Chapter 229 - 225: I Want to Thank You, Old Ancestor

Constant dripping wears away stone; a rope saw can sever wood.

By the time Du Youqian’s twenty-year garrison duty was nearing its end, his comprehension of that one sword strike had finally... crossed the threshold.

Every time he had felt he was making great progress, he would look back a while later only to realize he had been unable to see the forest for the trees.

The more he understood this sword strike, the more he discovered how much he still didn’t understand.

It was just a single sword strike... yet it was vast and profound.

After contemplating it for so long, he could still only glimpse a fraction of the whole.

Like a blind man feeling an elephant, he couldn’t grasp the whole picture.

’Perhaps I think I’ve crossed the threshold now and grasped a great deal. But when I comprehend even more in the future, I’ll probably realize that my current understanding is riddled with errors.’

Du Youqian estimated that if he ever completely mastered this sword strike, then in a future life, killing a Core Formation cultivator as a Foundation Establishment cultivator would be as easy as slaughtering a chicken.

And defeating a Nascent Soul cultivator while at the Core Formation realm would be like butchering a dog.

However, it had taken him twenty years just to cross the threshold. To completely comprehend this sword strike would be unimaginable without another one or two hundred years of patient, grinding work.

"SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!" A noisy chattering approached from the distance.

His fur shaggy but immaculately clean, Little Wukong swung over on a vine. He did a somersault into the small courtyard, then took a few hops and bounded up to Du Youqian.

"SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!" Not yet able to speak, he gesticulated wildly with his hands and feet to express himself.

Of course, he could also use his Divine Sense to communicate, but he didn’t like to. Perhaps he just found waving his arms and legs more fun.

Du Youqian patiently chatted with him for a while before saying, "I recently conceived the basic framework for a Treasure. If I can successfully craft it for you to carry, it should be able to conceal your Demon Qi and Cultivation, making people think you’re just an ordinary monkey."

Upon hearing this, Little Wukong nodded repeatedly, looking overjoyed.

He was gradually beginning to understand that he was different from Du Youqian, different from "humans."

Many people didn’t like him and even wanted to harm him.

If he didn’t conceal his Demon Qi and Cultivation, he couldn’t stay with Du Youqian and could only hide alone in the mountains. Otherwise, if he were discovered by "humans," he would die...

After playing with the Little Monkey for a while, Du Youqian heard a sound from the long-range Communication Array and returned to his house to check on it.

A message had come through.

Real-time communication consumed a large amount of energy, so the array wasn’t normally left on; only the message-receiving function was kept active.

Typically, the Sect sent a message each month to pass along important internal news.

Sometimes, Fang Hua, Luo Jinyu, Meng Xiao, and others would also leave him messages.

The contents of this particular message held nothing of note.

’Good, good...’

In the first few years after Du Youqian began his garrison duty, there had been several more incidents in Momenan where minor clans and small marketplaces were wiped out.

As a result, the Taihe Sect and the Holy Blood Sect accelerated the deployment of a Demon Qi monitoring network.

Under the watch of this hugely expensive network—which extended to every Cultivation Clan, every Sect large and small, and every Marketplace—incidents of the Demon Race running rampant finally ceased.

Although Loose Cultivators were occasionally attacked by the Demon Race, these were isolated incidents.

The Sect’s Elder Council had discussed this many times.

Some Elders believed this was a good thing, that those Demons would eventually vanish without a trace.

Other Elders, however, were deeply worried. They felt that the Demons were merely biding their time, secretly multiplying and growing in strength. If they were to burst forth, it could lead to a great disaster.

The first group of Elders retorted scornfully, "Those few hundred Demons only managed to slaughter a few minor clans and several hundred thousand mortals in total."

"That amount of Blood Food is nowhere near enough to raise a host of Core Formation Demon Kings."

"Without enough Core Formation Demon Kings... even if those Demons did burst forth and attack the Human Race, they would be easily crushed. They’re nothing to worry about."

Rationally, Du Youqian felt the first group had a point.

But emotionally, he was still worried. He couldn’t shake the feeling that things weren’t that simple.

He had performed Divination on several occasions, trying to find the whereabouts of the Demons, but to no avail. He had also tried to divine the identities of any humans colluding with them, also without success.

However, when he performed a Divination on the question, "Will these Demons bring disaster to Momenan?" the result was always affirmative.

However, even a Tier Three Divination Art had its ambiguities and lacked precision.

The Demon Race wiping out a few minor clans and small Sects would count as a disaster for Momenan.

But the Demon Race sweeping across the land, destroying Blessed Lands, and wiping out large and medium-sized Sects would also count as a disaster for Momenan.

The scale of the disaster these Demons would bring was still an unknown.

As a Core Formation Master and a True Inheritor of a First-class Sect, Du Youqian held a high and powerful position in Momenan. He was one of a handful of the most important figures in the region.

Yet when faced with a problem that could affect the entire situation in Momenan, he could still do very little to change things on his own...

「Several months later」

The handover of his duties proceeded smoothly.

Du Youqian didn’t rush back to the Sect. Instead, he first went to settle Little Wukong on Soul-shaking Mountain.

"Hm?"

Du Youqian gazed into the distance and saw that a small palace had appeared at the foot of the mountain.

The last time he was on Soul-shaking Mountain, he had set up a Tier Three Meridian-Gathering Array, along with several Concealment and Guardian Arrays. For this reason, he had relocated all the soldiers, hunters, and others from the mountain. Since then, no one lived within the bounds of Soul-shaking Mountain, nor could anyone approach it.

That was why it would be safe to settle Little Wukong here, free from any disturbances.

He never imagined that someone would build a palace right at the edge of his arrays.

After a moment’s thought, Du Youqian flew to the outside of the palace, concealed his presence, and slowly made his way inside.

He stopped when he reached the courtyard.

He saw several peach trees in the courtyard. They must have been meticulously pruned, for the Peach Blossoms were blooming brilliantly.

In the shade beneath a tree was a rocking chair. In it sat an old woman with white hair and skin like wrinkled parchment, rocking back and forth contentedly.

The old woman’s life force was murky; she clearly didn’t have long to live.

In her hand, as withered and thin as a chicken’s claw, she was caressing a token.

It was the very token Du Youqian had bestowed upon the Liao Family all those years ago.

Du Youqian studied her carefully. In the old woman’s aged face, he could faintly see the shadow of the high-spirited, straightforward girl in red from all those years ago.

Suddenly, the old woman seemed to sense something. She raised her eyelids, her cloudy eyes shifting as she called out in a hoarse voice, "Old Ancestor? Old Ancestor, is that you? Old Ancestor?"

Hearing her voice, two nimble young women in palace attire came out of the house. One looked all around, while the other bent down to check on the old woman. "Grand Empress Dowager, who is it you wish to see?"

A wistful smile appeared on the old woman’s face, as wrinkled as an orange peel. "I... I thought the Old Ancestor had come to see me."

The two young women exchanged a look, simply assuming the old matriarch was getting senile.

After all, the Grand Empress Dowager was nearly one hundred and thirty years old—a person of truly rare longevity.

’If she still had an ’Old Ancestor,’ his bones would have turned to dust long ago.’

But soon, one of their expressions changed as she recalled a rumor.

According to rumor, the Du Imperial Family had an Immortal among their ancestors.

Over ninety years ago, it was an Immortal’s intervention that had allowed the Wu Kingdom to change dynasties.

However, to these two teenage greenhorns, an event from over ninety years ago was ancient history. Even their great-grandfathers would have been toddlers back then. They hadn’t experienced it themselves; it was nothing more than a legend passed down through hearsay.

The two Palace Maids attended to the Grand Empress Dowager for a while longer before returning inside to their chores.

The old woman continued to rock gently in the chair, murmuring, "Old Ancestor... Old Ancestor..."

Du Youqian hesitated for a moment, then silently activated the Nine Yin Nine Yang Ten Thousand Transformations Hidden Heaven Technique. He changed his aura and appearance to that of Qiu Yuanqing before revealing his form.

A person suddenly appeared in the courtyard, yet the old woman was not startled.

She focused her eyes on him and broke into a smile. "Old Ancestor, you’ve finally come! Th—I’ve been waiting for you for so long."

Du Youqian stepped forward, took her withered hand, and infused it with Magical Power.

Without it, he feared the slightest bit of excitement would be enough for her to pass away on the spot.

Her time was up; she could breathe her last at any moment.

Had she not been clinging to the hope of seeing Du Youqian one last time, she probably would have let go long ago.

"Minmin, have you lived a happy life?" Du Youqian asked softly.

A brilliant smile bloomed on Liao Minmin’s wrinkled face.

The smile was like an iron, smoothing out the wrinkles on her face and making her seem decades younger.

"I’ve been very happy, Old Ancestor!"

"That’s good. Don’t be afraid. Death is just a new beginning. If fate allows me to encounter your reincarnation in the future, I will guide you to the Dao."

"There’s no need, Old Ancestor," Liao Minmin said softly. "I have never pursued the Great Dao. If I have a next life, I only wish to meet my Brother Xi again. He wished for the same."

After a moment of silence, Du Youqian smiled. "Then I wish you both find each other. You were hoping I would come. Was there something you wanted to tell me?"

"I just wanted to thank you, Old Ancestor. You allowed me to avenge the Liao Family, and you gave me a lifetime of happiness. Thank you. And... farewell. May you walk the Great Dao and attain Longevity and Vision..."

"Alright, I understand," Du Youqian said, gently patting her hand in a tone one might use to soothe a child. "Rest for a while. Just rest..."

"I am a little tired. I’ll just close my eyes for a moment," Liao Minmin said, her eyes slowly drifting shut. "Old Ancestor, don’t leave. I’ll just rest my eyes for a little while..."

"Don’t worry, I won’t leave. I’ll stay here with you."

Liao Minmin’s breathing grew slower and fainter.

An hour later, the two Palace Maids finished their chores and came out of the small palace.

They saw the Grand Empress Dowager in her rocking chair, seemingly asleep, a pure, childlike smile on her face.

Peach Blossoms had scattered over her body, perhaps falling into her dreams as well.