Chapter 82 — TVF Chapter 82

Dog-Blooded Love Story 5

Ling Jing laughed her fill and quickly added, "Boss, as wild as Xuan Qing's train of thought is, he was just acting cute a moment ago!"

Qin Jingzhou agreed, "I think so too." He summoned a mass of wood-element spiritual energy and spread it over his son's face. The wounds and swelling on his son’s face healed visibly within moments.

Ling Jing’s eyes were sharp; she didn’t miss that brief flicker of disappointment in Xuan Qing’s gaze. She hesitated, then sent a probing thought, “Boss, just my guess, but that kid Xuan Qing is starved for affection and probably a little touch-starved too. Afterall, when you tucked him under your arm, slung him over your shoulder, and carried him princess-style, he didn’t even protest!”

Qin Jingzhou paused for a while, “I think so too.” As he spoke, he reached out and affectionately ruffled his son's hair.

Xuan Qing didn’t laugh, but his eyes narrowed a little.

Watching his son’s reaction, Qin Jingzhou turned to Ling Jing and admitted, “Now this is interesting.”

Ling Jing grinned, “Xuan Qing will bring you a lot of surprises.” She glanced at Gu Lingfan and Yuan Lingyi, sitting across from Xuan Qing, looking slightly reserved. “Those two give off upright vibes, at least from what I see.”

Qin Jingzhou nodded. He had traveled through several worlds by now, and in this one, the current male and female leads were rare for not only lacking major flaws but even minor ones were few and far between.

In front of Gu Lingfan, Yuan Lingyi, and the official Extraordinaries who had brought them back, he said, "Don’t go for the face from now on."

Xuan Qing turned his head slightly, "Dad, you’re better looking than me."

Qin Jingzhou could only flick his son’s forehead, then asked the Extraordinaries who had been watching the whole time, "What exactly happened?"

He didn’t even need to step closer—just approaching was enough to make the baleful yin energy swirling around Yuan Lingyi rapidly dissipate. The official Extraordinaries silently raised their estimation of this senior once again. The lead Extraordinary narrated what happened, with a special focus on the reason for Xuan Qing and Gu Lingfan’s fight, "Miss Yuan asked Mr. Xuan for something very important..."

Xuan Qing immediately interrupted, explaining and complaining to his father, "She actually asked me for Xiaomei’s soul fragment! How dare she!"

That year, Xuan Qing’s half-brother from the same mother accidentally killed Yuan Lingmei. To cover up his crime, he personally performed the Soul Severing Art in an attempt to split Yuan Lingmei’s soul into eight pieces.

But Xuan Qing’s brother was truly useless and incompetent. Even performing the Soul Severing Art, all he managed to do was split Yuan Lingmei’s three spirits and seven souls into two parts. It went without saying that Yuan Lingmei couldn’t let go of just two people: the boyfriend she fell for at first sight, and the younger sister she’d grown up with—her own parents didn’t even make the list.

You could say that while Zhong Dewen and Xuan Helin, for all their faults, did pull back at the critical moment, the Yuan sisters’ parents, after accepting bribes, actually helped Xuan Qing’s half-brother cover up the true cause of Yuan Lingmei’s death.

Yuan Lingyi had completely calmed down after being confronted by Xuan Qing. She couldn’t help but bow her head in shame.

In reality, her parents knew about her elder sister’s accident before Xuan Qing’s brother performed the Soul Severing Art. In other words, her sister could still have been saved at that point!

Her parents were the truly cold-blooded ones.

Gu Lingfan was born with a strong sense of justice. Seeing his girlfriend looking so downcast, he still instinctively tried to defend her, "The root cause was your parents’ arrogance and incompetence!"

Gu Lingfan wasn’t wrong. Zhong Dewen and Xuan Helin had intended to use the rewards from both the Extraordinaries and the government after Xuan Qing became the Main Coffin, as well as their own savings, to boost Xuan Qing’s brother’s natural talent. Then, he could smoothly inherit both the Zhong and Xuan families.

But with Gu Lingfan’s outburst, he had managed to drag Qin Jingzhou into it as well. Xuan Qing, quick to defend, wouldn’t let anyone criticize his dad. He flared up and threw a punch.

Gu Lingfan dodged, and while steering clear of his girlfriend, struck back with his own punch.

Ling Jing concluded, “This is nothing but a schoolyard brawl.” She didn’t forget to send Qin Jingzhou another thought: “Looks like Xuan Qing’s got some deep-seated issues.”

Qin Jingzhou chuckled softly, “Don’t expect too much from young people who have suffered qi deviation—or might relapse again.” With a flick of his finger, spiritual energy instantly formed dozens of glinting silver swords between Xuan Qing and Gu Lingfan, then turned into long cords, binding the two “schoolboys” into human dumplings and dragging them back to their seats.

Thus, the main antagonist and male lead of the original story had no choice but to sit back down in place. The spiritual swords binding them quietly disappeared without a sound.

This display made the official Extraordinaries’ hearts race all over again. Whether condensing spiritual swords or executing sword techniques, they hadn’t sensed even the faintest fluctuation in the surrounding spiritual energy. But what did that mean?!

Forget Xuan Qing—even Gu Lingfan and Yuan Lingyi had noticed this, which was why they fell silent.

The lead Extraordinary was so excited that his voice trembled, "Senior, have you... have you broken through to—that legendary realm?" He remembered clearly that during the Sealing Array incident, the senior had mentioned he was “a rich man returning home.” He’d thought it was just a casual boast...

Qin Jingzhou only smiled without answering.

Beyond the Nascent Soul Stage lay the Divine Transformation Stage—the minimum required to traverse the universe with one’s physical body.

Everyone present, including Xuan Qing, took Qin Jingzhou’s demeanor as silent confirmation. Having uncovered such explosive news, the official Extraordinaries left as quickly as they had come.

When Gu Lingfan and Yuan Lingyi properly took their leave, Qin Jingzhou told Yuan Lingyi, "If you decide, come find me." Then he patted the seat next to him. "Help make your wishes come true."

Xuan Qing let out a faint snort.

Hand in hand, Gu Lingfan and Yuan Lingyi walked out of the villa district. Yuan Lingyi spoke first, "Senior doesn’t seem to harbor any ill intent..."

Gu Lingfan, ever perceptive, replied, "Not only that, he actually seems to appreciate us, I think."

The couple declared in unison, "Senior is truly righteous!"

Gu Lingfan purposely put on a silly, carefree front. "If the sky falls, there’ll be someone tall enough to hold it up for us."

Yuan Lingyi smiled through her tears. "My sister still hasn’t woken up... What we found in the Soul Severing inheritance says clearly, after severing, it’s possible to gather the soul, but the Soul Gathering Art has been lost. Even if we try, her three spirits and seven souls might not be all there... I’m scared..."

Gu Lingfan pulled her into his arms. "It’ll be alright!"

Yuan Lingyi didn’t have a chance to reply before Xuan Qing suddenly dropped out of the sky before them, tossed her a top-grade spiritual stone, and said, "Medical expenses." Then he walked off.

Gu Lingfan and Yuan Lingyi stared: … Back then when Xuan Qing’s brother made her parents accomplices, their idea of revenge was just a hundred middle-grade spiritual stones. The exchange rate between low-grade, middle-grade, top-grade, and supreme-grade was one to a thousand each.

Even with Gu Lingfan’s easygoing nature, he couldn’t help cursing: What a filthy rich jerk!

Yuan Lingyi was even more furious with her own parents. No matter what, she would sever ties with them!

It had to be said, covering the medical expenses was the father’s decision.

Xuan Qing gave in only reluctantly. In truth, he didn’t want to hear Gu Lingfan and Yuan Lingyi pour out their hearts. It was only when he flew near that he caught them worrying about the Soul Gathering failing. Back in his own days of falling into demonic ways, he would have refused to let things go. Now… he let it in one ear and out the other. He believed that if his father hadn’t saved Xiaomei right away, there must have been a reason.

For the next half month, nothing noteworthy happened. Xuan Qing bought groceries and cooked every day—though he wasn’t a real spiritual chef, his homemade dishes delighted Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing.

Since they owed him, Qin Jingzhou treated his son with growing affection. "You haven’t been back to your senses for long after falling into demonic ways. Now isn’t the time to cultivate—you should be focusing on nurturing your character. We never really spent time together as father and son, so how about devoting this time to your old dad?"

Could Xuan Qing say no?

He was the kind of obedient child who’d roll over and wag his tail for his dad with just a affectionate pat or two. And so, Qin Jingzhou, Ling Jing, and Xuan Qing happily spent their days at home, playing online games together as a family of three...

Meanwhile, both the Extraordinaries and the authorities deemed Qin Jingzhou a godlike ascendant returned in great glory—who would dare make a reckless move?

With just a few supreme-grade spiritual stones, the senior laid down the long-lost Energy-Sealing Array as if it were nothing. The clever ones immediately saw through his message: the Energy-Sealing Array not only solved the urgent crisis but also posed a challenge—if your skills weren’t good enough, you didn’t deserve to learn it!

So, during that half month, the best and brightest flocked to the massive array, examining the Energy-Sealing Array in detail.

Not that they saw through much about how the Energy-Sealing Array worked, but they all felt the top-grade spiritual stones hovering in midair being continuously consumed.

The two Nascent Soul Extraordinaries who had been wounded by Xuan Qing, and the other who remained unscathed, all did the math and felt their eyelids twitch: they’d thought with the senior’s help, there would be at least fifty years of peace. Now it seemed ten years was as good as it was going to get!

While the Nascent Soul Extraordinaries fretted, those inside the Spiritual Coffins started to pick up on something, too. The moment the Energy-Sealing Array was set, though they occasionally continued to suffer a little negative energy, their lifespans were no longer rapidly draining away... More precisely, the Sealing Array was no longer siphoning their years!

They’d never felt this so keenly before. The place where it drained hardest was the Main Coffin, and the Main Coffin had also been helping them share the pain from within their own Spiritual Coffins.

Once they pooled their findings, the Spiritual Coffin Extraordinaries relayed the news to their peers outside, who had come to study the Energy-Sealing Array.

Then, the first brave “crab-eater” emerged from his coffin… and nothing happened…

One by one, the Extraordinaries stepped out of their Spiritual Coffins, and the floating Energy-Sealing Array continued working as dutifully as ever, spiritual stones vanishing at the same rate.

Suddenly, everyone saw it clearly: The senior’s method would save lives, but at a staggering price!

A few particularly sharp Extraordinaries even caught on: the reason for this exorbitant cost was that the senior was venting his anger over his son! The sky-high fees were deliberate!

Too bad Qin Jingzhou couldn’t hear their thoughts, or he’d have said, “Exactly right!”

In fact, even Qin Jingzhou couldn’t truly stop the two worlds from interacting and clashing, but he had plenty of “not a real cure, but very effective treatment” tricks to keep energy exchange to a minimum or even prevent it altogether, keeping the impact as low as possible, even making the two worlds coexist peacefully for a lengthy age.

But he didn’t. Instead, he chose an approach that made it look like “the Sword of Damocles was hanging over their heads.”

In this world, it was touching when someone was willing to sacrifice themselves to save it. But that was no excuse to bully the innocent.

Xuan Qing and Yuan Lingmei, Gu Lingfan and Yuan Lingyi—they were all honest folks who’d been wronged. After a period of observation, Qin Jingzhou was certain these two pairs had bright prospects, at least enough resources to ascend with no problem.

If he could help just a few reach Divine Transformation, then when they too “returned home in glory,” they could play their part in saving the world.

Qin Jingzhou shared his thoughts with Ling Jing.

Ling Jing blinked for a long time. “Boss, my System just notified me—my storyline’s male and female leads have been reborn... Their principle is that it doesn’t matter if they die early or late.”

Qin Jingzhou heard the subtext and laughed, “Honestly, my son never turned to the dark side. What right do they have?”