"You, you are Chen Sihai."
Chen Xiao finally spoke, breaking the silence.
His heart, however, did not leap out of his chest.
"Child, I am, I am Chen Sihai, I am your father!"
A free-spirited, unrestrained middle-aged man seemed to have stepped into a Qiong Yao drama. "Child, let Dad have a good look at you. Twenty years have passed in a blink of an eye. Your father truly never expected to see you again."
Chen Xiao remained silent, his heart filled with a complex mix of emotions that were difficult to articulate.
If he had to describe it precisely, it was an uncomfortable feeling, though he couldn't pinpoint the exact source of his discomfort.
"Child, how have you been all these years? Tell Dad, how have you managed all this time?"
Chen Sihai pulled up a chair and sat opposite Chen Xiao.
"You abandoned me back then. My mother found me and raised me. She never remarried because of me."
Chen Xiao spoke in a flat tone, but anyone could detect the resentment in his words.
"Child, back then, back then your father had no choice..."
Chen Sihai's face was filled with self-reproach, his gaze evasive, unwilling to meet Chen Xiao's eyes. "Back then, your father was like a clay Buddha crossing a river, unable to save himself. I could only give you away to someone else, otherwise, it would have harmed you..."
Chen Xiao frowned. "So can you tell me what exactly happened back then?"
"Alas, it's all in the past. The trouble has been resolved. Child, please don't ask."
Chen Sihai's face was etched with weariness, and his eyes showed a hint of reluctance, as if he did not wish to recall the events of that time.
"Child, let your father have a good look at you. You've suffered so much all these years. Your father is sorry for you..."
Chen Sihai stood up and reached out, intending to embrace Chen Xiao.
Chen Xiao did not evade. Chen Sihai embraced his son.
"The last time I held you was more than twenty years ago," Chen Sihai said emotionally.
"Is that so... And do you remember precisely when that was, more than twenty years ago?" Chen Xiao asked with a cold smile.
"Uh, that..." Chen Sihai hesitated. "It's been too long, your father can't quite remember clearly. It's not important anymore, is it?"
"Of course, it's not important," Chen Xiao replied with a cold laugh. "Because you are not my father at all!"
Before his words had even finished, Chen Xiao suddenly punched Chen Sihai in the abdomen.
*Bang!*
Wooden pieces and sawdust scattered across the floor.
"You..."
Chen Sihai looked down, and the vitality in his face rapidly faded, transforming into a wooden visage.
Simultaneously, his hands, feet, and entire body turned to wood.
This Chen Sihai was, in fact, merely a puppet!
The puppet returned to its inanimate state, losing its life force, and fell to the ground.
Chen Xiao's figure flickered and vanished from the spot.
When he reappeared, he was in another room.
A sorcerer in white was frantically stuffing a puppet, about half a meter tall, into a bundle.
Upon Chen Xiao's appearance, he snatched the puppet away and said coldly, "You think you can fool me with a mere marionette? Chen Sihai, you underestimate me too much!"
The sorcerer in white before him was flustered, his eyes filled with panic and fear. Clearly, this was not Chen Sihai himself.
Chen Xiao grabbed him by the neck and questioned him sternly, "Tell me, where is Chen Sihai!"
The sorcerer's face turned red, and his fear intensified.
"I don't know, I don't know anything. Please, don't kill me, I don't want to die..."
This sorcerer was even more timid and cowardly than Chen Xiao had imagined. A little intimidation from Chen Xiao had him on the verge of death.
"Hmph, you know nothing? Should I keep you around for the New Year?"
Chen Xiao was annoyed, feeling a surge of anger from being deceived.
However, at that moment, a white light flashed in the sorcerer's eyes, and the next instant, his pupils turned pure white.
"Heh heh, son, I never expected we'd meet like this. I was just playing a little joke on you. I hope you don't mind." The sorcerer spoke with a mocking smile.
"Chen Sihai?" Chen Xiao scrutinized him.
He knew this was not Chen Sihai himself, but merely Chen Sihai's consciousness occupying this sorcerer's body through some means.
"You don't need to look for me. I'm not here. I'm very far away from you now," Chen Sihai said playfully.
"Where is this 'very far away' place?" Chen Xiao asked in a deep voice.
"Do you think I would tell you, my foolish son!" Chen Sihai chuckled.
Being called 'foolish son' by Chen Sihai, Chen Xiao felt no anger at all.
Because from the very beginning, from the first time he heard the name 'Chen Sihai', he had been certain that the person was not his relative, but his enemy.
This feeling came inexplicably. At first, Chen Xiao believed his aversion to the man was simply due to being abandoned.
But gradually, Chen Xiao realized that his hatred and aversion towards that person were not because he had been abandoned.
That hatred and aversion were innate!
It was only upon hearing the name 'Chen Sihai' that this deep-seated resentment within Chen Xiao's heart awakened.
"I am not your son, and you are not my father," Chen Xiao stared at him and said, word by word.
Chen Sihai pursed his lips. "Say whatever you wish. However, it is all thanks to me that you were able to come into this world. So, from that perspective, I am indeed your father!"
"You, you created me!"
Hearing these last few words, Chen Xiao's mind buzzed.
Created, created, created...
The words repeated endlessly in Chen Xiao's mind. He also recalled that Wu Xiang had once told him that he was not human at all.
"Why are you looking for me now?" Chen Xiao tried to calm himself, pondering Chen Sihai's objective.
"Use your clever little brain and think, why else would I be looking for you?" Chen Sihai mocked.
"Sacred Relics." Chen Xiao already knew the answer to this question. "You left the Yin-Yang Jade by my side simply to have me help you gather the other three Sacred Relics!"
Chen Sihai did not deny it. "You're not that foolish. Questions that any normal person could figure out indeed don't stump you."
Chen Xiao ignored his taunt and continued, "Five Sacred Relics. Four are now in my possession. Therefore, when you left the Yin-Yang Jade by my side, you already knew where the last Sacred Relic, the God Slaying Sword, was!"
"Oh? That's a rather insightful deduction, child. You truly impress your father. Then why don't you guess again, where is the God Slaying Sword?" Chen Sihai raised an eyebrow, his tone laced with considerable flippancy.