Chapter 68 Parents Appear in Dreams, the Truth Begins to Emerge

Fu Qinghuai's words, "My lord," were like a bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing the spark that had just ignited in Xie Xun's heart, and he immediately bowed his head.

The enchanting atmosphere was completely gone.

His ears, which had been burning hot just moments before, suddenly cooled down. He expressionlessly broke free from Fu Qinghuai's embrace, and deliberately stepped on the other man's foot as he landed.

"If you can't speak, you don't have to." He glanced coldly at Fu Qinghuai, then turned and walked towards the room.

Fu Qinghuai didn't seem to mind being stepped on or scolded. He just watched Xie Xun's departing figure, raised an eyebrow, and chuckled, "Xunxun stepped on me so hard~"

"I'll step on your face next time."

"OK!"

"..."

Back in his room, Xie Xun closed the door and leaned against it, letting out a soft sigh. He raised his hand to touch his ears, which were starting to burn again, and felt a mix of emotions he couldn't quite describe.

He rubbed his temples in frustration. "What a loser."

Xie Xun cursed himself and turned on the tap to wash his face with cold water.

As a result, when he closed his eyes to sleep that night, all he could see was Fu Qinghuai's irritating face. He tossed and turned in bed like a pancake until he finally drifted off to sleep in the middle of the night.

He didn't sleep well that night.

In his dream, he returned to the paper shop where he lived as a child. As he smelled the familiar scent of paper and ink, he suddenly felt someone gently stroking his hair.

He turned around and found himself standing in the backyard of the paper shop.

My mother was sitting in that old rattan chair, holding a small paper figure in her hand.

"Ah Xun is back?"

His mother looked up at him with a warm smile, "Come here and help me see if this paper doll is pretty."

Xie Xun walked over blankly, but his mother put down what she was doing, took his hand, and asked, "Why are there new injuries on your hands? Did you get into another fight?"

With just those words, Xie Xun's tears streamed down his face. The words he had held back for over a decade were stuck in his throat. He hugged his mother tightly, buried his face in her shoulder, and cried uncontrollably.

"Mom...I'm sorry...It's all my fault...I'm so sorry, Mom..."

He cried so hard he could hardly breathe, all the grievances and guilt he had accumulated over the past decade came rushing back at once, and his mother's clothes were quickly soaked with tears.

His mother didn't say anything, but gently patted his back, just like she did when he had nightmares as a child.

After he had cried enough, she said softly, "Silly child, I told you I don't blame you."

"But……"

"No buts."

His mother slipped a White Rabbit candy into his hand. "It was my own carelessness that day, so how can I blame you?"

Just then, the curtain to the inner room was lifted, and the father came out carrying a teapot, still with that stern expression. "How old are you? Still crying like that."

Xie Xun looked up at the sound and saw his father put the teapot on the table, his eyes much softer than he remembered.

"Dad...I'm sorry..."

"Why are you apologizing to me? I've never blamed you."

The father sighed softly, poured him a cup of tea, and looked somewhat regretful. "When your mother had her accident, I was in a lot of turmoil... I didn't mean to be cold to you those years, I just didn't know how to talk to you."

The tea was steaming, and the father's voice gradually lowered.

"The more you grow up to look like your mother, the more heartbroken I feel... It's my fault for not being able to protect this family and take good care of you two."

He took a deep breath, as if using all his strength, "It's Dad's fault for making you shoulder so much at such a young age... Seeing you always looking so worried, Dad's heart aches..."

Before his father could finish speaking, Xie Xun's tears flowed uncontrollably. He cried so hard he couldn't speak, and could only shake his head vigorously.

Her face, which she had just dried, was wet again, and she made a whimpering sound like a small animal. This time she cried even harder than before, her shoulders shaking and her breathing uneven.

For so many years, he had always thought that his father was blaming him.

Every time his father avoided his gaze, every time the two of them were silent, he felt it was punishment for that accident.

But now he realizes that his father, like him, also had his heart broken in that accident.

Seeing this, the mother quickly stepped forward and hugged both of them.

One was a son crying so hard he was hiccuping, and the other was a husband with red eyes who still had to be strong and calm.

She was somewhat amused and exasperated, and gently patted the two of them on the back.

"Alright, alright, it's good that we've talked it out. Ah Xun, your dad knows he was wrong. Are you willing to forgive this old-fashioned, taciturn man?"

The mother gently wiped away Xie Xun's tears and said softly, "Your father didn't abandon you later; he was afraid that his behavior would affect you. Look, he's come to his senses now, hasn't he? This old man has even apologized to you himself."

Xie Xun looked at his father's red eyes, nodded vigorously, and said with a choked voice, "I have never blamed Dad..."

After an unknown amount of time, Xie Xun finally finished crying, wiped his face with his sleeve, and finally asked the question that had been weighing on his mind for a long time.

"Dad, what's causing this bad luck in our family? Did we attract something we shouldn't have?"

The father and mother looked at each other and remained silent for a long time.

The water in the teapot had almost cooled down when Father finally let out a heavy sigh.

"When I arrived in the underworld and saw the ancestors who died young in the family genealogy, I learned that our ancestor named Xie Yingxuan... Alas, what a tragedy."

He carefully chose his words and began to recount his story: "In his pursuit of immortality, he used evil magic. Not only did he cause the deaths of several members of the Liu family, but he also... he plotted to harm a remarkable being."

At this point, the father lowered his voice even further.

"That one... we don't even know what to call Him. He's not like an ordinary ghost; he's not like a god, but he's filled with resentment. Our ancestor tried to seize His cultivation and power, but suffered a backlash and was instantly annihilated."

The father continued with a worried expression, "Although we sealed a wisp of his remnant soul in the jade pendant, his other remnant souls have long since scattered to various places. The strange things you've encountered recently—the haunted house in the port city, the Miao village formation, and the scheme of borrowing luck to raise ghosts—all have the shadow of these remnant souls behind them."

"These remnant souls are either being used by the Liu family to deal with us, or they have gained power and are causing trouble."

He looked at Xie Xun meaningfully, "Now that you've formed a contract with His true form, you probably can't escape these troubles."

"But this karmic debt is not over. The Liu family is here to collect their blood debt, and it will never end. And that one... His resentment is even deeper; He is directly targeting our Xie family bloodline."

The father frowned, looking at his son with worry. "Our family has been plagued by misfortune for generations, suffocated by these two forces. The Liu family still has descendants operating in secret; you must be extremely careful. As for that person…"

He hesitated, then shook his head. "Since you've already formed a symbiotic contract and done such intimate things... even dual cultivation, I don't know if this is a blessing or a curse."

"If you ask me, although we can't explain what that person's background is, we can see it clearly in the underworld since they've decided to protect you."

The mother gently held Xie Xun's hand and said softly, "It seems that He truly cherishes you. Whether this fate is good or bad, it's too early to say. You have to walk your own path. Remember, you are yourself first, and then the Xie family. No matter what choice you make, your parents will support you."

Xie Xun gripped the candy in his hand tightly, feeling something dig into his palm.

He looked down and saw a talisman folded into a triangle in his palm, emitting a faint sandalwood scent.

Xie Xun suddenly opened his eyes and found himself still lying on the bed in the guesthouse, his back pressed against a cold chest. Fu Qinghuai was hugging him from behind, just like yesterday, his arms tightly wrapped around his waist.

As dawn broke outside, the sounds of roosters crowing in the Miao village could be heard through the window.

He opened his palm and froze.

The White Rabbit candy and the triangular amulet from his dream were now lying quietly in his palm.

This isn't a dream; my parents really came.

He was lost in thought when the door was suddenly pushed open.

Li Nong rushed in, his face deathly pale, his lips purple, and he swayed as if about to collapse. He saw that when Xie Xun sat up in shock, Fu Qinghuai was still holding his waist, his face resting on his shoulder, his expression full of anger at being disturbed.

His legs went weak with fear, but he still knelt down with a thud, "Thank you, brother... for saving me..."