The Ye family ancestral hall was located in the central part of the inner courtyard. It was an independent small courtyard, with the main hall in the center enshrining the spirit tablets of generations of Ye family ancestors. The back room of the main hall was like a display room, hung with portraits and records of achievements of ancestors who had once been glorious, and also storing the family genealogy.

Ye Kong wasn’t in a hurry to go to the ancestral hall, because Ye Wei had told him that before self-reflection, he could first go home and say goodbye to Chen Jiuniang. Moreover, there were rules for reflecting before the ancestors – you couldn’t be filthy, so every five days you could come out once to wash your hair, bathe, and get a good night’s sleep.

Ye Wei said that many years ago, his old man had also locked him inside once. The hardest part was the nighttime – gloomy and terrifying, with no place to sleep, having to kneel the whole time. Also, during the reflection period, you couldn’t leave the Ye manor.

But Ye Kong was completely indifferent to all this. Having watched too many horror movies, as long as there weren’t actually ghosts, he wasn’t afraid. As for not being able to leave the manor, he hadn’t planned to go out anyway.

The only depressing thing was, if only he could get his hands on that immortal cultivation scripture.

However, Ye Kong didn’t mention the scripture to Ye Wei. Just now he’d already shown excessive interest in that treasure book. If he kept staring and asking about it, others would become suspicious.

At that point, the simplest question would be: how do you recognize these square characters? He wouldn’t be able to answer that. Saw it in a book? Which book, show me. Dreamed about it? That’s way too far-fetched.

Fine, whatever. Go back and say goodbye to mom, then go reflect. As long as that book was in the Ye family, that would work out. There’d eventually be a chance to get it.

Ye Kong thanked his eldest brother and quickly walked out of the inner courtyard, returning to his own small courtyard. He discovered there was actually an uninvited guest here.

The visitor was Third Wife. By rights, these wives never came here. Even if they wanted Chen Jiuniang to do work, they’d just send a maid or old woman to noodles deliver it. Why had Third Wife personally condescended to come today?

Seeing Ye Kong return, Third Wife naturally showered him with insincere praise. Chen Jiuniang was already flattered beyond measure – when did she ever see Third Wife being so pleasant and agreeable?

Third Wife’s next words made Ye Kong understand her purpose. She’d come to spread information, saying that if not for Second Wife’s earlier obstruction, Ye Kong would probably already be off cultivating with the immortal.

So this woman had come specifically to sow discord. Though Ye Kong hated Second Wife to the extreme for interfering, he also didn’t want to be used as a weapon by Third Wife.

So Ye Kong told his mother he was going to reflect before the ancestors, then grabbed some thick clothes and left his small courtyard.

Walking toward the Ye family ancestral hall, Ye Kong noticed the gossip behind him had changed again.

“Hey, you know what? Today an immortal came to the Ye family to take disciples. After selecting for ages, only one person had immortal aptitude.”

“Who? Who’s that lucky?”

“Look…”

“Ah, the idiot? He’s damn lucky, but… why didn’t he leave with the immortal?”

“Haha, you don’t know this – though he has aptitude, it’s the most garbage aptitude. So terrible that even the immortal ​visit our site​couldn’t help laughing. Very shameful.”

“Oh, I see. Garbage is garbage. He’s garbage to begin with. Even more shameful than those with no aptitude.”

“Haha, who says otherwise? Now he’s been punished to reflect in the ancestral hall.”

“Screw his immortal ancestors. I’ll beat your mouths sooner or later!” Ye Kong cursed inwardly. He turned back to give the two servants a cold smile, swaggered his shoulders, and sauntered away.

When he arrived at the Ye family ancestral hall, Ye Kong discovered a strange phenomenon. The outside of the ancestral hall was surrounded by many soldiers, looking heavily guarded. He didn’t understand why the ancestral hall needed so many soldiers guarding it – could someone be coming to steal the Ye family ancestors’ spirit tablets?

Though Ye Kong found it strange, he didn’t ask. Carrying his nighttime coat, he walked over. Just as he was about to enter, he happened to see Ye Haoran striding out from inside.

What’s he doing here? Looking for me? Checking if I came? Ye Kong wondered, hastily stepping aside to make way.

Ye Haoran’s anger clearly hadn’t subsided. Walking up to Ye Kong, he gave a cold snort before striding quickly away.

He wasn’t looking for me? Then what was he doing here? Ye Kong lowered his head, pondering, as he stepped over the high threshold and walked into the heavily guarded ancestral hall.

This ancestral hall really was different from other rooms. Even in broad daylight it was gloomy and chilly. After entering, you got the feeling of jumping into cold water.

“This… there aren’t really damn ghosts here, right?” Ye Kong felt his skin crawl, feeling depressed. There were so many people outside, so why wasn’t there a single person inside?

If this were on Earth, Ye Kong would definitely laugh three times – no ghosts, what’s there to fear? But on Cangnan Continent, whether or not there were ghosts was really hard to say.

He walked in gingerly. In the center of the ancestral hall was a circle enclosed by white jade railings. In the middle of the circle was also a round structure carved from white jade. How to describe it – it was somewhat similar to Beijing’s Temple of Heaven.

Circles of railings on the outside, with a granary-type building in the middle. The difference was, in Beijing the center had the tall Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, while the Ye family had a tower-like object carved from white jade, with countless ancestor tablets of all sizes arranged on it.

“This Ye family really has a prosperous lineage!” Ye Kong discovered in surprise that this spirit tablet tower wasn’t even all of the Ye family ancestors. This tower only enshrined all the main branch – that is, those with power in each generation of the Ye family, or famous people and high officials the Ye family had produced.

The spirit tablets of even more Ye family branch families were placed on platforms against the walls of the main hall. The quantity was even greater – looking over, they were densely packed, interspersed with ever-burning lamps, quite eerie.

High, solid walls, an empty space with gloomy wind flowing through it, not a single person in sight, yet full of dead people’s spirit tablets. Even Ye Kong, this daring king, couldn’t help but feel his hair stand on end. Not daring to breathe loudly, he lifted his heels and slowly walked further in…

“Ye Kong.”

“Holy crap!” A sudden voice from behind startled Ye Kong into a shudder. He backed against the wall and looked back, only to see an old man with a stern expression standing at the entrance of the ancestral hall.

“Oh, it’s Teacher.” Ye Kong discovered it was Zhang Wude and quickly went to meet him. “Teacher, come in and talk.”

“No need. The Ye family ancestral hall – as an outsider, it’s not convenient for me to enter.” Zhang Wude still wore that expressionless old face. He raised the several books in his hand and said, “I heard ​noodles​you’re facing the wall, so I brought you some books.”

Though Zhang Wude was expressionless and his tone was as flat as always, Ye Kong felt warmth in his heart.

“Thank you, Teacher.” Ye Kong took the books and found most were poetry and essays, with two books about strange objects and events mixed in.

Zhang Wude looked at Ye Kong, his eyes gradually becoming gentler. He said, “I just heard about your situation. Since you don’t have good spiritual roots, don’t think about immortal matters anymore. Better to focus on learning poetry properly.”

Though Ye Kong didn’t think that way, for someone who genuinely cared about him, he couldn’t really argue back. He nodded.

Perhaps seeing through Ye Kong’s thoughts, Zhang Wude suddenly swept his wide sleeve and placed his hand on Ye Kong’s head. Looking up, he sighed, “Child, actually not cultivating immortality isn’t a bad thing… Do you think human relationships in the mortal world are fickle and survival is cruel? But actually among cultivators, that’s what’s truly cruel. Killing to seize treasures, killing for pleasure, exterminating someone’s entire family over a single sentence – these are all very normal. Gradually you’d also become cruel, become heartless. For some so-called treasures, you could disregard morality, shame, even the lives of relatives. Your teacher doesn’t want you to become that kind of person.”

Ye Kong felt there was deep feeling in Zhang Wude’s words. He looked up and asked, “Teacher, why are you so clear about matters among cultivators? Are you also an immortal?”

Zhang Wude shook his head. “Even if I had spiritual roots, I wouldn’t walk that path.”

Clearly Zhang Wude had a story, but since he didn’t want to talk about it, there was nothing to be done.

Ye Kong continued, “Teacher, no matter whether I’m in the immortal world or mortal world in the future, and no matter whether I’ll ever get ahead, I absolutely won’t give up my persistence regarding good and evil, gratitude and enmity. I won’t compromise to any power or temptation!”

Zhang Wude, whose face never showed expression, actually smiled. Touching Ye Kong’s head, he smiled gently and said, “Not giving up, not compromising – good, good, good. You’re a good child.”

“Hey, I’m not a child!”

After Zhang Wude left, Ye Kong took the books into the back of the ancestral hall. He found some padding and placed it below the largest candle to read and pass the time.

However, Ye Kong really had no interest in that poetry. In the end, he flipped through the Spirit Object Records, which recorded the characteristics of quite a few spirit beasts and spirit herbs. Of course, Ye Kong purely found it fun – he didn’t expect it to be very useful, because according to the book, ninety percent of these spirit beasts and spirit herbs were extinct.

In a flash it was evening. Outside, soldiers called that it was time to eat. Self-reflecting in the ancestral hall still required eating – you’d eat together with the soldiers. For other young masters, the food here was rough fare, but for Ye Kong, the food here was even better than at home.

“Is this pork? Why is it so fragrant? And it’s really chewy!” Ye Kong gnawed on a large bone and asked.

The soldier in charge was a centurion named Liu Changqing. He laughed and said, “Eighth Young Master, you wouldn’t know this – this is Iron Hide Barbarian Bull meat. Don’t look at how the Iron Hide Barbarian Bull’s outer hide is like iron – the meat inside is incredibly fragrant.”

“Oh? Iron Hide Barbarian Bull, it must be hard to hunt, right?” Ye Kong asked in surprise.

“Of course, this is a middle-grade spirit beast.” Liu Changqing continued proudly, “If I hadn’t happened to hunt one when coming from the main camp this time, everyone wouldn’t get to taste it.”

On Cangnan Continent, wild beasts were also differentiated. Regular pigs and sheep belonged to domestic livestock. Only talking about wild beasts, or spirit beasts, they were divided into Peak-tier, Upper-tier, Middle-tier, Lower-tier, and No-tier. Within each tier, they were further divided into Supreme-grade, High-grade, Middle-grade, and Low-grade.

Generally speaking, No-tier spirit beasts referred to spirit beasts that hadn’t cultivated, [noodles]just like people without spiritual roots who also didn’t have innate magic.

However, even without magic, these spirit beasts were still very formidable. Some had brute strength, some carried toxins, some were huge. In short, these kinds of spirit beasts could be dealt with by ordinary people, but not easily.

As for tiered spirit beasts, they couldn’t be dealt with by ordinary people – that required cultivators. However, those kinds of spirit beasts wouldn’t appear on the streets, because they also cultivated and also had to ascend. Upon reaching Upper-tier they’d gain spiritual wisdom, and upon reaching Peak-tier they could transform into human form.

This Iron Hide Barbarian Bull was a No-tier middle-grade spirit beast. For this centurion to be able to take down a No-tier middle-grade spirit beast, he probably wasn’t simple either.

Ye Kong nodded in praise. “General Liu’s martial skills are superb. We all get to enjoy good food thanks to you.”

Liu Changqing was pleased to be called “general” by Ye Kong. At this time, a soldier beside him laughed. “Eighth Young Master, don’t listen to him boast. The Iron Hide Barbarian Bull has such tough hide and such a huge body – if he hadn’t just happened to encounter one that was heavily injured, even General Ye leading people might not have been able to handle it.”

Liu Changqing’s old face reddened. He angrily said, “Whether injured or not, you got to taste Iron Hide Barbarian Bull today because of me, right?”

That soldier actually wasn’t afraid of him and continued, “Several brothers were injured though.”

Seeing them arguing, Ye Kong quickly mediated. “Hey you, stop talking. No matter what, General Liu did improve everyone’s meal. Haha, General Liu, don’t be angry either. That brother is just heartbroken that brothers were injured. Everyone say less. Come on, drink, eat meat.”