Chapter 79: Such Honesty!

“Big Brother, I can ride with you too!”
“You’ll return with Lord Xuanyuan in the carriage. There are matters at home. I must leave first.” Ji Shaofeng pressed his heels to his horse’s flanks, and the steed immediately surged forward.

Matters at home? An uneasy premonition suddenly welled up in Ji Yin’s heart.

Xuanyuan Ji lifted the carriage curtain, seeing Ji Yin’s brows tightly knitted. “Get in.”

Left with no choice, Ji Yin boarded the carriage, sitting across from Xuanyuan Ji after gathering up her skirts. The Crimson Flame Mink also hopped in, curling up in a corner.

“Do you know what’s happened?” she asked.

“Ten days ago, your third and second brothers went together to Zhiyun Mountain. They were supposed to return within seven days, but there’s been no word from them yet,” Xuanyuan Ji answered without concealment.

“Zhiyun Mountain?” Ji Yin was surprised by the mention. Wasn’t that the place she had overheard about that night?

“Half a year ago, the environment around Zhiyun Mountain changed drastically. Thunder and lightning raged for three days and nights without pause. Since then, dark clouds have shrouded the mountain.”

“An omen of heaven, or perhaps a legendary treasure revealed,” Ji Yin mused.

Xuanyuan Ji nodded slightly. “That possibility cannot be ruled out.”

—

“Half a year ago, the Kunlun Temple cast a divination: the Seal of Rivers and Mountains will emerge, and when it does, the seven kingdoms will unite under one ruler. Whoever possesses the Seal of Rivers and Mountains will become the sovereign of the world.”

“So you suspect the Seal is in Zhiyun Mountain?”

“If it is a sealed divine artifact, it must lie within some ancient ruin.”

“Ancient ruin?” Ji Yin still did not quite understand what that was.

“It’s said that this world nearly faced destruction long ago. Spiritual energy was once abundant, cultivators were everywhere, and their powers were immense. But endless wars brought disaster—spiritual trees were destroyed, the energy grew thin and polluted, and people became increasingly ordinary, with far fewer able to awaken. Ancient ruins are places sealed or buried underground, where things left from before the wars may still be hidden.”

“So that’s how it is.” Listening to tales of the world’s past, Ji Yin felt as if she glimpsed the Flowstar.

If these legends were true, this world’s history was even more ancient than Flowstar’s. No wonder Flowstar’s records held nothing of this place. It was not a land of exile after all; the so-called land of exile was merely a place abandoned by others. Here, this world stood equal to Flowstar itself.

“My third and second brothers went to Zhiyun Mountain to investigate, preparing to explore the ancient ruins, didn’t they?”

“Zhiyun Mountain’s anomalies were long concealed by Chiyu, but news eventually leaked. Now, more and more eyes are turning toward Zhiyun Mountain. The Chiyu Emperor is forced to consider entering the mountain as soon as possible. Whether or not the Seal of Rivers and Mountains lies within, the ancient ruins are irresistible. No one knows what lies inside, but because so little is known about Zhiyun Mountain, fortune and disaster are impossible to predict. Thus, no one dares to act rashly.”

—

“You came from Kunlun for Zhiyun Mountain as well?” Ji Yin asked softly.

“I came for the Seal of Rivers and Mountains,” Xuanyuan Ji replied with disarming honesty, surprising her.

“You want the Seal, to rule all under heaven?”

“Those who are chosen by destiny have long had their fates decreed.”

Ji Yin nodded. She did believe in fate. She had always felt her own was ill-starred, born as she was with a demonic body. There were things she wished to change, yet it seemed fate had sealed her path beyond her reach.

So, in the end, all she could do was yield and go with the flow.