Imperial God Emperor

Nan Tieyi nodded with a smile. Liu Shaji, Ye Qingyu, and Hu Bugui were all brothers who fought alongside him and who shared the same ideals. He felt relieved knowing that all of them were safe and sound.

A rare smile broke across Ye Qingyu’s face when he heard news about Liu Shaji.

Nan Tieyi did not elaborate but it was clear from his words that he wasn't too concerned about the Greater One Sect's suppression and besiegement of his sect. Rather, he seemed confident and sure of himself.

Ye Qingyu had an inkling that perhaps the Immortal God Emperor Sect had a source of support.

After all, they used to be an empire of a big domain and had rich resources. Additionally, they were located at the Wei River Mountain Range which was itself a cradle of racial civilization. It was rich in spiritual qi and was known as a blessed paradise. The defensive formation protecting the place would not be easily broken by the Greater One Sect so although the situation was not ideal, they still had enough tactics to keep themselves safe.

After another round of discussion, it was decided that they would spend another two days at the Hundred Spirits Sect to help them repair their sect gate since they no longer needed to rush toward Immortal God Emperor Sect.

Ye Qingyu was still concerned about Bai Yuanxing, Jin Ling'er, and the others but since Nan Tieyi had established contact with the sect and confirmed that all was well, there was no longer a need to rush over. Furthermore, he was more concerned about the clue about the mysterious woman at Underground Moonlight Immortal Palace who looked exactly like his mother that could be found here at Hundred Spirits Sect.

He desperately wanted to find out who exactly was that woman.

Why did she look exactly like his mother and what was the link between them?

This was a giant puzzle that he always wanted to solve.

The next day.

Ye Qingyu personally paid a visit to the master of Hundred Spirits Sect and asked the question that had been troubling him.

"Sorrow Departure Pattern?" Master Cheng was a little taken aback. Then she said, "This pattern was designed by the founder of our sect and it isn't some profound formation. However, it had a special meaning to our founder so we adopted it as one of our symbols. Have you taken an interest in this pattern? In fact, this Sorrow Departure Pattern has another name. It is also known as a Yearning Pattern."

"What? Yearning Pattern?" Ye Qingyu's heart skipped a beat at those words.

He recalled that there was a poem on that silk handkerchief and the word 'yearning' was indeed the topic of the poem.

"The autumn air is clear, the autumn moon is bright. Fallen leaves gather and scatter, startling the jackdaws that perch on the trees. We hope to meet again but who knows when that will be. At this hour of the night, I find it hard to control my feelings. If you enter my gates of longing, you will understand the depths of my pain. Prolonged yearning results in lasting memories while short-term longing feels like there is no end in sight. If I had known how painful this yearning could be, I'd rather that we never met at all."

This was the poem embroidered on the silk handkerchief and it had astonished him greatly when he first saw it.

Especially when he read this ancient and classical poetry in an environment like the Underground Moonlight Immortal Palace, he had been overcome with emotions then, to the point where he was puzzled by his own behavior. It was a pity that the ancient corpse who looked exactly like his mother instantly turned into ashes.

Since the Sorrow Departure Pattern symbol left behind by the founder of Hundred Spirits Sect was also known as the Yearning Pattern, this would then complement the poem that revolved around the topic of longing and yearning. It was impossible to say that there was no connection.

"Master Cheng, I would like to ask for a personal favor and I hope that you would agree to my request," Ye Qingyu finally said after some hesitation.

The master of Hundred Spirits Sect was taken aback, then replied, "Why don't you let me know your request? You're our benefactor and even rescued us more than once, so as long as it is within our power, we would definitely help you."

"Many thanks," Ye Qingyu rose to his feet and bowed. "I'd like to ask if there are any portraits of your founder and if there are, could I have a look at them?"

"Oh, so this is what you wanted to talk about," the master of Hundred Spirits was slightly disappointed.

She thought that Ye Qingyu wanted to talk about something else since she noticed today that the two most outstanding disciples of Hundred Spirits Sect – Shen Menghua and Liu Ruxin seemed to have a crush on Ye Qingyu and clearly liked him very much. Since these two beautiful disciples had accompanied Ye Qingyu to walk around the entire Hundred Flowers Valley, she assumed that their crush was reciprocated and he had fallen for those two disciples. She guessed that he came to visit her in order to ask for their hands in marriage. Master Cheng would be more than happy to agree. It would pain her to see him take those two beautiful women away, but this was Ye Qingyu, the talented Human man who had caused such a stir along the Road of Chaos. Any other sect would be more than happy to establish ties with him by giving him women.

Unfortunately, Ye Qingyu seemed to be more interested in their sect founder, which caused Master Cheng to be a little dejected.

"Please follow me," she said as she led him out of the hall and through six hidden doors to arrive at a secret garden behind the main hall. The fragrant scent of flowers in the garden refreshed one's spirits and right in the middle of the garden was a life-sized statue carved from white jade. The carving was exquisitely done and this statue could be mistaken for a real person at first glance.

"This is a statue of our founder and she personally carved this status back then. It has now stood tall in this garden for three thousand years. May I ask why you're asking about her…" Master Cheng naturally turned to look at Ye Qingyu and she immediately froze on the spot.

Ye Qingyu who stood behind her looked like he was completely dazed. Soon, his eyes turned red and tears welled up in his eyes. She was extremely astonished to see him so overwhelmed with sorrow.

"Master Ye Qingyu? You…" Master Cheng couldn't help but ask.

However, Ye Qingyu could no longer hear her.

He even forgot that there was a person beside him.

The moment he saw this jade statue, he felt as though everything disappeared and that all he could see was this statue.

The reason was simple.

The statue of the Hundred Spirits Sect's founder looked exactly the same as that ancient female corpse that he saw disappear at Underground Moonlight Immortal Palace.

In other words, it looked exactly like his recollection of his mother.

At that moment, his childhood memories flooded his mind. These were memories he thought he had tucked away or had become blurry on many occasions but now they exploded wildly in his mind as though they had been unlocked by a mysterious force. He found that he was completely drowning in those beautiful memories and he was consumed by an unstoppable flood of emotions.

"Mum, I want to eat Grandpa Zhang' s candied haws…"

"Mum, the meatballs that you made were really delicious."

"Mum, I want to buy the warrior uniform worn by the disciples of White Deer Academy. Could you get me one of those? Please…"

"Mum, boohoo, Xiaoming and the others bullied me. They tore the new clothes that you made for me…"

"Mum, I'm going to become a powerful warrior to protect you and daddy."

"Mum, why are you crying? Are you angry because I've been naughty? Please stop crying, I promise I'll behave better in the future."

He was no longer the young boy who had once childishly whined to his mother but had become a martial artist who was so powerful that the entire Heaven Wasteland Domain trembled at his feet. Unfortunately, he was no longer able to protect his own parents. The moment he saw the bodies of his parents that evening when the setting sun had dyed the skies blood-red after the vicious beasts had attacked the city, he felt as though his entire world had collapsed. In the following years, other than that period in the beginning when he stood guard in front of his parent's tombs, he didn't let himself recall those memories. This was because each time he recalled those memories, he would find himself unable to extract himself from the pain and sorrow. There were many nights when Ye Qingyu chose to either cultivate or keep himself busy for fear of falling asleep. He was afraid that once he slept, those terrifying images would enter his dreams and when he woke up, his tears would stain his pillows once again…

No matter what happened later, whether it was Yu Junhan of the imperial family resolutely acknowledging Ye Qingyu as her son, or whether many pieces of evidence and clues pointed to the fact that there were secrets to his true identity, that things were not as simple as it seemed in his childhood memories, or whether the clues his parents left while they were alive hinted at something else, Ye Qingyu did not want to face the truth. His love for the parents in his memory ran too deep and he had yet to read the contents of the jade slip that Yu Junhan tasked the eldest princess to give him before she left Heaven Wasteland Domain.

This was not because he didn't have the time.

It was only a jade slip, how much time could he spend reading it?

He did not feel like reading it.

It was an instinctive reaction.

Ye Qingyu gradually started to give up on pursuing his true identity.

He was now powerful enough to protect Heaven Wasteland Domain and thus he hoped that everything would remain as it was and that he would be able to preserve those treasured memories from his childhood.

He tried his best to forget everything.

However, the moment he saw that statue, the emotions he kept close to his heart finally surged forth wildly as though a dam had broke and Ye Qingyu found that he was unable to control his own emotions. The statue in front of him looked exactly like his mother and it looked so real that it immediately touched on the frailest point of his emotions. When tears welled up in his eyes, Ye Qingyu felt as though time had suddenly turned back to bring him back to his carefree childhood, as though if he called for his mother, the statue in front of him would come back to life and smile at him affectionately…

"Mum…" Ye Qingyu finally called out to her in spite of himself.

And the tears finally flowed freely from his eyes.