Xie Yunxiang was a mber of the Xie Family, a renowned Earth Immortal Clan in Pinglan City. Though from a prestigious family, he had previously told Song Ciwan that he was a scion of a distant branch, worlds apart from the main lineage.
This was the truth. Xie Yunxiang possessed a contradictory temperant—both hearty and down-and-out, both proud and worldly. Having reached middle age, he was lancholic and unfulfilled. He wanted to achieve sothing, yet was trapped by reality. He wanted to break free from his circumstances, but how could he possibly escape?
In contrast, Xin Mian, the persona Song Ciwan had adopted, possessed a sincere, youthful spirit and a simple respect that was entirely different from naivety. This was why, despite the short ti they had spent together, she had left such a deep impression on Xie Yunxiang.
Human instinct is to always yearn for what one lacks. The peace and sincerity that Song Ciwan displayed were precisely what Xie Yunxiang longed for.
This day, he got off work and went ho—yes, although Xie Yunxiang was no longer young, he still lived with his parents and had never moved out to establish his own household.
In Pinglan, most scions of prestigious families were like this.
It wasn’t necessarily that they couldn’t afford a house outside, or that they couldn’t have other properties. The main reason was that the territory occupied by a great family often had more abundant Vitality and more prominent spirituality.
An Earth Immortal Clan would have a Spirit Gathering Array and a Protective Array, and within the clan, there were various special resources that couldn’t be enjoyed by the outside world.
With anities like the Spiritual Light Pool, the Ten Thousand Laws Stele, and masters lecturing on the Dao, the clan was practically a small Sect.
Although Xie Yunxiang was a disciple from a branch family, as long as he lived with his parents and remained in the Xie Family estate, he could at least enjoy so of the basic benefits afforded to Xie Family disciples.
Even if there was nothing else, the abundance of Vitality on the Xie Family lands could compare to the worst Yellow Mansion Cave Mansion.
Renting a Yellow Mansion Cave Mansion cost One Yuan Pearl a day. How could Xie Yunxiang bear to move out of the family and waste that kind of money?
As Xie Yunxiang walked past the clan’s Martial Arts Arena, a youth called out in a crisp voice, "Twenty-third Uncle!"
Hearing the voice, Xie Yunxiang turned his head to look.
In that instant, however, a jet of water shot toward his face.
At this mont, the evening glow filled the sky. The arc of the water jet refracted a rainbow of light under the setting sun, dazzling Xie Yunxiang’s eyes so much that for a mont, he failed to react.
The jet of water slamd squarely into his face. It stung!
Xie Yunxiang instinctively took a step back and imdiately turned his head to wipe his face, only to hear bursts of uproarious laughter from the Martial Arts Arena.
"Twenty-third Uncle, my apologies! Your nephew was just practicing the Water Dragon Dance and accidentally aid wrong!"
"Your nephew truly didn’t expect that you, Twenty-third Uncle, couldn’t even dodge a casual strike from your nephew. I’m truly sorry."
"You’re not angry with , are you, Twenty-third Uncle?"
The boy said with a giggle. He was only thirteen, but he had already broken through the Energy-Introducing Stage and now possessed an Early-Stage Qi Transformation Cultivation.
His na was Xie Zhang, and he was Xie Yunxiang’s grand-nephew; his father and Xie Yunxiang shared the sa grandfather.
Xie Yunxiang turned his head blankly. It wasn’t just Xie Zhang laughing on the Martial Arts Arena; in fact, almost everyone was laughing.
Among them were young boys of Xie Zhang’s generation, clan brothers of Xie Yunxiang’s generation, and even so guest retainers of other surnas who were affiliated with the Xie Family.
Everyone was laughing so naturally, so casually.
They couldn’t care less about the stinging pain on Xie Yunxiang’s face, because in everyone’s eyes, Xie Yunxiang was nothing more than a diocrity who, at over thirty years old, was still stagnating in the Mid-Stage Qi Transformation.
He was too diocre—so diocre that he wasn’t even worth a second thought.
"Hahaha..."
"Heeheehee..."
One after another, the sounds of laughter and the smiling faces in the sunset blended into the shadows of the trees by the Martial Arts Arena. Xie Yunxiang wiped his face again, and finally, his shoulders slumped slightly.
He laughed too. With a dry chuckle, he cast a Minor Magic to evaporate the water from his face and clothes. Like any kind elder facing a mischievous junior, he said with gentle magnanimity, "Brother Zhang has great skill. As your uncle, I am only gratified. How could I possibly bla you? Hehe, hehehe..."
When he was done laughing, he cupped his hands in a fist to the others of his generation on the field, then turned, his shoulders slightly hunched, and walked away step by step.
More laughter and chatter were left behind him. He made no effort to listen to what the people behind him were saying.
Perhaps they were still mocking him, perhaps not.
After all, who would bother to keep mocking a diocrity like Xie Yunxiang?
He walked past the Martial Arts Arena, past one after another of the clan’s structures and grounds—so elegant and exquisite, so magnificent and grand, so mysterious and arcane.
Finally, he arrived at a large cluster of buildings in the northwest corner of the Xie Family estate, so old they were starting to decay.
Over there, small courtyards were built cramd together, one after another. The courtyard walls faced each other, doorways looked upon doorways, stacked one upon another. There were so many that there must have been over a hundred.
A single glance could hardly take it all in.
Living in this area were all the distant branch families of the Xie, or perhaps mbers of the main lineage who had been exiled here for various reasons...
Over here, the number of people greeting Xie Yunxiang increased.
So called him "Twenty-third Brother," so "Twenty-third Younger Brother," so "Twenty-third Lad." Others called him directly "Yunxiang," or even "Little Twenty-three."
Xie Yunxiang overheard a piece of news: "Illusory Nether City is about to open! This ti, any of our family’s disciples under fifty can enter. Each person can also invite two outside helpers. Twenty-third Brother, are you going?"
Xie Yunxiang was stunned. He was about to blurt out that he wasn’t going, but the words died on his lips when he suddenly thought of "Xin Mian." The "I’m not going" was swallowed back down.
But he didn’t explicitly say he would go either, just vaguely brushed the topic aside.
After much difficulty walking and deflecting, he finally returned to his own small courtyard.
In the courtyard, his father, Xie Rang, was practicing the Five Animals Qigong, stumbling about on his one la leg. anwhile, from his mother’s room ca a loud THUD, imdiately followed by the shriek of the maid, Xiaoya: "Madam, Madam, what’s wrong with you?"
Startled, Xie Yunxiang quickly slapped a Light Body Talisman on his leg and shot into the main room of the courtyard house like a gust of wind.
Pushing the door open, he saw his mother sitting on the floor, a painted scroll in one hand and a handkerchief in the other.
She was pressing the handkerchief to the corner of her mouth, coughing her lungs out, tears welling in her eyes.
Xie Yunxiang lunged forward to help her up, having just begun to say, "Mother, what are you..."
Before his voice could fade, his mother forcefully unfurled the scroll in her hand. She coughed as she spoke, "Yunxiang, look! I asked your Sixteenth Aunt to find a match for you, and this is the woman she found!"
As the scroll unrolled, Xie Yunxiang glanced at it subconsciously. But that one glance left him stunned.
The painting depicted a powerfully built woman with a strong, angular, and resolute face. She wore a red flower in her hair and sat imposingly on the back of a black tiger Demon Beast.
The painter had not only captured her formidable aura, but had also used the technique of foiling to paint all sorts of bizarre, twisted Demon Fiends beneath her feet. With all manner of Demon Fiends trodden underfoot, an air of utter disdain radiated from the painting.
Xie Yunxiang: ...
He couldn’t deny it; he was srized!
’Who is this?’
Mrs. Xie had started to cry. "Damn her to a thousand cuts! Your Sixteenth Aunt said she was finding you a wife. Is this finding you a wife? This is trying to get you killed!"
Xie Yunxiang imdiately stood up and declared, "Mother, I have a friend whose Cultivation is quite remarkable. I must enter Illusory Nether City this ti, and I will invite this friend to go with !"
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