Qixia Town lay on the outskirts of the Qin Clan's territory, an unremarkable little town.
Most of its buildings had gray brick walls and black-tiled roofs. The streets were sparsely populated, and the occasional hawker's cry made the place seem ordinary and peaceful.
Standing aboard the Immortal Boat, Qin Wangchuan could already see the outline of the town in the distance.
He hadn't needed to come himself. He could have simply sent someone to bring Ye Jianwei back.
But he was also curious about the mysterious person's identity.
"Your Highness, we came out this time without giving anyone a heads-up. Could that cause trouble?" one of the guards behind him asked hesitantly.
"A heads-up?" Qin Wangchuan shook his head. "Didn't I already give one?"
The guards exchanged glances, unsure what he meant.
"If the elders hadn't approved, how could we possibly be standing here?"
At once, everyone understood.
That was true.
With the Qin Clan's means, if they truly forbade him from leaving, they would have stopped him already.
The other young masters weren't allowed to leave the Qin Clan before turning ten. This was where the Old Ancestor's indulgence of Qin Wangchuan showed.
He never thought to restrict him; he only thought to assign him more guards.
Qin Wangchuan wore a Black Brocade Robe, with the Jade Pendant unique to the Qin Clan's direct line hanging at his waist. The Chaos Immortal Light swirling around him had been deliberately subdued, yet his deep, star-sea-like eyes still carried an air of transcendence.
Behind him stood twenty Qin Clan Guards, each one a first-rate powerhouse, their auras restrained and unfathomable.
With these people around,
they could throw their weight around not only in a border town, but even among the upper echelons of the clans.
"Young Master, we've arrived," a guard said respectfully as he stepped forward.
Qin Wangchuan gave a slight nod. Standing among the clouds, he gazed down at the town below.
A trace of composure unsuited to his age appeared on his youthful face.
"Where is she?"
Before he had even arrived, Qin Clan experts had already secretly sealed off the entire town.
Qin Wangchuan was afraid of disturbing the future, so he had told them not to act rashly.
"She's down there."
The Flying Ship circled overhead, while the other guards transformed into streaks of light and vanished into the void.
Qin Wangchuan kept only two guards at his side and entered Qixia Town with them.
People on the street turned to look.
A five-year-old child walking through the streets already drew attention, and all the more so when he was dressed in finery and had an extraordinary bearing.
On top of that, the two guards behind him wore stern, icy expressions and radiated imposing auras. They were clearly no ordinary household servants.
"Whose young master is that? What a handsome boy. Is he from out of town?"
"Shh, don't stick your nose into other people's business. Judging by his clothes, he's probably from an Aristocratic Clan..."
Although the Upper Thousand Provinces were called the Upper Realm, and the Ten Directions Immortal Court was a dream beyond the reach of countless cultivators, there were still people here with low cultivation.
They were natives of this world.
Their talent was actually far better than that of many people from the Upper Thousand Provinces.
But since the Ten Great Imperial Clans firmly controlled all the cultivation resources, they couldn't make waves.
At the crossroads in the center of town,
a few mud-smeared copper coins lay scattered across the damp flagstones. Ye Jianwei knelt at the edge of a straw mat, her fingertips feeling for a Spirit Stone a kind-hearted passerby had tossed down.
She couldn't see, but she could hear.
Whispers filled her ears, laced with mockery and pity, even a few contemptuous jests.
"This blind girl's selling herself to bury her mother? Who'd want her?"
"I heard her mother used to be the star courtesan at Zuixian Pavilion. Too bad she went mad later. It's just as well she died, so she wouldn't be a burden."
"She's a decent enough little thing. If Young Master Ye hadn't already made his position clear, she'd make a nice bed warmer."
"Exactly. The Ye Clan Young Master said long ago that anyone who dares bury that madwoman will have to answer to him."
The whispers slithered into her ears like venomous snakes.
Ye Jianwei pressed her pale lips together and felt along the edge of the straw mat, tucking it in again. Gray-blue fingers stuck out through the gap, their nails crusted with dried rouge like an unfinished last word.
This was the final red makeup she had ever applied to her mother.
From the moment her mother drew her last breath, Ye Jianwei had known that from then on, there would be no one in this world she could trust.
Even now, she still remembered everything that had happened as her mother lay dying.
A pair of icy hands had gripped her shoulders tight. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't break free. A wail choked with sobs rang in her ears. "Jianwei... you can't survive on your own. Rather than suffer in this world, why not come with me?"
Everything that happened on that rainy night was like a nightmare. She had woken from it countless times.
She had wanted to go with her mother, but in the end, she couldn't bear to leave her mother's body lying in the street.
"Mother... wait a little longer..." Ye Jianwei murmured, her voice so faint it was almost inaudible. "I'll come see you soon..."
Her whisper cut off.
"Quick! They're just up ahead!"
"Damn it, that little brat really dares to bury the madwoman?"
"Last time, Eldest Brother told us to let her off. This time, I'll cripple her!"
The iron hooves of the Crimson Flame Steed shattered the flagstones, sparks flying everywhere.
The vendors on either side of the street hastily packed up their stalls. The crowd scattered like a receding tide. Several children were knocked to the ground, but no one dared speak up. The Ye Clan Third Young Master always rode out in such overbearing fashion.
The Ye Clan!
Ye Jianwei trembled all over. She heard the familiar thunder of approaching hooves.
Her frail body instinctively lunged toward the straw mat. Her hands groped wildly, trying to wrap her mother up and take her away.
But she was too small—too small even to tug her mother's clothes free.
In mere moments, the sparks spat by the Crimson Flame Steed had reached her.
Dozens of Ye Clan cultivators dismounted, brimming with aggression. At their head was a brocade-clad man with a sinister face and a sword at his waist that gleamed with a cold light.
The man was named Ye Li, the Ye Clan Third Young Master.
Though his name included the word "courtesy," he had often helped his Eldest Brother bully men and women.
Ye Li's gaze fixed on Ye Jianwei like a venomous snake. He suddenly let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "I said no one was allowed to bury her. Looks like you don't take my Ye Clan seriously!"
As he spoke, his eyes shifted to the wooden sign beside her, which read "Selling myself to bury my mother."
Ye Li sneered and ground the sign beneath his boot. Then he roughly lifted Ye Jianwei's chin with his riding crop. "Well, well, well. Playing at selling yourself to bury your mother? With a skinny little body like yours, no one would want you even if you paid them..."
Before he could finish, a cool child's voice suddenly cut through the clamor:
"I'll buy her."
Ye Jianwei's empty eyes contracted sharply.
Perhaps it was only her imagination, but the instant she heard those words,
the noisy street fell eerily silent—even the wind seemed to freeze.
It was as though...
a beam of light had suddenly shone down.
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