The Zhao Sisters (2)

"Welcome, young master!"

The thunderous cries rose again, and the kneeling crowd prostrated themselves even lower.

Ye Jinyu's gaze swept over the middle-aged man in a green robe at their head. He stood before the others, bowing in salute, his presence steady as a mountain, though his features showed a measure of natural deference.

They had observed every courtesy, with a Purple Mansion cultivator coming in person to welcome the young master. What a grand reception.

When one's lifespan ran dry, reaching the Purple Mansion was hard; when one's fortune ran shallow, a Divine Ability was beyond reach.

Which Purple Mansion cultivator was not a dragon or phoenix among mortals? Talent, intellect, and fortune-none could be lacking.

One heard of Qi Cultivation cultivators with impure Qi and good-for-nothing Foundation Establishment cultivators, but never a Purple Mansion fool...

Behind Ye Guyi, dozens of cultivators stood in two rows. In Cangxuan, the left was the place of honor.

On the left were the cultivators the Ye Clan had stationed in this realm, all wearing standard green Dharma robes; on the right were representatives of Qingyu Realm's native powers, dressed in finery but abject in bearing, not even daring to raise their heads.

Xu Feng sent a discreet voice transmission. "Young master, this is the cultivator guarding this realm, Ye Guyi. He came from the Thirty-Two Peaks of Cloudmist, not the Heavenly Palace. A hundred years ago, he mastered the Divine Ability [Wind Crushes Mountains] and advanced to the Purple Mansion. This Dao Technique Divine Ability is especially suited to attack."

"Condensing Gang and condensing Sha: Gang winds crush a thousand mountains, while Sha winds swiftly pierce the strongest defenses. The 'Wind Gang Mountain-Splitting Instruction' is also a Purple Mansion cultivation method widely circulated under heaven. It was one of True Lord Azure Firmament's seven methods back then."

"The clan sent him to administer and guard this realm. Over the past forty-odd years, he has grown quite close to the native Qingyu Lineages, such as the Zhao Clan and the Lin Clan..."

"Where there are people, there are interests. The post of clan cultivator guarding a Ruin Realm is a lucrative one to begin with, like being a lord over one's own domain, with power over life and death, rewards and punishments.

"On top of that, the clan gives him a free hand, asking only that resources and tribute be delivered in full, and has not blamed him much."

"If this continues, won't my vassals become vassals who aren't really mine? These native powers naturally fear the main clan, but a magistrate is less immediate than the official in charge. I'm afraid they curry even more favor with the guardian."

"Would these Purple Mansion cultivators stationed in charge of a region develop their own power and trusted followers? Would they have designs of their own?"

"If I still had that childish mindset, I'd inevitably underestimate them..."

As Ye Jinyu listened to Xu Feng, these thoughts ran through the young master's mind.

Ye Jinyu nodded almost imperceptibly and stepped forward.

"Guardian, please rise."

The voice was not loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly, carrying a composed authority that did not match the young master's age.

Only then did Ye Guyi rise, his face arranging itself into a perfectly measured smile. "Young master, you must be weary from your journey. We have prepared a welcoming feast at the guardian's residence. Please come with us."

"Sorry for the trouble."

Ye Jinyu strode forward, the twelve cloud guards following silently, their flying-fish cloud robes snapping in the Gang wind.

Passing the native Aristocratic Clan representatives, Ye Jinyu paused briefly.

Kneeling at the very front was an elderly man in a brocade robe, a jade crown on his head and gold embroidery on his clothes. Ye Jinyu noticed a Qingming Dharma Jade bestowed by Yunlan tucked at his waist. Its quality was excellent.

As the saying went, a person nurtured jade for three years, and jade nurtured a person for a lifetime. This piece of green jade was extraordinary, shimmering with light.

It seemed the man knew his place and took great care of the jade, treating it with reverence.

Behind the old man knelt two young women and a man.

All three wore jade. One woman wore a goose-yellow gauze skirt, the other a blue-green jacket. The two looked alike, except that the one in the blue-green jacket had a tear mole at the corner of her eye.

As for the man, he could be ignored.

Both women were stunningly beautiful, but their faces were pale and their bodies trembled slightly as they struggled to appear calm.

Ye Jinyu's gaze lingered for a moment on the face of the girl in the goose-yellow skirt.

Sister flowers?

Had they brought them here on purpose?

Could this be... another one of those silkpants plots?

As if sensing the gaze, the girl looked up instinctively and met Ye Jinyu's eyes, deep as an abyss.

She shuddered all over and hurriedly lowered her head, exposing a length of neck as white as jade.

There was also the glimpse of a rounded, snow-white contour, which seemed to sink down to hide, as fine beads of cold sweat appeared on her forehead.

"Zhao Yuan, head of the Qingyu Zhao Clan?" Ye Jinyu said.

"One of the characters in my name is Jinyu's 'yu,' meaning fine jade. Your clan took care to wear the Azure Nether Jade bestowed by my clan today. That is suitably respectful and quite to my liking. Good..."

Ye Jinyu patted Zhao Yuan on the shoulder and gave him a somewhat meaningful look.

Zhao Yuan hastily replied, "I am indeed this humble cultivator! That the young master would ask after me is an honor for the entire Zhao Clan!"

"I hear your Zhao Clan has an exceptional brew called 'Qingyu Spirit Marrow Wine'?"

A flicker of discomfort crossed Zhao Yuanming's face, then turned into a fawning smile. "The young master even knows of such an insignificant thing! This wine is a specialty of our Qingyu. Indeed, it is brewed according to an ancient method and regularly offered to the main clan. We have already prepared it for the young master at today's feast."

"A thoughtful gesture."

Ye Jinyu said no more and walked straight toward the magnificent green-jade carriage waiting ahead.

The carriage was drawn by four Foundation Establishment Realm Qingyu Dappled Horses. Its entire body was made from Spirit-Withered Pine, a Purple Mansion spirit wood unique to Qingyu Realm, and carved with intricate Azure Nether Dharma patterns.

Ye Guyi even lifted the carriage curtain for Ye Jinyu himself. After Ye Jinyu entered,

he boarded the accompanying carriage behind.

Before departing, Ye Guyi gave Zhao Yuan a smile.

He looked at him and his pair of daughters.

Ye Guyi said, "Zhao Yuan, you've had your moment in the spotlight today... As for what happened three years ago, I won't hold you accountable for it."

"It was thanks to your guidance, Lord Guardian, that today's events came about. This humble cultivator is all the more delighted. My Zhao Clan has another generous gift of thanks for you tonight," Zhao Yuan said with a flattering smile.

Inside the carriage, Ye Jinyu rested with eyes closed, but sent Divine Sense into a Jade Slip in the storage ring.

Xuan designation, seventeenth Ruin Realm.

Name: Qingyu Ruins Realm. Rank: medium.

World origin: strongly attuned to the wood element, with wind-element Dao arts as well.

Realm size: fifty-eight million li. Population: forty-seven million.

Ruin Realm historical record: Four hundred years ago, a True Person Qingyu ruled this realm. At the Purple Mansion Middle Stage, he possessed two [wood]-element methods, the first called [Withering and Flourishing Cycle], the second [Wind of a Thousand Decays].

He was slain by the Ye Clan's Great True Person Fengyi (Purple Mansion Peak). Upon Qingyu's fall, his body became a Spirit-Withered Pine forest stretching thirty thousand li, where winds whistled through, blowing the pines to decay.

The crafting material Spirit-Withered Pine Wood could be obtained there, Flourishing and Withering Pills could be refined, and [Rotten Wood Wind Qi] and [Withering and Flourishing Wood Qi] could be gathered.

The thirty-thousand-li Spirit-Withered Pine forest had to be watered with the Essence Blood of Foundation Establishment Demon Beasts every fifty years to keep its spiritual vitality flowing without end.

Appendix: Notes on Qingyu, part one:

"When I first entered Qingyu years ago, I saw verdant mountains rising in layers and spiritual mist woven through them. It was like a paradise apart from the world, and at once the agitation in my heart dispersed."

"The Zhao Clan, an ancient clan of Qingyu, held a feast. There was 'Qingyu Spirit Marrow Wine' at the table. It was sweet and delicious, and drinking it filled me with a sense of life endlessly renewing itself. It seemed capable of increasing one's affinity with the wood-element Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth.

"Drinking it regularly over many years might increase the speed of wood-element cultivation, to the Lineage's benefit.

"Only after the feast did I learn that this wine required the marrow and Essence Blood of three wood-element Foundation Establishment cultivators to be extracted...

"It so happened that the bloodline of True Person Qingyu's descendants was extraordinary and favored by this realm.

"The Zhao Clan was respectful and said with a smile, 'That the guardian takes pleasure in it is a blessing for the cultivators of the lower realm. This bloodline belongs solely to cultivators descended from True Person Qingyu, the former lord of this Ruin Realm...'"

Part two: "Today I hunted down a young woman of the Qingyu Ruin Realm. The Ruin Realm's origin was suspected to be at work, for she possessed an Azure Wood Spirit Body.

"By law, she could be sent to the guardian to be refined into a Dao ginseng, or made into a cultivation cauldron. Yet she knelt and begged to be a maidservant, a pitiable sight."

"As I hesitated, my companion sneered, 'A cultivator of the Ruin Realm? Nothing more than a servant, a dog or a horse. If you're so merciful, what did you come to this Ruin Realm for? Military merits can be exchanged, and the Immortal Dao is hard to attain. This woman is nothing but flesh and bone, so why not use her to build your Dao Path? Don't live to regret it...'"

"I meant to kill her, but the Zhao Clan head offered a generous reward for her, so I let her go."

Ye Jinyu opened both eyes and lightly tapped the Jade Slip with a fingertip.

The lineage of the former Ruin Realm lord... descendants of True Person Qingyu.

This Qingyu Zhao Clan is rather unusual. Their hearts deserve death.

As Ye Jinyu pondered, Ye Guyi's voice came from outside the carriage. "Young master, we have arrived at the guardian's residence. The heads of Qingyu's six clans, including the Zhao Clan, are already waiting respectfully before the residence."

Ye Jinyu lifted the carriage curtain and looked out.

A towering residence stood amid an encircling range of green mountains, its sweeping eaves and interlocking brackets grand and imposing.

In the square before it, several hundred people knelt in a dense mass. At their head were six elderly men in splendid robes, the heads of the six native clans.

Behind them, the young disciples and elders of each clan lay prostrate on the ground, their postures abject in the extreme.

But how keen was Great True Person Xu Feng's Divine Sense?

Moreover, he had roamed Cangxuan and its many Ruin Realms for years. An Old Devil who had reformed, wormed his way into the imperial court, and been granted a marquisate, he was highly experienced and knew much about human nature, especially the people and affairs of the Ruin Realms. He was a true professional.

And now that he had become Ye Zhanqiu's Dao subordinate,

he naturally considered himself the number one lackey under True Lord Qiuran.

The Golden Core's only child, and given how much Master values the young master...

To let me accompany the young master shows such trust. For the merit of following a future ruler, I must naturally do my utmost.

I am the young master's number one lackey. There's nothing I can't do!

That Ye Guyi and the likes of Zhao Yuan have flattery and ingratiation in their eyes too, but how can they compare to me?

Xu Feng immediately sent a voice transmission.

"Young master, beneath these natives' humility, there seems to be resentment, hatred, fear, and... a trace of restless, laughable ambition."

"Interesting..." Ye Jinyu chuckled softly.

The carriage came to a stop.

As soon as Ye Jinyu stepped out, a chorus of shouts rang out: "Welcome, honored clan! May the young master's Immortal Dao flourish forever and bestow blessings upon Qingyu!"

The waves of sound shook the heavens, but their enthusiasm was plainly contrived.

I came to the Qingyu Ruins Realm for just three things...