Chapter 271: Secret Chamber

"Fairy little sister."

"I already told you, don’t call me..."

Ye Xingyun interrupted Bai He before he could finish speaking.

"Just let me call you that. Unless one day you marry my brother, then I’ll change the way I address you."

Bai He rolled his eyes at him.

Since that was the case, he could not be bothered correcting him anymore.

Every attempt to correct him was just a waste of time anyway.

"What is it?"

"Can I become a cultivator?"

The sudden question caught him off guard.

Bai He carefully sized him up from head to toe before shaking his head.

"No."

His answer was honest and direct.

There was not the slightest attempt to soften the blow.

"But Big Brother can..."

"The reason your brother can cultivate is probably because he inherited that talent from his mother. It has nothing to do with your father. As for you..."

Bai He paused briefly before continuing.

"Wouldn’t it be better for you to simply live comfortably as a young master? Your mother is a Grand Princess. What could you possibly have to worry about in the future?"

Even he had started sighing over his circumstances?

If people like him still felt dissatisfied, then countless others in this world might as well give up entirely.

Why waste their time struggling at all?

....

"So you’re talking about my First Mother."

Bai He nodded.

"You remember her?"

"I remember a little."

Ye Xingyun lowered his head as he thought about it.

"I remember that she and Mother didn’t get along very well. But she treated me very kindly. She was a very gentle and beautiful person."

Bai He and Ye Xingyun sat together on the stone bench outside, chatting casually about one thing and another.

Meanwhile, inside the hall.

Everything seemed to have fallen silent.

In the end, it was Ye Yuan who spoke first.

"Shiyuan, you’ve come back."

"Don’t you think those words came a little too late?"

Ye Shiyuan’s voice was calm, but there was a cold sharpness beneath it.

"I want to ask you something. Everything Princess Guantao did to my mother, did you know about it or not?"

Ye Yuan froze for a moment.

Faced with Ye Shiyuan’s questioning, he found himself unable to answer immediately.

Looking at Ye Shiyuan’s expression felt as though he had suddenly been transported back to many years ago.

"I..."

"You knew. You knew all along."

Ye Shiyuan’s gaze grew colder.

"You would only send my mother a few meaningless medicines and pretend to care, yet you never dared to say a single word against her treatment. Only my mother was foolish enough to believe in you."

His voice gradually became heavier.

"Originally, I thought the past was the past. I thought it no longer mattered. But what I never imagined was that even after my mother died, that woman still refused to let her go."

Ye Yuan took a step forward.

"Shiyuan, don’t..."

"I am a cultivator now. Naturally, I will not lower myself to fighting ordinary people."

Ye Shiyuan’s expression remained composed.

"Mother also told me that I should not ruin myself because of people who are unworthy."

His eyes darkened.

"But things are different now. Since Princess Guantao has chosen to cooperate with someone from the ghost race, then this matter falls within my authority to deal with."

With a sweep of his sleeve, Ye Shiyuan turned around and walked out.

There was not the slightest trace of attachment or hesitation in his movements.

"Master."

He called out.

After hearing him, Bai He immediately stood and walked over.

"Shiyuan, have you finished talking?"

"Mm."

He nodded.

"Master, where exactly did you discover that member of the ghost race yesterday? Could you take me there?"

"Of course."

Bai He nodded without hesitation.

He then brought Ye Shiyuan there.

Ye Xingyun followed behind them as well.

He did not ask where the two of them were going, but judging from his expression, there was still a trace of fear in his eyes.

If he was afraid, he should not have followed them.

Yet despite his fear, he still came along.

After entering the study, Bai He found the hidden door once again and saw the strange patterns engraved upon it.

Then suddenly, a loud thud sounded from behind them.

Something had fallen to the ground.

When they turned around and looked, who else could it be but Ye Xingyun?

He had most likely been affected by the patterns above the door and had fainted because of them.

Ye Shiyuan dragged him off to one side.

Then he entered the secret chamber together with Bai He.

These bizarre patterns had no effect on either of them.

However, the member of the ghost race was already gone.

Even so, everything else remained exactly where it had been.

Ye Shiyuan looked at the burning furnace.

He looked at the mess scattered across the floor.

He looked at the whip hanging from the wall, a whip specifically used to lash spirit souls.

He could easily imagine what had happened here in the past.

Fortunately, Bai He’s hand was holding his.

That simple touch gave him a measure of courage.

"Shiyuan, these should be your mother’s real ashes."

Inside a jar was a label bearing his mother’s name.

The moment Ye Shiyuan’s fingers touched it, the bottle containing his mother’s spirit reacted immediately.

That alone confirmed it.

This was indeed her true resting place.

Ye Shiyuan carefully put the jar away.

After conducting a brief investigation of the chamber, they discovered several scattered pieces of paper on the ground.

On them were strange symbols.

Above the symbols were lines of bizarre writing.

These were most likely characters unique to the ghost race.

Neither of them could understand the language, so they could only collect the papers for the time being.

Just as it seemed they had nearly finished their investigation, clear footsteps suddenly sounded from outside.

When Ye Shiyuan and Bai He emerged from the secret chamber, they discovered that the entire study had already been surrounded.