Ye Jiang stared at the child before his eyes in disbelief.
Just a moment ago, Ye Jingwen told him, "This is the daughter Senior Ye Hai left in the secular world. My martial uncle has ordered me to pick her up and take her to you."
Daugh…ter? He knew his brother had wandered for several years in the secular world before he went to the Demonic Mountain, but his brother passed before he could tell him anything. He never expected that his bother actually left behind a daughter!
Ye Jingwen said, "In his last moments, Senior Ye left some last words behind, so I'm passing them on to Brother Ye."
Ye Jiang hastily took the Jade Slip from Ye Jingwen and put his divine sense into it.
Green mist appeared and transformed into a scholarly-looking middle-aged man. The man stared at Ye Jiang and said, "Second Younger Brother, I don't think I can escape this calamity, so I want to explain some matters to you. During this visit to the Demonic Mountain, I became friends with Master Daoist Shoujing of Xuanqing School. After recording everything I want to explain, I'll use my remaining power to help him out of this place so he can pass these words to you."
"First, after I fall, I'm afraid Ye Clan will no longer be able to live on Mount Qingmeng. Move our clan out of Mount Qingmeng - after all, the survival of our clan is the most important. If one day a Core Formation cultivator reappears in our clan, we can take back the spirit veins. Second, about the clan's belongings, use the useful items and sell the useless ones. If, by the time you fall, you have neither a disciple nor a descendant, leave the cultivation technique manuals and other items with the clan."
"Third, in fact, several years before I came to the Demonic Mountain, I married a woman in the secular world and she gave birth to a daughter. Although that woman is a mortal, she has a Pure Yin body. After considering for a long time, I decided to have a child with her. If the daughter she gave birth to luckily inherits her Pure Yin Constitution and possesses spiritual roots, she will be the hope of our Ye Clan. Unfortunately, when I left, this daughter wasn't born yet, so I don't know whether my wishes were fulfilled or not."
Body / constitution? Di blakang constitution kayaknya….
"Fourth, I've entrusted future matters to Master Daoist Shoujing; he will deliver my things to you. I've also entrusted him with finding both my wife and daughter. If my wife is still alive, I hope you will treat the two of them well. Fifth, Master Daoist Shoujing has sworn a Heart Demon's Oath, so you can believe him…"
Mo Tiange timidly watched the old man, Ye Jiang, in front of her. This person seemed to be in his fifties, his hair was white, and he looked similar to her grandfather - how could he be her uncle?
A sorrowful expression appeared on Ye Jiang's face. Finally, he opened his eyes and directly looked at Mo Tiange standing in front of him. This child… looked very similar to his brother, so he did believe she was his brother's child.
Ye Jiang then extended his left palm and pointed the condensed spiritual aura on his right arm to it, forcing a drop of blood out of his fingertip. With another slashing move, this drop of blood flew directly towards Mo Tiange.
Mo Tiange was startled since that drop of blood was flying towards her at a frightening speed. In the end, that drop disappeared into her forehead. Her mind felt hot and it threw her into a momentary daze, but she immediately became clear-headed again. When she did, she saw this grandfather-like uncle coming towards her. He looked down and caressed the Spirit-Gathering Pearls bracelet on her wrist and said, "Right, this is… this is what the former Core Formation ancestor gave Elder Brother as a present for reaching the third layer of the Aura Refining realm." Right after he said that, he took another step forward and hugged Mo Tiange tightly while repeatedly saying, "Pitiful child… It really has been hard on you. Rest assured, in the future, you'll have Second Uncle. You'll never be on your own."
Although she was completely unfamiliar with this so-called Second Uncle and wasn't at all accustomed to depending on a stranger, Mo Tiange didn't push him away. Maybe after her mother died, she'd been harboring a deep longing to have someone love her. Although she was completely unfamiliar with this Second Uncle, he seemed to view her as very important, so she didn't have the heart to push him away.
After a while, Ye Jiang let her go and wiped some tears off his face. He asked softly, "Child, what's your name?"
"My… My name's Mo Tiange."
"Mo?"
Ye Jingwen answered, "Brother Ye, in the secular world, Senior Ye's marriage was a matrilineal marriage, so this child followed her mother's surname."
"Oh? I see." Ye Jiang wasn't concerned and said, "We, the cultivators, don't care about this type of secular world principle. No matter what surname she has, she's still a child of our clan."
"Exactly!" After hesitating for a moment, Ye Jingwen said, "I presumed you already know about everything that's happened. This child's mother indeed didn't survive. I'm very sorry."
Ye Jiang shook his head and smiled at him, "My brother explained everything clearly in this Jade Slip. I still have to give my thanks to Fellow Daoist Ye for finding my niece; Ye Jiang gives many thanks to Fellow Daoist Ye."
Ye Jingwen immediately propped Ye Jiang up. He then said, "Brother Ye, it's such a coincidence that both of us are surnamed Ye. Since we have this kind of fate, this Little Brother will be brazen and address you as Big Brother."
Ye Jiang naturally noticed that Ye Jingwen was an elite disciple of Xuanqing School. Ye Jingwen was young, yet he already reached the Foundation Building realm. His position in the school was definitely higher than Zheng Xuan, the shopkeeper. There was a huge possibility that he could successfully form his Gold Core in the future. On the other hand, for Ye Jiang, the chance of entering the Core Formation realm was already slim at his age. Although this Ye Jingwen intentionally befriended him, in fact, it was the two of them, uncle and niece, who were "making ties with someone with a higher position." This was certainly because of Master Daoist Shoujing. However, this matter was both favorable and harmless for the two of them, so he didn't reject it. "Since Brother thinks very highly of me, I will be the elder and accept this 'Big Brother' title."
Ye Jingwen nodded with a smile while Zheng Xuan, who'd been watching from the sidelines, laughed out loud and said, "Brother Ye, this time, we really became a family! Since you already have a history with Martial Uncle Shoujing and became brothers with my junior martial brother, we don't need to view each other as strangers anymore."
Ye Jiang smiled and nodded while stroking his beard. Soon after, an apologetic expression appeared on his face. "I hope Brother Zheng can forgive me on some matters. My elder brother has left behind some instructions and I have just found this niece - would it be possible for you to let me once again sort out the things I want to sell?"
"Of course, of course…" There wasn't the slightest displeasure on Zheng Xuan's face. On the contrary, he looked extremely cordial. He said, "Brother Ye, you don't need to be so formal. In the future, we just need to view each other as our own people."
Ye Jingwen said to Zheng Xuan, "Brother Zheng, I've been with this child these past few days and have a bit of affection towards her, it'd be better for you to let me send Big Brother off."
Since Zheng Xuan was a shopkeeper in a large market square, he naturally had good intuition. Assuming that Ye Jingwen had another important matter to talk about with Ye Jiang, he didn't question his request and merely said, "That's only natural; Junior Martial Brother Ye should go."
Both Ye Jingwen and Ye Jiang apologetically cupped their hands as a farewell before taking Mo Tiange away.
When they left, Ye Jiang automatically took Mo Tiange's hand and led her onto his Flying Magic Tool. He then said to Ye Jingwen, "Brother, we'd better have a chat in my cave."
Ye Jingwen had the same thought, so he didn't hesitate to respond: "Alright."
Ye Jiang's Flying Magic Tool was a horsetail whisk. Its flying speed wasn't fast, but it didn't matter since people weren't allowed to fly at high speeds over Mount Dongmeng. There were cultivators everywhere and everyone abided by these rules. It was forbidden to fly over the market square and flying over places outside the market square had to be done at a low speed. Thus, these three people flew slowly towards the east.
It didn't take long for them to arrive at Ye Jiang's cave. Ye Jiang waved his hand to close the defense formation outside the cave before telling everyone to sit.
This was the first time Mo Tiange was in an Immortal's Cave. Everything was made with either stone or jade, the cave's ceiling was inlaid with light-emitting stones which seemed to include the one she saw before - the moonstone Li Yushan took out.
Ye Jiang asked her a few more questions, but when he saw that she seemed very interested in the cave, he let her go play by herself while he and Ye Jingwen chatted.
Ye Jingwen sighed as he watched Mo Tiange leaving. "I don't want to hide this from Big Brother. After the past few days, I feel quite unwilling to part from Tiange. This child has endured a lot of hardships, and her nature is much more resilient than other children."
Hearing Ye Jingwen praising Mo Tiange, Ye Jiang stroked his beard and smiled. "I hope this child can be a promising child. Right, what's this about this child's spiritual roots?"
Ye Jingwen became rather hesitant once he heard this question. He said, "I've checked - this child has five spiritual roots and a Pure Yin Constitution. I really don't know whether this should be categorized as lucky or unlucky."
To inherit both spiritual roots and Pure Yin Constitution was naturally lucky. Unfortunately, this Pure Yin Constitution was paired with five spiritual roots. If it was paired with slightly better spiritual roots, her accomplishments in the future would be extraordinary.
"What!?" Ye Jiang was shocked. "This child really inherited a Pure Yin Constitution?" At first, he really didn't expect much. When he saw that she was just in the second layer of the Aura Refining realm, he only felt glad and fortunate that she was a child with spiritual roots. As for her Pure Yin Constitution, he really didn't expect her to have it; the odds weren't high after all.
Ye Jingwen nodded. "Correct. This child's natural endowment is only five spiritual roots, yet she cultivated in the secular world up to the second layer of the Aura Refining realm. Even though it was also due to the Spirit-Gathering Pearl Bracelet, without Pure Yin Constitution and a good cultivation technique, she would never have reached this level."
Ye Jiang had mixed feelings after he heard Ye Jingwen's description. He really didn't know whether he should be happy or sorrowful. Pure Yin Constitution was a good constitution for cultivating. Unfortunately, this child had five spiritual roots. If she couldn't succeed in her cultivation, this constitution would become a constitution that invited calamity. If someone found out about this…
From Ye Jiang's expression, Ye Jingwen guessed his thoughts and smiled. "Big Brother can rest assured. Martial Uncle Shoujing gave her a Spirit-Concealing Pendant. As long as she always keeps it with her, no one will find out about this matter."
"Oh?" Ye Jiang was quite astonished, but he felt relieved in the next second. The matter he was most concerned about was exactly this.
Ye Jingwen took out another bag from his robe and handed it over to Ye Jiang. He said, "Big Brother, these are the things your elder brother left behind. The cultivation technique manual inside is the secret law of Ye Clan and there are also a few items like medicinal pills and spirit stones. Presumably, for the time being, the two of you won't be lacking anything."
Ye Jiang took the bag with a grateful expression. "Thank you." When a cultivator died, his belongings were usually divided among the living. No one would say anything if Master Daoist Shoujing walked away, taking all these items for himself. But maybe Master Daoist Shoujing felt he owed Ye Hai a huge favor, so he dutifully delivered these items back instead.
Finally, Ye Jingwen asked, "Big Brother, Martial Uncle Shoujing told me to ask you: do you want to enter Xuanqing School?"
"This…" Ye Jiang hadn't anticipated such a question. In fact, after everything Master Daoist Shoujing had done, he could already be considered as having repaid all former debts. Unexpectedly, he still invited them to enter Xuanqing School! This had really gone far above Ye Jiang's expectations.
Ye Jingwen smiled and stood up. He said, "Big Brother can think about it first. I won't prevent the two of you from chatting any longer. When you've made your decision, please go to the shop to tell me and I'll report back."
Ye Jiang hastily stood up to send him off. "Alright, let me consider it first. When I've made my decision, I'll inform you."