Journey to the End of the Night-Chapter 1245 - 815: Dreaming of Boyhood Again (Part 2)

Chapter 1245: Chapter 815: Dreaming of Boyhood Again (Part 2)

When he encountered difficulties and obstacles in his cultivation and his father was absent, he dared not slack off and went to the Book Collection Pavilion, studying precious cultivation texts.

Gradually, the various cultivation methods of Bai Tuo Mountain became imprinted in his mind, as well as the mental and sword techniques provided by other sects. However, he didn’t know how to apply them.

Of course, during the process of cultivating and memorizing books, the young Baili An had secretly complained.

Why was he born to endure such hardship, he even didn’t know what the kites his companions spoke of looked like.

He didn’t know the beauty of the lantern-lit lake during the Lantern Festival, nor did he understand the joyous pleasure of catching birds and fishing.

Whenever he thought of these, Baili An would slap himself, forbidding himself to think about these trivial matters unrelated to cultivation.

Because... he was not an ordinary child; he was not qualified to yearn for these things.

It is said that diligence can make up for one’s deficiencies. Under his father’s rigorous education and with his own relentless efforts, Baili An was finally not far behind some of his peers in the sect.

But human desires are difficult to satisfy, and no matter how hard Baili An tried, he couldn’t surpass Baili Yu with his innate talent, leaving Baili Yu perpetually frustrated.

Compared to his father’s severity and dissatisfaction, his mother was much kinder to him.

But the better his mother treated him, the sadder he felt inside.

He always felt he had disappointed his parents’ expectations.

More importantly, his existence had weakened his parents’ once unbreakable love.

The world said Baili An was the key point of the alliance between Bai Tuo Mountain and the Central Netherworld Dynasty, a symbol of their love, an eternal proof.

But Baili An felt the exact opposite.

His mother adored him completely, while his father’s love was expressed through the weight of his strict expectations. The stricter his father was, the more displeased his mother became with him.

His mother felt that her child was the most precious treasure in the world to her.

He didn’t need to strive for being the best, nor did he need to become a visionary figure, he just had to be himself, happily following his heart.

His father naturally disagreed with this view, believing that a doting mother spoils her child, making him useless for greater purposes.

Their educational differences caused frequent, unresolved quarrels.

Sometimes, Baili An wondered if his parents would still be as lovingly eternal as they once were if he hadn’t come into this world.

Prolonged arguments would inevitably cause rifts, and once those rifts couldn’t be mended, it truly reached an irreparable point.

Later, his mother moved back to the Central Netherworld Dynasty, and she once asked him if he wanted to join her.

Baili An refused.

Although he knew that leaving with his mother would make his future days much easier.

But he didn’t want that.

He was already a failed cultivator on the path of practice.

Letting down his father’s teachings, and if he sought pleasure in facing difficulties only to evade them, he himself would look down on himself.

It is said that no one knows a child better than their mother. Ying Ji naturally understood her son’s intentions and did not force him.

Baili An remembered when his mother left Bai Tuo Mountain that year, though he’d never seen her cry before, she stood at the mountaintop, tears brimming, holding back tears and kissed his forehead, asking him to take good care of himself. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Baili An remembered that he cried back then too, not secretly shedding tears out of grievance like he usually did, but crying uncontrollably like a typical child under the snow bridge.

In the early years, his father would take Baili An with him using sword control to visit his mother in the Central Netherworld, but they would argue nearly every time they met.

Later, his father grew tired of it, gradually stopping the visits to the Central Netherworld.

Yet Baili An felt that his father was sulking; he knew that his mother loved him, cared about him, so his father deliberately didn’t bring him to the Central Netherworld to see his mother, waiting for her to come to him to apologize.

Thinking of this, Baili An felt quite amused, who would have thought his usually serious father had such a childish side.

But... Baili An also knew that his father really liked his mother; otherwise, he wouldn’t wear the Spirit Jade hairpin she gifted him for his birthday on his hair every day.

He remembered when his father received this gift, he was quite dissatisfied, saying it was too feminine.

But now, when things have cooled, he secretly wears it day and night.

Thinking about this, Baili An couldn’t help but angrily curse his father’s foolishness.

How could he let a woman apologize first? Since he missed her so much, why not swallow his pride, say some soft words, and bring his mother back earlier.

Of course, Baili An also understood that his father would absolutely never do that considering his personality.

The separation between his father and mother became a hopeless knot in Baili An’s life, one he couldn’t untie on his own.

Sometimes he naively imagined that perhaps someday, he’d suddenly have an epiphany and astonish the Four Seas, making his father see him differently. The two would fly together using sword control to the Central Netherworld and bring his mother back.

The three of them as a family, sharing familial happiness.

This was Baili An’s lifelong pursuit, a dream that gave him more motivation, day after day of cultivation and memorization.

Until he had memorized and could fluently recite all the books in the Book Collection Pavilion.

He started cultivating and studying earlier than others; at the age of three, his father forcibly enlightened him, opening his spiritual and mental wisdom.

Three years old and he was already cultivating and studying.

He spent a whole ten years successfully introducing energy into his body, reaching the first-class realm of Dao seeking.

At fourteen, he had committed all the books in the Book Collection Pavilion to memory.

In comparison to his outstanding peers, he wasn’t far behind.

In his fourteenth year, Baili Yu finally noticed something amiss.

This son of his seemed to be rearing him to be... somewhat dull.

Of course, this dullness wasn’t indicating any intellectual issues with his son.

But rather his son had become detached from the outside world, seemingly ignorant of the affairs and emotions of the Mortal World.

On rare occasions, when he patiently asked his son about his interests and hobbies, he’d also receive an "I don’t know" response.

It was as if, outside of cultivation, his son’s life had nothing else...

Baili Yu finally realized the urgency of the situation.

This son of his didn’t enjoy making friends, didn’t enjoy leaving home, didn’t enjoy speaking. Although his etiquette was impeccable, there was always a sense of detachment from those within the sect.

Although Baili Yu himself occasionally felt such detachment, it was a high and aloof sense from a strong person towards the weak.

He had a proud and solitary personality, yet many life-and-death friendships.

Unlike his son, who for many years, had always been alone.

He rarely mentioned anything he wanted for himself.

In thirteen years, the only request he ever made was to gather more books outside, since he had read through all the ones in the Book Collection Pavilion.

Otherwise, during the blockade in his cultivation, he didn’t know what to do to pass the time.

Pass time?

His son, young master of Bai Tuo Mountain, was living so monotonously that aside from cultivating and reading, he had no other interests?

For the first time, Baili Yu felt guilty towards his son and realized he had been too harsh, resulting in such a monotonous character.

No! It absolutely couldn’t continue like this!

If he allowed his son to continue growing like this, it would lead to no progress, nor would it attract any girls; the Baili Family bloodline would have no continuation.

Then, under Baili An’s stunned expression, Baili Yu threw him a storage bag and a longsword, saying: "Adversity and hardship are the forge of heroes. Those who endure them benefit their mind and body, those who don’t will suffer mind and body. You are grown now, go down the mountain and train."

Then he realized this son of his was naturally weak and had never suffered.

Worried he wouldn’t venture far before returning or relying on the reputation of the Tianxi Sword Sect to flaunt authority.

Baili Yu sternly declared: "Once you leave the mountain gate, don’t come back for less than a year! Moreover, don’t claim to be a disciple of the Tianxi Sword Sect!

If you return early, I’ll break your legs!"

So... fourteen-year-old Baili An went down the mountain to train for the first time.

Actually, Baili An had left Bai Tuo Mountain before, but his few departures were always under his father’s sword control to visit his mother in the Central Netherworld.

His memories of the Mortal World were merely densely clustered black dots below the vast clouds, looking down at them, he never found them particularly interesting.

As for the Central Netherworld Dynasty, the world said it was Mo City.

The palaces of the Central Netherworld Dynasty were established on a Yin Spring in the central region, and it was said that this Yin Spring spanned eight hundred miles across the dynasty, connecting to the Yin Realm.