Chapter 282

Chapter 282: He Is Not My Blood!

Watching Ye Tianming leave without a glance back, the woman in the plain white dress felt a sudden ripple stir across what had been the still surface of her heart. She gazed at his retreating figure and said softly, “I hope you are like me, yet not like me…… child, do you understand?”

　　”Qing’er, you are wrong.”

　　At that moment, a sigh suddenly rose from beside the woman in the plain white dress.

　　It was Ye Xuan, the Sword Master of the Human Realm.

　　The woman in the plain white dress turned to look at Ye Xuan, “Brother……”

　　The Sword Master of the Human Realm smiled faintly, “Do you know what matters most to a child?”

　　Without waiting for the woman in the plain white dress to speak, the Sword Master of the Human Realm continued, “It is actually love. Many parents in this world of ours tend to be self-righteous — they think, I am doing this for your own good, so you should understand, you should accept it. But little do they know, so many times we are simply moved by our own intentions.”

　　As he spoke, he let out a low sigh, “Take me, for instance. If my father had come to me directly back then and said: I want to temper you, you will face many hardships ahead, you must face them on your own, I hope you will surpass me…… if he had said that to me, no matter how much I suffered afterward, I would have had no complaints. Sometimes, children are quite easy to win over — one sentence is enough.”

　　With that, he shook his head and smiled.

　　Thinking back to those days, he too had endured great suffering.

　　Was he afraid of hardship?

　　Not really. He was still very young then, and while he longed for his parents’ recognition, how could he not have also hoped they might be there beside him?

　　Tempering!

　　So many times, parents think only of tempering their children, and in doing so, overlook what the child needs most in that moment.

　　To put it plainly — when I needed companionship, you were not there. And by the time I truly matured, I no longer needed your companionship.

　　Of course, he had long since made peace with all of it.

　　Looking back, everything was but a passing cloud.

　　The woman in the plain white dress slowly closed her eyes and said nothing.

　　The Sword Master of the Human Realm let out a quiet sigh and took her hand. He understood, of course — Qing’er was so perceptive, how could she not grasp these truths?

　　She understood all of it.

　　Just as she had said.

　　She hoped he would be like her, yet not like her.

　　What a hope that was!

　　To think, she had never held such expectations for him back then!

　　The heart of a true master must be forged through a thousand trials.

　　The Sword Master of the Human Realm said softly, “Qing’er, in the end, you don’t want him to hate you for the rest of his life, do you?”

　　The woman in the plain white dress nodded in silence.

　　She understood every principle in the world, but in the moment Ye Tianming had turned and walked away, she truly realized for the first time that she had overlooked this child’s present feelings and emotions.

　　Tribulations and emotions, even life and death — to her, these were all trifling matters.

　　But not to Ye Tianming.

　　He yearned to be valued, yearned for the warmth of family.

　　The woman in the plain white dress slowly lifted her gaze toward the far end of her sight, and when it came to rest once more upon that slight, slender figure, a rare softness appeared in her eyes — along with…..regret.

　　The Sword Master of the Human Realm smiled, “Learn to dote on him a little, the way you used to dote on me…… no, no, wait, maybe that won’t work either. If you did, we might end up with another King of the Mountain — ha ha!”

　　King of the Mountain!

　　At the mention of this, he suddenly turned his head, and recalling all that had once been, said with a touch of melancholy, “My era has, in the end, already passed.”

　　With that, he suddenly laughed again.

　　All of it — he could now laugh it all off.

　　At that moment, the woman in the plain white dress suddenly extended a finger and lightly tapped it.

　　Thud!

　　In an instant, the space before her shattered directly, and immediately after, a man dressed in a Taoist robe came crashing to his knees.

　　It was Old Yang.

　　At the sight of the woman in the plain white dress, Old Yang’s face instantly drained to a sheet of white, “You…… what are you doing?”

　　The woman in the plain white dress fixed her gaze on Old Yang, “This is all your fault.”

　　”Oh, heavens above!”

　　Old Yang wailed inwardly, I only ran my mouth that one time! Why do you keep coming after me?!

　　The woman in the plain white dress slowly raised her eyes toward the distance, “He is not a single drop of my blood. Understood?”

　　Old Yang instinctively asked, “Then what is he?”

　　The woman in the plain white dress instantly looked at him. Old Yang, sensing something he couldn’t quite name, went sheet-white in an instant, hurriedly bowed his head, his mind already struck with shock beyond all measure.

　　He had entertained countless guesses, but —

　　He never could have imagined it!

　　Never in a thousand years!

　　Damn!

　　Old Yang just wanted to die right now.

　　Why did he have to open his big mouth and ask?

　　He truly had no self-control!

　　Good lord!

　　He was absolutely eaten up with regret.

　　The woman in the plain white dress paid him no more attention, and slowly turned her head. Her gaze was directed toward the Yang family of the Guanxuan Universe.

　　Her gaze grew gradually cold.

　　Following Ye Tianming’s announcement inside Guanxuan Hall, the entire Guanxuan Universe was struck like an earthquake — his words had set off a storm of shock and awe.

　　The Yang family was actually going to relinquish power!

　　This was beyond everyone’s expectations without a doubt.

　　But it was clearly no idle gesture from this young master. The very day after his announcement, the cabinet began its reforms. Moreover, the cabinet started establishing Faith Rankings across the entire Guanxuan Universe, and these rankings were divided into three stages. The first stage was pure white.

　　When the people’s satisfaction with their lives reached eighty percent, the Faith Ranking would show pure white. But if satisfaction was only between fifty and seventy percent, it would be merely pale white, and if it fell below fifty percent, it would turn black.

　　This was essentially public polling!

　　Updated in real time!

　　No one was permitted to alter it.

　　Beyond this, the authority of the cabinet’s elders was also greatly elevated — they now held the power to remove the hall master — while the cabinet’s members would be elected by popular vote.

　　In other words, all three parties now had a system of checks in place.

　　Of course, everyone knew full well that this required the Yang family’s cooperation. If the Yang family refused to cooperate, they could simply ignore everything.

　　But now, Yang Jia had announced that going forward, members of the Yang family would no longer serve as hall master.

　　Power returned to the people!

　　And the Yang family was even willing to serve as the overseer.

　　Ending autocracy with autocracy!

　　Without a doubt, this young master’s prestige across the entire Guanxuan Universe had reached its peak. If the series of measures he had put forward were carried through and shown to be working, his reputation would even surpass that of his father and grandfather.

　　Whatever the case, the policies this young master had spoken of were genuinely beneficial to the people — especially the establishment of branch academies that would enroll only ordinary students. This undoubtedly gave hope to countless ordinary families.

　　Moreover, the instructors for these ordinary branch academies were sent from the main academy. Though they only served on an occasional basis, for the ordinary people below, this was already an enormous opportunity.

　　Ye Tianming could not achieve absolute fairness, but he could give more people a chance.

　　Before long, sweeping reform began across the entire Guanxuan Universe.

　　And on that day, a man walked into Guanxuan Hall — it was Ye Jia, who had naturally been brought back at the request of Miss Ding.

　　By now, he knew everything.

　　Inside Guanxuan Hall.

　　Miss Ding was busy at work and did not look up at Yang Jia.

　　After a moment, Yang Jia broke the silence first, “Miss Ding, he is gone?”

　　Miss Ding nodded and said calmly, “He took nothing with him.”

　　Yang Jia lowered his head and said nothing.

　　Miss Ding said, “I will stay here for half a year. Within those six months, I will see the policies he left behind put into practice. After six months, I will leave, and you will continue as young master — but you may not alter his policies.”

　　Yang Jia said nothing.

　　Miss Ding continued, “Do you know what it feels like for me, handling these affairs of state?”

　　Yang Jia looked at Miss Ding. Miss Ding said, “The greatest feeling is this — over all these years, the accumulated ills within the academy have grown far too deep, and the influence of the great clans and sects has penetrated far too thoroughly. They have almost taken control of every hall within the academy……”

　　At that, she looked up at Yang Jia, “Have you ever paid attention to any of this before?”

　　Yang Jia lowered his head and said nothing.

　　Miss Ding continued, “You have established the Way of the Emperor, but do you know what Way your father established? It is the Way of All Beings. Did he lack the ability to unify the entire universe? Would it have been your turn to do it? Why did he not do it? Have you ever thought about these questions?”

　　Yang Jia still said nothing.

　　Miss Ding asked, “When Ye Tianming was here, he did not clear the Ye family’s name. Do you know why?”

　　Yang Jia said, “He wanted me to come back and do it.”

　　”You are wrong.”

　　Miss Ding fixed her eyes on him, “It is because the people are already dead. Whether the name is cleared or not held no meaning for him whatsoever.”

　　Yang Jia was stunned.

　　Miss Ding said softly, “No meaning at all…..”

　　Yang Jia looked at Miss Ding, “Why did my father and the others never tell me any of this…….”

　　Miss Ding looked up at him, “Are you blaming your parents?”

　　Yang Jia shook his head, “I never thought that deeply about it back then. I simply wanted so badly to surpass my father, to be more powerful than him.”

　　Miss Ding said, “In truth, they did teach you — it is just that from the moment you were born, you were already at the pinnacle, praised by tens of thousands, and in that, you lost yourself.”

　　Yang Jia gave a bitter smile.

　　Indeed, from the very moment of his birth, he had already stood at the pinnacle. Everyone around him sung his praises, and not a single person dared show him the slightest disrespect.

　　Over time, it was only natural that he came to tolerate no disrespect from anyone in his presence.

　　And because he had reached the pinnacle at birth, in his world, everything beyond the goal of unifying the universe was a trivial matter of no consequence.

　　Miss Ding looked at Yang Jia, “Your grandfather sent you down to train because he wanted you to understand — since the Yang family established the Way of Order, it must bear responsibility for all living beings. This is the Yang family’s duty. You must grasp that.”

　　Yang Jia nodded, “I understand.”

　　Miss Ding slowly rose to her feet. She glanced at the Sword Ancestor before her, a flash of something complicated passing through her eyes, “You should learn well from him. And also — don’t spend all your time cultivating from now on. Read more books.”

　　With that, she walked toward the door.

　　After a few steps, she suddenly stopped and continued, “The ones within the academy — An Yan and the others — are all great talents. They must be cultivated, but also kept in check. Without restraint, any talent may spiral out of control. Also, the Divine Realm will issue a challenge to the Yang family in three months. Last time, Ye Tianming handled it. Now, it falls to you.”

　　With that, she walked out without looking back, her gaze fixing on the horizon, growing gradually cold.

　　There was still one more thing she had to do.

　　After all, Ye Tianming’s Dao heart had not yet broken.

　　And the most despairing thing one could do to a person in this lifetime was, without a doubt, to give them hope — and then take it away.

　　This game of chess had only just begun.

　　Inside the hall.

　　After a long, long silence, Yang Jia walked up to the Sword Ancestor. He reached out and picked it up, saying softly, “Good. You are still here.”

　　But at that moment, the Sword Ancestor gave a faint tremor and let out a sword cry. In the next instant, it transformed into a beam of sword light and vanished from the hall.

　　The Sword Ancestor was gone too.

　　Yang Jia stood frozen where he was.