As night fell and it was time to activate the Small Cauldron, Ye Yu poured spiritual energy into it as usual.
It had already become muscle memory.
"Hm?" Halfway through, Ye Yu was somewhat surprised.
Normally, the spiritual energy he had poured in by now would have been enough to activate the Small Cauldron, yet the patterns on it had lit up less than a third of the way.
Ye Yu raised a brow. Though puzzled, he continued pouring spiritual energy into it without pause.
Only after he had nearly squeezed his spiritual energy dry did the patterns on the Small Cauldron spread to its lid.
The next moment, the lid opened. Yet unlike usual, there was no movement inside the Small Cauldron for a long while.
Puzzled, Ye Yu looked inside. Within the Starry Sea, muffled booms seemed to be echoing out.
Looking carefully, he saw what appeared to be two figures at the center of the sea of stars, one smaller figure relentlessly crashing into the other.
Buzz...
The Small Cauldron suddenly trembled as a scorching, dazzling ball of light shot toward its opening.
A terrifying pressure crashed into him head-on. Ye Yu's expression instantly turned grave, and he hurriedly mobilized the Nascent Soul in his dantian toward the cauldron's opening to deal with the ball of light.
Bang! The instant the ball of light burst from the cauldron's opening, Ye Yu's Nascent Soul rushed forward and clutched it tightly. At the same time, Ye Yu's mind shook violently, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
But at least he had managed to stabilize it.
Ignoring the pain in his body, Ye Yu stared carefully at the ball of light. In both his past and present lives, he had never encountered anything like this.
His was a Chaos Nascent Soul. Had it been the Nascent Soul from his previous life, or the Blood Infant, that impact would have smashed it to pieces.
Soon, the light faded, revealing the object within—it was an ancient book.
Ye Yu summoned it into his hand. Before he could even see it clearly, every hair on his body stood on end. It felt as though someone were watching him, and the spiritual energy within him instantly became a chaotic mess.
Fortunately, at the critical moment, the Small Cauldron floated above Ye Yu's head on its own. Light poured down and protected him within it, and only then did that watched sensation fade.
Ye Yu took several deep breaths and secretly swallowed. That feeling just now had been far too chilling. Only after a long while did he recover and look at the ancient book in his hand. It was clearly a cultivation art.
"Primordial Undying Art."
The instant Ye Yu saw this cultivation art, he felt as though water and milk had melded together. He involuntarily opened the first page, then immediately became immersed in it.
It was not until several days later, when Qin Wushuang arrived, that Ye Yu was awakened from his cultivation.
"You brat, what have you been doing these past few days? Why do you seem different?" Qin Wushuang frowned at Ye Yu. Ye Yu's appearance had not changed, yet Qin Wushuang sensed an oppressive feeling from him.
It was not pressure from a difference in cultivation realm, but an instinctive tremor.
Ye Yu shook his head without answering. Over the past few days, he had been cultivating the Primordial Indestructible Art and had completely transformed the spiritual energy within his body.
Though he did not yet know what attribute the spiritual energy in his body should now be called, one thing was certain: this Chaos Spiritual Energy was incomparably powerful.
The oppressive feeling Qin Wushuang sensed was the fear felt by the fire-attributed spiritual energy within his body.
"Is it about Ruoxian's Dao injury?" Ye Yu asked.
Qin Wushuang shook his head. "Ruoxian is still stabilizing her cultivation realm. I came to find you for something else."
Ye Yu nodded. Qin Ruoxian had received the empowerment of spiritual light from the seven-hundredth step of the Ascending Heaven Staircase. She truly needed time to fully refine that foreign spiritual energy.
"What is it, then?"
At those words, Qin Wushuang glanced at Ye Yu. His expression shifted for a moment before he said, "Someone wants to see you. Will you meet them?"
"See me? Who?" Ye Yu was somewhat curious. He truly did not have many acquaintances within Great Qin.
"Ye Qingwan and Ye Qingxuan." Qin Wushuang shrugged, then watched Ye Yu's expression after speaking.
Qin Wushuang knew how much Ye Yu had once valued family ties. Even after everything that had happened, Qin Wushuang still found it hard to believe that Ye Yu could sever those feelings completely.
"Let's meet them." Ye Yu spoke after pondering for a moment.
Qin Wushuang's expression changed, and he blurted out, "You still haven't let it go?"
Ye Yu gave Qin Wushuang a surprised look, then smiled. "It has nothing to do with whether I've let it go. That woman Ye Qingwan may be foolish, but over the years, she has cultivated no small force in Great Flame."
"That force may not be enough to turn Great Flame upside down, but it is enough to make Great Flame suffer for a while. If we want to take Great Flame, we must first make it consume itself from within."
After saying that, Ye Yu rose and left the palace. He stretched lazily as he headed out of the imperial palace.
The moment he stepped outside the gates, Ye Yu saw two familiar figures: Ye Qingwan and Ye Qingxuan.
Neither of them was in particularly good condition. It was hard to imagine that they were princesses of a nation; they looked more like refugees fleeing disaster.
Ye Qingxuan in particular was completely dazed. The blood poison in her body had made cultivation impossible, and it must have been tormenting her. Only when she saw Ye Yu did a glimmer of light appear in her eyes.
The next moment, she rushed over like a madwoman.
Ye Yu frowned. Spiritual energy around him formed into a wall, blocking Ye Qingxuan outside. "What do you want with me?"
"Xiao Yu, your sister knows she was wrong. Come back to Great Flame with me, all right?" Ye Qingwan looked at Ye Yu with an extremely complicated expression. Only after watching the Memory Stones in the Eastern Palace had she learned how many times Ye Yu had protected them over the years.
"You came all this way just to say this nonsense?" Ye Yu asked flatly.
"Xiao Yu, it was all your sister's fault. I've already been punished. Just like you were back then, I was placed under house arrest, and..." Ye Qingwan rolled up her sleeves, revealing injuries everywhere.
These injuries had been inflicted when Ye Qingwan tried to escape. Ye Fan had discovered it and sent people to beat her.
Ye Yu glanced at the wounds, his expression unchanged. They were all superficial injuries. Ye Fan would not truly beat Ye Qingwan too badly; he still needed Ye Qingwan and Ye Qingxuan to maintain relations with Great Zhou.
Seeing Ye Yu's indifferent expression, Ye Qingwan felt a wrenching pain in her heart. She recalled that a few years ago, whenever she was hurt, even if it was only a tiny cut, Ye Yu would ache for her and care for her meticulously.
How could he be like this now?
"Xiao Yu, your sister traveled thousands of miles just to apologize to you. Look at what I've become—who would still know that I am a princess of Great Flame?" Ye Qingwan smiled bitterly.
Ye Yu sized her up before finally speaking. "Stop moving yourself with your own performance. What you have suffered does not amount to one ten-thousandth of what you did to me back then. Besides, you came to find me because of the marriage contract, didn't you?"
"Really, no. Your sister came to apologize to you." Ye Qingwan hurriedly shook her head. "Of course, if you forgive me, then helping me resolve the matter of the marriage contract while you're at it... isn't that what a little brother should do?"
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