92 - The Younger Generation of Leaf City
‘Ugh. Why am I here again in the first place?’
The banquet was an utter bore.
Though there was free-flowing food and performances as entertainment, the banquet mostly centered on the cold-faced Qing Chuntao telling people to prepare for war against the Demonic Faction, as well as updates on the current situation with the other first-rate cities in this region.
Why was even a sixteen-year-old a general? Was the Qing Clan suffering from a deficit of human talent?
Some of the mentioned events were the massacre of the villages under the protection of the Leaf City--it seemed this was before Yin got reincarnated, the appearance of the female Demonic cultivator called Ghost Blade--
93 - How Do You Cultivate, Big Sister?Middle stages of the first realm of cultivation, the Body Washing Realm.According to Ye Mo, in this world, there were nine stages in the Body Washing Realm, and those in the middle stages were the cultivators in the fourth, fifth and sixth stages, which meant that the skin, muscles and blood of their mortal bodies were strengthened with qi, and that their meridians already contain traces of earth, metal and water elements (1).Those with the most ordinary talents normally reach this stage at the age of 12 to 15 years old.Those like Ye Zhihao, an outer sect janitor disciple with poor cultivation talent, who were lacking both in resources and guidance from a master, would probably reach the middle stage of the Body Washing Realm at th
94 - Plans, Amusement and PopcornNot only the youths, but even the faces of the powerhouses in the banquet were filled with either awe, greed or jealousy. They were cursing the stupid luck of Ye Sect, to find themselves in the good graces of a mysterious ancient clan that could raise a child to such cultivation heights. Even the ruling family of Qing Blessed Lands was unable to achieve such a feat.With the imperial clan with a history of thousands of years as basis for comparison, how amazing was this little girl’s background? Could she truly be from beyond the borders?This of course did not escape the eyes of the people of the Ye Sect.“Good, good! Yes, that’s how things should be done. Elder Mo, hurry up and take in that girl as your adopted daughter
Yin thought it was funny how the petty squabble escalated into a real fight. But they were children, and they were human children.Unreasonable? As long as it looked fun, it didn’t matter much.Also, she wasn’t even worried about their safety, since these kids were only in the Body Washing Realm and there were many leader figures here to guarantee their wellbeing.Even if that Tong boy was to attack with his full strength, the onlookers could easily stop the fight before Wu Pingxia received a deadly injury. Anything less than that would be all right; even a broken bone could be easily mended with a bone-healing elixir.Wu Pingxia cupped her hand as a standard start of a duel. “I am Wu Pingxia from the Wu Family, Fifth Stage of the Body Washing Rea
96 - Fourth Young Master, Ye HuaOutside the pavilion where the banquet was being held, even though it was night time, there was a massive crowd of people from different walks of life roaming around the sect grounds, turning the normally serious and competitive atmosphere within the Ye Sect into a friendly festive mood.The powerhouses invited by the Ye Sect had brought along with them a number of their family members, disciples, and even attendants and servants, who were not allowed inside the pavilion due to the limited quota of seats.As it was, they were simply waiting outside until the banquet ended. After all, the official matters would be discussed by the leaders of each force in a tightly-secured meeting after the ceremonial welcome banquet, and thus it would take several days for this matter
97 - I Wonder if You Fight, Who Will be Stronger?After receiving the confession scroll written in blood, Ye Hua no longer bothered with the innkeeper and left the courtyard without even touching the tea prepared for him. Ye Hua was in a hurry to return to Ye Sect before anyone noticed his absence. Of course, the innkeeper did not mind; he was used to dealing with people from the underworld and would not be offended by something so minor.As soon as he sneaked back into the sect, Ye Hua changed out of the servant clothes he was wearing back into the Ye Sect’s white uniform. He then steadily went towards the banquet as if he had never left in the first place. Luckily, he had the spatial pouch he received from Yin, and thus, he had no trouble keeping the blood scroll safely hidden.His ice-cold expression thawed t
98 - Young Lady, Your Robes!‘That is not even a question.’How could Yin be defeated by a Foundational Spirit Realm brat?Not even in another lifetime!Even if she were to not take into account the fact that she had a spiritual energy and divine sense on the level of a Nascent Soul cultivator, simply using the experiences stored within her soul seed, she had myriads of way to capture and kill peak Martial Realm cultivators, perhaps even newly ascended Earthly Immortals. Even with her low qi cultivation base at the moment, she could truly live by the saying, “Anyone below immortals are ants.”Not wanting to explain about this anymore, Yin redirected the topic. “The stage is free now. You better cha
99 - It is Merely an Accident“Young Lady, please wear this!” one man immediately jumped towards the stage as he removed his outer robe. The man was one of her seniors, the Third Raven.Han Yuanying burst into tears as she grabbed the outer robe closer to her trembling body. “Senior Xiao, wu wu wu…”The five Ravens representing the strongest of the Ravenrise Mercenaries were in an uproar. It was scandalous to have a woman have her clothes torn, especially in public, what more for such a thing to happen to a tender young girl.It was even more scandalous because the victim was the proud daughter of one of the top powerhouses in the city and it happened in the presence of the members of the Imperial Clan. It was akin to slapping the faces
100 - The Banquet Ends so See You Tomorrow?“Xia’er, Little Yin, how is it? Did you two have fun tonight?”As soon as the banquet wrapped up and the important guests from the capital, Qing Chuntao and Zhi Ruo, left the pavilion, the atmosphere between the banquet guests grew more casual. Those whose families and forces were close began chatting leisurely, forming circles of their own.Relieved of her security duties, Wu Xuan’er approached the table where the two young girls were seated.“Aunt!” Wu Pingxia nearly jumped into Wu Xuan’er’s arms in glee. “I miss you! You do not visit me in our Wu residence anymore. Did you see how good I fought earlier? Did you see? Did you? I did well, didn’t I?”
Scholar Rai held the ancient scroll between two calloused fingers, studying the faded ink with narrowed eyes. The papyrus was brown with age, the content written in a verbose and grand manner, as was usually the case with writings from hundreds of years ago. Its importance could not be translated into words. In fact, it surprised him that his lord father managed to keep these imperial treasures away from the capital.It had taken him twice the usual time to understand the runes. He found himself impressively overwhelmed not only by the sheer historic importance of these documents, but also because the prophecies spoke of the expiration of the bloods of the Old.He feared that the first of the visions written have come into passing.The scrolls he found were written by the last of the true prophets, during a time of historic darkness, the Legaliath Cross, back when magic was free to be harnessed by every man and woman and child. The Legaliath Cross was a devastating war that decimated
"You find this funny, Silver?" This was the first time that Lakas had directly addressed her in a conversation. She could not help but shudder at the slight amusement that colored his normally stern voice. "He could have killed you."Her smile widened.Lakas almost mirrored her expression, but then when he realized that he had spectators in the form of the other three girls inside her cage, he erased any trace of emotion from his face. "The four of you are currently part of the most prized collection of the emperor, but let me warn you. Not all warriors in this camp think the same as I do. You girls are precious, but you are replaceable. Think before you act."As soon as he left, the oldest of the girls, a beauty with curly flaxen hair and foliage green eyes scooted close to her. It was the first time anyone attempted to communicate with her. Most of the time, she was simply left alone in her corner of the cage. "That man just protected you, Silver," Green Eyes laughed excitedly. "He
The survivors were placed in metal cages where the heathens could openly leer at them, appreciating the goods before they were sold. The young warrior called Lakas looked incredibly silly with parchment and quill in his bloody hands, and his annoyed look did not escape her when he was tasked to make an inventory of the slaves."Name?"While the prisoners around her sobbed and wailed for their losses, Enna merely tried to make herself small in a corner. She never spoke. She never raised her head.Lakas snatched her chin. He was scowling. "Name?"When she refused to answer, the bald man behind Lakas growled before backhanding her. "Stupid girl! Tell us your name so that we can be done with this sham and leave!"Elbows shaking, she sat up, gazing at them with tired silvery eyes. Still, she did not open her mouth."You – "Lakas stopped the man with a wave. "Drop it. I will simply write Silver."The man smirked. "Yes, a name befitting a horse."They could call her whatever they want. Why
*She woke up to a strangled sound akin to an injured animal.Crying.Someone was crying.As the sound grew louder, she stirred, slowly, groaning due to the escalating pain at the base of her skull. Opening her eyes, she saw bloody bodies around her. Bile rose, and she emptied the contents of her stomach into the scarlet snow. After a few fuzzy seconds, she realized with relief that most of the bodies around her appeared to be moving. Bloody, but alive. She profusely thanked the good Spirits that there were people who still lived, despite the nagging thought that most of them would have preferred to have died along with their dignity and families.Her arms and feet were bound. Bound with thick ropes. She tried to stretch her legs, grasping too late that she was merely a stride away from the big fire that her captors made.She flinched from the pain.It was the same kind of burning pain that paralyzed her before she blacked out.It was also her first memory. Awakened by a burning pain
The heathens burned the temples. They attacked the farms. They destroyed everything from tiny peasant homes to historical monuments more than hundreds of years old. People who resisted died. People who surrendered died. The snow-clad village of Cardia was stained red. Blood of men. Blood of women. Blood of children.The enemy's arrival was silent; their attack sudden. The sleepy spell brought by winter on the border village was broken by animalistic screams of pain. Cries of people burning were everywhere. There were shrieks of villagers dying. By midnight, half of Cardian population was slain mercilessly by the bronze-skinned men covered in wolf pelts.The invaders relished the sight of the pale people bleeding, enjoying every slash of sword and arrow released as the village burned. They meant to annihilate every Northerner. They were humans on bloodlust — hungry predators on the hunt.They proudly called themselves the sons of Summer. The Cardians called them heathens from the Sout
Even if the Mind Forgets, the Soul Remembers (3)A fair-skinned human girl no taller than the height of his waist, wearing a satin robe that was neither stained by blood or mud. Big eyes on a small face, perfectly arranged black hair in a style of braided bun, delicately balanced features that indicated she would surely grow into a gorgeous young lady given a few years.Her adorable appearance made one have an urge to pinch her chubby cheeks, and if there were any females around, Ye Mo felt that they would fawn over how the little girl looked like a beautiful living, breathing doll.‘And it’s not a sight that should be seen in the middle of a battlefield.’Ye Mo tried to open his mouth to say something, but he remained unable to utter even a single word.‘Dangerous.’It didn’t make sense, but that was what his intuition was telling Ye Mo. His body wasn’t responding—there was no flight impulse, no, there wasn’t even an attempt to fight against the girl, even if it’s a last act of survi
265 - The Girl Who Cannot be Remembered (2)“This body is truly inconvenient.”Little Yin sighed as she sat on the eaves of the roof, looking like a tomboy leisurely camping when in fact she’s trying to reconstruct her soul with the help of moonlight.At first, she thought of leaving the Ye Clan while Ye Mo was unconscious. She felt like staying would give her a huge headache, but she was tied up by all the connections she made in this city.The Qing Blessed Lands had officially entered the state of war.Though communication was crippled, Little Yin was able to overhear the intelligence gathered by the hidden experts brought by the Purple Plumed General.Immortal Wuwei’s timely arrival managed to save Ye Sect and the entire Leaf City, but that wasn’t the same with the other cities. Even the news about the situation in the imperial capital could not be found.That little pretty boy, Qing Wu You, wanted to return to check on his family. Just last night, he came to visit her, asking if i
264 - The Girl Who Cannot be Remembered (1) “Uncle, are you all right?” It was Ye Hua who first noticed that Ye Mo was acting strange. The man’s eyes were looking at the people in the room as if they were people he had not seen for a long time. There was recognition in his gaze, as well as a kind of dissonance. “Huh? Yeah…yeah…” After staying unconscious for days and almost crossing the fine line of life and death, it was reasonable for Ye Mo to be in a daze, and everyone thought so as well. But Ye Hua’s intuition was telling him that his uncle was not just confused, but actually not in a normal state of mind. However, he decided to stay quiet. Because he felt that Little Yin had something to do with this. The young man’s eyes glanced in the direction of the little girl, who brought them all towards the room saying that Ye Mo should be waking up soon. Ye Hua remembered that incident several days ago, that eerie darkness that made his soul tremble. A power that could oppose n
263 – Even if the Mind Forgets, the Soul Remembers (5)‘I died?’Ye Mo tried to remember the last thing that happened to him, but only fragmented pieces of images appeared in his mind. Confusion was the only thing he could feel aside from the head-splitting pain, though he was trying to calm himself and follow the words of the little girl to embrace his memories.‘Since I died, shouldn’t I undergo samsara? Why am I seeing the memories of my former reincarnations?’What happened to him before he appeared and walked around that endless darkness?No, wait, what was he doing before the little girl appeared?He was swinging his sword against—The little girl frowned when she saw the images swimming inside his mind.“Outers.”Gaaaasp!She reached out her small chubby hands and touched the crown of his head, and she channeled her spiritual energy inside his body, focusing it on erasing those images that did not belong to him or to this era.“You are in so much pain because you took a peek at