Elf: Is the bear apprentice the weakest? I'll shatter the sky with my fists.

Chapter 612 Father and Son Meet

As the question was asked, Li Chen suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Thick fog swirled around him, cutting his figure into blurry fragments.

A crack appeared on the mask that had always been composed.

This question was like a blunt knife, precisely wedging itself into the softest crevice of his heart.

Yes, there are.

He lowered his eyes, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the cool surface of the Poké Ball at his waist.

Memories of two lifetimes intertwined in my mind: the smell of disinfectant by my sickbed in the first life, and the fleeting warmth of being an infant in the second.

My parents' faces have long since faded into blurry silhouettes with the passage of time, yet they still cast an indelible shadow deep in my memory.

"......have."

This simple syllable seemed to be squeezed out from deep within his chest, carrying a dryness that even he himself was unfamiliar with.

The fog suddenly churned violently, as if responding to this belated answer.

A distant, resonant hum echoed from the jewel, rippling through the perpetual mist of Mount Songshin...

Why does Li Chen want to be good to his descendants?

His almost obsessive tenderness toward his descendants stemmed from a wound deep within his soul that could never be healed.

Having lived two lives, I still feel a transparent wall separating me from the word "parents".

Those childhood memories, when we should have been walking hand in hand, and those nights when we were embraced and comforted, have all turned into empty seats in our memories forever.

Therefore, upon learning that Eileen was pregnant with a new life, he made a vow in his heart to give them the best.

He admitted that he was greedy and too afraid of losing.

Like a traveler in the desert who finds an oasis, he would rather keep the spring water by his side even if it means using chains.

Every hug fills the void of childhood, every call repairs the cracks in the soul...

The thick fog surged like a tide, stirring up lingering memories between reality and illusion.

Suddenly, a blurry outline emerged from the depths of the fog.

The figure appeared and disappeared in the mist, like fragments of a dream scattered by the wind.

As the distance closed, the outline gradually became clearer.

He was a young man in his early twenties, with seven parts resemblance to Li Chen in his features, but with a more arrogant and unrestrained air that Li Chen had never seen before.

The mist swirled around the young man, giving him a hazy glow.

This person was none other than Li Xuan, Li Chen's father, whom he had met once before.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

Li Xuan spoke, his voice carrying the weight of two lifetimes, "Or perhaps... this is our first meeting? My son."

Li Chen stood still, his breathing becoming extremely light, for fear of disturbing the illusion formed by the mist.

His knuckles tightened unconsciously, his nails digging deep into his palms, yet he felt no pain.

At this moment, all of Li Chen's senses were focused on the young man in front of him.

He simply gazed at it, measuring this existence, which should have been the most familiar yet was the most unfamiliar, inch by inch with his eyes.

The mist swirled between them, sometimes blurring and sometimes clarifying, concealing eighteen years of misplaced time.

"Hahaha......"

Li Xuan suddenly burst into loud laughter, which shattered the stagnant mist around him.

He casually raised his hand and rubbed the back of his neck, a gesture that made Li Chen vaguely see himself in the mirror.

"Have you taken care of everything in your other world?"

Li Xuan's eyes gleamed with pride. "That official told me, you did a great job, kid. You really do have the blood of the Li family."

He suddenly took a large step forward, his boots crushing the morning frost on the ground. He was close enough that Li Chen could see the misty beads clinging to his eyelashes.

"In a way, it's not such a bad thing that I died young."

Li Xuan's voice suddenly softened, carrying a hint of childlike slyness, "Guess what? I saw your grandfather. Although he's your grandfather, he looks about the same age as us."

His words suddenly stopped, his gaze went past Li Chen's shoulder to look further into the distance, and the smile on his lips was tinged with a bittersweet nostalgia.

The mist swirled silently among them, carrying with it unspoken thoughts of "what ifs".

"Ah ha..."

Li Xuan suddenly raised his hand and rubbed his nose, a small, unintentional gesture that made Li Chen's heart skip a beat.

He always does this when he's thinking.

"that......"

Li Xuan's voice suddenly lowered, "It's really..."

"It doesn't matter."

Li Chen interrupted very quickly, almost as if he was afraid the other person would continue speaking.

He turned his face away, staring at the tombstone that was faintly visible in the mist. "I'm doing fine, really."

Silence spread between father and son, with only the mountain mist drifting quietly by.

"Oh, right."

Li Xuan suddenly nudged his son with his shoulder, deliberately adopting a lighthearted tone, "Old Xin...didn't give you a hard time, did she? We made a promise back then to be in-laws."

Li Chen's lips finally curled into a genuine smile: "I kidnapped his daughter."

He paused, then added, "There are four in the house now."

Li Xuan was taken aback at first, then burst into a loud laugh, startling a group of night skeletons living nearby.

He patted Li Chen's back hard, tears welling in his eyes as he laughed: "Good lad! Better than your dad! It took me ages to win over your mom back then..."

The laughter stopped abruptly.

The father and son fell silent at the same time, and in the mist, it seemed as if a gentle woman from a distant time and space sighed softly.

Li Xuan suddenly lowered his voice and leaned closer mysteriously: "But son, how did you handle this matter..."

He held up four fingers and waved them in front of his eyes. "Your grandparents may spoil you, but this number... is indeed a bit too much."

A faint ripple suddenly came from the thick fog. Li Xuan turned his head sharply and looked at a certain point in the void, his pupils glowing with a pale golden light.

"Wait, bloodline resonance?"

He winked mischievously, "Which girl's?"

“Eileen’s,” Li Chen replied without changing his expression, while slowly making a “four” gesture.

Li Xuan's expression immediately became quite interesting.

"Good boy!"

Li Xuan put his arm around his son's shoulder, his voice brimming with undisguised pride, "He went straight for a foreign girl!"

A faint smile played on Li Chen's lips, but a complex emotion flickered in his eyes.

He gazed silently at his father's profile outlined by the mist, wanting to etch that image deep into his memory.

"dad."

Li Chen suddenly spoke, his voice even softer than the morning mist in the mountains, "I should go and retrieve the vermilion pearl and the indigo pearl."

This sentence acted as a dividing line, instantly settling the warm atmosphere between father and son.

Buzzing...

In the distance came the low rumble unique to Mount Songshen. Li Xuan's expression gradually became serious. He reached out and straightened Li Chen's collar, which was damp with mist. This simple action contained unspeakable concern.

Go.

In the end, Li Xuan simply patted his son on the shoulder and said, "Remember, whatever is hidden inside the pearl..."

As he spoke, his figure began to become transparent, "You will always be the pride of our Li family."

The mountain wind suddenly turned fierce, swirling fine volcanic ash between the two.

Li Chen clenched his fist, feeling the lingering warmth in his palm, and turned to walk towards the mountain peak deep in the fog.

Behind him, Li Xuan's figure transformed into countless points of light, his last smile before dissipating warmer than the rising sun.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

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As for why Cattleya didn't accept it...

Actually, the drafts were already finalized. Besides Li Chen, the other characters drawn were Eileen, Ao Shiyao, Xin Yong, and Sakura Yukari.

My next book will probably be about being a gym leader, with dragon attributes.

Chapter 613 VS Hibiscus

The mountain mist slowly lifted like a curtain, revealing a stone path polished smooth by time.

Li Chen climbed the steps, each step startling the sleeping dewdrops, which reflected tiny halos of light in the morning glow.

At the end of the stone steps, the summit of Songshen Volcano suddenly opens up into a breathtaking view.

An elderly couple with silver hair sat on a moss-covered stone bench, with an unfinished game of chess on the stone table in front of them.

The old man still held the black ball on his fingertip, while the old woman had a glossy Umbreon lying on her lap.

When Li Chen's footsteps startled the proud swallows perched on the mountaintop, the two old men looked up at the same time.

"You're here."

The old man slowly rose to his feet, and the chess pieces on the board made a crisp clattering sound as he moved.

The Umbreon in the old woman's arms pricked up its ears alertly, its jewel-like eyes reflecting Li Chen's figure.

A sweet fragrance suddenly wafted in from the mountain breeze.

"Grandpa and Grandma... Oh? We have guests?"

The sound, like the tinkling of wind chimes, broke the silence on the mountaintop.

Li Chen looked in the direction of the sound and saw a young girl barefoot lightly touching the branches of a tree beside the cliff.

Her navy blue dress billowed in the wind, revealing silver bells tied to her ankles that jingled softly with her movements.

The girl landed gracefully, her toes touching the petal-covered rocks without stirring up a speck of dust.

Sunlight streamed through the malachite pendant dangling from her ear, casting shimmering light on her collarbone.

As she curiously tilted her head to examine Li Chen, the large red flowers on either side of her hair trembled slightly.

Li Chen's gaze lingered on the girl for a moment, then he suddenly realized.

This is Fuyou, the granddaughter of the elderly couple who are the youngest Elite Four members of the Hoenn League and the guardians of Mount Okami.

"You've come here to..."

Furong suddenly leaned forward, her bare feet stepping on the volcanic rock without getting a speck of dust on them. A hint of wariness flashed in her narrowed eyes as she asked, "What are you doing?"

The mountain wind stopped at that moment.

The old couple's chessboard made a soft clicking sound as a black piece suddenly rolled off the stone table.

Li Chen stared directly into the girl's wary eyes, his fingertips steadily pointing to the two precious pearls floating in the center of the stone chamber.

The pearl trembled slightly as if sensing the gaze, casting a flowing rainbow of light on the rock wall.

"I need to borrow something."

His voice was soft, yet it made the entire volcano's mist pause for a moment: "I'll borrow those shiny 'troublemakers'."

Furong's pupils suddenly contracted, and the shadow behind her stretched eerily, vaguely revealing the outline of a wandering night spirit.

The teacup in the old man's hand suddenly shattered, and the clear sound of it breaking echoed for a long time on the mountaintop.