Under the moonlit night at Demon Suppression Mountain, the battleground from earlier lay deserted. Both the demonic cultivators and members of the five sacred lands had long since departed.
In this tranquil scene, two young men dressed in gray robes suddenly appeared, each wearing a purple ring inscribed faintly with the character “Ye.” These two were the true descendants of the Ye family: Ye Xiuming and Ye Xiumu.
Ye Xiumu crouched down, placed his hand on the ground, and closed his eyes. Within moments, he absorbed the residual spiritual energy in the area, piecing together what had happened.
After a brief pause, he rose and said, “We’re late. She left Demon Suppression Mountain earlier today, and her whereabouts are unknown.”
Ye Xiuming’s lips curled into a twisted smile. “Then let’s find her. When we do, you can take the Sword Heart, and I’ll use her body for my experiments. The most powerful demonic cultivator of thirty thousand years ago—I’m curious to see how she fares with her heart replaced by something else.”
Ye Xiumu’s expression soured slightly. “Do as you like. I only want the Ye family’s Sword Heart.”
...
Meanwhile, in Zhuoxin Temple, Lin Fengyuan looked at Ye Yu, a hint of amusement in her gaze.
“Are you afraid that after thirty thousand years, I’d go back on my promise? If I really wanted to, would I have brought you along with me? But since you insist on hearing it again, I’ll say it once more.”
Straightening herself, Lin Fengyuan spoke with solemnity, “Five hundred years is the limit! After five hundred years, I will willingly hand over the Wugou Sword Heart to the Ye family, and from that moment, we will have no further connection.”
Ye Yu frowned slightly, pretending to be dissatisfied. “Is that all?”
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“There’s no need to test me. That’s the only promise I made to the Ye family, and I’m sure you already knew that before coming to see me. While I’ve been sealed for thirty thousand years, I haven’t lost my mind. Don’t think you can deceive me!”
Perhaps due to the roasted duck from earlier, Lin Fengyuan explained with a smile, unoffended by Ye Yu’s questioning.
Ye Yu sensed she was telling the truth. Five hundred years, Wugou Sword Heart... what was her connection to the Ye family? How did they form such an agreement?
Noticing Ye Yu’s silence, Lin Fengyuan assumed he had more on his mind and continued, “I know that five hundred years have long passed. It’s time to fulfill my promise. But given that I spent those years in confinement, they technically don’t count. Regardless, within the next three to ten days, I’ll give you the Wugou Sword Heart. After all, there’s no one on this continent who dares go back on their word to the Ye family.”
Ye Yu’s thoughts raced. No one dares? Could the Ye family really be so powerful? Yet, he had never heard of them in Central Continent. Had they gone into hiding, or had they disappeared entirely with the passage of time?
In a low voice, he asked, “Could you tell me about the Ye family from thirty thousand years ago? A lot has happened over the years, and no one in the family speaks of the past. I’m curious.”
Lin Fengyuan fell silent, then spoke softly, “Thirty thousand years ago, there were no sacred lands in Central Continent, and the Ye family was a long-standing family of cultivators, full of talented individuals. At its peak, no one could match its strength—not even I. There was a famous saying at the time:
‘All treasures are held by the Ye family. All challenges disappear before the Ye family.’
It meant that anything valuable could be found with the Ye family, and any problem could be solved by them. But, of course, you needed something that the Ye family considered worthy in exchange. For instance, my Wugou Sword Heart.”
Ye Yu was taken aback. Judging from her spiritual energy, Lin Fengyuan was at least in the middle stage of the Ascension Realm, possibly even late-stage. And yet, she admitted that she couldn’t rival the Ye family’s peak power back then. Did the Ye family have cultivators even stronger than Lin Fengyuan?
Were they at the Ascension Realm late stage? Perhaps even at its peak? Or had they transcended the Ascension Realm entirely, like the legendary cultivators of the Western Continent?
These were questions Ye Yu couldn’t answer. Only those who had seen the Ye family’s glory might know the truth.
Also, this agreement of five hundred years—what could Lin Fengyuan have received from the Ye family in exchange for her Wugou Sword Heart? Ye Yu didn’t want to press her further, wary of raising her suspicions.
Just as he was about to change the subject, he noticed a shift in the surrounding spiritual energy.
Someone outside was setting up a formation.
Lin Fengyuan seemed to notice it too, her gaze fixed on the door.
In the next moment, the door swung open, and Tao Shanren entered.
“Senior, could you reconsider my proposal?” he asked softly. “The demonic path of Central Continent needs your strength.”
Lin Fengyuan’s expression turned icy. “If I refuse, does that mean you intend to fight me?”
Tao Shanren sneered, remaining silent, his intent clear.
Lin Fengyuan, unyielding even after thirty thousand years, would not be threatened. With a sneer, she raised her right hand, and a scorching aura filled the room. Her crimson longsword materialized in her grasp, and she thrust it toward Tao Shanren.
In an instant, the sword’s aura sliced Tao Shanren in two.
But to her surprise, his body disintegrated into points of starlight, leaving no trace of blood.
An illusion?
“Senior, you seem weak. So weak that even your hand holding the sword trembles,” Tao Shanren’s voice echoed from all directions, impossible to pinpoint.
Lin Fengyuan’s brow furrowed as she sensed something was wrong and instinctively tried to leave with Ye Yu. But a red barrier blocked their path.
A formation!
Lin Fengyuan struck at it with her sword, but aside from faint ripples, the barrier remained intact.
How could this be? Even in her weakened state, with the Wugou Sword Heart, her strikes should be unstoppable. How could she fail to break a mere barrier?
As she pondered this, monstrous figures emerged from the ground—giant blood demons charging at her. They looked terrifying but were, in truth, weak, no stronger than Nascent Soul cultivators.
Lin Fengyuan dispatched them easily with a single strike, reducing them to dust.
But soon, a new wave of blood demons, this time at the Spirit Transformation stage, rose from the ground.
Once more, Lin Fengyuan struck them down, only for yet another wave to appear, now at the Integration Realm.
While these demons posed no real threat, Lin Fengyuan hesitated to attack again, fearing the next wave would contain Tribulation-Transcending blood demons.
Thus, she was forced into constant motion, evading rather than engaging.
When she finally found an opening and prepared to break through the barrier, a sharp pain struck her.
Her body trembled as she sank to the ground, her hand gripping her sword to steady herself.
Seeing this, Ye Yu’s expression turned grave.
“What’s wrong?” he asked urgently.