Yun Qianxue was silent for a while. She stood up and said to Yun Lintian, "Follow me."
Yun Lintian calmly followed her to the main hall that had the ice throne at the center. Standing before the ice throne, a deep blue light glowed between Yun Qianxue's eyebrows and gradually formed into an exquisite droplet of water shape. Instantaneously, the ice throne trembled — a hazy ice mist constantly emanating from it. In the next moment, the throne moved backward, revealing an entrance to a hidden underground passage.
Yun Lintian was amazed by this simple yet enigmatic scene in front of him. He never thought there would be a secret entrance beneath the ice throne before. With a signal from Yun Qianxue, Yun Lintian immediately followed her into the passage.
The passage was quite narrow and could only contain one person at a time. On both sides was a shiny crystal ice wall, constantly producing a bluish luminescence. Yun Qianxue and Yun Lintian slowly walked along a long tapering ice staircase until they reached an open area that full of ice mist. There were several ice lanterns on the wall, illuminating the entire space. At the center, Yun Lintian found a small ice altar covering with a golden light, making him unable to see it clearly.
The droplet pattern on Yun Qianxue's glabella shone brightly as the surrounding mist quickly dispersed. She took a step forward to the front of the ice altar. When she stretched her slender hands out, the golden light around the altar immediately scattered and a crown silhouette could be seen on the top of the altar.
The crown's body was half black and half white in color, circular in shape with eight tassels. Each tassel was adorned with thumb-size marquise jewels in different colors — Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Dark Green, Gold, Purple, and Gray respectively. When Yun Lintian's gaze landed on it, the silver necklace around his neck suddenly vibrated for a second before it stopped.
"What's going on?" Yun Lintian subconsciously touched the necklace in puzzlement. He was sure it wasn't a hallucination. His eyes kept looking between the crown and the necklace while his brains working intensively.
Yun Qianxue touched the crown as she explained, "This is our sect's inheritance that passing down from the Founder. We call it the Crown." She turned back to Yun Lintian and said further, "The reason why they don't hesitate to make an enemy with us is because of this… Thousand years ago, the Sacred Flame Sect's ancestor found an ancient record related to this crown. Since then, they are trying their best to plunder it from us. Naturally, they won't dare to act impetuously until our Grand Sect Master has passed away twenty years ago."
Yun Lintian was busy trying to figure out what happened earlier, at the same time, he still listened to Yun Qianxue. He understood everything clearly. Even though he didn't know how precious the Crown was, with the departure of the previous Grand Sect Master, the Misty Cloud Sect had lost the one and only Ruler Profound Realm's overseer — allowing the Sacred Flame Sect to launch their operation fearlessly. The reason why they had to wait for decades was probably trying to guarantee a consequence.
Yun Lintian hesitated briefly before he asked, "Mom, can I touch it?"
Yun Qianxue was confused slightly. She nodded her head, granting him permission.
Yun Lintian moved forward to the altar. He took a deep breath and touched the Crown. As soon as his fingers touched it, a twisted black and white light promptly burst out, causing Yun Lintian and Yun Qianxue to freeze on the spot. The light lasted for five seconds before it vanished completely. During this period, Yun Lintian could perceive a faint connection between him, the silver necklace, and the Crown. However, he was unable to comprehend the situation in the end.
Yun Qianxue was momentarily shocked upon seeing Yun Lintian producing the black and white light. "W… What happened?" She uttered in astonishment. As a sect master, she never heard anyone in the sect's history could resonate with the Crown before — not even the Sect's Founder. How could Yun Lintian do it?
Yun Lintian didn't reply immediately. He closed his eyes, recollecting the feeling that occurred earlier. He had a hunch that the Crown might belong to him all along, and this should be the mysterious woman's intention of leaving him in this place. She should aware of it — there was something related to him hidden within the sect. What was the relationship between him, her, the Sect, and these two mysterious objects?
"I'm not sure what was going on earlier… I can feel a faint connection between me and this crown." Yun Lintian responded uncertainly.
Yun Qianxue had a deep look. She suggested, "Why don't you try to drop your blood on it?"
Yun Lintian's eyes lit up as he quickly wounded his finger and dripped his blood on the Crown. However, there was no feedback in the end after waiting for ten minutes.
Yun Qianxue was puzzled: "Strange… What's going on exactly?"
Yun Lintian was disappointed. He asked, "Is there any information about this crown?"
Yun Qianxue shook her head: "No. The only information we have is this crown exists shortly before the disappearance of the Sect's Founder. The Founder has entrusted the Second Generation's Sect Master to keep it safe no matter what. Generation after generation, we have tried to unravel the secret within the Crown, but no one could produce any result in the end."
Yun Lintian fell into deep thought for a while before he let out a helpless sigh: "I have no clue as well. That feelings never appeared again. It's gone completely."
Yun Qianxue stared at the Crown for a long time. She said, "Let's go back."
Yun Lintian hummed softly in reply and left the place with Yun Qianxue. The room returned to its original calm and silent once again. The hazy mist slowly covered the entire place, appearing as if no one had visited this place before.
Buzzz—
However, half an hour later after Yun Lintian and Yun Qianxue departed from this place, a black and white light suddenly burst out from the Crown once again. This time it was more vigorous than before as it painted the entire space into the half black and half white world. The jewel on each tassel instantly shone brightly, turning into multi-colored light pillars amidst the black and white radiance. This phenomenon lasted for several minutes before it entirely disappeared as if nothing happened before.
...
While Yun Lintian and Yun Qianxue encountered the bizarre event, the Yang manor was also undergoing a major event. After Yun Mengli went back to the manor, she went straight to Yang Gouming's chamber directly.
"My dear niece, why are you here at this late?" Said a middle-aged man in luxury blue robes, standing in front of Yang Gouming's room.
Yang Mengli smile faintly, "I'm here to see my father. I haven't seen him for a while now. What about you, Third Uncle? Why are you here?"
The middle-aged man was Yang Mengli's Third Uncle, Yang Goumu. He gave a light chuckle as he spread his arms: "Why else? I'm here to check on big brother in case his condition has improved. As you know, our current situation is not that good. We need to find a way to treat him as soon as possible. Otherwise, I'm afraid, we will have to appoint a new patriarch… Right, I heard there is a genius doctor appearing on the market street. Have you invited him yet?"
Yang Mengli politely responded, "I talked to him before, but he said he couldn't deal with it… I'm going to see father now. Let's talk another day, Third Uncle."
"Alright, go ahead." Yang Goumu stepped to the side, allowing Yang Mengli to enter the room. He stared deeply at Yang Mengli's disappearing back for a while before he turned around and left.
In the room, there was nothing else besides a simple wooden table and a high-quality bed at the center of the room. On the bed laid a middle-aged man motionless. His complexion was pale. His messy hair turned completely white, making him appeared as if he was in his eighties despite he was in his sixties this year. He was the current patriarch of the Yang clan, Yang Gouming.
"Father, I'm here to see you." Yang Mengli moved closer to the bedside and whispered softly. Her heart filled with sorrow when she saw her father's current appearance.
She knelt beside the bed and carefully took out the jade bottle given by Yun Lintian. She said, "Father, I have met a good Senior yesterday. He is a miraculous doctor. Not only he helped me and Chen'er, but he also gave me this pill to save you. I'll give it to you now." She then took a pellet of the Soul Return Pill out of the jade bottle and fed Yang Gouming with it.
Yang Mengli released her profound energy to help Yang Gouming digested the pill. Shortly afterward, Yang Gouming's body trembled slightly. His eyelids moving as if he was about to wake up at any time.
Yang Mengli was overjoyed when she discovered this. "It's work!" Her heart filled with boundless gratitude toward Yun Lintian.
"Ugh…" Yang Gouming groaned weakly as he slowly opened his eyes.
"Father!" Yang Mengli cried out joyfully.
Yang Gouming tilted his head slightly and said gently, "You've worked hard, Li'er. Father owed you." Although he was in a coma, he had witnessed everything that happened around him all this time.
Yang Mengli shook her head while wiping tears out of the corner of her eyes: "It's not me, father. We have to thank Senior… Oh, right, father, I think we need to hide this matter first. I don't have a way to deal with the culprit right now."
Yang Gouming was completely sobered. His cloudy eyes became clearer, regaining their former luster. A flame of fury ignited within his heart when he was thinking of the culprit. He said solemnly, "We don't need to do that. I can deal with him now." A strong aura emanating from his body. It was a sign showing a dignified patriarch had returned.
Yang Mengli took a deep breath. Her eyes turned cold. Now, as her father had returned, it was the right time to pay back this grudge.
"You said earlier, you met a miraculous doctor, and he gave this pill to you?" Asked Yang Gouming after he was calming down.
An admiring expression appeared on Yang Mengli's face. She replied, "Yes, father. I am lucky to meet him. He is a nobleman, a true doctor. Before that, he set up a stall to treat everyone for free and he even gave money to the poor. When he discovered I have poison in my body, he didn't hesitate to help me at all. As for the pill, I exchanged Heavenly Yin Iron with him." She didn't tell her father that Yun Lintian had approached her because of Heavenly Yin Iron.
Perhaps she didn't notice that she was getting more excited while she was talking further. Seeing his daughter who usually remained cold and indifferent become like this, Yang Gouming smiled: "When we finish dealing with the culprit, we should invite him here. I want to personally thank him for saving us."
Yang Mengli suddenly turned sad. She said softly, "It's not working, father. Senior has already left the city."
"Oh? What a pity. We owed him." Yang Gouming sighed regretfully.
"Ah, I forgot about it. Father, you need to take two more pellets every one hour before you can completely eradicate the poison." Yang Mengli hurriedly said and handed the jade bottle to her father.