Chapter 33

No one had ever mentioned this origin to the Yu Youyou in the book.

Furthermore, this place was completely different from the desolate and terrifying wasteland in the novel, where spiritual energy was utterly exhausted and the very air seemed to have been sucked dry.

Beneath the flying vessel now, the spiritual energy was quite sufficient. Although the area was sparsely populated by humans, there was no shortage of birds and beasts, and there were traces of life amidst the tranquility.

Yu Youyou did not know what had transpired in the book to turn a place that once supported an entire great clan into a vacuum of spiritual energy, a fearsome prison for criminals. In the novel, that place of spiritual extinction was horrifying, as if something were greedily devouring all the spiritual energy in the vicinity. Whether it was spiritual energy, cultivators, or even spiritual objects and artifacts, anything that fell into that domain would be stripped of its essence and reduced to common items.

That was precisely why Chu Xingyun had imprisoned Yu Youyou there in the book. For a cultivator, the despair of being reduced to a mere mortal—where every effort to restore one’s cultivation only resulted in the newly cultivated energy being stolen away—was a crushing blow.

The little cub peered toward the cliff with her small head.

"She has clearly never been here before..." Sect Master Yu sighed as he watched the little one craning her neck, staring directly at the cliff. "This must be the instinct of bloodline kinship."

Yu Youyou had never been here, yet she seemed to know, as if by intuition, that the ancestral grounds of the Gong clan lay beneath the cliff.

He nodded slightly at Chu Xingyun, who steered the flying vessel to descend slowly toward the precipice. A howling mountain wind surged up from the bottomless abyss, feeling as sharp as ten thousand blades. Sect Master Yu produced a jade talisman and cast it into the chasm; the wind, which seemed capable of shredding everything in its path, instantly subsided.

Layers of spiritual light rippled outward. On both sides, high-level puppets hidden within the cliffs stood frozen, while countless apricot-yellow flags hovered in the air, glowing with a soft, ethereal light. Further down, ninety-nine sharp flying swords rotated within an incredibly profound sword formation, poised for action.

Facing such a series of lethal arrays, even Chu Xingyun, who had weathered many life-and-death crises, felt his eyelids twitch.

Ao Qing remarked to Sect Master Yu, "Your master's formations are indeed exquisite." These restrictions and formations had been laid down by the previous Sect Master to protect the Gong clan's ancestral grounds, fearing that those with greed in their hearts might come to disturb the site. None of these lethal arrays were to be trifled with. Without a token from the Gong clan, anyone who dared to step foot here would meet with disaster. Of course, those who harbored no greed and had no interest in the relics of others would not encounter such danger.

Sect Master Yu felt this was for the best, as it ensured ordinary people would not dare to come and take advantage of the Gong clan’s absence. He praised, "My master's formations are among the best in the world." Among the many experts in the cultivation world—some skilled in alchemy, others formidable sword cultivators—his master’s greatest specialty was the art of formations. While it might not sound as prestigious, a true grandmaster of arrays possessed terrifying destructive power. He considered himself dull and had failed to inherit his master’s mantle in formation arts, but Chu Xingyun had inherited a good portion of it.

At present, this disciple was holding his little junior sister with one hand to keep her from climbing off the vessel, while seriously studying the mysteries of these formations. After closing his eyes for a long moment, he seemed to have gained some insight.

The cub was tugging at her little jacket, feeling quite troubled. The spiritual energy at this cliff was so abundant—so why did it later become a place of spiritual extinction that people avoided like the plague? The Yu Youyou in the book didn't know, and so, she could not know either.

Because this involved the Gong clan, whom her grandmaster and father held in such high regard, the cub pondered it very seriously for a long time. In the end, she couldn't find a single clue in the book regarding the cause of this spiritual extinction. She had to regretfully put the matter aside, only to notice that the aura of her senior brother beside her had suddenly changed.

It felt as though his presence had become more profound, yet also more clear and ethereal. She looked up and saw a dazzling brilliance in Chu Xingyun's eyes. She widened her eyes, watching her senior brother.

The handsome young man, who had just experienced another epiphany and felt that the bottleneck that had long hindered his breakthrough was finally giving way, smiled slightly and patted the little junior sister’s head. He was only one step away from the Mahayana stage. Though he was called a "half-step Mahayana," that bottleneck, even if it were as thin as a piece of paper, was like a chasm that was nearly impossible to cross. This had caused him great distress for some time, as he had not known where to begin.

Perhaps because he had recently stopped obsessively focusing on his cultivation and instead poured his attention into his daily life, his state of mind had become peaceful, devoid of utilitarian urgency. Thus, when he encountered this opportunity, he did not approach it with a desperate desire to advance; instead, he gained clarity and easily broke through the bottleneck he had once deemed exceptionally difficult.

"I should also thank you, Youyou."

He was proud and demanding of himself, which had made his state of mind restless. But accompanying his little junior sister every day, watching her remain cheerful and happy despite her inability to cultivate, had changed his perspective. That way of living—not caring about the gaze of others, but caring only whether the people he cherished were happy—without so many ulterior motives, was remarkably light and free. This was something Chu Xingyun, a prince born into high status, had never experienced before.

He looked at his little junior sister and smiled. The little one looked up, staring blankly at her senior brother.

The same location. In the past, he had stood on this cliff, looking down at the desperate and resentful Yu Youyou in the dark abyss, his eyes filled with disgust. Yet, in the blink of an eye, he remained the gentle, kind senior brother who was so very good to her. That gentleness was not for others; it was only for her—for the Yu Youyou of this lifetime.

The little one hummed and happily snuggled against her senior brother. The dragon egg stood silently to the side; while there was still no response from within, Chu Xingyun felt as if he heard a faint dragon roar. He was startled and instinctively looked at Ao Qing, but seeing the latter with his eyes closed in meditation, apparently undisturbed, he frowned slightly. He was certain he hadn't misheard, but the faint, clear roar had vanished as quickly as it appeared, returning to silence.

The cliff was high and steep. When the vessel had descended from above, the bottom had appeared pitch-black and eerie. But as the vessel carefully avoided the rotating formations and landed at the base of the cliff, a world of light greeted them.

It was daytime, and sunlight poured in from somewhere, illuminating the surroundings just as it did in the outside world. The area at the base of the cliff was not cramped; it was vast and open, with large tracts of dwellings, farmland, and streams. Further away, there was a vast forest, and the sounds of birds and beasts drifted faintly on the breeze.

This was a massive residential area for cultivators, far larger than any place Yu Youyou had ever seen in the book. In the novel, her memory of the "land of spiritual extinction" was one of dryness, barrenness, and darkness—the most despairing of places. It was completely different from the light before her.

As she was carried off the vessel by Chu Xingyun, she looked at the vast ancestral grounds in the distance. The area was deathly silent, filled with broken walls and ruined structures. Beyond the light, it revealed a profound desolation. Many buildings had collapsed from unknown attacks, and the structures reduced to fine powder bore witness to the horrific tragedy of the Gong clan's destruction.

Yu Youyou stared, stunned. She was unable to speak for a moment, and even Sect Master Yu could not bear to utter a word.

Amidst the heavy atmosphere, he said softly to Yu Youyou, "This is your maternal family's home, Youyou. There, your clansmen lie in eternal rest."

After the Gong clan was wiped out, the previous Sect Master had arrived only in time to collect the remains of the fallen. He had endured the pain of gathering the scattered bodies of all the Gong clansmen. Because so much time had passed, the souls of the clansmen had long since dissipated, leaving no hope for resurrection. It was only natural; the power that had attacked the clan was so immense that it was impossible for the souls of ordinary cultivators to survive such a cataclysm, which had effectively overturned the entire territory.

Most of the bodies the previous Sect Master had gathered were few in number; the majority had been reduced to dust by that terrifying spiritual force.

The cub nodded her small head instinctively and hesitated. She felt that this place was somewhat familiar.

"Familiar," she whispered. Perhaps this was the sense of recognition that existed within her bloodline. Because the Gong clan had lived here for generations, she felt a sense of familiarity and closeness to the ancestral land.

"Worship," the cub said hurriedly. She knew that her father had brought her here to pay respects to their ancestors partly because, as one of the Gong bloodline, she should not forget her heritage, and partly because her father was worried about her condition and hoped to find the cause within the Gong ancestral grounds.

Originally, Yu Youyou had only paid attention to the Gong clan out of a desire to be a filial child. But she did not know why, as she stood there and heard her father speak of the many members of the Gong clan who had fallen, such deep sorrow welled up in her heart. It was as if people who had accompanied her for a long, long time had simply vanished.

Ah. This was a strange feeling.

The little one scratched her head and touched her small heart, feeling a bit dazed. Perhaps she was overthinking it. Seeing the ancestral grounds in this state had turned her into a sentimental cub.

Shaking her head to dispel the strange feeling, she heard Sect Master Yu say, "Let us pay our respects to the ancestors first, and then we shall go to the library."

The library was an important place for the Gong clan, housing numerous cultivation techniques, alchemy manuals, and artifact-forging classics collected by the clan throughout the cultivation world. Strangely, the library had not been heavily attacked. Even after the clan's destruction, those precious techniques and manuals remained untouched, while the residence of the Gong clan leader had been dug up three feet deep.

Sect Master Yu felt they should visit the ancestral temple first. Yu Youyou naturally obeyed her father, and the group headed toward the Gong clan's ancestral temple.