan. I knew our daughter would be blessed by fortune. Remember? I had her physiology studied when she was first born. We knew she would transition from hardship to bliss. That’s exactly how things played out, right?”
Yan Qianfan was apologetic to his wife even now. Naturally he wouldn’t refute anything she said now.
“Huang’er, I heard your grandfather talk about Jiang Chen for a bit. He’s capable, responsible, and values his relationships highly. You’ve chosen well – just as well as your mother did,” he added, chuckling.
“Well someone has thick skin,” An Yu’er rolled her eyes. “You were only peak great emperor when I first saw you.”
Yan Qianfan grinned. “But our daughter found Jiang Chen even earlier than that, didn’t she?”
Huang’er smiled a little as well. When she had first found out about Jiang Chen, it’d been back in the Eastern Kingdom, when he was the lowliest of cultivation levels: only true qi realm.
When they actually met later on upon Eternal Spirit Mountain, Jiang Chen had only reached spirit realm. It could be said that she had accompanied him every step of the way here.
She was absolutely proud of this fact. There was no one like him among the younger generation, whether it came to cultivation speed or accomplishments.
“So, Huang’er, what was his cultivation like when you met him?” An Yu’er asked with some curiosity.
“When I first found him...? Well, I met him as a spirit realm cultivator.” Huang’er couldn’t help burst out laughing when she said that out loud.
“Huh?” Yan Qianfan and his wife traded a confused glance.
The girl’s father began to count back with his fingers. “Empyrean to spirit... one, two, three, four, five, six realms...”
He felt common sense crumble all around him.
He knew exactly how old his daughter was. What portion of her life had she known Jiang Chen for? What kind of miracles had this youth performed to get to empyrean from spirit in so short a period of time?
“Brother Chen isn’t just a good martial cultivator. He’s even better at pill dao! Many of Divine Abyss’ most famous pills come from his hands.” Huang’er couldn’t resist heaping on as much praise as she was able.
An Yu’er ran her hands through her daughter’s hair approvingly. “Qianfan,” she sighed, “maybe our time in the Boundless Prison was partially worth it after all. Our daughter has turned out stunningly and she’s found an amazing partner to boot. I heard he saved your father and nephew too.”
When his father was mentioned, Yan Qianfan’s expression turned uncertain. At first, he’d been somewhat frustrated with his father for not supporting him, but reason had told him after the fact of the latter’s own troubles.
He no longer blamed his father for anything, but was worried that his wife wouldn’t understand. These two sentiments combined made him quite anxious.