Old New Year's Eve Memories
Old New Year's Eve Memories
Of course, he did not become arrogant because of this. Instead, he said with a smile, "You three do not need to show me so much reservation. I do not know much about the camp, so I will need to rely on the three of you."
"Commander, you are too kind. The three of us were too full of ourselves, and we made a fool of ourselves before you," Tu Tian said in embarrassment.
They were full of confidence, so sure that they could easily crush Zhang Ruochen and take his command as a matter of course. They never thought that the results would end up like this instead.
Ever since they started their cultivation, they had never lost so thoroughly before, much less to a person who was two realms beneath them.
However, they did not feel bitter about the loss. On the contrary, they were extremely impressed with Zhang Ruochen. After all, Zhang Ruochen had not used any dirty tricks and had beaten them fair and square.
A true powerhouse deserved their admiration and respect.
"It's a very common thing to learn from one another. For the three of you to be willing to fight me, it is also a recognition of my strength. The three of you do not need to feel bad about it," Zhang Ruochen said.
"Commander, your generosity puts us to shame. The three of us want to host a welcoming banquet for you, and we hope that you won't decline." Tu Tian looked directly at Zhang Ruochen, his gaze extremely sincere.
Zhang Ruochen smiled and said, "Since the three of you have such good intentions, I definitely can't refuse it."
He only wanted to take control of the scene, but there was no need for him to offend the three Tu brothers. Having too many enemies was not a good thing after all.
Immediately, the formation array in the arena was dispelled as the three Tu brothers walked out of the arena escorting Zhang Ruochen.
Before long, tons of good food and wine were served inside the camp; all of the Nine-step Saint Kings were gathered in there.
Since it was a banquet to welcome Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin, the more the merrier.
At the banquet, headed by the three Tu brothers, a group of elites came to toast Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin.
Xiang Chunan originally despised the three Tu brothers, but after three rounds of drinking, he and the three Tu brothers started to call each other brothers. That kind of friendliness felt like something between people who had known each other for a long time.
By the time the banquet was over, it was already dark.
Zhang Ruochen walked out of the camp alone and found a place to sit down at random. He looked up to the moon as many emotions inevitably welled in his heart.
Tonight was New Year's eve, snow was falling from the sky and it was beautiful.
For ordinary people, today should be the day that families gathered together for a reunion dinner as they talked about their daily lives.
The image of Concubine Lin appeared in his mind. He had gone to the Celestial Court to try to make himself stronger in the past years, and he had not been together with Concubine Lin for many years now.
Now that he had returned to the Kunlun Realm, he still could not spend New Year's eve with Concubine Lin.
However, with Mu Lingxi by Concubine Lin's side, he supposed that she would be very happy?
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen thought of Chi Kunlun and Chi Kongyue. After they bade farewell at the Celestial Domain of Truth, he had never seen them again. He did not know how they were doing now.
Whether as a son or as a father, he felt that he had been horrible at both and had not fulfilled his responsibilities.
However, he did not have a choice. Too many burdens had been placed upon his shoulders. If he had a choice, why would he not want to reunite with his parents, wife, and children to enjoy life?
Gradually, the image of Mu Lingxi became clearer in Zhang Ruochen's mind.
Thinking of Mu Lingxi, a happy smile subconsciously appeared on Zhang Ruochen's face. For so many years, no matter what situation he was in, Mu Lingxi had always been by his side. That was probably the greatest favor God had ever done for him.
He then wrote a communication talisman and sent it to Mu Lingxi.
There was nothing important on it, only expressions of his longing for Mu Lingxi. After all, they had been separated for a very long time now.
Not long after, a communication light talisman flew over from the horizon, and it was caught by Zhang Ruochen.
The communication light talisman was naturally from Mu Lingxi. There were not many words on it, nevertheless, it expressed her deep longing.
Just as an arc was about to form on Zhang Ruochen's mouth, another light talisman flew over, also from Mu Lingxi.
Seeing the content of the communication talisman, Zhang Ruochen's expression changed drastically.
"I have news that I think is necessary to tell you. Sister Chen's parents were killed by the Blackslaughter Ghost Lord a few days ago."
Clearly, Mu Lingxi had been wondering if she should break the news to Zhang Ruochen. After some contemplating, however, she decided to let Zhang Ruochen know. After all, the two of them were Zhang Ruochen's parents-in-law.
The news was so sudden that Zhang Ruochen could not respond to it for a moment.
He had met Chen Liuli during the battle for the Eastern Region Saint Kingdom's Mansion. Unexpectedly, she would encounter her end soon after.
Zhang Ruochen inevitably thought of Huang Yanchen as many images appeared in his mind, all of the bits and pieces of him with Huang Yanchen.
He thought that he had forgotten everything about Huang Yanchen and did not expect the memories to be so deeply entrenched.
He was not a heartless person, after all, hence he was unable to truly forget about Huang Yanchen. She had been the first woman he had opened his heart to after he had been hurt by love.
When Huang Yanchen deceived him with Chi Yao and stood by Chi Yao's side in the end, the incident had broken his heart completely, almost causing him to close off his heart once again.
He should have despised Huang Yanchen, but truth be told, he could not hate her at all.
Back then, the Immortal Vampires had attacked the Qianshui Royal City and slaughtered Huang Yanchen's entire family in order to force him to show up. Even the king and queen of Qianshui Commandery were taken captive. He had really owed Huang Yanchen too much.
Plus, the Divine Scripture Maiden had told him before that Huang Yanchen was dead. The dead could not come back to life, so he could not hate Huang Yanchen at all.
However, neither he nor Huang Yanchen could return to the past.
"The Blackslaughter Ghost Lord must die."
A terrifying murderous intent appeared in Zhang Ruochen's eyes.
Now that Huang Yanchen was no longer around, the vengeance for her parents could only be done by him.
There was no other reason, he was just following his own will.
Zhang Ruochen wanted to go to the Eastern Region himself, and personally slay the Blackslaughter Ghost Lord, but he couldn't. A major battle in the Northern Region was about to commence, and he could not leave at this moment regardless of the reason.
Immediately, he sent out another communication light talisman, but it was sent to Le.
The Blackslaughter Ghost Lord was a powerful Six-Tribulations Ghost Lord whose strength was comparable to those of the Precept Dominion realm. He had occupied a city in the Eastern Region, and no one knew how many humans he had slaughtered. Killing him was not something ordinary individuals could pull off.
Although he had not seen Le for a very long while, Zhang Ruochen believed that Le would have sufficient strength to complete the task.
Plus, Le was in the Kunlun Realm and was the best person to do this.
A short while later, Le sent a message with only one sentence back. "The Blackslaughter Ghost Lord will not live to see tomorrow's sunrise."
As long as one was in the Kunlun Realm, going anywhere was actually very convenient. One could just reach them directly through the various Merit Sub-Terminals.
Earlier on, as Zhang Ruochen did not want people to know his whereabouts, so he deployed his own teleportation array to obscure his movements.
His sudden appearance in the Northern Region, which had caught many off guard, proved that fact.
After handing the matter to Le, Zhang Ruochen became silent, with many thoughts and emotions mixing in his heart.
"Brother, why are you here alone?"
Feng Yan appeared behind Zhang Ruochen without him noticing.
Hearing Feng Yan's voice, Zhang Ruochen's thoughts were instantly snapped back to reality.
Exhaling lightly, Zhang Ruochen said, "It's nothing. I just wanted to come out to enjoy the silence and look at the snow."
How could Feng Yan not see that there was something wrong with Zhang Ruochen's mood? As such, he could not help but say, "Brother, what's on your mind? Why don't you tell me."
Zhang Ruochen did not say anything but raised his head instead, looking at the bright moon in the sky and the falling snowflakes. His mind could not help but return to New Year's eve ten years ago. It was then that he and Huang Yanchen went on diverging paths as they slowly became strangers.
If that had not happened, he and Huang Yanchen would have been living happily, and perhaps their children may have already grown up.
After a long silence, Zhang Ruochen spoke. "Second Brother, let me tell you a story."
"All right, Brother. Please go ahead," Feng Yan responded as he sat down beside Zhang Ruochen.
He did not know what had happened to Zhang Ruochen, and he did not know how to comfort him either. All he could do was stay by Zhang Ruochen's side, even if just as a listener.
Only at this moment there their bond as brothers was best reflected.
Zhang Ruochen recomposed himself and said, "There was once a prince of a weak commandery. In order to help his land through a crisis, he followed his father to a powerful commandery to seek help. It happened that the powerful commandery was hosting a husband selection for its lady. Through his outstanding performance, the prince shocked everyone and won the martial arts competition for her hand in marriage. By a twist of fate, marriage was arranged between him and the lady's elder sister. At the same time, the prince also learned that the lady's elder sister was a senior sister from the same school...
"After going through many trials and tribulations, the prince finally walked out from his dark emotional pall and began to open up to the senior sister, eventually marrying her...
"When the prince found out that the senior sister whom he had finally opened his heart to was actually deceiving him with their master and insisted on standing by the master's side ultimately, the prince was furious. His heart closed up once again, and the prince cut off all ties with the senior sister, leading to both of them going on opposing paths.
"The prince thought that he would hate that senior sister forever, but when he found out that she had died, he realized that he had already lain everything down. His love and hatred then drifted away with the wind."
In the end, Zhang Ruochen could not help but to shed a tear.
Perhaps it was because he had verbalized what he had been suppressing in his heart for too long, but Zhang Ruochen felt somewhat better now.
If everything were to happened again, perhaps he would not have been as decisive as before, and perhaps she would not have passed away in sorrow.
After listening to Zhang Ruochen's story, Feng Yan could not help but sigh deeply, but he did not make any comments.
If it were him, what choices would he make?
How could he not tell that the hero of this story was Zhang Ruochen himself, and the heroine was naturally Lady Yanchen?
He had actually heard about the two, but he did not expect it to be so complicated.
Raising his hand, Feng Yan took out a wine gourd and said, "Brother, let's have a few drinks together."
Zhang Ruochen did not any anything, he simply just reached out to take the wine gourd as he raised his head and took a swig.
He was not an alcoholic, but he really wanted a drink at this very moment. Perhaps he would no longer have any troubles and sorrows if he was drunk.
"Big Brother, the both of you were secretly drinking outside and did not call me along. This will not do."
Right then, Xiang Chunan ran out of the camp.
A faint smile appeared on Zhang Ruochen's face, and he tossed the wine gourd to Xiang Chunan as he said, "You came at the right time. Second Brother has just taken out the wine. It's a rare, good wine, so have a taste."
Xiang Chunan extended his hand and caught the wine gourd as he said with a guffaw. "In that case, I won't hold back."
Feng Yan rolled his eyes at Xiang Chunan and said, "Third Brother, you have wronged Big Brother and me. Since when have we forgotten about you whenever we have something good? I thought that you had drunk a lot earlier and almost passed out. That's why I didn't call you."
"Me, passing out from drinking? You gotta be kidding. With my ability to drink, who can knock me out? Also, drinking a couple more is fine, so Second Brother, take all of your good wines out. Before the battle, let's have a good time drinking." Xiang Chunan glared at him in reply.
When it came to drinking, he had absolute confidence.
Feng Yan shook his head as he said, "Sure, drink as much as you wish today. I'm in the business of selling alcohol, so why should I even be afraid of you drinking?"
Hearing this, Xiang Chunan burst into laughter and said, "Still, Second Brother is the best."
Looking at Feng Yan and Xiang Chunan beside him, a genuine smile appeared on Zhang Ruochen's face. To have two good brothers by his side... The heavens had treated him well.