!

"Chu Chen, run! Run!"

"Big Sister will hold back this Saint-level flood dragon! Run! Run back to the Ye family, and you'll be saved!"

"Father won't blame you! Your sisters love you, and little Xuan still talks about you all the time..."

Gasp!

Within the Ye family estate, inside Ye Lingyue's private residence.

Crying out in her sleep, the unconscious Ye Lingyue suddenly bolted upright from her bed. She gasped heavily for air, her robes already drenched in cold sweat.

"Big Sister, you scared me to death!"

Before Ye Lingyue could regain her bearings, Ye Ling'er, who had been sound asleep beside the bed, jolted awake. She gently patted her chest with a fair hand and grumbled in dissatisfaction.

"Big Sister, you nearly perished in Sky Demon Gorge. You barely escaped with your life. Now that you're back at the Ye family, why do you keep muttering about that little beast?"

Ye Ling'er had been tasked with caring for her eldest sister. Seeing Ye Lingyue wake after days in a coma should have been a joyous occasion, but hearing her cry out Chu Chen's name in her sleep ignited a flicker of irritation in Ye Ling'er's heart.

"If it weren't for that little beast Chu Chen, you wouldn't have gone deep into Sky Demon Gorge, and you wouldn't have... ended up like this..."

Ye Lingyue frowned. Before Ye Ling'er could finish, she anxiously interrupted.

"Where is Chu Chen? Where is he?"

"Did he return to the Ye family? Hurry and plead with Father! Tell him not to sever Chu Chen's tendons, don't..."

Chu Chen?

Hearing her eldest sister still caring for that piece of trash, Ye Ling'er stood up abruptly. She crossed her arms and snorted coldly.

"Big Sister, you've been in a coma for three days and three nights. How can you still be thinking about that little beast?"

"Hasn't he caused us enough harm?"

"If the Ancestor hadn't inscribed a Protective Dao Seal on your Sacred Artifact, the Thirteen-Star Radiance Bracelet, you would already be dead!"

The Ye family Ancestor, Ye Shanhe, was a peak Saint King expert, only a single step away from the legendary Quasi-Emperor realm.

To ensure the safety of the direct descendants, the Ancestor had utilized a clan secret technique upon the births of Ye Lingyue and her siblings. Drawing upon the might of the Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon, the Heaven-Reaching Mirror, he inscribed a Protective Dao Seal onto each of their bodies.

Whenever a direct descendant faced a life-threatening crisis, the Protective Dao Seal would Awaken on its own, tearing through the void to teleport them back to the Ye family estate.

It was precisely this Protective Dao Seal that had saved Ye Lingyue's life, allowing the Ye family to learn what had transpired in Sky Demon Gorge.

However, condensing a Protective Dao Seal required an endless expenditure of lifeblood and the power of the Heaven-Reaching Mirror. The cost was astronomical.

Therefore, even direct disciples could only be granted a single Protective Dao Seal. Once used, it was gone forever.

It was no exaggeration to say that possessing a Protective Dao Seal was equivalent to having a second life.

In Ye Ling'er's eyes, the shattering of her eldest sister's Protective Dao Seal and her near-death experience were entirely the fault of that trash, Chu Chen. How could she not hate him?

"What? I... I've been unconscious for three days and three nights?"

Ye Lingyue sat in a daze. Suddenly, as if remembering something, her expression changed drastically. She reached out, tightly gripping Ye Ling'er's arm, and asked anxiously.

"Ling'er, you said the Protective Dao Seal saved me? Then..."

"What about Chu Chen? Is he dead or alive? Did he return to the Ye family?!"

Ye Ling'er froze at the question. She turned her head away and fell silent.

Seeing this reaction, Ye Lingyue's eyes instantly turned red. Heavy tears began to well up in her eyes.

As the Ye family's Saint Son, Chu Chen's status had once been above many direct disciples. At birth, the Ancestor had naturally used the Heaven-Reaching Mirror to inscribe a Protective Dao Seal upon him as well.

It was just that...

Three years ago, after Chu Chen was crippled, the Ancestor had forcibly extracted the Protective Dao Seal from his body and bestowed it upon Ye Xuan instead.

The justification given was that Chu Chen would naturally be protected by the Ye family and no longer needed it.

Without the Protective Dao Seal, Chu Chen had no way to resist the attack of that Saint-level flood dragon in Sky Demon Gorge. Which meant that he...

Had likely already perished in the jaws of a Demon Beast!

Drip!

Drip!

Heavy tears spilled from her eyes one after another, sliding down her pale cheeks and splashing onto the bedsheets. Ye Lingyue's face was etched with sorrow as she muttered to herself.

"It's all my fault! It's all my fault!"

"If I hadn't activated the Thirteen-Star Radiance Bracelet in Sky Demon Gorge, I wouldn't have attracted that flood dragon's attention, and Chu Chen wouldn't have..."

Seeing her eldest sister take all the blame upon herself, Ye Ling'er was stunned, her displeasure immediately flaring.

"Big Sister, what are you saying? You were almost killed by that piece of trash, how can you still..."

Whoosh!

Before Ye Ling'er could finish, Ye Lingyue seemed to realize something. She wiped the tears from her eyes, leaped from the bed, and transformed into a streak of light, rushing straight toward the Ye family's main hall.

She didn't believe it!

She refused to believe that Chu Chen would die just like that!

"Big Sister! Where are you going?"

Ye Ling'er stomped her foot in frustration. After a brief hesitation, she summoned her flying sword and chased after her.

...

Inside the Ye family's main hall, Patriarch Ye Ding was currently instructing Ye Xuan in his Cultivation.

The heavy doors were suddenly shoved open. Ye Ding frowned, a scolding already on his lips, but when he saw his eldest daughter standing there, his anger instantly evaporated. A doting smile graced his face.

"Lingyue, it is good to see you awake."

"Do not blame your father for nagging, but you acted far too recklessly this time. If not for the Protective Dao Seal, the consequences..."

"Would have been unthinkable!"

The moment Ye Ding finished speaking, Ye Xuan immediately stepped forward. He affectionately took Ye Lingyue's hand, his voice soft and cloying.

"Big Sister, you're finally awake!"

"I wanted to go take care of you, but Father insisted I stay behind to Cultivate."

"You worried me to death, Big Sister. If anything had happened to you, little Xuan... I wouldn't want to live either!"

Ye Lingyue bowed respectfully to her father, then reached out to gently pat Ye Xuan's head, her eyes full of affection.

Having just narrowly escaped death, the warm concern of her father and younger brother deeply moved her.

But the moment she thought of Chu Chen, whose fate remained unknown, the smile on her face instantly froze.

"Big Sister!"

"Thank goodness, Big Sister is awake."

"To survive such a disaster means great fortune awaits."

...

Accompanied by several concerned voices, Ye Han, Ye Qingqing, Ye Ling'er, and the others flew into the hall.

Ye Lingyue nodded at her younger sisters, her heart swelling with emotion. She cherished the care of her family and the deep bonds of their kinship.

But...

Whether it was her father or her sisters...

Amidst all their concern for her, had they completely forgotten about someone else?

After a moment of hesitation, Ye Lingyue's eyes reddened as she spoke.

"Father, what about Chu Chen...?"

Chu Chen?!

The moment those two words left her lips, the warm, harmonious atmosphere of the hall instantly vanished into dead silence.

The smiles on everyone's faces froze. Patriarch Ye Ding's eyes instantly turned violent and hostile. His Saint-level Pressure erupted uncontrollably, sweeping through the grand hall like a terrifying storm.

"Lingyue, why are you mentioning that piece of trash?"

"Do you not realize that you nearly perished this time because of that little beast?"

"If the Ancestor had not inscribed the Protective Dao Seal onto your Sacred Artifact, you would never have seen your father again. I... I would have been a white-haired man burying his black-haired child!"

Ye Ding's words warmed Ye Lingyue's heart, yet they also left her feeling a profound sense of disbelief.

But as Ye Qingqing, Ye Ling'er, Ye Han, and the others began to chime in, Ye Lingyue's disbelief only deepened. She even began to suspect she was hearing things.

"Exactly! Big Sister, what is wrong with you today?"

"You were almost killed by that trash Chu Chen. How can you possibly be worried about his safety?"

"Big Sister, you've been in Secluded Cultivation for too long. You don't understand the sinister nature of the human heart."

"Do you think Chu Chen appearing in Sky Demon Gorge was an accident? Of course not!"

"He calculated that we would go looking for him! He deliberately used himself as bait, intending to use the Demon Beasts in Sky Demon Gorge to kill as many of us as possible!"

"That trash is too vicious! Too evil! Utterly shameless!"

"We of the Ye family are simply too soft-hearted, too kind..."

...

Her younger sisters chattered incessantly, slandering and belittling Chu Chen. To the newly awakened Ye Lingyue, their faces felt entirely unfamiliar, the atmosphere suffocating.

In stark contrast, Ye Xuan-the adopted son-had not uttered a single bad word about Chu Chen from start to finish. This brought Ye Lingyue a sliver of comfort.

"You... that is enough!!"

Ye Lingyue took a deep breath and suddenly shouted, interrupting them all.

"Father, Chu Chen is also your biological son! He is your biological brother!"

"Why... why is it that he is now trapped in Sky Demon Gorge, likely dead in the jaws of a Demon Beast, yet none of you feel the slightest bit of grief? Instead, you stand here criticizing his faults?"

"Have you all forgotten? Three years ago, if Chu Chen hadn't fought the Demon Race Empress Lin Shuwang for our Ye family... If he hadn't resisted the demon invasion, sacrificing his Chaos God Physique, destroying his meridians, and crippling his Cultivation..."

"How could our Ye family have been elevated to an Immortal Aristocratic Family? How could we control the ninety-nine Spirit Veins of the world? How could we have gained a firm foothold on the Desolate Ancient Continent, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the major Holy Lands and Immortal Aristocratic Families to compete for fortune?"

Overcome with emotion, Ye Lingyue's delicate body trembled. Her tear-filled eyes swept across the faces of everyone present-her father, Ye Xuan, and her younger sisters.

She desperately tried to awaken their familial love for Chu Chen. Unfortunately, upon hearing her words, her father and sisters only looked impatient. Ye Ling'er even let out a bored yawn.

"Lingyue, merit is merit, and fault is fault."

"You have just awakened from a long coma. I can understand that your emotions are unstable, but..."

As he spoke, Ye Ding returned to the Patriarch's throne and sat down. His sharp gaze swept across the grand hall, and he spoke with righteous authority, his voice ringing like a great bell.

"We Cultivators look to the future. We look at what lies ahead. We should not remain shackled to the past, needlessly burdening ourselves with trivialities."

"I do not deny that Chu Chen earned merit for our Ye family three years ago, but so what? We allowed him to rest on his laurels for three years. Has our Ye family ever mistreated him during this time?"

"Moreover, I firmly believe that even without Chu Chen, the rise of our Ye family and our ascension to an Immortal Aristocratic Family would have only been a matter of time."

Reaching the climax of his speech, Ye Ding cast a highly satisfied glance at Ye Xuan standing before him. The implication was obvious.

So what if one Chu Chen died? With Ye Xuan here, how could the Ye family not prosper?

"Back then, when his Chaos God Physique shattered, how many Spirit Stones, Pills, and heavenly treasures did our Ye family expend to heal him?"

"Ahem. Besides, even though his Cultivation was crippled, our Ye family still honored him with the title of Saint Son."

To prove that the Ye family owed Chu Chen nothing, Ye Ding caught sight of Steward Uncle Fu standing silently to the side. His eyes lit up.

"Uncle Fu, tell the Eldest Miss. How many Pills and Spirit Stones does our Ye family provide that trash Chu Chen as his monthly allowance?"

"This..."

Uncle Fu's body trembled slightly. He looked at Patriarch Ye Ding with a deeply troubled expression, opening his mouth to speak but hesitating.

"Just tell the truth!"

Uncle Fu's hesitation greatly annoyed Ye Ding. Beside him, Ye Qingqing, Ye Ling'er, Ye Xuan, and the others suddenly found their eyes darting around, actively avoiding his gaze.

"Y-yes, Patriarch."

Amidst Ye Ding's cold snort.

Under the flustered, guilty gazes of Ye Ling'er and the others.

Uncle Fu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Bowing respectfully, he forced himself to speak.

"Sai... Young Master Chu Chen's monthly... his monthly allowance is..."