Chapter 25

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Yu Youyou tilted up her little head and gazed at the old man, whose entire body was caked in mud, his white hair and face smeared with grime.

His face was expressionless, like that of a puppet. The sight of him weeping without the slightest awareness was terrifying.

Yet Yu Youyou did not find him frightening.

On the contrary, at that moment, she felt that no matter what he looked like, this old man must love her.

Even if he was expressing it in such a strange and terrifying manner.

“Grandmaster, you recognize her…”

Yu Youyou had not yet been born when the former sect master left the sect. Ordinarily, he should not have known her. Yet at this moment, he knew instinctively that she was his child, and continued to show concern through sheer instinct.

Sect Master Yu hurriedly took the old man’s hand. He had hoped to make him say a few more words, but the old man had already fallen silent once more.

He sat there, old and rigid.

Ao Qing observed him for a moment from his seat of honor, then slowly rose and walked before Sect Master Yu.

“You cannot wake him. His spirit soul has been sealed. I am already surprised that seeing this child stirred enough instinct in him for him to speak.”

He was still injured. Sect Master Yu cautiously released the old man’s hand, while Yu Youyou had already folded her little paws and bowed her head to him.

“Grand… grandpa!”

After brewing up her courage for a long while, she had finally managed to force out two words.

Sect Master Yu stared in astonishment as the little one bowed properly, scrambled back up, and reached for the old man’s hand.

Standing on tiptoe, the child grasped that hand, covered in scars, and rested her little head against the palm of the motionless old man.

His hand was filthy. No one knew where Ao Qing had found him.

But Yu Youyou felt that this was a palm she liked very much.

Steady and warm.

“Yo!” She pointed at herself, telling her grandmaster her name. Even if he remained rigid and expressionless, paying her no attention whatsoever, what did that matter?

This old man, who had given her and her father love and protection, had returned to the sect alive. Although the grand elder had said that serious problems remained, so long as he was alive, there was always boundless hope.

Yu Youyou believed that her formidable father and her senior brothers and sisters would certainly find a way to restore him.

She turned around, still holding the old man’s hand, and looked toward Ao Qing.

Seeing that the handsome man in blue robes had one arm drenched in blood, she reached into her little pocket with one hand and pulled out the healing elixirs she possessed. She held them up to Ao Qing.

“Fly…”

The pain would fly away.

She blew twice on her grand-uncle’s wound.

Ao Qing fell silent as he stared at the tiny child.

After a long while, he condescended to accept the useless elixir, popped it into his mouth, and chewed it impatiently. A faint immortal aura flashed across his arm.

When she saw the immortal aura, Yu Youyou sniffed her little nose. It smelled wonderful.

Soon, however, she turned her head and looked toward the exceptionally handsome young man standing beside her grandmaster.

Even sitting rigidly, the young man possessed an indescribable sharpness and fierce edge. Though his eyes were vacant, meeting that empty gaze still created a dangerous sensation, as if it might pierce the skin.

Clinging to her grandmaster’s hand, the little one peeked cautiously at the young man. Half her tiny body remained hidden behind her grandmaster’s arm, as though she were sheltering in the safest place in the world.

Seeing this, Sect Master Yu said gently, “This is Dao Lord Sun, another elder of yours. You should call him… grand-uncle as well.”

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Yu Youyou obediently paid her respects.

The handsome young man remained unmoved.

His clothes were likewise tattered and filthy, yet he retained an indescribable, pure elegance.

The child heard Sect Master Yu say from nearby, with evident relief, “I never expected that my junior uncle would find Dao Lord Sun as well… With the Dao Lord missing, the Sun clan is now in complete disarray. Ah, let us not speak of it.”

This missing Dao Lord Sun was precisely the ancestor of the Sun clan whom Elder Wen had mentioned when he came earlier.

After he had suddenly disappeared, even his natal spirit lamp had gone out. Everyone had assumed that he had perished. The Sun clan had descended into chaos, and had even planned to marry one of the women of their clan into the Wen family to preserve the clan—giving her to Wen Shi as a concubine.

No one had known why Dao Lord Sun disappeared that day. Now that he and the former sect master had been found together, and had suffered the same fate, Sect Master Yu murmured, “Did Dao Lord Sun find my master, only to have his spirit soul sealed afterward?”

Dao Lord Sun and the former sect master had both once been old friends of the Gong family. He appeared refined and beautiful, but in truth his temper was as fierce as fire, and he was as explosive as a powder keg. The person he hated most in this life was the one who had taken away his good friend.

What had truly happened, however, remained unknown. With both elders in their present condition, neither could provide any information.

Ao Qing also spoke slowly before the two men. “When I found them, they were already like this. They had fallen into a crowd of beggars in the streets. If their spirit souls and spiritual energy had not been sealed, they would have starved to death long ago without food or water. But they were still great cultivators.”

“Among a crowd of beggars?” Sect Master Yu hurriedly asked. “Did anyone mistreat my master or Dao Lord Sun?”

Two fools in such an easily bullied state would surely have been beaten in a beggars’ den.

With their spiritual energy sealed, they were no different from mortals. And they possessed no awareness at all…

In answer, Ao Qing merely took out a spirit stone and hurled it toward the former sect master.

The old man was about to be struck when Yu Youyou cried out, “Ah!”

In the blink of an eye, the handsome young man sprang to his feet and struck downward with his hand. The spirit stone shattered.

He turned and punched toward Ao Qing.

The punch came roaring forward with tremendous force. Against an immortal-tier powerhouse, however, it was nothing.

Ao Qing stepped back and avoided it. The handsome young man’s gaze was hollow as he returned to stand rigidly beside the former sect master, once again becoming completely unresponsive.

Seeing this, Ao Qing lifted his chin toward Sect Master Yu. “That fellow was never a harmless man. Look at him. Even with his spirit-soul cultivation sealed, he is no one to trifle with.”

That punch might have been insignificant against an immortal-tier cultivator, but if a cultivator’s physical strength were used against mortals who attempted to attack them, the blow might not kill them, but it would certainly leave them crippled.

Ao Qing continued flatly, “That is why no one dared provoke them there. Still, after so long beneath the wind and rain, they were bound to end up in a wretched state.”

Ah. Even after becoming completely ignorant of the outside world, this elder still remembered to protect himself and his friend.

Seeing him defend her grandmaster, the child was filled with gratitude. She released her hold on her grandfather, folded her little paws, and bowed deeply to the handsome young man in thanks. Then she hurriedly grasped his long, filthy hand hanging at his side and rubbed her little face against it.

The corner of Ao Qing’s mouth twitched as he looked at the grimy-faced child.

The little one noticed nothing. She pulled a clean handkerchief from her pocket and began wiping Dao Lord Sun’s hand.

Those hands might have belonged to a cultivator, their bones and muscles powerful, but they were still covered in many wounds.

Yu Youyou carefully cleaned them. The handsome young man lowered his head, his empty, lifeless eyes fixed on the busy child.

Everyone watched quietly. When she had finished, Zhu Changshu walked over and handed the little one a box of excellent healing salve.

Youyou, her face painted with dirt, raised her head and gave her a broad smile.

She accepted the salve with both hands. Seeing that Chu Xingyun had already helped Dao Lord Sun sit down again, she hurried over and applied the cool, soothing ointment to his scarred hands.

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Ao Qing was in no hurry. He merely stood to the side with his arms crossed, watching as the little creature finished tending to Dao Lord Sun, then ran to the white-haired old man. Leaning against him, she cleaned both his hands as well and applied salve to them.

Afterward, she worked hard, kicking her little legs as she climbed onto a tall chair and wiped her grandmaster’s face clean.

The child bustled back and forth.

By the time even Dao Lord Sun’s handsome face had been revealed, clean and pale, she was so tired that she sat down on the floor. After wiping her little hands, she puffed and panted as she pulled out a large handful of elixirs from her pocket and stuffed them into her mouth.

Seeing her consume elixirs by the handful, Ao Qing narrowed his eyes.

Yu Youyou did not notice his gaze. After finishing the elixirs and recovering some strength, she climbed to her feet, pulled out a fresh handkerchief, and pattered over to Ao Qing. Tilting up her head, she reached for his hand.

“Old—” Ao Qing ground his back teeth together and asked Sect Master Yu, “Am I only ranked third?”

Sect Master Yu looked embarrassed and lowered his head toward his daughter.

He had apparently not yet told his junior uncle that his daughter could hear transmitted voices.

The child, however, had only vaguely caught one thing: the word “three.”

But because she herself liked expressing entire thoughts with a single word, Yu Youyou somehow understood what her grand-uncle meant at that moment. She hurriedly tugged at his large hand.

“Pain.”

“The little junior sister is most concerned about Grand-Uncle’s injuries. Grand-Uncle has traveled thousands of miles and rendered great service, so of course she wants to reserve the last of her wholehearted devotion for you.”

Chu Xingyun could now deliver such sweet words without the slightest change in expression. When Ao Qing gave a cold snort, Chu Xingyun softly asked Sect Master Yu, “Master, now that Grandmaster and Dao Lord Sun have returned safely, should we let them rest properly first?”

Since they were unaware of everything around them, what use was there in leaving them sitting here?

It would be better to let them recuperate, then investigate how to undo the seals on their spirit souls and uncover what had happened that day.

“Send another message to the Sun clan,” Ao Qing said with a nod.

Chu Xingyun received the order and, together with Zhu Changshu, helped the two elders away to rest.

Yu Youyou watched their departing figures. But Ao Qing’s arm was indeed covered in blood and grime, so she stayed behind to wipe it clean for him.

Without making a sound, Ao Qing sent a pulse of spiritual light through his arm, removing most of the bloodstains, and allowed the little creature to continue her earnest work.

Seeing that she would not tire herself out, he turned coldly to Sect Master Yu and the several sect elders standing nearby.

“Both of them are Great Ascension cultivators, yet someone managed to seal their spirit souls and imprison their cultivation. It must have been done by an immortal-tier being.”

Dao Lord Sun was an especially powerful sword cultivator.

At his level, even weaker immortal-tier beings would not dare face the edge of his sword directly. Yet he had clearly been sealed without the slightest ability to resist.

The act had even triggered the extinguishing of his natal spirit lamp.

“There are only so many immortal-tier beings in this world…”

“That does not mean there are no hidden experts unknown to the world.”

The elders began discussing the matter among themselves.

“What about the injury on your body, Junior Uncle?” Sect Master Yu was more concerned with that matter. His expression grew grave. “Did you clash with that immortal-tier being?”

“No. The immortal-tier being I fought was powerful, but nowhere near as formidable as the one who imprisoned the two of them.” Ao Qing lowered his eyes, deep in thought. “Even now, I have no way to break the technique that sealed their spirit souls and cultivation. But that bastard I fought was not my match.”