Chapter 573 506: Ye Liyuan's Unspeakable Dark Past, Today I Know I Am Me...

The black coffin was pried open.

A sleeping beauty with pale skin and an elegant demeanor lay silently inside.

Ye Liyuan stared blankly at the woman, whose beauty was no less than her own... or rather, the person lying in the coffin was herself.

"What in the world is going on?"

A chill shot up her spine to the nape of her neck. Ye Liyuan's delicate frame trembled as she staggered backward.

'Liyuan, Liyuan? Can you hear me? You're trembling badly. Did something happen?'

'I'll give you the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. If you haven't recovered by then, your Senior Sister will have no choice but to force you awake.'

Ye Liyuan listened to Lu Ruoxi's voice, transmitted into her Heart Lake via a Secret Technique.

She took a deep breath, and her restless heart calmed down.

'I only have the time it takes for one incense stick to burn. I can't just stop here.'

'Ah Han... he's still waiting for me to bring him home. We were supposed to go see the rest of the lantern festival together.'

'How can I, Ye Liyuan, fall here?!'

The fear in Ye Liyuan's eyes dissipated, replaced by a fiercely burning spark.

She walked up to the black coffin and looked down at the other version of herself lying inside.

'No matter what kind of monster you are, I'm going to find out why you're in my Heart Lake and why you're obstructing my Cultivation!'

Ye Liyuan held her breath and tentatively gathered her mental energy to touch the person in the coffin.

In an instant, a torrent of black energy surged from her fingertips, coursing up her arm and striking Ye Liyuan's body.

"This... This is!"

...

...

RUMBLE—

Lead-gray clouds pressed down on the sky, making the already solemn and oppressive Ye Family cemetery feel even colder and more sorrowful.

The entire Ye Family clan held black paper umbrellas, standing densely packed before a tombstone like a flock of Black Ravens praying for the dead.

A young Ye Liyuan stood at the very front of the crowd. Her father, beside her, pointed to the tombstone and said:

"Liyuan, your grandfather has passed away. Do you know what this means?"

Ye Liyuan was silent for a moment, a contemplation unsuited for her age flashing in her dark eyes.

"The Ye Family's only Golden Core has fallen. Right now, the person with the highest Cultivation in the clan is only at the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment. The Ye Family... is going to decline.

We might even be carved up and devoured by other Golden Core Clans very soon."

The young girl's voice pronounced her family's impending tragic fate in the cemetery without any reservation.

Father Ye nodded, his face devoid of expression.

"Liyuan, are you willing to marry into the Golden Core Clan, the Xia Family, as a concubine? This might be a way for our Ye Family to survive."

Ye Liyuan's pupils contracted. Her small hands, hidden beneath her black robes, clenched into tight fists.

"Father... I'm too young. Let my cousin go."

Father Ye shook his head, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Liyuan, your lack of awareness makes me feel that your upbringing has been a failure.

You are the talented Jade Maiden whose fame spreads throughout Jiangnan. Sending you is the only way to show our utmost sincerity."

"Don't forget what I've taught you since you were a child: climb higher, no matter the cost.

Going to the Xia Family as a concubine is a temporary hardship... If the Ye Family doesn't fall, you'll have chances to climb higher in the future. But if the Ye Family falls, you'll have no chance at all."

Ye's Mother listened to Father Ye's verdict, remaining silent.

The surrounding clan members were also quiet, showing none of the closeness and care they usually did for her, the young lady of the Ye Family.

'It seemed they had already held a meeting and decided my fate long ago, back when Grandfather was gravely ill and his life was nearing its end.'

'As for my opinion... as a political sacrifice, I had no right to one.'

Ye Liyuan could only nod, obediently submitting to her elder's words as she always did, just as she had been taught in her education as a well-bred lady.

'But as she lowered her gaze, she thought of the Golden Silk Dragon Bird her grandfather kept in a cage.'

'The Golden Silk Dragon Bird is born noble and can easily surpass a Foundation Establishment Cultivator upon reaching adulthood.'

'But the one in her grandfather's cage was always sickly and utterly frail.'

'Yes, without freedom, what use is high potential? It's nothing more than a plaything.'

'What talk is there of climbing higher?'

None of the clan members present knew what Ye Liyuan was thinking. Or perhaps, even if they knew, they wouldn't care.

All they knew was that by "sacrificing" their young lady, the Ye Family, even if it became a vassal to another Golden Core Clan, could at least maintain its status as a noble family of renown in Jiangnan and continue living their lives of leisure.

And so, the day of the funeral passed.

「The next day.」

Ye's Mother pushed open her daughter's door, intending to take Ye Liyuan to be fitted for her wedding attire.

But upon seeing the startling sight of blood in the room, she cried out and fainted.

Afterward, shocking news spread from the Ye Mansion throughout Jiangnan.

The personal Maid assigned to supervise and serve Ye Liyuan had been killed during the night.

And the talented young lady of the Ye Family, the pride of Jiangnan, was nowhere to be found!

...

「Three years later.」

The young lady of the Ye Family who had run away from home, Ye Liyuan, had traveled on foot across the territories of several nations and was finally standing before the gates of the Xuanyuan Dao Sect.

She successfully passed the assessment and became an Outer Disciple of the Dao Sect.

But becoming an Outer Disciple was only the beginning.

Every Outer Disciple was given ten years to grow. If, at the end of those ten years, they had not entered the Dao Sect's Inner Sect, they would have to leave. The Inner Sect's assessment was held once every five years, and each time, it only accepted less than one percent of the applicants.

The promotion from Outer Disciple to the Inner Sect was the most brutal competition that determined whether they could formally step onto the path of the Dao.

Because the number of promotion spots was limited, new disciples in the Outer Sect with exceptionally high talent were sometimes jointly suppressed by the older disciples.

And after three years of hardship, the already precocious Ye Liyuan had become even more mature and reserved.