Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 130

You Are the Only Way He Can Live

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Xuan Long was picked up from the West Sea by Yan Jing when he was young and taken in as his adopted son. He was several hundred years older than Yan Yuan and grew up with him, and Yan Jing and Ye Ling had treated him with kindness.

Yan Yuan was not happy to be given an older brother for no reason. He often bullied Xuan Long when he was young, but Xuan Long had been obedient since he was a child, giving in to Yan Yuan and obeying him, so he was accepted over time.

Yan Jing valued him very much, taught him magic and urged him to learn the art of war, which led to Xuan Long becoming the divine general.

It was only reasonable that he should have paid his respects to Yan Jing and Ye Ling when he returned to the Nine Heavens.

Fifty thousand years ago, Yan Yuan decided to marry Xuan Long as the Heavenly Empress, but their destinies were incompatible and their names were not in line with each other, so they were bound to suffer heavenly punishment if they insisted on being together. Yan Jing and Ye Ling were very angry because of this.

Yan Yuan wanted to marry Xuan Long, but if Xuan Long did not want to, the former could not do anything about it; it was not Yan Yuan's will, but Xuan Long's willingness.

When two people are in love, no one can stop them.

For a long time after the marriage, Ye Ling refused to give Xuan Long face. It was not until he heard that Xuan Long was pregnant that their relationship eased up a little, and he sent a book about pregnancy to him to read.

Later, before he could gain understanding from Ye Ling, Xuan Long was killed in battle at the Southern Ridge.

When he was reborn, he recalled all the things he had done in the past and knew that he had disappointed Yan Jing and Ye Ling so much. After hearing that they were doing well, he was relieved and did not want to get in their way. Unexpectedly, Ye Ling took the initiative to find him.

Reacting, Xuan Long bowed and addressed the man on the steps.

"Greetings, Shenjun."

"No need to be polite.” Ye Ling smiled lightly, as if he no longer cared about the past. "General, your flesh has not long been reshaped, how is the soul fracture recovering?"

Xuan Long: “Thank you for your concern, Shenjun... It is good."

The two of them were silent for a moment before Ye Ling said bluntly, "I have something I would like to ask the General."

In the past, Ye Ling had always called him Xiao Han Po, but now he was calling him General, obviously distant. When he was young, if Ye Ling found something new to eat, Yan Yuan would have it and so would Xuan Long. Yan Yuan was not happy about his parents' love being shared with others and would always huff and puff and hog Xuan Long's share, and Ye Ling would reprimand Yan Yuan for this.

They had indeed treated him well, and he had failed them.

Xuan Long straightened up and guided Ye Ling into the bedchamber. He went to the table, conjured up a green tea set, lifted the teapot and poured a cup of hot tea, gently placing it in front of Ye Ling.

"Please speak, Shenjun, whatever it is, I will do my best."

Ye Ling: “Let’s sit down and talk."

Xuan Long nodded and sat down on the stool beside Ye Ling.

Ye Ling looked deeply into his handsome face and stared at the half dark gold mask, sighing softly, "Do you know why I have come?"

Xuan Long shook his head. He indeed did not know.

"For Yuan’er." Ye Ling said.

Xuan Long couldn't help but look up and meet Ye Ling's eyes, "He and I... have already dissolved the contract."

"Well, but this matter, it is not over." Ye Ling lowered his eyes to hide the sorrow in them. He twirled the bowl of tea on the table and blew the heat off the water, then pursed his lips and took a small sip.

"The karma you have planted has not yet been removed."

Xuan Long did not know what Ye Ling wanted to say and waited patiently, remaining silent.

"Fifty thousand years ago, Yan Jing and I learned that Yuan’er was going to marry you and were therefore furious, do you still remember?"

"Yes." Xuan Long answered with downcast eyes.

Ye Ling smiled bitterly, "We had predicted this day."

"You are a lonely star, and your qi is too weak compared to Yuan’er's. If you are with him, you are destined to be overcome by him and plunged into an abyss of doom."

"General, you are the child that Yan Jing and I raised, we have spent no less effort on you than Yuan'er, yet you have put yourself in prison for love, how can we not be angry?"

"On the day before the wedding, I told you the truth and advised you not to take this path. You said that you were not afraid of heavenly punishment and that as long as you could be with him, you would have nothing to fear... Now, do you regret it?"

Regret?

Has he ever regretted?...

Xuan Long had never thought about this question.

When Yan Yuan was young and naughty, he took pleasure in bullying him, but when he was really laughed at by others because of his orphan status, it was the same man who defiantly rushed up and beat up that royal son of the Empress Mother of the West, and from then on no one dared to look down on him again.

On the day he became an adult, he went to war for the first time and was struck by a sword in the abdomen. Fearing that Ye Ling and Yan Jing would be worried if they found out, he endured the pain and dared not consult a doctor. However, the wound festered so badly that it was discovered by Yan Yuan, who scolded him and then went to the healer's house to fetch some medicine and treated his wound personally.

There were so many things like this. Some people looked bad on the surface, but in reality, they had a hidden tenderness.

If you were to ask him if he regretted it...

"I... don't regret it." Xuan Long said in a low, but firm voice.

Even if he did not spend ten thousand lifetimes with that person, the love he had once had was not fake.

How could he regret it?

"Having come this far, you still have no regrets?..." Ye Ling raised one long eyebrow.

“En."

Ye Ling smiled ruefully, "No wonder... no wonder..."

"No wonder Yuan'er is so bewitched by you, it is because you are more bewitched than he is."

Bewitched or mad, that was all in the past, it was no longer relevant to talk about, there was no point in talking about it anymore.

Xuan Long had a feeling that Ye Ling would soon reveal his true intentions, and indeed, in the next breath, he heard him say.

"But you must regret it."

"General, you must regret it."

Xuan Long looked up, only to see Ye Ling staring at him, his eyes red with grief and anguish.

"If you do not repent… Yuan'er will die."

"Do you want him to die?"

Yan Yuan is A'Zhi's father, even if he failed him, it was not his fate, how could he want him to die? When he said one goodbye and each would be happy, he was hoping that he would really be happy.

"... Why did Shenjun say that?"

Ye Ling closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and only after he had calmed down did he open his eyes and speak:

“When he first went to the mortal world to look for you, Yuan’er was blinded and identified the wrong person. He regretted what he had done, and after you gave birth to A'Zhi and left, he survived until A’Zhi was five years old, and then went with you."

"After he regained his position as Emperor of the Nine Heavens, he knew that you had perished in ashes, so he sought a way to gather your soul. When he saw that your physical body had perished, he broke into Nuwa's realm alone to obtain six heavenly fruits for you to rebuild your physical body, so that you could live again."

Previously, Xuan Long did not think deeply about how he was reborn, he thought that as Yan Yuan was the Heavenly Emperor, he must have had the help of all the immortal gods in the Heavenly Realm. Even if the process was difficult, it would not be too much effort for Yan Yuan. Hearing what Ye Ling said at that moment, he realised that something was wrong.

"Nuwa's Realm..." Xuan Long murmured, his eyebrows gradually wrinkling up deeply.

He knew about Nuwa's Realm. When he fell into the mortal world, his father had died in order to save his mother who was in childbirth and went to Nuwa's Realm to look for the Heavenly Fruit. It is said that after entering Nuwa's Realm, all gods, demons and evils will lose their spiritual power and become like mortals.

To defeat the ancient beasts with a mortal body is as difficult as ascending to Heaven.

Otherwise, why would his father have been gnawed to the bone... If not, his mother would not have hated him to the bone.

“En, Nuwa's realm." Ye Ling's voice was tinged with huskiness.

“Yuan’er managed to obtain the heavenly fruit for you, and at the same time lost his two emotions, malice and anger, as well as his sense of hearing, smell and taste, and three desires. He was in a coma for a whole month after his return before he woke up, and his serious injuries have not yet healed."

"His soul... was no longer intact after that."

Xuan Long was completely stunned, his breathing became laboured, his mind went blank and he briefly lost the ability to think.

"How could this be..."

"Why did he do this..."

Why should he care when he has already gained what he truly loved? Just because of guilt?

Guilt worth Yan Yuan tearing his soul apart just to save his life?...

Ye Ling quickly gave him the answer.

"Because it is you he has loved since the beginning."

"Fifty thousand years ago it was you, and fifty thousand years later it is still you. Even when he fell in love with someone else in the mortal world, it was because he mistakenly imposed all of his obsessions for you onto Immortal Monarch Zhiyu, and thus mistakenly recognized the wrong person. He loved you with all his might, but Heaven forbade him from loving you."

"The more he loved you and the closer he came to you, the greater the repercussions of the Heavenly Way on you. Having watched you die twice, how could he dare?"

"So he was willing to let you go and return your freedom... but he was not willing to let himself go."

"You know, he is not willing to let himself go..." Speaking with a crying voice, Ye Ling tilted his head slightly.

Xuan Long stared blankly at the man in front of him whose appearance resembled Yan Yuan, feeling that it was all too unreal. The so-called truth was dumped on him all at once, and he simply could not digest it.

So Yan Yuan wasn't transferring... but had recognized the wrong person?...

“Yuan’er is so bent on going against the grain that he has finally angered the Heavenly Way. If he marries Immortal Monarch Zhiyu, he will be able to settle the heavenly punishment, but he is not willing to do so, he would rather die."

"General, tell me, do you hate him?..."

“I…” Perhaps I hated him when I was in the mortal world, hated him for being ruthless, hated him for being cruel, compared to the whips that fell on my body, compared to the demon chains that pierced into my shoulder, what hurt more was my heart.

Now Ye Ling was telling him that it was because Yan Yuan had misplaced his obsession with him on Ning Zhiyu, so his craziness and cruelty was all because of himself?

Xuan Long momentarily did not know whether to be happy or sad, and the hands hidden in the sleeves of his coat involuntarily tightened.

"It's all in the past... it doesn't matter whether you hate it or not."

Ye Ling knew Xuan Long's temperament, and since he had come here to tell the truth, he was not afraid that Xuan Long would continue to be entangled with Yan Yuan.

If the heavenly punishment only befell Xuan Long himself, he might have gone all the way and never looked back, but if Yan Yuan would die as a result of the heavenly punishment, Xuan Long would definitely stay away from Yan Yuan.

How could he not understand the child he had watched grow up? Xuan Long grew up with a good temperament and would think of the people around him.

"Your destinies are incompatible and you are not destined to be together, this is the will of God."

"The Emperor's star is getting dimmer and dimmer, and the heavenly punishment is imminent. Once it comes down, there will be no way for him to live. Yuan’er is stubborn, I can not persuade him, now it’s only your words that he may still listen to. For the sake of Yan Jing and I who have raised you, General, persuade him for me, okay?...” Ye Ling was a proud man, but now his tone was almost begging.

He was just a mother who was afraid of losing his beloved son.

“I will persuade him?..." Murmured Xuan Long.

“En, you go and persuade him to marry Immortal Monarch Zhiyu. Persuade him to resign himself to his fate and persuade him to live well."

"Let him completely give up on you, once and for all."

"General, you are now the only way for Yuan’er to live, will you save him?..."

‿︵‿︵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 26, 2022