Chapter 0106

Chapter 106: A Ray of Hope for the Celestial Masters Clan

A bodyguard from the Imperial Palace rushed in while Zhou Tong and his companions were eating their fill and feeling content, reporting: “Honored Guest, the State Preceptor has sent a letter!”

Zhou Tong sat upright and said: “Send it in.” He took the letter and opened it before everyone.

It was an invitation.

Zhou Tong smiled and said: “The calligraphy is good, but the tone is arrogant. That rarely ends well.” He read aloud: “Grand Auction, to be held tomorrow morning. I admire your name and wait with eager neck. I have fine wine, soft songs, and graceful dances to share with you. Will you come?”

Beneath the letter lay an Admission Token, its back stamped with golden characters that looked very noble.

Zhou Tong continued, reading the lines impressed there: “This place holds countless treasures. Something will surely catch your eye. A private room is attached. Do not decline. Heaven No. 1 Room.”

He rubbed the letter between his fingers, and it turned to ash, leaving only the Admission Token. His eyes grew sharp. When tomorrow came, it would be time to settle things.

Outside the Imperial Capital, You Ye Lan fled like a walking corpse. Zhou Tong’s pitying gaze lingered in her mind like a nightmare.

[The judgment of fate… judgment… Why can fate judge me? I refuse!] she screamed inside as tears streamed without end.

She was no fool. She was very smart. She kept warning herself that Zhou Tong had only tried to scare her and shake her will, yet the effect was small. The feeling stayed, like a thorn pressing into her back.

She forced a shout: “What do I have to fear? I am not afraid!” She lifted her chin and said, as if counting her armor: “Since birth I have cultivated. At three I began the path. At five I reached Foundation Establishment. At seven I became a talismanist. Now at twenty, I am at Zhan Tian, Seventh Layer, and at the peak of sixth-level talismanist!”

If outsiders heard this, they would be shocked and call her heaven’s favored. In the whole Celestial Masters Clan, the patriarch doted on her, the supreme elder loved her, her parents were proud of her, and her peers, even the Young Lord, feared her a little and treated her as the hope of the clan.

She had accepted that praise with an easy heart before. Now it felt suffocating. To take, one must first give. There is never a pie that falls from the sky.

[Could it be… I really am…] She dropped to her knees. Just thinking of that possibility made her whole body shake.

A kind old voice warmed her at once: “Who is crying so sadly? Ah, little Ye Lan. Be good, Grandfather is here. Tell Grandfather what has wronged you.”

“Grandfather Jing Feng!” She broke into a smile. Seeing the white-haired elder, the shadow over her heart vanished like mist.

She rushed into his arms and complained: “Grandfather, why did you only come now? Your little Ye Lan was going to be bullied to death!”

“Be good. Do not cry,” the elder said, firm as iron: “Who dares bully you, Grandfather will teach him a lesson!”

“Grandfather… you will not cast me away later, will you?” She lifted her small face, red from crying, and asked in a timid voice.

That look made even an old Saint tremble. As the clan’s pillar, he knew too well the fate of those called material for sacrifice. He had always hated it most.

Without noticing, he remembered his youth. He had watched brothers and sisters tied to the altar and roared at the patriarch: “Why must we sacrifice my kin’s flesh and blood? Give me time. I will break the limit and lift the curse on talismanists!”

He did what he said. He refused all sacrifices, played chess with death, and broke through three life-and-death thresholds in a row. Now he was a Saint in the flesh, a ninth-rank talismanist, standing at the peak of the world. It was a great miracle that drew respect.

Yet he had never kept his promise. Break the limit, lift the curse. The words themselves were a curse. No one can define the limit. No one knows where the road ends. Step on the road of no return, and you end with a broken heart.

All these years, he still watched one dazzling junior after another tied to the altar. At the end, some cursed, some wept, some raged. None could accept their fate with peace. Because they had not lived just to die.

“Even if it costs my life,” You Jing Feng said, voice full of pity yet rock-steady, “Grandfather will keep you safe.”

That one sentence gave You Ye Lan endless courage.

“Grandfather, I have something to tell you,” she said, wiping her tears: “The one who bullied me seems to know a way to break the talismanist curse.”

“What!” The elder’s eyes burst with light.

“Let us catch him and force him to hand over that Talisman art, all right?”

“No. He is not someone to provoke. We will meet him after the auction is over,” the elder decided at once. He led You Ye Lan back toward the Imperial Capital.

At the Phoenix Soar Inn, Mo Liu Su gathered her disciples. For some reason she looked fresh and bright, her energy and spirit at a new peak, as if she would break the cycle of rebirth and step into the Half Saint realm.

A smiling Xia Hong Xiu asked: “Master looks in such good health. Is there happy news?” Yet inside she nearly crushed her silver teeth. [Why is this wretch not dead yet? A few days ago the tribulations almost destroyed her, and now she is still alive!]

Her eyes cut toward Zhou Tong. If not for that useless man’s timely return, Mo Liu Su would have been crippled. Xia Hong Xiu would already have swallowed Mo Liu Su’s fate and become a young supreme.

[But it is fine. I secured a bearer of great destiny,] she thought, looking at Tang Qi.

[Tomorrow, as long as I help him kill that honored guest, Tang Qi will keep his promise and clear my obstacles.] Her heart settled. If the great destiny bearer personally killed Zhou Tong, she would not touch any karma. Mo Liu Su’s fate would fall into her hands.

“Red Sleeve is right,” Mo Liu Su said with a rising smile, glancing unhurriedly at “Zhou Tong”: “Your teacher is about to break through.”

These days she believed she had crossed the three disasters and four tribulations. If she could step into the Half Saint realm, she would be truly free. Then she would no longer need to rely on Zhou Tong. Thinking of how he had dared to contradict her, anger gathered in her chest. She made up her mind that once the dust settled, she would deal with Zhou Tong well and make him submit to her forever.

“Tomorrow you will come with me to the auction,” Mo Liu Su said, raising an Admission Token that clearly showed the position of Heaven No. 2 Room: “I will broaden your horizons.”

Lian Han Xing sneered in her heart and rubbed the red string on her wrist. [Fool.] Mo Liu Su thought she had made it through her calamities, but it was only a false feeling Lian Han Xing had gifted her.