The Pavilion Master of Flowing Clouds was stunned upon hearing the name, a name that belonged only to the deepest recesses of his memory, and his thoughts were suddenly pulled back over twenty years.
In a spacious and luxurious room, a beautiful young woman was cradling a newborn infant, coaxing it. Having just given birth, her figure was a little full but not bloated, and her face still held a hint of a mother’s radiance. Hearing the sound of the door opening, she instinctively looked towards the entrance. Recognizing the person, she smiled sweetly and called out, "Yi ge."
The Pavilion Master of Flowing Clouds responded foolishly, "A Ji."
Seeing the Pavilion Master's reaction, Ling Luo Yi and Li Shu understood the answer. Ling Luo Yi knew who Wen Ji Yun was and had heard her speak of her past. However, Li Shu did not. Hearing the Pavilion Master affectionately utter this name, he assumed it was the person his father deeply loved, and became somewhat angry, thinking his father had betrayed his mother.
From the time Li Shu could remember, the Pavilion Master had forced him to cultivate, punishing him for any lack of progress. This led to a strained relationship between father and son. Li Shu had even fled to a lower realm to escape his father. Li Shu had no memory of his mother and had never heard his father mention her, so he believed his father hated his mother and, by extension, hated him, which was why he was treated so harshly.
Li Shu's belief that his father hated his mother was deeply ingrained. Therefore, upon hearing his father affectionately utter this unfamiliar name, he subconsciously separated it from his never-before-seen mother and didn't consider that possibility at all.
Seeing his father increasingly lost in memories of someone named A Ji, Li Shu grew even more angry, his gaze towards the Pavilion Master tinged with a hint of resentment.
Ling Luo Yi naturally noticed, but she was always uninterested in people or matters that did not concern her, so she ignored it. Looking at the Pavilion Master lost in thought, she said, "It seems you know her."
This statement jolted the Pavilion Master back to reality. Without glancing at his son, he stared blankly at Ling Luo Yi and asked pleadingly, "Is she doing well?"
The Pavilion Master was as humble as a beggar on the street begging for something to sustain his life, and this reaction further disappointed Li Shu.
However, Ling Luo Yi, acting like a dispenser of charity, shook her head under the Pavilion Master's pleading gaze and said, "I don't know."
This answer seemed to drain the Pavilion Master of his life. He collapsed onto the ground, as if his soul had been lost.
"If you wish to know, why not go and find her yourself?"
This sentence was like timely rain to a parched land, filling the near-dead Pavilion Master with renewed hope. The Pavilion Master struggled to ask, "Do you know where she is?"
After asking, he seemed to lose strength, not daring to hold onto further hope. However, this time, the answer was much better than the previous one.
"I'm not sure. The last time I saw her was nine years ago. After so long, how would I know if she's moved on?"
"Where is she?"
This time, Ling Luo Yi stated directly, "The last time I saw her, she was at the Flowing Clouds Pavilion in Songshan City, Qingye Kingdom, on the Ancient Xuan Continent. I don't know if she's still there."
"Flowing Clouds Pavilion?"
This name stunned both father and son. One with confusion, the other with joy.
The Pavilion Master remembered his promise to Wen Ji Yun.
"Yi ge, what if we get separated?"
"A Ji, that's simple. If we happen to get separated, if possible, let's each open a shop and name them both Flowing Clouds Pavilion. That way, no matter where you are, I'll find you, and you'll find me."
"She still remembers, she hasn't forgotten me!" The Pavilion Master was extremely excited. "I must go find her!"
Seeing the Pavilion Master's excited and almost delirious state, Ling Luo Yi couldn't help but pour cold water on his enthusiasm, "Can you go? You don't have spatial spiritual energy on you, so you can't open a spatial passage. How will you go?"
Upon hearing this, the Pavilion Master was stunned. He suddenly looked at Ling Luo Yi with anticipation, believing that with her cultivation, she should be able to send him.
Sensing his expectation, Ling Luo Yi said, "The last day of May, come to the Ling Manor in Yun Yuan City, and we'll leave together then."
"Alright," the Pavilion Master readily agreed.
Seeing Qiu Yuan Xi and the others approaching, Ling Luo Yi walked over, and they entered the small world together. However, in Li Shu's eyes, Ling Luo Yi had used a teleportation array to send them back to the Ling Manor.
Seeing them leave, Li Shu looked at his father, who was now in a state of extreme joy. He suppressed himself but couldn't hold back. He asked his father with suppressed anger, "Father, who is this Wen Ji Yun that Miss Ling mentioned?"
Suddenly hearing Li Shu's question, the Pavilion Master remembered that there were people around. He turned to look and saw his son staring at him with a face full of anger. The Pavilion Master knew that his son had always misunderstood him, and he was not in the mood to explain, so the misunderstanding persisted.
Hearing Li Shu inquire about Wen Ji Yun, the Pavilion Master looked deeply at his son and reached out as if to touch his face. Li Shu instinctively tried to dodge, but he was stunned in place by his father's words.
"Wen Ji Yun is your mother's name."
"What?!" Li Shu exclaimed in shock, but then he remembered something and questioned, "But when I asked about mother when I was little, didn't you say she had already died?! That she died shortly after giving birth to me."
"I didn't lie to you. At that time, due to other reasons, she and I were separated. My last impression of her was that the house we lived in caught fire, and she didn't come out. The fire was intense, and she was severely injured and couldn't escape, so I thought she was dead. For all these years, if it weren't for you, I would have followed her."
These words were spoken by the Pavilion Master for the first time. Having lost his beloved wife, he had been in a daze, losing interest in everything. If Li Shu were not her only blood descendant, he truly would have followed her.
"I had intended to wait until you were married and had children, then go to see her. That way, when she asked about you, I would have an answer. She didn't get to see you grow up, get married, become a husband, or a father. I had to tell her, so she wouldn't have any regrets."
Hearing the Pavilion Master's words, Li Shu didn't know how to react. The firm belief he had held since childhood was overturned in an instant, which was a great blow to him. He couldn't accept it.
"But I never expected she wasn't dead! She's still alive! She's waiting for me!" The Pavilion Master was so excited that tears welled up in his eyes.
Seeing his father cry, Li Shu was even more astonished. But thinking that he had been kept in the dark all along, he angrily questioned, "What exactly happened back then? Miss Ling said she was on the Ancient Xuan Continent. Were we supposed to be living on the Ancient Xuan Continent? But why did you appear on the Ancient Ling Continent? What else are you hiding from me?!"
Li Shu felt very unfamiliar with this mother and couldn't bring himself to use the term for a while.
Hearing Li Shu's questioning, the Pavilion Master stroked his son's face, looking at the infant in his memory who had suddenly become a tall adult. The Pavilion Master was lost in thought and murmured, "Shu'er, you've grown so much in the blink of an eye. The things you want to know, your father should be able to tell you now."
The Pavilion Master found a place that had not been destroyed by the previous battle, then sat down face-to-face with Li Shu. After setting up a barrier, he told Li Shu everything that had happened back then, in painstaking detail.