Have You All Forgotten?

Ye Yu glanced at Ye Qingwan and smiled. "What about your other Crown Prince brother? Wouldn't it be more fitting for him to step forward?"

"Xiao Xuan is still young. He doesn't understand these things yet. Don't drag him into everything. He isn't like you—his mind is much simpler." Ye Qingwan gritted her teeth. So what if Ye Xuan had not spoken up for her?

He was the little brother she had watched grow up. He simply did not understand yet. If he knew the consequences, would he refuse to help her?

"And what do you want me to do?" Ye Yu asked playfully.

"You only need to come back with me. With your prestige at court, you can definitely make Father Emperor reconsider this matter." Ye Qingwan's eyes lit up.

Ye Yu held an extremely high position at court. One could see as much from how so many senior ministers had stepped forward when Ye Yu had been driven away.

"Besides, you're only an outsider in Great Qin. How well could they possibly treat you? You'd be better off returning to Great Qin. Don't worry, I guarantee you'll want for neither food nor clothing. What do you say?"

This woman was still as self-righteous as ever.

"Hey, isn't it a little inappropriate for you to poach someone from Great Qin so openly?" A light laugh rang out as Qin Yue slowly emerged.

"This is my family matter. What does it have to do with you?" Ye Qingwan's expression darkened at the sight of Qin Yue.

"What, Ye Yu is my brother-in-law now. Am I not allowed to meddle?" Qin Yue looked at Ye Qingwan with amusement.

Ye Qingwan's expression changed at once. She stared at Ye Yu in disbelief. "You actually gave up being a perfectly good Imperial Prince to become an Imperial Son-in-law in Great Qin? Are you stupid?"

Great Qin and Great Flame were fundamentally different.

Although Great Flame was powerful, it had few royal family members. Ye Fan had devoted himself wholeheartedly to cultivation, and there were only seven siblings in this generation of the Great Flame Royal Family. That was already very few for a royal family.

Great Qin, however, was different. There were more than a dozen royal family members of the same generation.

The more members there were, the fiercer the competition for the heir apparent became.

"You know this—Great Flame has only you and Xiao Xuan as its two Imperial Princes. As long as you don't fight for the position of heir apparent, you'll at least become a prince in the future. How could you be so muddleheaded?" Ye Qingwan wore the air of a caring elder sister.

Ye Yu saw more and more people gathering around them, all looking over curiously.

Presumably, what had happened today would reach Great Flame before long. He immediately raised his voice and said, "I truly have no interest in the Imperial Throne. If you insist on putting it that way, then I really can't continue this conversation with you."

With that, Ye Yu turned and returned to the imperial palace, no longer giving Ye Qingwan a chance to speak.

Ye Qingwan stood frozen in place, still unable to understand what had happened, while Qin Yue also left.

"Doesn't look like it, Brother-in-law, but you're quite the actor." Qin Yue followed behind Ye Yu, smiling sweetly.

Ye Yu shrugged, utterly unconcerned. "I mean it sincerely. First, I truly have no interest in the Imperial Throne. Second, I genuinely can't keep talking to her."

"But once this conversation reaches Ye Fan and Ye Xuan's ears, it'll sound entirely different, won't it, Brother-in-law?" Qin Yue asked with great interest.

Ye Yu nodded. Given Ye Fan and Ye Xuan's temperaments, if today's scene reached their ears, their suspicion toward Ye Qingwan would grow without limit—especially after hearing such a conversation.

If Ye Qingwan did not strike back then, the fate awaiting her might be even worse than marrying into the Great Zhou Dynasty.

"But what if they don't take the bait, Brother-in-law?" Qin Yue asked.

Ye Yu glanced at Qin Yue and grinned. "I'll go set a fire beneath them. Even if they don't believe it, they'll have to."

After saying that, Ye Yu went to Xianyang Palace. Yet it was not long before he left again.

Just as Ye Yu had expected, before a day had passed, news of his meeting with Ye Qingwan reached Ye Fan's ears.

Upon hearing this news, Ye Fan immediately ordered the two of them captured and brought back.

Since Ye Yu had informed Qin Wushuang beforehand, she turned a blind eye to the Great Flame experts entering Great Qin's territory.

Less than two days later, Ye Qingwan was brought back to the Great Flame Imperial Palace.

"Ye Qingwan, you have some nerve! You actually dared to seek out that unfilial son! And you even wanted to incite him to return and fight Xiao Xuan for the Imperial Throne!" Ye Fan said through gritted teeth.

After the trip to the secret realm, Ye Fan already hated Ye Yu to the bone. Yet Ye Qingwan had dared to secretly run off to find him. How could he possibly endure it?

"Father Emperor, I've been wronged! That wasn't my intention! I've always supported Xiao Xuan!" Ye Qingwan cried out.

"Father Emperor, could this be Imperial Brother's scheme? I believe Imperial Sister isn't that kind of person." Ye Xuan frowned.

Over the past year, he had seen Ye Qingwan's treatment of Ye Yu all too clearly. The possibility that Ye Qingwan wanted to help Ye Yu seize the Imperial Throne was simply far too small.

Hearing Ye Xuan speak, Ye Fan finally calmed down. After thinking it over carefully, he too noticed that something was off.

Then, looking at Ye Qingwan below him with her face full of grievance, could it be that he had truly wronged her?

At the same time, at Great Flame's border, a streak of light descended.

Ye Yu appeared there. Revisiting this old place, even after living two lives, Ye Yu could not help taking several deep breaths to steady his emotions.

Because below him was where it had all begun.

The Nine Nether Blood Spring!

Within a hundred li of the Nine Nether Blood Springs in the territories of other dynasties, there was almost no living thing. But Great Qin was different, because this Nine Nether Blood Spring had already been sealed by Ye Yu.

Thus, quite a few citizens of Great Qin still made their living here.

After pondering for a while, Ye Yu descended into the city. Spiritual power coursed through him as he changed his appearance, then headed toward the little tavern from his memories.

After a year away, the little tavern of old had already become a large inn, with no shortage of people coming and going.

Among them were many cultivators, as well as experts from other dynasties. However, all of them had come to study the method used to seal the Nine Nether Blood Spring.

After entering the inn, Ye Yu found a corner and sat down. He searched for a while before spotting a familiar figure, though the man's current condition was far from good.

"Shi Lei, come here. Curse Ye Yu once, and I'll reward you with a mouthful of food!" a customer laughed loudly.

The others watched the scene with interest, as though it were nothing out of the ordinary in their eyes.

Shi Lei looked at the man. Though his stomach was empty, he did not step forward. His eyes were filled only with pain.

No one knew when it had started, but the people here had all forgotten the man who had rescued them from endless terror.

Not only did they feel no gratitude whatsoever, they instead took delight in cursing Ye Yu every day.

"Are you going to curse him or not?" Seeing no response from Shi Lei, the man seemed to grow angry. He slapped the table and rose to his feet.

"Have you all forgotten who sealed the Nine Nether Blood Spring and gave you the lives you have today? Who risked everything to build this border city so you could be spared invasions from other dynasties? Have you all forgotten?" Shi Lei said through gritted teeth.

"Heh, that was all an act put on for fools like you. If the Nine Nether Blood Spring were really so dangerous, what right did Ye Yu have to seal it alone? You may be stupid, but we aren't."

"Exactly. Even if the Blood Spring erupted again, with the abilities of the current Crown Prince Ye Xuan, could he not seal it? Would they need him?"