Imperial God Emperor

The master of the Hundred Spirits Sect was completely stunned. She could not wrap her head around the situation nor comprehend why the [Ice Killing Sword God], who caused such a stir along the Road of Chaos, was so overcome with emotion when he saw a statue of their founder. When he uttered the word "mom", she felt like she almost understood something, but the more she thought about it, the more confused she became.

She wanted to ask him something but after a moment of hesitation, she decided to keep those questions to herself.

Time seemed to tick by slowly as they remained in this peculiar situation.

In the blink of an eye, two hours passed by.

To the master of the Hundred Spirits Sect, those two hours felt extremely long and bizarre, which left her discomfited.

That all felt like an instant to Ye Qingyu.

When he finally regained his senses, he realized how emotional he had been and also suddenly remembered that there was someone else beside him. He was secretly stunned and immediately exerted his inner yuan, instantly erasing all the tear stains from his face, although his eyes were still slightly red. He heaved a long sigh, then calmed himself down as he turned apologetically to Master Cheng and said, "Please forgive me for my momentary loss of composure. This happened because… because your founder looked so much like my own mother. The moment I saw the statue, I suddenly missed my mother and didn't manage to control my emotions then."

Ye Qingyu did not hold back and truthfully told her the reason.

The master of the Hundred Spirits Sect was astonished, then she realized why Ye Qingyu had lost his cool earlier. She paused for a moment then said, "Uh… I see. You must be someone who is emotional and forthright about your feelings. There must be many miracles and coincidences in this world. I can't believe these two people could look so alike in this world. I wonder if your mother…"

"My mother passed away many years ago," Ye Qingyu said with a sigh.

"Oh? I'm sorry for my presumptuous question," the master of the Hundred Spirits Sect said apologetically. Ye Qingyu's earlier emotional reaction showed that he was very close to his mother, so she had probably touched a nerve.

"No, it's fine." Ye Qingyu had already managed to rein in his emotions.

He smelled the fragrant scent in the air and looked around to discover that thousands of flowers filled the entire secret garden but they were all Immortal Root Begonias. Every flower was full of life and grew well. Several bulbs were blooming beautifully and the thousands of flowers were like light pink flames of fire, full of warmth. The scent that filled the entire garden was from these layered petals.

"Immortal Root Begonias were my mother's favorite flower. I didn't expect to see so many of these flowers here, blooming so beautifully like the sea. This familiar scent and color…" Ye Qingyu sighed and asked, "Why are there only Immortal Root Begonias planted in this garden?"

The master of the Hundred Spirits Sect was surprised, then she said, "What a coincidence. This was our founder's favorite flower a well. Our founder had always loved flowers— loved them more than life itself. This was especially so after she established the Hundred Spirits Sect. Her favorite was the Immortal Root Begonia among all the other hundreds of flowers. This garden and everything within it was planted by our founder herself. It is called the Yearning Garden because this flower signifies yearning."

Ye Qingyu nodded.

He knew what the Immortal Root Begonia signified.

In fact, he had already guessed before what the master of that Hundred Spirits Sect was going to say.

"Do you know where your founder went to later on?" Ye Qingyu wanted to ask if she had passed on, but for some reason, this was the question that he asked in the end, as though he subconsciously hoped that this founder was still alive.

Master Cheng replied truthfully, "After our founder established the Hundred Spirits Sect, she was our leader for three hundred years and inspired awe throughout the Clear River Domain. This was our sect's golden age. Despite the fact that our founder had no intention of ruling over the Clear River Domain, she had a mysterious technique that was unbeatable. And coupled together with her outstanding medicinal skills, she was known as a fairy who was admired by all. Back in those days, there were many heroes and handsome men in the Clear River Domain who admired our founder and hoped to win her hand, but she never once looked at any of them. Our founder had always been cold and aloof and outsiders had never seen her smile…" Master Cheng suddenly became a little regretful and ashamed as she continued, "One day, our founder suddenly left to attend to some matters and she never returned thereafter. As for us, the younger generation of the Hundred Spirits Sect, we were not even able to even continue the tiniest fraction of her legacy, which resulted in our sect growing weaker and having to suffer attacks from evil sects like the Heaven Desire Demon Sect."

Ye Qingyu said, "Does this mean that ever since your founder left, you haven't heard from her at all?"

"Yes, that is right," Master Cheng replied. "After she received a letter, she appointed the most senior disciple to be the acting sect master, then she hurriedly left and never returned. Thereafter, there was no trace of her. Many years have passed since then but we have still yet to receive news of our founder. However, every single disciple of the Hundred Spirits Sect firmly believes that with our founder's peerless talent and cultivation, she is definitely still alive and that she will return one day to bring us back to our former glory."

Ye Qingyu nodded and did not say anything else.

She never returned?

This is an interesting fact that is worth contemplating.

Ye Qingyu did not believe that such a perfect coincidence could exist in this universe. There had to be some kind of connection between those two women who looked exactly the same and who also shared the same love for Immortal Root Begonias. What could it be? There were two women—one who was in the Heaven Wasteland Domain while the other was in the Clear River Domain, which was a little too far away. Furthermore, it was only in recent years that the Domain Gate of the Heaven Wasteland Domain had opened.

He tried thinking a little further about this but only grew more confused.

He wanted to know more about this legendary founder of the Hundred Spirits Sect but Master Cheng informed him that with the exception of this statue, their founder did not leave much else behind. There were not many records of her even within the Hundred Spirits Sect and thus, he was slightly disappointed.

However, he was sure that there was definitely some sort of connection between those two women.

No, there should be three women—his mother, the founder of the Hundred Spirits Sect, and that ancient mysterious corpse he saw at the Underground Moonlight Immortal Palace. There was definitely a special connection between those three women, but he just could not figure out what it was at the moment.

Ye Qingyu wanted to tell Master Cheng what he had encountered at the Underground Moonlight Immortal Palace, but after some thought, he decided that there was no point in telling her all of that. Instead, those in the Hundred Spirits Sect might even take this as bad news and mistakenly think that their founder was dead or even request to go to the Underground Moonlight Immortal Palace to take a look. This would create unnecessary trouble. It would not be too late to let them know his findings at a later date once he made sense of it all.

After he bowed respectfully to the white jade statue, Ye Qingyu and Master Cheng both left this secret garden.

He made some further inquiries after they left the secret garden, then took his leave.

He had just walked out of the main hall when Hu Bugui rushed over in search of him.

This chief bandit brought him his old friend from South Facing Inn in Flowing Light City—Heng Yuge.

Hu Bugui had created a huge commotion in Flowing Light City's execution grounds to save Heng Yuge from the executioner's knife. The Greater One Sect had followed after them in close pursuit and the sect gate of the Immortal God Emperor Sect had been completely besieged by the Greater One Sect. That resulted in all roads into the sect being cut off with the exception of the hidden paths that only the core members of the sect were aware of. Hu Bugui did not think it would be appropriate to bring her back to his bandit cave either, so after some thought, he finally brought her to the Hundred Spirits Sect. She was currently cared for by Shen Menghua and the others.

...

In a wooden hut within the Hundred Spirits Sect—

"Mistress Heng Yuge," Ye Qingyu said when he saw her. He was at a loss for words.

He realized that she was in bad shape.

Her yuan power had been completely maimed and there was no longer a shred of yuan qi cultivation within her body. She was no different from an ordinary human. A black scar ran down her face, destroying her warm and pretty features. To make matters worse, her eyes were entirely grey and the whites of her eyes and her pupils were gone, which meant that she was completely blind. It was clear that after she was captured by the Greater One Sect Army, they had put her through cruel and inhumane torture.

When he saw how badly that beautiful woman, who once looked like a fairy from a painting, had been tortured, Ye Qingyu heaved a sympathetic sigh. He was extremely enraged by the violence inflicted on her by the Greater One Sect Army.

"Brother Ye Qingyu." Heng Yuge immediately recognized his voice and grew a little more emotional.

"I was too late and let down my brothers in Flowing Light City," Ye Qingyu said, guilt-stricken. While he had been cultivating at the Heaven Wasteland Domain, there were several occasions where he was seized by a sudden impulse and sensed that something was wrong. But unfortunately, he did not realize that there was a sudden change at the Clear River Domain. If he had managed to come to the Clear River Domain earlier, he would have definitely been able to turn the tide.

Hu Bugui understood what Ye Qingyu was trying to say and clapped his hand on his shoulder with a sigh. "This isn't your fault. I was in the Clear River Domain when I heard the news, but by the time I arrived, it was already too late, not to mention someone like yourself since you weren't even in the domain."

Then, Heng Yuge suddenly stood and up and knelt in Ye Qingyu's direction.

"Mistress Heng Yuge, why are you… Quick, get up." Ye Qingyu was shocked and baffled. He quickly walked over and tried to help her up.

"Brother Ye Qingyu, please listen to me first." Heng Yuge seemed a little emotional. She hesitated for a beat then continued, "I'd like to ask Brother Ye Qingyu to confirm if the rumors I've heard about you are true."

"You're referring to...?" Ye Qingyu was momentarily still unable to wrap his head around the situation

"I heard that you have once killed Saints. Is this true?" Heng Yuge looked a little expectant and nervous, and she was unable to control her anxiety.

Ye Qingyu was taken aback. He did not know why she was asking this question but nonetheless, he said with a nod, "It is true."

"If you encounter another Saint-level expert, are you confident you could kill him?" Heng Yuge's voice quivered.

Ye Qingyu understood what she was getting at and said, "Is there something that you'd like me to do? Quick, tell me what is on your mind. I will be able to kill anyone below the Great Saint level and even if I encounter experts with Great Saint cultivation, I'll still stand a fighting chance."

The moment he said those words, hot tears finally fell from Heng Yuge's grey eyes. She did not rise to her feet but instead kowtowed solemnly toward him, "Brother Ye Qingyu, I know I have no right to ask you to undertake such a risk, but on behalf of the friendship you once shared with my deceased husband, I'm begging you to save our child. This child is the last remaining descendant of Brother Leng Xiaoran. Please save him," she said beseechingly.

"What? You had a child with Brother Leng Xiaoran?" Ye Qingyu was astonished. "Did you guys already have a child? Where… is the child now?"

Hu Bugui, who was beside him, was equally stunned, "What… what's going on? Sister Heng, why have you not mentioned this child to me before? Could… the child still be trapped in Flowing Light City?"