Chapter 119: Reunion with a Loved One Once More

At dawn, just as the gates of Jiuding City opened, the wolf riders emerged and departed, heading toward Feng City. Aside from Wen Rong, Shao Xue, and Shen Miao, all the wolf riders were present. However, Moyan was concealed inside a carriage within the formation, accompanied only by the elderly man surnamed Hong.

The Ye family’s outward excuse was to go to Feng City to retrieve someone. Feng City was the birthplace of Ye Guanhai’s wolf army, bustling with numerous enterprises. Many retired, disabled veterans had been arranged by Ye Guanhai to live out their days there. Though they could no longer ride into battle, they were more than capable of training new troops.

Yet, this was merely Ye Xin’s pretext. His true aim was to see if they could lure out Zong Bieli, which was why the elderly Mr. Hong had been brought along.

Zong Bieli’s existence made Ye Xin uneasy. He did not understand Zong Bieli and could not construct a logical framework around him. To Ye Xin, he was a ticking bomb with an unknown fuse, liable to explode at any moment and bring unimaginable trouble. If possible, it was best to resolve this as soon as possible.

Still, Ye Xin did not harbor great hopes. This was nothing more than a small probe. Ye Suifeng had just been released from the Heavenly Prison; would Zong Bieli immediately come knocking? Based on current intelligence, Zong Bieli seemed to be a deeply calculating individual. Such a reckless nature was unlikely to achieve great things, which did not align with Ye Xin’s current conjectures.

From another perspective, both Ye Xin and Zong Bieli were sinners who had violated heavenly laws and were beyond redemption. Neither dared to reveal their presence to true cultivators. In such circumstances, these two sinners would observe strict boundaries, and in most cases, after probing and discovering they could not eliminate each other, they might even form a cooperative relationship. But Ye Xin’s relationship with Zong Bieli was special—the real culprit behind Ye Guanhai’s death was Zong Bieli himself, and Ye Xin could never forgive him. Conversely, Zong Bieli could never trust Ye Guanhai’s legitimate son.

Because of the carriage, the wolf riders’ pace was not fast, comparable to that of ordinary caravans. By noon the next day, Moyan lifted the carriage curtain and shook his head at Ye Xin.

He had been using his demon eyes to observe the surroundings but had found no abnormalities. This meant Zong Bieli had no intention of following their trail.

Ye Xin nodded and suddenly picked up speed to catch up with Ye Suifeng ahead. The two, uncle and nephew, exchanged a glance before breaking away from the formation and heading into the wilderness.

Xue Baiqi, Xie En, Ziche Hui, and Fu Shang pursued Ye Xin, their pace moderate. A large broom was tied behind the tail of the Boundless Sky Wolf, and thick coarse cloth wrapped their wolf claws. Their purpose was to erase the wolf claw tracks left by Ye Xin and Ye Suifeng. After running over a hundred miles, they planned to retrace their steps to wipe away all traces entirely before rejoining the main group.

From a gap in the carriage curtain, the elderly Mr. Hong witnessed this scene and appeared somewhat dazed. “Has the Young Marshal always been this cautious in his actions?”

“How do you know our Young Master is…” Moyan was taken aback.

“I may be old, but I’m not blind,” Mr. Hong said calmly. “Besides the Ye family, who else can command so many Boundless Sky Wolves? Ye Guanhai is dead, and you follow him, so it must be Ye Xin.”

Moyan smiled bitterly. Since entering the Righteous Alliance headquarters, this elder had remained in his courtyard, never venturing out—perhaps wary of alerting Zong Bieli and thus showing great discretion and cooperation. Today, just once outside, he deduced all this. Truly, every expert who had broken through the Upper Pillar rank was no fool.

“Please keep this secret for our Young Master,” Moyan said slowly.

“That’s my duty,” Mr. Hong replied, then shifted the topic: “Did the Young Marshal really execute Zhuang Buxiu?”

“Yes,” Moyan nodded. “Unfortunately, I had other urgent matters at the time and couldn’t accompany him. I missed that battle.”

Mr. Hong narrowed his eyes and fell silent.

In the distance, Ye Xin and Ye Suifeng rode side by side. Though this was their first meeting, Ye Xin was surprised at Ye Suifeng’s performance, and Ye Suifeng was equally shocked by Ye Xin. Yet, they immediately chose to trust each other.

Ye Xin glanced back; Xue Baiqi and the others were no longer visible. He quietly said, “Second Uncle, in a few days, I might send someone to assassinate you.”

“What is this about?” Ye Suifeng was stunned, then quickly understood. “You want me to fake my death?”

“Yes,” Ye Xin nodded. “The Righteous Alliance has begun searching for decoys. A few years ago, I learned some extraordinary disguise techniques from a stranger and taught them to Zhou Suying. Her skills surpass mine; she’s innovated many clever tricks. Once we find someone with a similar bone structure to you, they can transform into you within a day. Of course, it’s only convincing from a distance; close up, there are flaws.”

“Why fake my death? Are you worried about Zong Bieli?” Ye Suifeng asked.

“Yes.” Ye Xin replied. “I planned to set out tomorrow and have you die today, but I couldn’t find a suitable person in time. Also, I don’t know how to explain it to Xiaoling—keeping the truth from her would be too cruel. After waiting years, she finally has you back, only for you to be assassinated again. She might not be able to bear it. Even if she understands later, she could resent me. But if I tell her the truth now, she might see through it, and then your fake death would be pointless.”

Ye Suifeng was silent for a long moment before softly saying, “It’s better to tell her. Without the chance to grow through hardship, she’ll never mature. Back then, you… I never dreamed you’d become like this… heh heh heh.”

“Second Uncle, you’re right,” Ye Xin said. “So you agree?”

“I’ve been in the Heavenly Prison for over two years; many things have become strange to me,” Ye Suifeng said. “So you decide. If you think it’s right, then I’ll die once.”

Rounding the mountain foot, a lone wolf rider appeared ahead—Yang Xuantong.

Yang Xuantong glanced at Ye Suifeng with mild curiosity but said nothing, silently following behind them.

The Boundless Sky Wolves galloped for over ten hours until a small mountain village appeared ahead. Ye Suifeng exhaled, heading toward an abandoned small temple at the village’s edge.

Ye Xin hesitated slightly; this tiny village housed only seven or eight families, tucked deep in the mountains, likely unrecorded in the Great Wei Kingdom’s census.

A ragged old man emerged from the temple. Though aged in appearance, his build was as robust as a young man’s. Upon seeing Ye Suifeng, his face lit with joy.

Ye Suifeng leapt down from the Boundless Sky Wolf and embraced the old man, who choked back tears, speechless. Ye Suifeng was equally moved.

Ye Xin and Yang Xuantong stopped. Ye Suifeng turned to Ye Xin, saying, “Xin’er, come greet an elder—this is your maternal uncle, Tan Xinfang.”

Ye Xin was stunned. His mother had never mentioned an uncle; he only vaguely knew she had come from a very poor, insignificant mountain village. Gifted and talented, she quickly made a name for herself at the Longteng Martial Academy, nearly defeating Ye Guanhai in a major competition, earning great renown.

Later, she entered the sect’s grand election and achieved excellent results, deserving to become a sect disciple. However, a cultivator presiding over the election accepted bribes from noble families and disqualified both Tan Xinhui and Ye Guanhai despite their merits.

When the matter escalated, that cultivator felt humiliated and demanded two additional outer sect disciple slots from his master. He then sought to take Ye Guanhai and Tan Xinhui away, believing that once they joined the Qingyun Sect, the trouble would cease.

But Ye Guanhai and Tan Xinhui were proud and resolute; they flatly refused. Afterwards, Ye Guanhai immersed himself in military strategy, abandoning hopes of joining the sect, while Tan Xinhui went to Luoxia Mountain, earning the admiration of its cultivators and becoming an outer sect disciple there.

Ye Xin dismounted the Boundless Sky Wolf and quietly said, “Greetings, Uncle.”

“Is this Xinhui’s child?” The old man wiped his tears and hurried toward Ye Xin, scrutinizing him closely, tears flowing uncontrollably. “Your features truly resemble Xinhui’s by eighty or ninety percent!”

“Brother Tan, we have other urgent matters and can’t stay long,” Ye Suifeng said. “Is the item still here?”

“Where I am, it’s certainly here,” Tan Xinfang said in surprise. “Xiao Ye, what are you planning?”

“It’s not what I want to do, but Xin’er has his own plan,” Ye Suifeng said. “Don’t speak yet—I know what you want to say, but listen first! Xin’er recently executed Zhuang Buxiu of the Tiger Head Army in the Great Zhao Kingdom and retrieved his head. His abilities are beyond what you or I can imagine. Now you must choose to trust him and hand over the item. If anything remains unclear, we can discuss it on the road.”

Tan Xinfang was stunned—Ye Xin’s achievements were indeed overwhelming. Everyone who heard the news was shocked and found it hard to believe.

“Brother Tan, hurry! Our situation is dire. The sooner, the better!” Ye Suifeng said gravely. “Once we take the item, you don’t need to stay here. Come with us to the army camp, and I’ll explain everything in detail.”

“Follow me.” Tan Xinfang turned and hurried into the small temple.

The three followed. Tan Xinfang quickly approached a corner in the temple, brushing away dry leaves and dust before prying up a stone slab with his fingertips.

A chilling aura spread through the temple. Tan Xinfang’s fingers dug like knives, scooping out clumps of earth. In moments, he had excavated a pit over a meter deep within the temple.

Beneath was a layer of ice, and from Ye Xin’s vantage point, he could clearly see a bright red flower, about the size of a large bowl.

(To be continued.)