Chapter 233 – Ancestors

The Attack of the Wastrel

Though Liu Yiyan had taken a few minutes to explain himself, from the perspective of others, it only looked like Gu Lingzhi had hung around the entrance of the main palace for a few seconds. Rong Yuan left the entrance of the main palace together with her.

Without waiting for Gu Lingzhi to tell him the truth behind the main palace, Rong Yuan said, “Lingzhi, it’s okay if we don’t get to go in. Why don’t you stay here and wait while I try to enter?”

Even with Rong Yuan’s talent, he could only defeat a maximum of nine souls who had cultivation one level higher than his. Furthermore, after that, he would only have access to treasures that were suited for Martial Teachers. Rong Yuan had no intention of gaining access to the godly treasures, he merely wanted to test his limits. He did not wish for Gu Lingzhi to try out something so energy-consuming.

Even though his opponents were merely souls, they were just as deadly as fighting against humans. If one was not careful, they might wind up injuring themselves.

“I want to go,” Gu Lingzhi outrightly rejected Rong Yuan’s suggestion. Gu Lingzhi pretended to hold Rong Yuan’s hand, but just like before, she wrote a few words on his palm using her fingers whilst holding his hand. Due to the miscommunication that they had before, Rong Yuan concentrated wholly on what she was trying to tell him. Alright, maybe he was enjoying holding her hand too.

However, by the time Gu Lingzhi let go of his hand, Rong Yuan did not know how to feel. From the time he entered the Sacred Lands, he had already gone through multiple emotional rollercoasters. A huge realization dawned upon him now that he knew that Liu Yiyan’s ridiculous conditions were just to prevent outsiders from entering the main palace.

“Since you want to try, let’s do it together,” Rong Yuan said this to fool the people around them, before he held Gu Lingzhi’s hand and headed towards the main palace once again.

Right as they were about to enter, a man who had tried his luck earlier got thrown out of the main palace, landing on the ground with a loud thud. He coughed up fresh blood, before he stood up shakily. Looking at the main palace, the man scolded, “What kind of stupid rules are these? Defeating three souls that have a cultivation level one level higher than you is just a bare minimum. These three souls were equivalent to the most talented Martial Artists in that rank. No one stands a chance at all!”

When the man saw that Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan were about to enter, he reminded them, “Hey, the both of you, if you want to try your luck using those special treasures that you’re carrying now, I advise you to quit right now. Those Spiritual Souls are not afraid of those treasures at all, you can only rely entirely on your own abilities. If you do not want to die, don’t bother going in at all.”

Rong Yuan turned back and laughed lightly, “Thank you for letting us know, but we would still like to try our luck.”

Then, he pulled Gu Lingzhi along with him as they entered the main palace and stopped at the entrance just like before.

“Hmph, I’ve said all that I needed to,” the man’s face darkened as he saw that Rong Yuan did not heed his advice. He swallowed a healing pill, whilst he thought about how he would mock them when they get thrown out of the main palace just like the way he did.

Of course, Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi did not experience the same ill-fated encounter that the man did. Liu Yiyan was sharp enough – he observed the interaction between Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan and the way that they had secretly communicated to each other. He was slightly shocked when he realized that Gu Lingzhi had gotten a husband for herself so early on in life, but he did not have the intention of making things difficult for Rong Yuan. From the way she had secretly communicated with him, Liu Yiyan could tell that Gu Lingzhi had valued and respected Rong Yuan greatly.

Not wanting to create misunderstandings between Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan, instead of pulling Rong Yuan into the same portals as everyone else had entered to fight with the Spiritual Souls, he teleported both Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan into a separate space.

It was a world that was white everywhere, just like how Liu Yiyan had looked completely white. Under the white-colored sky, there were white soils and white plants. Even the mountains in the distance were white, almost like ice sculptures.

If not for the fact that Gu Lingzhi was in tune with reality, she would have thought that she had entered a strange dream.

“Welcome to my legendary space-dimension realm,” a voice rang out, after which Liu Yiyan’s silhouette appeared in front of them.

‘Realms’ were a sort of spiritual power that a Martial Artist could gain when they advanced to the rank of a Martial Sage. For everyone that wished to become a Martial Sage, they would have to be enlightened about a particular law. After enlightenment, they could create realms that altered various dimensions of reality. They themselves would be the masters of these realms.

The understanding of this law differed between individuals, hence the realms were also formed in different ways. For example, Liu Yiyan’s realm was an extension of his physical form. The manifestation had the ability to suck people’s souls into it so that they could engage in a fight.

In the realm, the damage inflicted on one’s body would not be visible on their physical body, but rather, it would injure one’s soul. This was exactly the reason why the man was stationary when he stood at the entrance of the main palace, but had suddenly flown back as if he had suffered from a huge impact. Although he seemed fine on the outside, his soul had been severely injured in Liu Yiyan’s space-dimension realm. He would require almost half a year of cultivation to heal entirely.

“Ancestor, to be able to possess and change this realm so easily, your cultivation must be much higher than that of a True God right?” Rong Yuan asked.

At the level of a Martial Sage, their realms would only occupy a perimeter of around two feet. It was a small space. At most, they could only fight their opponent in close combat. However, Liu Yiyan’s manifestation was almost a small world in itself. Apart from its strange color, the mountains and the grounds that they were on seemed extremely realistic. From what Rong Yuan knew, it was impossible to create such a perfect realm even if one was in the initial stages of being a True God.

“You have a keen eye,” Liu Yiyan smiled slightly. Every move that he made was as graceful as an ethereal painting.

“You’re right, I’m not just an ordinary God. However, even though I’ve achieved such a high level of cultivation, I can only watch as my Tribe’s people disappear one by one without being able to do anything. You, on the other hand, have yet to be enlightened. You have good perception; the space-dimension realm is one of the most powerful laws that you can realize. Pan Luo’s realm is a powerful one – the space-dimension realm. That’s how most of our Tribe’s people lost to him. When you become a Martial Sage, you should let Lingzhi enter your realm so that she can feel its energy, it would be largely beneficial to her when she goes through her enlightenment.”

After Liu Yiyan had finished his sentence, the scene in front of them changed. In a moment, they had been teleported to a large and simple-looking room. From the furniture in the room, it looked like it had been used as a place for resting. In the middle of the room, there was a tea table that had been carved out from a Ten Thousand Years Spiritual Wood. On it was an intricately-designed tea set.

Around the tea table, there were six praying mats. Spiritual energy pulsated out of these mats in waves; it was easy to tell that they were not ordinary objects.

On two sides of the room, there were two cabinets. On top of one of them, there were several Spiritual Weapons that were on display that looked heavy and intimidating. On the other cabinet that was slightly bigger, there were many vials of medicine on display.

Using her perception, she could tell that the Spiritual Medicine and Weapons were at least high grade Earth-Level ones. Yet, nothing caught her attention quite as much as the man that was dressed in black, sitting a few feet back from the tea table.

The man was handsome in a strange way, and below his shapely eyebrows were two eyes drooped downwards, almost as if he was staring at the jade sculpture that was in his arms. His gaze looked loving, but tired; one hand cupped the bottom of the sculpture, while the other was lovingly placed on the top of it. It was as if he was holding someone that he loved.

Though the man’s stationary position was as elegant as a piece of art, it was not moving. To be more accurate, it seemed lifeless.

“This is…” Gu Lingzhi had made a guess in her head, but could not bring herself to say it out loud.

“This is our Tribe Leader, Ling Yun. This is the seventh level of the main palace, the place where he rests,” Liu Yiyan explained, with a hint of nostalgia in his voice. His gaze became one of sorrow when he looked at the jade sculpture that Ling Yun was holding in his arms.

“Ever since the Tribe Leader’s wife passed away, he would often sit here alone. It was his wife’s favorite spot. Even until his last moment, he refused to leave the spot.”

After listening to Liu Yiyan’s words, Gu Lingzhi felt a pang of sorrow pierce through her heart; she felt the compulsion to kneel in front of Ling Yun and the jade sculpture and cry.

The following words from Liu Yiyan made her take a few steps forward hurriedly and kneel in front of Ling Yun. He told her, “The Inheritance Space would only be awakened in people who have the Tribe Leader’s blood running through their veins. If you truly possess the Inheritance Space, then Ling Yun and his wife are your ancestors.”

“Lingzhi is unfilial, but I’m here to greet you both,” Gu Lingzhi said in a hushed tone, her voice hoarse. Tears rolled down uncontrollably.

Compared to the Gu Clan, she felt much closer to these two ancestors that had passed away a long time ago. If one looked closely at the Tribe Leader’s features, it was possible to make out some of Gu Lingzhi’s features as well. She resembled Ling Yun a bit, but she mostly resembled his wife.

People might believe that they were mother and daughter if they looked at both Gu Lingzhi and the jade sculpture.

Rong Yuan knelt beside Gu Lingzhi, “Ancestor, I am Gu Lingzhi’s fiancé. Don’t you worry, as long as I am alive, I will not mistreat Lingzhi. Though my cultivation is rather weak, as long we remain hopeful, I will give everything I have to help Lingzhi to revive the Spirit Tribe again. Even if we do not succeed, our descendants will try their best to fulfill our wishes as well!”

His words had shocked not only Liu Yiyan but Gu Lingzhi as well. When Rong Yuan said that he would help her, she thought that it would be his sole effort. She did not think that he would bear to let even his descendants fulfill his promise to Ling Yun, even though there was a huge possibility that they would bear children together.

“Rong Yuan, you…” Gu Lingzhi was touched beyond words.

Rong Yuan turned to look at her, before he smiled mischievously, “In this life, I’ve made up my mind to be with you. You have to be responsible for my descendants now.”

Previous Chapter Next Chapter