Although Ye Lingtian had never planned to forcefully take her away, leaving a Yin Body like her to wander around was practically carrying a few hundred million around in public. Wasn't that practically begging for trouble? Failing to take her away would be a terrible waste of heaven's gifts. If some shameless old fogeys were to discover her, Ye Lingtian—who had spent a full year in the mortal world—knew all too well how brutally cultivators would resort to seizing things by force. He had witnessed countless dirty and despicable tactics; people would murder and plunder just for a Spiritual Power stone capable of boosting one's realm by a single tier, let alone someone like Yanan... Not only would Yanan be taken, but her family would also be silenced to prevent any exposure.
To cultivators, killing a few ordinary people was as casual as slaughtering a chicken, without the slightest burden on their conscience. Moreover, one could only imagine what kind of torment this clueless woman would suffer if she were taken by someone else...
"What are you doing?" Yanan asked in a panic. Sure enough, he didn't want to let her off! Was she going to die now? No way! She hadn't achieved success yet, nor had she given her mom and dad a good life—she was not ready to resign herself to this!
"I don't have a place to stay right now, and my injuries haven't fully healed. Besides, you took my million, so staying at your place for a single night should be fine, right?" Ye Lingtian would never admit that he actually had designs on Yanan. Yep, he was an upright gentleman.
"What?" she thought to herself: *Could this guy be planning not to spare my family either? No, absolutely not! I won't drag my mom and dad down with me.*
The two of them were still completely on different wavelengths.
"No way!" Yanan said flatly.
"You aren't going to be this stingy, are you? I'll just stay for one single night, and as soon as my injuries heal tomorrow, I'll leave immediately." Inside, however, he was thinking: *Let's just get through tonight first, tomorrow's matters can wait until tomorrow, heh heh!*
"Hmph! Don't think I don't know what you're plotting!"
"Huh?" *Does this woman know my real motive? No way!*
"If you want to kill me to keep me quiet, then come at me! My mom and dad don't know anything!" Yanan declared with the resolve of someone facing death.
"Phew~" he thought: *This little girl actually thought I wanted to kill her and her family.* Any upright gentleman in the cultivation world understood the universal principle that "trouble should not be brought upon one's family." Besides, this little girl had no grudge against him, and moreover... how could he possibly resort to roughing her up?
"Silly girl, you've misunderstood. I wouldn't dare call myself an upright gentleman, but I'm certainly not the kind of despicable, shameless villain who repays kindness with enmity! I swear to the heavens, if I, Ye Lingtian, harbor any harmful intentions toward you or your family, may I be struck by heavenly retribution and die a wretched death!" Ye Lingtian raised three fingers toward the ceiling and said solemnly.
Yanan felt a brief jolt in her heart. So his name was Ye Lingtian—she quietly committed it to memory. And since he had sworn such a vicious oath, it had to be true, right?
"Um... are... are you really just looking to stay for the night, without any plans to hurt me or my parents?"
"Heaven and earth as my witness!"
"Well... alright then! I'll trust you for now." She said, taking the lead.
Seeing that Ye Lingtian hadn't followed, she turned back and glared at him. "Are you coming or not?"
"Coming!" Ye Lingtian smiled with the satisfaction of a successful villain and hurried after her.
He opened the door to pitch blackness. It seemed her mom and dad were already asleep. She glanced at her watch—it was 3:00 AM. Just as she was about to speak to Ye Lingtian, a voice called out from her parents' bedroom: "Is that Yanan?" Yanan hurriedly threw open her small bedroom door, shoved Ye Lingtian inside with a hard push, shut the door, and called out hastily, "Mom, it's me!"
*Yanan!* Ye Lingtian silently repeated the name. It was a nice name, but it didn't match her personality at all—so rough, lacking any elegance.
Yanan thought: *Get lost! If you think I'm rough, why don't you try leaving my house?*
Then came the sound of a door opening. It was Yanan's mother, Wan Feng, emerging with the flashlight of her mobile phone turned on.
"You finally know how to come back? I couldn't sleep all night, and you wouldn't even answer your phone, you brat!" Though she scolded her, her heart was flooded with relief. She had been worried sick; as long as she was back safely, nothing else mattered.
"I'm sorry, Mom! Didn't I come back?" Yanan linked her arm through her mother's and coaxed her playfully. In truth, she had been terrified too. If she had run into a genuine criminal, she never would have seen her mother again. Her mom might scold her out loud, but she cared deeply. If she had vanished forever...
"You little brat!"
"Mom, why didn't you turn on the lights? Where's Dad?"
"The power's out today. Your dad is on the night shift today and won't be back until 10 tomorrow morning!"
"Oh!"
"Have you eaten? I kept some food warm for you over the charcoal in the stove!" A sudden sting hit Yanan's nose, and tears welled up in her eyes. Their family was so poor. Her parents were pushing fifty, without formal jobs or a home of their own. They had moved around twenty-odd times from place to place. From elementary school through junior high and high school, wherever she and her siblings studied, her parents would relocate right along with them to keep a close eye on their studies and daily lives.
In her youth, her mother had run a small business to support the three children through school. Her father used to be a lawyer and could make a decent living, but later, just as he was about to secure his official legal practitioner's license, a colleague slipped a bribe to the leadership and jumped the queue. Without that license, he could no longer represent clients in court. As her father grew older and repeatedly failed the qualification exams, he gradually drifted away from the legal profession. Now he worked as a security guard at a scenic area, often pulling night shifts and overtime for grueling hours, earning a meager three thousand yuan a month. Her mother had also fallen ill over the past six months with sciatic nerve hyperplasia, and with business becoming increasingly difficult to run in recent years, they barely made any money.
The apartment they lived in was government-subsidized public housing with an annual rent of twenty-four hundred yuan—one they had managed to secure only after an immense struggle. She and her older sister, Ouyang Can, had just graduated and were both busy studying for exams and job hunting. Her younger brother was in his senior year of high school and lived at his dorm. Even today, when coal briquettes cost fifty fen each, her mother burned two a day, but had used a third just to keep a meal warm for her, fearing she hadn't eaten yet. Their family was truly destitute. >_<~
"Thanks, Mom. Go on to bed now, I'll eat and then go straight to sleep. I'll give you a surprise tomorrow." Better not tell her mother about her sudden windfall just yet, or her mom wouldn't be able to get a wink of sleep all night.
"You brat, what kind of surprise is so mysterious? The biggest surprise for me is if the two of you sisters pass your exams, land stable jobs, and never have to worry about living expenses!" Her mother yawned as she headed back to her bedroom.
As a cultivator, Ye Lingtian possessed eyesight and hearing far beyond ordinary people. The moment he stepped inside, he had taken in the entire layout of the home: it was around fifty square meters, very cramped, and furnished with old-fashioned items, but spotless and neatly kept. He had also overheard the conversation between Yanan and her mother. Her family wasn't wealthy, but it was full of warmth. He felt a twinge of envy—how wonderful it was to have a mother. Reflecting on his own life, he had been an orphan since infancy, raised in an orphanage. It wasn't until he turned thirteen that, by a twist of fate, he was taken by his First Master into the deep mountains and ancient forests to cultivate (he later learned from his masters that the mountain was called Wuwang Mountain). Along with his Second Master and Third Master, his First Master—named Song Tianji—specialized in spiritual power and the Eight Trigrams of mechanisms; his Second Master—named Wu Huadong—specialized in medicine and alchemy; and his Third Master—named Luo Caifu—was a man of vast erudition and immense learning, thoroughly versed in the four arts of the scholar: zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
His three masters had imparted everything they knew to him, determined to forge him into a well-rounded talent proficient in both literary and martial arts. Thus began his grueling eight-year cultivation life. Up in the deep mountains with his three masters, his mastery of spiritual cultivation, alchemy, medicine, and the scholarly arts had long since surpassed theirs.
He had been down the mountain for a year now. Aside from honing his craft and advancing his cultivation, Ye Lingtian harbored a deeper desire: to find out whether his parents were still alive in this world. And if they were, why had they abandoned him back then?
He recalled the scene just before descending the mountain: "Little Tian, you can get lost now. We masters have nothing left to teach you; the rest of the road must be walked by yourself!"
"Masters, are you really willing to let me leave? It's just the three of you out here in the deep mountains—won't it be terribly lonely, empty, and cold?" Ye Lingtian had said with a swaggering, flippant tone!
His First Master blew into his beard and glared in fury. "Hmph, you brat! Was it you who drank all my wine yesterday? Do you have any idea how many rare heavenly treasures and how much effort it takes to brew this Phoenix-Transforming Wine?"
"......"
Ye Lingtian thought: *It's just some wine, what a stingy old man! I could brew a batch in half an hour!*
Second Master: "Hmph, you brat! Did you take my thousand-year-old ginseng, eight-hundred-year-old ganoderma, tier-6 Spirit Beast inner core, and divine quiet-grass?"
"......"
Ye Lingtian thought: *Second Master, my medical skills surpassed yours a full year ago! I merely stole your herbs to brew wine that boosts spiritual power—much better than you fumbling around and wasting precious materials. Once you drink the wine I brewed, your spiritual power is guaranteed to jump three to five tiers. You should be thanking me!*
Third Master: "Hmph, you brat! Did you take Wuyao's painting *One Hundred Longevity Scroll*, and Jiang Mo's four treasures of the study crafted from spirit stones and divine wood?"
"......"
Ye Lingtian thought: *You've got to be kidding me. I heard those things are worth a fortune in the city—worth thousands of gold and impossible to buy.*
Seeing Ye Lingtian's cheeky, winking expression, his First Master let out a hmph. "Very well, consider those your parting gifts. Once you go down the mountain, do not engage in excessive slaughter."
Second Master: "A doctor has the heart of a parent. Remember that!"
Third Master: "No matter what schemes others use, hold fast to our rules and remain unmoved, calm and composed in the face of all things." The meaning behind those words was: regardless of how intricately others might plot against you, you must maintain your original intent, hold firm to your principles, stay level-headed, and resolve matters with composure.
Knowing his masters truly meant for him to go down into the mortal world—and eager as he was to seek his own opportunities while quietly gathering news of his parents—Ye Lingtian dropped to his knees and performed the full, formal kowtow to his three masters.
"First Master, Second Master, Third Master, your disciple will remember your teachings. Take care of yourselves!"
With those words, Ye Lingtian had descended the mountain.
What Ye Lingtian did not know was that after he left, the First Master had sighed, "I wonder how far he'll make it. If he ever finds out that his parents entered the Moheng Continent and never sent back another word..."
"Rest assured, this child possesses supreme talent. Once he reaches that tier of power, he will go to the Moheng Continent to search for his parents," Second Master had said.
"I still feel that Brother Feiyuan and Sister Caiqin are still alive! Back then, knowing danger was coming, Brother Ye entrusted Little Tian to a farmer and asked us to provide backup. Who could have known that the farmer's greedy son would sell Little Tian to human traffickers? After passing through countless hands, it took us a full thirteen years just to track him down," Third Master had said.
"Yet twenty-one years have passed without a single piece of news from that couple. I'm afraid..." First Master had sighed.
Second Master had replied, "Seven years ago, Little Tian asked us if we knew anything about his parents. Back then, our abilities were limited, and we were afraid that telling him would send him off on a reckless search. Just think what kind of place the Moheng Continent is! Masters are as numerous as clouds, and experts who have refined their spirits into the void are everywhere. Without cultivating to the Xiantian realm, who would dare set foot there?!"