Chapter 533: Broken Engagement
Hearing this, Yang Xu sighed again and began.
"Although Fengzi was severely injured, it is nothing life-threatening. He will be fine." He said and the other two heaved a sigh of relief.
After all, Murong Fei was Yang Xu’s Taoist companion.
If something happened to him, Yang Xu would definitely be devastated and the two didn’t want to see that.
"That’s good to hear." Jiang Yue said with a smile on his lips.
"Master..." Yu Nianzhen started but Yang Xu waved his hand to interrupt him.
"There is no need for Tree of Life leaves." The older man said and continued with some schadenfreude in his voice.
"Let him suffer for a little longer. Only in this way will he learn a lesson."
After hearing that, Yu Nianzhen swallowed his words and shrugged helplessly while looking at Jiang Yue.
"What about fellow Daoist Bing?" Jiang Yue asked and Yang Xu frowned.
"She fell." The man said and the room fell into silence.
Although things went wrong, Bing Lan was someone they once loved or liked.
Despite everything, they were all a little sad to hear that she fell.
"Life is impermanent." Yu Nianzhen finally said and the other two nodded in agreement.
"Our fate was wrong from the very beginning." Yang Xu muttered and a trace of melancholy flashed in his eyes.
"Master, what do you mean?" Jiang Yue asked.
"Everything began in our previous life." Yang Xu started and the two silently listened.
"In my previous life, four families ruled the Cangxing World - the Yang family, the Gu family, the Shui family, and the Chen family. I belonged to the Yang family and Bing Lan belonged to the Shui family."
"Since ancient times, most of the Yang family cultivators had fire-related origins while most of the Shui family cultivators had water-related origins. As a result, the Yang family and Shui family often intermarried."
"Similar to this life, I awakened the nine suns origin in my previous life, As you know, the nine suns origin is an extreme yang physique and is most compatible with an extreme yin physique. Unfortunately, Shui Lan; my fiancée, unexpectedly awakened an unsuitable wind-related origin."
"Shui Lan? Was that Bing Lan’s name in her previous life?" Jiang Yue asked and Yang Xu nodded.
"At the same time, a little-known family produced a male cultivator with an ice marrow physique." The man quickly continued.
"Was that fellow Daoist Murong?" Jiang Yue asked with unconcealable excitement in his eyes.
"It’s rare for a man to have an ice marrow physique." Yu Nianzhen suddenly commented and Yang Xu nodded.
"Indeed." Yang Xu sighed and then continued.
"It’s dangerous for female cultivators to awaken the ice marrow physique but it even more so for male cultivators. When his physique erupted for the first time, his family barely managed to save his life. In the end, they had no choice but to find our Yang family."
"What happened after that?" Jiang Yue urgently asked.
"You can imagine what happened." Yang Xu said and rolled his eyes at Jiang Yue who was happily eating melon seeds.
"The Yang family accepted fellow Daoist Murong and broke your engagement with Daoist Shui Lan." Yu Nianzhen stated and Yang Xu nodded.
"At that time, my situation was also dangerous. Fortunately, the Yang family had cultivation techniques and methods that could reduce the danger when my physique erupted. However, all measures were temporary solutions. When Murong Feng appeared, becoming a Taoist couple was a foregone conclusion."
"The Shui family didn’t take it well." Jiang Yue stated in a matter-of-fact tone and Yang Xu smiled.
"They didn’t." He confirmed and quickly continued.
"The Shui family suggested that I should take Shui Lan as my Taoist companion and accept Murong Feng as a concubine but I refused."
"Master, did the Yang family support your choice?" Yu Nianzhen suddenly asked.
After all, Yang Xu and Murong Feng were both men.
Since the Yang family was a prominent family and Yang Xu was extremely talented, it was only natural for the family to insist on a descendant.
"I know what you mean." Yang Xu said and chuckled before he spoke.
"In my previous life, pregnancy fruits were not as rare as they are in this life."
"I see." Yu Nianzhen said and narrowed his eyes.
"Master, now that you have formed a Taoist contract with a man..."
Hearing the unfinished question, Yang Xu shrugged.
"I don’t care about descendants." He said.
After all, he and Murong Feng were extremely talented cultivators.
When they advanced to the immortal realm, their lifespan would be the same as that of heaven and earth.
Since they wouldn’t die, having descendants didn’t feel very important.
Most importantly, given a choice, Yang Xu would still choose Murong Feng over the possibility of having children.
Seeing the conversation had gone off-topic, Jiang Yue turned it around.
"Master, what happened after you refused the Shui family?" He asked and Yang Xu frowned.
"At first, nothing happened." He started and then continued.
"The Yang family and Shui family negotiated a settlement for the broken engagement. Since my Yang family was in the wrong, we paid a heavy price to save the relationship between the two families. However, my Yang family was too trusting." Yang Xu said with a solemn look in his eyes.
"The Shui family double-crossed the Yang family?"
"Something like that." Yang Xu said and continued to explain.
"When the engagement was just broken, Shui Lan protested everywhere and refused to accept the outcome. However, she eventually bowed to the greater interest and seemed to have accepted the outcome."
"Seemed?" Jiang Yue asked.
"Everything was a lie." Yang Xu said and a trace of anger flashed in his eyes.
"As it turned out, neither Shui Lan nor her family had accepted the outcome."
"What did they do?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
"Although the Cangxing world was equally ruled by the four major families, there were slight differences in the power of the four families." Yang Xu said and the two looked at him curiously.
"The Yang family was the most powerful in terms of raw strength while the Shui family was best at auxiliary arts like healing and planting. As for the Gu family, it was the most mysterious and vaguely the leader of the four families. On the other hand, the Chen family was multi-talented and most populous. If you insist on a ranking, the Gu family was first, while the Yang, Chen, and Shui families were second, third, and fourth respectively."
"Had the Shui family grown ambitious?" Yu Nianzhen asked and Yang Xu couldn’t help but smile.
’As expected of my disciple.’ He thought.
"The Shui family had indeed become ambitious. Originally, it wanted to ally with the Yang family to deal with the other two families. Unfortunately, the most promising marriage was ruined and their plans fell into nothing."
"Why do I feel their plan was unreliable?" Jiang Yue asked and Yang Xu nodded.
"If my Yang family knew the Shui family’s plan, we would never have cooperated." Yang Xu said and Jiang Yue looked at him with an inquisitive look in his eyes.
"Among the four families, the Gu family was the most ancient. It had stood longer than all the other families combined. Can you guess the reason for this?" Yang Xu asked.
"All the families that stood up against the Gu family were destroyed." Yu Nianzhen said and Yang Xu nodded.
"As far as records went, there were always four major families in the Cangxing world. However, the Gu family was the only one that remained unchanged."
"What a mysterious family." Jiang Yue commented and everyone fell silent.
Facing such an unknown opponent, only a fool would recklessly rush in.
From this point alone, it was clear the Shui family was destined to suffer a disaster.
Even if the Shui, Yang, and Chen families allied to deal with the Gu family, the result would likely not change.
"Anyway, after the marriage failed, the Shui family thought of another way."
"What way?" Jiang Yue asked, his eyes narrowed into slits.
"I don’t know where they found it but the Shui family found a forbidden technique to change a person’s fate."
Hearing this, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue frowned.
Although changing a person’s fate was difficult, it was not impossible.
"Master, don’t celestial masters often change other people’s fate?" Yu Nianzhen asked but Yang Xu shook his head in denial.
"Celestial masters can affect other people’s fate but the changes are not against the heavens."
"Master, what do you mean?" Jiang Yue asked with a confused expression.
"In simple words, the Shui family used a forbidden technique that stole Murong Feng’s fate." Yang Xu said and his hands subconsciously clenched into fists.
"I still don’t understand." Jiang Yue said.
"From what I know, the technique was supposed to turn back time while exchanging the fates of Shui Lan and Murong Feng."
Hearing this, Jiang Yue gasped and looked at Yu Nianzhen.
"If the technique worked, Shui Lan would have gone back to the time when she was just awakening her origin. Instead of awakening her wind-related origin, she would have gained the ice marrow physique and fate that originally belonged to Murong Feng. However, something went wrong."
