YuTiandi's (Heavenly Father's) POV

Moments ago, I had felt YiJun's presence and ignored it, but now, here he is, on his knees, begging me to listen to him, just like he had done then...before falling.

Jian, who had spotted him while he was being brought in, had rushed to me to beg me not to kill him on sight.

Silly child, how could I end the life of the one I hold dearest with my own hands?

I had told my youngest that I would think about it before dismissing him. Even though I had no intention of ending YiJun's existence, I couldn't let my youngest see my heart.

Xuan had come with the same request shortly after. I had stuck with the reply I had given Jian and made her leave. Even as she left, her eyes were begging me to pardon him. But there was something else too in her gold-rimmed eyes. It was like they were searching for someone.

Could it be that abomination, that son of hers?

I dismiss the angels surrounding YiJun. I didn't need them. I noticed that my son had not lost his wings. It made me happy for some reason.
Happy and curious.

The guard who had escorted him had informed me that YiJun had surrendered and willingly given up his sword upon entering our gate.
His Bichen lay at my feet. I could smell his blood on it and the stench of an unclean.

'Why would Bichen draw its master's blood?' I wondered, and it came to me, YiJun had probably commanded it to draw his blood.

Why?

I take my time observing him. He is dressed in robes that he was wearing when he had fallen. His military robes, the ones I had gifted him long ago.

I pace in front of him and feel his eyes following my every move without making it obvious.

I taught you well, my son. Alas...

After putting forth his request, he had just sat there, waiting patiently. He knew not to push me.

I take the throne and ask him to look at me. His eyes are cold. I order him to approach me, and he does. He halts a few steps away and lifts his eyes. His dark orbs scan my face before dipping lower to glance at my sword.
I try to read his mind, but there is nothing there. Empty.

It was a trick I had taught all my children. It was a defense mechanism to protect their minds from enemies in case they fell into the hands of the underworld.

"YiJun," I call, and his eyes snap up. More than anything, I want to know how he survived the fall. So that is what I lead with, "You should be dead." I state, keeping the waves of emotions rising in me from showing.

He keeps mum.

Anger starts bubbling in me once again. "You come here begging me to hear you out, but you refuse to answer me!" I bite out; grabbing his collar, I search his eyes. There is no fear in them. In fact, there is nothing in them. They are lifeless.

Why?

This close, I can feel that he is hiding something from me, but before I can put my finger on it, he flings my arms off of him and in one swift move bends down, picks up his sword, and restraining my arms, places its edge on my throat.

I summon my sword but fail. In that instance, I realize that YiJun has bound my core. It was a forbidden method that I had only taught two of my children.

Why? Because even Gods could make mistakes. And if I was ever in the wrong and needed to be controlled, this was how one could do it.

But why now?

"YiJun! Unbind me. Now!" I growl, trying to fringe confidence, for there was none left in me now. I expect his sword to end me, but instead, YiJun lets it slip through his fingers, and it falls to the floor with a loud clang attracting the guards, who rush inside.

A moment later, YiJun is on his knees again with five swords crisscrossing around his neck.

Our eyes meet and hold this time. And understanding dawns on me.

"Leave!" I bark at them, and though bewildered, the guards leave us alone again.

"Father, what happened to you?" He asks. His mono-lids brim with tears. He blinks, and they fall.

I lose it then. The years of YiJun serving heaven, being my perfect creation, and our time apart when I had thought I had lost him wash over me. Waves of emotions break their confines, and I find myself rushing towards him and pulling him in my embrace.

"My son..." I whisper, holding him close, and he nods into my neck; he confesses, "Father, I have missed you, and I have missed my home."

"You did not want to end me, did you?" I state more than ask, and he nods again.

"Don't you hate me?" I ask, and he shakes his head.

"No. Not even once, Father. You did what you had to do. You must have done it fearing for the safety of your creations." He replies as sincerely as ever.

Are you admitting that you were wrong, my son?

I am about to voice my thoughts, but he steps away and bows. "Heavenly Father, all I ask is for you to hear me out with an open mind." His tone is urgent.

By holding me hostage just moments ago, he had shown me that I was not the all-powerful being that I once was. When even a fallen angel could outsmart me, did I stand a chance against the forces of the underworld if they chose to attack us now?

Putting my apprehensions aside, I ask him to speak his mind.

"Father, what I am about to tell you might hurt you, but please don't judge before you have heard me out completely. If you want to end my existence then, I won't resist."

I nod and brace myself for what he might say, yet the first words out of him leave me stunned.

"Xian is not my blood. I never lay a finger on Xuan." He averts his eyes, "I never sinned with her."

What!? That was not possible. The child had the aura of archangels. I was sure of it.

I read YiJun's eyes for the lie, but there is only truth in them.

If YiJun was not the father, then Xuan must have conceived when she was in the mortal realm.

"Father," YiJun's voice reminds me that that couldn't be all he wanted to share. I gesture to him to go on.

"It was not Xuan's fault. I am sure she was tricked into giving herself to the..." YiJun hesitates before adding, "Father, whoever it was, he lied to Xuan. You know how innocent she is. When she came to me, she told me how she had given herself to a human. I knew that would anger you. I was scared that you would do something that you would come to regret."

"Father," he takes my hands in his reverently. "All these years, I hid us, Xian and me, from you to protect him. He is a good boy, father. But," YiJun hesitates yet again, and this time I can see fear in his eyes.

Why?

"Xian is not," he pauses, "Father, when you held him, why did you not kill him?" He asks as if changing his mind at the last second.

I was not prepared for the question. The truth was that when I had held that child, though I knew he had to die, I couldn't bring myself to do it. That itself had scared me. It had made me feel threatened. I remember that I was thinking about asking YiJun to do it himself.

"Were you really going to kill him? Do you want to kill him still?" There is an undercurrent of desperation lining his voice and a plea in his eyes.

He had just returned, and he was already asking me difficult questions. I wonder if he would leave me again for him.

"Why don't you tell me what Xian is?" I demand. I needed to know who or what he was, and maybe then I would finally understand why I hadn't been able to kill the abomination.

Unexpectedly he bows his head and nods, "At first, I thought his father was human."

"At first?" I quirk my brow. That would mean YiJun thought differently now.

YiJun takes a deep breath, "Now I am sure he is not. He runs hotter than mortals. He can't stand the cold. Moreover, no mortal would have been able to fool Xuan."

"So you believe that Xuan is innocent...a victim," I state, and he nods. I wait for him to go on, but he seems to lose the will to come clean.

"Are you here for forgiveness, YiJun? Do you want to return to my side? Or are you here to mock me?" Try as I may, I can't keep the bitterness from seeping into my words.

He shakes his head, his grip on my hand tightens, "No, Father." He exclaims hurriedly. Then lifting his head, he starts again, "He has the voice of persuasion. He recently turned eighteen, and that's when he used the voice for the first time. He didn't seem to know what he was doing, though."

I experience the agony of a thousand blades slicing through my primordial body at that moment, but my face shows nothing.

YiJun keeps going as if scared that my wrath will rain down on him, "After he saw how it affected me, he realized its power and promised not to use it." YiJun searches my eyes. I don't know what he sees in them, but his eyes grow weary, "I have heard that Hei Chi possesses this voice of persuasion. I thought... I was sure that Xian's father probably had links with the underworld." He stops again, "But last night, something happened to prove me wrong once again. I...Xian broke the barrier I had drawn with blood." His eyes bore into mine, "Father, you told me that only celestial beings can get across the barrier, then how was Xian able to do it? I don't know what Xian is, but I know that he would never do anything to hurt us. He is on our side."

I felt guilty, like when I had banished my first sons after taking their wings. I should have tried to reason with Hei Chi.

Would he have listened?

Would YiJun listen if I asked him to cut ties with the boy he had probably raised like a son?

My silence breaks his composure. He falls at my feet, "Father, the gates of heaven were almost compromised. You are a shadow of your former self. If Hei Chi attacks now, heaven will fall, and the mortal realm will pay the price as well." His pearl-like tears fall on the white floor, and when he hangs his head, his distraught face reflects in mirror-like tears, "Please, let me fight by your side. See for yourself where Xian's heart lies before punishing me."

So all this was on his behalf. To convince me to accept that......Xian.

"What will you do if I refuse?" I ask, expecting him to draw his sword, but he doesn't. "Then I will fight by your side, and once we have won, I will surrender myself to you."

Did he think his hollow words would appease me!?

"And what of Xian?" I can hear my voice shake with anger, but it doesn't get any reaction from my son. He stays as calm as the Lotus pond at heaven's gardens, "Xian's life is all I am asking you to spare. He is Xuan's son. He has a pure, untainted, human heart." He looks up and holds my cold gaze with his fond one for a long moment before saying, "Father, my sword and wings have pledged themselves to him. Would they have done that if he was a threat? I can promise you that he doesn't seek power."

That wasn't possible. Xian was a seed that had fallen from a rotten tree that I had cut off like a poisoned limb. He was like his father. I was sure of it. If it was not power that he desired, then there must be something else that he did. "What does he seek then?" I enquire, and the corners of my once-emotionless General curl up in a soft smile that reaches his eyes. They acquire a glint that I had seen once before...in Hei Chi's eye's before he had begged for Fei's life.

I nod, gesturing my son to go on, hoping that I was imagining the fondness...the affection in his eye. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen.

YiJun blinks and as another tear makes its way down his cheek, the cursed word leaves his lips, "Love."

{Note:- That's it for this update. Hope you guys liked their encounter.

Please ⭐Vote⭐ to show your support for this update if you have enjoyed it! }