Chapter 57: Tragic Background

The girl chuckled and said, “Master, I think you can take him in.”

Monk Dao asked, “What do you mean?”

The girl sounded serious as she said, “What if he becomes the champion of the DestinyContest?”

Monk Dao contemplated it silently.

“Well, does it really matter? So what if he doesn’t end up becoming the champion? Will that make him less of a talent?” added the girl.

Monk Dao replied, “I’m not afraid of the True Dragon Clan, but the An Clan… I can’t handle them. That bastard has accumulated a lot of karmic hindrance as well, and I’m worried about it!”

The girl smiled and said, “I think he’s our best shot at reviving our Daoist Sect, Master. However, if you want to live your final years in peace, we can just make him leave.”

Monk Dao thought about it for quite a while before he turned around and glanced at the spirit tablet on the incense table.

Afterward, he walked out of the hall.

Monk Dao stared deeply at Ye Guan.

“From now on, you’re one of our Daoist Sect members!” he said.

Ye Guan bowed deeply and said, “Greetings, Master!”

Monk Dao chuckled and said, “There’s still a year before the Destiny Contest begins. In other words, you only have a year remaining.”

Ye Guan nodded and responded, “I don’t need anything else but spiritual crystals!”

Monk Dao shook his head and replied, “We don’t have spiritual crystals…”

Ye Guan hesitated before asking, “Just give me some, please?”

Monk Dao shook his head again and said, “We really don’t have any spiritual crystals.”

Ye Guan was speechless.

Monk Dao explained, “I can guide you in your cultivation, but I have nothing else to offer. It’s not that I’m being petty, but the Daoist Sect did not have even a single grain of rice when I took over it, not to mention spiritual crystals!”

“Ah, there’s no residence available for you to take, so you have to build your own residence,” said Monk Dao. He waved his hand dismissively and added, “This hall is my residence, so visit me if you need anything.”

Monk Dao turned around and left, leaving a speechless Ye Guan in his wake.

The girl who had dragged Ye Guan earlier walked over to him and smiled.

“It’s nice to meet you, Junior Disciple Ye. My name is Nanling Yiyi!” she said.

Ye Guan hesitated, but he eventually greeted her. “It’s nice to meet you, Senior Disciple Yiyi!”

Nanling Yiyi nodded and said, “You have to build your own residence, but night will fall upon us soon, so you should do it tomorrow.”

Ye Guan nodded. “Okay.”

“All right, I’m going to make dinner,” Nanling Yiyi said before leaving with her bamboo basket.

Left alone, Ye Guan looked around. The Daoist Sect’s state was worse than he thought.

“Master Pagoda, were they really powerful and prosperous in the past?”

Little Pagoda replied, “Yes.”

Ye Guan shook his head and said, “Then, how did they fall to such a state? I think even a thief would feel bad about stealing from them!”

Little Pagoda didn’t reply.

Ye Guan could only sigh. He wasn’t complaining about the environment, but he felt like doing something about it. After all, he had already become a sect member of the Daoist Sect.

In the end, Ye Guan could only sit cross-legged and cultivate.

Ye Guan winced in pain at the number of gold spiritual crystals he had to burn to cultivate.

He only had 470,000 gold spiritual crystals remaining. It seemed like a lot, but it wasn’t the case for Ye Guan because his gold spiritual crystal expenditure would always be five digits in every cultivation session.

The length of his cultivation session also influenced the number of gold spiritual crystals he had to burn.

To make matters worse, he was only spending gold spiritual crystals, so it was only a matter of time before he ran out of resources. He estimated that he would run out of gold spiritual crystals in half a month if he were to cultivate every day.

In other words, Ye Guan had to think of ways to earn gold spiritual crystals!

Ye Guan emptied his mind and focused on absorbing the spiritual energy within the gold spiritual crystals.

An unknown amount of time passed. Ye Guan opened his eyes upon hearing footsteps, and he saw Nanling Yiyi walking toward him.

Nanling Yiyi smiled at him and said, “Junior Disciple Ye, it’s dinner time!”

“All right.” Ye Guan nodded. He stood up, and the two of them started walking toward the great hall. The great hall looked dilapidated outside, but it turned out that the interior was dilapidated as well.

Their dinner table was just an ordinary wooden table with a missing leg.

However, the dinner was sumptuous. There were five dishes and a pot of soup!

“Don’t stand on occasion, dig in, dig in!” said Monk Dao before digging in himself.

Ye Guan followed suit.

After a while, Monk Dao broke the silence and asked, “Little Guan, you’re a swordsman, so you must have a Sword Dao Master. Who is your master?”

“I don’t know her name, but she likes to wear a plain skirt, so I call her Plain-Skirt Sister!” replied Ye Guan.

A plain skirt? Monk Dao frowned slightly. He couldn’t think of an expert with a habit of wearing a plain dress.

“How strong is she?” asked Monk Dao.

Ye Guan shook her head and replied, “She’s a Great Sword Immortal.”

A Great Sword Immortal! Monk Dao stared deeply at Ye Guan. He then nodded without asking any more questions. A Great Sword Immortal would be one of Zhongtu Divine Continent’s top figures.

Monk Dao didn’t ask any more questions because he knew that everyone had their own secrets to keep.

Nanling Yiyi asked, “Junior Disciple Ye, can you control your sword with your mind?”

Ye Guan nodded. “Yes, but I can’t do it for a long time. I lack the profound energy to sustain it.”

Nanling Yiyi smiled and said, “Nice! We can visit Yong City together using Sword Travel!”

“Yong City?” asked Ye Guan.

Nanling Yiyi nodded and explained, “Our Daoist Realm is very remote, and the closest city to us is Yong City, but it’s still tens of thousands of kilometers away.

”We don’t have our own teleportation array, so I have to fly there by myself every time I want to visit the city, it’s really exhausting!”

Ye Guan nodded. “I can bring you there the next time you want to visit the city.”

Nanling Yiyi grinned and said, “All right!”

After dinner, Ye Guan walked out of the great hall and sat on the stone steps.

He took out his Path Sword and swept his fingers across it. He could feel Little Jia’s soul in the sword.

Little Jia! Undying Clan! Ye Guan closed his eyes. It would be a foolish endeavor for him to go there and ask for the Sword Master’s sword. He had to find an opportunity to take the sword away.

Ye Guan’s heart started to ache as he stared at the Path Sword in his hand.

He should have died back then rather than Little Jia.

He gripped the sword tightly and vowed. “Master Pagoda, I’m going to massacre the True Dragon Clan!”

Little Pagoda didn’t say anything.

A cold glint flashed in Ye Guan’s eyes as he looked at the sky and muttered, “I know I shouldn’t put the cart before the horse, but—”

Nanling Yiyi suddenly appeared next to Ye Guan.

“Am I disturbing you?” she asked with a smile.

Ye Guan put his Path Sword away and shook his head.

Nanling Yiyi sat next to him and said, “It feels great to have someone else here…”

Ye Guan’s curiosity was piqued. “Has it only been you and Master here over the years?”

Nanling Yiyi nodded. “Yes…”

Ye Guan made a sidelong glance at her and asked, “What about your family?”

Nanling Yiyi was silent.

Ye Guan hurriedly said, “I’m sorry for asking…”

Nanling Yiyi smiled and replied, “It’s not what you think, they’re still alive. Actually, I’m from the Nanling Clan.”

Nanling Clan! Ye Guan was stupefied.

The Nanling Clan was one of the six grand clans of Zhongtu Divine Continent.

Nanling Yiyi’s smile turned sheepish. “Surprised?”

Ye Guan nodded.

Little Pagoda in the tiny pagoda muttered to himself, “The Nanling Clan… she’s the descendant of that person…”

Meanwhile, Nanling Yiyi added, “No, actually I’m just an illegitimate daughter of the Nanling Clan…”

Ye Guan froze.

Nanling Yiyi stopped her hair from fluttering in the wind.

“My mother was just a commoner, but she got acquainted with the Nanling Clan’s Young Clan Leader, and she eventually gave birth to me. However, the grand clans are very particular when it comes to their descendants’ partners. There was no way they would have accepted their marriage, so…” Nanling Yiyi trailed off.

She shook her head and chuckled before continuing. “My mother and I were never acknowledged by the Nanling Clan.

”I thought my biological father would acknowledge my mother once he became the Clan Leader of the Nanling Clan, but he never visited us until Mother passed away.

”And that was when I realized that he had already forgotten us.”

Ye Guan didn’t know what to say.

Nanling Yiyi turned to look at him. She smiled and asked, “You won’t look down on me because of my background, right?”

Ye Guan immediately shook his head and muttered, “I’m an illegitimate child, too…”

Nanling Yiyi was taken aback. “Really?”

Ye Guan nodded. “Master Pagoda told me that I’m an illegitimate child of the Ye Clan. The Ye Clan is a great clan in the Guanxuan Universe, and my dad is just a son–in–law, so…”

Little Pagoda was at a loss for words.

“I’m sure they'll accept you into the clan once they learn about your talent!” said Nanling Yiyi.

Ye Guan shook his head and sighed.

“No, they won’t accept me. Master Pagoda told me that the Ye Clan would do their best to kill me once they discovered my existence. After all, an illegitimate child really isn’t something to be proud of.”

Nanling Yiyi didn’t know what to say. She was aware that large clans were particularly mindful of their reputations.

Ye Guan lay on the stone steps and put both of his hands behind his head. “I’ll work hard. I can’t change my tragic background, but I can change my destiny.”

Nanling Yiyi’s gaze turned strange as she stared at Ye Guan. She couldn’t help but admit that confident men exuded a special kind of charm.

Silence blanketed the area before Nanling Yiyi shattered it by asking, “Junior Disciple Ye, do you hate your father?”

Ye Guan thought about it for a while. He soon shook his head and said, “No. I think he’s rather pitiful. He chose to live off a woman, even though he was still young and strong. I really can’t understand what he was thinking when he made that decision.”

Little Pagoda was rendered speechless.

A certain person didn’t know what to say.

The mysterious voice also spoke, “Little Pagoda, have you already thought about how you want to die?”

Little Pagoda didn’t respond.

Nanling Yiyi sighed while staring at Ye Guan.

“I used to think that I was pitiful, but it seems that you’re more pitiful than me.”