Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 110

Never See Him Again

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There is a celestial river above the Nine Heavens, which winds its way down the clouds, connecting the Nine Heavens to the First Heaven and nurturing the millions of beings in the Heavenly Realm.

The silver nine-cornered immortal pavilion sits at the end of the river, with cranes sweeping by in the distance, their song lilting as they arrive. The white veil covering the pavilion was lifted by a light breeze, and inside the pavilion, on a ten-foot bed of ice, lay a heavenly god who had slept for ten thousand years.

He was dressed in silvery white robes, his long raven black hair spread out beneath him, his face as beautiful as the moon and his skin porcelain white. His thick eyelashes trembled slightly before his light brown eyes opened.

“Yuan'er, you're back..."

A clear male voice came from his side, pulling Yan Yuan back from his trance to reality. He sat up and looked at the person standing on the side of the bed. The person was dressed in a black silk robe and had a warm smile.

"Mother..."

The man's smile froze, his long eyebrows raised. He stepped forward and embraced Yan Yuan, his hand patting him 'gently' on the back: "You've finally come back, you bastard, you've made me and your father wait so long. How many times have I told you to call me father, father, father? See if I can't hammer you to death.” The palm of his hand slapped him and clenched into a fist.

Yan Yuan stifled a grunt and frowned without speaking. Noticing that his son was not in the right mood, Ye Ling Shenjun nodded, refrained from speaking, and slowly released him.

"Past lives and present lives, you've remembered them all, haven't you?"

Yan Yuan's soul had returned, but his heart had not, having been lost along with Xuan Long's departure. The ends of his eyes were crimson, and he murmured with his eyes downcast.

"How could I... I have done that to him..."

The traces left by the burning of the karmic fire would be engraved on the soul. Before he fell into reincarnation, he asked the Immortal Astrologer to tell his fortune: within ten thousand years, he would meet Xuan Long in the mortal world.

He and Xuan Long were an immortal couple and had formed an emotional bond. Even after drinking Mengpo Soup, he had an emotional bond with Xuan Long to serve as a tether, and it was impossible for him to recognize the wrong person.

Seeing the scar on Xuan Long's face, he would have recovered the memories of his past life.

But he simply got it wrong... not only did he get it wrong, he also killed his A'Po with his own hands. It was not until that dragon died that he remembered bits and pieces.

When Ye Ling Shenjun saw his son's tearful and dishevelled appearance, his heart tightened and his expression was unusually solemn.

"Because you and he were never meant to be."

"Father told you this long ago, have you forgotten?"

"From the moment he left you, the fate that you forcibly seized was over."

"What you should have done was forget him, not chase him to the mortal world. Everything has its cause and effect, and you have been so reckless as to repeatedly take him for yourself, and you have ultimately ruined his luck."

Yue Lao is in charge of the marriage book of the mortal world, while the marriage book of the immortals is in the hands of Si Shen.

The marriage book in the hands of Si Shen is not written by himself, the contents are determined by the Heavenly Way. Every time an immortal is born, a page will be created in the marriage book, in which the marriage of the newly born immortal is written.

Even the Heavenly Emperor does not have the power to change this book at will.

On the page of Yan Yuan's marriage, it was clearly written that he was destined to be married to the immortal monarch who was in charge of the birds in the Heavenly Realm, but Yan Yuan fell in love with Xuan Long and refused to obey Heaven's command. In spite of the objections of everyone, he used his divine power to obtain and change the marriage book, erasing the name of that immortal monarch from next to his own and adding Xuan Long's.

Yan Yuan spoke hoarsely: "I never believed in fate... If fate was really predetermined from birth, then why did I fall in love with Xuan Long? The Heavenly Way should have made me fall in love with the immortal monarch who is in charge of the birds."

Ye Ling sighed, “A'Yuan, what is the point of talking about this now?"

"Xuan Long is dead, you should forget about him."

Yan Yuan looked at Ye Ling and raised his hand to clutch his sleeve, his eyes pained and determined: "No... Mother, I want to save him, tell me how I can save him."

Ye Ling calmly asked in return, "Ashes to ashes, how can you still save him?"

"He is just an unwanted little dragon that your father picked up from the West Sea back then, his qi was weak and being able to be a heavenly general guarding the Heavenly Realm was already his greatest fortune in that life. But you wanted to marry him to be the Heavenly Empress, and by doing so, you destroyed not only Xuan Long's fate, but also the fate of the entire Nine Heavens. The demons tried to take this opportunity to attack, but Xuan Long gave his life to prevent that disaster. If you stopped there, then so be it, he would reincarnate and live well in the mortal world, and you would continue to be the Heavenly Emperor in the Nine Heavens. The two of you would be at peace with each other, and in a few tens of thousands of years, perhaps he could have rejoined the immortal ranks.”

“A'Yuan, it was you who harmed him."

"The karma you have sown in two lives, he has paid for you with his life, and now he is gone, and there is no afterlife. What you should do is to go to the mortal world and get your child back, bring him up properly so that it is not a waste of his devotion to you. He obviously does not remember anything, but he still gave his life to you.

Yan Yuan fell from the ice bed to the floor, knelt in front of Ye Ling Shenjun, stretched out his hands and grabbed the hem of Ye Ling's clothes, and cried out in pain: "Mother... Mother..."

"You are the God of Trailing Spirits, in charge of the scattered souls outside the six realms, you must have a solution, right?..."

"I can't live without him, if I don't have him, I won't be able to live either..."

Ye Ling looked at him with downcast eyes: "So what if I am the God of Trailing Spirits? If the soul had been scattered, it could have been condensed again with the Soul Gathering Lamp, but Xuan Long was reduced to ashes and not even a wisp of soul remains."

“Yuan'er, there is nothing I can do."

Yan Yuan knelt on the ground and cried uncontrollably, his long hair was scattered all over his body. Ye Ling looked pained and bent down to embrace him, but just as his fingertips touched Yan Yuan's shoulder, Yan Yuan braced himself on the ground and crawled up, muttering hoarsely under his breath, "Then I will go and find Father, who will surely have a solution, and if even Father does not have a solution, then I will go to the underworld to find Yan Wang..." Above the Nine Heavens, all the gods were gathered, and he did not believe that none of them could save his A'Po.

Yan Yuan took a step outside and disappeared into the Immortal Pavilion. Ye Ling Shenjun raised his hand and grabbed at his wrist, but his grasp was empty, so he immediately cast a spell to chase after him and blocked Yan Yuan's path before the Temple of Clouds: "Don't you want to know why you recognized the wrong person in the mortal world?"

Yan Yuan looked at the man who was half a head shorter than him in a daze: "Why?

Ye Ling: "Because that Empress was the reincarnation of the Immortal Monarch Zhiyu, who is in charge of the birds in the Heavenly Realm. Your marriage with him was not fulfilled in your previous life, so it was extended to the next life."

"Ten thousand years ago, in the battle between the gods and the demons, the demons divided their troops into two and attacked the South Ridge while attacking the North Ridge with great force. The situation was so urgent that Xuan Long and you took the Heavenly Soldiers to the north and south ridges respectively. In reality, the demon tribe was trying to sound east and west, only a small number of demon soldiers were sent to the North Ridge to scatter the forces of the Heavenly Realm. When you returned and rushed to the South Ridge, the demon tribe had already been defeated by Xuan Long, and you watched him die in your arms. This matter... do you still remember?" (Angel: Sound east and west is an idiom for a military strategy where you confuse the enemy and win by surprise.)

"... Remember." Even after falling into reincarnation and losing his memory, Yan Yuan would constantly keep dreaming of that cruel image. The pain of losing his wife, how could he possibly forget? He clenched his fists, not understanding what Ye Ling was trying to say.

Under Yan Yuan's murky gaze, Ye Ling slowly said, "The person who died that day was not only Xuan Long the God of War, but also Immortal Monarch Zhiyu."

“So what?"

Yan Yuan was not interested in anyone other than Xuan Long.

Ye Ling: "Immortal Monarch Zhiyu lived in the Valley of the Divine Birds for many years. You had never met him, but he met you at a banquet and thought a lot about you ever since. On the day of the Great War of Gods and Demons, when he heard that you were going on a personal expedition, he feared for your safety, so he became a heavenly soldier and blended into your army. The heavenly soldier who saved you from a sword and died in the battle was Immortal Monarch Zhiyu."

"It was him..." Yan Yuan frowned.

At that time, the situation did not allow for distraction, and by the time he returned to his senses, the flesh of the heavenly soldier who had blocked the demonic blade for him had already perished, and he could not even see his face clearly. Later, when he found out that Xuan Long had died, he went mad and barged into the demon realm alone to take revenge, not bothering to look into the rest of the matter.

Ye Ling: “En."

"Xuan Long and Immortal Monarch Zhiyu fell into reincarnation together, and you followed not long after. Although it was to find Xuan Long, you and Zhiyu were already destined to be together, and the Heavenly Way worked, so the love contract you made with Xuan Long became invalid."

The love contract was no longer valid... No wonder... no wonder he could not recognize A'Po and fell in love with Ning Zhiyu at first sight, thinking that Ning Zhiyu was his love in his previous life.

Yan Yuan's eyes were hot and his throat was so sore, he raised his right hand, and his vision blurred as he looked into his empty palm.

The pale blue iris was the love contract he had made with Xuan Long in front of the Three Life Stone. Both of them had it in their hands, and it would appear as a warning of burning pain when the other was about to die, or when they were extremely sad.

When the other dies, the iris will wither in his palm.

He hadn't understood what it meant when he was in the mortal world... It meant that Xuan Long was in pain, that Xuan Long was going to leave him. He just watched Xuan Long die in his arms, twice exactly...

"When you were in the mortal world, you could remember one or two of the previous affairs with Xuan Long, all because of an overly deep obsession. But how can a deep obsession be more powerful than the Heavenly Way?"

"At this time, if you go to the Hall of Gods and look at the marriage book, the word 'Han Po' that you wrote down with your own hands tens of thousands of years ago has long since faded with time. What is engraved next to you is still the three words ‘Immortal Monarch Zhiyu’."

Yan Yuan lowered his hand and slowly tightened it: "So what? If I can change it once, I can change it a second time and a third time... I have decided on him, so I will always want him alone."

His son's stubbornness was obviously a reflection of his own. If he hadn't chased after Yan Jing back then and never repented, he wouldn't have gotten what he wanted. But very often, stubbornness was not a good thing, it could be painful and bitter.

Ye Ling spoke truthfully:

"Xuan Long was born as a lonely star and should have been the one to grasp his relatives. As you are the Purple Heavenly Star, you are the Heavenly Emperor and your luck is far stronger than his, so he cannot grasp you, and you have become the one to grasp him."

"Yuan'er, let him go, he has lived a hard enough life."

This sounded fishy. Yan Yuan's heart slightly moved. He raised his hands to clasp Ye Ling Shenjun's arms and carefully observed his expression: "Mother... you have a solution, don't you?..."

Ye Ling moved to break away his hands that were wrapped around his arms: "There is no way."

Yan Yuan's hand had just been broken away and he grabbed Ye Ling's sleeve again, looking excited: "You must have a solution... don't lie to me..."

The father and son were so familiar with each other that they knew what they were thinking with a single look. It was not easy to restore the soul of a dead person, let alone a dragon that had gone up in ashes.

Yan Yuan clutched the Ye Ling Shenjun tightly: "Mother... I'm not afraid of pain, and I'm not afraid of dying... I want him to live..."

"Please... I just want him to live..."

Ye Ling looked deeply at Yan Yuan, his son's personality followed him as well as his appearance, especially his peach blossom eyes, even the colour of his pupils was the same as his, light brown. He was silent for a long time before letting out a long sigh, "... There is indeed a method that may save him, but only if you promise me three things."

His grip on Ye Ling Shenjun's arms tightened as Yan Yuan's eyes lit up, "What is it?"

" I will promise you anything..."

Ye Ling: "One, if Xuan Long returns, you must not see him again, you must give him back his peace and quiet."

"Two, go to the Demon Clan, bring back Immortal Monarch Zhiyu and marry him as the Heavenly Empress."

"Thirdly, you are not allowed to call me Mother anymore, you must call me Father."

Yan Yuan's hand gradually slid down from Ye Ling Shenjun's sleeve: "Why... why do you want to marry Immortal Monarch Zhiyu, I don't love him at all."

An imperceptible heartache was suppressed under Ye Ling's eyes, "Because that is what you owe him, and you have to follow the Heavenly Way in order to remove the karma, otherwise heavenly punishment will come down and you cannot afford to suffer."

"Yuan'er, you must know that the further you stay away from Xuan Long, the better off he will be."

Yan Yuan's eyes dropped mournfully, and a tear rolled down from his eyes.

"... Okay."

"I promise you."

I will never see him again.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: November 6/7, 2022