Chapter 19 - Departure...
Yu Xue was currently back sitting in the garden pavilion with a pondering look on her face as she gazed into the vast blue sky. She was feeling rather anxious inside, as she didn’t yet know about Yu Yin’s situation. Mother and Grandmother had returned about 30 minutes ago with solemn looks on their faces. After returning they called for a Gathering of the Elders. They summoned all leaders of the auxiliary bloodlines, the captain of the Crystal Crops and the lords of the three Guardian sects before herding all these people to the ancestral hall and shutting themselves inside. Obviously, they had also commanded that nobody else should enter, so Yu Xue was left waiting for the bad news.
Yu Xiuying’s rather extreme reaction to things inevitably made Yu Xue think the worst. Was Yu Yin dead? What about their promise? Heck, what was even the point of anything now? Even if she did achieve all her goals, how would that mean anything to Yu Xue if the one person she cared about was now dead? Feelings of depression began bubbling up inside her and she didn’t bother fighting them. She didn’t even bother to hide what she was feeling as she hunched over and put her head in her hands, visibly upset.
Suddenly signatures of soul energy could be felt behind her followed by the sound of footsteps. Yu Xue didn’t need to turn around to see who it was as the texture of the newcomer’s soul energy was impossible to mistake. It seemed that the important gathering of the Elders had finally finished.
"Yu Yin’s alive, there’s no need to be so upset you know" Yu Xiuying said in a manner of fact tone of voice.
Instantaneously, relief flooded through Yu Xue as if a dam had been holding it back. So Yu Yin was alive. She smiled gratefully before realising that she was expressing her emotions outwardly. Cursing at her moment of weakness, Yu Xue quickly resumed her icy façade that she was famous for and turned around to glare daggers at Yu Xiuying.
“Don’t be so hostile Xue’er, I have a proposition for you. You always complain that you don't want to become the next Matriarch and how you want to see the outside world in its entirety, and I want to give you a chance!"
‘…What?!’
Yu Xue's eyes widened in shock. She had tried thousands of times to leave the palace for experience, but she had been denied every time! She also never wanted the responsibility of Matriarch and all the restrictions that came with it. This kind of freedom was literally what she had working towards for her entire life, and after being withhold from it all her life, Mother was just going to simply… give it to her? There was no way it could be that simple!
“And what about the coronation in a week’s time?” Yu Xue asked.
“Cancelled,” Yu Xiuying replied. “We’ve told the guests that due to the things discussed at the Searing Star world, your coronation is no longer feasible.”
Yu Xue widened her eyes, physically unable to hide her shock. These guests were superpowers across all worlds, and they’d been sent away just like that? So that she could be given a chance to leave the palace?
Yu Xue didn't know what to think, such a scenario was too good to be true. Her mother had been ruthlessly training her to become the next Matriarch for as long as she had lived! Not once had she left the Yu Family place. She had been confined in these blue-jade walls for as long as she could remember, for fear of being targeted or harmed. Ever since was born, her fate had been decided for her, much unlike Yu Yin who had been more or less allowed to roam free. She envied her brother for that, but such feelings had never eclipsed the trust and care that she felt towards him.
Yet here her mother was, offering not just a way out of the palace, but an opportunity to change her set-in-stone fate. There had to be a catch somewhere! Hell would freeze over before she could obtain such things for free! She glared at her mother, her icy gaze stabbing into her. Of course, such a thing would have no effect on Yu Xiuying who just smiled back at her daughter.
"What do you want from me..."
Yu Xiuying let out a sweet smile.
“Come to the ancestral hall, we’ll talk there,” she said.
It didn’t take long for them to arrive. When they did arrive, Yu Xiuying took her seat on the giant thrown situated at the far end of the hall and looked down at Yu Xue. Yu Xue had always hated that thrown and thought of sitting in it one day. She really hoped that Mother wasn’t lying when she said that there was no need to be the Matriarch anymore. Regardless of Mother’s offer, somethings were more important.
“What happened to Yu Yin?” asked Yu Xue, looking at Yu Xiuying intently with her emerald-green eyes.
"He stuck his nose where he shouldn’t have and has caused a catastrophe for the Yu Family as a result.” Yu Xiuying replied. “The idiot made off with the guardian treasures of the family and teleported to some unknown location, with the Blade Princess of all people!"
It took all that Yu Xue had to suppress her shock. She wasn’t so shocked that Yu Yin had managed to escape so thoroughly from mother, although it was surprising that he had been able to pull that off. Instead, she was surprised at the mention of the Blade Princess. Why would such a legendary figure be with Yu Yin? Now that she thought about it, the Blade Princess was originally a guest at the Yu Family Palace that came to attend her coronation, although she had disappeared around the same time that the meeting at the Searing Star world had been announced. Yu Xue had just assumed that the Adamantine clan had made an exception and taken the Blade Princess with them due her special status, although obviously she was mistaken.
‘Perhaps they eloped?’ thought Yu Xue. That would explain the circumstances somewhat, although the idea of it kind of ticked Yu Xue off. Why couldn’t he have told her directly? How was she supposed to approve of this girl if he just ran off like that?
“The reason we are allowing you your freedom is because the Yu Family has a mission they would like you to accomplish.” Yu Xiuying said, interrupting Yu Xue’s thoughts.
She paused before continuing.
"You'll have three goals on this little adventure of yours that need to be completed as soon as possible. The first being to cultivate to the peak of the [Tempered Soul] realm to bring your strength to a reasonable level. Secondly, I want you to make your name known across the land. To become the famed chosen daughter of the heavens across the worlds as the rumours say you are, bringing honour to the Yu Family."
"Once you have accomplished these two things, you should have the resources to find Yu Yin yourself. This is your primary objective. You know your brother's temperament better than anyone else. That boy is bound to make himself known eventually, so it shouldn't be too hard for you. Also, you are not to mention the disappearance of Yu Yin and the Blade Princess to anyone.”
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“There are many reasons why we are assigning this mission to you of all people, the most important being that this a covert mission. If the Yu Family sends out a search party, other superpowers will get curious, and that is absolutely the last thing we want. Thankfully, at the Searing Star realm, the five star sects announced that a certain event will be taking place a certain period of time in the future. You are to claim that you are simply preparing for this certain event whilst completing your mission.”
“Nevertheless, I understand that the difficulty of this mission is rather… high to say the least. Due to you will be granted permission… to retrieve a treasure from the secret treasury to help you on tour travels…”
After saying this, Yu Xiuying waved her hand, causing a jar of blood to appear and float into Yu Xue’s hands. Yu Xue instantly recognised the jar of blood as the ancestors blood that Yu Bao had shown her before.
‘This is crazy…’ Yu Xue’s head was spinning. The information given was too much to process, so she didn’t bother thinking too much about it at this moment. The gist of it was that she had to find Yu Yin and after she brought him back, she would be granted her freedom. Although she had been given the opportunity to achieve her dreams, she recognised that she could be ruining Yu Yin’s goals by accomplishing her own. She’d have to find away for them both to get what they wanted in the future, but for now she’d just accept the mission.
"Then fine, I'll do these things and nothing more.” Yu Xue said coldly. “Following that... don't expect to see me again!"
She stood up and elegantly walked away from her mother, flicking her straight platinum blonde hair and fixing her eyes ahead of her.
“For you to take this attitude with me, it seems that you don’t quite understand the importance of this mission.” Yu Xuiying said coldly as she stood up. Her soul power instants spread out and locked Yu Xue in place.
“To help you understand the bigger picture here, it seems I’m going to have to speak to you plainly. There are lots of things that I am keeping from you. Many things. Secrets that would blow your mind if you knew them. Let me share a few of the implications of these secrets with you…”
“… If you fail to find Yu Yin before this certain event announced by the Five Star Sects occurs, and the Five Star Sects learn of the Blade Princess’ disappearance, the Yu Family will be annihilated, and Yu Yin will die.”
“… If the Adamantine Clan finds the Blade Princess and Yu Yin before you find Yu Yin, the Yu family will be annihilated, and Yu Yin will die.”
“… And finally, if the guardian treasures are recognised by another superpower before you find Yu Yin, the Yu Family will be annihilated, and Yu Yin will die.”
“I’m not going to explain anymore than this, but do I hope that this will be enough to help you focus on your mission.”
Yu Xiuying stopped speaking, letting silence settle in the ancestral hall. Yu Xue gulped thinking about the shocking things that she had just been told.
‘Sorry Yu Yin, but it seems that I’m going to have to drag you back regardless of your wishes.’ Yu Xue thought to herself sadly. ‘This is much bigger than both of us…’
Yu Xue quickly left the ancestral hall and quickly found a place that she would be heard before shouting at the top of her voice.
"CRYSTAL CORPS!"
A white-haired man that couldn't be any older than twenty appeared behind her in an instant and silently bowed. This technique he used wasn't [Minor Telportation] but was rather a lower version of this ability called [Flash]. This technique could only be learned by somebody with high accomplishments in one of the many Daos of Weapons and was a compulsory ability for those of the Crystal Corps. The ability itself, was a lot weaker than [Minor Teleportation], as it could only transport someone about 100 meters away. She looked at the white-haired man with whom she was ver familiar. His name was Yu Hai, second in command of the Crystal Corps and Yu Yin’s past attendant. After THAT incident with Yu Yin, Yu Hai had become Yu Xue’s personal attendant instead.
"Gather three other talented cultivators to form a squad of four.” Yu Xue commanded. “They don't have to be of the Crystal Corps, they just need to be efficient and good at what they do. Meet me with them at the Nephrite Sect inner circle in an hour!"
Yu Hai nodded and disappeared as quick as he came, leaving Yu Xue on her own. She sharpened her gaze as she turned and headed for Alexandrite Sect. If Yu Xue was to absent from the Palace for a while, she’d need to pick up any cultivation technique that she wanted to cultivate before she left.
As Yu Xue travelled the Yu Family Domian, she admired the scenery of the vibrant gardens as she went by and eventually reached her destination in no time at all. A few Jadeite Sect guards were acting as sentries for the Alexandrite Sect gate, but they immediately let her past when they saw her. After all, who would dare block the Matriarch's daughter?! She entered and headed towards the magical library, a place where all the Daoist magic and soul techniques of the continent were stored. The librarian bowed upon seeing her and instantly allowed her access to the 6th floor of the library, where the rarest and most powerful manuals were kept. As she entered the 6th floor, she noticed Lord Alexandrite at his desk. The Sect leader of the Alexandrite Sect was the librarian of the 6th floor and spent most of his time studying here. The old man nodded knowingly at her before returning to whatever he was doing before.
Yu Xue browsed the library thoroughly and picked out a few techniques. As she was going to away from home for a long time, it was best to pick up a few abilities to learn so she could brush up on her battle prowess. She needed some way to get stronger anyway. There were 2 manuals she had chosen in total out of the vast collection of ultimate of techniques recorded in the Alexandrite sect. In addition to the secret Yu Family arts, [Six Paths of the Frigid Asura], she now had a few more tricks up her sleeve.
She counted the manuals one more time before bringing them to Lord Alexandrite, who quickly wrote down a few notes before giving her the go-ahead to leave. The techniques she had picked were as follows: [Lunar Record of Seven Moons] and [Sword of Stagnation].
The first was an ultimate technique that would complement the family arts entirely. Not even her mother had been able to learn the [Lunar Record of Seven Moons] due to the high comprehension needed to master it.
The second was a sword manual that was rarely used in the Jadeite sect thanks to the unique temperament needed to use it. Hence, the manual was here, in the Alexandrite Sect library. She still hadn't chosen a secondary path to power yet, and this second manual represented her choice. She wasn't going to pursue the Dao of the Sword, but rather the Dao of Stagnation! Having control over such a power would synergise perfectly with her original path to power, the Dao of Freezing!
Having accomplished her objective, she left the Alexandrite Sect and went back to the family treasury. She entered the secret vault using the ancestral blood like Yu Bao had shown her and walked over to one specific display case. It contained a long broadsword seemingly made out of glass. Surprisingly, despite the bright lighting in the room, no light was reflecting off the transparent sword.
This sword was another of the Yu Family reserve treasures just like the Vindicator's Rod. It was called the Daybreaker, a sword so sharp it was rumoured to have the ability to cut light itself, leaving darkness in its wake. The reason Yu Xue needed it was, of course, to practice [Sword of Stagnation]. How else would she be able to use a sword manual without a sword? Yu Xue returned the ancestral blood to her mother's study before swiftly heading to the Nephrite sect.
"To accomplish the three tasks my mother set me is going to be a lot of work. There's no doubt that with that unique bloodline of his and his unique temperament, there's no way Yu Yin isn't going to rise to prominence. The best way to find him while increasing my strength would be to enter into some incredible superpower with a large network of information!"
Yu Xue suddenly thought of a specific place she had once read about and smiled.
"There it is then I suppose!"
She entered the inner circle of the Nephrite sect to find Yu Hai, Lord Nephrite, and three other figures. Yu Xue didn’t study the appearances of these three, but she noticed that they each belonged to lone of the three different guardian sects. They all bowed to Yu Xue when they saw her.
She quickly informed Lord Nephrite of her destination who smiled amicably and quickly went about with the preparations. A few minutes later, a huge pillar of white light appeared from nowhere as the spatial formation activated. Yu Xue smiled at Lord Nephrites efficiency.
"I guess this is my departure..."
She entered the spatial formation with a cold smile on her face, her entourage of four quickly following behind her....