The small hand of Yao Xuelian that was wrapped around Yao Jun's fingers felt far warmer than anything he had experienced in the recent years, her crystal clear laughter and voice sounding like heavenly bells as they entered Yao Jun's ears.
"Papa!"
Yao Xuelian didn't need to be told who the man carrying her was, she could feel their ties within her blood and soul. The soft exclamation from Yao Xuelian shattered the last of Yao Jun's barriers, tears finally starting to roll down his cheeks as all the sorrow and pain caught up with him and mixed with his relief.
He held Yao Xuelian close with his right arm and drew Guo Luo closer with his left arm, burying his face in the hair on top of her head as he sobbed. Finally they had met again, finally, he had come home. Here he didn't have to bury his weakness in fear of having it exploited, here he could cry without worry, venting everything that had gathered up over the years.
Guo Luo didn't say anything, she simply wrapped her arms around Yao Jun's waist and held him close, burying her own face in his chest and greedily taking in his scent and presence. It didn't matter how many they would be considered traitors to their sect and probably hunted, it didn't matter how many enemies they had made thanks to their actions on the planet, all that mattered was that they were together again, the rest could be figured out later.
Yun Yantian stood a short distance away, a warm smile on his face as he looked at the reunited family. A familiar and dear face flashed through his mind as he looked at the three of them, maybe it was about time he took a trip home to see if that girl was ready to come with him this time. Yao He and Yao Xun also looked at the reunited family with warm, and somewhat sympathetic gazes. They didn't fully understand the relationship between Yao Jun and Little Thunder, but just looking at him crying was more than enough to tell them that he had just lost someone very dear to him.
Yao Jun continued to cry for a full five minutes, giving voice to all the anguish and sorrow gathered up in his heart. He took half a step back once his tears started drying up, wiping his face clean before raising Yao Xuelian higher up and smiling brightly at her, a smile that had already been lost for years.
"Look at how big you've gotten without me around! But don't you worry, Papa's not going anywhere ever again, I won't let anyone bully you. And what about you, Little One, do you feel like showing yourself?"
Yao Jun had eyes and senses better than most people, especially when it came to Demonic beasts and the like, so he noticed something within Yao Xuelian the moment he saw her. A soft light flashed out from her chest right after Yao Jun's voice sounded out, a rainbow-colored sparrow appearing from her body. The sparrow flapped its wings to stay afloat, lowering its head politely to Yao Jun and letting out a few squeaks.
"Greetings, My Lord, it is a pleasure to meet you. This one has been named Xun Xue by the Little Mistress."
Yao Jun nodded his head in greeting, his eyes sweeping over Xun Xue. He could feel that Xun Xue was a type of Demonic beast that had at least reached the Divine Beast level, but he didn't actually know what sort of Demonic beast she was. As for why Xun Xue appeared on his daughter, he wasn't too surprised by it. Yao Jun couldn't be considered human due to his Demon God's Gate's influence, on his home planet he would actually be considered one of the Demon Race.
There was also a chance that Guo Luo was the same, just from a different race. As such, their daughter had been born with the same blessing that someone from the Demon Race on their home planet got, she received a Soul Beast. A Demonic beast just for her, the two forever tied together, sharing woe and joy as they grew stronger alongside each other. Yao Jun didn't inspect Xun Xue for too long, nodding at her with a smile.
"no need to worry, I just wanted to greet you. Please take good care of Little Lan in the future."
Xun Xue straightened her back and used one wing to pat her chest, an action that caused her to almost tumble out of the air before she managed to stabilize herself and turn into a flash of light that entered Yao Xuelian's chest. Yao Jun lowered Yao Xuelian and brought out one of the two robes he had Arthurius hand over, the light green Flower God's Loving Breath.
"This might sting a little, but bear with it."
Yao Jun held out Yao Xuelian's hand and poked her finger, causing a few drops of blood to seep out and drip onto the robe. Yao Jun then used his own energy to move the drops of blood through the robe and made them enter the various arrays while also drawing out the Qi present within the blood. With her blood and Qi entering the arrays in the robe, Yao Xuelian became connected with it, the robe rapidly shrinking and draping around her body, an act that caused her eyes to light up as her hands quickly patted the new robe.
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"Look, Papa, look! Mama, look at the pretty robe, it can move on its own!"
Yao Jun smiled brightly at Yao Xuelian, raising and lowering her several times as if he was preparing to throw her into the sky, her clear laughter quickly ringing throughout the inside of the God Gate. After playing with his daughter for a bit, Yao Jun turned to Guo Luo and took out the other robe he had gotten, the Mountain King's Flowing Robe.
"Don't even think about rejecting it, you know just as well as I do that it's a useless action."
Guo Luo could only smile bitterly at being seen through straight away, somewhat reluctantly accepting the robe and inserting some of her Qi and blood into it. The robe shrank slightly to fit her body and draped around her, the light brown color changing to become a deep emerald green with a move of Guo Luo's thoughts. Once he finished handing over the two defensive treasures he had acquired for them, Yao Jun turned to his parents.
"I promise that I'll get you robes just as good as quickly as I can, so please have some patience."
Yao Jun unconsciously became more polite when he spoke to his parents, a habit that remained from his childhood. Yao He and Yao Xun smiled at him without saying anything, both stepping forward at the same time and embracing him in. Yao He covered him in a strong and powerful hug while Yao Xun was a bit gentler, embracing both of them from the side while Yao He gave Yao Jun's back several heavy pats.
"You little brat, we haven't spoken in so long and that's the first thing you have to say?! If it hadn't been for father telling us about you back then we wouldn't even have known that you picked up a girl that's far too good for you. I mean, just look at the cute daughter she gave you, there's no way that she can have inherited any of your ugly genes!"
Yao He quickly shut up when Yao Xun viciously slapped the back of his head and glared at him, but Yao Jun simply let out a cheerful laugh. The years had passed and things had changed, but his parents hadn't changed one bit, they still accepted him even though he had changed to be who he was now. When they spoke about their father, Yao Jun knew that they could only mean one person, the Yao Luying he met as he was on his way to check out what caused Yun Yantian's God Gate awakening.
He had asked Yao Luying to bring a message to his parents, and it was also this Yao Luying that made it possible for Yao Jun and Guo Luo to return to the Grand Quan continent using the Guan clan spatial array. Thinking about it now it all felt so long ago, as if several lifetimes had passed by in the span of just a few years.
The three ended their embrace, Yao Xuelian quickly pulling away from Yao Jun's chest and heaving for breath in an overly dramatic fashion, a trait Yao Jun refused to believe that she inherited from him. Yao Jun's gaze then moved to the last person of the group, the now smirking Yun Yantian.
"You've done quite well for yourself, haven't you? Picked up another fragment along the way too, have you? Knowing you it must have involved a lot of trickery and cheating, otherwise, there's no way you'd get your hands on it."
Yao Jun was a very solitary person who it was hard to get close to, a trait that had only gotten worse over the years he spent alone in the wide universe. But Yun Yantian was someone he considered a true ally and friend, one of his very few. Yun Yantian let out a snort and rolled his eyes while throwing his head back slightly.
"As if you have a right to talk. Come on now, tell this father exactly how many people you've cheated and deceived to rise to your current rank? How many innocent young maidens have you defiled and left heartbroken, lay bare your heart and repent for your sins, you can still be redeemed."
His words were nothing more than a joke but Yao Jun still felt his heart nearly skip a beat when he felt Guo Luo's gaze seemingly vacantly drift over him. If there was one person who could cause even someone as feared as Yao Jun to jump in fright, it would be this future wife of his. As such, Yao Jun quickly defended himself.
"Oh fuck off, just tricking one woman into falling for me was hard enough, how do you expect me to do it with even more?"
Yun Yantian's lips split into a wide grin when he heard Yao Jun's defense, a burst of roaring laughter escaping his lips as he stepped forward and gave Yao Jun a powerful hug. Yao Jun moved his daughter out of the way and returned the hug, slapping Yun Yantian's back so hard that it created a small shockwave. The two ended the hug after a short moment, Yun Yantian taking a step back and squirming a little due to the slap.
"Fuck man, be a bit gentle with a man. If it's like this I can only pity Sister Luo and hope that she learns some body cultivation, otherwise, I'm afraid that your romantic escapades will be cut short. But tell me, what are your plans now, after causing so much trouble?"
Yun Yantian shrank his neck a little when he felt a vicious glare from Guo Luo sweep over his body, quickly changing the subject. Yao Jun didn't need to think about the answer, he had already thought about what to do next.
"First would be returning to the sect that Little Gray and the others built up, once we're there I've got a good place where we can spend plenty of time together without having to worry about the passage of time. There's also a certain galaxy I want to check out, but that can wait for when we've spent a bit more time together and maybe even gotten to cultivate. I also want to help Luo'er and Little Lan make the same type of weapons like the one I have, it should be possible for me now."
If they placed his time-altering tower inside the sect that Little Gray and the others created, they could use the abundant Qi in the area to lessen the load on the tower, allowing them to speed up time even more without having to spend too many more Spirit Stones. After stating what he had planned, Yao Jun's lips curved up slightly as he turned his head to look at Little Gray and the others, pointing at all of them and introducing them to his daughter.
"But first, Little Lan, let me introduce you to a few people. This is your Uncle Gray, this is your Uncle Sirius, this is your Uncle Ba-Shei, this is your Aunt Zhuyin, this is your Uncle Zhuanxu, this is your Aunt Xiao, this..."