*Knock, knock!*
The courtyard door was knocked twice, then pushed open.
Yun Fei and Huai Li both turned their gazes toward the sound.
They saw Hua Li enter, followed by a woman dressed in red.
Yun Fei did not recognize the woman in red, but judging by Huai Li’s reaction, she seemed to know her.
Huai Li immediately stood up, bowed, and cupped her fists in a salute to the two.
“Master! Vice Principal!”
The Vice Principal?! This woman in red was the Vice Principal?
Yun Fei’s eyes widened.
She quickly followed Huai Li’s lead and saluted them.
To be honest, she had always imagined the Vice Principal to be an old fellow like the Principal.
Instead, she looked quite young and seemed to be on good terms with Hua Li.
Actually, “good terms” was an understatement—the Vice Principal was practically hanging off Hua Li!
‘This relationship is definitely not ordinary.’
*Ahem!*
As if hearing the greeting, Hong Niang quickly took her hands off Hua Li, stood up straight, and resumed a serious expression.
“Oh! It’s Huai Li! It has been a long time since we last met. Has your cultivation been going smoothly lately?”
“Thank you for your concern, Vice Principal. I have had some insights recently and my cultivation has broken through to the Tianxuan Realm. I haven’t neglected my alchemy either; the success rate for Tier 7 pills has already reached over 90%.”
“Mhm, not bad. Keep up the hard work. However, I came here to find Yun Fei. If you don’t mind, could you give us a moment?”
“Of course! It just so happens that my medicinal herb consumption has been a bit high lately. I’ll go down the mountain to purchase some.”
Without further questions, Huai Li stepped onto her sword and flew out of the courtyard—she didn’t even use the front gate!
Once Huai Li left, the pressure suddenly mounted.
As a mere insignificant person in the Shattering Void Realm, Yun Fei felt somewhat suffocated facing a Taichu Realm and a Ziwei Realm expert at the same time.
“Uh… that, Vice Principal, is there something you need from me?”
“Hmm? Yun Fei, I was the one who fished you out of that Secret Realm. Why are you acting so distant?”
“Ah? Then I…”
“Call me Aunt Feng, or you can call me Hong Niang like everyone else does. Your mother and I are old friends; I’d prefer it if you called me Aunt Feng.”
Yun Fei was slightly stunned. Hong Niang’s overly familiar attitude…
‘Does she really know Mother well?’
‘But why have I never heard Mother mention her?’
“Hey, weren’t you just someone the Demon Sovereign saved in passing back then? Where do you get off calling yourselves old friends? Besides, you didn’t even get to speak to her, did you?”
“Hey, shush—don’t say it out loud! I’m just trying to get on the good side of the Prophecy’s Child—”
Yun Fei’s hearing was quite sharp.
Moreover, Hua Li seemed intent on exposing Hong Niang, so she didn’t lower her voice much.
Hearing this, Yun Fei’s bewildered expression immediately softened, replaced by a speechless, deadpan look.
“Oh! Yun Fei, don’t worry about those details! Let’s talk business!”
“Oh.”
“Ahem! After that incident a while ago, you must have gained a deeper understanding of this prophecy thing. I heard the Sect Master of the Evergreen Sect has already spoken to you? You talked about the Prophecy, right?”
Yun Fei nodded in confirmation.
“Yes, Master mentioned a bit to me just now as well.”
“Then you should know that for experts like us, no one knows the full extent of the Prophecy except for your mother. Everyone else can only see fragments of it. At this stage, the Prophecy known in our circles is something pieced together by various experts based on what they saw, but it is still incomplete.”
“I have done some research on the concept of fate. After learning that the Heavenly Way’s Prophecy had appeared, I personally consulted existing historical records and found some peculiarities. Historically, all Heavenly Way Prophecies appeared in text form, but this time, it appeared as images. That is the first point, though I suspect it isn’t the most important one.”
“I believe the most important thing is the reaction of the prophet after this Prophecy!”
“The prophet’s reaction? What do you mean? The prophet was my father, right? Did he have some kind of reaction at the time?”
“Yes, and that is also what I want to ask you. In history, every prophet of a Heavenly Way Prophecy suffered from side effects like vomiting blood from backlash or a drop in their cultivation realm. However, your father was different. Not long after that prophecy, your mother announced to the public that he died in the Void Campaign. If that weren’t strange enough, your mother also blocked all information regarding that battle. We don’t even know how he died on the battlefield.”
“My intuition has always been accurate. I believe the matter of the Prophecy is not simple. Yun Fei, I might be being a bit forward, but can you tell me anything?”
Yun Fei fell silent.
The scene she had witnessed in her father’s tomb suddenly flashed through her mind—the white, viscous substance that had clearly devoured her father’s body and consciousness.
That was high-concentration Void Erosion.
Hearing Hong Niang say this, Yun Fei remembered the first time she had gone to the border of The Void. She had asked the commanding general there, Chu Fan—the one the Elders called Old Demon Chu.
“Uncle Chu, if those soldiers get even a single wound, they are instantly eroded by The Void and turned into monsters. If someone like you got a scratch, would the same thing happen?”
“Me? Hahaha! Little Young Lord! For Taichu Realm experts like me or your parents, putting aside the impossibility of getting scratched in the first place, even if we were, we wouldn’t turn into those things. This is because the Taichu Realm is different from all other realms. Once you reach this level, you receive the blessing of the Heavenly Way. Under the laws of the Heavenly Way, a Taichu Realm expert is not allowed to die easily.”
“The power of the Heavenly Way will balance out those impurities for us!”
***
That was right.
Chu Fan had said that the power of the Heavenly Way would balance out the power of The Void.
Then why did her father turn into that state?
Was there a problem with the Heavenly Way… or was it something else?
“The Heavenly Way will not easily let a Taichu Realm expert die…”
Yun Fei muttered those words under her breath.
“Oh? You actually know those words… That sentence has been a truth since ancient times, but it was completely rejected by most people after your father’s death. However, I don’t think so. Why did that sentence fail at such a critical moment?”
“Therefore, I need to know the truth of what happened back then to confirm whether my hypothesis is correct.”
Hong Niang stopped speaking.
She looked into Yun Fei’s eyes seriously and expectantly, her desire for knowledge extremely intense.
But Yun Fei bit her lower lip.
“I’m sorry, Aunt Feng. I don’t know what Mother’s intention was in keeping it from everyone, but in this world, the person I trust most is my mother. Since she didn’t make it public, she naturally has her reasons. As her daughter, I cannot do anything that goes against her wishes.”
‘Even if I have also sensed a slightly bad omen.’
She was very clear that after that campaign, her father had been eroded by The Void and was forcibly sealed under the sarcophagus by her mother.
Not long ago, the seal had loosened, and because there was no solution, her mother had been forced to kill her father once and for all.
Thinking it through this way, it couldn’t be ruled out that her father being eroded by The Void was a side effect of the Prophecy.
But how could a Prophecy from the Heavenly Way result in Void Erosion as a side effect?
Was it a problem with the Heavenly Way…
Or was that prophecy not from the Heavenly Way at all?
At this thought, Yun Fei’s face turned pale for a moment.
No matter how she looked at it, this was not a good thing.
There was a high possibility that the prophecy currently presented to all the experts was a fake!
But could this be said?
And she didn’t have enough evidence anyway; everything was just a deduction.
“Yun Fei, your expression isn’t right. Did you think of something?”
“I… right, Aunt Feng, you said you wanted to confirm whether your hypothesis was correct. Could you tell me what your hypothesis is?”
“My hypothesis…”
Hong Niang lowered her eyes, and an invisible cage suddenly enveloped the two of them, isolating Hua Li on the outside.
“I suspect… something might have happened to the Heavenly Way. However, this matter might still be too early for you. You are still far from being able to come into contact with the Heavenly Way.”
Yun Fei paused, looked up at Hong Niang, and then said, “Aunt Feng, don’t say such things in the future. If things aren’t as you think, it will send down punishment.”
“I… Heh… You’re right. Even if that’s the case, there’s nothing I can do…”
Hearing Yun Fei’s words, the light in Hong Niang’s eyes dimmed.
She laughed at herself and turned to dissolve the barrier.
“Qianxue, so what exactly was your hypothesis? Why were you being so mysterious…”
“No, it’s nothing. I was overthinking. You know me, I just like to think about random things.”
“Hmm… Fine. Right, you had something else to tell Yun Fei besides the Prophecy, right? Hurry up and say it. It’s getting late, and I haven’t even given her her teaching tasks yet!”
“Don’t worry about that. I came precisely for the matter of her teaching tasks. Her original ones are void; I’m giving her new tasks.”
“Eh? You? What do you mean!”
Hua Li finally sensed something was wrong from Hong Niang’s playful face and quickly questioned her.
“After a discussion by the Academy, although Yun Fei is now your disciple, she cannot neglect her martial arts while studying alchemy.”
“Feng Qianxue, you! Hah… I was wondering why you were so decisive in letting me have Yun Fei. So this was your goal!”
“Oh~ Darling~ how could you say that~? What is our relationship? Your disciple is my disciple; there’s no difference~ Besides, the Principal agreed. Look, I even have the document from the old man right here!”
“This… Dammit! I won’t let this go! Refund me for that furnace of wasted medicinal herbs, then I might overlook this! Otherwise… I’ll ignore you, and don’t touch me! You aren’t allowed in my room tonight!”
“Eh? Don’t~ Li’er~ I’m begging you~ I know I was wrong~”
“Begging won’t work!”
With that, Hua Li left in a huff.
Hong Niang panicked a bit.
“Yun Fei, I’ll send the teaching tasks to your Spirit Talisman tonight. Make sure you check them… Wait for me, Li’er! Don’t go!”
After leaving those instructions, Hong Niang scurried away, chasing after Hua Li’s back.
“This… what is the situation?”
“Oh? It seems my little Junior Sister doesn’t know yet~”
“Yah! Senior Sister! How did you appear!”