The Underworld King’s Daughter (2)

The Underworld King started to move towards Leng’Er, staggering along. Facing the Underworld King, who seemed to have lost himself, Leng’Er remained just as calm as normal. As the Underworld King came closer, she gave Ling Chen a questioning gaze, as if she had been scared by the Underworld King’s face. She lightly floated over to Ling Chen and hid behind him.

The Underworld King stopped walking and gazed at the emotionless Leng’Er as he cried out, “Chan’Er, it’s me! Don’t you recognise me? I’m your father! I’ve been desperately looking for you all these years, and every day I’ve dreamed of bringing you back… the heavens have truly pitied me and brought you back… you’re finally back… I’m your father, the Underworld King! Can you not… recognise me anymore?”

Ling Chen’s eyes widened.

Father…

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The Underworld King was Leng’Er’s father… and Leng’Er was the Underworld King’s daughter?

The chaotic emotions within Ling Chen mixed into 4 words: What… the… bloody… hell?!

“Fa… ther…?” Leng’Er looked up at Ling Chen and asked in a small voice, “Master, what… is a father?”

Ling Chen was speechless. He didn’t know how to answer her question.

“M-Master?! You’re calling him master?!” The teary-eyed Underworld King reacted as if he had been smashed in the head by a brick, and he became incredibly furious as he stared at Ling Chen with a burning gaze, “You… You damned human! Do you know who she is? She’s my daughter, the Underworld King’s daughter! She’s the next Underworld Queen who will inherit my position, and yet… and yet, a measly human like you told her to call you master! Preposterous! Unforgiveable!! You… You… if it weren’t for the fact that Chan’Er was here, this Underworld King would have destroyed you into ten thousand pieces!”

“Destroy me into ten thousand pieces? I’m afraid you won’t be able to,” Ling Chen had calmed down and gathered his thoughts by now, and he spoke neither fast nor slow.

“What did you say?” The Underworld King was furious, and killing intent filled the space around them as he gathered darkness energy and prepared to smash it towards Ling Chen.

However, Ling Chen calmly looked at him before slowly saying, “Underworld King, could it be that you haven’t noticed that there is a Soul Sacrifice Contract between us that she forced onto me? Moreover, it’s her second Soul Sacrifice Contract. If it were the first time, she would be fine even if I died. However, this is her second, and last, Soul Sacrifice Contract. With this contract, my life determines her life, and my death determines her death. We essentially share a life. If I don’t die, she won’t die, but if you kill me, she’ll also die! Are you sure you still want to kill me?”

“You!” The Underworld King furiously roared, unable to lower his raised hand.

“Moreover, you seem to not have realised that only half her soul – no, not even half of her soul – is remaining. Not only that, she doesn’t have a real body,” Ling Chen continued to speak. Qi Yue had told him all about the Soul Sacrifice Contract and Leng’Er’s state when he had first met her. “Although I don’t know why she’s like this, it’s evident that she must have received massive damage in the past, causing her body to be destroyed and her soul to be mostly destroyed. She’s only able to continue existing because she has a special Undead body and the Soul Sacrifice Contract. If it weren’t for the Soul Sacrifice Contract allowing her to bind herself to someone’s life, she would have vanished from this world long ago. However, because her soul is damaged, she’s unable to remember all of her memories, and she only has her subconscious left. When I met her, she had forgotten all of her past, and she only knew that she loved dolls.”

The Underworld King’s hand fell powerlessly, and all of the fury in his eyes was replaced with sorrow and self-blame. He looked at Leng’Er carefully, and he found that everything Ling Chen had said was true. He held his head as he painfully screamed, “It’s all my fault for being so useless! Even as the Underworld King, I was unable to protect my daughter. If it weren’t for my Underworld Royal Clan’s ‘Underworld King Never Dies’ and ‘Soul Sacrifice’, I would have lost Chan’Er and caused the Underworld Royal Clan’s lineage to end…”

“Although it’s been so many years, the heavens have finally brought my Chan’Er back.” Emotions of joy and grief mixed chaotically within the Underworld King’s heart. He wanted to come closer to Leng’Er, but he was also afraid of scaring her. He stretched out his large and coarse hand, wiping away his tears as he warmly smiled at Leng’Er and spoke in a gentle voice, “Chan’Er, I know you’ve lost your memories and don’t remember your father, but don’t worry. Now that the heavens have brought you home, I’ll do my best to help you remember the things from the past… just close your eyes and let me see what you’ve gone through in the outside world, alright?”

With the Underworld King’s status and temperament, it was the first time in 10,000 years that he had spoken in such a tone. When Leng’Er heard his voice, she continued to stare at Ling Chen, so Ling Chen said to her in a small voice, “Leng’Er, close your eyes and don’t think about anything.”

“Mm…” Leng’Er was very willing to listen to Ling Chen, and she closed her eyes.

At that moment, the Underworld King also closed his eyes and stretched out his palm towards where Leng’Er was. A very dim, grey light was released from his hand until it touched Leng’Er’s body, connecting the Underworld King and Leng’Er.

Ling Chen knew what the Underworld King was doing, and he did not make any noise. The space fell into silence, and initially, he could see some anger on the Underworld King’s face, but it was then replaced with pain, which gradually disappeared until his expression calmed down.

Less than a minute later, the Underworld King opened his eyes. At that moment, Ling Chen felt the bindings around him disappear, and he regained his freedom. The aura and killing intent weighing down on him also disappeared. Ling Chen hurriedly stretched his body, then looked at the Underworld King. He found that the way the Underworld King looked at him had greatly changed – all of the rage and killing intent was gone, replaced by warmness and a hint of gratitude.

“Young human, please forgive my rudeness from before.”

The Underworld King’s words shocked Ling Chen. The powerful Underworld King had actually apologised to him… just 2 minutes ago, he had been roaring about destroying him into ten thousand pieces.

“Members of our Underworld Royal Clan can read each other’s memories, and I’ve seen everything that she went through,” The Underworld King’s voice became calm. “During these past years, I’ve never given up on looking for Chan’Er because I felt that she was still in this world. I’ve searched the place that she was in, the Forest of Bones, before; however, I never thought that not only was her body destroyed, but her soul was also damaged. I would never have imagined that she would use a Soul Sacrifice Contract with the Warring Palace Skeleton to survive. As such, her Underworld King aura completely disappeared, so it was impossible for me to find her by her aura…”

After a long sigh, he walked forwards and patted Ling Chen’s arm, “Thank you, young human. I can see from her memories that you saved her. Although the Soul Sacrifice Contract was forced on you, you treated her very well after you brought her away. You treated her so well that I feel ashamed as a father. Moreover, you brought her here, allowing me to finally see my daughter again… I, the Underworld King, never like to owe anyone, but I owe you so much that I don’t know how to repay you.”

From Leng’Er’s memories, he could see countless years of darkness, fear, and loneliness. After Ling Chen came, there were many pleasant memories – he gave her the dolls she loved so much every day and many other toys and told her all sorts of stories. He taught her about things that she didn’t know about, and he did his best to make her happy… the Underworld King could tell that Ling Chen was incredibly good to her and had no ulterior motive.

If someone was good to the Underworld King, he wouldn’t feel anything. After all, there were countless beings that wanted to curry favour with him to the point that he felt annoyed. However, this was different for anyone who treated his daughter truly well. He felt like he had failed Leng’Er, and it was Ling Chen who had taken her out of the lonely Forest of Bones, given her a new life, and made her happy every day. And now, he had brought her back to his side.

This was the first time the Underworld King had ever felt so grateful to someone, despite the fact that he was a human.

Ling Chen smiled. “No need to thank me. Since she follows me and calls me ‘master’, I have to take responsibility for her. Everything I did was something I should have done, so there’s nothing to thank me for. Moreover, Leng’Er’s is very cute and good, so anyone would want to be good to her. Coming here was merely a coincidence… it’s just that… are you completely sure Leng’Er’s your daughter?”

“She’s definitely my daughter. Let alone 10,000 years, I would still recognise her even if 100,000 or even a million years had passed,” The Underworld King said sorrowfully. “The fact that she was able to enter the Underworld Blood Lake is solid proof. The Underworld Blood Lake will devour all living and dead creatures in the world, even the Moon Gods of the Moon God Clan. However, only the Underworld Royal Clan does not fear it, and we can instead absorb energy from the lake. The Underworld Royal Clan has always only had a sole successor, so she is the only Underworld Queen of her generation. How could I mistake her aura? And also… weren’t you curious as to why you weren’t affected by the miasma when you entered the Underworld? It’s because the Underworld Royal Clan possesses great resistance of miasma, so the miasma won’t harm you no matter how dense the miasma is with her by your side. That’s why you were able to arrive here safely.”