Chapter 297: Chapter 236: Let Me Raise the Child

It was his mother’s brother, Quan Gang.

Quan Gang had coveted the throne for a long time. He was the one who had framed Quan Xiao, forcing her to flee. He had assumed that after so many years, she was long dead. To his surprise, not only did she return alive, but she came back pregnant with offspring!

An offspring represented an heir!

Quan Gang wasn’t a pure-blooded Soaring Snake to begin with, and with his mediocre talent, he wasn’t much of a competitor.

If the children were Demon Beast half-breeds, that would have been one thing. But if they were Soaring Snakes…

Quan Xiao gave birth to a set of twins, both of whom were Soaring Snakes.

One of the Soaring Snake cubs was of mixed Demon Clan blood.

Before their father died, he used his power to seal the Demon Clan power within the child, but there was no guarantee it wouldn’t awaken one day.

At the secret instigation of a trusted subordinate, Quan Gang devised a plan. He murdered the weakened, post-partum Quan Xiao and framed Demon Beasts for the crime. As for the two children… he secretly kept the one without any mixed Demon Clan blood, raising him as an adopted son. This was the boy who would later become Quan Xiu. Quan Gang’s true intention was to one day steal his body and bloodline.

The Old Beast Emperor was heartbroken by the loss of his daughter and fell into a deep depression. His hatred for Demon Beasts intensified, and he ordered his men to abandon the child with Demon Beast blood in the desolate Fog Forest. Tossing a newborn cub into such a place was essentially a death sentence.

Fearing her mixed-blood child would be abandoned, Quan Xiao had made a contingency plan before her death. She had a trusted subordinate secretly move the child to safety. However, they were pursued by Demon Beasts. The subordinate fled to the border of the East and West Continents where, on the verge of death, he chanced upon the Old Lion King, Egarli Yalan, who was there for training.

He offered up all of his worldly possessions, entrusting the child to the king before he died.

The subordinate was no match for the Old Lion King’s cunning. The king soon tricked the child’s identity out of him. Overjoyed, the Old Lion King immediately swore a sacred oath to raise the child to adulthood.

However, the subordinate had held one thing back: he never revealed the Demon Clan bloodline within the child.

The Old Lion King and Quan Gang were cut from the same cloth; both wanted to use the child to purify their own bloodlines. The Old Lion King used his influence to fake the child’s death. Through a series of deceptions, he pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes. Quan Jin, under the alias Caesar, lived and grew up on the Western Continent…

Sang Luo opened her eyes. The rest… was everything she already knew.

She looked at Quan Jin, her expression fraught with worry. “Your body… was it really destroyed in that fire?”

Quan Jin nodded. “My Soaring Snake Body was incinerated, leaving only a single soul bone behind. At the moment of death, my Demon Clan bloodline awakened. I returned to the Void Demon Realm and was reborn in a demonic body.”

A heavy, sour feeling settled in Sang Luo’s heart. ’No wonder,’ she thought, ’even after regaining his memories, that faint, sinister aura around him hasn’t changed in the slightest.’

’He’s a true member of the Demon Clan now, through and through.’

’He’s different from those Demon Beast Men who became Fallen Demons.’

’There’s no going back.’

Seeing her crestfallen expression, Quan Jin’s fingertips, hanging at his sides, twitched. He felt a wave of anxiety, unsure of what to do.

’The reason he’d never told her was that he was afraid she’d hold it against him.’

’She hated the Demon Clan—in fact, she despised them. If Sangsang knew he was now a true member of the Demon Clan, would that hatred extend to him as well?’

“I’m of the Demon Clan, but Little Qi isn’t… He’s the child we conceived while I was in my Soaring Snake Body… He has absolutely nothing to do with the Demon Clan…” Quan Jin said, rushing to distance his son from it all.

“I know.” Sang Luo squeezed his long, elegant hand and took a deep breath. In a tone of resignation, she said, “Oh, forget it. ’In for a penny, in for a pound,’ as they say. So what if you’re of the Demon Clan? As long as you haven’t done anything monstrous and you’re good to me and our children, that’s all that matters!”

Quan Jin smiled faintly. “Sangsang, bring our son out.”

Sang Luo retrieved Little Qi from her spatial storage, her expression a mix of happiness and regret. “It’s been so long, and I still haven’t seen our other little snake. Little Qi told me… I think it’s a girl, his little sister.”

An icy glint flashed in Quan Jin’s eyes, but it melted away like spring ice the moment he looked back at the mother and son. “I will bring our daughter back to you.”

Little Qi slowly woke up. He looked at his mother, then at his father, and then at the handsome, scowling uncle standing off to the side, not yet understanding what was going on.

Quan Jin stroked his head. “You’ll stay with your mother for now,” he instructed. “Be a good boy and don’t cause any trouble. I’ll be back for you in a while.”

Quan Jin had matters to attend to, so he didn’t stay long before departing.

Fei Yuan watched him leave, his expression pensive.

Little Qi nuzzled against Sang Luo’s palm, flicking the tip of his tail. He asked, both happy and timid, “Mommy, are… are you still mad?”

Sang Luo froze for a second. She then remembered the last time she’d seen Little Qi, right before they were separated—she and Quan Jin had gotten into a huge fight! Little Qi had been caught in the middle, watching them, on the verge of tears…

’Ugh! I’m such a jerk!’

’How could I argue in front of our child?!’

Sang Luo wanted to smack herself. She bent down and kissed his little head, her voice soft and warm. “I’m so sorry, Little Qi. Mommy shouldn’t have been so harsh last time. I’m apologizing to you now!”

“Your father and I just had a little misunderstanding, but we should have handled it privately. We shouldn’t have dragged you into it. That was Mommy’s mistake.”

“Mommy and Daddy both love you very much.”

“Mmm… Mommy, you have to get along with Daddy. You can’t leave Daddy and me and my sister again.” Little Qi’s beautiful eyes grew moist. The little guy didn’t want to cry in front of his mother, so he just buried his head in her palm and nuzzled, leaving a small, damp patch behind.

Sang Luo’s heart ached for him. “Your daddy has things he needs to do. He trusted Mommy to look after you, and I promise I’ll take good care of you.”

“Luo’er, may I have a look at the child?” Fei Yuan asked.

Sang Luo said to Little Qi, “This is your Uncle Fei Yuan. He loves little cubs, so you should be nice to him, okay? Your uncle is handsome and rich, and he has lots of yummy snacks in his spatial storage!”

Little Qi’s eyes lit up, and he chirped, “Hello, Uncle Fei Yuan!”

’Watching the mother and son duo play off each other, Fei Yuan’s gaze softened. He was actually quite envious of that damned Snake Beast. Luo’er had even borne him a set of male and female twins. What kind of dumb luck was that…? Maybe I should go find some of my own.’

’Thinking about his own future child, and a similarly happy family of three, much of Fei Yuan’s agitation faded. He took a small, bulging Qiankun Bag from his spatial storage and hung it on the tip of Little Qi’s tail. “Well, since your mother put it that way, this uncle can’t be stingy. Take these snacks as a little welcoming gift.”’

“Thank you, Uncle!”

Little Qi swam cheerfully into his palm.

Sang Luo knew what Fei Yuan was worried about. He extended a wisp of his power, which entered Little Qi’s body to check for any residual Demonic Qi.

After a moment, Fei Yuan withdrew his hand. He glanced in the direction Quan Jin had departed, a look of surprise on his face. “For a member of the Demon Clan, he’s raised this child surprisingly well. He’s not tainted by the slightest bit of Demonic Qi, and his temperament is gentle and pure. He’s nothing like a child raised in the Void Demon Realm.”

“Daddy’s from the Demon Clan?” Little Qi asked, even more shocked than the two adults.

Sang Luo asked, “You’ve been with your father for so many years and you didn’t know?”

Little Qi shook his head. “I only knew that Daddy associated with the Demon Clan. I didn’t know anything else. Daddy never let me get close to them.”

’Sang Luo recalled that every time Quan Jin brought Little Qi to see her, he had always concealed his own Demonic Qi perfectly…’

’For the child to have not noticed anything for all these years… he must have gone to great lengths.’

Fei Yuan thoughtfully retracted his gaze. He swallowed the words, ’I wonder if his father will even make it back alive.’ Instead, he smiled at Sang Luo and said, “Luo’er, this cub is really something. How about you let me raise him?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep