“I should have perished many years ago,” he continued. “But I was worried about you, so I put things off until today. If it were possible, I would accompany you a bit further, just like in the Demon Immortal Pagoda, me in the lead, you following… off into the distance.” He smiled, but his face was pale. More and more white nodes floated around him, making his smile seem somewhat distant.
“Dad….” said Meng Hao, pulling at Ke Yunhai’s hand.
“All of your brothers and sisters have already gone. Now that I’m leaving, you won’t have any relatives left in the world…. I hope that in the future… you will learn to be a bit more sensible.” As Ke Yunhai gazed at Meng Hao, the kindness in his eyes grew stronger, as did the reluctance to part. It was exactly as he said; what he was concerned most about in his life, was the child who kneeled in front of him now.
If there were even a little bit of hope to buy more time, he would seize it, and watch Ke Jiusi truly grow up.
Meng Hao wasn’t able to give voice to what he was feeling deep in his heart. He felt stabs of pain, as if his world were falling apart. It was as if there were a vortex inside of him, sucking in all of his thoughts.
He could only clasp Ke Yunhai’s hand tightly with his own. He could only cry. He opened his mouth, but no words came out, not even one.
“Don’t be sad. Your brothers and sisters are waiting for me. I’m their father too. I need to spend some time with them, also…. Jiusi, daddy hopes that one day, when I’m in the underworld, you’ll make me proud….”
Outside, the bells had tolled eighty-nine times. Ke Yunhai’s body was now completely surrounded by spinning white nodes of light. The hand that Meng Hao held began to grow faint. The only thing that was clear now, was Ke Yunhai’s kind smile.
His eyes had begun to fade. During the last ten tolls of the death knell, they would lose all of their brightness. They would transform into countless dots of light that would then vanish into the air.
Meng Hao’s heart felt as if it were being torn into pieces. His body quivered as he attempted to hold tight to Ke Yunhai’s disappearing hand.
“Dad……..”
Suddenly, Ke Yunhai’s fading eyes once again seemed to focus, as if he were using all the last bits of his life force to look at Meng Hao. He looked almost as if he were in a daze.
There in front of him, he saw a figure slowly materializing behind Meng Hao. It was a man in a white robe, whose features looked completely different than Meng Hao’s. He had long hair, and looked young, but also seemed to be filled with an endless ancientness.
This was none other than… Ke Jiusi!