Youyou was feeling very down. The auspicious clouds that had accompanied the ancestor's ascension had been shining brightly in the sky for three days, and Fengtian Pavilion was filled with colorful lights. But the rain in Youyou's heart was pouring down, even heavier than the day Yiping went to ask her father for money.

Her chosen teacher was gone, and her well-planned scheme suddenly lost its most crucial element, potentially causing the entire project to collapse. This outcome couldn't be worse.

She knew her skills were unreliable, but she didn't expect them to be this unreliable! She was just transferring her power, how did it come with the ability to ascend to immortality?! She clearly used her spare time to experiment on animals with her other skills that weren't offensive, and the rabbits didn't become sentient at all!

How come the teaching talents she selected just flew away?

Heartbroken, feeling blue, Xiangru...

But clearly, others didn't think that way. Ever since the patriarch ascended to heaven, these people were acting like they'd been injected with adrenaline, frantically seeking an audience with You You. It was even rumored that some aristocratic families who hadn't been able to come to Fengtian Pavilion were rushing here, hoping she would change her mind or add a relative to their family.

You You had no objection to this, but what she did object to was that if you recommended yourselves, fine, but why did you immediately congratulate her on helping the Ancestor ascend to immortality and repeatedly bring up the matter of establishing the contract? Wasn't this like stabbing her in the heart? And doing it one stab after another, it was just too much to bear.

I'm not choosing anymore, I'm not choosing any of them!

After tidying herself up, she planned to leave Fengtian Pavilion. The Wu family had already left with their relatives on the second day of the Heavenly Selection Ceremony, leaving in a great hurry, perhaps because they were afraid that people would change their minds.

To be honest, she was somewhat disappointed. She had come full of enthusiasm to attract investment, but she had personally let the investors slip away. With a low spirit, You You greeted Fengtian Pavilion and headed towards the mountain gate. At least she had a ride on Xu Xiushi's flying boat on the way here, but she wouldn't even have a means of transportation back. She had been thinking about renting a spirit boat from Fengtian Pavilion, but then she saw a spirit boat already parked at the mountain gate in the distance.

This is a small to medium-sized spirit boat. Compared to the increasingly extravagant spirit boats of various aristocratic families, this spirit boat appears simple yet grand. It is not luxurious, but it is understated and has profound meaning.

Dozens of people were already waiting in front of the spirit boat, dressed in uniform and looking somewhat familiar. Ling Qi, who had been her personal customer service manager for more than half a month, was standing in front of the group, looking at her with a smile and full of expectation.

The group paused, and Feng Rong, standing beside them, immediately frowned.

"Ling Qi? What brings you here?" You You was taken aback. He came to see her off? Didn't they say goodbye yesterday? Come to think of it, he was the one who greeted her when she first arrived. Now, is he offering to pick her up and drop her off?

Ling Qi smiled and suddenly bowed to her, "Ling Qi, the head of the Yuan Clan, leads the Yuan Clan in welcoming Your Majesty!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the dozens of people behind him knelt down in unison and shouted, "Welcome, Your Majesty!"

"Huh?"

You You was taken aback. The Yuan family? Then she realized why these people's clothes looked familiar—weren't they the Yuan family's school uniforms? "But…didn't your ancestor ascend to heaven?"

"Your Majesty, although our ancestor has ascended to immortality, he had already decided to follow you. Naturally, the Yuan clan should continue to serve you as our lord!" Ling Qi continued.

Upon reflection, You You realized that it made sense. Only the Yuan Ancestor had ascended to immortality, but the Yuan family still existed, and they were still her relatives. She felt somewhat comforted; at least this trip wasn't entirely fruitless.

only……

"You're from the Yuan family?" She realized what was happening and looked at Ling Qi with surprise. "Aren't you called Ling Qi?"

Ling Qi smiled and said, "I am indeed a member of the Yuan family, but no noblewoman has been born in this generation of the Yuan family, so I took my mother's surname, Ling."

"Oh! I see." Do all children in this world take their mother's surname? Thinking back to the Lin parents she had met before, she realized that she hadn't noticed because they both shared the surname Lin.

"Previously, Ling Qi was in a position of duty and was afraid of influencing the Lord's judgment, so he failed to tell the truth. Please forgive him, Lord!" In fact, he didn't have much hope that the Heavenly Maiden would choose the Yuan family, but he didn't expect that she would take a liking to him by such a coincidence.

"It's alright, I understand." You You didn't mind, but after glancing at him, she noticed that he wasn't wearing the priest's robes of Fengtian Pavilion today. "Then what are you wearing now..."

“Now that the Yuan family has chosen its master, Ling Qi, as a member of the Yuan family, should naturally follow his master.” Ling Qi replied in a deep voice, “I have resigned from my position as priest of Fengtian Pavilion, and that is why I am here to respectfully await your master.”

"You resigned? That's great!" You You was instantly overjoyed, her eyes lighting up. What a wonderful thing! To be honest, she had been wanting to poach someone as talented as Ling Qi for a long time. Before she even started trying, he had come to her doorstep on his own initiative. She felt like she had been hit by the lottery, and all the gloom she had felt these past few days vanished. She happily patted him on the shoulder and helped him up. "No need to be so polite. Since we're already related, we're all brothers from now on."

Ling Qi was taken aback for a moment, seemingly unaccustomed to her enthusiasm, but then smiled and stepped aside to gesture for her to board the spirit boat, saying, "Please, my lord!"

"Okay!" You You's steps became much lighter as she walked towards the spirit boat!

Feng Rong, standing to the side, tugged at her in dissatisfaction and said sarcastically, "Ling Qi is a member of the Yuan family, and you're so happy about that?" She herself is from the Feng family, yet she never seemed to care about him much.

“Of course!” she nodded matter-of-factly. “He’s a real talent!” And a high-end one at that.

Feng Rong's face darkened further. She glared at her fiercely, let out a heavy snort, and stormed past her onto the spirit boat.

"..." Why did it explode again? What's wrong with this little turkey?

The group did not linger and left the area of ​​Fengtian Pavilion immediately.

Ling Qi sincerely recounted the entire situation of the Yuan family. Overall, the outlook wasn't optimistic. After all, the Yuan family had existed for over a thousand years, originally a branch of a certain immortal sect. Their ancestor, Yuan, was also a disciple of that sect. Later, the sect's celestial maiden perished, causing the sect to collapse, which led to the formation of the Yuan family. However, the resources they brought from the immortal sect had long been exhausted. If it weren't for the entire clan's efforts to help their ancestor, Ning, achieve Nascent Soul formation, they wouldn't have been able to sustain themselves for a thousand years.

Fortunately, all the clan's traditions remained, but for those clansmen without spiritual roots, those traditions were nothing more than worthless paper. Even some cultivation manuals on jade slips were too difficult for them to open without spiritual energy.

"These are enough!" You You didn't care much. Spiritual roots weren't a problem now. The biggest problem was that after the Ancestor Yuan ascended, everyone would have to learn on their own.

“Before our ancestor ascended to immortality, he often lectured us on the Dao.” As if seeing through her thoughts, Ling Qi said in a deep voice, “Although we are not able to enter the door of the basic matters of guiding Qi into the body and cultivating techniques, everyone in the clan has been practicing since childhood, and the cultivation methods are already well-known to us.”

Such a good thing!

(＊?◇?)