Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 128

What's Wrong With Father?

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"How can you say such things?” Ye Ling was overcome with grief and slowly withdrew his hand from Yan Yuan's face.

“Yuan'er, Father knows how hard it is for you, but is there nothing more in front of you than love?"

"As the Emperor of Heaven, you carry a heavy burden, and it has been your duty to guard this Heavenly Realm since you were born. Even though Xuan Long has now returned and A'Zhi has a mother, will he not sense it in his heart when he loses you?"

"Your father and I have only had one child, and we have held you in our hearts since you were a child, and we have placed high hopes on you..." At the end of his sentence, Ye Ling's eyes were already red at the corners, and his voice was hoarse.

For parents, they want their children to live well, it's too hard to be trapped by love. But there are some things that are completely out of one's control and impossible to control.

It was too painful to live like this... Every day when he lost that person, every moment when he opened his eyes and thought of Xuan Long, even breathing was painful. That pain far outweighed all the damage done to his physical body.

In such a condition, it was difficult for him to live properly and he had to fight with all his might to convince himself to let the other person go. He could try to let them go, but he couldn't let himself go.

There was no way he could live as if nothing had happened, marry someone he didn't even love, so that he could resolve the so-called heavenly punishment and continue to live in the world.

If the heavens insisted on his death, he could accept it in peace... but he would never give in to fate.

"It is I who have failed you."

"It is I who am selfish and self-serving. Losing him... will make me unable to do anything." Yan Yuan tilted his head, barely keeping the tears in his eyes. He took a deep breath and looked at Ye Ling with a smile.

“This son is unfilial, Father, let's pretend that you never gave birth to me, I am currently too preoccupied with myself to care about anything else..."

“A'Zhi is a good child, in the future, let him pay respect to you on my behalf... He is intelligent by nature, he will be able to manage this Heavenly Realm well and will do a better job than me."

Ye Ling's lips trembled, and clear liquid rolled down his cheeks: “Yuan'er..."

Yan Yuan dropped both knees to the ground, and quietly knelt down to kowtow before him three times.

"Mother, I'm sorry..."

"Forgive me..."

Ye Ling was such a strong person, Yan Yuan had never seen him shed tears since he was a child; even when his mother and father were in conflict, the one who cried and admitted his fault was never Ye Ling.

When he looked up at that moment, he saw that Ye Ling had tears streaming down his face. Yan Yuan felt a sharp pain in his heart and wiped away his tears with his fingertips, comforting him with a smile, "Don't cry, if Father sees that I have made Mother cry, he will definitely scold me."

Some people are always smiling on the outside, but in reality there is a gaping hole in their hearts, leaking wind and dripping blood, and their wounds are so long-lasting that they can't even warm themselves, so how can they have the energy to warm others?

Ye Ling had also fought for love and suffered a lot because he was too stubborn, but he was far more fortunate than Yan Yuan.

Although Yan Jing did not like him at first, it was no match for what was written in the marriage book; he and Yan Jing were destined to be an immortal couple, even through all the twists and turns and hardships, they would eventually be together.

That was the reason he vowed not to turn back...

However, Yan Yuan and Xuan Long were different. If two people who were destined to be fruitless were forced together, it would only be a lose-lose situation, and no one could stand by and watch their child die for a love affair that had no future.

How could he bear it?

“Yuan'er, you can't do that..." Ye Ling grabbed the wrist of Yan Yuan’s hand that was touching his face and shook his head slowly.

"I don't want to either... it's fate that is too cruel."

So cruel that there was not even room for him to resist.

Just now, when he asked where A'Zhi had gone, Ye Ling said that Yan Jing had taken A'Zhi to the Third Heaven to buy snacks.

The immortal gods in the Fourth Heaven and above don't need to eat, they can survive by sucking in the essence of the day and night, but they do enjoy their favourite foods on a regular basis.

In the Third Heaven, there is a lively marketplace of snacks, just like in the mortal world, selling many fun things.

These days, Yan Yuan had been in a coma, so A'Zhi was kept in the Temple of Clouds with Ye Ling and Yan Jing to look after him. He couldn't see his father and always missed him, and Ye Ling and Yan Jing didn't dare tell A'Zhi that his father was seriously injured, so they kept it to themselves. When A'Zhi was unhappy, they took him out to play and diverted his attention.

It had been a month since the father and son had seen each other, and Yan Yuan missed him very much.

It was getting late, so he should go and fetch A’Zhi and bring the young boy to see his mother, from whom he has been forcibly separated from since birth.

After wiping Ye Ling's tears, Yan Yuan withdrew his hand and turned around, his smile gradually fading away, leaving only dead silence.

“Yuan'er, you are too cruel..." Ye Ling whispered to his back.

Yan Yuan's body paused, looking at the endless sea of clouds outside the door: "Perhaps I was born with a cruel heart, otherwise how could I have given all my cruelty to him alone..."

“If Mother loses me, he still has Father. I am different, if I lose him, I have nothing left... I cut out my heart with my own hands... How can a person live well after losing his heart."

"Mother... I wanted to, but I couldn't... do it," He choked up uncontrollably between his words. "... Ten thousand years ago, he died fighting for me to protect my Heavenly Realm territory. Ten thousand years later, he gave his life to me again and died to raise a son for me. He treated me with love stronger than gold and thoughts deeper than the sea, I owe him so much..."

He owed Xuan Long more than he could ever repay, and there was no way to erase the pain and guilt from his heart and start a new life.

It was too painful to live like this...

The mother and son are linked by a heart. Apart from Yan Yuan himself, no one can feel Yan Yuan's pain better than Ye Ling, but he is unwilling to give up his heart, unable to accept that his own child is walking ahead of him. Once the heavenly punishment comes down, there is no way out.

Even as a divine ruler, he could not resist it, and no one could save Yan Yuan.

"What you owe him, you will have the chance to pay back later, ah. As the Heavenly Emperor, you cannot give Xuan Long what he wants, ah. Apart from love, you can give him anything."

Ye Ling shrunk down and appeared beside Yan Yuan, clasping his wrist.

"You listen to your father's words, don't take the bull by the horns... Father knows that you don't love Immortal Monarch Zhiyu, but in order to overcome the heavenly punishment, you can marry him for the time being. If you can't be a loving couple, it's better to respect each other."

"No one is forcing you to fall in love with him..."

Yan Yuan could not see his mother's tearful appearance, and did not look at him, shaking his head, "I have already missed one life, I can't make another mistake."

"Excluding love… A'Po has never coveted anything else from me, but even this love, I have given it so shallowly and stingy..."

"Mother, please stop persuading..." Gently but firmly, he broke away from Ye Ling's hand, and Yan Yuan stepped outside, "...... I don't want anyone except him."

“Yuan'er..."

Ten thousand years ago, Yan Yuan insisted on abdicating his throne and falling into the mortal world to find Xuan Long, and Ye Ling was unable to stop him. Ten thousand years later, Yan Yuan insisted on going against the Heavenly Way, against the Heavens, and Ye Ling was equally unable to stop him.

Yan Yuan and Xuan Long, in the end, who is the calamity of whom and who is the curse of whom?

Misfortune and blessing go hand in hand. Neither of them can escape the mercy of the Heavens... Is this fate?

Ye Ling's feet went weak and he fell to the ground.

As soon as Yan Yuan left the Temple of Clouds, he saw a flash of white light in mid-air, and Yan Jing, who was holding A'Zhi, appeared at the foot of the hundred jade steps.

Just back from the Third Heaven, A'Zhi was holding a string of candy figures in the shape of a willow with one hand, and holding Yan Jing's neck with the other. He was leaning against Yan Jing's shoulder with a small candy figure in his mouth, his eyelids drooping weekly.

Yan Jing usually wore black robes, and when his face was expressionless, he looked very cold and solemn, but at this moment, when he looked at his grandson in his arms, his handsome eyebrows were quite soft, and he asked A'Zhi in a low voice if he is sleepy.

Hearing this, A'Zhi took the candy figure out of his mouth, propped himself up on Yan Jing's broad shoulders and straightened his little body to look at him, "Grandfather, why hasn't Father come to see A'Zhi ah..."

The icy turquoise pupils were bleary-eyed and the voice was muffled and soft, anyone who heard it would have a soft heart.

Yan Jing looked over towards the person at the top of the steps, lifting his jaw slightly and saying, “A’Zhi, look who it is."

A'Zhi turned his head in confusion, and with a blur before his eyes, he saw Yan Yuan appearing close to him.

"Father..."

"Father!"

In response, he joyfully tried to lean over and jump into Yan Yuan's arms, but suddenly saw a large bloodstain on his lapel and froze: "Father, why are you bleeding..."

"Hug Father." Yan Yuan opened his arms and smiled at him, not answering, as if he hadn't heard.

Yan Jing looked slightly dark: “A’Zhi, try using voice transmission to speak to Father."

A'Zhi looked at Yan Yuan and then at Yan Jing, "Why do I need to use voice transmission?"

“A'Zhi learned a new technique last night, so you need to show Father the results, that way he can praise A'Zhi." Yan Jing's low, mellow voice was gentle.

A'Zhi felt that it was reasonable, so he used his voice transmission technique to repeat what he had just said, and asked Yan Yuan where he had been these days, before Yan Yuan smiled lightly and replied to him:

"It's not blood, Father accidentally spilled the paint when he was painting and soiled his clothes, he didn't have time to change."

“A'Zhi's mother is back, does A'Zhi want to go see him?"

Of course he did, and A'Zhi nodded, leaning into Yan Yuan's open arms and moving into his arms. The moment he touched his father's chest, he clearly felt his father's body stiffen and his breathing tighten.

But soon A'Zhi was held tightly.

"Father, I will take A'Zhi to see his mother."

“En."

After saying goodbye to Yan Jing, Yan Yuan carried A'Zhi to General Xuan Hall. Compared to Yan Yuan's silence, A'Zhi talked quite a lot on the way.

Although he had often heard Yan Yuan say that his mother liked him very much and had met him briefly in the realm of the soul consciousness, this was the first time he had seen him formally. He was not only happy, but also a little apprehensive, fearing that if he did not behave well, his mother would not like him.

Yan Yuan smiled and told him that no matter what A'Zhi became, the person who loved him most in the world would be his mother. All A'Zhi had to do was to be himself.

A'Zhi relaxed a little.

He was smart enough to notice that something was wrong with Yan Yuan, but he couldn't say exactly what was wrong.

As he was being carried up the steps of General Xuan Hall, A’Zhi looked at Yan Yuan's profile and stopped using used his voice transmission technique to call out in a tentative whisper, "Father..."

Yan Yuan did not respond.

A'Zhi's heart tightened and he called out again, "Father..."

Still no response.

His father could not hear him.

Yan Yuan sent A'Zhi to the door and did not go in. A'Zhi asked him why he was not going in with him to see his mother, and Yan Yuan smiled and bent down to touch his little head, saying:

"Father still has things to attend to. If you want to return to the Dongji Palace, ask your mother to use the sound transmission paper crane to tell Father, and Father will come to pick you up later."

"If you can't leave your mother, you can stay here as well, it's up to A'Zhi's own will."

A'Zhi did not understand why they had to live separately, "What about Father..."

"Go in quickly." Yan Yuan urged in a soft voice.

A'Zhi noticed that Yan Yuan's face was very pale and remembered how Yan Yuan looked when he was about to die on earth, and his eyes reddened involuntarily, "Father, what is wrong with you..."

Why can't you hear me anymore?

Yan Yuan forced down the cough in his throat, afraid that if he couldn't help coughing up blood he would scare A'Zhi, and gently pushed the little boy's shoulders a few steps forward.

"Father is fine, go in quickly, your mother must have waited a long time."

‿︵‿︵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: December 18, 2022