Ye Qingci slowly bent down and picked up the cluster of blue flowers. Staring at them in her hand, she murmured in a daze, "Is this the legendary Nether Flower?"
She looked up at Ye Kong, gently stroking the blue petals. Her eyes reddened. She knew how dearly her brother had paid to find the Nether Flower: he had severed his own cultivation and endured terrible pain.
Although cultivation lost this way could be restored through training, severing it damaged one's foundation. The clearest sign was a drop in Spiritual Root grade.
Her brother had possessed a ninth-grade Gold Spiritual Root. After severing his cultivation, its grade had fallen straight to seventh. It was only two grades, but the gulf between them was like the Heavenly Abyss.
On the path of cultivation, those who did not advance fell behind.
As an Ancient Desolate Family, the Ye Family had no shortage of geniuses with ninth-grade True Spiritual Roots. Ye Kong had already struggled to compete with its elite disciples. With both their parents gone, no one protected him and his sister or supplied them with extra resources.
Now that Ye Kong had severed his cultivation, lost strength, and seen his Spiritual Root fall in grade, competing with those disciples would be harder still.
Two streams of tears ran down Ye Qingci's cheeks and fell onto the Nether Flower in her hand.
Hiss!
The Nether Flower absorbed her tears instantly.
As soon as it did, dazzling blue light burst from its petals.
Hum!
A strange aura spread from the Nether Flower. Faint blue ripples expanded outward, centered on Ye Qingci.
Everything on the ground rose slowly wherever the blue ring passed, including Ye Kong, who had been sitting cross-legged in cultivation.
Sensing the change in his body, Ye Kong snapped his eyes