Chapter 409: One Last Time
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Yun Yang closed the door, keeping Jun Moyan outside the room.
Then, he stretched out his hand to grab Old Dugu’s right arm.
The arm, half of its original length, was the only thing he could hold on to on the old man’s entire body.
Although his left arm looked more intact than his right, the bones inside were all crushed. There was mystical Qi sustaining it, but now that Old Dugu was unconscious and stripped of his cultivation base, a careless move of his right arm might break it apart. It would then really be an issue to recover it!
As for the other parts of his body, they were mostly pulverized. No matter how cold a person’s heart was, he would not be able to look upon such horrible wounds without turning away.
Yun Yang was overwhelmed with grief; no longer able to endure it, his tears flowed like a broken dam.
He, a dispassionate man, was actually crying. His grief had honestly hit home while fury had also engulfed him whole!
His body trembled uncontrollably.
The moment he saw Old Dugu, Yun Yang had known that he was practically dead to the world.
Even with a sliver of breath left, it was only because of Old Dugu’s keen desire to stay alive that barely supported him, unwilling to give up on life.
It was obvious that he did not want to die yet, maybe he really did have an unfulfilled wish. However, he had to shatter his own soul in order to tackle the enemy’s soul-searching trick.
The inability to recover one’s soul, coupled with the collapse of one’s divine consciousness, was no joke. Even if one could breathe normally, it was only as one of the walking dead!
There was no more thoughts, no more spirit, no more consciousness.
"Father, I’m here! It’s me, I’ve come!" Yun Yang called out in his heart, "Can you feel it? Another son of yours has come to you!"
Old Dugu laid there and remained motionless, not reacting at all to Yun Yang’s presence.
"Emmie! Emmie!" Yun Yang cried anxiously in his mind, "Come quickly! Can… Can he be saved?"
Emmie’s sense poked itself out but just as the green tendrils of sensory perception wrapped around Old Dugu, it grew frightened and shrunk back immediately.
Emmie was a tough character that had seen much. Technically, its knowledge was vast compared to its master, Yun Yang, but it had never seen a body that was so severely damaged!
Upon Yun Yang's repeated urgings, Emmie finally extended its senses again to carefully observe and diagnose the old man, only to shake its head helplessly.
Emmie already knew the importance of this person to Yun Yang but it still uttered a sad "Aya…"
Yun Yang was hit by a wave of sadness. "No hope at all?"
Emmie’s leaves laid limp.
"Can you try gathering his soul together? Even if only for a moment?" Yun Yang said softly, "I know that father must have been holding out because he has worries; he has been waiting for me! I want him to have the chance to speak his last words."
"He’s been persevering to wait for me. He must have a lot of things to tell me, a lot of things to ask me to do. Emmie, I’m not asking for much. I just want father to know that I’ve come to his side. He’s not going away on his journey alone; his son is here to send him off. That is all I ask!" Yun Yang said softly.
Emmie was rather reluctant. "Ayaya…"
It grimly expressed that it could work, but it would deplete too much energy. Most importantly, it would not even save the person; it could only form terminal lucidity. It was not worth it – a futile effort.
"Stop your nonsense. Act quickly!" Yun Yang urged with an unprecedentedly harsh tone for the first time; it was decisive and allowed no room for doubt.
Facing its master’s resolution, Emmie knew that it had to act, no matter how reluctant it was this time. It could only give it it's all to create a chance for Old Dugu to experience a brief sense of lucidity.
Flows of green, exceptionally vigorous air of vitality erupted in an indescribable exuberance and dove straight into Old Dugu – into his meridians, his blood, his dantian, his mind, and… his deific consciousness.
At the same time, Emmie was also emitting an exceptionally radiant purple beam that crisscrossed in the room, as if binding something in the void.
This time, the air of vitality Emmie had unleashed did not leak away, and instead, entered Old Dugu’s battered body. Gradually, the green senses formed something akin to a cocoon that wrapped around Old Dugu.
A green cocoon.
Such an abundance of air of vitality would have revived others from the dead a hundred times over, but as it went into Old Dugu, not the slightest change could be seen in his condition.
Emmie kept going. It had obviously expected such a situation. After all, Old Dugu was in a worse state compared to ordinary people who had just died. It would not be a walk in the park to resuscitate this man.
Yun Yang was quivering uncontrollably.
Poor father!
In the void, Old Dugu’s dissipated soul was coming together, sliver by sliver, as a result of Emmie’s efforts. His battered body began to mend itself slightly and at a snail's pace.
Yet, that was all that could be done.
No matter how much air of vitality was delivered, it could no longer work its normal magic. Instead, it leaked out from every broken part of the old man’s limbs.
The crushed body could not take any more energy of life, nor could it use the power.
All in all, the wounds were not healing. To hope for it to regenerate fully was wishing for a miracle to take place.
Yun Yang choked back a sob of grief.
He had been holding on to a tenth of a thousandth of a chance to create the miracle of life from Emmie’s supply of divine vitality and Old Dugu’s strong desire for life, for the old man to be resurrected!
In spite of this, everything that was happening now indicated that there was no hope of defying heaven’s will.
If Old Dugu’s body could still absorb the life force and nourish itself, only then could there be an opportunity to live. Right now, it was unresponsive to such a rich life force – the last sliver of hope was bleeding away.
Emmie, trying its hardest, stopped the flow of air of vitality, and unleashed the purplish beam in a more concentrated manner.
Yun Yang could hear his own heartbeat now; he waited anxiously, he watched without blinking, afraid that he would miss the last chance to see Old Dugu again.
After a long, long time, Yun Yang finally felt an unusual tremor in the aether.
It was Emmie, reeling in the air of vitality that was so rich that it was almost tangible using the purplish beam to add it right onto the violet ray itself in order to strengthen the pulling force.
A purple web of energy appeared in midair.
"Ayaya!" Emmie cried with effort.
The task was expending so much of its energy that it could barely maintain its efforts.
Yun Yang could not bring himself to gaze upon his deific consciousness. If he did, he would have seen that the space was being blasted by a mystical gale, while above it, the image of a man’s face was slowly forming.
Emmie was redirecting all its energy to recover the soul and form the target’s face, according to Yun Yang’s memory.
The recovery of the soul could only truly be accomplished when the dissipated shards of spirit in the void were all collected and formed a complete consciousness. Yun Yang was only a boss who had given an order; how could he know that such a huge amount of calculation and energy was needed for this endeavor?
Even when he finally realized it, he would still do so without hesitation!
He did not care about the price he would need to pay either. He wanted to meet Old Dugu for the last time.
Emmie’s cry grew even more labored; its strength was flagging, but Yun Yang’s eyes were bright.
In the void before Yun Yang’s eyes, a vague silhouette was slowly taking shape.
It was an image of a hunched old man.
The old man wore an apron; his face was lined with wrinkles but his gaze was gentle as he looked at a distant point in the void like he was watching his nine sons from afar lovingly. He seemed to be watching them eat Chinese cabbage tofu contentedly in the small and narrow eatery, a place that belonged only to him.
His gaze was fulfilled and happy.
"Father…" Yun Yang’s eyes were brimming with unshed tears as he shuddered violently. He had always taken pride in his calm, but he had the overwhelming impulse to sob and wail aloud right now.
"I’ve come to take you home…"
As Yun Yang’s voice echoed, the silhouette in the void shook, like a reflection that is distorted by a ripple in the water. In spite of this, the silhouette's expression did not change. Emmie was yet to complete the final stage of the arduous process.
As Yun Yang’s sight was blurred by his unshed tears, the hunched shadow moved.
He rubbed his eyes harshly, calling out in a low voice filled with anguish, "Father!"