Nine Astra Skies

The Zephyr White Ape moved the bag of grains over and the middle-aged man hurriedly ducked.

"Carry it properly now!" Ye Chen said and watched as the Zephyr White Ape placed the bag of grains on the man's back.

Once the man steadied it on his back, he slowly walked toward the entrance of the Second-rank Prince's Palace.

"We can receive a bag of grains!"

"We can receive a bag of grains!" The crowd began to stir while tears welled up in their eyes. They had not been able to eat their fill for a long time, so how could they not feel emotional when they realized that they could receive a bag of grains?

"Don't try to cut in line. Wait for your turn!" As Ye Chen glared at them, those people calmed down at once and stared at the Zephyr White Ape excitedly while it took out another bag of grains.

The middle-aged man who had been the first to receive his bag of grains continued to walk toward the entrance under the envious gaze of the crowd. However, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and placed the bag of grains on the ground before turning around to kneel before Ye Chen and made three loud kowtows. Then, he silently carried the bag of grains on his back and left.

When Ye Chen saw this, he felt a stirring in his heart. These people's biggest wish in life was simply to have a proper meal and he could tell how genuinely grateful this man felt toward him. As Ye Chen waved his right hand, the Raven Hawk and the Vermillion Spirit Condor soared into the sky. Whoever dared to snatch away these civilians' shares of grains should endure a serious beating from the Raven Hawk and the Vermillion Spirit Condor!

The second person who came forward was a white-haired elderly man. After having received his bag of grains, he stopped in front of the palace entrance and knelt to Ye Chen before kowtowing three times just like that middle-aged man.

As the rest of the people came forward one by one and received their shares of grains, each of them would spontaneously kowtow to Ye Chen before leaving the palace. Ye Chen could not help feeling sad at this sight.

Some riots occurred in Donglin City but were soon pacified by Xu Jian and several other martial arts families. Meanwhile, a few people who had attempted to steal the grains were also scared away by the Raven Hawk and the Vermillion Spirit Condor. Whenever anyone wanted to commit a crime, they would drop the idea as soon as they saw the Raven Hawk and the Vermillion Spirit Condor that were flying around in the sky.

The Zephyr White Ape worked very efficiently and kept opening one warehouse after another to distribute the grains. Its ability to recognize was even more impressive as it drove away returning people who tried to claim another bag of grains.

Ye Chen had Little Tanuki, the Zephyr White Ape, the Raven Hawk, and the Vermillion Spirit Condor stay behind in the city since the three Tenth Level mystical were quite intelligent and could be controlled by Ye Chen over a long distance. Moreover, with Little Tanuki around to lead them, Ye Chen was confident that no further problem would arise, so he took off and headed back to Ye Castle.

Throughout the night, the Second-rank Prince's Palace was brightly lit and countless civilians managed to receive a bag of grains. Almost every household had claimed their share, so even if the imperial court decided to investigate this matter, they could not possibly massacre all the civilians of Donglin City! Many people had been starving for days, so they were very grateful toward the House of Ye since they could finally have filling meals for a prolonged period after this. Thus, many of them would kowtow in the direction of Ye Castle.

When Ye Chen arrived back at the Ye Castle, it was already early in the morning, before dawn. Normally, it would take a few days to travel back and forth between the Ye Castle and Donglin City on horseback but he was able to rush back within one day by fully unleashing his Tenth Level Celestial Chi.

The Ye Castle was still in a messy state and even after a round of cleaning, there were still huge bloodstains on the ground. A heavy scent of blood continued to linger in the air as a reminder of the massacre that had taken place earlier.

The Scarlet Sky Tiger and the Stormphantom Panther did not die but had suffered some injuries, so the clan members had bound up their wounds and let them rest in a wooden shed beside the martial art training ground. The two mystical beasts kept whimpering and whining from inside the shed.

Ye Chen went directly to the Patriarch Residency. Previously, he had left in a hurry as he had been anxious to find the antidote at the Second-rank Prince's Palace. Later, it suddenly occurred to him that he had not seen Little Rou, so Ye Chen could not help feeling somewhat worried. Could something have happened to Little Rou?

Ye Chen was laden with anxiety as he walked into the Patriarch Residency, which was brilliantly illuminated and had been arranged with numerous beds. All injured Ye Clan members were brought here, where they would receive special care for their injuries.

Ye Zhantian and Ye Changxuan were also lying on their beds and receiving treatment here. Their wounds had all been bandaged with a white cloth.

"Father, granduncle, I'm back," Ye Chen said while choking with emotions as he felt a pang in his heart when he saw the state Ye Zhantian and Ye Changxuan were in.

"Little Chen, how was it? Have you brought the antidote back?" Ye Changxuan asked anxiously while forcefully propping himself up with his arms as soon as he saw Ye Chen. He seemed to have recovered his spirits slightly but as he had been speaking too urgently, he began coughing severely. This showed how weak Ye Changxuan was at that point since a Tenth Level combatant like him usually would not cough at all.

"Yes, granduncle. Hurry up and lie down properly. Don't force yourself too much." Ye Chen nodded. When he saw Ye Zhantian and Ye Changxuan at that moment, he became a little hesitant to tell them that these antidotes could not get rid of the poison completely.

"Good, good, good. Well then, I can put my mind to rest now." Ye Changxuan heaved a sigh of relief. Beside him, Ye Zhantian visibly relaxed too.

This time, the majority of people from the House of Ye had suffered severe injuries. A few clan members were unable to pull through and had passed away. Nonetheless, the House of Ye had managed to survive since the clan had not been wiped out as a whole after all. Thus, everyone felt lucky to have been able to survive through this calamity. In the mortal world, deaths were normal occurrences. Since the dead could never be brought back to life, the living should carry on bravely with their lives.

"Father, granduncle, where's Little Rou? Why can't I find her anywhere?" Ye Chen asked anxiously.

Ye Changxuan and Ye Zhantian exchanged a glance and sighed deeply. When he saw their response, Ye Chen suddenly had a sense of foreboding and felt a twitch in his palm. Little Rou had grown up together with him as childhood friends and they had lived in the same place for over ten years. Putting aside their romantic feelings for one another, there was a deep mutual affection between them as they saw each other as family. Could it be that Little Rou was dead? Ye Chen turned pale at this scary thought and staggered slightly.

"Little Chen, don't worry. Little Rou is okay." Ye Zhantian became flustered when he saw Ye Chen's expression and hurriedly explained, "You left too quickly, so we haven't been able to tell you about this matter. Little Rou has returned to live with her parents half a month ago."

"Returned to live with her parents?" Ye Chen was dumbstruck as he had never heard Ye Zhantian and Ye Changxuan say anything about this before.

"You're also aware that Little Rou has been placed in the care of the House of Ye and that she wasn't born here at the Ye Castle," Ye Changxuan replied and sighed regretfully while looking at Ye Chen. He still felt that this was a great pity since he had initially planned to let Little Rou continue staying here and become Ye Chen's wife. Unfortunately, the two of them were destined to meet but not to be together.

"Of course, I'm aware of that. Since she's safe and sound, then I have nothing to worry about." Ye Chen put his anxious heart at ease.

Ye Zhantian looked at Ye Chen and was about to speak but then stopped himself. However, after further consideration, he made up his mind and said, "Little Chen, you should just forget Little Rou. She probably won't come back anymore after leaving this time. I'm afraid it'll be very difficult for you to meet Little Rou again in the future."

"Why is that?" Ye Chen asked in confusion. Even if Little Rou had gone back to live with her parents, was she not going to return and visit her friends and family at the Ye Castle at all? In any case, her foster parents were still here.

"This is a rather long and complicated story. The clan that Little Rou's birth parents belong to is also a Ye Clan branch but we haven't had any dealings with them for over a thousand years. More than ten years ago, their branch encountered some disastrous events and nearly got exterminated, so her parents entrusted their child to the care of the House of Ye. Now, more than ten years have passed and Little Rou's father has become the sect leader of a major sect while their branch has survived through those disastrous events, so they've sent someone over to bring Little Rou home," Ye Zhantian explained.

"Since the House of Ye has taken Little Rou in and brought her up, they should be grateful to us. Why would they still refuse to be in contact with us?" Ye Chen asked persistently as he found it difficult to understand why the situation was as such.

"Back then, the clan members of their branch disagreed with her parent's decision to entrust Little Rou to our care because there were some unresolved disputes between their ancestors and our ancestors. Nonetheless, in the end, their clan members were unable to dissuade Little Rou's anxious parents. Back then, the House of Ye wanted to patch up our broken relations with that branch too, so we decided to take Little Rou in. However, her parents made it clear that they were placing her in our care temporarily and that after they bring her back to live with them, we would have no further dealings with one another. Back then, Little Rou's parents made a deal with us and promised us lavish gifts, but of course, we didn't accept anything from them when they came and took her away. We regret having made that deal with them. After all these years, we've come to think of Little Rou as our daughter. If we had accepted their gifts, how would this be different from selling her off?" Ye Zhantian asked and felt a faint sadness welling up inside him.

"Since we didn't accept any of their gifts, then they're still indebted to the House of Ye. In that case, why can't Little Rou come back and visit us?" Ye Chen asked gloomily and thought that those people were being way too unreasonable.

"We owe this to them. Well, this is a story that goes back a thousand years ago," Ye Changxuan replied with a sigh.

Ye Chen frowned slightly when he heard Ye Changxuan's words. Was it possible that this involved their clan secrets?