Chapter 62: Hope!
It took them less than a day to arrive at the foot of the Skysword Peak. As the sun already fell Shen didn’t enter the Skysword Peak, rather on Cloud Mist Peak. Luan Luan was with him, and he wanted Yiye Jiange to meet her first.
When the bird landed on the Cloud Mist Peak, a figure appeared in front of Shen. It was none other than Yiye Jiange. She felt an unusual presence of a Xiantian grade on the Cloud Mist Peak, which was unusual since most of the beasts would be chased away by the guardian beast of Skysword Sect, the Golden Ape.
“Welcome back, Master.” Yiye Jiange said in a gentle and respectful tone. She instantly knew who it was as soon as she saw a figure on top of the bird. Someone being able to control such a powerful bird and not even exude a bit of aura can be only her master.
Shen nodded and gently said as he appreciated her beautiful appearance, “How were you? Is everything alright within the sect? Did you encounter any problem?”
“We didn’t encounter any difficulties during your absence. It’s just sister Wushuang and Mingyue wished to go back to Hundred Miles City for the new year, but couldn’t.” Yiye Jiange smiled as she felt his worry.
“Haha, I should get ready for that.” Shen nervously smiled as he felt a little danger.
Yiye Jiange noticed the girl with Shen. Her back faced Yiye Jiange as she was waving at the black bird, “Master, that girl is your... daughter?”
Shen, “...”
“I’m daddy’s girl!” Luna Luan turned around as she declared proudly!
Yiye Jiange saw the girl in shock before she slowly made her way to the side of the little girl. As she squatted down to converse with the little girl. Although Shen already knew but he couldn’t help but be stunned by the similarities between their “empire-toppling” faces and their extraordinary auras.
“Is your Father well?”
Luan Luan shook her head slightly, “I don’t know. There were many people that day wielding swords…”
“Quickly, tell Auntie your name!” Yiye gently embraced Luan Luan as her eyes were filled with sadness.
“My name is Luan Luan. Who are you and why are you so similar to Daddy? You have a different smell though.” Luna Luan’s eyes widened as she curiously regarded Yiye Jiange.
Yiye Jiange, with a face filled with affection, happily glanced at the little girl for a long time before whispering, “Big brother, do you see it? Luan Luan is together with me now.”
Transparent tears flowed down that peerless face of beauty as Shen stared helplessly. Although he came prepared he felt sad seeing this peerless beauty shedding tears, “Jiange, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Master, let us return to the room. You must be tired.” Yiye Jiange lightly replied as she calmed herself down.
Shen carefully chose his next words, “It’s alright... She is your niece?”
“Yes. Master, how did you find her?” Yiye Jiange gazed fondly at Luan Luan who was happily playing as she inquired.
Shen recounted the whole story of how he met the little girl to Yiye.
“Sigh!” Yiye Jiange sighed as she glanced at Shen with some conflict in her gaze before she slowly spoke, “Master knows that I’m an orphan. Actually, I had a family before which was from the Northern Sacred Lu Continent. Not only that, I was from a clan of beast tamers. The Yiye Clan was forced to work for the strongest clan in the Northern Sacred Lu Continent, but we refused. After that, the strongest clan from the Lion King Mountains wanted to arrange a marriage with our Yiye Clan, but we refused again. Who would have thought that they actually used that as an excuse to destroy the Yiye Clan?”
Shen knew more than that but he didn’t remember everything same to same. Besides he knew better than to interrupt her, so he quietly listened to her story.
“Although my Yiye Clan isn’t big, we could still be considered a real beast-taming clan. However, because of the surprise attack, we had no way to defend ourselves. My father exhausted all his efforts to allow me and my brother to escape. I rode the Icesnow Crane away, while my elder brother rode the White-Feathered Falcon.
“After escaping from the disaster, I have always been alone and had no idea where my brother was. In the end, the Icesnow Crane brought me to Cang Lang Country in the Greencloud Continent. When I saw this little girl, I knew straight away that this was the daughter of my brother. She resembles him too much, but sadly it seems that my brother has already…” Yiye bitterly continued.
“The little lass could already be considered blessed by the gods by having kin such as you. Also, we don’t know if something really happened to your brother. Maybe, just maybe he is living somewhere in this world.” Shen smiled.
“I really hope you are right, Master. I still have to thank you for taking care of her.” Yiye smiled, she knew Shen was trying to console her, but she really wished what Shen said was the truth.
“There’s no need to thank me. The little lass calls me her Daddy, but I don’t know how long this would last”—Shen remembered something—“The lass has the White Feathered Falcon. She also has two other demonic beasts!”
“Two other demonic beasts? The Seven Apertures Mystical Heart?” Yiye Jiange’s eyes flickered with a brilliant light, but yet sadness could also be seen in the depths of her pupils.
Shen nodded his head as he changed the topic, “I wanted to ask you something. You can choose to not answer it if it’s hard to answer. I may have a method to unlock the seals in your meridians, but if possible, I must know who sealed you and his strength,” Shen explained as he started walking with Luan Luan.
Yiye Jiange went through a conflict inside her for a few minutes as she finally said, “This restriction should be something that was set up since a long time ago. At that time, I was still in the Northern Sacred Lu Continent. You are also aware that the continent is ruled by the Beast Tamers. All of the powerful clans and sects consisted of only Beast Tamers. Yiye Clan wasn’t actually considered one of the best clan, but it had its own unique skills among the Beast Tamers. Most importantly, in every one thousand years, a person with Heart of Seven Orifices will be born. Even though their lifespan isn’t long, by relying on the lifespan of Yiye Clan at that time, it wasn’t impossible for them to increase their lifespan up to approximately a hundred years.”
Shen listened very attentively. There were many things he didn’t remember, in the end, the things he can remember from a novel was extremely limited.
Shen and Yiye Jiange stood shoulder to shoulder as they walked towards the main hall.
“Lion King's Ridge was considered to be a formidable force in Northern Sacred Lu Continent. It was also considered to be one of the top three sects in the continent. They knew a lot about the Yiye Clan. Three thousand years ago, a Beast Tamer with the Heart of Seven Orifices was born in Yiye Clan. It was precisely the thirty-year-old Yiye Clan Beast Tamer who annihilated one of the sects which was almost as strong as Lion King’s Ride in Northern Sacred Lu Continent by relying on his formidable strength and Demonic Beasts.
“When it came to my generation, the Yiye Clan had almost reached the thousand year juncture, following the previous pattern there should be another person born with the Heart of Seven Orifices. The Ridge Master of Lion King's Ridge wanted to ally with the Yiye Clan to make them work for him. However, they’d had other intentions. The Lion King's Ridge focused their attention on my generation of the Yiye Clan, unfortunately, my aptitude was pretty good when I was young, thus they secretly set restrictions on me. Little did they know, that the one with the Heart of Seven Orifices would be my brother’s daughter, Luan Luan…” It could not be told whether Yiye Jiange said that in grief or joy.
Shen remained silent. It’s not that he wished to remain silent. It was just he couldn’t find anything to say. After several minutes he finally broke the silence.
“Do you see hope on Luan Luan? For revenge on Lion King’s Ridge.” Shen finally asked.
“I do not know either. No one has any idea with regards to what extent the Heart of Seven Orifices can grow to, there are only legends. If she really could grow to that level, then maybe we can go and try, but it would depend on what Luan Luan wants. No, I can’t let that girl go through such thing...” Yiye Jiange looked into the distance, her gaze was not shaken, she was calm as water.
Shen saw that peaceful gaze, the gaze that lacked desire, he felt uncomfortable because it was too calm. Like someone who had already lost all desires, almost like a monk, who got rid of their every mortal desire.
“Have you ever thought of doing it yourself?”
Shen’s word took Yiye Jiange by surprise, but she didn’t let it surface in her face, “I don’t have such aptitude to take on the whole Lion King’s Ridge.”
“That’s something you are thinking now. What if I said, you can do it.” Shen words were calm, but Yiye Jiange felt his voice contained a hypnotic charm and confidence.
“Alright. After the lass falls asleep, I’ll remove the restrictions in your meridian.” Shen’s plan was to meet with the girls tonight, but he wanted to give a hope to Yiye Jiange. A hope that could be fulfilled, he didn’t like her eyes that lost all purpose and desire.