Picking Up Attributes In Martial World

Chapter 206: Ancient Entity

Ye Jun spent another hour practicing his Sword Intent in the quiet courtyard. The slender wooden stick in his hand moved with increasing fluidity, carving soundless arcs through the soft, falling snow.

His high comprehension talent allowed him to grasp the intricate nuances of the intent much faster than an ordinary cultivator could ever hope to. By the time he lowered the stick, his control had advanced noticeably.

Another frozen leaf drifted from the branch, and with a singular, imperceptible twitch of his wrist, the wood tip cut the leaf into ten precise, identical pieces before they hit the white-dusted stone.

Satisfied with the minor breakthrough, he tossed the stick aside and headed back inside the warm chambers.

Song Liangxue and Meihui were already stirring beneath the thick fur blankets. They didn’t need a traditional bath to freshen up. As high-tier cultivators, the continuous refinement of their Qi automatically expelled any impurities from their bodies.

The constant, rhythmic circulation of their internal energy maintained a state of physical perfection, ensuring their skin remained pristine and their meridians entirely clear. Within minutes of waking up, the two women had simply adjusted their robes and hair, ready for the day.

Song Liangxue guided them out of the personal courtyard and through the sweeping, white-marble corridors toward the inner palace’s dining hall.

Song Yanyan was already awaiting them, seated at the head of a smaller, intricately carved sandalwood table. The moment they entered, the Matriarch’s gaze drifted over to Meihui, who had re-applied the sharp, illusory features of Young Master Rong.

Song Yanyan smiled softly, sending a private, fluid wave of soul transmission directly into Meihui’s mind.

*’You can keep your disguise active around me, little girl. There’s no need to strain yourself hiding your presence from the servants here.’*

Meihui blinked in surprise, offering a respectful, grateful nod in return. Managing the advanced artifact to keep her identity hidden from a Ruler Realm powerhouse was exhausting, and knowing the Matriarch was actively accommodating her cover layer brought a massive wave of relief to her chest.

"Sit, sit," Song Yanyan waved her hand hospitably, gesturing toward the steaming dishes lining the table. There were bowls of fragrant spiritual rice, roasted mountain pheasant, and hot, savory broths that radiated a comforting, dense Qi. "I cooked all of this myself this morning."

Ye Jun blinked, genuinely surprised by her statement. The Matriarch of the Song Clan, a legendary sovereign of the North, manually handling a kitchen knife seemed entirely out of place.

Beside him, Meihui caught his expression and murmured quietly, "It’s an ancient northern tradition, dummy. Whenever a new son-in-law visits the bride’s ancestral home for the very first time, the mother-in-law is required to cook the meal herself to signify absolute acceptance into the lineage."

Song Yanyan nodded in an impressed mood, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Meihui. "Oh? For a southern youth, you certainly know a lot about our northern customs, Young Master Rong."

"I merely read a few registries during my travels, Matriarch," Meihui replied smoothly, deflecting the attention with a small, polite smile.

They began to eat, the atmosphere light and comfortable as the rich, spiritual food warmed their pathways. However, as the initial courses were cleared, the easy mood in the hall naturally shifted. The lingering weight from the morning cliffhanger returned, and the topic of conversation finally settled onto the most pressing variable.

The Lord.

Song Yanyan set her cup of hot tea down with a soft click, her expression instantly losing its playful warmth, replaced by a cold, serious gravity.

"To be completely honest with you, Ye Jun, I am not familiar with anyone in the history of the our world who possesses powers like this entity you call the Lord," she began, her voice quiet but firm. "I don’t know a single master who can manipulate and distort the Spiritual Realm to such an extreme degree. Even my own father, who is a true Saint Realm powerhouse, cannot forcefully alter the plane’s dimensional fabric like that. And more importantly... ignoring the Heavenly Tribulations."

She leaned forward, her dark eyes locking onto his. "That one single detail is what baffles me the most. Nobody can defy the Heavenly Dao. When a cultivator undergoes an ascension, the tribulations are an absolute, unyielding decree of the world. To bypass them entirely, to shut out the sky while executing a soul manipulation loop... it shouldn’t be possible."

Ye Jun listened quietly, his hands resting flat on the table. "You said you found some patterns in the archives."

"Yes," Song Yanyan nodded slowly. "I spent the entire night sorting through the oldest, restricted scrolls in the Forbidden Chamber. I looked specifically for abnormal, unexplainable incidents across the past twenty thousand years—events that have been completely forgotten in the vastness of history. And I found a pattern. Over the millennia, there have been several localized catastrophes that involved a massive number of sacrifices. What makes them abnormal is that these massacres happened in complete, absolute silence. Thousands of people vanished or died simultaneously without a single neighboring sect or city noticing the distortion."

Song Liangxue’s brow furrowed, her regal expression turning solemn. "Thousands of people? How could an extraction of that scale go unnoticed by the local networks?"

"Because it happened to higher realm cultivators too," Song Yanyan revealed, her tone dropping into a tense growl. "Entire branch sects and powerful cultivation enclaves simply turned into hollow husks overnight. And the thing that makes the entire matter even more suspicious and weird is that these incidents have been completely wiped from common history. They only remain in a few decaying, hidden records within our absolute vault. It’s an immense surprise that the data even survived."

She rubbed her temples, a deep crease forming between her eyebrows. "Furthermore, the supposed subordinates and cultists who facilitated those ancient sacrifices always disappeared completely right after the events concluded. No tracks, no remnants, no bodies. A perfect, clean wipe."

Ye Jun’s mind immediately completed the logic loop. ’Same as the Lord.’

"This is the first time in twenty thousand years that someone actually noticed a variable ignoring the Heavenly Tribulation," Song Yanyan continued, her gaze heavy as she looked at Ye Jun. "In all those previous, forgotten incidents, everyone involved died. There were no clear records because there were no survivors left to report the anomaly. But this time... you survived. Which means my suspicion is highly likely correct. All of these ancient, abnormal massacres across history were orchestrated by the exact same entity. This Lord is an ancient, hidden powerhouse who has been operating in the dark for eras."

Hearing the sheer scale of the historical data, Ye Jun felt a wave of surprise, but his bold, rational focus refused to accept the narrative cleanly. He tapped his finger rhythmically against the sandalwood table.

"The timeline matches, but there are too many major inconsistencies in his behavior, Yanyan," Ye Jun spoke up, his voice steady. "If this Lord is truly an ancient entity capable of wiping out high-realm cultivators and entire enclaves in complete silence over twenty thousand years... why did he fail so miserably with me? Back at the village, he couldn’t even deal with a basic Origin Realm cultivator like Elder Han or me. If he possesses that kind of continent-flattening power, why did he leave so many loose threads this time? Why did he disappear completely after a minor setback?"

"Yeah, why does he disappear everytime?" Meihui added, her brow furrowing behind her male disguise.

The questions hung heavily in the air. The absolute contrast between the Lord’s ancient, terrifying legacy and his current, limited output was a massive riddle that completely wrecked their brains. Every path of deduction led to another blank wall.

Seeing the intense, suffocating tension wrapping around the three youths, Song Yanyan suddenly let out a bright, melodious laugh. The cold gravity vanished from her face in an instant as she reached out, scooping a large portion of roasted pheasant onto Ye Jun’s plate.

"Alright, alright! That is enough brain-wrecking for a single morning," she scolded playfully, her extroverted warmth returning in full force. "We can analyze these ancient mysteries more later. The entity has already retreated, and you are safe inside the Frostwall. For now, you should just eat and enjoy the food before it gets cold."

Ye Jun let out a slow breath, a dry, amused smile returning to his lips. *’She’s right. Overthinking a dead plot won’t increase my stat allocation right now,’* he thought, casually picking up his chopsticks.

Once the lunch concluded and the plates were cleared, Song Yanyan stood up, her long silk robes rustling gracefully as she looked at her daughter.

"Liangxue, take the two of them out to explore Everfrost City this afternoon," the Matriarch instructed with a bright smile. "Show them around the grand plazas. And more importantly... buy some proper northern clothes for Ye Jun. He needs something fitting to wear for tonight’s family gathering and the upcoming grand banquet."

Song Liangxue happily agreed, her eyes curving into brilliant crescent moons as she looked at her husband. "I know the exact clothier in the central district. Let’s go, love. It’s time to dress you like a proper lord of the North."