Guo Chunfeng was dazed for a moment. Then, he smiled from the bottom of his heart.
"About Elder Nether Spring …"
Li Yao stopped smiling. After a moment of hesitation, he asked, "Do you hate him?"
"Of course I do. How can I not? He ruined my life completely. Even if he's dead now, I'm destined to carry this shadow on my back until I die! "
Guo Chunfeng declared resolutely. He was even gnashing his teeth. "Even in the memories of the young demon Ye Yuya, Elder Nether Spring, as his father, was an out-and-out fiend! A child no more than ten years old had to receive training that was a hundred times crueler than that of an adult warrior under the oppression of the fiend! That kind of pain, even now, makes me tremble and sweat profusely whenever I think about it! "
Pausing for a moment, hesitation popped up on his face again. "However …"
Guo Chunfeng lay down on the giant rock again. With his hands behind his head, he looked at the blue sky and could not help but put on a naughty smile. "In the memories of the young demon Ye Yuya, other than the hellish torture, there was also the lobster fishing."
Li Yao was dazed. "What lobster fishing?"
"There were no Bamboo Shoot Worms in the cold spring where we fetched the water just now," Guo Chunfeng said. "I lied to you. But deep inside the Nether Spring Kingdom in the Blood Demon Sector, where the young demon Ye Yuya grew up, there were a lot of underground cold springs where a lot of Bamboo Shoot Worms grew up. They were the most delicious!
"The Bamboo Shoot Worms were great when mixed with bracken. They were even better when they were made into Bamboo Shoot Jelly with the gel of demon beasts. The most amazing thing was that, with the Bamboo Shoot Worms as bait, you could catch the 'Silver Streak Crayfish', a specialty of the Nether Spring Kingdom. It was a delicacy that made me drool the moment I thought of it!
"In the memories of the young Ye Yuya, there were a few times when Elder Nether Spring was in a good mood after a victorious battle outside, and when his son's training was fruitful enough to satisfy him, Elder Nether Spring would take his son to the dark water below the ground to fish for crayfish.
"First, we need to find a cold spring where the Soil Bamboo Worms gather. Just like what we did just now, we need to crouch beside the spring, hold our breath, and grope around carefully. We must not condense any demonic energy. We need to rely on the tiniest movements of our muscles and tentacles to pull out the Soil Bamboo Worms one by one."
"Half of it is mixed with cold spring water and fresh underground wild mushrooms. Sprinkle some condiments on it, and the fragrance will fill the nose. It can make you addicted! Then, we'll hook the other half with a small hook and go to the river or the swamp. He'll have a big stool, and I'll have a small stool. We'll hold our breath and wait. In half a day, we'll be able to catch two barrels of silver-striped crayfish, one big and one small! "
"The crayfish will be mixed with the fresh blood of demon beasts and marinated for a moment. Then, they will be ready to be cooked. Elder Nether Spring is an expert at cooking crayfish. When they are cooked, even the demon beasts in the hundreds of caves nearby will be attracted to them. The fat ones will be another delicious dish! Very soon, we will start eating and drinking in the dark land below the ground.
"He and I often competed to see who could eat the crayfish faster, and the shell of the crayfish that was peeled off was more complete. Not even a single piece of meat was left on the shell. Most of the time, he won. Occasionally, when I won, I would almost choke myself to death!"
Li Yao noticed that Guo Chunfeng referred to the incident as' in the memories of the young demon Ye Yuya 'in the beginning, but when he got excited, he changed it to' me '.
Of course, Li Yao did not point it out.
Sitting next to him, he listened to Guo Chunfeng talk excitedly. His mind drifted back to the time when he spent time with his father in the magical equipment graveyard more than ten years ago, too.
There was no telling when, but Guo Chunfeng finished telling everything. He was simply drinking the cold spring water one mouthful after another.
The two barrels of spring water had almost been finished by him.
Li Yao smiled. "It seems that we will have to go back and fetch another two barrels of spring water. Those women must be whispering about us. Where have we been?"
Guo Chunfeng was dazed for a moment. "Now that you know everything, what are you going to do?"
"What do you mean?"
Li Yao blinked and said, "Thank you for telling me so many things, Big Brother Guo, of course. In fact, you and I are both very clear that I don't have any proof! When the Patriots Partnership collapsed, the situation was quite chaotic. They had already destroyed Elder Nether Spring's body. Also, you have changed your appearance with secret techniques. I don't think that a paternity test can be done!
"If you don't want to talk, nobody can force you. Nobody can prove that you are Elder Nether Spring's father, either!"
Guo Chunfeng sighed and said, "It's true. If I really don't want to talk, you won't be able to trick me. However, I'm really tired after such a long journey with so many heavy things on my back. I want to put them down and have a good rest!
"Besides …"
He suddenly raised his voice. "I haven't done anything wrong. It's not up to me to decide whose son I am. Why can't I talk? Cultivation, cultivation, cultivation, cultivation is the reality! Elder Nether Spring is indeed my father. It is true and unchangeable! If I don't have the courage to face the truth, what kind of Cultivator am I? "
"Exactly."
Li Yao sighed with mixed feelings. He suddenly rose and bowed to Guo Chunfeng. "Thank you, Big Brother Guo. Thank you for not attacking me just now, and thank you for trusting me and telling me everything without reservation."
Guo Chunfeng looked at his face. "It seems that you are not going to kill me, are you?"
Li Yao smiled. "I didn't want to kill you in the first place. I only wanted to clear my doubts. You know it, Big Brother Guo. You and I are the same kind of people. When we are in such a marvelous situation, we always want to analyze every detail of the situation clearly! Even if we miss one suspicious point, it will be like a knot growing in our heart, and we will not be able to sleep at night! "
Guo Chunfeng smiled, too. "I understand. Thank you, too, Li Yao. You are a good man and … a real Cultivator! Rest assured. I know what to do. After everything is over, I will find a suitable opportunity to resign as the director of the Secret Sword Bureau. "
Li Yao was dazed for a moment. Scratching his head, he said, "That's not what I meant. Aren't you doing well as the director, Big Brother Guo? Why are you resigning?"
Guo Chunfeng was dazed, too. "Now that you know my real identity, are you still confident that I am in such an important position? Are you not scared that I am lying? "
Li Yao scratched his head hard. "You have already told me the relationship between you and Elder Nether Spring. Why are you lying?"
"Perhaps," Guo Chunfeng said, "I did not tell you the truth. Something of paramount importance."
Li Yao thought hard and realized what was going on. He sat back and extended two fingers. "I get it now. Even if everything you said just now is true, there are still two possibilities about Elder Nether Spring's death.
"Firstly, although Elder Nether Spring is dead, he was a great man with a lot of foresight. He hid a top secret plan, say, the upgraded version of the Spore Stratagem. Also, he sent part of his telepathic thoughts to the head of his successor, the tool that he had chosen, through his brainpower in the last moment before his death!
"It means that his death was part of the whole plan, too. Even after his death, he would still use his son as a tool to carry out the Spore Stratagem to the end!
"Secondly, there is no such thing as the upgraded version of the Spore Stratagem. Or rather, even if there is, Elder Nether Spring has already given it up! At the last moment of his life, he was no longer an ambitious schemer, a great man who tried to rule the three Sectors, or an insane disseminator of the Demon God Virus. Instead, he turned back into … an ordinary father! "
"Perhaps, for Elder Nether Spring, ninety-nine percent of the time, he regarded 'young demon Ye Yuya' as a tool to accomplish his' great cause '! But when he was dying, when the flame of his life was about to be extinguished, when all his ambitions and schemes were smashed to smithereens, he finally remembered that it wasn't just a tool, it was his son. "
"I vaguely remember that I saw a vague smile on Elder Nether Spring's face in the last moment of his life.
"Before, I thought that it was just my imagination, or that Elder Nether Spring had some other scheme.
"But it is also possible that it was neither an illusion nor a scheme. Elder Nether Spring simply recalled the days when he fished crayfish with his son decades ago.
"He sacrificed himself because he wanted his son to live on, whether in the form of a demon or as a human being. It was enough for him to live a good life."
Guo Chunfeng finally could not help but burst into tears. He said, "He smiled? Did he really smile in the end? "
Li Yao was at a loss. He stammered, "Brother Guo, you are a giant of the Xing Yao Federation, and you are decades older than me. How — how do you expect me to answer your question?"
"I'm fine. I'm fine!"
Guo Chunfeng took a deep breath and managed to control his emotions. He smiled awkwardly and said, "Neither of the two possibilities is supported by any evidence. The odds are fifty-fifty each! Under such circumstances, don't you think that I am a great problem? Are you not worried that I will suddenly break out one day and trigger a new Spore Stratagem because I have accepted Elder Nether Spring's last will?
"Because certain people may be harmful to us in the future. Therefore, we have to take action first and kill them once and for all!"
Li Yao opened his hands and said, "That's exactly what Lu Zui and the Patriots Partnership are thinking! But for me, I don't have the ability to travel through time, and I cannot see through the 'future'. I can only influence the 'present'!
"The future is full of possibilities and wonders. I cannot kill the present just because of one of the bad possibilities, because when I kill the present, I will also be killing all the good futures!
"In short, the Xing Yao Federation is a law-abiding organization. As a Cultivator of the Heaven's Origin Sector, I have to abide by the Constitution of Cultivators. I have to train myself according to the law and slay evil according to the law!
"I don't know what law I have broken as Elder Nether Spring's son, and I don't know what law I have broken by being named 'Abyss'. Besides, this is just a casual conversation between you and me. The police are not taking a confession! Even if a confession was recorded, the current law states that without direct evidence, a confession alone can't be used to convict someone! "
"Is it possible that the upgraded version of the Spore Stratagem exists? Of course it is! Maybe I will look for the proof of its existence slowly!
"However, if I don't find any evidence of your crimes, how am I qualified to judge you? What position do I have to judge you?"
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