If Yu Wei had grown up under the guidance of the demon clan, she would have known that this faint sense of connection was a blood-bond resonance unique to demons who shared the same lineage.
The Demon Realm followed a matrilineal clan system, passing down the strength of the maternal line through the bond between mothers and daughters. Fathers were comparatively unimportant, at most serving as an embellishment.
Although conventional marriage customs did exist within the Demon Realm, they were by no means necessary. Freedom and wildness were ingrained in demon nature, and it was common for female demon cultivators to keep the daughter while discarding the father.
Because of this, blood resonance was extremely important. A sufficiently mature demon could even use it to determine how closely another demon was related to them by blood.
Identity could be forged, but resonance could never lie.
Yu Wei understood none of this. She only felt that something was strange, especially when that young man looked at her. The sensation reached its peak, as though her heart had been lightly tugged by an invisible thread.
“Xiao Wei, what’s wrong?” Ning Suyi noticed her unusual expression and asked with concern.
The girl covered her chest, looking confused and dazed. “I don’t know… it feels stuffy here.”
She was usually very sturdy, able to eat and sleep well, and had never even caught a cold.
Ning Suyi immediately frowned. “Have you been too tired lately and not resting properly? Come on, let’s find somewhere quiet so you can turn back into a cat and sleep.”
At the mention of this, Yu Wei immediately brightened. She promptly forgot about the young man on the stage and followed Ning Suyi away happily.
She had no idea what kind of storm had arisen in Yu Chengyan’s heart when he saw her on the trial platform, nor did she know that when she left so decisively, Yu Chengyan had nearly chased after her without thinking.
He used every ounce of strength to force himself to remain where he was, continuing to play the role of Daoist Bai Hao’s adopted son as he demonstrated Bai Hao’s swordsmanship.
Cultivators often entered seclusion for decades or even centuries at a time, and for a reclusive cultivator like Daoist Bai Hao, suddenly having an adopted son was not particularly strange. As long as Yu Chengyan could wield his sword techniques, that was the best proof.
After all, not even the great sect masters of the cultivation world would imagine that someone could merely glance over another person’s image stone and then wield their secret techniques with such mastery. It was far beyond what cultivators could conceive.
Above in the pavilion, Gu Guangming looked radiant, unable to conceal his satisfaction and pride in Yu Chengyan.
At his side, the sect masters of other factions sighed. “Sect Master Gu, you really do accomplish great things quietly. Daoist Bai Hao has produced a successor, and before we even received the news, the person has already been recruited by you.”
“My friend, you flatter me. I do not possess the ability to recruit such a child. His opportunity to break through simply happens to lie within my sect, so it is merely a coincidence,” Gu Guangming said with a chuckle.
Some of the other sect masters offered congratulations while others expressed admiration, though all of them felt both envy and regret, wishing that such an opportunity had arisen within their own sects instead of missing out on such a powerful young cultivator.
Meanwhile, Yu Chengyan continued to restrain himself, forcing himself not to act too hastily. He could not allow outsiders to discover how important Yu Wei was to him.
That evening, Gu Guangming hosted a banquet for all the sect masters and formally introduced Yu Chengyan, his words already treating him as one of the disciples of the First Immortal Sect. Yu Chengyan was distracted and did not refute him.
After the banquet ended, Gu Guangming spoke with him privately for another half hour, attempting to draw him in once more. In the end, he granted Yu Chengyan extremely high authority, allowing him to search freely across the various mountain peaks.
By the time Yu Chengyan returned to his residence, it was already late into the night. Sitting by the table, he pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose while a faint pain throbbed at his temples.
He had always avoided banquets of this sort, and with his mind burdened by worry, he had been forced to maintain composure throughout the night while the anxious fire in his heart burned painfully.
But no matter what, the fact that his mother was still within the First Immortal Sect was the best possible news.
As for how to find her… he only knew that Yu Wei was an outer disciple, yet the First Immortal Sect possessed twelve outer mountain peaks in total, so locating her would likely take some time.
He had already lost her for three thousand years. He did not want to wait even a moment longer.
He had endured years of torment and suffering, but that brief glance earlier today had made his heart feel like a dam riddled with cracks, teetering on the brink of collapse.
There were too many things to consider. He had to restrain his emotions or he might frighten Yu Wei, and he could not reveal his urgency lest the sect master and the elders, those old foxes, detect something amiss.
With his eyes closed, Yu Chengyan pondered for a long while before suddenly thinking of the Xuantian Sect’s jade token.
The jade token was sourced from the Bone-Measuring Stone and fused with Xie Jianbai’s power, and all disciples were required to drip their blood onto it when first activating it. In other words, the information of every disciple was connected to this power.
Now that he had already been recognized by it, could he use the jade token to directly locate Yu Wei?
Yu Chengyan’s thoughts churned.
His first instinct was rejection. Over the years, he had wished to sever all ties with Xie Jianbai, unwilling to rely on his reputation, unwilling to use his experience, and unwilling for others to see him merely as Xie Jianbai’s son.
He felt an instinctive disgust toward borrowing anything from Xie Jianbai, yet upon further thought, finding his mother was the most important matter at present. If he delayed things out of stubborn pride, the loss would outweigh the gain.
Yu Chengyan opened his eyes and took out the jade token. The moment he activated it, he sensed the power contained within welcoming him with complete openness.
As he mobilized his strength, the jade token began to flicker with tiny lights.
Found her!
…
Yu Wei slept from the afternoon until the next morning this time, truly well rested.
As she went to the dining hall with Ning Suyi, she noticed along the way that the entire mountain peak was enveloped in an excited atmosphere, everyone’s faces lit with joy.
Inside the dining hall, disciples whispered to their familiar friends, clearly unable to contain their excitement.
“What’s going on with them?” Yu Wei asked in confusion.
The food in the outer sect dining hall was extremely plain, so she shredded the dried meat Ning Suyi had given her and placed it into her bowl of white porridge bit by bit.
After listening carefully for a while, Ning Suyi explained, “They say the young man we saw yesterday is Daoist Bai Hao’s adopted son. He came to our sect to find a disciple who will become his opportunity for breakthrough.”
If he found that person, the fortunate disciple would receive the full support of a Golden Core peak expert. For ordinary disciples, especially those of the outer sect, would that not be a meteoric rise?
Beyond that, the female disciples could not help but imagine even more.
After all, everyone had seen how elegant and extraordinary the young cultivator named Ling Xiao was yesterday, how handsome and noble he appeared. Even Song Xueshen, the senior brother so admired within the sect, could not compare.
If one of them became the person tied to his opportunity and a romance were to develop from there, would that not resemble the romantic plot of a storybook?
No wonder everyone was so excited. Who knew if such a heaven-sent stroke of fortune might fall upon them?
“Oh.” Yu Wei did not quite understand, but she did not care much either.
Big hearted as she was, she had already forgotten the strange feeling from yesterday.
A few days later, the sect ceremony finally concluded and everything returned to normal.
The little cat demon resumed her previous routine of sneaking around to read storybooks in the middle of the night and sunbathing during the day to make up for sleep. She did not know that someone had been following her for half a month, silently watching her from the shadows every single day.
Xueyan Hall was the outer mountain peak school where Yu Wei attended classes. Because the disciples had to wake early to do chores in the morning, lessons at Xueyan Hall were held in the afternoon, with outer disciples attending once every three days.
Naturally, the outer lecture hall could not compare to the refinement of the inner sect. Usually one instructor faced two hundred outer disciples, and if one arrived late and had to sit at the back, it was almost impossible to hear anything.
Yu Wei and Ning Suyi were regulars in the back row. The little cat demon loved curling up in a distant corner, daydreaming or sleeping through class, not a single word entering her mind, completely unlike the other outer disciples who listened attentively.
On this day, she lay sprawled across the last row desk as usual, dozing off without noticing how the room suddenly fell silent.
“Where is Yu Wei?”
Still drowsy with her eyes closed, she thought she must have misheard. Otherwise, why did it sound as though someone was calling her name?
At that moment, Ning Suyi lightly nudged her.
Yu Wei opened her eyes and looked up in confusion, only to see many disciples in front turning their heads toward her, while at the very front, the instructor seemed to be whispering to Elder Liu of this peak.
After their conversation ended, the instructor’s eyes widened in shock before he began searching for her as well.
“Instructor, she’s in the last row,” one disciple said.
The instructor and the outer sect elder immediately locked onto Yu Wei in the back row. The instructor beckoned. “Yu Wei, come here.”
Yu Wei was somewhat bewildered. Her first reaction was not to stand up obediently but to instinctively turn toward Ning Suyi. Ning Suyi frowned, offering no immediate response.
Usually quick witted, even Ning Suyi could not determine why an outer sect elder had personally come looking for Yu Wei.
Clearly, Elder Liu was far more anxious than either of them. In just a few strides, he reached Yu Wei and forcibly dragged her out of the lecture hall.
Staggering, Yu Wei winced at the pain from the cultivator’s strong grip on her.
Once in the corridor, Elder Liu strode ahead without considering whether the girl could keep up.
After only a few steps, Yu Wei heard the instructor’s stern voice from behind.
“What are you coming out for? This has nothing to do with you. Go back!”
Turning her head, she saw that Ning Suyi had followed them out but was blocked in the corridor by the instructor.
The woman’s brows were tightly furrowed as she spoke in a low voice. “Did Yu Wei do something wrong? She’s young and doesn’t understand many things. If there’s any problem, I’ll take responsibility for her…”
“Disrespecting your teachers and leaving the lecture hall at will. Have you forgotten all the rules?” the instructor rebuked.
His hand moved to his waist, and his belt transformed into a black teaching ruler.
At the sight of the black ruler, Yu Wei’s neck tingled. If she had been in her cat form, her fur would likely have stood on end.
Before she met Ning Suyi, she had been beaten several times, and the instructors who punished her had used teaching rulers just like this.
The First Immortal Sect had far too many rules. Many of them were basic common sense, but Yu Wei had never lived within human order. How could she know such things? She only felt that whatever she did was wrong and that she would be beaten for no reason.
The ruler was no ordinary object. It left no marks when it struck, yet the pain was excruciating, enough to leave her ears drooping and her spirit wilted for half a month.
In the simple and pure world of a little cat, this was the most terrifying punishment imaginable.
The moment she saw the instructor raise the ruler toward Ning Suyi, Yu Wei immediately began struggling, her cat ears popping out from stress.
The outer sect elder’s hand was as strong as a vice, rendering her struggles useless. She turned to swipe at him, but the Foundation Establishment stage Elder Liu easily restrained her.
“Insolent beast!” Elder Liu roared in fury.
He was already uneasy and filled with pent up anger.
There were countless clean and respectable disciples in the entire First Immortal Sect, yet that heaven-favored prodigy named Ling Xiao had singled out Yu Wei, the only one with an inferior bloodline.
He had originally intended to privately warn Yu Wei not to reveal her demon form in front of the honored guest so as not to disgrace the First Immortal Sect. Yet before they even left the building, she had already exposed herself!
As expected of an ungrateful beast that could never be tamed.
The outer sect elder raised his hand high and swung it toward the girl. Under the looming shadow, Yu Wei instinctively hunched her shoulders.
The sharp wind of the strike seemed already upon her, yet the pain never came.
At the same time, she heard the outer sect elder sharply suck in a breath.
Opening her eyes, she saw a tall figure standing before her. It was the very young man from the trial platform who had met her gaze before.
His lean, powerful fingers tightly gripped the elder’s raised wrist, and everyone could hear the sickening sound of the elder’s bones creaking.
Elder Liu lifted his head and met Yu Chengyan’s blood soaked crimson eyes with trembling fear.