After Qiao Lian made this decision, the family began to prepare for their trip.
Just at sunset, at the top of Jue Mountain, someone was quietly gazing at the village below, where smoke was curling up from the chimneys.
The person was tall, with a posture like a sturdy pine tree, wrapped in a rather worn green robe, looking somewhat desolate. His long loose hair, half-concealed his face. But his features were indistinct as if covered by a layer of pale false skin, creating an eerie appearance.
Although Jue Mountain was protected by a spiritual shield, for some reason, it did not stop this person and his two followers from reaching the top of the mountain, unobstructed the entire way.
The man standing behind him, with the eyes of a leopard and the waist of a bear, is named Yu Chen.
At this moment, Yu Chen had been accompanying his master in the cold wind for an hour. He tried to hold back but finally couldn't help but cautiously remind him, "Master, should we report this matter to the other sects?"
The "matter" he referred to was the fact that the Rebirth Tree had already borne a spiritual fruit, but the fruit had fallen to the ground at an unknown time, leaving only fragments of the fruit shell.
This tree had grown for ten thousand years. In the past, his master, Su Yishui, had sacrificed his blood to consecrate it, giving up half of his cultivation that formed his Golden Core, just to allow this tree to accept the remnant soul and transform nothingness into a physical body.
Yu Chen didn't quite understand his master's self-harming behavior. Since his master had done all these just to enable the notorious female demonic cultivator, Mu Qingge, to be reborn!
Even though Su Yishui had once been a disciple of Mu Qingge, it was the female demon Mu Qingge who coveted Su Yishui's outstanding appearance and forcibly persuaded him, who was originally a disciple of Mount Shu, to switch to her side. She also forced him to cultivate the demonic path.
He thought of his master, who before embarking on the path to cultivate immortality, had been the illegitimate son of the then-powerful Prince Ping. Although he couldn't be included in the ancestral genealogy, he was raised in luxury since he was the son of Prince Ping's beloved woman. How could he be ordered around by a woman?
Unexpectedly, after the Young Master decided to cultivate immortality and sever worldly ties at the age of sixteen, this flower youth fell into the hands of the notorious female demon.
Fortunately, his Master was a genius with extraordinary talent. Even though his cultivation was not as high as Mu Qingge's, he later surpassed her and even defected from her sect to assist the righteous path in killing this evil female demon.
Back then, Mu Qingge was attacked simultaneously by the three major immortal cultivation sects and hit by the Ninefold Bone Sacrifice Curse, leaving her with no chance to fight back. In the end, her spiritual roots were stripped away, her spiritual power dispersed, and she met a tragic end with the scattering of her shattered soul .
If it weren't for his Master's mercy, attaching a trace of her remnant soul to the Rebirth Tree, the world might never see the demonic cultivator Mu Qingge ever again.
However that despicable woman, before dying, managed to cast a curse on his Master, that damn Melting Face Curse! It sealed the celestial appearance of Su Yishui, forcing him to cover his face with a veil from then on.
Even in her dying moments, she played a prank like a mischievous child, fully showing the wickedness of that female demon!
Perhaps due to the Melting Face Curse, whenever his Master occasionally showed his true face, it always led to exclamations or ridicule. In the years that followed, he spoke less and less, and unless he was building training alchemy, he spent most of his time like the present, standing silently before empty mountains and the wilderness.
That gentle and warm-hearted young man in his memory seemed to have changed into a different person after Mu Qingge was executed, becoming so deadly silent that it was frightening.
Perhaps his Master was so persistent in ensuring this female demon would be reborn in order to break this annoying curse?
However, when Yu Chen and his sister Yu Tong accompanied the Master to Jue Mountain seventeen years ago, they found that the tree had suddenly borne fruit. Unfortunately at that time, the three major sects had sent people to destroy the Rebirth Tree once again. The Master stopped them and battled fiercely with several powerful cultivators.
Because he had spent much of his core to help Mu Qingge's rebirth, Su Yishui had been greatly weakened. However, his bold stance of being ready to shatter his soul and perish with everyone, made it difficult for them to withstand his attacks.
After all, everyone knew that the three major sects were able to win back then thanks to Su Yishui's significant contributions. If he were to die at the hands of the three major sects, the reputation of the righteous path would be ruined for turning on their benefactor.
In the end, those powerful cultivators were really annoyed by Su Yishui's persistent fighting. Seeing his once charming appearance now indistinct, they felt pity and decided to make a concession. They generously made an agreement with Su Yishui to allow Mu Qingge to be reborn on the tree, so that Su Yishui could break his curse.
But the three major sects made it clear that after the curse was lifted, Mu Qingge's life and death would no longer be up to Su Yishui to decide.
After that, Jue Mountain has been placed under a Barrier Spell and no one is allowed to approach. They will just wait ten years until the Rebirth Fruit ripens and falls.
However, because the tree was once watered with Su Yishui's golden core and spiritual blood, even though there is a spiritual shield, it can only block people with ulterior motives and cannot prevent Su Yishui from going up the mountain.
But in these long years, Su Yishui had never returned. It was only today, when they passed by this place and suddenly found that the spiritual shield had been weakened, as if someone had broken in, that they came up the mountain to take a look.
What they found was shocking! The Yu siblings discovered that the Rebirth Tree had lost its fruit some time ago, and the whereabouts of the reincarnated female demon were unknown. If the reborn Mu Qingge remains unchanged in her demonic nature and is not restrained, wouldn't it cause chaos in the world once again?
At this moment, Su Yishui, who had been standing on the mountain for a long while, finally uttered a few words: "There is still one more…"
Hearing this, Yu Chen looked back and was astonished to find that the tree, which was somewhat bald, indeed still had another fruit.
He couldn't help but rub his eyes and found that the fruit was hidden behind a few wilted leaves. Maybe he hadn't looked carefully before, which was why he hadn't noticed?
But the branch that bore the fruit was clearly different from ten years ago! Could it be… that the tree bore two fruits?
The woman who had been standing silently beside him was Yu Chen's younger sister, Yu Tong, who had also been following and serving Su Yishui.
Seeing this situation, Yu Tong tentatively said, "Back then, Mu Qingge was extremely evil, but her fellow disciple and younger sister Mu Ranwu was a kind and pure person, completely opposite to her sister in character. Unfortunately, such a good person couldn't escape Mu Qingge's clutches and perished together with her in the battle on Jue Mountain…"
At this point, Yu Tong paused, as if she suddenly thought of something, "At that time, Mu Ranwu assisted the three major sects, trying to use the Soul-Devouring Lock to lock Mu Qingge's soul. Unfortunately, she was countered by Mu Qingge and pulled into the Soul-Devouring Lock. Could it be that their remnant souls became entangled and were both reborn on the Rebirth Tree, resulting in two fruits?"
Yu Tong was young at the time and had not yet built her foundation, so her impression of Mu Ranwu was really scant. Although Mu Ranwu was good-natured, compared to her sister, who was highly talented and exceptionally beautiful, Mu Ranwu was so ordinary that people couldn't even recall her appearance.
What's baffling is, if the tree had borne two fruits, which one of them was the first to fall to the ground and be reborn, Mu Ranwu or Mu Qingge?
When Yu Chen raised this question, Su Yishui, who had been standing in the wind, still did not speak.
But Yu Tong, with her lips tightly pressed, said indignantly, "Haven't you seen a cuckoo bird occupy the nest of other birds? Once the cuckoo chick hatches, it will push the original owner's eggs out of the nest. The Rebirth Tree's spiritual power is limited. If there are two fruits, the spiritual power would be divided. Naturally, the weaker one has been forced out."
Seventeen years ago, Yu Tong had accompanied her Master to Jue Mountain. At that time, the fallen fruit grew on the western branch of the tree. But now, the fruit on the western branch is gone, and the almost invisible fruit on the eastern branch has suddenly grown much larger.
It's obvious that Mu Qingge edged out her younger sister's remnant soul and monopolized the spiritual tree. After all, Mu Ranwu, in terms of talent or spiritual root, was far inferior to her sister Mu Qingge.
Poor Mu Ranwu, falling before her time, probably didn't even form a physical body and just dissipated in the wind.
Thinking of Mu Ranwu's simple and kind appearance, Yu Tong felt saddened.
But at this moment, Su Yishui, who had been standing silently for a long time and rarely uttered a long sentence, said "Lingxi Palace has not accepted disciples for a long time. You two, go to the nearby villages and gather some disciples."
The Yu siblings were taken aback. Lingxi Palace was the sect founded by the female demon Mu Qingge. Conditions for acceptance into the sect did not consider the quality of one's spiritual roots but only accepted orphans based on their appearance, whether male or female. Such rules clearly exposed the true nature of a lustful demon.
And her recruiting of a disciple with outstanding talent like Su Yishui was purely a fluke, like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead rat.
After the female demon was executed, the notorious Lingxi Palace also fell into decline.
However, the female demon did leave behind a considerable amount of gold and silver for her orphaned disciples. Since most of them had no demonic cultivation and the three major sects prided themselves on being righteous, they did not want to execute them along with their master, which would tarnish the reputation of the righteous path. Thus, they let them leave with the money and fend for themselves.
But now, Su Yishui intended to reopen Lingxi Palace and accept disciples under its name, which really puzzled the Yu siblings.
However, Su Yishui was unwilling to explain further. With a light tap of his toes, his green robe fluttered as he quickly descended the mountain from the other side, and the Yu siblings hurriedly followed their master on the wind.
While it was turbulent on the mountain in recent days, the village below remained peaceful, with people continuing their daily routine of working at sunrise and resting at sunset.
After deciding to move, Qiao Lian began to arrange for the long-term lease of their few acres of land.
The houses in the village were not valuable, so it was better to keep their house for now and see if they wanted to return after the things return to normal.
But at this time, an unexpected complication arose.
When Carpenter Xue went to settle his wages at Master Ding's home, Ding's wife had nitpicked his craftsmanship, claiming that the table he made had cracked and refused to pay him.
As Ding's second son was about to get married, Xue Lian Gui had worked for more than a month on a complete set of furniture for them, but now they refused to pay him. Now, they may find it difficult to buy daily necessities, let alone afford to start their long journey.
Carpenter Xue is a tough man. He had told Master Ding from the beginning that the wood for the table was not of good quality, being damp and likely to crack if used for furniture.
But Master Ding had insisted on saving money on wood costs and refused to replace it.
Xue Liangui had no choice but to follow the homeowner's orders and complete the carpentry work, only for Ding's wife to turn around and deny responsibility, even instructing their servant to slap him twice.
In fact, Ding's wife did this on purpose. Her second son had a bright and promising future and had finally attached himself to a prestigious family in the county. But he was bewitched by the frail Xue Ranran and constantly mumbled on about taking her as a concubine in future.
If the scholar's daughter knew about this, wouldn't she be furious enough to call off their marriage?
Ding's wife felt that her second son had lost his senses because of the sickly Xue Ranran's slender waist, so she decided to teach the Xue family a lesson, letting them know that it won't be easy to enter the threshold of a wealthy family. She hoped the little vixen would give up soon and stop trying to seduce her son, so she found fault with his work and deny him his wages. She even took the opportunity to teach Carpenter Xue a lesson.
Qiao Lian was so angry that her cheeks turned red and she cursed, "Blast it, they are so unscrupulous! No wonder no one was willing to take on work at their house."