<<Previous Chapter | The Steward Demonic Emperor | Next Chapter>>
Writer: StarReader
Proofreader: Silavin
Yongning rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked around the room, finally recalling she had slept while watching over Zhuo Fan.
Looking over to the bed, she gasped finding him missing.
“Zhuo Fan!” she cried, her head darting everywhere.
“Shh.” Came a voice from the balcony overlooking the lands beyond Blackwind Mountain. “Let them sleep. I know you girls have been doing all you can to help me while ignoring your own health.”
Yongning lit up on the spot, the sleeping daze forgotten as she rushed over to hug him. “Zhuo Fan! You’re finally awake! We’ve all been worried sick.”
As she looked away from him for a moment, she noticed the sky wasn’t what it used to be. “Why is the sky rainbowy again? Did something bad happen? Last time everyone started cultivating…”
She trained her curious and doe eyes on him, clinging harder and unwilling to let go, out of fear this might be a dream.
Zhuo Fan chuckled, “It’s nothing you should worry about. Just take it as a good sign for what’s to come.”
“Z-Zhuo Fan…” A tearful voice broke the mood, looking over to find Luo Yunchang in tears as she approached shaking all over from the overwhelming joy and relief.
“Yunchang, I’m back, and I’m here to stay.” Zhuo Fan smiled reassuringly.
“You never called me that. Does that mean…” His words opened the young miss’ floodgates, having her wishes come true after so many years of longing and pain at seeing him go every time, her attempts brushed aside more times than she could count.
She jumped into his arms, crying harder than before. The commotion woke the other girls, and they all surrounded him, happy to see him up and walking.
As the moment passed, the girls took furtive glances, their eyes darting all over the place, unsure if their feelings would be accepted, or whether Chu Qingcheng would agree to welcome them as well. It was a nerve-wrecking moment, feeling like their lives would be decided with one word from the object of their affection.
Zhuo Fan stared into the distance, at the rising dawn among the prismatic glowing clouds, his mind and heart clearer than ever. “I always knew you all cared much about me, but I never realized your feelings run so deep. I thought being with Chu Qingcheng was all I needed, but then I experienced pain like no other, pain so strong it went beyond that of the body, and I’ve had my share of torture, believe me.” He chuckled. “Watching Yuyu and Shuang’er sacrifice themselves to save someone like me made me aware how much I cared about you all as well. I just never stopped to think about it before, but seeing you looking after me day in day out, trying everything you could think of to bring me back, even reliving our meetings…”
Shui Ronghua gasped, “You knew about that? But wasn’t your mind closed off? We thought you’d suffered the same way sister Qingcheng had but worse. We have tried anything we could think of, with even the sacred beasts taking you to the Heavenly Rebirth Lake, although it was in ruins.”
Zhuo Fan touched her cheek, making her blush at the tenderness. “For a time, I was, but as you all gave so much in looking after me, it slowly helped me connect to my senses, to see and hear everything around me, despite being unable to respond. Some of your reenactments of our first meetings were funny, seeing you try so hard. I was all so touching.”
Shangguan Qingyan grew hard at his words. “If our feelings got to you, why couldn’t you wake up? Why were you locked in your own body? And why now, of all times, did you happen to get up?”
“Have you noticed the sky?” Zhuo Fan grinned.
“Why are there so many colors? This isn’t natural!” She gasped. Since she only came to the Sacred Domain after the mortal domain’s barrier collapsed, she didn’t know the implications of this phenomenon.
“A Sovereign is born through completing his path.” Zhuo Fan held his head high, hinting at something here, but the girls were just too out of it to read into his explanation.
“Do I have to spell it out? Sigh, women. Look, I completed the emotion path so I’ve become a Sovereign.” He spilled it out seeing fishing for compliments didn’t work. [They’re not as impressionable as Elder Li and the others.]
“You what?!” The girls gasped.
“I’ve completed it halfway in my coma, actually, having gone through such terrible loss and the past joy in the Scheming Demon Sect helped me experienced the whole range of emotions. As to why I only woke up now, it’ll soon become apparent. Let’s not spoil the moment.” He gave them a sagely look, like he knew everything that was happening and was about to happen.
“Z-Zhuo Fan, I-I’m sorry. I-I’m glad to know you’re alright. I’ll be leaving now.” Chu Qingcheng went from overjoyed to downcast, shuffling away after hearing he was fine.
A hand grabbed her before she could make a step. “I don’t blame you for what happened, none of us here do.” Zhuo Fan stared into her eyes, his tone calm.
“B-but if I didn’t get captured, if you hadn’t come to save me, sister Yuyu and Shuang’er might still be alive.” Chu Qingcheng sobbed.
“It could’ve been anyone of us, sister.” Shui Ronghua comforted.
The other girls hugged her together as she cried harder, finally dispelling this huge guilt she had been feeling all this time.
Zhuo Fan spent the next days with the girls, following all their requests, no matter how silly or childish, wanting to look after them as they did for him, even when he was too stubborn to see it.
Though the vacation was short-lived, for the sacred beasts, Sword Kings, elders and Sword Child rushed back after sensing his recovery.
Dragon Ancestor was the first to explode, “Punk, you left me there to rot!”
“Easy now, senior. That was all tactics. I had to scout the Sacred Domain first so I could better plan your arrival and drive a decisive blow against Heavenly Sovereign. Look at the result, didn’t it all work out in the end?” Zhuo Fan grinned.
“Humph!” The old dragon was still miffed.
Kunpeng shouted, “Thank the heavens you’re back, Zhuo Fan! But now we have even worse problems. Not only we have no idea what Heavenly Sovereign is after since six paths are locked behind the sea of blackness, we now find out that it’s expanding and taking over while we have a new Sovereign among us.”
“Five.” Zhuo Fan’s reply came with a smirk.
“What?” Kunpeng was taken aback, needing to blink a few more times to calm down and get over his anxiety. “I see!” And he laughed.
The others also noticed the changed air around Zhuo Fan and put two and two together. They cheered, thinking everything will be settled with a Sovereign on their side, despite him looking to now have a cultivation in the Foundation Establishment Stage. They had been around Zhuo Fan for so long that they knew what it meant.
But then Sea Ao spoke gravely, “What about the Supreme Stage? You can’t reach it without your past lives’ memories.”
<<Previous Chapter | The Steward Demonic Emperor | Next Chapter>>
Harem route?
Let the butterfly effect begins
Thanks