Chapter 342: I’m Going to Find An’an, Are You Coming?
After leaving the barrier, Mo Yan subconsciously reached for the necklace around his neck and found it was gone.
It was a feather from the Yu An Beast Form, which he had always treasured. He’d strung it on a sturdy cord and wore it close to his skin.
But when he felt for it, it was gone.
It had been there before he entered the barrier. He retraced his steps to search for it and, upon re-entering the barrier, found a vine dangling his necklace.
"Senior," Mo Yan said respectfully, "Thank you for saving my life. The feather necklace you’re holding is mine. Please, could you return it..."
’No give.’
The vine tumbled in the air, forming those two words.
Mo Yan was stunned. "No, that necklace has special meaning to me. If you like it, Senior, I can make you a few more..."
The vine ignored him. With a SWISH, it retracted back into the city, and the gate slammed shut with a CLANG.
Mo Yan was at a loss for words.
He walked up and pushed on the gate, but it wouldn’t budge. As he got closer to inspect it, however, he realized the vines covering the city looked somewhat familiar.
Mo Yan remembered Yu An had once told him that this vine, Lu Lu, looked unremarkable but actually had patterns on it.
The patterns were very, very faint; impossible to spot without close inspection.
Mo Yan took a closer look at the vine before him and asked tentatively, "Lu Lu?"
The surroundings were silent.
Just as Mo Yan thought he wouldn’t get a response, the vine moved.
The city gate opened, and the same thin vine emerged, still coiled around the feather necklace.
Besides the pale yellow feather, its body was now adorned with fiery red feathers of various sizes.
Mo Yan had never seen the Yu An Beast Form after her Nirvana, but he had a gut feeling that these were its feathers.
"It really is you, Lu Lu," he said, pleasantly surprised. "Weren’t you with An’an? How did you end up here...?"
The vine ignored him, instead offering him one of the fiery red feathers—one that was slightly dull and lacked any sheen.
It didn’t speak or gesture, yet Mo Yan understood.
The vine wanted to trade this feather for the pale yellow one.
Mo Yan hesitated for a moment before taking it. Satisfied, the vine swiftly retreated.
The city gate slammed shut again, even more hastily than before.
Mo Yan was at a loss for words.
’Oh well, they’re all An’an’s feathers. One is as good as another.’
He examined the feather in his hand closely. Just as he was about to tuck it away safely against his skin, he noticed some red coloring on his hand.
A bad feeling flickered through Mo Yan’s mind. He took out his waterskin, wet the feather, and discovered it was actually white.
"..."
’I’ve been tricked, but there’s no one to complain to.’
With no other choice, he accepted his fate.
Before leaving, however, he shouted toward the city, "Lu Lu, I’m going to find An’an! Do you want to come with me?"
The silent gate suddenly made a few faint noises. Just as Mo Yan thought the vine was about to emerge, it went still again.
He waited patiently for a while, but when the vine didn’t appear, he had no choice but to leave on his own.
An hour later, the city gate opened.
The vine, now laden with bags of all sizes, looked utterly bewildered.
’Didn’t he say he was going to find An’an?’
’Where’d he go?’
’I was just packing my things! It’s not like I didn’t want to go!’
...
「Earth Geography City.」
Tongtong was heartbroken to learn that they were leaving.
At her request, Yu An stayed for two extra days.
The little girl couldn’t bear to be separated from her younger "siblings" for even a moment, and she even slept with Fuzai at night.
Xue Ying didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so she just let her be.
On the night before their departure, the small courtyard received a visitor.
It was Yu Yao. She had returned from Tianhuan City.
"Sister An’an, I found out."
Yu Yao looked exhausted, her expression a mixture of anger and grief. "Those children... they were indeed taken by the Tian Family."
"They’ve trained many people to act as human traffickers and steal children from all over. Others are simply abducted outright."
Yu An was suddenly reminded of the child who had almost been taken by men in black a few days prior. "That child in the alley a few days ago..."
"That must have been the Tian Family’s doing," Yu Yao said bitterly, slamming her hand on the table. "What in the world are they trying to accomplish? Don’t they know that this goes against the laws of nature and will bring retribution!"
Everyone says there will be retribution, but the Tian Family has used living people to refine Blood Crystals twice—or perhaps more—and has never faced any punishment.
’Yu An grew more and more curious. Did the Heaven and Earth Stone not know, or did it simply not care?’
’The Heaven and Earth Stone knows all that happens in the Upper Realm, so logically, it shouldn’t be unaware.’
"Little Yao, I’ve heard that there’s such a thing as Heavenly Punishment in the Upper Realm. Aren’t the Tian Family afraid, after doing all this...?"
Yu Yao gave a bitter laugh. "Sister An’an, there’s something you don’t know. The Tian Family... their name was originally ’Tian’—as in ’Heaven’."
"The ’Tian’ of the Heaven and Earth Stone, and the ’Tian’ of Heavenly Punishment."
Yu An gasped. "You mean the Tian Family and the Heaven and Earth Stone are working together?"
"Not exactly," Yu Yao said quickly. "They just have some ancient connection to the Heaven and Earth Stone. It seems that no matter what the Tian Family does, the Heaven and Earth Stone turns a blind eye."
"When my grandfather was alive, he told me that the Yu Family was created by the Heaven and Earth Stone specifically to keep the Tian Family in check."
"It seems the Heaven and Earth Stone is constrained in some way, unable to act against the Tian Family directly, so it can only rely on the Yu Family to suppress them somewhat."
At this, Yu Yao sighed. "The two families used to be evenly matched, but ever since the Tian Family developed those Blood Crystals, our family’s power is no match for theirs."
Blood Crystals can enhance a person’s spiritual power. The Tian Family’s Young Master, Tian Heng, used Blood Crystals to elevate his spiritual power to the Divine level.
’How many people had died for that? Yu An made a rough estimate. It would take at least an entire city’s population.’
Yu Yao also mentioned Tian Fu.
"That Tian Fu... I hadn’t heard much about him before. He kept a low profile. But recently, I’ve heard he’s highly regarded by Master Tian—valued even more than Young Master Tian."
Yu Yao was confused. "No matter how much Master Tian values him, he’s still just an ordinary member of the family—Master Tian’s nephew, at best. Has Master Tian lost his mind? To favor his nephew over his own son?"
Yu An thought for a moment, then asked, "Little Yao, what’s your impression of this Tian Fu?"
Yu Yao considered for a moment. "His spiritual power is exceptional, said to be on par with Young Master Tian. He’s also quite capable and has been assisting Master Tian with his affairs."
"He’s also skilled in raising Gu, making him one of the better Gu Technique users in the Tian Family... Oh, but his methods are just too brutal. I heard many people in Tianhuan City talking about how bloodthirsty Tian Fu’s methods are."
Yu An thought for a moment, then simply told her that if she ever came up against Tian Fu, she should run without a second thought.
If she fought Master Tian, she might have a chance of survival. But against Tian Fu, it would be a dead end.
Seeing Yu An’s grave assessment, Yu Yao couldn’t help but wonder just who this Tian Fu was.
However, she was one to heed advice, so she agreed.
As she was leaving, she couldn’t resist asking, "Sister An’an, who are you, really?"
’Why did she feel such a sense of closeness to Yu An?’
Yu An smiled and took out a feather, placing it in her hand. "Think of it as a memento."
The fiery red feather in her hand shimmered with an iridescent light; it was identical to the one enshrined in her family’s ancestral hall.
Yu Yao was stunned for a long moment as a guess flashed through her mind.
’Yu An... She was the being who stood beside the Heaven and Earth Stone, the very origin of the Yu Family’s name!’