Chapter 246: Qiao Wan's Survival
Qiao Wan had actually thought about what kind of death she would meet if she accidentally ate a poisoned meal.
Death is inevitable, sometimes as heavy as Mount Tai, sometimes as light as a feather.
After living for over forty years, she still had a bit of a youthful and passionate heart. The most ideal way to die was to die in a meaningful and valuable manner, sacrificing oneself for the greater good and justice.
But she never wanted to die silently and unnoticed in some secret realm, where no one would care, and nobody would even know she was dead.
They might think she was still alive, that she had gone missing or fled out of fear. But they would never imagine that she had quietly passed away, her lifeless body decaying in this desolate and untouched place.
This feeling of being forgotten was terrible, reminding her of the times when she hadn't yet descended the mountain.
She didn't want to die.
Before her eyes was a blurry darkness, as if she was trapped in an endless abyss, unable to move forward or back.
So this is what death feels like, Qiao Wan wondered, her mind filled with confusion.
Not every cultivator has the opportunity to become a ghost cultivator. Perhaps, for someone like her, it really meant that she had passed away for real.
Originally, Qiao Wan thought that the darkness in front of her was only temporary. She thought that it wouldn't be long before some strange black and white creature or the Grim Reaper would appear and take her away.
From the beginning, she didn't accept it and cried loudly. But now, she just stood there quietly, waiting for a long time, but there was no sign of the black and white creature or the Grim Reaper.
Could it be that they forgot about her? Qiao Wan silently wondered.
Then she waited for a long time again. She didn't know how many days and nights she had been waiting. The darkness in front of her remained, and if she continued to wait, Qiao Wan felt like she was going crazy. Even if she didn't have claustrophobia before, she might develop an illness from being confined for so long.
After an unknown amount of time, a ray of light finally appeared in the darkness. It leaked from somewhere, illuminating the darkness. The light was dim, but warm, as if it was guiding lost souls.
Qiao Wan, in a confused state, followed the ray of light. She kept walking and walking, and gradually, the light became brighter and filled the entire dark space. Ahead of her, there appeared a path illuminated by sunlight.
At the end of that path, she heard a gentle male voice. He said, "Little Wan, I'm sorry."
"Your father is sorry." Qiao Wan wondered where her father came from.
She only had two fathers - one who had received justice from heaven and the other being the so-called demon realm warrior, Su Buhuo.
Although everyone said she was the empress of the demon realm, Qiao Wan still didn't feel much of a connection to that identity.
But the voice was so soft, and she desperately wanted to see another person, no matter who they were. Even if it was Feng Wangyan, she would be happy to converse with him.
So, without hesitation, Qiao Wan followed the voice, continuing forward until she finally saw a blurry figure at the end of the sunlight.
Wearing a simple and slightly faded blue robe, with long black hair tied in a low ponytail that hung on her shoulder.
The figure was tall and seemed somewhat familiar.
As if sensing the footsteps behind him.stopped and patiently waited for her to catch up.
Qiao Wan followed along.
Only then did the man lead her forward, silently exuding an indescribable warmth and tenderness.
The man walked through a long corridor and suddenly disappeared.
Qiao Wan was about to ask the man to wait, but unexpectedly, she stepped on a foot and felt herself falling, tumbling down.
The sensation of weightlessness suddenly hit, and Qiao Wan abruptly opened her eyes!
As she opened her eyes, she saw a face that was unfamiliar yet familiar to her.
This is a middle-aged man who looks to be around thirty years old. He has gentle and handsome eyebrows and eyes, with a light blue stubble under his chin. He wears a single-piece eyeglasses with a platinum chain, and his eyes beneath the lenses gaze at her warmly and compassionately, like sunlight shining on her, warm and cozy.
This... this is?
Qiao Wan was bewildered for a moment, her awareness suddenly returning, and she exclaimed without thinking.
"Meng... Master Meng?!!"
Isn't this the Master Meng from Buping College that she saw in the chess room before?! Could it be that because she was too useless and hadn't achieved anything great with Buping College, this senior master came to hold her accountable?
But this senior master looks at her with eyes that are a little different, as if there is a hint of another emotion in those gentle and worldly eyes.
No... Senior, why are you looking at me so affectionately?
It was like a long silence, yet it also felt like just a moment. Finally, a man's face showed a somewhat understanding yet helpless smile. He gently called out, "Wan'er, are you awake?"
"How are your injuries? Do they still hurt?"
"Wan'er." Under Qiao Wan's shocked gaze, this senior, Meng Guangze, smiled with a hint of helplessness. He looked soft and easy to bully. "Don't worry, I am your father."
"I am your father," the man thought for a moment, adding, "I am both Meng Guangze, Mei Yuanbai, and Su Buhuo."
Qiao Wan raised her eyes somewhat bewildered.
At that moment, Qiao Wan finally realized that perhaps she wasn't dead after all.
The surroundings weren't pitch black anymore. Now, she was lying by a deep pool below a cliff, with a waterfall cascading down and sunlight shining upon her. It felt warm.
Instead of being shocked by the fact that she didn't die, what surprised Qiao Wan the most was the appearance of the legendary Senior Meng right in front of her, who said to her, "I am your father."
Oh my goodness! Once she snapped back to reality, Qiao Wan was instantly horrified. What kind of situation is this?!
She didn't die?!
And this Senior Meng even went straight to the point and said, "I am your father?"
"You are... my father?" Qiao Wan repeated in a daze. The word "father" twisted in her throat, and she couldn't bring herself to say it, so she changed it to "senior."
"Senior... you... you didn't die?"
The man was tall and had warm, blood-colored skin. He didn't look like a ghost at all, with no signs of being lifeless.
"I can't really say I'm dead, but I can't say I'm alive either." This person who claimed to be her father, Su Buhuo, the head of Buping College, showed a gentle smile. "It's just that my consciousness attached itself to your mind right before I died."
"For these past few decades, have you constantly felt confused?" Meng Guangze said gently. "You couldn't retain spiritual energy, and your cultivation remained stagnant. Little Wan, I owe you an apology."
"Over these years, my soul has been trapped in your sea of consciousness. Due to severe damage to my spiritual awareness, I had no choice but to absorb your spiritual energy for my own use. It's only by chance today that I finally managed to break free from your sea of consciousness and meet you."
Isn't this the legendary old man inside the sea of consciousness?
Previously, the spiritual energy she couldn't retain, the faint voices she heard, was actually Meng Guangze , who is also her father, Su Buhuo ?
"Yes..." Qiao Wan was almost in a panic. After a pause, she asked in confusion, "Did you save me, senior?"
Perhaps after circling around the gates of the underworld, Qiao Wan's thoughts became much clearer than before. At the moment these words were spoken, all the vague clues she had caught on to were connected with the appearance of Meng Guangze , the mountain master who should have died.
Why did Li Pan save her when they first met, and why did he nurture and make her a leader?
Now it seems like I have an answer.
All of this is because she is a descendant of Meng Guangze, a man.
But this man in front of her is her real father?
Looking at this middle-aged man with well-groomed eyebrows, Qiao Wan suddenly felt a bit nervous and uncomfortable.
One reason is that this man in front of her is too young. Besides some fine lines at the corners of his eyes, he doesn't look like a father at all.
If he really is Su Buhuo, it means that the glorious legend for the demon realm, and even the cultivation world, is standing in front of her.
Unlike the invincible and glorious war god she imagined.in front of her looks like an ordinary and laid-back Confucian scholar, wise, gentle, and tolerant.
Qiao Wan feels immense pressure from within, unable to face it and dare not look directly at him.
As for the second reason, it is also the most important reason.
If Meng Guangze was really her "father".
"Thank you for saving my life, senior."
Qiao Wan looked up and made a surprising gesture that even surprised Meng Guangze.
She lifted her injured body and knelt down before him, her voice hesitant: "But I may not be your daughter."
Upon hearing this, the surprise on the man's face disappeared, and he continued to look at her with warmth, his gaze as mellow as aged wine.
Qiao Wan paused, her voice slightly stiff, afraid to see the man's reaction: "Perhaps I have taken over your daughter's body."
After more than forty years of wearing it, this was the first time she had spoken this secret to someone else.
"Have you heard of... time travel?"
If the senior in front of her was really her father, he wasn't Qiao Wan's "dad," but the original owner's father.
She was just a traveler from the West, occupying the other person's daughter's body with no way to resist, and enjoying the care of this father.
But to their surprise, the elder only smiled. When he smiled, there were faint wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.
He looked really young, maybe around thirty, but his eyes seemed filled with blood and smoke. Yet, everything fell into calm and silence, except for the faint wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. They vaguely revealed that he had lived for a very long time. The wind and frost softened his brows and the years had sculpted his appearance.
"I know," Meng Guangze casually raised his hand.
His warm and generous palm gently touched the top of her head. A slight smile appeared on his lips, and a hint of nostalgia glimmered in his eyes.
"You are not my biological child, but rather a lost soul from another world that I happened to encounter during my long years of battles."
Qiao Wan widened her eyes in shock.
"This lost soul doesn't belong to this world. So, I saved her and nurtured her with my own blood and flesh, creating a physical body for her."
"That is you."
He knew he was wearing it?!
Is that... the lost soul from another world? But the man seemed to have no intention of continuing. He just looked at her and embraced the stiff Qiao Wan .
"I think, at this moment, you might need a hug."
"Father wanted to say, it's okay, I have caused you so much grievance over the years."
In the warmth of the man's embrace, Qiao Wan stiffened instantly. "Th-thank you, sir."
But her voice uncontrollably became hoarse.
Although she knew that all of this came too suddenly, she couldn't even accept that this man was her father.
Her imagined father wasn't like this. Her real father, or rather, her dad, should be an ordinary and mediocre middle-aged man, maybe even with a beer belly, walking his dog downstairs in the neighborhood every evening.
She couldn't see the man in front of her as her dad, but when she was held in his embrace, leaning on his broad shoulder, Qiao Wan couldn't help but choke back tears.
When she was stabbed in the waist and abdomen by a sword, she was indeed praying, hoping that someone could come and save her.
Miaofa, Elder Martial Brother, Li Pan, Jia Yin, even Zhou Yan, but in this silent darkness, there was no one. She finally lost hope.
"It has nothing to do with you, it's just that I...am useless."
Meng Guangze watched helplessly as this fierce and difficult girl buried her face.
There was no expression on her face, but tears welled up in her eyes.
This is the feeling of being alive, and it feels so good.
The girl still had dried blood on her body, and half of her face had already fallen off, revealing a ferocious look.
Even at this point, she didn't forget to be polite.
Meng Guangze glanced at her. A sigh of pity and helplessness escaped his lips, and he gently patted Qiao Wan's stiff back.
"You don't have to say thank you, Little Wan. You are my daughter, and as parents, we won't change our attitude based on whether our daughter is smart or not, useful or not."
Because you are my child, my flesh and blood, I will love you unconditionally."
"Back then, I saved a wandering soul. I had no family, but you became my only family who could comfort my loneliness. You are my hope, my light."
"Wan'er, you don't have to be afraid, don't have to worry. You are Daddy's daughter, the precious gift life has given me, my one and only princess."
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