Chapter 5 "Confrontation at the ancestral hall"
After a long day of exercise training, Ye Ling Yue returns to her home after breaking through to the second level of the constitutional domain. In her mind, she's been wondering if there's any changes that have occurred in that strange place known as "Red Mist Sky".
Slightly moving her consciousness, Ling Yue enters into that world again.
Still the same as before with only a plot of land the size of 1 Li, but unlike before, the white mist seems to be lighter this time around. Nevertheless, she still can't make out what lies beyond that fog.
(1 Li = 500 meters)
As her gaze moves downward, her eyes quickly fell upon that Vitality Condensing Grass.
Making sure what she saw was real and not her imagination, her eyes widened in disbelief!
It can't be, was she hallucinating? One strand, two strand… All she did was stay outside for three days and a field was born from that single strand of grass. Additionally, each piece of the herb was exceptionally strong and healthy, coming close in height to her knees. What's more, several strains had budded seeds of light green hue at the tip.
If the Yuan energy of this "Red Mist Sky" was many times that of the outside world and could enrich the growth of the plants in here, wouldn't she be rich if she brought in some other rare herbs like ginseng and lingzhi?
(lingzhi - a mushroom like cap medicinal plant with a reddish dark hue)
However, being penniless herself, where was she going to find the money to buy those precious ginseng and lingzhi? Shaking her head helplessly, Ling Yue can only push the idea away.
“First harvest some Vitality Condensing Grass and see if I can sell it to subsidize the family expenses." Recalling the clothes worn by the three in the family, she moves in to pluck those herbs.
But as soon as the herb came into her hand, Ling Yue noticed a strange trembling sensation in the palm of her hand. It was the black cauldron tattoo. Then before she knew it, the herbs in her possession transformed into a series of green light and were sucked into the cauldron.
In merely a few breaths worth of time, the grass had been reformed into a pool of emerald green liquid.
“This is?” Sniffing the stuff, she can tell the concentration of the medicine in this liquid was far higher than the grass itself.
Due to not knowing the name of the fluid, Ling Yue can only call the refined green fluid "Vitality Condensing Liquid".
With it, she believes that the time before she breaks into the third level of the constitutional domain would be greatly shortened. However, after the refining process, she noticed that the sheen from her black cauldron tattoo became much dimmer.
Now she understands. In order to utilize the refining ability of her newfound power, she must expend a good amount of Yuan energy. In her current state, she can deduce her limit lies at a single use per day.
After leaving the strange place known as "Red Mist Sky", Ling Yue once again sat herself down and began meditating to regain her strength.
Then suddenly, she was awakened by a series of hasty footsteps.
“Little Young Miss, hurry and wake up. Third Miss has been summoned by the family head." Granny Liu cries with anxiousness in her face.
Since Ye Huang Yu injured the boy's arm during the fight, and add in the fact that Ye Qing's father (Ye Huang Cheng) had always been on bad terms with her, it's a certainty that the incident would be brought to the master of the house.
The current family head, Ye Gu, is Ye Huang Yu's birth father, and had once held high hopes for his daughter in the past.
He strongly opposed the idea of Ye Ling Yue's mother marrying her father at the time, but Ye Huang Yu refused to listen. In the end, this pitiful woman fell into a state of being discarded.
It didn't help either when both daughter and father had tempers of iron steel. Therefore, the two never exchanged dialogue for years on end after returning home.
But this time, due to Ye Huang Yu's rash action of beating Ye Qing, she might be punished by the disciplinary rules of the house.
Hearing Granny Liu's word, Ling Yu immediately got up and ran towards the ancestral hall without a second thought.
“Little Young Miss, come back!” Granny Liu's mournful voice echoed behind her, but there's no way it's going to reach the girl's ear now.
Meanwhile over at the Ye family's ancestral hall, a state of solemnness hangs in the air.
Sitting in the middle of the ancestral hall was Ye Gu on his master chair, and on his side stood several men of stalwart build.
As for Ye Qing, this pale looking boy was currently standing by his father's side with the help of several people supporting him.
Without surprise, this father and son pair was glaring hatefully at Ye Huang Yu.
Among the families making Autumn Maple Town their home, the Ye household can be considered one of the biggest. Years ago when the great ancestor of the family came to this town with nothing in hand, he managed to strike it rich after discovering a big ore vein in this part of the land.
After so many years, the head of the family has changed hands three times in total after falling into Ye Gu's generation. With much luck and fortune, he's been gifted with five children with only Ye Huang Yu being the only girl among his kids. Below that are seven grandsons and five granddaughters. From these numbers, he can say he's been gifted by the heavens to have so many descendants.
For this affair of Ye Huang Yu injuring Ye Qing, all of the members of the fifth house had come to bear witness so they can get justice.
(To explain the different houses. Once a man marries more than one wife, the wives are divided into something called houses to differentiate their status and all of the children born from her. Example: first wife and her kids are first house, second wife and her kids are second house, and so and so on.)
Ever since Ye Huang Yu entered the hall, Ye Gu had remained silent, his eyes half closed without a word.
Ye Gu was fifty something years old by now, but because of his daily persistence in training, he looked no older than a man in his forties.
“Father, you must stand up for my son this time. In another two months is the family's examination test. He worked very hard during this period and had progressed quite quickly in hopes of reaching the top three. But now, his wrist bone's been crushed. Forget about the family examination test, he can't even continue his regular martial art training." Ye Huang Cheng has one son and a daughter that's constantly training outside year-round. As such, he's very doting towards his only son.
“Kneel!” Ye Gu suddenly opens his eye, glaring furiously at his only daughter with those eagle like pupils.
Ye Huang Yu used to be his most valued daughter. From the tender age of three, Ye Gu had personally tutored her in martial art; however, it was she herself whom ruined all this.
Ignoring his objection, she married that heartless man and was then abandoned by her husband, thus losing all of the Ye family's face.
Ye Gu can turn a blind eye to everything in the past, but now Ye Huang Yu suddenly injured his grandson Ye Qing without cause. This matter cannot end without a proper answer.
In the face of her father's reproach, Ye Huang Yu didn't defend herself; instead, she straightened her back like a spear and stood there, justifying her actions as so.
Watching this, the other three sons from the other houses couldn't say a word and can only keep quiet.
The only people with a happy face were Ye Qing and Ye Huang Cheng because they are certain this woman would be doomed for sure this time.
Seeing Ye Huang Yu not willing to kneel or apologize, Ye Gu's face turned even more unsightly. His daughter's action now was clearly a defiant move to challenge his authority as the family head.
“The ones whom need to kneel are they!” Piercing through like an arrow, Ling Yue rushes inside.
Ling Yue may have stayed in the Ye household for over a decade, but the amount of times she's seen this grandfather of hers can be counted with a single hand.
With her arrival, the atmospheric stalemate has been broken and likewise, the attentive gaze of both young and old present all fell upon her.
Everyone exclaimed at the intruder, "Isn't that the retarded girl Ye Ling Yue?"
But the one to be most shocked can only be Ye Gu. Seeing her granddaughter in this fashion, his eagle like eyes began assessing the girl before him.
"A small and exquisite face, a pair of eyes filled with brilliance, is this the same granddaughter he knew?"
Ye Gu remembers Ling Yue had an appearance not much different from a little monkey back then, small and dark skinned.
But today’s Ling Yue, although the stature wasn't very high, her body was very sturdy, especially those crescent shaped eyes radiating life.
"Ling Yue, who told you to come?" Ye Huang Yu hurries to push her daughter behind herself.
The Ye family's disciplinary rules are very strict. By interrupting the family head's word, it's enough to warrant her precious daughter a good beating by the rod.
“The Ye family rules are here to penalize those that did wrong, and my mother here did no wrong! The one to kneel are they over there, not us!" Without fear, Ling Yue raises her tiny finger and points to the father and son pair over to the side like a lunging spear.
“Youngling, you are maligning us. Your mother broke the rules, so according to the rules, she's supposed to receive twenty beatings by the rod." Ye Huang Cheng jumped forward out of anger.
“So bullying the weak is to warrant the rod? All right, what a good rule of the Ye house! Then let me ask you, how should we punish Wang Gui, Ye Qing and his peers for inflicting so many wounds on me over the years?!" At that, Ling Yue partially removed the upper portion of her dress to reveal what's underneath.
At this moment, only gasping sounds could be heard in the ancestral hall.
After she opens up her robe, the hidden scars and wounds, dark and red, big and small, were all revealed to the world.
There are whip wounds, punch bruises, burn marks, and some blackish and purplish marks that were clearly of some age.
It's difficult for everyone inside the hall right now to imagine how this emaciated young girl had managed to live her life until now. Ten years of hardship wasn't something a young child can easily endure.
“What!” Shattering the master chair with a single palm smack, Ye Gu's face was filled with indignation and disbelief.
It's true he deliberately ignored his daughter and granddaughter, but Ye Huang Yu was after all his flesh and blood. He may not have said it out loud, but never once did he reduce their living allowance.
“Father, child didn't know about all this!”
“My lord, please have mercy."
Both Ye Huang Cheng and steward Gui (father of Wang Gui) were both kneeling by now.
Because of how hurt she was after being discarded by her husband, Ye Huang Yu had been stuck in her own world all these years. As such, despite her daughter suffering so many injuries, she truly didn't notice.
“Ye Huang Cheng, you raised a good son!” Just as she's about to jump at her target like an enraged lioness, her hand was suddenly stopped by Ling Yue's pull.
“Mother, child’s grudge will be avenged through my own hands." With her bone chilling smile, Ye Ling Yue's gaze swept through the people inside the hall.
In the end, whatever they ate of hers will be forced back out.
For those present, they all felt that uncomfortable chill running up their spine.
She's but a thirteen year old girl, how can her eyes give off such killing intent?
Meanwhile, Ye Huang Cheng remains kneeled on the floor, the cold from the ground slowly seeping into his bones.
In his mind now, he can only think of removing this daughter and mother pair, for if he doesn't, this scourge will continue to plague him and his son.
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