Chapter 424: Fifth World: Confessions

Qie Xieling was as happy as a pig rolling in filth while standing at the edge of the lake. Like a restless puppy, he paced up and down at an arm's length distance while staring at the lake surface with glistening eyes.

"What are you doing? Haha Lin Lin, just get in," said a soothing voice that could only belong to Wen Qinxi.

Feeling rushed, Qie Xieling replied, "Ah Shixiong, don't rush me! I can't swim," while dipping a toe. Ever since he was a baby he was averse to water so how could he easily let go of two decades of phobia in one go. "Give me a minute," he said with his toe lightly touching the water like a petal landing gently on the surface of the lake.

Wen Qinxi couldn't help but fold his arms across his chest while staring at his son. He suddenly felt like he had given birth to a Gen Z baby with a lot of allergies. He could only imagine how hard it would be to find gluten, egg and peanut-free cake for a birthday party. He was about to tease Qie Xieling when he heard an impatient female voice calling Qie Xieling's name.

It seemed he wasn't the only one who heard it because Qie Xieling's body stiffened as he turned his head back slowly. His aunt had finally caught up with them and now he was caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Hurry up, what are you waiting for? Trust me," said Wen Qinxi wishing someone could just push Qie Xieling into the pool. Well, giant pool in this case.

Qie Xieling seemed to be more afraid of his aunt than water so he belly-flopped into the lake while yelling, "Shixiong catch me!"

Wen Qinxi didn't know anything about swimming but even he could tell that the way Qie Xieling dove into the lake was very wrong.

With a loud Pa sound, Qie Xieling entered the water but he almost broke down in tears from the pain. It was like getting slapped ten times across his face.

Wen Qinxi swam over and grabbed the boy underwater. With the stroke of his palm, he broke the seal holding Qie Xieling back. As soon as he broke that seal, Qie Xieling found he could breathe underwater but that wasn't the biggest highlight. Qie Xieling's lovely feet vanished and replaced by a graceful merman tail comparable to his Shixiong's.

Qie Xieling was freaking out but he didn't get the chance to process his feelings before he was pulled by the wrist and led to the deepest depths of the lake. By the time Dai Yu reached the edge of the lake, the surface was so tranquil like it hadn't been disturbed for thousands of years.

Her brows furrowed while scanning around. She was certain she had heard voices just now but once she got to where the voices came from there was no one. Playing hide and seek with her nephew around the Qie sect was one of her favourite things. She was like a predator hunting its prey. Curious to see how long her nephew would hide from her, she left to search elsewhere.

It seemed Dai Yu wasn't the only one looking for these two because halfway across the continent near an ancient temple, a monk suddenly opened his eyes in the direction of the Qie sect. A faint green glow shimmered in his eyes as he whispered, "The beast has finally shown itself."

The monk stood up and leapt off the mountain reappearing at the entrance of the temple. It was about time he rallied forces and eliminate evil to protect the innocent.

Wen Qinxi who didn't know he had a bounty over his head was busy answering Qie Xieling's incessant questions. It had already been two weeks but the boy made him repeat the explanation dozens of times. Like a broken record he retold the events that led to the boy's birth over and over again to the point of losing patience.

To shut him up, Wen Qinxi decided to urge him to cultivate. Wen Qinxi was a person who struggled to sit still for a long time but he would gladly take that offer as long as it calmed Qie Xieling.

Like putting a toddler to sleep, Wen Qinxi finally had Qie Xieling cultivating seriously for an entire fortnight. While his son was making up for lost time catching up with his peers, Wen Qinxi was binge-watching movies and series with the system to kill time.

It was going great that is until someone came knocking. At first, he thought it was Dai Yu who came looking for trouble again so he ignored it as he carried on watching the dog blood drama that Jolie recommended. He was about to ask the system to continue when the door was suddenly kicked in followed by slow and steady steps heading towards his direction.

Annoyed, Wen Qinxi stood up ready to drag that person out and give them an earful but his words got stuck in his throat when he saw the majestic sect leader who seemed more terrifying than before.

Feeling some sort of crisis, Wen Qinxi took the lead to walk out of the room otherwise he would suffocate under such heavy pressure. Qie Ranzhe's lips twitched as he followed behind this Shidi who seemed to be hiding a whole lot of secrets.

That day when Zhao Zhi told him to carefully examine himself he didn't think much at first but once he found out what happened he had questions that urgently needed answers. But he felt an urgency to cultivate which left him with no choice but to interrogate him later.

As soon as he came out of closed-door cultivation he came looking for him ready to get the truth about what happened that year. He knew this man was a major key to the mystery but he couldn't figure out where he fit in in all of this. In his mind, he had come up with one possible scenario.

That scenario would be that Zhao Zhi was somewhat related to the person who gave birth to Qie Xieling and the fact that he could break the seal meant the relation was especially strong. This also led him to believe that Zhao Zhi had regained his lost memories otherwise how would he have been able to break the seal all of a sudden?

Having come to this conclusion, Qie Ranzhe created a powerful barrier to prevent eavesdropping before sitting on the tea table with an unreadable expression.

"Sit," he said without raising his head as he poured out some tea. Wen Qinxi gazed down at the long slender fingers wrapped around the porcelain cup unable to move an inch. All the cells in his body were screaming at him to run sensing something was wrong but for whatever reason, he couldn't move.

Qie Ranzhe lifted his head staring at Zhao Zhi with those dazzling phoenix eyes. Like a bug attracted to light, Wen Qinxi found himself obeying the man's command as though bewitched.

Qie Ranzhe handed him a porcelain cup and said, "Where is she?" in a cool sombre tone.