Jiang Shan clenched his fist, then opened it. That stream of spiritual power converged into a faint light, wandering in his palm.
"This is my power..."
He felt it was very unreal; the power flowed so smoothly within him that it felt somewhat surreal.
"So he... is he still alive?" Jiang Shan asked tremblingly.
Xiang Beifei fell into silence again, and after a long time, he slowly said, "I’m sorry."
Jiang Shan stumbled, almost unable to stand, and collapsed onto the wooden bench beside him. He clenched his fist tightly, seeming to age ten years in an instant.
"I still couldn’t save him." Jiang Shan looked extremely pained, holding his forehead with both hands, his whole body trembling slightly.
Xiang Beifei hesitated for a moment, then with a wave of his hand, Xiao Houzi’s body appeared in the courtyard.
Seeing his son’s corpse, Jiang Shan felt all his strength leave him. He walked over dumbly and held his son’s body in his arms, his eyes becoming a bit dazed.
"I was too late when I arrived," Xiang Beifei said honestly.
Jiang Shan clutched his son’s cold, lifeless body tightly, feeling as cold inside as what he held against him.
For a long time, he said nothing more, just looked at his son.
Jiang Shan felt as if his heart was being cut with a knife. He originally only wanted his son to learn to grow up, which was why he did not follow that day. But he never expected that the price of growing up would be so heavy.
He hated himself, hated that he hadn’t followed Xiao Houzi secretly, letting Xiao Houzi hunt alone. If he had gone with him that day, he certainly would have been able to protect Xiao Houzi, to protect his son.
"I failed to fulfill what I promised your mother, Xiao Houzi. Father is sorry. If possible, I really wish I could trade my life to bring you back..."
Self-blame, guilt, grief... various emotions filled his mind, and Jiang Shan was on the brink of collapse.
Xiang Beifei sat quietly on the side, not knowing how to comfort this father.
During these days of interaction, he could clearly feel that Jiang Shan truly loved this son, using various methods to protect Xiao Houzi. Although there was an accident, at least Xiao Houzi always had someone accompanying him as he grew up.
Not like some couple who, to this day, nobody knows where they’ve wandered off to, causing so much worry.
After hesitating for a long time, he finally said, "I don’t want to blindly give you hope, but I think there’s still a possibility to bring him back."
Jiang Shan suddenly lifted his head, staring at Xiang Beifei: "You can bring him back?"
Xiang Beifei explained, "That Meat-Winged Monster mentioned that moonprint is their egg. If it’s removed, it means the egg will draw away the host’s soul."
He paused and then continued: "But obviously, Xiao Houzi’s moonprint hadn’t been cultivated to the Crescent Moon, only in the New Moon state. That means the egg couldn’t fully hatch, and when Xiao Houzi encountered danger, it abandoned the body and fled, causing Xiao Houzi to die first. I interrogated the Meat-Winged Monster, and if it’s such a situation, these eggs would all return to Huangquan by themselves, waiting for the next round of allocation."
"What does that mean?" Jiang Shan asked eagerly.
"If I can find Huangquan and locate that egg, I could re-implant it into Xiao Houzi’s body. Xiao Houzi’s body is intact, and his soul can possibly return to it, perhaps giving him a chance to be resurrected."
Restoring Xiao Houzi’s body to any state wasn’t a problem for the current Xiang Beifei.
Hope gradually lit up in Jiang Shan’s eyes, and he pressed on, "Really?"
"It’s just a hypothesis; I will try. Because after all, you are humans parasitized by the Meat-Winged Monster, and the ways of death are different. But I can’t give you a complete guarantee, so don’t hold too much hope because I fear if it fails, you will be even more disappointed," Xiang Beifei said.
Xiao Houzi wasn’t killed by a desolate beast but by the egg of a Meat-Winged Monster. When the egg perceived the threat of the desolate beast, it decisively left Xiao Houzi’s body with Xiao Houzi’s soul, meaning Xiao Houzi was already dead at that time, only to be swallowed by the Purple Gold Snake afterward.
If the soul was still intact, given the various abilities Xiang Beifei now held, there was still a chance of revival.
"What can I do to help you? I’ll do anything, just say the word."
Jiang Shan’s gaze gradually became firm; he was willing to pay any price for his son.
"We’ll see when the time comes; it’s hard to say now. I’ll safeguard his body first." Xiang Beifei waved his hand, and Xiao Houzi’s body was withdrawn.
Jiang Shan watched all this in astonishment, having no idea where Xiao Houzi’s body went, disappearing into thin air right before his eyes. To him, it was simply a miracle!
"I am human, just like you, all human. It’s just that I’ve reached a higher realm through cultivation and gained some special abilities. If you follow the right cultivation method, you also have a chance to reach my level," Xiang Beifei explained.
"I... can reach such a level?"
Jiang Shan seemed still unable to accept it: "You are human? But... you’re not from our Changpan Valley, where did you come from?"
"Jiuzhou, I come from Jiuzhou. A distant place that should share the same ancestors with here, both from Hanxia. Over three thousand years ago, the evil spirits of Huangquan allied with another race, attacking the Human Race. Some people escaped and established the Jiuzhou continent on the other side of the pure land. Those who didn’t escape in time were captured and brought here as slaves, and that’s who you are."
Xiang Beifei wasn’t planning to hide it. He also needed to slowly let people here understand where the roots of the Human Race lay.
"In Jiuzhou, without the suppression of Huangquan evil spirits, we developed very quickly. Everyone could cultivate freely, and the people’s strength there is very powerful. But here, you’re too restricted by the Meat-Winged Monster, as if... in over three thousand years, you’re still in a primitive society, even lagging behind the Hanxia civilization."
In Hanxia, at least, it was like an ancient civilization, but Changpan Valley was more like a primitive tribe living by hunting and gathering.
Jiang Shan looked extremely shocked, never having thought that the Human Race had such a past.
"I didn’t know you were taken here before, only coming across here by chance on my way from Jiuzhou, seeing your situation, and thus decided to use your son’s identity to awaken you," Xiang Beifei continued.
"Jiuzhou... Jiuzhou?"
Jiang Shan suddenly paused, furrowing his brows deeply as if recalling something, and then said, "I seem to have heard someone talk about Jiuzhou before, and what they said seemed not much different from what you are saying."
It was Xiang Beifei’s turn to be surprised.
"You’ve heard of Jiuzhou? Where did you hear it from?"
The Eternal Night Demon King, more than a hundred years ago, sought to find Hanxia’s humans but was intercepted miles away from Jiuzhou by Xiang Beifei’s grandfather, who severely wounded it and destroyed all the Meat-Winged Monsters.
Therefore, the Meat-Winged Monsters never had the chance to approach the Jiuzhou continent and still do not know the exact location of the Jiuzhou continent, perhaps not even the name "Jiuzhou."
So how did Jiang Shan hear of Jiuzhou?
Jiang Shan gradually calmed himself, recalling it for a moment, then said, "I vaguely remember ten years ago? It’s too long ago; I can’t quite recall. Someone appeared in our Changpan Valley, he seemed to mention that he was also from Jiuzhou."
There was another Jiuzhou person here ten years ago!
"Who was that person?" Xiang Beifei asked in amazement.
Jiang Shan shook his head and said, "I don’t know. At the time, he mentioned that humans should not be enslaved and said the Moon God was deceiving the masses, but..."
He stopped here, his expression a bit embarrassed, as if he had some unspeakable difficulties.
Xiang Beifei understood: "You treated him as a heretic blaspheming the Divine Lord, a human traitor?"