That sheet of white paper was already filled with writing — it held the marriage vows Ling Xiao had written for Lan Luofeng! Every vow on the paper just proved that Ling Xiao was totally henpecked 1 .
The chip, was the control chip of Ling Xiao's wealth. With this chip alone, Lan Luofeng would be able to forcefully transfer all of Ling Xiao's worldly possessions to someone else's communicator without having to get Ling Xiao's approval.
Meanwhile, that keychain was modelled after Ling Xiao's mecha. What this really represented, or if there was any deeper meaning to it, Lan Luofeng had never told Ling Lan. She had only told Ling Lan that of these three things, the most valuable was actually this keychain, but now it had become just a souvenir ...
Ling Xiao looked at the three items before him with a complicated expression, but he was clearly moved. However, he very quickly managed to calm his almost overflowing emotions and raised his head to smile blindingly at Ling Lan. "Congratulations, Ling Lan, you've passed. You shall receive Ling Xiao's legacy, my legacy ... my child, I'm so very happy today!"
Ling Xiao's smile caused Ling Lan to become awestruck. Now she finally understood why her mum would always lose her mind in fantasies whenever she talked about her dad — her dad's sincere smile was just too stunning. Even in this future world where one could find beautiful men and women everywhere, her dad's looks were definitely still of the godlike legendary level.Ling Xiao made Ling Lan stand before him. At this moment, he was silent. After a long while, a light trace of loss appeared on his expression, and he said, "Honestly, I don't wish for this legacy mission to appear. Because, its appearance would mean that I'm really gone. If possible, I really want to accompany my wife, and be by your side as you grow up ... I can't bear to let you both go. My child, I don't even know if you're a boy or a girl. I really wish I could see for myself how you look like, whether you resemble me or your mum ..."
Ling Xiao's loss of composure lasted for only a split second; he soon regained his equilibrium and said self-mockingly, "What's with this sentimentality ... is this the result of the wavering of belief? What a terrible feeling."
Ling Xiao recovered his usual smile once more and looked at Ling Lan. The nameless tenderness in his gaze caused Ling Lan's heart to spasm, as all sorts of emotions rose up within her heart.
Ling Lan knew very well that Ling Xiao was definitely not looking at her right now. This Ling Xiao was a manifestation of spiritual energy from 8 years ago — perhaps this affectionate gaze was meant for Lan Luofeng, and maybe included some anticipation for his then unborn child? But for some unknown reason, this scene just tugged at Ling Lan's heartstrings, making her heart ache. She didn't know if it was because she had merged with this body completely, causing her to be unable to control her emotions when faced with this body's biological father.
Ling Xiao said, "I believe that my child is the strongest child. I will entrust your mum to you. You must definitely make her happy! I'm an irresponsible husband, and also an irresponsible father. I've failed you both."
Ling Lan tried to speak, but Ling Xiao made a stopping motion, "Don't speak. Let me hold on to my fantasy a while longer ... you will call me 'Daddy' earnestly, and then say 'I love you'."
That said, Ling Xiao smiled bitterly and said hoarsely, "Isn't that just a useless daydream? An irresponsible person like me ... if I get a scolding, it would already be too easy on me. What right do I have to ask you, my child, to call me 'daddy' 2 ?"Ling Lan's mouth twitched, but she did not call out 'daddy' in the end. Although she knew that Ling Xiao was her dad of this life, and Ling Xiao was extremely familiar to her due to the constant reminiscences of her mum ... The address of 'daddy' was really quite difficult for the mentally mature Ling Lan to voice out.
Ling Lan could only put the blame on this man across from her — he was just too young, causing her mind to inexplicably rebel against the very idea.
Dejection flashed through Ling Xiao's gaze; those words of his were actually an indirect plea for his child to call him 'daddy'. He didn't dare to ask directly, because he felt he had wronged his child.
Sadly, the truth was really just as he had feared. His child truly hated him and was unwilling to call him 'daddy' — this reality made him feel very hurt. The Ling Xiao of 8 years ago had imagined many possibilities of this encounter, and this was one which he had most hoped not to see ...
Regardless of how dejected Ling Xiao felt, he still began to teach his first lesson.
Ling Lan thought that the first lesson would be Ling Xiao's exclusive physical skills or something along those lines — mind you, the very first lesson she received when she first entered the learning space, and also when she first entered the Central Scout Academy, was physical skills (other than theoretical studies). After all, the basics were the most important.
"Are you wondering why we aren't starting with physical skills?" asked the Ling Xiao of 8 years ago, having predicted Ling Lan's puzzlement.
Since Ling Xiao was the one to ask, Ling Lan naturally nodded without any hesitation, and waited for Ling Xiao to explain.
Smiling, Ling Xiao told Ling Lan that the academy's basic physical skills set was the accumulation of the efforts of countless talents over tens of thousands of years. It was definitely one of the best foundational physical skills set available, so before Ling Lan fully mastered that set of physical skills, he would not teach Ling Lan any other physical skills, including his own exclusive physical skills. Many people, before their basics had been built properly, would already attempt to learn physical skills or spiritual skills of a higher level — this was completely wrong. Think about it. If you try to build a building when your foundations haven't even been settled yet, how would you be able to build a tall building?
Ling Xiao was unsure how the other legendary operators had advanced to their level, but Ling Xiao's advancement was closely tied to his foundations. Back then, Ling Xiao had only wanted to prove himself to his father his own way, and so had refused to learn the Ling family's secret physical skills. Instead, he had trained in the academy's foundational physical skills until he mastered it to its extreme. In the process, he had touched on the most profound meaning of foundational physical skills, which showed him a path to advance to legendary status ...
"What does it mean to fully master it?" asked Ling Lan, puzzled. She already knew the foundational physical skills by heart — could it be that she still hadn't been doing it right?
"When you can execute this set of physical skills without having to think about it, no longer limited to the stances — about then, you will naturally understand," explained Ling Xiao briefly. He didn't want Ling Lan to be impatient — she was still young and had plenty of time.
"Now, what I can teach you is how to improve your eyesight and hand speed. These are things that you cannot lack for either combat or operating mecha," said Ling Xiao. "They are both things that require hard work to train, especially finger speed. That needs to be trained beginning from youth, while the bones of the fingers haven't fully grown yet and are still extremely flexible. Only then can you develop your personal limits to its maximum."
That said, Ling Xiao suddenly lifted up a palm. A clear and translucent round bead was clamped between two of his fingers. And then all his fingers started to dance, causing the bead to tumble freely amidst the five fingers. It started out slow, but the speed gradually became faster and faster — in the end, Ling Lan, who took pride in her eyesight, couldn't even see a shadow of the bead anymore. Ling Xiao's fingers had become mere afterimages in the air, so quick that she couldn't even tell which finger was which ...
Just as Ling Lan was staring as if in a trance, Ling Xiao suddenly folded his fingers to make a fist. The abrupt shift from movement to stillness disoriented Ling Lan's eyes, making them ache, extremely uncomfortable.
"Your vision hasn't reached the level of my hand speed, which is why you feel the strain. Close your eyes and rest for a bit." Ling Lan did as Ling Xiao said, and soon found that her eyes no longer felt stretched and achy. Only then did she open her eyes again.
"That's where the limit of your eyesight is. You feel it now? From now on, you must train your hand speed. At the same time, you must get your vision up to the level of your hand speed. This requires slow and steady training. There is no shortcut," said Ling Xiao to Ling Lan. Legacy missions weren't as miraculous as most people thought — there is no way for someone to ascend to the heavens in one step. To succeed, it all still depended on your own effort to earn it; the legacy mission would only show you how to do so more efficiently, that's all.
"I understand." Ling Lan nodded, heart filled with gratitude for Ling Xiao's mentoring. As he trained her hand speed and vision, Ling Xiao had indirectly been telling Ling Lan that, to become strong, she needed to rely on her own efforts — no one else could do it for her.
"Just now, was that already your fastest speed?" Ling Lan, who was in a great mood, finally displayed the curiosity a 7 year old child should have.
Ling Xiao only smiled silently, but spread out his fingers once more. In his palm was no longer just the one crystal bead from before, but a whole nine beads. Ling Lan found herself tongue-tied with astonishment. Before she could find her voice to ask, Ling Xiao's fingers started moving once more. The nine crystal beads collided with each other within his palm, emitting clear and reverberating bell-like sounds. As they collided with one another, the beads started bouncing irregularly — this was the hardest thing to control, because you had to predict where each bead would go. Ling Lan was sure she could control one bead with no pressure, two if the speed wasn't too fast, but three would be tricky.
However, Ling Xiao easily controlled all nine beads, his fingers flying swiftly to block every single one before they could fall, only allowing them to roll around in his palm.
Gradually, Ling Xiao's speed became faster and faster, until finally, the sounds of the beads colliding meshed into one solid sound, no gaps between collisions. At this point, Ling Lan could no longer see what was going on in Ling Xiao's hand — everything was just a blur.
Ling Lan thought that this was already the limit, but unexpectedly, something even more astonishing happened. Gradually, Ling Lan couldn't even see the blur of shadows anymore ... It was as if Ling Xiao had spread open his palm like a lotus flower, but there was no sign of those beads within it.
Ling Lan knew this was a false impression; Ling Xiao's speed had just reached a frightening level, enough to fool the eyes into registering this illusion, defaulting back into the original setting. This was a misperception, an illusion born of sheer overwhelming speed.
Before Ling Lan could regain her senses, she heard several consecutive clacking noises, nine in total. Following these sounds, Ling Xiao abruptly stopped the motions of his fingers. At this moment, Ling Lan felt a throbbing pain in her eyes, and tears begin to spill over from them in a flood. They had been working too hard to try and see a speed too far beyond their limits, and had finally incurred the backlash.
It took a while, but Ling Lan finally felt comfortable again. She opened her eyes and saw Ling Xiao standing before her with a smile, his right hand in a loose fist.
"I'm alright now," said Ling Lan embarrassedly. She focused her attention on Ling Xiao's right hand.
Ling Xiao slowly opened his right palm. In the middle of his palm, the initially solid crystal beads had been turned into a heap of powder. Ling Xiao shook his fingers lightly, and the fine powder scattered, sifting through his fingers to drift slowly to the ground. Under the refraction of the light, the crystal powder sparkled, sending out countless glimmering rays, immersing the two of them in an illusion of a magical realm.
