Dragon King’s Son-In-Law

Zhao Hongyu turned around and asked, “What is it?”

Azure Dragon took a square box from his storage ring and put it in Zhao Hongyu’s hand.

Zhao Hongyu looked down at it but didn’t open the box. She directly handed it over to Hao Ren.

Hao Ren didn’t think Zhao Haoran would leave things for him.

Surprised, he opened the box right there. Everyone here was close to him; four were Zhao Haoran’s trusted aides, and two were his ‘family’.

In the box, there was a jade slip that was only the size of a palm.

Hao Ren grabbed the jade slip and found that it was blank without a single word.

He tried to inject his nature essence and spiritual sense into it, and he felt some mysterious characters spinning in front of his senses.

Floating atop these densely packed characters were four words, Mystic Water Sword Technique.

Among these characters were some moving pictures.

Hao Ren only observed for a brief moment, and he already felt dizzy. Therefore, he pulled his spiritual senses out of the jade slip instantly.

He had seen all kinds of techniques before, but they were all printed in scrolls or books. This was his first time reading a jade slip which required spiritual senses.

The four guards saw Hao Ren’s facial expression, and they were somewhat surprised that he could read the jade slip.

They didn’t think that with Hao Ren’s low-tier Gen-level realm, he could still read the jade slip. They were loyal to Zhao Haoran and didn’t read the jade slip unauthorized. Still, they knew this kind of jade slip imposed a high requirement on spiritual senses.

Cultivators whose realms were too low couldn’t even open it.

Rumors said that this method of embedding techniques or records into jade slips was once very popular in the cultivation world. But after that great war, this method was slowly lost over time. Some said that it was because spirit stones were becoming more precious, and the sects didn’t want to waste materials. Other said that cultivators were afraid that their descendants and disciples couldn’t access stored techniques due to their low realms, and outsiders might rob the techniques. In sum, jade slips became obsolete.

“Ren, keep it,” Zhao Hongyu said.

“Eh…” Hao Ren put the jade slip into his storage space.

This jade slip initially had dozens of arrays protecting it, but they were all broken. When Hao Ren’s spiritual senses entered the jade slip, he sensed faint layers of resistance, but he still reached the deepest place in the jade slip and saw the floating characters and pictures.

“What did my father-in-law say?” Zhao Hongyu asked them.

“The Old Dragon King said that if Fuma is here one day, hand this to him,” Azure Dragon said.

Zhao Hongyu nodded. She finally knew that Zhao Haoran prepared to die when going back to East Ocean Dragon Palace from the U.S. Depended on whether Zhao Hongyu or Zhao Guang would bring Hao Ren along to where he lived, Hao Ren may or may not receive this treasure.

Zhao Yanzi sobbed, and her eyes turned red as she walked over to Hao Ren and Zhao Hongyu.

She just saw the black memorial tablet with Zhao Haoran’s name on it and got more heart-broken. Although she was willful, she was still a good person. Especially in these months, she got closer with Hao Ren’s grandma and began to understand the feelings of elders. Now, she could only think of Zhao Haoran’s loneliness.

“Third Lord… came a few days ago,” Azure Dragon said after some thought.

“Oh?” Zhao Hongyu was a little surprised.

“Third Lord had been sitting on the hill outside for three days now. He didn’t eat, didn’t drink, and didn’t sleep. There was pouring rain two days ago, but Third Lord didn’t repel it using his cultivation strength.”

Zhao Hongyu went silent, and her expression was sad.

Among Zhao Haoran’s three sons, Zhao Kuo was closest to him and had the highest realm. Zhao Kuo would visit Zhao Haoran three or four times a year and spend some time with his dad.

But ever since Zhao Kuo failed to reach the Heavenly Dragon Realm, he thought he didn’t have the face to see Zhao Haoran again, so he had never visited him afterward.

Now, Zhao Kuo must feel immense regret in his heart.

Thinking that Zhao Kuo was silently sitting in the rain to wash away his regret, tears poured down Zhao Yanzi’s face again.

She and Zhao Haoran were separated by generations, and now she finally felt how considerate Zhao Haoran was toward her.

Hao Ren could imagine Zhao Kuo in the pouring rain, clenching his fists, and sitting motionlessly. Perhaps in the rain, this iron-like man could hide his tears with the rainwater.

“Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, Vermilion Bird, aren’t you coming back to the East Ocean Dragon Clan with us?” Zhao Hongyu looked at them and asked.

They all shook their heads.

Zhao Hongyu faced Zhao Haoran’s tablet and bowed deeply.

“Father-in-law, Zhao Guang is not coming because he’s afraid he’d get too heart-broken. You know his personality; he looks cold on the outside but is soft on the inside. Zhao Kuan already left the East Ocean Dragon Clan and is peacefully conducting his mortal business. As for Zhao Kuo, he swore to become a Heavenly Dragon and take you to the Dragon Tomb in the Heavenly Realm,” Zhao Hongyu said calmly.

After that, Zhao Hongyu slowly turned around and took the crying Zhao Yanzi out of this big room that had the statue of the Dragon God.

Hao Ren followed Zhao Hongyu out. However, he turned around and stared at the memorial tablet; he felt like Zhao Haoran was watching him.

“Madam, take care,” Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, Vermilion Bird stood at the door and said respectfully.

The red Porsche started slowly and leisurely cruised through the road.

Along the private highway, the car passed by a lake.

The car suddenly slowed down and parked on the side of the road.

Zhao Hongyu looked at her hands on the wheel and said gently, “Zi, go ahead.”

Zhao Yanzi opened the car door and ran to the lake.

Sitting in the car, Hao Ren went blank for half a second before hurriedly following her out of the car.

Zhao Yanzi ran forward wildly in her mini-skirt, and Hao Ren stepped on the grasses beside the lake and instantly caught up to Zhao Yanzi’s side nimbly.

Zhao Yanzi suddenly sat on a patch of grasses beside the lake, and tears rushed out of her red eyes.

Hao Ren stopped and sat down beside her.

Zhao Yanzi wiped her tears with her hands and felt sadder as she cried. Zhao Haoran was her only grand-level family member, and now he was gone.

Thinking of this, her tears slid down her face uncontrollably.

She lived with Zhao Hongyu and Zhao Guang and didn’t think much of it at the beginning. But now that she was back at Zhao Haoran’s mansion, saw the place where her grandpa used to live, and thought back to the times when she played here as a child, Zhao Yanzi’s tears could not be held back.

“Wa…” Zhao Yanzi turned into Hao Ren’s arms, and her hands pulled on his sleeves and almost tore his buttons.

Hao Ren reached his arms and hugged her around her round shoulders. Then, he patted her back and tried to comfort her.

Zhao Haoran was Zhao Yanzi’s last grand-leveled family member. They had the same type of relationship as Hao Ren and his grandma. The difference was, Zhao Haoran was in the U.S. so that Zhao Yanzi couldn’t always see him, but Hao Ren could always accompany Grandma.

“I used to think he was stern…” In Hao Ren’s embrace, Zhao Yanzi grabbed his sleeves to wipe off her tears.

“Eh…” Hao Ren gently massaged her shoulder.

Her body was soft and gave out a faint fragrance. But now, Hao Ren was hugging her out of pity and sympathy. He didn’t think of anything else.

The scenery here was beautiful with chirping birds and fragrant flowers.

Since Zhao Yanzi’s childhood, she had intermittent memories of this place. Because she thought Zhao Haoran was too scary, she rarely interacted with her grandpa. Therefore, Zhao Haoran mostly watched her play in the yard from the balcony.

Now that Zhao Yanzi thought of these scenes, she felt a pain in her heart.

Actually, this grandpa of hers who always looked expressionless and didn’t say a good word about Zhao Guang wanted to play with her… If she knew this day would come, she would bring out her pettish charm and cling onto her grandpa, try to get him to talk about the past…

“Grandpa…” Zhao Yanzi cried and was sadder than when she heard about Zhao Haoran’s death.

“Alright, don’t cry.” Hao Ren wiped off the tears at the edges of Zhao Yanzi’s eyes with his finger.

Zhao Yanzi sometimes wanted to prove that she was independent and not a child, but she was still not an adult.

“Wa…” Zhao Yanzi only cried harder. Hanging onto Hao Ren’s neck, she directly jumped into his arms.

Hao Ren was knocked back on the grasses, and Zhao Yanzi lied on Hao Ren’s body, taking it as her mattress to cry on.

Zhao Hongyu stood on the highway dozens of meters away from the lake. She had her back against the Porsche, and her eyes turned red when seeing Zhao Yanzi crying so hard.

“Wa…” Zhao Yanzi cried out all her emotions and finally wiped her tears. Then, she got up from Hao Ren’s body.

Hao Ren’s shirt was entirely ruined by her, and a few buttons were missing.

Little White jumped out from Hao Ren’s storage space and licked Zhao Yanzi’s wrist.

“Little White…” Zhao Yanzi hugged Little White tightly, and her tears slowly stopped.

She knew that Zhao Haoran was already 1,000 years old and would die one day, but she couldn’t help but feel sad when her grandpa passed away.

Hao Ren stood up and pulled up Zhao Yanzi from the grasses.

Zhao Yanzi wanted to get rid of Hao Ren’s arm instinctively, but she suddenly felt deeply dependent on him and in turn held on to his wrist.

When she was sad, only Hao Ren could comfort her. Hao Ren had too good of a relationship with Xie Yujia, which made her jealous. But on the other hand, Hao Ren cared about her as well.

When they returned to the highway, Zhao Hongyu was already in the car.

The red Porsche drove toward the gate of the mansion on the private highway.

Little White snuggled into Zhao Yanzi’s arms and gently licked her palm.

When the Porsche crossed the bridge on the Hudson River, Zhao Yanzi was already asleep.

“Auntie, there is one thing I’m not sure if I can ask. Zi… has she ever met her grandma?” From the back seat, Hao Ren asked Zhao Hongyu.

Hao Ren thought back to how close Zhao Yanzi was to his grandma, and he wondered, “Had she ever met her grandma?”

“Zi’s grandma passed away after giving birth to Zhao Kuo,” Zhao Hongyu said.

“Oh…” Hao Ren nodded slightly.

“In fact,” Zhao Hongyu paused for a few seconds and peeked at Zhao Yanzi through the rear-view mirror. After seeing that she was completely asleep, Zhao Hongyu continued, “The stronger the individual and the race, the harder it is to reproduce. That is a natural law.”

“What Auntie means is…” Hao Ren was a little confused.

“In a sense, dragons are a kind of demon beasts, but we are different from ordinary demon beasts. Dragons are born in the human form and have the cultivation treasures – dragon cores. The stronger the demon beasts, the harder it is for them to have offspring. For example, in the Demon Sea, one demon king may have dozens of demon queens, but he would be fortunate to have more than one kids. However, for those demon beasts that couldn’t transform into the human form, it is easier for them to reproduce,” Zhao Hongyu said while driving.

“Eh…” Hao Ren had some ideas now.

“Zi’s grandma spent all her energy in the process of giving birth to Zhao Kuo. This risk is hard for you to understand. The higher the realms of the parents, the greater the risk it is to reproduce. However, the benefit of that is the offspring would be much more talented and stronger.”

“For the dragon kings, to guarantee the strengths of the descendants, they always decide to reproduce when their powers are at the peak. Zi’s grandpa reached Qian-level when he was 700 years old, and then he decided to have children,” Zhao Hongyu said.

Hao Ren nodded. He looked at Zhao Yanzi who was asleep beside him and understood why Zhao Guang and Zhao Hongyu had her when they were almost 300 years old.

Zhao Hongyu took the risk of dying for Zhao Yanzi to have better talents.

“In fact… on whether I should give birth to a son, Zhao Guang had some disagreements with his dad, and it affected their father-son relationship,” Zhao Hongyu said calmly.

Hao Ren understood it.

For Zhao Kuan, due to loss of dragon essence, his descendants lost the chance of inheriting the East Ocean Dragon Clan. Zhao Kuo was determined to reach the Heavenly Dragon Realm and also decided not to have children so that the East Ocean Dragon Clan wouldn’t have a potential civil war when it came to the right of inheriting the throne.

Among the three brothers, only the elder son Zhao Guang could inherit the East Ocean Dragon Clan, and his descendants were the most suitable to become the next generation dragon king.

However, since Zhao Guang was worried about Zhao Hongyu’s safety and didn’t want to have another child, it separated the father and the son.

“Cultivation is inherently going against heaven’s will. My realm is not as high as Zi’s grandma, and it was already very dangerous when I gave birth to Zi. If I have another child, it’s hard to say whether I can keep my life.”

Zhao Hongyu slowly pulled over and turned to look at Hao Ren. “So, I hope you treat Zi well.”

Hao Ren looked at her and suddenly realized that they were already back at the center of New York City.

Zi was still asleep with Little White in her arms, and her lips glittered in pink.

“I know.” Hao Ren suddenly understood Zhao Hongyu’s request more deeply.