Chapter 3024
Translator: Silavin & Tia
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
"Lu Qiu allowed the marriage, and as I did not wish to delay the matter any longer, I planned for the wedding to be held in a month. It's a pity that one cannot predict the Heavens' will; Lu Qiu sent a message half a month later saying that San Niang had disappeared. Naturally, I was furious. I went crazy at Dream Gate and injured many people; however, it was later verified that San Niang had vanished for no reason. It wasn't the doing of Dream Gate. Fire Dragon Palace and Dream Gate searched for San Niang's whereabouts for years after that, but there had been no leads whatsoever." Li Jiao gave a wry smile, "It was as if she had vanished off the surface of Star Boundary. It was very strange indeed. This matter was such a huge deal back then that everybody in the Northern Territory knew about it. It was extremely embarrassing for me."
Li Jiao was the Palace Master of Fire Dragon Palace, as well as a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master; therefore, it must have been quite humiliating for him to be involved in a marriage scandal like that. Yang Kai could almost imagine how Li Jiao had felt at the time.
[No wonder he went crazy at Dream Gate in his rage. If I had been in his shoes, I wouldn't have been able to hold back either.]
"Up until today…" Li Jiao let his sentence trail away. Turning to look at Lu San Niang, he fell silent for a moment before sighing again.
It couldn't be helped. They had been mutually in love at the time, but the woman he used to love now had a daughter of her own. Thus, he couldn't help feeling heartbroken at the sight. Even though three hundred years had passed, some things could not be smoothed out with time. Li Jiao did not know why or how Lu San Niang vanished back then. He also did not know how she turned up in this Small World. More than anything else, he did not know whose child that girl was.
When he heard her voice earlier at the teahouse, he had simply thought that it sounded familiar. It wasn't until that sinister and vicious-looking man kicked her to the ground that Li Jiao saw her face clearly and acted out of shock and rage.
The woman who had been betrothed to him had disappeared for three hundred years. Moreover, she had given birth to the child of another man. Any man would simply not be able to bear such humiliation.
It was only because it was Yang Kai that Li Jiao bothered to explain the situation. If it had been any other person, he would not have revealed such embarrassing secrets. In any case, it was not the first time he was humiliated in front of Yang Kai so he was already used to it.
"Big Brother Li…" A low voice rang out from the side. Lu San Niang had finally stopped sobbing. Wiping her tears from the corners of her eyes, she called out to Li Jiao.
Yang Kai choked and nearly burst into laughter. ['Big Brother Li'!? I can't believe that there are people in this world who address Li Jiao in such a manner! Moreover, it's such a beauty too! He sure has pretty good fortune in love!] Unfortunately, now was not the time for laughter thus he hurriedly picked up a teacup and placed it by his mouth.
On the other hand, Li Jiao looked shaken. He turned to look at Lu San Niang with turbulent emotions, but what came out of his mouth was a sneer, "Are you going to stop pretending now?"
Lu San Niang did not look up as she whispered, "I was too ashamed to meet you. That's why I didn't dare to admit that I know you."
"Oh, so you know that you should be ashamed to meet me?!" He coldly snapped. Li Jiao was feeling extremely vexed. At first, he wanted to ridicule and humiliate her to vent the anger that had been simmering in his heart for so many years; however, he swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue again when he saw her bleak and miserable appearance. At the same time, his face became slightly distorted.
Rubbing her eyes hard, Lu San Niang lifted her head and forced a smile at him, "I really would have never imagined that I'd be able to meet you again, Big Brother Li."
His heart softened at the sight of her face and he no longer had the heart to blame her for anything else anymore.
"The person I have wronged the most in my entire life is you, Big Brother Li. I won't have any complaints even if you want to beat me, scold me, or even kill me. It's just…" While speaking, she turned to look at her daughter with eyes that were filled with love and longing.
The girl was shocked to hear those words and all the goodwill and gratitude she felt for Li Jiao vanished from her heart instantly. She jumped up, spread her arms wide in front of Lu San Niang, and shouted, "Don't bully my mother!"
Li Jiao immediately became exasperated. Slamming his hands on the table, he shouted, "When have I ever bullied her!?"
The girl jumped in fright, blinking several times as pea-sized tears slid down her cheeks. Despite trembling uncontrollably, she continued standing in front of her mother with her arms spread open.
"Why is this girl so much like you?!" Li Jiao felt a little speechless. His words and tone had been a little harsh just now, so he felt extremely apologetic and looked extremely uncomfortable.
Lu San Niang reached out and pulled her daughter's arms down, coaxing her in a gentle voice, "Qin'er, don't cause a fuss. Your Uncle Li will not bully me."
The girl seemed sceptical. However, she no longer dared to challenge Li Jiao again after he yelled at her just now.
Lu San Niang continued, "Big Brother Li, you should leave as soon as possible. That person won't let things go so easily now that you beat him up. If you don't leave now, things will get very troublesome."
Li Jiao smiled coldly, "Trash like him? I won't show him any mercy if he dares to pester me again."
He was simply being stubborn and prideful when in actuality, he felt rather uneasy inside. Half-Dragon City was simply too strange. He would never have placed himself in the limelight if he had not accidentally come across Lu San Niang.
Lu San Niang shook her head though and continued, "Big Brother Li, I know that you are powerful; however, it doesn't matter how strong you are in this place. The opponents you will face are not ordinary people."
Despite feeling extremely nervous inside, he immediately scoffed at her words, "If that's so, then I really want to see what kind of help he can bring."
Lu San Niang was about to continue speaking when Yang Kai suddenly smiled and said, "Sister San Niang, you don't need to worry about our affairs. Rather, I'm very curious about why you suddenly disappeared back then."
He knew that what Li Jiao wanted more than anything else in the world was the answer to that question. Putting himself in Li Jiao's shoes, he knew that this matter was a thorn in Li Jiao's heart, one that had been pricking at him for three centuries now.
Nevertheless, Li Jiao seemed reluctant to ask that question. Rather, it might be more accurate to say that he seemed scared of asking. He was probably worried about what he might gain or lose from knowing the answer, so Yang Kai decided to ask in his stead.
Upon hearing that question, Li Jiao's expression twitched as he picked up his teacup and took a sip. Despite how calm he acted on the outside, his hand holding the teacup was trembling slightly.
Lu San Niang did not expect Yang Kai to ask that question so forthrightly, so a trace of shame surfaced on her face and she lowered her head, "It happened so long ago. I don't remember it that well anymore."
That answer clearly did not satisfy Li Jiao and he couldn't be bothered to keep up with pretences anymore. His expression sank immediately and he shouted, "In other words, the feelings you showed me back then were nothing but lies! Good good good!"
He looked sad and indignant. If any other man had been the one to encounter this situation, they would not have remained calm either. Just thinking about the marriage back then left him feeling incredibly vexed and he was tempted to slap that shameless woman to death!
"That's not it!" She abruptly lifted her head with all her strength as her tears came rolling down her cheeks again, "The feelings I had for you were genuine! I wanted to marry you, Big Brother Li."
The way she looked caused his heart to soften again and his ferocity subsided considerably as he quickly said, "I need an explanation for what happened back then."
She shook her head again, however, and as a result, the rage in his heart that had cooled flared up again and he stood up and spat, "Fine! You don't need to tell me. I won't force you. Let's just pretend we never knew each other in the first place. Let's go, Palace Master Yang."
Although what happened back then was extremely regretful, Li Jiao had overcome so many other challenges over the years so by now, he could take what came his way in stride. His cultivation was not low after all and his mental fortitude was exceptional.
As soon as Li Jiao turned around to leave though, Lu San Niang grabbed his sleeve.
"What else do you want?" Li Jiao looked down at her with a cold expression.
She sobbed for a while before explaining in a soft voice, "I… was kidnapped back then."
Li Jiao's face twitched upon hearing those words, but he said nothing. He simply stood there without moving and did not mention leaving again either.
"Back then, our marriage had been decided and I was eagerly awaiting Big Brother Li's arrival at Dream Gate, but I could not bear it any longer and wanted to meet with you right away. Hence, I ran out secretly. I wanted to go to Fire Dragon Palace to find you, but… but I never imagined…" At this point, she couldn't continue speaking anymore. She was probably recalling the memories from back then and they choked her up so much that she couldn't even speak anymore.
"Mother…" The little girl started crying too as she raised her hand to wipe away her mother's tears. For a moment, both mother and daughter wallowed in grief and wept their eyes out.
Then, Li Jiao sighed, "That's enough. Stop crying. It's fine; let's not talk about what happened back then. I went too far."
Lu San Niang shook her head, barely able to control her emotions as she continued, "I was only a Third-Order Dao Source Realm at the time, while 'that' person's cultivation was extremely high. Unable to fight back, I was kidnapped and…"
There was no need to explain what happened next. She was such a stunning beauty, so she couldn't escape unscathed after being kidnapped.
Li Jiao's expression turned frosty at those words and he asked coldly, "Who was it?"
Lu San Niang did not answer directly and instead simply continued her story, "After that, he brought me here, to Dragon Island."
"Dragon Island?" Both Li Jiao and Yang Kai were shocked and looked at her in unison to ask, "Is this really Dragon Island?"
She looked up at them, feeling curious about the reason why they did not know where they were even though they were already here. Nodding, she confirmed their suspicions, "That's right, this is Dragon Island."
Yang Kai and Li Jiao looked at each other, their expressions sinking. Although Lu San Niang did not mention who had kidnapped her, the answer was obvious. Who else could freely come and go from Dragon Island aside from the Dragon Clan?
Li Jiao clenched his fists tightly, and his hand trembled violently. [No wonder she refused to tell us, it was the work of the Dragon Clan! If I had not forced her to talk, she would never have revealed the truth!]
[Her disappearance back then was related to the Dragon Clan after all…] Yang Kai frowned, secretly thinking that this matter was going to be very troublesome.
Li Jiao was the same. It wouldn't have mattered if it were anybody else; even if it were another Third-Order Emperor Realm Master. Li Jiao was willing to risk his life to get revenge and seek justice on Lu San Niang's behalf; however, it turned out her abductor was a Dragon…
Li Jiao laughed bitterly in his heart as he thought to himself, [The Dragon Clan is something I can't afford to offend…]
Just the bloodline suppression alone prevented him from having any thoughts of resistance. Thus, he fell back heavily in his seat with an ashen complexion. [My woman was snatched from me and humiliated beyond words. I also lost a great deal of face because of that incident, but even after learning the truth of the matter, I can't even take revenge!!] A strong sense of helplessness sprung up in his heart, leaving him extremely depressed.
"How did you end up in this place?" Yang Kai looked at Lu San Niang with a frown. [The Dragons are lustful in nature. To add to that, she is a stunning beauty so it makes sense for her to attract the attention of someone from the Dragon Clan and get herself kidnapped, but how did she end up in Half-Dragon City then?]
Yang Kai was puzzled by this conundrum while at the same time, he sympathized with Li Jiao. [The Dragon Clan bastard that kidnapped her is a real piece of shit!]
