Chapter 326

Chapter 326: Biological Father!

However, before Ye Tianming could get a clear look, those two figures blurred and vanished without a trace.

Ye Tianming froze.

What was going on?

He focused his gaze, but at the far end of the Starry Road, those two figures had completely disappeared.

Ye Tianming’s brow furrowed.

Someone else had come out of the official residence?

But if they had come out of the official residence, how could they have possibly left this Starry Road?

Something was wrong.

Ye Tianming felt that something was very wrong.

He took one long look at the empty end of the star river, then turned and continued walking forward.

In a stretch of starry sky.

Two women were watching Ye Tianming at that moment.

One of them was Cang Han, dressed in a moon-white long gown, like an immortal descended to the mortal world.

Behind her stood Yu Xiu.

Cang Han simply kept her gaze on Ye Tianming without saying a word.

Yu Xiu stood respectfully behind her.

After a long while, Cang Han withdrew her gaze.

Yu Xiu said softly, “My lord, everyone is waiting for you.”

Cang Han asked, “Is the Divine Dao Sect’s hall truly going to abandon this official residence?”

Yu Xiu said, “If that Divine Son cannot kill the old gods and those few from the Cultivator’s Academy, ascend to godhood, and reabsorb the incense offerings, then they will completely abandon this official residence……”

After a brief silence, Cang Han said, “Since he has already left this official residence, it is no longer my concern.”

With that, she glanced once more at Ye Tianming on the Starry Road, then turned and left.

After taking two steps, she suddenly stopped and said, “Wipe out the family of that woman in white from earlier.”

Yu Xiu bowed deeply, turned, and vanished into the horizon.

Cang Han slowly closed her eyes, “Teacher, your student wishes to send you a great gift……”

On the Starry Road.

Ye Tianming continued forward. Along the way, he took out the storage rings he had previously seized, which also included the ones he had obtained earlier from the Divine Presence Grounds below.

He first sorted through the storage rings from the Divine Presence Grounds. Inside them were a total of 1.6 billion True Star Core Crystals, along with three Supreme Ancestral Artifacts, and the rest were various pills and martial arts divine abilities.

1.6 billion True Star Core Crystals were undoubtedly of enormous help to him.

After all, cultivation cost money too.

As for the Supreme Ancestral Artifacts, he wasn’t particularly interested. After all, he now had the Tianming Sword. Of course, these could be sold for money, though he wasn’t sure if they would be of any use in this world.

For now, this divine cosmos was entirely unknown to him.

Ye Tianming then looked through the storage rings he had seized in this cosmos. He opened his palm, and a thumb-sized piece of jade appeared in his hand. The jade was warm in color throughout, like a small wisp of flame, containing a very special kind of energy — one that was completely different from the energy held within Star Core Crystals.

Among those storage rings, this type of jade was not plentiful. All together, there were only a little over 20,000 pieces.

Besides this jade, the storage rings also contained a jumble of miscellaneous items that appeared to be of little value.

Clearly, those people were not of particularly high standing.

After putting away all the storage rings, Ye Tianming looked up into the distance. By now he had reached the other end of the city, and the Starry Road beneath his feet still showed no end in sight.

After leaving the city, he looked up toward the end of the star river and could faintly make out a palace hall.

The Starry Road led directly to that hall.

Ye Tianming quickened his pace.

Soon, he arrived before the hall. It was enormous, towering and majestic, its gates tightly shut. Not far in front of the gates, at the base of the stone steps, stood a statue — only half of it remained, with the other half lying on the ground.

It had clearly been cut by a sword, as the cut was smooth as a mirror.

The Starry Road extended all the way to the base of the stone steps before the hall’s gates.

When Ye Tianming was about to step off the Starry Road, he felt a trace of unease. The area outside was imbued with a special Dao law, one that he was currently in no position to withstand.

But after a brief moment of thought, he stepped off the Starry Road anyway.

Nothing happened at all.

Ye Tianming was somewhat surprised, but didn’t dwell on it. He gently pushed open the hall’s gates. The interior was vast and empty.

The moment Ye Tianming stepped inside, he heard a piercing wail, “Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!”

A ghostly howl.

Ye Tianming looked up. At the far end of the hall, a man in a long robe lay sprawled on the ground, one foot pinned down by a wisp of sword light.

“Someone’s here!”

The man’s long hair was a wild mess, and he looked half-crazed, “Someone’s finally here! Someone’s finally here! Oh heavens!”

Ye Tianming suddenly turned and walked away.

Seeing this, the man was first stunned, then his eyes went wide. He waved his arms and legs frantically, shouting, “Don’t go! Please don’t go…… Dad, dear dad…… please don’t leave.”

Ye Tianming: “…….”

Ye Tianming stopped. He turned and walked over to the man. Judging by the man’s attire, he had clearly once been someone of considerable standing.

He looked the man over, then said, “And you are?”

The man immediately pleaded, “Dad, dear dad, could you first pull out the sword light pinning me down?”

Ye Tianming looked behind the man. His foot was firmly pinned by that wisp of sword light.

Ye Tianming shook his head. “I don’t dare.”

The man’s expression stiffened. He knew what the other party was worried about, so he quickly said, “It’s fine, the one who pinned me here came from the same place as you. If you pull it out, nothing will happen to you.”

Ye Tianming still shook his head.

The man pleaded desperately, “Dad, dear dad, I’ve been pinned here for over 800 years! Have some pity on me!”

Ye Tianming asked, “Was it the Guanxuan Sword Master who pinned you here?”

The man lay on the ground weeping bitterly, “It was him, it was him! What a sin!”

Ye Tianming: “…….”

The man quickly looked up at Ye Tianming, “Dad, please save me! I’ll be your loyal servant……”

Ye Tianming thought for a moment, then said, “I’ve just arrived here and know nothing about this place, nor do I know anything about you. Saving you rashly — what if you turn on me? What would I do then? So I hope you can understand.”

The man immediately swore, “I won’t turn on you, absolutely not, I swear it, I’ll swear on all the gods!!”

Ye Tianming shook his head. “Where we come from, we don’t believe in gods.”

The man: “…….”

Ye Tianming thought for a moment, then said, “I’m not familiar with this place. Could you tell me about it?”

The man said pitifully, “Can you save me first?”

Ye Tianming stood up and walked away.

Seeing this, the man hurriedly said, “Dad, don’t go, I’ll talk, I’ll talk first.”

Ye Tianming stopped and looked at the man. “As I said just now, we’ve only just met and don’t know each other yet. So I don’t dare save you rashly. Please understand.”

The man’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t dare say much, because he had noticed that although the young man before him was young, his mind seemed to work quite well.

The man calmed himself down, then said, “What do you want to know?”

Ye Tianming glanced around the hall, then asked, “What is this place?”

The man said, “The Sacrificial Hall.”

Ye Tianming looked at the man. “And you are?”

The man glanced at him and said nothing.

Ye Tianming stood up and walked away.

The man quickly said, “Brother, big brother, don’t be like this. I’ll cooperate, I’ll cooperate unconditionally. My name is Lu Ren. I was originally the head priest of this Sacrificial Hall, responsible for collecting the incense offerings of this official residence……”

Ye Tianming said, “The incense offerings from the official residences below?”

Lu Ren glanced at him and nodded. “Yes.”

Ye Tianming said, “Incense offerings — is that the power of faith?”

Lu Ren hesitated, then said, “More or less, but there are some differences.”

Ye Tianming asked, “What differences?”

Lu Ren said, “The power of faith only draws on the spiritual belief of living beings, whereas incense offerings not only draw on the spiritual belief of living beings, but also on the soul belief of living beings.”

Ye Tianming’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Living beings must be sacrificed?”

Lu Ren nodded. “Yes.”

Ye Tianming fell silent.

Lu Ren carefully glanced at Ye Tianming, then said, “It has nothing to do with me. I’m just an employee.”

Ye Tianming looked at Lu Ren. “Why were you pinned here by the Guanxuan Sword Master?”

Lu Ren smiled bitterly. “Brother, all I can say is that I was unlucky. As the head priest here, I wasn’t only responsible for collecting incense offerings — I was also responsible for overseeing this official residence. If someone tried to leave, I naturally had to intervene. So when the Guanxuan Sword Master came out, I……”

At this point, he suddenly burst into tears. “I didn’t know he was that powerful! If I had known, I would have run straight away! I’m just an employee. I never had any intention of fighting to the death!”

Ye Tianming: “……”

Lu Ren cried harder and harder.

Ye Tianming said, “The Guanxuan Sword Master didn’t kill you — he only pinned you here. I think he must have had another purpose. What do you think?”

Lu Ren’s eyes flickered. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then stopped himself.

Ye Tianming stood up and walked away.

Without the slightest hesitation.

Lu Ren was instantly terrified, and hurriedly said, “Dear dad, I’ll confess everything, I’ll come clean about all of it!”

Ye Tianming stopped and turned to look at Lu Ren. “Be sincere. I’m an honest person. You can’t deceive me.”

Lu Ren’s mouth twitched repeatedly. He let out a deep sigh. “The Guanxuan Sword Master naturally left instructions. He didn’t kill me and kept me here to make things easier for those who came after……”

Ye Tianming fell silent.

Lu Ren glanced at Ye Tianming and continued, “You’ve just arrived here. You have no incense offerings in your body, so you simply cannot survive here. You could say that the moment you leave that road outside, the Dao and laws of this place will treat you as an outsider and strike you down directly.”

At this point, he suddenly grew agitated. “If you free me, I can help you obtain incense offerings so that you can live normally here……”

Ye Tianming thought for a moment, then said, “Let me think about it.”

Lu Ren: “…….”

Hearing Ye Tianming’s words, Lu Ren was instantly at a loss.

He knew he had been outmaneuvered by the young man before him.

Having realized that Ye Tianming’s mind was no simple thing, Lu Ren decided to change his approach.

Come clean.

He was at a disadvantage right now, and the other party was so exceptionally sharp-minded. The only thing he could do was be honest.

At the very least, the young man before him didn’t seem like a bad person.