Chapter 12 Remnant Soul, But She's Dead

No matter how warm and beautiful everything is in a dream, it is ultimately contrary to reality. Under the influence of the illusion, Yin Lisheng will subconsciously ignore these things, but objective things will not change because of his consciousness, such as the "Grandma Moon" that Yin Lisheng just blurted out.

This person must have had a close relationship with Yin Lisheng and occupied a large part of his less-than-pleasant first seven years of life.

Finding her might make Yin Li realize that everything he's experiencing now is just an illusion.

So, how do we find this "Grandma Moon"?

"Little one, what's your name?" Fu Yunshu's gaze swept over Yin Lisheng's furry back of the head, and his heart was immediately itchy with desire, wanting to go up and pet him a couple of times.

“My name is Yin Lisheng,” Yin Lisheng answered loudly.

"The sound of parting is so mournful. Why did your parents give you such a name?" Fu Yunshu feigned confusion.

"Because...because..."

Xiao Yinli scratched her hair in a distressed voice, unable to come up with a coherent explanation for a long time.

Seeing that Yin Lisheng's brows were furrowed, Fu Yunshu scooped him up and held him in his arms, gently stroking his back with his long, fair hands.

He's too impatient; he needs to take it slow.

"Little Li Sheng, would you mind showing me around your mansion?"

“Sure, sure,” Yin Lisheng snuggled affectionately against Fu Yunshu, “but didn’t you come to see my father, handsome brother? Why do you suddenly want to stroll in the garden?”

Fu Yunshu: "Qingyuan Temple is nestled among the mountains. Having seen so many continuous mountains and rivers, I'd really like to see the green tiles and red eaves of the human world."

“I see,” Yin Lisheng patted his chest. “Leave it to me.”

Fu Yunshu put Yin Lisheng down from his arms and let her walk away on her own.

As Xiao Yinli led him to increasingly remote places, Fu Yunshu felt both relieved and a pang of soreness.

As he had guessed, after making this request, Yin Lisheng might subconsciously head towards familiar places, such as his residence, where there might be clues about "Grandma Yue".

However, even though he had prepared himself mentally, Fu Yunshu was still stunned for a moment when he actually saw him.

This was a tiny, dilapidated courtyard with half-collapsed walls. However, the wooden door creaked and groaned incessantly with the slightest push. The things inside were kept tidy, but their age was undeniable.

"Strange, is there such a place in the manor? Why does it feel so familiar even though I've never been here before?" Xiao Yinli scratched his head in confusion.

Fu Yunshu's eyelashes trembled slightly as she tentatively spoke, "Perhaps you've been here many times, but you just don't quite remember."

"Is that so?" Xiao Yin murmured softly, a faint pain seeming to throb in her heart.

"Handsome brother, shall we go back?"

Yin Lisheng clung to Fu Yunshu's leg, his voice muffled. For some reason, he felt afraid of this place.

"Creak—" The old wooden door was slowly pushed open, the hinges scraping against the ground with a harsh sound.

Yin Lisheng shrank his neck and hugged Fu Yunshu's leg tightly.

An old woman emerged from the house. Her white hair was disheveled, and her face was covered in sores. She was extremely thin, almost nothing but skin and bones. Her cheekbones were prominent, and her eye sockets were so sunken that it looked as if her eyes had been gouged out.

This must be the "Grandma Moon" that Yin Lisheng mentioned, but Fu Yunshu did not let his guard down. On the contrary, he was wary and felt that something was wrong.

The old woman approached the two of them step by step. Fu Yunshu protected Xiao Yinlisheng behind him, not daring to let him get close to the old woman.

As it turned out, Fu Yunshu's intuition was correct. When the old woman was two steps away from them, she suddenly attacked, her right hand forming a claw, aiming straight for Fu Yunshu's face.

There were no weapons in the dream, so Fu Yunshu caught the attack with his bare hands. Fearing that he might accidentally hurt Yin Lisheng, he quietly led the old woman away from the area.

Because it was in Yin Lisheng's dream, and he was worried about affecting his consciousness, Fu Yunshu did not dare to use too much spiritual power, and he was very cautious in every move.

Little Yin Lisheng was very sensible. He obediently hid behind a big tree, only daring to cautiously peek out.

But as he looked, his vision gradually blurred, and his head grew increasingly dizzy.

"Leave the sound!"

Fu Yunshu caught Xiao Yinli just before he collapsed.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt him."

A rough, hoarse voice came through. After confirming that Yin Lisheng's pulse was normal, Fu Yunshu put the person down and walked step by step toward the old woman.

“Blind, with the character ‘moon’ in your name, you are Yin Tangyue, the eldest elder of the Yin family who has been out of the public eye for many years,” Fu Yunshu said with certainty.

Yin Tangyue smiled bitterly: "There is no Grand Elder. What stands before the Immortal Venerable now is nothing but a wisp of remnant consciousness."

"Even a wisp of remnant consciousness can sever the connection between Yin Lisheng's dream and the ancestral master's illusion. The Grand Elder truly deserves to be the number one expert in the Yin family," Fu Yunshu said indifferently.

"To receive a word of praise from Immortal Venerable Huaiwei, it seems that my life, Yin Tangyue, has been quite successful."

Fu Yunshu glanced at Yin Lisheng and said, "Whether you can get through or not is not up to me to say. Your remnant soul doesn't have much time left, so why don't you tell me why you went to such lengths to sever the connection?"

Yin Tangyue walked to Yin Lisheng's side, affectionately stroked Yin Lisheng's face, and sighed, "Naturally, it's for the sake of this child."

"What's the reason?"

Yin Tangyue didn't reply, but instead asked an unrelated question: "Does the Immortal Venerable know Yin Lisheng's identity?"

Fu Yunshu's voice faltered slightly: "Yin Tianhe's illegitimate son."

“Yes,” Yin Tangyue slowly recounted the past, “Seven years ago, Yin Tianhe brought a baby back from outside, saying that it was a romantic entanglement he had left behind while he was out training. The child’s mother had passed away, so he had no choice but to bring the child back to the Yin family.”

"But his attitude towards Yin Lisheng is very strange. On the contrary, Yin Tianhe abandoned him in this remote and dilapidated courtyard and let the children in the mansion bully him. In the past seven years, Yin Lisheng has only seen Yin Tianhe a handful of times."

"To say he's not good to me, the first day Yin Tianhe brought Yin Lisheng back, he ordered me to protect him closely. He often stands outside the courtyard gate late at night, staring blankly at the courtyard wall. Immortal Venerable, don't you think he's a very strange person?"

Fu Yunshu stared intently at Yin Tangyue: "And what about you? Aren't you also wondering?"

Yin Tangyue said with self-deprecation, "Yes, what right do I have to say that? Madam Yin is clearly my niece, and Yin Lisheng is evidence of Yin Tianhe's betrayal of my niece. Yet, on that day, I actually obeyed Yin Tianhe's orders and exhausted all my cultivation to break through the layers of restrictions and send Yin Lisheng out. My niece and grand-nephew both died in that massacre."

Over a thousand people lost their lives overnight. Just hearing about this heavy blood debt made Fu Yunshu feel suffocated, let alone Yin Tangyue, one of the victims. Fu Yunshu was not good at comforting people, and after a long while, he could only manage to utter a single sentence of condolence.

Yin Tangyue smiled and said, "It's not that the Immortal Venerable necessarily needs comforting."

Fu Yunshu: "..." Out of respect for the dead, I will endure it.

"What exactly happened that day? Why was the Yin family wiped out overnight?"

Yin Tangyue shook her head and said, "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure."

"The position of Grand Elder is merely a nominal one. I don't manage affairs in the Yin family and rarely concern myself with clan matters. At most, I've only devoted a little attention to Yin Lisheng in the last few years."

"It happened suddenly, and there were only two people on the other side."

"Two people?" Fu Yunshu was surprised. How could just two people destroy the powerful Yin family?

"Yes, there are only two people, but there is a very strange magical artifact on the other side."

"What kind of magical artifact?"

"It's like a giant dome that tightly envelops the entire Yin family. Under the dome, everyone's cultivation level is suppressed. Even I dropped directly from the Tribulation Transcending stage to the Integration stage."

Even Yin Tangyue lost two major realms, let alone the other cultivators of the Yin family. It seems unsurprising that the entire family was wiped out.

"I've never even heard of such a terrifying magical artifact before. How did those two appear? What is their purpose? Will they continue their attack?" Fu Yunshu's tone quickened.

"Immortal Venerable, I am but a dead man and cannot answer you. These are matters for you living people to worry about," Yin Tangyue said helplessly.

Fu Yunshu gradually calmed down. In any case, they now knew the news and could still make some preparations, while the Yin family had been completely wiped out. In comparison, the living were much luckier than the dead.

"Before I died, I split off a wisp of my divine consciousness and attached it to Yin Lisheng's sea of ​​consciousness, thinking that I might be able to protect him again in the future. I never expected that I would be awakened by your aura in just over half a month."

Fu Yunshu: Is it my fault?

"You discovered it while you were queuing?"

“Yes,” Yin Tangyue said, “As for the Immortal Venerable’s cultivation level, although I could tell that you had changed your appearance, I could not guess your identity.”

“Yin Lisheng is the only remaining bloodline of the Yin family, so I have to act with caution.”

"Let me guess," Fu Yunshu said with a half-smile, "So cutting off contact was to lure me in?"

"Yes, I also altered Yin Lisheng's dream to some extent. He has always longed for family affection. I used the illusion of the Qingyuan Sect's ancestor to give him a good dream, and at the same time, I wanted to see how you would handle this matter."

"If I have any intentions that are detrimental to Yin Lisheng..."

"Even if it costs me my soul, I'll drag you down with me," Yin Tangyue said in a deep voice.

"And now?" Fu Yunshu asked.

“It’s a surprise. I thought ‘Su Yun’ would be extraordinary, but I never imagined that he would be the famous Immortal Venerable Huaiwei. Fortunately… it is Immortal Venerable Huaiwei.” Yin Tangyue stood up and knelt down respectfully to Fu Yunshu.

Fu Yunshu's face darkened. He tried to help the person up, saying, "What are you doing? Get up and talk first."

Yin Tangyue didn't rise, but bowed her head, choking back tears, and said, "Immortal Venerable Huaiwei, the Yin clan has guarded the Northern Border for generations, maintaining the seal. Even if we haven't achieved great things over the years, we have certainly worked hard. Yin Lisheng is the only remaining bloodline of the Yin family. Yin Tangyue dares to beg the Immortal Venerable to consider the Yin family's years of dedication to the cultivation world and, in the future, in times of crisis, to look after Yin Lisheng and protect him—"

Fu Yunshu noticed that as Yin Tangyue spoke, her figure gradually faded—Yin Tangyue's last wisp of consciousness was about to give out.

"Why bother? If you don't do all this and just stay quietly in Yin Lisheng's sea of ​​consciousness, there might be other possibilities in the future."

"If this wisp of divine consciousness can secure a guarantee for Yin Lisheng with the help of the Immortal Venerable Huaiwei, then I feel that I have gained something."

Fu Yunshu sighed and did not try to help her up again. Instead, he said, word by word, "Yin Tangyue, I swear by the heavens that after Yin Lisheng passes the entrance examination, he will not only be the only heir of your Yin family, but also my only closed-door disciple. I will treat him like my own son and spare no effort to pass on all my knowledge to him. Even if I die one day, Qingyuan Sect will be his greatest support."

"This is my guarantee to the Yin family of the Northern Territory. If it weren't for the Yin family, the cultivation world wouldn't have been safe and sound for so many years. The Yin family deserves it."

Yin Tangyue smiled; her body was so faint it was almost invisible, but she still forced herself to say, "Thank you......"

Just before her consciousness completely faded, Yin Tangyue saw the child she had guarded for seven years wake up and run towards her.

Yin Tangyue wanted to laugh, wanted to call out Li Sheng's name, wanted to pat his head, wanted to hug him, wanted to kiss him. After all these years, she hadn't been very good to Yin Li Sheng, but there was nothing she could do.

She died.

A note from the author:

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He's my only disciple now, but he'll be my only husband in the future.

Damn it, I want to see those young couples who love the taste of first love do all sorts of things, and I shout in my heart every day: Damn it, write it already!