Chapter Fifty: Resolving the Qin Family’s Ancestral Spirit

Yan Qingye tilted his head, resting his chin on his hand, and looked at Jun Yang. “Senior Jun Yang, can’t you just summon your clan spirit again and have it devour the Qin family’s spirit directly?”

Jun Yang cast him a sidelong glance. “How do you expect it to eat something that can’t even manifest? Should it eat the family crest? At best, it could absorb all the faith power from their clan spirit, but that wouldn’t free your family members. Besides, my clan spirit has no interest in devouring a spirit on the verge of corruption.”

“Then what should we do? Can the spirits of our families suppress the Qin family’s spirit?” Yan Qingye asked, troubled.

Ming Chenyu interjected before Yan Qingye could say more, knowing he’d take half a day to explain things properly. “Even if you suppress it, the Qin clan spirit would still have enough energy to drain the faith power from those under its control.”

“So that won’t work either. Is there really nothing we can do?” Ye Linyi, unable to contain his frustration, grew agitated.

“What’s the rush? Isn’t the one who can resolve the Qin clan’s spirit already here?” Jun Yang nodded toward the entrance of the guest courtyard. They looked over and saw You Xiyue teleport to the doorway in an instant.

Before Feng Qinghe could arrive, You Xiyue stepped forward and shattered the Immortal Confinement Formation set at the entrance.

As the formation broke before Feng Qinghe’s eyes, a faint bolt of lightning flew toward You Xiyue, but her restless Yunxi Ling, coiled at her elbow, casually blocked it, dissipating it into nothingness.

Feng Qinghe frowned at the dissipating gray smoke. “Master, what was that?”

“A test, I suppose,” You Xiyue answered, expressionless, turning away, finding her own explanation quite reasonable.

Feng Qinghe, knowing her master was never one for words, followed her into the guest courtyard with careful vigilance.

Upon seeing the gathering in the pavilion, she nodded slightly in greeting. “Was that the work of the Purple Cliff Hall at the door?”

Yan Qingye pursed his lips dismissively. “Who else could it be?”

Just then, Yan Qingye recalled Jun Yang’s earlier words. Glancing at Feng Qinghe, he turned back to Jun Yang. “Senior Jun Yang, when you said the person who could resolve the Qin family’s spirit has arrived, did you mean Brother Qinghe?”

His tone was laced with doubt.

“Resolve the Qin clan’s spirit? Why?” Only after You Xiyue sat did Feng Qinghe take her own seat, puzzled by the conversation.

“The Qin clan’s spirit is about to fall into corruption. If that happens, the other clans who joined the Purple Cliff Hall will also be dragged into corruption,” Yan Qingye explained, though only half-understanding himself.

Feng Qinghe’s brow furrowed deeper. “Why is the Qin clan’s spirit turning corrupt? And what does that have to do with the other clans?”

Yan Qingye was about to explain, but Ming Chenyu cut in, succinctly outlining the control soul technique and the Qin family’s wicked scheme.

After hearing it all, Feng Qinghe’s frown deepened. “Then Feng Tianwu and Feng Tianyang… are they also under the control soul technique?”

You Xiyue shook her head. “Those controlled by the technique don’t show strong emotions, and their eyes are dull. When Feng Yanhua died, those two wept bitterly. They clearly aren’t under control.”

“So only the scions of the Five Great Families have been targeted?” Feng Qinghe pondered before voicing his suspicion.

“Exactly,” Ming Chenyu confirmed. “That matches my thoughts. The Qin family’s goal seems to be the Five Great Families. They want to force one out using this method.”

Fully understanding now, Feng Qinghe turned to Jun Yang in confusion. “Why did you say I could resolve the Qin family’s spirit? I’m only at the Fragmented Void stage. Defeating Feng Tianwu, who is at the Integration stage, is already my limit. As for the powerful Qin clan spirit…”

He left the sentence unfinished—obviously, it was impossible for him to take on the Qin clan spirit alone.

“I never said you had to go yourself,” Jun Yang replied with a smile.

Yan Qingye stood, looking curiously toward the courtyard entrance. “But you just said the one who can resolve the Qin clan spirit is already here, and only Brother Qinghe entered. Unless someone else followed him in?”

Feng Qinghe also looked back, puzzled; he hadn’t noticed anyone tailing him.

Jun Yang raised a hand, pointing at the universe pouch at Feng Qinghe’s waist.

Feng Qinghe looked down at his pouch, realization dawning. “Are you referring to the Phoenix clan’s spirit?”

Jun Yang nodded.

Surprised, Yan Qingye and the others gazed at Feng Qinghe. The Phoenix family’s crest had been missing for over three centuries—had it been with him all along?

Feng Qinghe reached for his pouch to retrieve the Phoenix crest, but You Xiyue stopped him, pressing down on his hand.

“Now is not the time,” You Xiyue said quietly.

Jun Yang echoed her. “Exactly. If you take out the Phoenix crest now, the old Phoenix clan spirit will be sensed by the Qin clan’s spirit immediately. It’s safer in your pouch for now.”

Feng Qinghe withdrew his hand at once, growing more cautious. “That was careless of me.”

Yan Qingye was still puzzled. “Even though the Phoenix clan spirit was once an ancient divine spirit, it’s already been relegated to the Seventeenth Continental Layer. Why is it that our families’ spirits are powerless, but the Phoenix clan’s spirit can do it?”

Jun Yang explained patiently, “Though the old Phoenix clan spirit is sealed within the Phoenix crest and cannot manifest or wield its original divine faith power, as a former ancient god, it naturally possesses the Red Lotus Karma Fire, which can purify and burn away any being fallen into corruption.”

“Innate power?” Yan Qingye’s understanding of bloodlines seemed to deepen. “Does that mean the spirits of the ancient divine clans are born with divine arts?”

Jun Yang elaborated a bit more. “The bloodlines of gods and immortals are not the same. The immortal bloodlines are divided into Mortal, Vassal, Lord, King, and Emperor. But for divine bloodlines, there’s an extra tier: Mortal, Vassal, Lord, King, Emperor, and Ancient. Only the spirits of the ancient divine clans are born with innate divine arts.”

“Ancient? Isn’t Emperor grade the highest among the divine clans? I thought ‘ancient’ was just a special title, not a bloodline rank.” Yan Qingye recalled when You Xiyue had used Emperor-grade divine bloodline suppression on him. “Little Master used Emperor bloodline suppression on me before—I thought that was the highest rank.”

Jun Yang glanced at You Xiyue in slight surprise, then continued, “Ancient-grade bloodlines are unique and determined from birth among certain divine beasts. If they’re demoted, their faith power may be suppressed, but their divine arts remain unaffected.”

Yan Qingye sounded a bit regretful. “So no matter how hard our families try, even if we reach the Divine Realm, we’ll never have ancient divine bloodlines.”

“Of course,” Jun Yang replied honestly. “It’s much easier for you to ascend alone than for your entire clan to do so. For a whole clan to ascend a realm is extremely difficult—one wrong move and the clan spirit could be destroyed.”

“I understand.” Yan Qingye was not discouraged; instead, his eyes gleamed with a certain resolve.

Ming Chenyu, sitting quietly to one side, glanced at Yan Qingye. Ever since Yan Qingye had gone to the Ming family’s estate to secretly learn alchemy from Ming Zhu, he’d suspected something was up. He’d asked Yan Qingye why the sudden interest in becoming an alchemist, but received only vague answers, clearly a sign of hidden motives. Since Yan Qingye wouldn’t say, Ming Chenyu wisely let it go, but he suspected it had something to do with his own master, or perhaps Jun Yang.

Ye Linyi, lost in the discussion, finally asked, “So Senior Jun Yang, you mean the Phoenix clan’s spirit can use its Red Lotus Karma Fire to burn the Qin clan’s spirit—which is half-corrupted—to death?”