"
"I'll drink first as a sign of respect."
"Aren't you afraid I'll curse you again?" Old Tang asked with a laugh.
"If Senior wanted me dead, I wouldn't stand a chance," Chu Feng replied.
"What do you think of my daughter?" Old Tang asked.
"Huh?" Caught off guard by the question, Chu Feng froze for a moment.
Then he said, "Senior, you know about what I did?"
"Mm. I saw everything that happened inside the ruins," Old Tang said with a smile.
Hearing that, Chu Feng understood — when he had been secretly tailing
Chu Feng let out an awkward laugh. He had been completely oblivious to Old Tang's surveillance.
But then again, that was only natural. A figure like Old Tang — even if Chu Feng was a Holy Robe Spirit World Master, he still wouldn't have been able to detect him. After all, the man was a Supreme Realm expert.
The only reason Chu Feng's first attempt at following Old Tang had succeeded was because Old Tang had let his guard down.
Now that things had come to this, Chu Feng finally understood why Old Tang had prepared wine and food and been waiting for him.
He had guessed long ago that Chu Feng would come looking for him.
"Since Senior already knows everything, I won't say much more."
"But Senior, your daughter misses you very much, and she wants desperately to see you. Why won't you acknowledge her?" Chu Feng asked.
"It's not that I don't want to acknowledge her. It's that I'm too ashamed to."
With that, Old Tang downed a cup of wine, his face full of remorse.
And then, Old Tang told Chu Feng everything about what had happened all those years ago.
Back in the day, Old Tang had been a towering figure across the Heavenly Stars Domain. But eventually, he grew tired of all the scheming and deception, and decided he wanted to live as an ordinary man.
He chose to return to his hometown — this very village of Qiuluo.
Though he had resolved to live in seclusion as a commoner, Old Tang had spent so many years wandering the martial world that he had long grown accustomed to being alone. He was deeply suspicious of others.
Because of that, even after so many years back in the village, he had never truly grown close to anyone. His eccentric personality ensured that no one wanted to get too near him either.
His relationship with Song Ge's mother had been entirely an accident.
Old Tang had not actually loved Song Ge's mother. He had simply lost control in the moment.
When he learned that Song Ge's mother was pregnant, he had initially wanted to force the child out of her.
He didn't want burdens. He didn't want a wife, let alone children. He wanted only to be alone — not necessarily free-spirited, but at least unencumbered.
But Song Ge's mother had threatened to take her own life. She told Old Tang that if he dared remove the child, she would die.
Old Tang hadn't cared whether Song Ge's mother lived or died. Yet somehow, at that moment, he had been terrified of losing her.
Left with no other choice, Old Tang relented, allowing Song Ge's mother to carry the child to term.
But he told her she must never tell anyone that the child was his. If she did, he would personally kill Song Ge and her mother both.
And Song Ge's mother truly never told a soul about Old Tang.
A woman who had been single for over a thousand years suddenly bore a child, and no one knew who the father was.
Rumors were inevitable — all manner of vicious gossip and the scorn of the entire village fell upon Song Ge's mother.
One could only imagine what she must have endured.
Anyone else, facing that kind of slander and ostracism, would likely have chosen to leave and start a new life elsewhere.